Sehwag, Gambhir century stand gives India blazing start

November 15, 2012

seha

Ahmedabad, November 15: Virender Sehwag blasted his first half century in nearly 10 months and put on an unbeaten century stand with Gautam Gambhir as India made a blazing start on the opening morning of the first Test against England here today.

Sehwag was batting on 79 off only 66 balls, laced with 12 fours and a six while Gambhir remained unconquered on 37 in 103 balls as India went for lunch at 120 for no loss after skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni opted to bat first at the Sardar Patel Stadium.

The Delhi duo, who had failed to fire in unison for some time, stitched their 11th century stand for the opening wicket and their first in nearly two years. The last century stand between them was the 137 at Centurion Park in second innings of the opening Test against South Africa in December, 2010.

Sehwag and Gambhir started a tad shakily with the latter inside-edging James Anderson close to his stumps for the first of his three boundaries and the former being almost bowled by Stuart Broad while attempting an expansive drive and missing the ball.

However, after Sehwag whipped a ball from Anderson off his hips for his first four in the fifth over, things settled down for the Delhi duo on a bone-dry wicket of a slow pace pitch where the ball hardly rose above shin level unless banged short.

Sehwag packed off Anderson from the attack by smacking him for three fours between third man and covers in the bowler's fourth over while Gambhir struck his second four by turning Broad off his legs. Anderson's opening spell was a costly 4-0-24-0.

The duo's aggressive batting helped India race to 50 in the 12th over and at the end of the first hour, the hosts were 61 without loss, prompting England to summon off-spinner Graeme Swann in place of Broad immediately after the first drinks break. Broad gave away 23 runs in his six-over spell.

Sehwag hit the accurate Tim Bresnan for a couple of boundaries in the off side when the bowler erred in line. The Najafgarh marauder pushed Swann for a single to the off to complete his 50 in 45 balls and 81 minutes.

It was the batsman's 33rd half ton in his 99th Test and the second after his second innings 62 against Australia in the fourth and final Test at Adelaide in January.

Growing in confidence, Sehwag blasted Bresnan for two four and a six over long on in successive balls to further stamp his authority on the proceedings.

Fifteen runs came off the 19th over of the innings as the home team's as well as the partnership's hundred came in the first ball of the next over in 89 minutes. It was the duo's first three-figure stand after 26 innings.

Bresnan, after his expensive sixth over, was replaced by Broad at the far end of the ground to bowl the 21st over. The pace bowler operated without a slip fielder against Sehwag just before lunch.

Just before the break, the visitors brought on left-arm spinner Samit Patel in place of Broad after the latter's 2-over second spell for seven runs and the bowler's first ball, a full toss, was hit for a boundary by Sehwag.

In the morning, India left out Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Murali Vijay, Ashok Dinda and Ajinkya Rahane.

England omitted Steven Finn, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Graham Onions, Eoin Morgan, Monty Panesar and Stuart Meaker, giving opener Nick Compton his first Test cap.

Scoreboard at lunch on the first day of the opening cricket Test between India and England here today.

India 1st innings:

Gautam Gambhir batting 37

Virender Sehwag batting 79

Extras: (B-1 LB-2 NB-1) 4

Total: (for 0 wkts in 28 overs) 120

Bowling: Anderson 4-0-24-0, Broad 9-1-30-0, Bresnan 6-0-37-0, Swann 8-1-19-0, Patel 1-0-7-0.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
March 1,2020

New Delhi, Mar 1: Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif on Sunday heaped praise on Ravindra Jadeja after the all-rounder took a spectacular catch on the second day of the Christchurch Test against New Zealand.

Jadeja grabbed a one-handed stunner at deep square leg in the 72nd over to dismiss Neil Wagner, who had to depart after scoring 21 runs.

"Sir Jadeja for a reason! Jadeja Airlines, flying high! Terrific stuff," Kaif tweeted.

In the match, Jadeja also impressed with the ball. The left-handed bowler took two wickets while giving away 22 runs.

On day two, India bundled out New Zealand on 235 runs in the second Test. However, in their second innings, Indian batsmen again struggled to tackle the New Zealand pacers and lost six wickets with a lead of just 97 runs.

India went to stumps at 90/6, with Trent Boult doing the majority of the damage with three wickets.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 29,2020

New Delhi, Jan 29: Badminton champion Saina Nehwal joined the ruling BJP today and is likely to campaign for the party ahead of the February 8 Delhi election.

"I have won medals for the country. I am a very hardworking and I love hardworking persons. I can see Prime Minister Narendra Modi does so much for the country, I want to do something for the country with him," the shuttler said, wearing the BJP scarf.

"I draw a lot of inspiration from Narendra sir".

Haryana-born Saina Nehwal, 29, is a major acquisition for the party in the middle of the Delhi poll campaign; she is one of the most popular sportspersons in India with a huge fan following and brand value. She is preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

A former world number 1, she has been honoured with the country's top sporting awards like the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award. She was also awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2016.

The Badminton player has won over 24 international titles. In the London Olympics, she won a bronze. She was world number two in 2009 and number one in 2015.

With her tweets praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Saina Nehwal was widely seen to lean towards the BJP.

One of her tweets became controversial when it was found to be identical to several others in praise of a PM Modi speech last year. Saina was trolled on Twitter with screenshots of the identical tweets. She was also among the sportswomen who put up identical tweets on Diwali thanking PM Modi for his initiative to empower women, with the hashtag #bharatkilaxmi.

The BJP roped in many famous personalities last year, including cricketer Gautam Gambhir, who was elected MP from Delhi in the national election, and wrestler Babita Phogat. Just before the Haryana assembly polls, the party roped in wrestler Sushil Kumar, Babita Phogat and former Hockey team captain Sandeep Singh. Sandeep Singh won the election and was appointed minister.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
March 3,2020

Mumbai, Mar 3: India on Tuesday retained their number one spot and captain Virat Kohli remained static at second in the ICC rankings despite a dismal Test series against New Zealand.

India have 116 rating points, six more than New Zealand with third-placed Australia accumulating 108 points. The 0-2 result against New Zealand was India's first series loss in the World Test Championship.

Kohli remains in second position in the batting rankings despite a forgettable Test series in which he made 38 runs in four innings, the ICC said in a statement.

New Zealand opener Tom Blundell and his Indian counterpart Prithvi Shaw and debutant paceman Kyle Jamieson were among the biggest movers in the rankings, released on Tuesday.

Blundell had a successful series against India, scoring 117 runs in four innings, with one half-century, which put him among the top two run-scorers in the series.

The performance meant he was rewarded with a jump of 27 places to No. 46. Shaw, who returned for his first series since his Test debut against West Indies in 2018, and made a punchy 54 in the first innings of the Christchurch Test, rose 17 places to No.76.

Australia's Steve Smith retained his top spot, holding a 25-point advantage over Kohli. Smith's apprentice Marnus Labuschagne jumped one spot to round off the top three, taking the place of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson.

England all-rounder Ben Stokes and India opener Mayank Agarwal moved a spot each and swapped places to break into and fall out of the top 10 respectively.

Among bowlers, Tim Southee's Player of the Series winning performance against India took him into the top five, with a jump of two places to No.4, while Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult returned to the top 10, gaining four places each to occupy the seventh and ninth positions respectively.

But the biggest gainer was Jamieson, who rose from No. 80 to 43.

There was only one change in the top ten among all-rounders, with Southee dropping a spot to No.10 and team-mate Neil Wagner falling out of the top 10 with a drop of four spots.

As with the bowling rankings, Jamieson, who frustrated India with handy lower order runs, gained big on the all-rounders' table, rising 26 places to No. 22.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.