England on top, India fight to save 3rd Test

December 8, 2012
England_on_top

Kolkata, December 8: India's famed batting line-up failed to deliver as the team was left staring at yet another huge defeat after being reduced to 145 for six at tea on the fourth day of the third cricket Test against England here today.

Given the situation, the visiting England team looks well on course to taking an unassailable 2-1 series lead.

The picture changed rapidly for India post lunch as from a promising 86 for no loss, they lost six wickets with yet another innings defeat looming large.

Virat Kohli, after being dropped at 4, was unbeaten on 19, while R Ashwin was batting on eight at the tea break as India were still 62 runs behind.

Earlier in the morning, India restricted England's first innings lead to 207, bowling the visitors out for 523 scalping four wickets in 4.3 overs with England managing to add just 14 runs to their overnight total.

India's promising start to their second innings, having conceded a 207-run lead, was undone when Sehwag (49) got out off the first ball after lunch.

Graeme Swann got one to rip back through Sehwag's gate taking the top of the off stump to break the opening partnership for 86.

What followed was another dismissal as Gautam Gambhir once again helped England in a run-out.

Cheteshwar Pujara (8) became the victim this time when the leading Indian run-getter of the series fell short of the crease going in for a non-existent run as Ian Bell hit the stumps directly from short leg.

Finn should be credited for creating pressure around Gambhir who conceded two maiden overs to the pacer.

In the third over, after playing out five dot balls Gambhir desperately attempted for a single with a soft push to leg-side to avoid a third straight maiden.

But it only brought end to Pujara, who has 402 runs in the series including one double and a century.

Gambhir, who had contributed to Sehwag's run-out in a similar fashion in the first innings, became India's villain again.

In the very first of the next over, the Indian opener, on 36, survived after umpire Rod Tucker gave him not out after his faint nick was brilliantly taken by Jonathan Trott in a low catch.

But Gambhir could not prolong his stint at the crease, edging one behind the stumps.


It was two wickets in as many overs as India were rattled at 107 for four with Sachin Tendulkar back in the dressing room after a promising paddle sweep off Swann.

The off-spinner took Tendulkar's outside edge to be caught at the slip by Jonathan Trott as India started to stare at yet another big defeat.

Kohli, on four, got a second life after being dropped by Bell at deepish short leg as India looked to avoid an innings defeat with more than four sessions to go.



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News Network
March 29,2020

New Delhi, Mar 29: Former Indian batsman Wasim Jaffer on Sunday picked his all-time IPL team and appointed wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni as its captain.

Jaffer's team's feature opener Rohit Sharma, current Indian skipper Virat Kohli, all-rounder Hardik Pandya, spinner R Ashwin, and pacer Jasprit Bumrah as seven domestic players.
While the foreign players spot have been occupied by West Indies' swashbuckling batsman Chris Gayle, all-rounder Andre Russell, Afghanistan's spinner Rashid Khan, and Sri Lanka's veteran pacer Lasith Malinga.
Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been picked as 12th man by Jaffer.

Earlier this month, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to postpone the IPL to April 15, 2020, as a precautionary measure against COVID-19 outbreak.
The board also assured that it will work in unison with the Sports Ministry and will adhere to the guidelines issued.

The 13th edition of IPL was scheduled to commence from March 29. 

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News Network
February 14,2020

Hamilton, Feb 14: Batting first, India finished at 263 for nine on the opening day of the three-day warm-up game against New Zealand XI here on Friday.

Hanuma Vihari made 101 off 182 balls before retiring, while Cheteshwar Pujara scored 93.

Besides, Ajinkya Rahane (18) was the only other Indian batsmen to register double digit score.

The likes of Prithvi Shaw (0), Mayank Agarwal (1) and Shubman Gill (0) failed to cash in on the opportunity.

Scott Kuggeleijn (3/40) and Ish Sodhi (3/72) shared six wickets between them for New Zealand.

Brief Scores:

India: 263 for 9 in 78.5 overs (Hanuma Vihari 101, Cheteshwar Pujara 93; Scott Kuggeleijn 3/40, Ish Sodhi 3/72).

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News Network
July 3,2020

Karachi, Jul 3: Pakistan limited overs captain Babar Azam is tired of his constant comparisons with India skipper Virat Kohli and says he would rather be compared to the greats at home.

Babar, six years younger to Kohli, has a long way to go in getting close to Kohli's staggering numbers across formats. The India skipper has 70 hundreds to his name and averages more than 50 in all three formats.

"I would be more happy if you compare to me say a Javed Miandad, Muhammad Yousuf or Younis Khan. Why compare me to Kohli or any Indian player?" asked the 25-year-old, who is in England with the national team, said in an online media interaction on Thursday.

Babar has scored 16 international hundreds and averages more than 50 in ODIs and T20s. In 26 Tests, he has scored 1850 runs at 45.12.

He also said that he is not targeting any English bowler for the series next month.

"I don’t see who the bowler is or his reputation. I just try to play each ball on merit. England no doubt has a top bowling attack and they have advantage of playing at home but this is a challenge I want to score runs in," he said.

Before the squad’s departure for England, Pakistan batting coach Younis Khan said that pacer Joffra Archer will be a handful for the Pakistani batsmen.

Babar said that he would try to play every English bowler on merit but conceded that after getting runs in Australia last year, he was keen to leave his footprint in the coming Test and T20 series in England.

Reminded that some former Test players had already written off Pakistan for the England series, Babar said they were entitled to their opinion.

"But we don’t have a bad team and already we have been enjoying our training. It is good to be back on the field after such a long lay-off. I think we have the bowlers to trouble them like Abbas, Naseem, Shaheen and others while we have some experience in our batting line-up."

Babar said he would love to get a triple century in a Test match.

"When you score a century, you naturally want to go on and convert that into a double or a triple century. This is something I would like to do during the Test series.

"I like to play my natural game but my selection of shots depends on the conditions and bowlers."

Babar also ruled out any problems in the Pakistan dressing room due to the presence of former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed, who was sacked last year.

But he said that since Muhammad Rizwan had been playing in all formats for Pakistan in recent times, he would be the starting keeper in the Test series ahead of Sarfaraz.

"I think we first have to give Rizwan a proper chance and Sarfaraz is there as back up."

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