Ind vs Aus: Australia survive to reach 232/9 at stumps on Day 4, lead by 40 runs

February 25, 2013

Australia_survive

New Delhi, Feb 25: Moises Henriques batted brilliantly in the pressure to make India bat again as he helped Australia surpass 192-run trail on the fourth day of the first Test at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Debutant Henriques shone again with the bat in the second innings, smashing a six over long on to complete his half century. He also scored a fifty in first innings and added century stand with skipper Michael Clarke to help Australia reach 380.

Ravichandran Ashwin continued his red hot form, clinching another five-wicket haul in the match to take India closer to victory on the penultimate day.

Australia lost their seventh wicket when Ravindra Jadeja clean bowled Peter Siddle, who looked to play a slog sweep but missed the straight delivery.

Ashwin registered a ten-wicket haul when he trapped captain Michael Clarke plumb in front of the wicket on the third ball after tea.

Ashwin bowled a loopy delivery outside off on a length area that hit the rough patch and spun in viciously. Clarke rocked back but didn't even get a second to bring his bat down in time as the ball struck the pad.

Harbhajan Singh took his second wicket when he clean bowled Matthew Wade as Australia lost half of their side.

Wade went for a slog sweep to a delivery from outside off-stump but didn't connect as the ball sneaked through and struck timber.

Harbhajan took his first wicket when he trapped David Warner plumb in front of the wicket.

Harbhajan bowled a full delivery on middle, Warner tried to defend it down off the front foot but he failed to connect and got struck on the pads.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja dismissed Ed Cowan and Phillip Hughes respectively to leave Australia tottering at 65/3.

Ashwin struck again in the post lunch session as he broke the second wicket stand between Cowan and Warner by removing the former for patient 32 off 97 balls.

Australia suffered another blow in the next over when another southpaw Hughes was caught at slip by Virender Sehwag.

Trailing India by 158 runs, Ed Cowan and David Warner resumed Australia's second innings after lunch on the penultimate day.

R Ashwin dismissed Australian opener Shane Watson at the stroke of lunch to strengthen India's grip on the Test.

Ashwin bowled a flighted, slower delivery, wide outside off-stump and Watson first looked to play a defensive shot but was not close to the pitch of the ball that turned and bounced off the shoulder of the bat for an easy catch to Virender Sehwag at first slip.

Earlier, India gained a valuable 192-run lead as their first innings ended at 572 runs.

The Indian first innings ended when Peter Siddle had Bhuvneshwar Kumar (38) caught by captain Michael Clarke at mid-off off a slower delivery.

MS Dhoni registered the highest score by an Indian captain in Test cricket before falling to James Pattinson.

Pattinson had Dhoni caught behind by Matthew Wade off a bouncer which the Indian captain tried to hook but got only an edge.

Dhoni's 224-run knock was studded with 6 sixes and 24 fours.

The breakthrough came after Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar Kumar resumed the Indian first innings to start play on Day 4.

On Day 3, a maiden double hundred by Dhoni and Virat Kohli's fourth century flattened Australia as India finished at 515/8 with a lead of 135 runs.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.

Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.

Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.

"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.

The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.

"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.

"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.

Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.

His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.

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News Network
April 28,2020

New Delhi, Apr 28: West Indies flamboyant batsman Chris Gayle has lashed out at former teammate Ramnaresh Sarwan calling him 'worse than coronavirus'.

Gayle, the colossal figure in the shortest format of the game blamed Sarwan for his departure from Caribbean Premier League (CPL) franchise Jamaica Tallawahs.

The left-handed batsman joined St Lucia Zouks as their marquee player for the 2020 CPL season after Tallawahs chose not to retain him.

Gayle has played for Tallawahs and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the past. He has won the CPL title twice with the Tallawahs and played in the final with the Patriots in 2017.

"The owner of the franchise is a very nice man, I have no problem with him. I think he was actually persuaded to get rid of Chris Gayle," Gayle said in three parts on his YouTube channel.

"So someone has to be in his years telling him to get rid of Gayle. Sarwan, you are worse than the coronavirus right now. What transpired with the Tallahwahs, you had a big part to play.

Sarwan, you are a snake. You know, you are not the most loved person in the Caribbean. You are still stabbing people in the back," he added.

Gayle is the leading T20 run-scorer of all time as well as the man with the most centuries in the format. He is also the leading CPL run-scorer of all time, having amassed 2,344 runs in the tournament.

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News Network
May 11,2020

Karachi, May 11: Pakistan might play more Test matches during their tour of England if it goes ahead as scheduled in July after the West Indies pulled out of an assignment there in June owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Pakistan Cricket Board and the England and Wales Cricket Board officials are due to have a video conference on May 18 to discuss how they should proceed with the tour given the situation because of the pandemic.

"At present we have to play three Tests and three T20 internationals but the number of Tests could be increased and the tour could start a bit early in July," a PCB source said.

The source said that the ECB could offer to organise a four or five Test series against Pakistan if the West Indies tour didn’t go ahead.

Issues that are likely to be discussed in the May 18 meet are a quarantine period for Pakistani players when they arrive in England in July and limiting the venues for the matches and playing before empty stadiums.

PCB CEO Wasim Khan confirmed the video conference but said so far, the ECB has not spoken to them on increasing the number of matches on the tour which is scheduled between July and September.

"Things will be clear after the meeting but whatever decision we take we will consult our captains and head coaches before giving any confirmation," Khan said.

The PCB has so far kept mum on the chances of the series taking place in England because of the COVID-19 situation.

But with the British government due to announce measures to ease the lockdown in the country, it appears Pakistan could be touring on schedule.

Some former players have, however, asked the PCB to tread on the side of caution.

"If the West Indies have decided to postpone their series in June because of safety reasons and because of the situation then the PCB should also be very careful before taking up any offer from the ECB," a former captain said.

The West Indies Cricket Board said its players have to be convinced of their safety for it to commit to the assignment, which "is not possible in June."

"...we will continue our discussions with the ECB and other Internationals Boards on trying to find new dates," it said in a recent press release.

"We will only travel to England to play the series if our players can be assured that it is safe to do so," it added.

Pakistan is also scheduled to play an ODI series against Ireland while in UK but that series could be rescheduled and also be held in England.

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