Ind vs Aus: India 5/0 at stumps on Day 1 after Australia declare innings at 237/9

March 2, 2013

India-vs-Australia

New Delhi, Mar 2: Openers Virender Sehwag and Murali Vijay safely negotiated the three overs as India reached 5/0 at close after Australia declared their innings at 237/9 towards the fag end of the first day of the second Test in Hyderabad on Saturday.

India trail Australia by 232 runs with Sehwag and Vijay batting at 4 and 0 respectively.

Earlier in the day, Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja bowled magical spells after tea to leave Australia in tatters before they declared their innings.

Jadeja picked up the wickets of Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell and skipper Michael Clarke in quick succession to leave Australia in deep trouble.

On the other hand, Harbhajan in his mission to justify his return to the Indian team picked up the wickets of Matthew Wade and Peter Siddle.

The Australians were forced to declare right after skipper Clarke (91) failed to withstand the aggressive approach of Jadeja, whose delivery found the stumps with ease.

Clarke continued his impressive form on Indian soil but kept losing partners at the other end at regular intervals.

Maxwell's (5) debut just lasted for 22 balls as Jadeja's good length ball proved too tough for him to play as Indian skipper MS Dhoni made no mistake behind the stumps to take the catch.

Before that, Jadeja dismissed Moises Henriques when his turning delivery left Henriques (5) completely mesmerized, who in his attempt to defend the ball was clean bowled, leaving Australia in a gloomier position.

Earlier, Harbhajan Singh gave India crucial breakthrough when he broke the partnership between Clarke and Wade by dismissing the latter soon after tea.

Clarke and Wade put an impressive 145-run partnership to take Australia past the 200-run mark when Clarke continued his rich vein of form.

The Oz skipper rescued the visitors from a precarious position with a responsible half-century and along with Wade helped Australia reached 187 for four at tea, after being reduced to 63 for four during the first session of play.

If the opening session belonged to India, who sent back four top-order Australian batsmen back to the hut, the post-lunch session undoubtedly belonged to the Aussie pair of Clarke and Wade, who put on 124 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket stand.

Clarke started from where he had left in Chennai and found a gutsy partner in left-hander Wade as they engineered an impressive fightback.

The Aussie captain was batting on 68 with the help of eight boundaries and a six while Wade, who was in doubt for the match after fracturing his cheekbone during a freak accident during a training session here, reached 55 with the help of seven boundaries.

The duo had their anxious moments but overall they handled the spin troika of Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja with ease.

While Clarke again used his feet to perfection, Wade decided to play with the spin on most occasions as they logged 104 runs in the second session.

Earlier, with suitable help from a strip that is offering variable bounce, talented UP seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar rocked the Australian top-order with a triple-strike in his first spell removing openers David Warner and Ed Cowan along with the dangerous Shane Watson.

After a luckless first Test, where the Indian spinners got all the 20 Australian wickets, India's new ball bowlers, especially Bhuvneshwar gave a much better account of themselves hitting the right areas.

The Australian top-order played shots during the first session but was often troubled by the deliveries that were keeping low.

Young Bhuvneshwar, operating from the Visaka End, bowled couple of leg-cutters (off-cutter for left-handers) to get rid of Warner and Cowan in the third and fifth over of the innings respectively.

In case of Warner (6), the delivery landed on the seam and cut back enough to take the inside edge of his bat knocking the off-stump back. This was Bhuvneshwar's maiden Test scalp.

In his very next over, the 23-year-old removed Cowan with a similar delivery. The ball landed on the seam and moved a shade as Cowan was trapped plumb in-front.

To make matters worse, the ball kept really low and umpire Marais Erasmus adjudged the batsman leg before.

From 15 for two, Phillip Hughes (19) and Watson (23) tried to make amends with a 42-run partnership. Both looked assured with their footwork.

Watson, in particular, hit some lovely drives off both Ishant and Bhuvneshwar's bowling. Just when it looked like Watson was getting set, he completely misjudged the length of a Bhuvneshwar delivery and was trapped leg before in the process.

The seamer bowled a short one and the ball kept low as it came back in. The batsman committed himself early to a pull shot but missed the delivery completely to be hit on the thigh pads.

Umpire Erasmus had a long hard look before raising his dreaded finger. Bhuvneshwar bowled an unchanged spell of nine overs and his figures read 9-1-36-3.

With the fall of wickets, Ashwin, introduced from the pavilion ends kept things very tight bowling four consecutive maidens.

Hughes, under pressure to get a big knock, finally caved in when Ashwin bowled a typical off-break and the batsman went for a cut-shot. Dhoni fumbled on the first attempt but held on to the catch to make it 63 for four.

Clarke, however batted with a lot of composure as he even danced down the track to lift Ashwin for a big six.

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News Network
June 6,2020

Mumbai, Jun 6: Reminiscing about his 'special knock' of 208 runs from 153 balls, Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma revealed why his wife Ritika had got emotional after he smashed his third double century in ODIs.

Rohit narrated the incident during his appearance in Episode 2 of the 'Open nets with Mayank'.

The batsman, who was accompanied by Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank on the show, said his wife thought that he had twisted his hand while diving for the 196th run during the innings.

"As you can see my wife got emotional there, this day was special as it was my anniversary. Probably the best gift I could give it to her while I am on the field, it was quite emotional though," said Rohit during the candid chat.

"When I came from the ground, I just asked her why did you (Ritika) cry? So she told me that she thought I (Rohit) twisted my hand when I dived for my 196th run and that was a little worrying factor for her, she got little emotional of because of that I guess," Rohit added.

In the match, the 32-year-old scored 208 runs with 13 fours and 12 sixes against Sri Lanka at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.

This enabled India to post a score of 392/4 in the allotted fifty overs.

India then went on to win the match by 141 runs.

"To be honest I was going pretty slow, I never thought I will get to a double hundred but once you cross 125, I feel it gets easier for you because bowlers are under pressure. Unless you make a mistake I don't think you can get out," said Rohit.

Rohit has scored two double hundreds against Sri Lanka and one against Australia in ODIs. The right-handed batsman is the only cricketer to make three double hundreds in ODI history.

Rohit, Shikhar, and Mayank would have been in action for Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, and Kings XI Punjab respectively, had the Indian Premier League (IPL) commenced from March 29. However, the tournament was suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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News Network
March 21,2020

London, Mar 21: The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has suspended all professional cricket till May 28, delaying the start of the new season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ECB took the decision following discussions with the First-Class Counties, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA).

"It was agreed that, given the current information available, a seven-week delay to the start of the season is the most appropriate approach," an ECB media statement said.

The Board also announced that it is working on three new options, including the three-Test series against West Indies, the T20 Cup and the women's schedule against India, for a possible start in June, July or August.

"Close liaison with the Government will continue, with discussions on the potential of starting the season behind closed doors and giving sports fans the opportunity to live broadcast action," the statement said on Friday.

"The potential for reduced versions of competitions, should the season become further truncated, will also be discussed."

The ECB said it will meet as needed to review the position and make further decisions as the UK situation unfolds.

"During this period of deep uncertainty it is the ECB’s first priority to protect the wellbeing of everyone within the cricket family, from players, to fans and colleagues across the game,’’ ECB Chief Executive Officer Tom Harrison said.

"The decision to delay the start of the season has been essential, given the circumstances the nation faces. I am reassured by the collaborative effort from across the game that together, we will make the very best of whatever length of season we are able to safely schedule in the coming months," he added.

He said this would give the ECB time to keep pace with a fast-moving situation and continue to plan for how a revised season might look.

"Critically, we can also remain as flexible and adaptable as possible, within the obvious restrictions we face."

Last week, England's tour of Sri Lanka was called off mid tournament in view of the rising threat of the pandemic.

"Securing the future of the game will be a primary focus as we plot a revised schedule with an emphasis on the most financially important forms of the game for the counties across international and domestic cricket," Harrison said.

The COVID-19 global death toll has climbed past 11,000 with more than 250,000 infected. In UK, close to 4000 have tested positive so far and 177 died.

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News Network
July 19,2020

Dubai, Jul 19: On hold for the past two months, the fate of this year's T20 World Cup will be up for a decisive round of deliberation when the ICC board meets virtually on Monday with the BCCI hoping for a postponement to ensure that the IPL can go ahead.

The global event is supposed to be held from October 18 to November 15 in Australia but the country's cricket board had, in May itself, expressed its inability to host amid a second surge of Covid-19 cases in the state of Victoria.

With India's case load also exceeding the 10 lakh mark, including more than 26,000 deaths, the IPL, if it is held, is likely to move to the UAE once the central government gives its go ahead.

"The first step was postponement of Asia Cup, which has happened. We can only start to move ahead with our plans after the ICC announces the postponement. They have been sitting on the decision even after Cricket Australia said that they are not too keen on hosting the event," a BCCI Apex Council member told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

This year's T20 World Cup will likely be held in Australia in 2022 as India doesn't want to swap its 2021 hosting rights with Cricket Australia as of now.

That Australia won't be hosting the mega event was clear after the cricket board told its players to prepare for a white-ball series against England scheduled for late September.

CA has even announced a 26-strong preliminary squad for that tour.

The ICC, on its part, has maintained that it wants to explore all possible "contingency" options before taking a call of such immense magnitude. And it is not unusual for the governing body to wait this long.

"Pakistan was supposed to host the Champions Trophy in 2009. After the terrorist attacks on the Sri Lankan team bus, everyone in their proper senses knew that PCB will never host a big event in distant future," said a source familiar with the functioning of the ICC.

"Yet, ICC deputed its employees in Pakistan for months when South Africa was already preparing to host the event. Everyone knew but a formal announcement of shift took months as threat assessment was part of protocol.

"The ICC couldn't have just postponed 9the T20 World Cup) immediately as initially, the top ministers of the Australian government expressed keenness to host," he added.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has also resigned itself to this outcome after vehemently opposing the Indian board.

The postponement of Asia Cup, which was supposed to be hosted by the PCB, to 2021 was a big blow to Ehsan Mani and his team.

"We have had a lot of discussions and the feeling is it (T20 World Cup) would not be possible this year. ICC has World Cups lined up in 2021 and 2023 so we have a gap year where we can adjust this event," Mani had recently said while talking to reporters in his country.

It has been learnt that PCB is contacting other boards in the hope of finalising some bilateral engagements as the national team has nothing lined up after its England tour.

Nomination process for Chairman's election:

The other issue that is likely to come up for discussion in Monday's meeting is the nomination process for the next independent chairman of the ICC after Shashank Manohar's resignation earlier this month.

It is learnt that there is no consensus on what should be the criteria in case multiple candidates join the fray.

"The board is not united on whether the usual 2/3rd majority to decide will be used (as its in case of policy decision) or the case of simple majority among the 17 board members," an ICC Board member said.

England and Wales Cricket Board's Colin Graves was considered the top contender with BCCI president Sourav Ganguly's name also being floated.

Ganguly's candidature will certainly depend on whether the Supreme Court waives off the cooling off period and allows him to continue as BCCI president beyond July 27 when he completes six years as an office-bearer in the Indian Board's state and national units.

When asked about the possibility of taking up the ICC job in a recent interview, the 48-year-old said he is young and and in no hurry for the position.

New Zealand's Gregor Barclay, Hong Kong's Imran Khawaja, who is currently the interim chairman, are also being talked about as potential candidates.

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