2nd Test, day 2: Cheteshwar Pujara, Murali Vijay double-ton stand gives India lead of 74

March 3, 2013

Cheteshwar_Pujara_Murali_Vijay_double-ton

Hyderabad, Mar 3: Murali Vijay (129*) and Cheteshwar Pujara (162*) wrote their names into the record books with an unbroken partnership of 294 for the second wicket which all but shoved Australia out of the second Test and drove India to a lead of 74 at stumps. While Australia's two frontline fast bowlers bowled fine spells in the morning, it was the spinners who let them down: Xavier Doherty and Glenn Maxwell conceded 140 in 36 overs on a day on which just one wicket fell.

Sunday's play was broken into three distinct passages of play: Vijay and Pujara scratched around 22 overs for 37 runs in the morning session, moved up a gear to take 106 off the afternoon passage, before accelerating in the final two hours to crush a fatigued Australian bowling attack. The breakdown of each of their 50-run stands was proof of how well the pair paced their innings: the first 50 took 157 balls, the second 97, the third 80, the fourth just 65 and the fifth in just 50 balls.

Vijay and Pujara had been joined at the fall of Virender Sehwag for 6 in the third over of Peter Siddle's first spell (7-2-16-1) in which he tested the batsmen with short deliveries and didn't allow them to drive much. Siddle and James Pattinson worked up good pace, while from the other end Moises Henriques (7-4-3-0) plugged away diligently to keep India's scoring to a drip. With the odd ball keeping low, Australia's seamers were encouraged to vary their lengths and this meant Pujara and Vijay had to stay watchful.

The pair managed just 30 runs in 17 overs from the time Sehwag exited to when spin was introduced, in the 22nd over. Vijay opened up with a lofted shot over extra cover for four in Doherty's fourth over and India's 50 came up in the penultimate over before lunch as Vijay drove a full toss from Pattinson to the deep cover boundary. That shot set the tone for second session, in which Vijay and Pujara scored 106 runs.

The sluggishness of the morning session was followed by a busy afternoon that ended with India within 77 runs of drawing level with Australia, whose bowlers slacked in the second session. Vijay and Pujara went after Siddle and Pattinson and took 30 runs off the first eight overs. Vijay flicked and drove stylishly to collect boundaries off Siddle, while 12 runs came off the 35th over bowled by Pattinson as Pujara cut, drove and steered boundaries with purpose. Doherty's reappearance immediately resulted in Vijay hitting six down the ground to bring up his half-century in 141 deliveries.

Pujara too reached the landmark, off 114 deliveries, with a boundary off Maxwell. He had hurt his knee while diving earlier and struggled between the wickets and so relied on loose deliveries to put away. As Australia operated with spin from both ends, both men opened up. Vijay paddled and clipped Maxwell over midwicket for fours and when Doherty and Maxwell dragged the ball down, Pujara got back to punch boundaries. Michael Clarke grassed a tough catch at slip soon before tea, with Vijay on 71, and the session ended with Pujara pulling Siddle to midwicket for four.

Both batsmen resumed the final session on 73, and Pujara sped ahead with four boundaries. Vijay looked to catch up with six and four off the first two balls of Maxwell's tenth over, which cost 15 and saw Pujara dab past short third man to reach his fourth Test century. Pujara had jumped from 73 to 100 in 39 deliveries. Vijay duly followed his partner to three figures, lofting Doherty over the covers for four. It was his second in Tests and second against Australia, and Vijay celebrated by cutting the next ball for four more. David Warner's introduction brought out the ferocity in Pujara, who pasted a half-tracker and two full tosses to the midwicket boundary as India took 94 off the first hour after tea.

The second new ball proved in futility, with Pujara hitting Pattinson for four fours in the space of two overs, thus swelling the alliance with Vijay past 250. Pujara crossed 150 with a hooked six off Siddle, and that shot aptly summed up the way the day ended for both teams. This stand is now the best second-wicket partnership for India versus Australia in Tests, surpassing the 224 that Mohinder Amarnath and Sunil Gavaskar added at Sydney in 1986.

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News Network
July 24,2020

Dubai, Jul 24: The eagerly-awaited Indian Premier League will start on September 19 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the final slated on November 8, IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel told PTI on Friday.

While the event's Governing Council will meet next week to chalk out the final details and approve the schedule, it is understood that the BCCI has informally intimated the franchises about the plan.

"The GC will meet shortly but we have finalised the schedule. It will run from September 19 to November 8. We expect the government approval to come through. It is a full 51-day IPL," Patel confirmed the development after PTI reported the dates on Thursday.

The IPL has been made possible by the ICC's decision to postpone the October-November T20 World Cup in Australia owing to the COVID-19 pandemic due to which the host country expressed its inability to conduct the event.

Patel said that the Standard Operating Procedure to combat the COVID-19 threat is being prepared and the BCCI will formally write to the Emirates Cricket Board.

"We are making the SOP and it will be ready in a few days. To allow crowd or not depends on the UAE government. Anyway social distancing has to be maintained. We have left it for their government to decide on that. Will also be writing to the UAE board formally," Patel said.

There are three grounds available in the UAE -- Dubai International Stadium, Sheikh Zayed Stadium (Abu Dhabi) and the Sharjah ground.

It is learnt that the BCCI will be renting the grounds of the ICC Academy for training of the teams.

The ICC Academy has two full-sized cricket grounds along with 38 turf pitches, 6 indoor pitches, a 5700 square foot outdoor conditioning area along with physiotherapy and medicine centre.

As per the current health protocol in Dubai, there is no need to be in quarantine if people are carrying a negative COVID-19 test report, but if they are not, they will have to undergo a test.

While there was speculation that the IPL will start from September 26, the BCCI decided to advance it by a week in order to ensure that the Indian team's tour of Australia is not jeopardised.

"The Indian team will have a mandatory quarantine of 14 days as per the Australian government rules. A delay would have sent the plans haywire," a BCCI official said on conditions of anonymity.

"The best part is that 51 days is not at all a curtailed period and broadcasters will be happy with full seven-week window," he added.

While the original schedule had five double-headers, Patel said the new one will feature around 12 double-headers which means two matches each on both Saturdays and Sundays.

The Indians are set to play a four-match Test series against Australia starting December 3 in Brisbane after the IPL.

It is expected that with each and every team needing at least a month's time to train, the IPL franchises will be leaving base by August 20 which gives them exactly four weeks time to prepare.

The cash-rich event was originally scheduled to start at the end of March but the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions that were put in place to contain the virus, led to an indefinite postponement.

However, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had always maintained that the event will be held some time this year.

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News Network
March 12,2020

New Delhi, Mar 12: No foreign player will be available for this year's IPL till April 15 due to visa restrictions imposed by the government to contain the novel coronavirus threat, a top BCCI source told PTI on Thursday, casting fresh doubts on the fate of the event.

"The foreign players who play in the IPL come under the Business Visa category. As per the government's directive, they can't come till April 15," a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

The government issued fresh advisory with a ban on all existing foreign visas, except a few categories like diplomatic and employment, till April 15 in the wake of new positive cases of novel coronavirus in the country.

India has reported 60 positive cases in the outbreak which has led to over 4,000 deaths globally.

The fate of the IPL itself will be decided on March 14 at the event's Governing Council meeting in Mumbai. "All decisions will be taken by the GC in Mumbai," the source said.

Having the IPL, starting March 29, played in empty stadiums is an option being explored.

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Agencies
August 5,2020

New Delhi, Aug 5: "Want to know what makes him tick," said Australian pacer Kane Richardson will talking about playing alongside Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.

The IPL 2020 will be played in the UAE from September 19-November 10 and the tournament will run for 53 days.

In the players' auction which was conducted in December 2019, RCB managed to bag key players like Richardson, Chris Morris, Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn, Joshua Philippe, and Isuru Udana.

In an interaction with news agency, Richardson talked about playing alongside Kohli and the learning curve which is in store for him by being in the same squad as Proteas great Dale Steyn.
"Huge. These guys (Virat, AB de Villiers) are the absolute legends of the game. Anything I can learn from them will be a bonus, that's for sure.

I am really looking forward to playing with Virat, there are few more competitive players in the world. I am really looking forward to seeing what makes him tick," Richardson said.

The 29-year-old pacer also said that he would want to learn from Steyn as to how to be consistent in all formats of the game over a long period of time.

"There are loads I can learn from Dale. He has been amongst the best at the highest level for so long. His control and ability to swing the ball without losing his pace is really impressive. 

I look forward to getting in his ear about how he performs so consistently over a long period, in all forms," said Richardson who has 39 ODI wickets to his credit.

Richardson has so far played 14 games in his IPL career so far and has picked up 18 wickets. The bowler played for Pune Warriors India in 2013, Rajasthan Royals in 2014, and RCB in 2016.

For this year's IPL, RCB has also bagged Australia's limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch, and Richardson thinks having a familiar face in the camp would help him to settle better in the franchise.

"Finchey is an awesome player and a fantastic leader. I am sure it will help to have two Aussies in the side along with Josh who is playing his first tournament after a massive summer in the BBL. We are all professionals, I'm sure it won't take long for us to gel as a side," Richardson said.

However, before the IPL starts, Australia is expected to tour England for a limited-overs series, comprising of three ODIs and as many T20Is.

The side was last seen in action in March this year as they played one ODI against New Zealand in Sydney. After the first match, the remaining two ODIs were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Talking about the series against England, Kane replied: "We will be fresh, that's one thing, while the England players have been in a bubble for some time now. As long as we get enough practice in before and possibly some centre wicket it should not be an issue."

"They are World Cup holders and the number one ranked side for a very good reason. It will be a tough series also given they will have played a fair bit of cricket together by then. We know we need to work hard on our one-day game which will be a priority over the next period," he added.

The pacer also talked about how the lockdown was like for him, and Richardson feels that everyone would come back strong as a result of this break.

"The break from playing has been refreshing, to be honest. We have come back strong and are well into pre-season training with our states. As a bowler, our loads are not at their peak but we are working towards getting ready for a tour of the UK in a few weeks," Richardson said.

The Australian quick has so far played 25 ODIs and 18 T20Is, managing to take 39 and 19 wickets respectively.

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