Tight vigil by Rahul, Dhawan takes India to 70 for none at tea

Agencies
November 19, 2017

Kolkata, Nov 19: Adopting a cautious approach, openers KL Rahul (36) and Shikhar Dhawan (33) kept the Sri Lankan bowlers at bay to take India to 70 without loss at the tea on the fourth day of the opening cricket Test, here today. Paceman Mohammed Shami, who had walked off the field yesterday due to cramps in his right leg, claimed three wickets in the morning session to help India bowl out the visitors for 294 early in the second session. 

Both Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/88) and Shami (4/100) claimed four wickets each as it took India 38 overs to scalp the remaining six batsmen. Sri Lanka's number nine batsman Rangana Herath emerged the highest run-scorer with his 67-run knock in a splendid rearguard action that enabled the tourists to grab a healthy 122 -run lead. Both Rahul and Dhawan abstained from playing extravagant shots in India's second essay. They remained unseparated at the second break day of the day with India still trailing by 52 runs. 

The Indian openers were calm and patient in their approach, playing mostly with the straight bat. The grounded drives were in the safe cover region as they made the Lankan bowlers toil hard without success. The only time the Lankans came close to getting a wicket was when Rahul (on 22) drove straight back to Lahiru Gamage in the 12th over of the innings but the paceman missed the difficult caught and bowled chance. The conditions were much better for batting with only an oddball troubling the Indians with bounce.

With the sun shining bright, Dhawan and Rahul found nine boundaries. Earlier in the day, resuming at 165/4, Sri Lankan duo of Niroshan Dickwella (35) and skipper Dinesh Chandimal (28) began in aggressive fashion. Wicketkeeper Dickwella took on Bhuvneshwar, slamming him for three boundaries in the 52nd over but Shami turned the tide in favour of India removing the overnight batsmen.

Dickwella poked at an in-swinger to be caught by Virat Kohli at second slip. In the next over Dasun Shanaka (0) was trapped by Bhuvneshwar with an in-swinger. The decision was reviewed by Sri Lanka but it was given out after the umpire's call.

In the second ball of the next over, Shami dismissed the Lankan skipper who played away from the body and a faint edge went to Wriddhiman Saha as India claimed three wickets in 10 balls in a superb display of pace bowling in the first hour.

Sri Lanka was accurate with their DRS calls as Dilruwan Perera (5) survived an LBW decision given against him even as he was caught on camera turning towards the dressing room before asking for a review.

It reminded of the Steve Smith 'cheatgate' episode which happened during India-Australia second Test in Bengaluru last March. The incident happened in the last ball of 57th over with Perera yet to open his account when he was struck on backfoot by an in-dipper.

The ball was clearly in-line to be given out by Llong. Perera first looked at his partner Herath and started walking back immediately towards the pavilion.

However, all of a sudden, he opted to review after turning towards the dressing room. It was unclear whether any assistance came from the dressing room.

The decision was eventually overturned as the impact was marginally outside the line and Perera survived but strangely there was no protest from Virat Kohli and Co.

Llong was incidentally officiated as an on-field umpire during the Bengaluru Test as well.

Perera, however, could not make it big, becoming Shami's third victim. But Herath remained solid in his counter-attacking innings to give Sri Lanka an edge.

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News Network
May 5,2020

May 5: Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar says he is interested in becoming India's bowling coach if there is an offer, asserting that he is capable of grooming "more aggressive, fast and talkative" pacers.

Akhtar expressed his willingness in an interview on social networking app 'Helo'.

Asked if he would like to be associated with the Indian bowling unit in future, he responded in the positive. India's current bowling is Bharat Arun.

"I will definitely. My job is to spread knowledge. What I have learned is knowledge and I will spread it," Akhtar said.

One of the fastest bowlers to have played the game, he added, "I will produce more aggressive, fast and more talkative bowlers than the current ones who will tell-off the batsmen in a way that you will enjoy a lot."

He said he has always wanted to share his knowledge among budding cricketers and that he is looking to produce more aggressive bowlers.

He also added that he would like to "coach" IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, for whom he has played in the cash-rich T20 league's inaugural edition.

The former pacer also spoke about his early interactions with Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar in the 1998 series.

"I had seen him but didn't know how big a name he was in India. In Chennai, I got to know that he was known as a god in India.

"Mind you, he is a very good friend of mine. In 1998, when I bowled as fast as I could, Indian public celebrated with me. I have a big fan following in India," Akhtar said.

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Agencies
March 8,2020

Mumbai, Mar 8: Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned to India's ODI squad as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the team for the upcoming South Africa series.

South Africa are scheduled to tour India for a three-match ODI series, starting from March 12.

India's ODI squad: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Virat Kohli (C ), KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) have already announced their squad for the series and spinner George Linde was given maiden ODI call-up.

South Africa squad: Quinton de Kock (c, wk), Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Faf du Plessis, Kyle Verreynne, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Jon-Jon Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lungi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks, Anrich Nortje, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Janneman Malan.

The first ODI will be played in Dharamsala while the other two matches will be played in Lucknow and Kolkata on March 15 and 18, respectively.

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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.

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