India vs England: Cheteshwar Pujara sweats it out with unbeaten 132 to put visitors in lead on Day 4

Agencies
September 1, 2018

Southampton, Sept 1: Cheteshwar Pujara's painstaking and brave century gave India a narrow lead on the second day of the fourth Test after England off-spinner Moeen Ali took five wickets at Southampton on Friday.

Pujara's near six-hour 132 not out was the cornerstone of India's 273, made in reply to England's first-innings 246.

Ali took five wickets for 63 runs in 16 overs -- his second successive five-wicket innings haul in a Test against India at Southampton following a return of six for 67 in 2014.

Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings batted out four overs as England reached stumps on six without loss in their second innings -- a deficit of 21 runs.

"At one stage they were 140 for two going well, and so to bowl them out just 20-odd runs ahead is fantastic" Ali told Sky Sports. "I have nice memories from the last Test I played here which helps as well."

Pujara was on 78 when Ali struck twice in two balls to leave India, 2-1 down in the five-match series after their 203-run win at Trent Bridge last week, on 195 for eight.

Ishant Sharma survived the hat-trick at the start of Ali's next over before he too fell to the all-rounder.

Pujara, now on 96, now had only No 11 Jasprit Bumrah for company.

But a swept two off Ali took him to 99 and he then survived the bowler's review for lbw after third umpire Joel Wilson ruled he had been playing a shot.

India number three Pujara, with the field up, lofted Ali down the ground to complete a deserved century, his 15th in Tests, off 210 balls including 11 fours.

It was the kind of patient century seemingly beyond many members of an England top order for whom batting collapses have become a matter of routine.

Pujara fielded, but did not attend the post-match press conferences.

India-born former England captain Nasser Hussain, commentating on Sky, praised Pujara's innings by saying: "Here is a lad who has gutsed it out, played in a good old-fashioned determined way."

Bumrah hung around so long that England took the new ball.

Pujara's response was to launch Stuart Broad for four over midwicket and next ball drive him through the covers for another boundary.

Broad eventually had Bumrah, who batted over an hour for six, caught by Cook at first slip.

India resumed Friday on 19 without loss.

James Anderson, England's all-time leading Test wicket-taker, needed six more wickets to equal retired Australia great Glenn McGrath's mark of 563 -- the most taken by any fast bowler at this level.

Anderson, however, went wicketless in an innings return of none for 50 in 18 overs.

Instead it was longtime new-ball partner Broad who removed openers KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan to leave India 50 for two.

Pujara and India captain Virat Kohli (46) rebuilt the innings with a third-wicket stand of 92.

But after lunch, Sam Curran, who had already marked his return to the team with a Test-best 78 that rescued England from the depths of 86 for six on Thursday, dismissed Kohli, who during his innings passed 6,000 runs in Tests.

The 20-year-old Surrey left-arm swing bowler angled a delivery across star batsman Kohli who, in a rare error, pushed away from his body and saw the ensuing edge well caught low at first slip by Cook.

Curran was unlucky to make way for the returning Ben Stokes at Trent Bridge.

A minor recurrence of all-rounder Stokes's knee injury led to doubts over his ability to bowl at Southampton and a fresh rejig of England's team.

But the paceman's first legitimate delivery on Friday saw Pujara, on 50, edge just beyond Buttler's grasp.

Stokes had better luck when a desperately close call for a no-ball went his way after he had Ajinkya Rahane lbw for 11.

Pujara suffered a painful blow when he missed an intended hook off Stokes, with the batsman needing several minutes of on-field treatment as medical staff checked for concussion.

Ali removed Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya either side of tea.

Ravichandran Ashwin then inexplicably tried to reverse sweep his opposing off-spinner and played on, before Ali's next ball clean-bowled Mohammed Shami.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 9: Bangladesh clinched their maiden ICC U-19 World Cup title after beating favourites India by three wickets in the summit clash here on Sunday.

Set a revised target of 170 after a brief rain interruption, Bangladesh won the match with 23 balls to spare.

Sent in to bat, India's batting wilted under pressure as a superb Bangladesh bowling attack shot the defending champions out for a paltry 177 in 47.2 overs.

Yasashvi Jaiswal (88 off 121 balls) was once again a standout performer but not for once did he look like dominating the Bangladesh bowling unit whose new ball bowlers Shoriful Islam (2/31 in 10 overs) and Tanzim Hasan Shakib (2/28 in 8.2 overs) literally stifled the Indians for runs.

The third seamer Avishek Das (3/40 in 9 overs) was the most successful bowler in terms of figures but it was Shoriful's first spell with channelised aggression that put the Indians on the back-foot from the onset.

After a short rain break towards the end, the target was revised to 170 from 46 runs but Bangladesh reached 170 for 7 in 42.1 overs to win the match.

Opener Parvez Hossain Emon top-scored for Bangladesh with a 79-ball 47 while captain and wicketkeeper Akbar Ali was not out on 43 from 77 deliveries.

For the India U-19 side, Ravi Bishnoi was the most successful bowler with figures of 4/30 while Sushant Mishra had 2/25.

India thus missed out on a record fifth title in their seventh final appearance.

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Agencies
February 12,2020

Mumbai, Feb 12: Former Indian greats Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin have been left disappointed by the behaviour of the Under-19 team after the World Cup final where they were involved in an altercation with their Bangladeshi counterparts.

After Bangladesh won the final beating India by three wickets (via DLS) at the Senwes Park on Sunday, the players of the two teams were seen engaging in an exchange of words and even some pushing and shoving on the field.

"I would like to see the board (BCCI) take some strict action against the players to set an example. Cricket is not about abusing the opponent. I am sure there is enough reason for these youngsters to be dealt with firmly by BCCI," Kapil was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

"I welcome aggression, nothing wrong in it. But it has to be controlled aggression. You can't cross the line of decency in the name of being competitive. I would say it was unacceptable that youngsters put up such an obnoxious display on the cricket field," he added.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has sanctioned five players, including three from Bangladesh -- Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Rakibul Hasan --and two from India --Akash Singh and Ravi Bishnoi for the scuffle.

Azharuddin also reiterated what Kapil said, insisting that players need to be disciplined.

"I would take action against the errant Under 19 players, but I also want to know what role has the support staff played in educating these youngsters. Act now before it is too late. The players have to be disciplined," Azharuddin said.

Earlier, Bishan Singh Bedi has lashed out at the Priyam Garg-led team, saying their behaviour was disgusting and disgraceful.

"You bat, bowl and field badly�happens, but there's no excuse for behaving badly. The behaviour was disgusting and most disgraceful. The innocence of that age was not visible at all," Bedi told Mid Day.

Bedi, who represented India in 67 Tests and 10 ODIs, said the behaviour of the Bangladesh cricketers is not our problem.

"Look, what Bangladesh do is their problem, what our boys do is our problem. You could see that there was abusive language used," he said.

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Agencies
April 14,2020

Tokyo, Apr 14: Tokyo organizers said Tuesday they have no B Plan in the event the Olympics need to be postponed again because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Masa Takaya, the spokesman for the Tokyo Olympics, said organizers are proceeding under the assumption the Olympics will open on July 23, 2021. The Paralympics follow on Aug. 24.

Those dates were set last month by the International Olympic Committee and Japanese officials after the coronavirus pandemic made it clear the Olympics could not be held as scheduled this summer.

We are working toward the new goal, Takaya said, speaking in English on a teleconference call with journalists.

We don't have a B Plan. The severity of the pandemic and the death toll has raised questions if it will even be feasible to hold the Olympics in just over 15 months. Several Japanese journalists raised the question on the call.

All I can tell you today is that the new games' dates for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games have been just set up, Takaya said.

In that respect, Tokyo 2020 and all concerned parties now are doing their very best effort to deliver the games next year." IOC President Thomas Bach was asked about the possibility of a postponement in an interview published in the German newspaper Die Welt on Sunday.

He did not answer the question directly, but said later that Japanese organizers and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated they could not manage a postponement beyond next summer at the lastest.

The Olympics draw 11,000 athletes and 4,400 Paralympic athletes and large support staffs from 206 national Olympic committees.

There are also questions about frozen travel, rebooking hotels, cramming fans into stadiums and arenas, securing venues, and the massive costs of rescheduling, which is estimated in Japan at 2 billion- 6 billion.

Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto addressed the issue in a news conference on Friday. He is likely to be asked about it again on Thursday when local organizers and the IOC hold a teleconferene with media in Japan.

The other major question is the cost of the delay; how much will it be, and who pays? Bach said in the Sunday interview that the IOC would incur several hundred million dollars in added costs. Under the so-called Host City Agreement, Japan is liable for the vast majority of the expenses.

This is impossible to say for now, Takaya, the spokesman said.

It is not very easy to estimate the exact amount of the games' additional costs, which have been impacted by the postponement."

Tokyo says it's spending 12.6 billion to organize the Olympics. But a Japanese government audit published last year says the costs are twice that much. Of the total spending, 5.6 billion in private money. The rest is from Japanese governments.

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