India vs South Africa: India survive Christiaan Jonker onslaught to win T20I series

Agencies
February 25, 2018

India survived a late onslaught by debutant Christiaan Jonker and edged South Africa by seven runs to win the third T20I in Cape Town on Saturday to clinch the series 2-1.

Jonker scored 49 off 24 balls to almost snatch victory from India, who, after posting 172/7, looked on course for an easy win by limiting the hosts to 52/2 in 10 overs. But skipper JP Duminy (55 off 41) and then Jonker almost took SA home before Bhuvneshwar defended the 19 runs they needed to win off the last six balls.

Bhuvneshwar finished with best figures of 2/24, while Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Hardik Pandya and Suresh Raina took one wicket each.

The match came alive in the last seven overs as Duminy and Jonker took the battle to the Indian bowlers. The hosts were struggling at 79/3 after 13 overs when the duo decided to change gears with a 30-run stand that came off just three overs.

Although Duminy fell looking for big shots, Jonker continued to trouble the visitors with some superb strokeplay. He almost took the hosts to victory before falling off the last ball of the match.

Earlier, India started the day with a setback as Virat Kohli was ruled out of the game with a stiff back, handing over captaincy duties to Rohit Sharma.

Shikhar Dhawan top-scored with his 47 while Suresh Raina contributed 43 as the visitors were asked to bat first. Raina was declared 'Man of the Match' for his all-round show as he chipped in with a three-over spell of 1/27.

Paceman Junior Dala (3/35) took three wickets while Chris Morris (2/43) accounted for two Indian wickets.

Rohit fell early to Dala but the left-handed pair of Dhawan and Raina added 65 runs for the third-wicket when the latter was removed by Tabraiz Shamsi.

Dhawan got two lives on 9 and 34, dropped on both occasions by Shamsi. He was then run out by Dala's direct hit from the fence.

Manish Pandey (13) and Dhoni (12) couldn't repeat their heroics from the last match and were sent back by Dala.

Hardik Pandya's 17-ball 21 and Dinesh Karthik's 13 off 6 then pushed India's score past the 170 mark.

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News Network
March 25,2020

New Delhi, Mar 25: Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen appealed to Indian citizens to stay home during the 21-day lockdown, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contain coronavirus.

"Namaste India! I have heard that your situation is like ours, PM Modi has announced a nation-wide lockdown for 21 days. I request you to follow this instruction. We will fight coronavirus together and come out to this situation. Please stay at your home and stay safe, " he tweeted in Hindi.
At the end of the message, Pietersen gave credit to his "Hindi teacher" Shreevats Goswami, who is an Indian domestic cricketer.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the nationwide total lockdown will be in place for three weeks to combat the coronavirus menace.

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News Network
July 1,2020

New Delhi, Jul 1: After being named as India's 'Most Valuable Player' in Test cricket in the 21st century, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja on Wednesday said that he will always aim to give his best for the country.

His remark came as Jadeja achieved an MVP rating of 97.3 and as a result, he was also rated as the second most valuable player Test player worldwide, only second to Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan.

"Thank you Wisden India for naming me the 'Most Valuable Player'. I would like to thank all my teammates, coaches, fans, and well-wishers for your support as I aim to give my best for our country. Jai Hind," Jadeja tweeted.

Based on CricViz's market-leading analytics, each player in world cricket was awarded an 'MVP rating' by Wisden using a statistical model to rank their 'match impact' compared to their peers.

Jadeja has played in 49 Tests from 2012, managing to score 1,869 runs and has also picked up 213 wickets.

"It might come as a surprise to see Ravindra Jadeja, India's spin-bowling all-rounder, feature as India's number one. After all, he's not even always an automatic pick in their Test team. However, when he does play he is picked as a frontline bowler and has batted as high as No.6 - contributing to a very high match involvement," the official website of Wisden quoted CricViz's Freddie Wilde as saying.

"But Jadeja's position is based on more than simply volume: it's what he does when he's involved that really counts. The 31-year-old's bowling average of 24.62 is better than Shane Warne's and his batting average of 35.26 is better than Shane Watson's. His batting and bowling average differential of 10.62 runs is the second-best of any player this century to have scored more than 1,000 runs and taken 150 wickets. He is an all-rounder of the very highest quality," he added.

With the bat in hand, Jadeja has managed to score one century and 14 fifties in the longest format of the game.

He was last seen in action during India's two-Test series against New Zealand earlier this year.

He would have been in action for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL had the tournament commenced from March 29.

However, the IPL has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Agencies
March 1,2020

New Delhi, Mar 1: Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif on Sunday heaped praise on Ravindra Jadeja after the all-rounder took a spectacular catch on the second day of the Christchurch Test against New Zealand.

Jadeja grabbed a one-handed stunner at deep square leg in the 72nd over to dismiss Neil Wagner, who had to depart after scoring 21 runs.

"Sir Jadeja for a reason! Jadeja Airlines, flying high! Terrific stuff," Kaif tweeted.

In the match, Jadeja also impressed with the ball. The left-handed bowler took two wickets while giving away 22 runs.

On day two, India bundled out New Zealand on 235 runs in the second Test. However, in their second innings, Indian batsmen again struggled to tackle the New Zealand pacers and lost six wickets with a lead of just 97 runs.

India went to stumps at 90/6, with Trent Boult doing the majority of the damage with three wickets.

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