India vs West Indies, 2nd Test: Roston Chase defies India as West Indies score 295/7 on Day 1

Agencies
October 12, 2018

Hyderabad, Oct 12: Indian spinners went off the boil in the final session as all-rounder Roston Chase hit a gutsy unbeaten 98 to take the West Indies to a respectable 295 for seven on the opening day of the second Test, here on Friday.

Chase, who scored 137 to deny India a victory in a Test match in Jamaica back in 2016, showed the much-needed application with requisite technique as Indian bowlers struggled after polishing off the top half for only 113 runs.

Chase, along with skipper Jason Holder (52), did enough to ensure that the West Indies will have a good first innings total to fight against a heavyweight Indian batting line-up.

Not being able to dismiss the middle and lower-order was a problem in England and it once again turned out to be the bowling unit's bane as the Chase-Holder duo added 104 runs for the seventh wicket.

In England, it was the pacers, here it was the spinners and only one wicket fell for 102 runs in the last session.

Nonetheless, Umesh Yadav (3/83 in 23 overs) bowled his heart out on a good batting track while left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav (3/74 in 26 overs) was also impressive during the first two sessions.

Debutant pacer Shardul Thakur left the field complaining of groin strain after bowling merely 10 deliveries and the Indian attack was reduced to four men.

It seemed good enough till tea time, but the lack of a fifth bowler did have its effect in the final session as the two senior spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (1/49 in 24.2 overs) and Ravindra Jadeja (0/69 in 20 overs) lacked a Plan B to dismiss a set Chase.

That Jadeja didn't even have a Plan A was evident as he bowled flat out but wasn't even restrictive like Ashwin.

Prior to the match, when Chase was asked about doing a Jamaica encore, he replied: "Anything is possible."

He walked the talk and read the pitch better compared to his top-order colleagues.

He understood that it was a flat track and played most deliveries on the front-foot to meet the ball early. When the spinners fired in the faster ones, he was quick to lean on his backfoot.

In all, he hit seven boundaries and a six during his 174-ball knock.

However, it was India, who had started the post-lunch session on a dominant note with signs that another batting debacle from the Caribbeans looking imminent.

Shimron Hetmeyer (12) offered no stroke to a googly and was adjudged plumb in-front. Sunil Ambris (18) played a loose shot as the Caribbeans were left stuttering at 113 for five.

Chase and Shane Dowrich (30) then added 69 runs for the sixth wicket before Umesh got the ball to reverse trapping the keeper leg-before. While the umpire initially gave not out, skipper Virat Kohli had a successful DRS review.

Earlier, Ashwin and Yadav struck early as West Indies lost their top-order in the first session in which they scored 86 runs.

At the stroke of lunch, Shai Hope (36) was dismissed by Yadav as India gained the upper-hand.

Opener Powell, who scored 83 in the second innings at Rajkot in the first Test, struck four boundaries. He successfully reviewed a leg-before call off Ashwin's delivery as TV replays showed a big inside edge.

But Powell did not survive long as Ashwin flighted one and the batsman, trying the inside-out lofted drive, failed to get the elevation to be caught by Ravindra Jadeja at cover.

Powell's opening partner Brathwaite showed better application compared to the first Test as he was ready to dig in his heels and defend doggedly.

However, not scoring runs did put pressure as he looked clearly uncomfortable at not being able to pick Kuldeep's wrist-spinners.

In fact, he was facing problems with Kuldeep's incoming delivery -- the stock ball for a chinaman.

One such delivery ended his 68-ball vigil with a delivery that spun sharply into Brathwaite as the batsman played to a wrong line.

Youngsters Hope and Shimron Hetmeyer (10 batting), however, batted with grit, punishing the odd loose balls for boundary.

Both were ready to defend Ashwin off the front-foot primarily and it worked to their advantage as they added 34 runs for the third wicket.

The stand-out shots of the first session were a couple of back-foot punches by Hope off Umesh Yadav's bowling.

He also hit a front-foot cover drive before Umesh angled one in to get him leg before.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

London, Jan 11: Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the World Cup 2011 win has been nominated in Laureas's list for the most inspiring sporting event in the last twenty years.

The moment featuring Tendulkar has been described as "Carried on the shoulders by a nation".

On his sixth attempt at the World Cup and with India not having won the competition since 1983, Tendulkar finally became a part of the team that lifted the coveted trophy. Carried on the shoulders of the Indian team, he made a lap of honour, shedding tears of joy after the victory was sealed in his home city.

The 2011 World Cup was also the first time, in which a host nation ended up winning the trophy.

Apart from Tendulkar, England's Andrew Flintoff is the only other cricketer to feature in the list. In 2005, England managed to defeat Australia in an Ashes Test, but Flintoff chose to first shake hands with Brett Lee rather than celebrate with his side.

Matthias Steiner (weightlifting), Natalie du Toit (swimming), Sky Brown (skateboarding), Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee (triathlon), Xia Boyu (mountaineering) have been nominated in the list.

Female tennis stars also feature in the list for coming up with an equal play, equal pay campaign. After pressure from Venus Williams and others, Wimbledon announced that female tennis players would receive prize money equal to the men's.

German international footballer Miroslav Klose was playing for Lazio in Italy's Serie A in 2012 against Napoli when he rose for a ball in the early moments of the game.

The ball came spiraling off his hand and skirted into the back of the net and a goal was awarded. While most players would carry on as if nothing had happened, Klose was honest with the referee and admitted that he handled the ball.

As a result, he also finds a place on the list.

The Laureus Sporting Moment Award celebrates the moments where the sport has unified people in the most extraordinary way.

This campaign has shortlisted 20 sporting stories from the last 20 years that have left their mark on the world.

The winner will be decided on the basis of public voting. It has already started, and the final date to cast the vote is February 16.

Finally, the result will be declared on February 17.
With three knock-out rounds, the top-20 moments will be whittled down to ten then five, with the top-five moments going head-to-head.

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News Network
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: Star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan deeply regrets his "silly mistake" of not reporting a corrupt approach by an Indian bookie to the ICC, leading to his one year suspension from the game.

Shakib was banned for two years, one year of it suspended, for failing to report corrupt approaches during an IPL edition by an alleged Indian bookie named Deepak Aggarwal.

"I took the approaches too casually When I met the anti-corruption guy and told them and they knew everything. Gave them all the evidence and they knew everything that happened," Shakib told Harsha Bhogle on 'Cricbuzz in Conversation'.

"To be honest, that's the only reason I was banned for a year, otherwise I'd have been banned for five or 10 years," he added on the ICC's investigation.

The 33-year-old, who was in brilliant form before the ban, amassing 606 runs in the 2019 World Cup in the UK, said he regrets how he went about the situation.

"But I think that was a silly mistake I made. Because with my experience and the amount of international matches I've played and the amount of ICC's anti-corruption code of conduct classes I took, I shouldn't have made that decision, to be honest."

Lesson learnt, Shakib's advice to all young criceters is to never take any such message lightly.

"I regret that. No one should take such messages or calls (from bookies) lightly or leave it away. We must inform the ICC ACSU guy to be on the safe side and that's the lesson I learnt, and I think I learnt a big lesson," he added.

The all-rounder, whose ban ends on October 29, said he became a bit arrogant and never felt he was doing anything wrong by not reporting the bookie's approach immediately.

"Because you do most things right in your life, you tend to get arrogant with some decisions. You may not realise but you're doing wrong by the books. It never came to my mind that I am doing something wrong

"It was just a feeling of 'okay, what's going to happen, leave it' and I continued with my life. But that's the mistake I made. And that happens," Shakib said.

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News Network
January 27,2020

Hamilton, Jan 27: In awe of Jasprit Bumrah, New Zealand wicketkeeper Tim Seifert says the Indian speedster's subtle variations have been difficult to pick in the ongoing T20 series and his side needs to a learn a thing or two about adapting from the visitors.

India beat New Zealand by seven wickets in the second T20 International in Auckland on Sunday to grab a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Bumrah returned with figures of 1-21 from his four overs as Indian skipper Virat Kohli changed his bowling plans from the first game.

"Even in the first game, Bumrah bowled slower balls that were going wider. Normally, death bowlers get into straighter lines, plus yorkers and mix it with chest height. He kind of changes things a lot and is tougher to play," Seifert said.

"...the ball was holding a lot more which made it tougher. So sometimes as a batsman you have to move away from the stumps and see if they bowl straight. I was backing myself to do something different instead of just standing there at the wicket," said the stumper, who remained unbeaten on 33 off 26 balls.

"It was tricky and the ball was holding a little bit. When Kane (Williamson) got out in the over against Yuzvendra Chahal, we knew it was the over to push because they had Bumrah coming back," he added.

He said New Zealand batsmen need to take a cue from their Indian counterparts on how to adapt to different conditions quickly.

"...Indian batsmen showed how to get under the ball and time it. They showed it a couple of times that and on the slower wickets you just have to keep it like that. Once you lose your shape, you are not in position," he said.

"Try to get them (bowlers) off line or off balance, try to get into that position to hit good balls. That's T20 cricket as well. Sometimes it's going 100 per cent but some times you have to take a breath and re-assess. Indian batters did that well."

Seifert believes New Zealand bowlers did reasonably well in the two games but they have been outplayed by the Indian batsmen.

"To be honest, in the first game they were 110-1 and they had wickets in hand. We didn't bowl too badly in that first game. In the second game, we only got 130 and it is tough to bowl at Eden Park (with that total)," he said.

"170 was the target in mind but once you get 130 on the board, that was going to be very hard at Eden Park against a team that is very strong and playing really well. But our spinners were outstanding. Good balls have gone to boundary.

He said coming into the T20 series on the back of a lost Test rubber in Australia also didn't help New Zealand's cause in the first two games.

"Boys are coming off a Test series (in Australia) and a lot of them haven't played T20 cricket for a while," he said.

"But for some like me, I have had the Super Smash for the last two months, so I have played a lot of T20 cricket. They have two games under their belt now so hopefully they will have a better understanding."

Asked if New Zealand would want to play on India's strength of chasing, Seifert replied, "Even in ODI cricket, India have chased down big totals but I think on that wicket it was going to get slower and slower.

"But with that small target on Eden Park, something special has to happen with top six (for a collapse). One batsman got fifty and the other was batting very well. We needed top five-six in the first 10 overs," he said.

The Black Caps are still confident of bouncing back in the series.

The third T20 will be played here on Wednesday before back-to-back matches in Wellington and Mt Maunganui. Seifert said they would like to replicate the 2019 tour of India, where New Zealand came out 2-1 victorious in the three-match series.

"We have lost the first two games but we haven't played badly. We definitely haven't played our best though while India has played very well. If we lose the series on Wednesday, it is not the end of the world. But if we can turn things around, and win, we will take things from there," he said.

"We won the series 2-1 last time, so we have to treat it like a three match series again. But we have to treat it like the first two are must-win games."

"We are not playing our best at the moment. There are 20-odd games before the World Cup, and that tournament is the pinnacle, so we will get there (in preparation),” he signed off.

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