2nd Test, Day 3: India score 503 in first innings after Pujara's double century

March 4, 2013

Pujaras_double_centuryHyderabad, Mar 4: Cheteshwar Pujara scored his second double hundred and shared a record partnership with Murali Vijay as India took a huge 266-run first innings lead against Australia on the third day of the second cricket Test on Monday.

Despite failure of the other middle-order batsmen, India scored a commendable 503 in their first innings and the tea break was taken after the fall of last wicket.

Pujara added a whopping 370 runs for the second-wicket with Vijay before the latter was dismissed for a well-made 167, ending his 361-ball knock, in which he hit 23 boundaries and two sixes.

India's newest 'Run-Machine' Pujara scored a magnificent 204 before holing out in the deep fine-leg region while trying to hook a James Pattinson delivery. Pujara faced 341 balls with 30 boundaries and a six.

Once the partnership was broken, India lost wickets in a heap with last six wickets falling for only 43 runs.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni played a cameo, smashing 44 off 43 balls and added 56 for the fifth wicket with Virat Kohli (34) but the lower middle-order were snapped out in a jiffy.

Debutant all-rounder Glenn Maxwell was the most successful bowler grabbing four for 127 while Xavier Doherty took three wickets at the expense of 131 runs.

During the course of the marathon partnership between Pujara and Vijay, a few record tumbled by the wayside. The duo also eclipsed the 34-year-old second-wicket partnership record of 344 runs, set by Sunil Gavaskar (182) and Dilip Vengsarkar (157), against West Indies at Kolkata in 1978.

Pujara reached his double hundred, when he came down the track to whip Maxwell through the mid-wicket boundary.

The Australian bowlers lacked penetration and failed to cause any damage whatsoever as not even once did the pair looked like getting out.

Pujara and Vijay were unlucky as they failed to surpass the VVS Laxman-Rahul Dravid record partnership of 376 runs for any wicket against Australia at the Eden by seven runs.

Funnily, Sachin Tendulkar also got associated with a record.

Coming in to bat at No 4, Tendukar had to wait till the fifth ball of the 118th over to come in which is by far the highest duration that he has waited at the pavilion with his pads on.

In the morning, it took nearly 25 overs for Australia to finally get a breakthrough as Vijay gloved an off-break from Maxwell to Ed Cowan at backward short-leg to give the debutant his maiden Test wicket.

However, the Tamil Nadu opener had done his job and has now secured the opening slot for the time being. Vijay’s performance would certainly put a lot of pressure on the national selectors to axe Virender Sehwag, as they select the squad for the last two matches at the end of this Test.

Pujara didn't show any signs of hurry as he had enough time to play his strokes. With the pitch getting slower, Pattinson’s bouncers were also losing sting as the Saurashtra lad completed another personal landmark of 1000 Test runs.

Pujara became the second fastest in terms of innings to reach the landmark in 18 knocks -- second to Vinod Kambli, who had achieved the feat in 14 knocks.

Tendulkar hit Pattinson for a boundary past backward point but was caught down the leg-side by glovesman Wade. As Pattinson and other players went up with a caught behind appeal, umpire Kumar Dharmasena referred the legality of the catch to third umpire S Ravi. The third umpire adjudged Tendulkar caught behind.

In red-hot form, Dhoni started clobbering the bowlers from the word go as he hit seven boundaries before failing to clear mid-off fielder. Once Indian captain was out, the visitors didn't take much time to polish off the lower order.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
July 2,2020

Jul 2: Cricket Australia has decided to not use the Dukes ball from this summer's Sheffield Shield, having used it alongside Kookaburra for four seasons.

CA has confirmed that the Kookaburra ball will be used for the entire 2020-21 first-class season.

Australia has been using Dukes ball since the 2016-17 season in Shield matches with an aim to help its cricketers prepare for the hostile English conditions.

CA's Head of Cricket Operations, Peter Roach, said the decision to axe the Dukes was the right call. "The introduction of the Dukes ball has been a worthwhile exercise, particularly in the lead up to overseas Ashes series where the Dukes is used so well by our English opponents," Roach said.

"We have been happy with how the ball has performed when used in Australian conditions over the past four seasons. We do, however, feel that reverting to one ball for 2020-21 will provide the consistent examination of our players over a full season that CA and the states are presently seeking. The Kookaburra is the ball used for international cricket in Australia and many parts of the world and we see benefits this season of maximising our use of it," he added.

Roach said the ineffectiveness of spinners in first-class cricket in recent times played a role in CA's decision to do away with the Dukes. "We have noted that spin bowlers in the Sheffield Shield have been playing less of a role in recent seasons, most notably in games when the Dukes ball is in use. We need spinners bowling in first-class cricket and we need our batters facing spin. We hope that the change to one ball will have a positive benefit here," he said.

The CA official, however, didn't rule out the possibility of re-introducing it later.

"We see a definite opportunity to reintroduce the Dukes ball at some stage in the future."

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 30,2020

Hamilton, Jan 30: Caught unaware about the Super Over scenario, Rohit Sharma took five minutes to “find” his abdomen guard after the third T20 International against New Zealand had ended in a tie on Wednesday.

The India vice-captain said the team had almost given up with New Zealand going great guns at one point.

“Everything was packed. All my stuff was inside my bag. I had to get it out. It literally took me five minutes to find my abdomen guard because I didn’t know where it was,” Rohit said.

“I mean we never thought it would go to the Super Over, the way they were batting at one point. It looked like they could easily win the game,” he added.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 2,2020

New Delhi, Apr 2: It was on April 2, 2011, when the Men in Blue went on to win their second 50-over World Cup title.

India won its first World Cup in 1983 and then had to wait for 28 years to again lift the title.
Going into the 2011 tournament, India went in as the clear favourites as the competition was to be played in the sub-continent.

Under MS Dhoni's leadership, India lost just one match in the competition against South Africa.
India had defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in the semi-final to set up a summit clash with Sri Lanka.

In the finals, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first. Mahela Jayawardene top-scored for Sri Lanka as he struck a century to take the team's score to 274/6.

India in their chase got off to a bad start as the side lost Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag with just 31 runs on the board.

But Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni stepped up and stitched a match-winning 109-run partnership.

Gambhir perished after playing a knock of 97 runs, but in the end, Dhoni and Yuvraj took the team over the line by six wickets.

The winning six struck by Dhoni is still viewed as one of the most exciting moments in India's sporting history. 

As the winning six was hit, Ravi Shastri was doing commentary then, and he famously remarked, "Dhoni, finishes it off in style, India lifts the World Cup after 28 years".
As soon as the match-winning shot was hit, Tendulkar erupted with joy and had tears to see his dream finally being fulfilled.

Earlier this year, former Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the 2011 World Cup win, titled 'Carried On the Shoulders Of A Nation', was voted the greatest Laureus Sporting Moment of the last twenty years.

The lap after the World Cup is still edged into everyone's hearts.

Playing in his last mega 50-over tournament, it was the last chance for Tendulkar to lift the coveted trophy.

Before the 2011 World Cup, Tendulkar had played five tournaments (1992,1996,1999,2003 and 2007), and he fell short every time.

The closest he came to winning the trophy was in 2003 as India made the finals under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly.

But the Men in Blue fell short in the finals against Australia.

Then in 2007, the biggest setback was in store for the legend has India bowed out of the tournament in the group stages.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.