Sports
Hardik, Dube, spinners hand India series win
England will be wondering how they managed to lose in Pune. They squandered a chance to take the series into a decider after winning the toss, reducing India to 12 for 3 and then 79 for 5, got off to a flying start on a flat pitch and heavy dew around it, but ended up losing wickets in clumps after getting to 62 for 0 inside the powerplay. They were still favourites at 129 for in the 15th over, but lost two wickets in Varun Chakravarthy’s last over.
One of the answers they will get is they lost six wickets to spinners bowling on a true pitch with a wet ball. The other answer is India’s intent with the bat: they never really slowed down even as the wickets fell. Abhishek Sharma kept going after the triple-wicket maiden early in the innings, and Shivam dube and Hardik Pandya overcame the mid-innings blows with some targeted hitting to score 53 each and take India to a fighting total of 181.
Another answer – although they should never have let it play such a significant role – will be that India were allowed to play fast and loose with the concussion substitution. Dube, who was hit on the helmet in the final over and continued batting, complained of delayed onset of concussion symptoms, and was replaced by a full-time bowler in Harshit Rana even when a batting allrounder was available in Ramandeep Singh. Making his debut, Rana took the wickets to Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell and Jamie Overton to go with a six-run 19th over.
Saqib Mahmood checks in
India had the right idea to go after the bowling with the ball neither seaming nor swinging, but they ended up hitting everything straight to hand. Bowling his first over of the series Saqib Mahmood accepted the gifts although England did play a part with some inventive fields. Sanju Samson found deep square leg, Tilak Varma edged the first ball he faced to deep third, and then Suryakumar Yadav middled one straight to short mid-on.
India don’t back down
Quite often in the past, India have been guilty of taking the conservative option when forced to make a choice. Over the last year and a half, though, they have played differently. Abhishek is the flag-bearer of brave options. He made sure India had some momentum even as Rinku Singh got stuck. Not for the lack of trying, though.
When Abhishek got out for 29 off 19, India held back Hardik in order to target Adil Rashid with Dube. Rashid responded beautifully with a teasing loopy delivery first up with an attacking field, but Jos Buttler dropped a half chance at slip.
Rinku’s dismissal to Brydon Carse meant Hardik had to come in with Rashid overs still left. He channelled in his inner MS Dhoni by blocking out Rashid with proper front-foot defence. Dube helped him out by making sure Rashid went for 35 in his four even as Hardik warmed up to 13 off 16.
He returned the favour when Mahmood and Jofra Archer came back with shots full of swagger. Those two comeback overs went for 37, which meant India had something to fight with even though Overton conceded just three off the last over. He also clocked Dube in the head, an event that would assume larger significance.
Duckett stuns India, but they spin their way back
The chase started on a batting beauty, and Ben Duckett silenced the raucous crowd. More importantly, he reverse-swept Varun for a boundary, took 16 off Axar Patel’s first over, and seemed to be getting the better of spin challenge. RaviBishnoi, who had been digging the ball in, gambled with the last ball of the powerplay. With no boundary rider down the ground, he bowled the only flighted delivery of the over, and drew the mis-hit to dismiss Duckett for 39 off 19.
Phil Salt, who managed to get to spin for the first time in the series, exposed his stumps in trying to cut Axar and was done in by one that skidded on. Buttler became the victim of a touch of extra bounce for Bishnoi to make it 65 for 3, but the presence of the fielder taking the catch at short third, Rana, left him infuriated according to Kevin Pietersen on air.
Rana strikes immediately
Even at 65 for 3, this was England’s game to lose. Harry Brook and Livingstone made an assured start to their stand despite the troubles Brook has had against spin all series. There was hardly any turn to worry about. They had added 27 off 21, and the asking rate was under 10 when Rana came on to bowl in the 12th over. Livingstone guided the second ball straight to the keeper. Done in by the extra bounce when attempting the late-cut.
Brook still has it, but not quite
Even then Brook showed how easy batting was in those conditions. He took down Rana for 18 in his second over and even managed to hit his nemesis Varun for two fours, but then pre-meditated a ramp off Varun, possibly expecting the seam-up variation so he could use his pace, but ended up lobbing the slower legbreak to short fine leg. Carse made it worse with a slog-sweep straight to deep square leg in the same over.
Overton and Rashid flickered for a moment, bringing it down to 21 off 11, but fizzled out amid Overton’s questionable tactics of not taking singles even though Rashid had slogged Arshdeep Singh for a six.
Brief scores:
India 181 for 9 in 20 overs (Hardik Pandya 53, Shivam Dube 53, Abhishek Sharma 29, Rinku Singh 30; Saqib Mahmood 3-53, Brydon Carse 1-39, Jamie Overton 2-32, Adil Rashid 1-35 ) beat England 166 in 19.4 overs (Phil Salt 23, Ben Duckett 39, Harry Brook 51; Arshdeep Singh 1-35, Varun Chakrawarthy 2-28, Axar Patel 1-26, Ravi Bishnoi 3-28, Harshit Rana 3-33) by 15 runs
[Cricinfo]
Australia brushed aside any concern over Galle’s fickle weather by steamrolling through Sri Lanka’s listless batting order across two innings on day four to complete a near-flawless performance in the first Test.
After two sessions on day three were washed out, Australia’s push for a straightforward victory appeared under some threat with wet weather also forecast for later on the fourth day.
But the rain held off and Australia resumed their domination by remarkably claiming 15 wickets to seal a massive innings and 242-run victory in a match that effectively only lasted nine sessions. Such was the gulf between the sides, Australia batted 154 overs in their sole innings compared to Sri Lanka’s 106.5 overs spread over two innings.
It was a brilliant performance from a new-look Australia without skipper Pat Cummins and boasting a spin-heavy attack. Everything went to plan for stand-in captain Steven Smith after he won a favourable toss and Australia capitalised on a slow surface to post their highest ever total in Asia.
Australia’s decision to reshuffle their batting order proved a masterstroke with Josh Inglis scoring a rapid century on debut. So too selecting three spinners with left-armer Matthew Kuhnemann underlining his value in the subcontinent with nine wickets for the match having made a speedy recovery from a thumb injury sustained in a BBL game on January 16.
Australia were well prepared and executed their plans with bat and ball superbly, but they came up against an inept Sri Lanka. Matches between the teams traditionally have been highly competitive in this terrain, but Sri Lanka were completely outclassed and will need to regroup quickly before the second Test at the same venue starting on February 6.
The result means Australia have retained the Warne-Muralidaran Trophy.
Brief scores:
Australia 654 for 6 dec beat Sri Lanka 165 and 247 (Jeffrey Vandersay 53*, Angelo Mathews 41, Nathan Lyon 4-78, Matthew Kuhnemann 4-86) by an innings and 242 runs
Australia’s mood brightened considerably under clear skies in Galle as they resumed their complete dominance of the first Test with spinners Matthew Kunhnemann and Nathan Lyon running through a hapless Sri Lanka early on day four.
Sri Lanka lost 5 for 9 to be bowled out for 165 in their first innings just 45 minutes into the day’s play. With a lead of 489 runs and with his bowlers well rested, stand-in captain Steven Smith as expected decided to enforce the follow-on.
Kuhnemann celebrated his first Test match in almost two years with three wickets in the morning session to finish with 5 for 63, while Lyon took 3-57.
Sri Lanka’s dismal performance in this match continued with only Dinesh Chandimal offering resistance with a classy 72 and they will have to muster a much-improved effort in their second-innings to save the Test.
After the final two sessions on day three were washed out, Australia’s nerves were heightened with rain forecast in the afternoon.
Resuming at 136 for 5, Sri Lanka found themselves with unexpected hope of surviving with a draw due to the wet weather. But they desperately needed Chandimal to kick on having compiled an attractive half-century on day three.
The pressure was on Chandimal and wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis as the last recognised batters before the tail.
Smith deployed spinners Kuhnemann and Lyon from the get-go as Chandimal unfurled the reverse sweep which he had used to good effect on the truncated day three.
It was a cautious start from Sri Lanka’s batters with Kuhnemann extracting awkward bounce that occasionally reared off the surface. Mendis went to his favoured sweep shot against Kuhnemann and he whacked a boundary to raise Sri Lanka’s 150.
But Australia were well prepared with their tactics and baited Mendis into the sweep shot with two fielders positioned deep square of the wicket. Mendis couldn’t contain himself and top-edged a sweep to be well caught by a running Todd Murphy at square leg.
The burden fell to Chandimal, who had been unable to recapture his fluency from earlier in the innings. His rearguard finally ended when he missed a reverse sweep to fall lbw to Lyon as he reviewed in vain.
Sri Lanka’s tail folded quickly with Kuhnemann claiming his second five-wicket haul of his Test career.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 165 in 52.2 overs (Dinesh Chandimal 72, de Silva 22, Kusal Mendis 21; Matthew Kuhnemann 5-63, Nathan Lyon 3-57, Mitchell Starc 2-13) trail Australia 654 for 6 dec by 489 runs
[Cricinfo]
Apna Perera and Ashen Silva reached the men’s singles final of the CL Synergy SSC Open Tennis Championship as they secured semi-final victories at the SSC tennis courts on Friday.
While Apna beat Lithium Jayabandu in his match Ashen Silva beat Ganuka Fernando in his match.
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