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]
In the 11th over, KL Rahul edged a cut to the keeper off Ziaur Ahmed when he was on 16. Afghanistan did not review the not-out decision. In the 61st over, Rahul flicked a full ball off his pads, bringing up a gritty century – his 12th in Test cricket. Afghanistan’s bowling attack had been worn down in the intervening period. They could not cash in on their half-chances aplenty, in their first Test against India since their format debut in 2018. Instead, Rahul – alongside a regal Shubman Gill – headlined India’s march to 368 for 3 on day one in New Chandigarh.
The city was hosting a men’s Test for the first time. Temperatures soared up to 40 degrees Celsius, and India captain Gill opted to bat first, expecting the pitch to worsen as time wore on in the match. However, Afghanistan’s new-ball bowlers – Azmatullah Omarzai and Mohamed Saleem – extracted uneven bounce off the pitch right away. They kept bowling back-of-a-length deliveries to Jaiswal and Rahul, moving the ball away from the openers.
Rahul reached for deliveries far from his body early in the day, often mistiming his shots. He ambled away to 16 off 34 by the end of the 10th over. At the other end, Jaiswal pounced on fuller deliveries with more regularity to race to 20 off 26.
Then, in the 11th over off Ziaur, Rahul slashed at a wide delivery and both bowler and keeper went up with a big appeal. However, they opted out of the review. Replays later showed Rahul had edged the delivery. Rahul rode his luck thereafter, leaving balls outside off, and dead-batting fuller ones that gripped in the pitch.
In the next over – the 12th – Jaiswal leaned into a front-foot drive off Mohammad Saleem. Then he jumped at an inswinger drifting down leg, and tried to flick it off his hips. He edged it to the keeper instead. Against the run of play, Jaiswal departed for a 32-ball 24, giving Saleem his maiden Test wicket.
Soon after, the new-ball swing dissipated and the bounce became less treacherous. B Sai Sudarshan made full use of this period of play at the back end of Saleem and Omarzai’s extended spells. He laced three fours in his first 15 deliveries.
In the 35th over off Ziaur, Sai Sudharsan stepped out of his crease for a tentative defense outside off. His edge dissected the wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai and first slip. Eight overs later, with Sai Sudharsan looking set for his maiden Test century, the batter played an expansive drive outside off against Saleem. Once more, the ball flew into the slip cordon, but was snared by Zazai with a one-handed stunner to his right. Sai Sudharsan was dismissed for 81. The second-wicket partnership was aborted at 131, with Rahul still steady at the other end.
As the day wore on, the New Chandigarh surface began gripping and turning more. Afghanistan’s captain Hashmatullah Shahidi was their most effective spinner. He bowled slowly, often keeping his speeds under 80 kph, and used drift to troublealla batters. Still, he never induced any real chances, with edges off him flying past short leg or the keeper.
From the other end, debutant Nangeyalia Kharote induced a thin edge off Sai Sudharsan with just his fourth delivery. Rahmanullah Gurbaz dropped the consequent one-hander, diving to his right at first slip. On his return spell, Kharote – as well as part-timer Abdul Malik – both strayed into leg-stump lines too often.
With Afghanistan’s fast bowlers erring in discipline too, Gill took full toll on them, especially after the tea break. If Rahul’s knock was a product of battling against the early swing and seam, Gill’s imperious century – his 11th in the format – was aided by a worn-down attack. Still, he pounced on good-length deliveries outside off as he unfurled his drives, and cut close to his body, in trademark fashion to rack up 11 fours and one six.
Gill had Rahul for company through the beginning of his knock, during a 67-run partnership for the third wicket. However, just one delivery after bringing up his century, Rahul perished for the third time in Test cricket on exactly a 100 – the joint-second most times in Test cricket, right behind England’s Len Hutton (4). Rahul had been out playing a loose waft away from his body, off Ziaur, straight to short extra cover.
Once Rishabh Pant walked out to join Gill, the brief was clear: by their standards, India had already shut up shop for the final hour of play. An unusually restrained Pant, also playing his 50th Test for India, batted within his means until his eyes lit up against offspinner Abdul Malik in the 68th over. He took advantage of half-trackers to flat-bat three sixes in trademark Pant style. Tellingly, these would also be Pant’s only sixes of the evening.
Gill brought up his century just a few minutes before close of play, off a flick to square leg, in the 83rd over off Saleem. Afghanistan had opted not to choose the new ball, bowling through till the close of play with a battered ball. Pant manipulated a thinly spread leg-side field in these final overs to bring up his own fifty off 70 balls, on the penultimate delivery of the day’s play.
SCORES:
India 368 for 3 in 85 overs (Shubman Gill 103*, KL Rahul 100, B Sai Sudharsan 81, Rishabh Pant 50*; MohaSaleem 2-67) vs Afghanistan
(Cricinfo)
West Indies won the toss and put Sri Lanka into bat, but that was the extent of the action from thesecod ODI at Sabina Park, as persistent rain put an end to proceedings before they had even begun.
The washout means West Indies’ hopes of winning the series are wiped out, but they can still draw level in the final game on Monday. Perhaps more importantly, a win there will give the hosts a much needed rankings boost, with qualification for next year’s World Cup hinging on their final position come March next year.
The toss itself had been delayed by 30 minutes following rain earlier in the day, and it was the possibility of rain intervening later on that had influenced Shai Hope’s decision to field first.
Both teams had also made changes, with Amir Jangoo due to get a game for the injured Matthew Forde, while Eshan Malinga had been drafted in for Asitha Fernando. Shai Hope, playing his 150th ODI for West Indies, received a special jersey before rain came along.
(Cricinfo)
Sri Lanka women’s cricket team flew off to London this week to take part in the ICC T-20 World Cup that will get underway on the 12th June in Birmingham with Chamari Atapattu’s side playing England in the curtain-raiser.The national team will enter the 12 nation global showpiece event with renewed confidence and ambition under the newly appointed Head Coach Jamie Siddons.
Prior to the opening match, the team will play two warm-up fixtures against Pakistan and Netherlands. Placed in a challenging Group 2, apart from England, they have defending champions New Zealand, West Indies, Ireland and Scotland. The team arrives in England buoyed by recent successes, having secured impressive series victories over both West Indies and Bangladesh.
Sri Lanka’s participation in the tournament marks another significant chapter in the continued growth of women’s cricket in the country. Dialog, who holds the exclusive broadcast rights of ICC events in Sri Lanka, remains committed to supporting the development of the game and powering Sri Lankan athletes to compete on the global stage.
Cricket Fans can catch all the action live on Dialog Television (Channel Numbers 68,120 & 63), or stream via the Dialog Play mobile App and ThePapare.com.
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