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Ibrahim’s maiden hundred leads Afghanistan’s fightback
Afghanistan came surging back into the Test on day three, first polishing off the Sri Lanka tail quickly, before Ibrahim Zadran put up big stands with Noor Ali Zadran and Rahmat Shah as he completed a valiant maiden Test century.
Ibrahim and Shah remained unbeaten at the close, which means Afghanistan have nine wickets left as they seek to wipe out the 42 runs remaining in their deficit, and establish a lead that will test Sri Lanka. The surface had not yet begun to take ripping turn, and remained excellent for batting. But Afghanistan do have two spinners in their attack – albeit very inexperienced – who may be able to exploit what assistance there is.
Sri Lanka will rue their missed chances. Ibrahim had been on 39 when he came down the pitch to smash a Prabath Jayasuriya delivery straight back to the bowler, who let it burst through his fingers and on to the boundary for four. The easier of the chances came to Nishan Madushka at short mid on when Ibrahim was on 63. This was again struck hard, but at a catchable height near his head. He got his hands up, but couldn’t quite wrap his fingers around the ball.
Sri Lanka’s bowlers were largely disciplined, even if they could not coax life out of a pitch that had become good for batting. Asitha Fernando was the best of them, delivering some excellent bursts of short-pitched bowling, as well as some outstanding fuller deliveries, one of which yielded the only Afghanistan wicket to fall – that of Noor, for 47.
But the day belonged to Ibrahim. He had his outside edge occasionally beaten with the new ball and was scoreless for 14 deliveries, but once he got moving, he kept a steady tempo. His first runs were via a glance to the fine leg boundary, but early in his innings he was mostly strong in the arc between cover and mid off. Between the boundaries, which came principally off full and slightly wide deliveries, there was a substantial diet of singles all around the wicket. Ibrahim took 84 balls to get into his 30s. During his 106-run partnership with Noor, the primary goal seemed to be to bat time.
The half-century came off the last over before tea, and in the evening Ibrahim consolidated. He was hitting boundaries through long on and midwicket now. Sri Lanka attempted all sorts of catching men to try and lure a mistake, but aside from that dropped chance on 63, Ibrahim found ways to progress without taking risks. He was mostly only trying to hit fours off the bad deliveries – usually ones that were over pitched. He got to his hundred – the fourth ever for Afghanistan – off the last over of the day.
Rahmat, who got to 46 off 98 before stumps, and was part of a 93-run unbeaten partnership with Ibrahim, made all but 11 of his runs on the offside. He was strong down the ground, especially, finding thre of his five boundaries there.
Sri Lanka’s attack was upset by a blow to Chamika Gunasekara, who in the morning was hit on the head, seemed to suffer the effects a few overs after he was hit, and was taken off the field and to further tests in hospital. Kasun Rajitha, who replaced him as concussion substitute, was the most expensive of Sri Lanka’s bowlers on Sunday, going at 4.30 across his 10 overs.
The others were more disciplined, even if only Asitha seriously threatened to take wickets through much of the day. Jayasuriya will be especially disappointed he has nothing in the wickets column after delivering 32 overs, though nine of those were maidens.
Early in the day, Afghanistan had claimed three wickets for 39 to close out Sri Lanka’s first innings at 439. The most important wicket of the morning was the first – that of Sri Lanka’s last recognised batter Sadeera Smarawickrama, who edged Naveed Zadran to gully.
The two next wickets were not long in falling. Naveed hit the top of Jayasuriya’s off stump before, next over, Nijat Masood bowled Asitha Fernando first ball, with Asitha having come in after Gunasekara retired hurt.
Naveed’s take for the innings was 4 for 83. Masood and Qais Ahmed claimed two wickets apiece.
Brief scores:
Afghanistan 198 and 199 for 1 (Ibrahim Zadran 101*, Noor Ali Zadran 47, Rahmat Shah46*; Asitha Fernando 1-35) trail Sri Lanka 439 (Nishan Madushka 37, Dimuth Karunartne 77, Angelo Mathews 141, Dinesh Chandimal 107, Sadeera Samarwickrema 27; Nijat Masood 2-76, Naveed Zadran 4-83, Quais Anmad 2-98) by 42 runs
Volodymyr Zelensky said he would be willing to “give up” his presidency in exchange for peace ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“If you need me to leave this chair, I am ready to do that. And I also can exchange it for Nato membership for Ukraine,” the Ukrainian president said in response to a question during a news conference.
His comments came after US President Donald Trump called Zelensky a “dictator without elections” earlier in the week.
“I wasn’t offended by the comment, but a dictator would be,” Zelensky, who was democratically elected in May 2019, responded on Sunday.
Zelensky said he was currently focused on Ukraine’s security and it was not his “dream” to remain president for a decade.
Ukrainian legislation bans elections during martial law, which has been in place since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
EU and world leaders are due to head to Kyiv on Monday to show their support for Ukraine and discuss security guarantees.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are among those expected to attend the meeting in person.
Zelensky said the topic of Ukraine joining Nato would be “on the table” at the meeting but he did not know how the discussions would “finish”. He said he hoped the meeting would be a “turning point”.
On the topic of Trump, Zelensky said that he wanted to see the US president as a partner to Ukraine and more than a mediator between Kyiv and Moscow.
“I really want it to be more than just mediation…that’s not enough,” he told the press conference. His comments come as political leaders in Europe fear Kyiv is being sidelined in talks to bring an end to the war.
Zelensky was also asked about a potential deal the Trump administration has pushed for to provide the US access to Ukrainian rare earth minerals.
“We are making progress,” Zelensky said, adding that Ukrainian and US officials had been in touch about the deal.
“We are ready to share,” the Ukrainian leader said, but made clear that Washington first needed to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin “ends this war”.
Zelensky’s press conference came hours after Russia launched its largest single drone attack on Ukraine yet during the current conflict, Ukrainian officials said.
On Saturday night, Ukraine’s Air Force Command spokesman Yuriy Ignat said a “record” 267 Russian drones were launched in a single, coordinated attack on the country.
Thirteen regions were targeted and while many of the drones were repelled, those that were not caused destruction to infrastructure and at least three casualties, emergency services said.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported that 138 of the drones were shot down and 119, which were decoy drones, were lost without negative consequences, likely due to jamming.
In Kyiv, the attack meant six hours of air alerts.
In a statement, Zelensky claimed that 1,150 drones, 1,400 bombs and 35 missiles were launched by Russia this week.
He thanked Ukraine’s emergency services for their response to Saturday night’s attack and called for the support of Europe and US in facilitating “a lasting and just peace”.
In a post on X, Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska said that “hundreds of drones” had “brought death and destruction” overnight.
“It was another night of explosions, burning houses and cars, and destroyed infrastructure,” she wrote. “Another night when people prayed for their loved ones to survive”.
On Monday, the war will enter its third year.
As it does, diplomatic wrangling over a potential peace deal continue, with Ukraine, European allies and the US offering differing visions for how to end the conflict.
The US and Russia held preliminary talks in Saudi Arabia this week – without delegates from Europe, including Ukraine, present – which resulted in European leaders holding a hastily-arranged summit in Paris.
Zelensky criticised Ukraine’s exclusion from the US-Russia talks, saying Trump was “living in a disinformation space” governed by Moscow, prompting Trump to respond by calling the Ukrainian president a dictator.
French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to visit Washington on Monday, while UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will be there on Thursday.
Sir Keir has publicly backed Zelensky, reiterating the UK’s iornclad support for Kyiv, said he would discuss the importance of Ukraine’s sovereignty when he speaks to Trump.
Pope Francis – who is in hospital with respiratory illness – wrote in a remarks released on Sunday that the third anniversary of the war was “a painful and shameful occasion for the whole of humanity”.
[BBC]
In the biggest match of the year, with his mortality showing more than it ever used to, Virat Kohli proved he’s still got it, that maybe, just maybe, the little he’s lost isn’t going to define him. He ticked off 14,000 runs in ODI cricket, brought up his 51st ODI century, set up India for a semi-final spot and essentially crossed out Pakistan from the 2025 Champions Trophy. The holders and the hosts need other results to go their way to stay alive in the tournament now.
India went into the game as favourites. They were worthy of that seeding, limiting Pakistan to 241 with Hardik Pandya putting in the kind of performance that should make him illegal. An allrounder capable of dismissing the opposition’s best batter, and then coming back to take down their top-scorer, isn’t just a name on the sheet. He is the secret sauce.
And Kuldeep Yadav was the spice. His left-arm wrist-spin is so rare and he made it rarer by finding a way to be quick through the air without compromising on turn or accuracy. So that means unless batters pick him out of the hand, they are always going to be guessing. Three Pakistan batters guessed wrong. All three were end-overs wickets. Pakistan were setting up to explode at the death. Kuldeep just wouldn’t let them. The injury hasn’t affected his menace.
Pakistan were able to produce moments. Shaheen Shah Afridi sending down a 143kph inswinging yorker to shatter Rohit Sharma’s stumps. Abrar Ahmed conjuring a carrom ball from hell to get rid of a rampaging Shubman Gill. But when it came to capitalising on them, they just couldn’t. The result was a world champion side that was renowned for pulling games out of the fire now seems to do the first part right – they definitely got into trouble in Dubai – but the other part, the important part is going so very wrong. Pakistan were 151 for 2 in the 34th over before they were bowled out for 241 with the most inexperienced member of the India side dictating terms, Harshit Rana and his slower balls were just impossible to hit.
A game in an ICC event and a rivalry with history bursting out of it eventually became so one-sided that its last few moments were dominated by an individual pursuit. Axar Patel turned down an easy two so Kohli could pursue his hundred. The crowd in Dubai loved that. There were 12 runs to get for India’s victory and 12 runs to get for their hero’s century and they chanted his name over and over. Pakistan were nowhere to be found. Ever since a collapse of 3 for 11 in 19 balls, this game turned pear-shaped for them.
Mohammad Rizwan had banked on the innings going so differently. He came in at 47 for 2 and hit his first ball for four and then decided run-scoring was not for him. He was 24 off 50. He barely hit the ball in anger. He point blank refused to. At the other end, Saud Shakeel was at least making an effort to turn the good balls he was facing into singles. When he got to fifty, he had weathered only 29 dot balls. At the same time, Rizwan at the other end, had racked up 40. India did well by denying him spin to start his innings. But still, this was a better pitch than the opening game in Dubai a few days ago. It wasn’t flat, but it had a little more pace in it, and it got better under lights. Rizwan, though, batted like it was cursed. He was worried bad things would happen if he tried to hit the ball hard.
And it kinda did. Rizwan fell trying to hit Axar out of the ground and his wicket triggered a collapse. Shakeel fell in the next over and Tayyab Tahir followed soon after. India, having spent 320 deliveries across two matches searching for a wicket in the middle overs, had found three in the space of four. Pakistan were 165 for 5. Soon they would be 200 for 7, having to negotiate the last 7.1 overs of the innings with their tail exposed.
India’s discipline never let Pakistan off the hook and leading the way was Hardik, banging the ball just short of a length on a pitch that was offering a bit of grip and some tennis-ball bounce. He took out Babar Azam at a time when India’s lead fast bowler, Mohammed Shami, was off the field with a shin problem and he did Shakeel for lack of pace just after the left-hander had smacked him for four. He always knew what to do to exploit the conditions and make the batter’s life miserable. On the back of his work, Kuldeep and Rana bowled 6.4 death overs for 28 runs and picked up four wickets.
Gill was the star of India’s chase early on, a conscious effort to keep his front foot from moving too far forward and across leaving him excellently placed to take advantage of Afridi and his full length deliveries when there was no swing on offer. When he rammed the Pakistan fast bowler down the ground and then one-upped it by coming down the track and lifting the ball into the sightscreen, it looked like it was going to be his day. Abrar intervened with a ball that drifted in through the air, tempting the right-hander to close the face of his bat, and turned away to rattle middle and off stump. Gill was stunned.
Kohli, too, offered a shrug of his shoulders. He looked vulnerable against Abrar too and was almost bowled playing back to him. But against the quicks, he was vintage. He went past 14,000 runs with a crisp cover drive off Haris Rauf. All of Pakistan’s best bowlers offer pace on the ball. And that is Kohli’s happy place. A batter of his quality needs to be made uncomfortable at the crease when he is new. He had been dismissed five times in his last six ODIs by legspin. Pakistan had one of those and they felt they couldn’t go to him.
Shreyas Iyer helped himself to a half-century. A little change in his technique where he holds his bat higher and waves it as the bowler approaches, creating momentum into his shots, is helping him deal with an earlier weakness against the short ball. He clubbed Rauf for four in front of square to prove it. But there was no taking the spotlight from his senior partner.
Kohli was setting the tempo. Pakistan had allowed to do so. Though he only hit three of his first 62 balls to the boundary, he already had fifty runs to his name. He knows how to score quickly without looking for big shots. The ball wasn’t stopping on the surface as much under lights. Things were working in his favour again. He almost knew he was going to get a hundred. He demanded an explanation when Axar turned down a second run off a wide in the 42nd over when it was clear to everybody else that all he was doing was make sure Kohli had the best chance to get to three-figures with time running out. When he did, off the last ball of the match, Kohli looked to the dressing room and literally said “I told you. Relax”. That was how easy this was. That was how inevitable he was.
Brief scores:
India 244 for 4 in 42.3 overs (Rohit Sharma 20, Shubnam Gill 46, Virat Kohli 100*, Shreyas Iyer 56; Shaheen Shah Afridi 2-74) beat Pakistan 241 all out in 49.4 overs (Saud Shakeel 62, Babar Azam23, Mohammad Rizwan 46, Khushdil Shah 38; Hardik Pandya 2-31, Kuldeep Yadav 3-40)by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
The common refrain among teams ahead of today’s expected high-voltage clash between India and Pakistan in the Champions Trophy is, “It’s just another game.” Players from both sides have sought to downplay the pressure factor that typically accompanies a match between these traditional rivals.
“It doesn’t change anything for us, honestly. We play every match to win the match and this is no different for us. And that is how we are going to prepare for this one as well,” India vice-captain Shubman Gill said on the eve of the game. “There is no extra pressure; we are relaxed. We will treat it as just another match,” Haris Rauf remarked on the contest. It is unlikely the players are entirely honest about their mindset and mental approach, particularly the Pakistan players.
With their survival on the line, Pakistan’s players are feeling the pressure from all sides. Their bowling and batting floundered in the tournament opener against New Zealand, leaving the Mohammad Rizwan side teetering on the cliff. The bowlers were way off the mark and the batters struggled to accelerate.
During their net sessions at the ICC Academy on Friday night, the bowlers focused on swinging the ball in, something that was invisible in their performance against New Zealand. The batters, on the other hand, were consistently attempting big shots and aiming to clear the boundary – something they had struggled to do in their previous match.
A sense of urgency was evident within the Indian ranks as well. Virat Kohli, short on runs of late, alarmingly sparking concerns over his batting technique, arrived at the academy an hour before his teammates. Accompanied by a pair of throwdown specialists – one left-handed and the other right-handed – with batting coach Sitanshu Kotak in tow, Kohli batted for an extra hour, noticeably determined to regain his former flourish, sparkle and confidence. Most importantly the trademark Kohli swagger and confidence that would be so inherent in his cover drives have been missing of late. He is not leaving anything to chance to regain the touch.
Going by numbers and recent form, India should be the clear favorites, having won five of the six encounters against the traditionals rivals since the 2017 Champions Trophy final. Overall, Pakistan lead the head-to-head record 73-57, but in the past decade – especially since the 2015 World Cup – India have lost only one match, the 2017 Champions Trophy final, while winning seven with one no result.
The form and record clearly indicate India as the favorites, but Sunil Gavaskar, speaking on a television show Friday, said that while he believes Rohit Sharma’s men are strong favorites, it would be impudent to discount the fact that a single game-changing moment from either side could shift the balance. Who will that game-changer be?
India Probable XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Harshit Rana.
Pakistan Probable XI: Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
[Cricbuzz]
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