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India scrape home after Kohli, Gill hit half-centuries
With scores of 74*, 135, 102 and 65* in his last four ODIs, Virat Kohli seemed to be telling the world he was no longer willing to be dismissed unless he had reached three figures. This sequence seemed to be stretching into the new year, with Kohli batting on 93 and taking full control of a chase of 301.
Then, a familiar nemesis appeared. Kyle Jamieson has caused Kohli and India numerous headaches in Test cricket, and now he burst this first ODI wide open in the space of seven balls with the wickets of Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer.
Having been cruising to victory minutes earlier, India suddenly needed 59 off 53 balls with five wickets in hand and two new batters at the crease. And with Washington Sundar held back, nursing a side strain, one of them was the lower-order batter Harshit Rana.
A match dominated by India moved now to an exciting finish, and both Rana – who made a 23-ball 29 – and the hobbling Washington played their part in it, before KL Rahul put the finishing touches, hitting debutant Kristian Clarke for 4, 4, 6 to seal victory with six balls to spare.
The first men’s international game at the Kotambi Stadium got the finish fans may have craved, but its tension had seemed inconceivable when Kohli was in the middle, putting on stands of 118 with Shubman Gill and 77 with Iyer.
Kohli’s innings was one of both vintage and new-age rhythms. He was all intent at the start, stepping out to the seamers, prepared to go over the top, hitting six fours in his first 20 balls. Thereafter, he knew he was in charge, and dictated the tempo like a deep-lying midfield playmaker.
There was, for instance, the shot he played to go from 75 to 79. Having hit just one boundary in 55 balls (and not being any worse off for it), he manufactured one off Clarke with his expert manipulation of the middle-overs field restrictions, with only four fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle. He took stance outside leg stump, telling the bowler anything on the line of the stumps would go over the off side, with no one on the boundary at deep cover or mid-off. Clarke followed Kohli with a ball at his hip, and he wristed it expertly to the unguarded backward-square-leg boundary.
Within sight of a century, however, Kohli fell, charging Jamieson and failing to find the elevation needed to clear mid-off. Jamieson then took out Jadeja and a set Iyer, who had batted authoritatively until then upon his return from injury, taking a heavy toll of legspinner Adithya Ashok. Both were soft dismissals, though both came off cross-seam deliveries that misbehaved just enough off this black-soil Vadodara surface to punish shots lacking neither defensive nor attacking conviction.
Then Rana, surviving a dropped chance from Daryl Mitchell on the midwicket boundary, dominated a sixth-wicket stand of 37 with Rahul before falling with 22 needed off 22. With Washington only able to walk between wickets, India still managed a single nearly every ball, before Rahul applied that emphatic finish with nine needed off nine balls.
That India were in full control for much of their chase indicated two things: one, the lack of experience in New Zealand’s injury-ravaged attack, and two: the inadequacy of their total.
Their innings began promisingly, with Devon Conway and Henry Nicholls putting on 117 for the first wicket, but as well as they batted, India’s bowlers never let the scoring rate run away. Then Rana dismissed both openers, diddling out Nicholls with a wide slower yorker before bowling Conway off the inside edge with an inducker.
Thereafter, New Zealand’s innings was full of promising innings and promising partnerships that ended just when they were beginning to look threatening. India’s seamers did the bulk of the wicket-taking, while Kuldeep Yadav took out the dangerous Glenn Phillips with a cleverly looped-up wrong’un.
Amid all that, Mitchell ensured New Zealand wouldn’t fall short of a competitive total with an innings of industry – he only took 51 balls to get to his half-century despite only hitting four boundaries in that time – and well-timed spurts of aggression, including a sequence of 4, 6, 4 off Prasidh Krishna in the 48th over – the highlight a scooped four over short fine – before falling lbw next ball.
Brief scores:
India 306 for 6 in 49 overs (Virat Kohli 93, Shubman Gill 56, Shreyas Iyer 49; Kyle Jamieson 4-41) beat New Zealand 300 for 8 in 50 overs (Daryl Mitchell 84, Henry Nicholls 62, Devon Conway 56; Mohammed Siraj 2-40, Prasidh Krishna 2-60, Harshit Rana 2-65) by four wickets
(Cricinfo)
South Africa successfully defended 136 in an 18-over game against Ireland in the Women’s T20 World Cup warm-up fixture in Loughborough . The experienced Marizanne Kapp led the way with the ball, her 4 for 24 helping South Africa dismiss Ireland for 120 in 17.4 overs. Shabnim Ismail, who had recently reversed her retirement, picked up 1 for 25 in her four overs.
Leah Paul was the only Ireland batter to pass 20 in their chase. Apart from Paul, only four Ireland batters got to double figures.
After South Africa were asked to bat first, they posted 136 for 8 on the back of captain Laura Wolvaardt’s 65 off 37 balls, including seven fours and three sixes.
SCORES:
South Africa Women 136 for 8 in 18 overs (Sune Luus 17, Laura Wolvaardt 65, Annerie Dercksen 26, Nadine de Klerk 11, Aimee Maguire 1-13, Arlene Kelly 3-29, Cara Murray 2-13, Ava Canning 2-08) beat Ireland Women 120 in 17.4 overs (Rebecca Stockel 19, Leah Paul 29, Alice Tector 17, Louise Little 13, Arlene Kelly 15; Marizanne Kapp 4-24, Shabnim Ismail 1-25, Tumi Sekhukhune 2-18, Nadine de Klerk 1-16, Nonkululeko Mlaba 1-25) by 16 runs
(Crickinfo)
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)
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