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India smell victory after 15-wicket day on a tough Eden Gardens pitch

Published

4 months ago

2025/11/15

Priyan

KL Rahul was the top-scorer of the match after the second day (Cricinfo)

India started the second day 122 runs behind in the first innings with nine wickets in hand. Less than six dramatic hours of cricket later, they were sensing a win, having reduced South Africa to effectively 63 for 7 in their second innings. Fifteen wickets fell on the day, Shubman Gill retired with a neck spasm, 39 remained the top score in the Test, and 57 the top partnership. This was the lowest top score in the first two innings of a Test in India, and the lowest in any Test since Durban 2010-11 between the same sides.

Absolutely nobody predicted the pitch would turn out to be so difficult to bat on. It looked like a normal Indian track, good for batting for first two days, but the top surface began to come off in the second half of the first day. On the second day, it became near unplayable. Even the fast bowlers drew generous help to take 11 of the 26 wickets to fall.

The pitch might seem at odds with India’s public utterances after the series loss to New Zealand last year that they want to play on more balanced surfaces, but commentator Dinesh Karthik said on air that it was not watered on the day before the Test, which comes across as unusual.

What wasn’t unusual was that the best player on this moving day was Ravindra Jadeja, who scored 27 largely trouble-free runs before his old-fashioned technique of hiding the bat behind the pad got him out lbw to Simon Harmer.

Harmer himself showed all the hype was real, that he is now a vastly improved bowler to the one that showed up in India 10 years ago, taking 4 for 30 to keep South Africa in arrears of only 30 after being bowled out for 159 on the first day. Jadeja, though, showed 30 was plenty with an unerring unbroken spell of 13-3-29-4 as South Africa ended the day on 93 for 7.

When the day began, and indeed even after the wicketless first hour, it looked like India were setting themselves up for a decisive first-innings lead. KL Rahul, the top-scorer in the match, and India’s new No. 3 Washington Sundar put together the joint-highest partnership of the match. Introduced only in the second hour of the day, Harmer produced immediate results, turning one past Washington’s edge and the next onto the edge.

At 75 for 2, India were 84 behind South Africa, still a comfortable position to be in. Gill, whose neck seemed to be in some discomfort in the morning warm-ups, then went into a spasm as soon as he swept Harmer for four.

While Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Jadeja – 39, 27 and 27 – looked good in their own individual ways, the eventual wicket-taking delivery was always around the corner. Rahul made the mistake of following Keshav Maharaj’s extravagant turn, Jadeja was done in by the natural variation, and Pant fell to extra bounce for Corbin Bosch.

Maharaj will be disappointed he went at over four an over, but the combination of Harmer and Marco Jansen made light of India’s batting depth, which generally is the case on such pitches. In Kagiso Rabada’s absence, Jansen’s analysis of 15-4-35-3 kept South Africa alive in the Test. India lost their last four wickets for 36.

By the time India started bowling for the second time, with a little over half an hour to tea on day two, it made complete sense to open with spin. Jasprit Bumrah, who got a five-for in the first innings, did open the bowling, and from the end where bowlers had generated uneven bounce, but it wasn’t long before South Africa were facing spin from both ends with little breathing time or space.

Kuldeep Yadav took the wicket of Ryan Rickelton with what turned out to be the last ball of the middle session, one that didn’t turn and also had the batter playing back when he should have been forward.

Kyle Verreynne copped flak for trying to slog-sweep Axar Patel, but there weren’t many scoring opportunities on that pitch with in-out fields. A similar attacking strategy came off for Jansen for a while as he scored 13 but even he get a feather on a sweep off Kuldeep.

The catching of both sides remained sensational with Rahul capping the day off with a low slip catch off a deflection of the keeper Pant. Temba Bavuma defended well and threw in the occasional sweep to end the day unbeaten on 29 off 78, but it seemed he still had a lot to do with the bat to give South Africa a shot at a win.

Brief scores:

South Africa 159 and 93 for 7 (Temba Bavuma 29*; Ravindra Jadeja 4-29) lead India 189 (KL Rahul 39, Simon Harmer 4-30, Marco Jansen 3-35)by 63 runs

(Cricinfo)

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Advisory for Severe Lightning issued to the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and Galle and Matara districts

Published

2 hours ago

2026/03/12

Priyan

Advisory for Severe Lightning Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre at 12.30 noon 12 March 2026 valid for the period until 11.00 p.m. 12 March 2026

Thundershowers accompanied with severe lightning are likely to occur at some places in the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in Galle and Matara districts after 2.00 p.m.

There may be temporary localized strong winds during thundershowers. General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by lightning activity.

ACTION REQUIRED:
The Department of Meteorology advises that people should:
 Seek shelter, preferably indoors and never under trees.
 Avoid open areas such as paddy fields, tea plantations and open water bodies during thunderstorms.
 Avoid using wired telephones and connected electric appliances during thunderstorms.
 Avoid using open vehicles, such as bicycles, tractors and boats etc.
 Beware of fallen trees and power lines.
 For emergency assistance contact the local disaster management authorities.

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Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, Mitchell Starc and Kuldeep Yadav among ESPNcricinfo award winners for 2025

Published

2 hours ago

2026/03/12

Priyan

We're all winners here: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues won big in 2025 [Cricinfo]

India’s players swept all the women’s categories in ESPNcricinfo’s annual awards for individual performances in 2025, reflecting a year in which the team won their first World Cup title.

While Jemimah Rodrigues won the women’s ODI batting honours for her awe-inspiring, cramp-battling century that knocked Australia out of the World Cup. Deepti Sharma grabbed the ODI bowling award for her match turning five for in the final against South Africa. And Harmanpreet Kaur took the captain’s award for winning the world title and for sealing white-ball series (ODIs and T20Is) in England and winning her second WPL title with Mumbai Indians. Her title clinching 66in the WPL final against Delhi Capitals took the women’s T20 leagues batting award.

South Africa Women had to deal with the bitter heartbreak of losing yet another World Cup final, but the men, who for long fell agonizingly short of the big prizes, took home the World Test Championship, eating Australia by five wickets in the final at Lord’s. They were rewarded by our jurors too:Aiden Markram won the Test batting award for his epic fourth-innings hundred in that final, while Temba Bavuma, who made a vital 66 while nursing a hamstring injury during that chase, was picked as the men’s captain of the year for leading his side to the WTC mace, to a sweep of India in Tests in India, and for ODI series wins in Australia and England.

Fast bowler Marco Jansen, one of the bowling architects of South Africa’s 2-0 win in India, narrowly lost the Test bowling award to the incandescent Mitchell Starc, who decimated England with 7 for 58 in Perth on the opening day of the Ashes.

Another seven-for took the men’s T20 leagues bowling award: Taskin Ahmed’s 7 for 19 fro Durbar Rajshahi against Dhakar Capital in the BPL. The batting prize in that category went to Hobart Hurricanes opener Mitchell Owen, whose 39 ball century against Sydney Thunder – which equalled the tournament record for the fastest hundred – took his side to their maiden BBL title.

The women’s T20 leagues bowling award, like the one for batting, also came against Delhi Capitals in the WPL: 21-year-old UP Warriorz fast bowler Kranti Gaud, in her first season, took 4 for 25, including the wickets of Rodrigues, Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma.

The Champions Trophy was the headline event in men’s cricket in 2025 and the winning ODI performances came from that tournament: in Lahore, Ibrahim Zadran broke records for the highest individual score for Afghanistan in ODIs and for the highest score in the Champions Trophy overall with his majestic 177, which knocked England out of the tournament. The ODI bowling award was picked up by India legspinner Varun Chakravarthy who took 5 for 42 against New Zealand in Dubai, where a week later India won the Champions Trophy.

Six months later, at the same ground, India also won the T20 Asia Cup. In the final against Pakistan, the dismantler-in-chief was our men’s T20I bowling award winner, another legspinner, Kuldeep Yadav, who took 4 for 30, including three wickets in his final over.

The men’s T20I batting award went to England’s Phil Salt, whose 141 not out off 60 balls against South Africa at Old Trafford was not only England’s fastest T20I hundred, but also their highest individual score in the format; and it took them to their highest team total – 304.

Australian allrounder Beau Webster, who scored four half-centuries, including a series-sealing one in his first Test, in Sydney against India, and took eight wickets in seven Tests, was named the men’s debutant of the year. The women’s debutant award went to India fast bowler N Shree Charani who showed remarkable temperament at the age of 20 to pick up a four for on T20I debut in England. She went on to take 14 wickets in the ODI World Cup, second highest for India after Deepti.

Charani, like Harmanpreet, won two awards. Her other one, for women’s T20I bowling, came for her four wickets against England at Trent Bridge, in a match where opener Smriti Mandhana’s maiden T20I hundred played a vital role in setting up India’s win. Mandhana won the women’s T20I batting award for that performance.

The men’s Associate batting award went to Max O’Dowd for masterminding Netherlands’ 370-run chase – the third-highest successful one in all ODIs -against Scotland in Dundee. His 158 not out came off only 130 balls and trumped George Munsey’s 191 in the same match. The men’s Associate bowling award was picked up by seamer Harry Manenti, whose 5 for 31 against Scotland in the qualifier in The Hague, played a big role in Italy qualifying for the 2026 T20 World Cup.

THE JURY : Ian Bishop, Sambit Bal, Shane Bond, Aakash Chopra, Andrew Fernando, Andy Flower, Nagraj Gollapudi, Mohammad Isam, Isobel Joyce, Raunak Kapoor, Nick Knight, Farveez Maharoof, Andrew McGlashan, Andrew Miller, Sidharth Monga, Tom Moody, Firdose Moonda, Urooj Mumtaz, Vernon Philander, Matt Roller, Osman Samiuddin, Dale Steyn

[Cricinfo]

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Nasa spacecraft weighing 1,300lb due to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere

Published

3 hours ago

2026/03/12

Priyan

The two Van Allen Probes were launched in 2012 [BBC]

A Van Allen Probe spacecraft weighing more than 1,300lb (600kg) is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere almost 14 years after its launch, Nasa says.

The spacecraft is projected to re-enter around 19:45 EDT (23:45 GMT) on Tuesday the US Space Force predicted, according to Nasa, though there is a 24-hour margin of “uncertainty” in the timing.

The Van Allen Probe A, which launched in 2012, is expected mostly to burn up as it travels through the atmosphere, though some components may survive.

The space agency said there is a one in 4,200 chance of being harmed by a piece of the probe, which it characterised as “low” risk.

The spacecraft and its twin, Van Allen Probe B, were on a mission to gather unprecedented data on Earth’s two permanent radiation belts.

It was not immediately clear where in Earth’s atmosphere the satellite is projected to re-enter. The BBC has contacted Nasa for further detail.

Nasa and the US Space Force have said they will monitor the re-entry and update any predictions.

The mission, which was originally designed to last two years, went on for almost seven. It ended after the spacecrafts ran out of fuel and were no longer able to orient themselves toward the Sun.

The probes flew through rings of charged particles trapped by Earth’s magnetic field from 2012 to 2019, in order to study how particles were gained and lost, per Nasa.

Those rings, called the Van Allen belts, shield Earth from cosmic radiation, solar storms and streaming solar wind, which are harmful to humans and can damage technology.

The mission made significant discoveries, including the first data that show the existence of a transient third radiation belt, which can form during times of intense solar activity, Nasa said.

Van Allen Probe B is not expected to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere before 2030.

[BBC]