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Jaiswal ton deflates West Indies on attritional Day 2
Yashasvi Jaiswal’s century on debut was the highlight of an attritional second day’s play in Dominica as India extended their domination over the West Indies in the first Test. Jaiswal displayed immense patience during his 350-ball stay for an unbeaten 143, having been involved in record double century partnership with skipper Rohit Sharma, who also got to his 10th Test hundred. West Indies picked up a couple of wickets in the second session but the hosts had nothing much to write home about otherwise. Jaiswal, who surpassed Mohammed Azharuddin’s record (322) for most deliveries faced by an Indian on debut, wore the West Indian bowlers down to take the visiting side to 312/2 at Stumps, extending the lead to 162.
Rohit and Jaiswal were mostly kept in check in the first session with the pacers bowling disciplined lines and the spinners finding plenty of purchase from the pitch. Only 66 runs came in the 32 overs bowled in the opening session, with Jaiswal being the quieter of the two openers as he went past 50, scoring only one boundary in the pre-lunch period. Rohit, on the other hand, was more proactive, scoring boundaries off pace and spin, and he also struck a six over midwicket off Alzarri Joseph en route to his fifty.
The spinners bowled the bulk of the overs in the second hour, with ripping turn and extra bounce troubling the Indian openers on multiple occasions. There was also a loud shout for caught-behind when Rahkeem Cornwall went past Jaiswal’s outside edge but West Indies ended up losing a review as they thought it was off an edge when there was none. Rohit got a top edge off a Cornwall delivery that had some extra bounce but the ball evaded backward square leg. The openers saw through the testing period to come out unscathed at the Lunch break.
The second session was all about milestones for Jaiswal, who became only the third Indian opener to register a hundred on Test debut. His 229-run association with Rohit was also the best opening partnership for India against West Indies as India pressed on in the second session, scoring at close to four an over. Rohit overcame a testing spell of short balls from Joseph while Jaiswal scored a few boundaries having been rather quiet in the first session, as both batters reached hundreds, making it only the sixth instance of both Indian openers scoring centuries in the same innings of an away Test.
Rohit, however, had to depart a short while later, gloving Alick Athanaze to the ‘keeper, with West Indies making successful use of the review. Shubman Gill had a lucky break as a poor throw meant West Indies missed a run-out chance. But he was soon caught at second slip off Jomel Warrican, who had to shoulder the bulk of the spin bowling responsibilities with Rahkeem Cornwall not taking the field in the second session due to a chest infection. Kohli was nearly caught at leg-slip off Warrican, having survived a leg-before review earlier, but he remained unbeaten along with Jaiswal as India’s lead neared the 100-run mark at Tea.
A lofted extra cover drive gave Jaiswal a boundary in the first over of the final session, helping India to the 250 mark. West Indies lost their final review when Warrican thought he had Kohli caught at slip off an inside edge, but replays revealed there was no bat involved and it was also missing the stumps. Jaiswal and Kohli, meanwhile, were building a watchful partnership to extend the lead and West Indies delayed taking the second new ball. Jermaine Blackwood’s introduction into the attack meant West Indies employed as many as nine bowlers in the innings.
The second new ball was finally taken, 20 overs overdue, with Kemar Roach and Joseph operating in tandem. A big shout for leg-before, when Roach came around the wicket to Jaiswal and rapped him on the pad, was not given. Replays revealed three reds but the hosts had already exhausted their reviews. The third wicket stand crossed fifty, Jaiswal punched a Joseph delivery for a four and then Kohli got his first boundary going through the cover region of Warrican. The pair extended the lead past 150 and remained unbeaten at the end of a slow-moving session in which 67 came off 32 overs.
The India and Zimbabwe women’s teams are all set to play an international fixture against each other for the first time when Zimbabwe tour India for white-ball fixtures this October.
The tour comprises three T20Is and three ODIs and will be Zimbabwe’s first visit to India; India are yet to tour Zimbabwe for bilateral fixtures.
The three T20Is will be played in Raipur on October 16, 18 and 20, and the ODIs are on October 23, 25 and 28 in Baroda.
The fixtures were announced by the BCCI on Wednesday, along with two home series for the India A women’s side against Australia A in September and England A in December. Both those series comprise three T20s, three List A games and one multi-day fixture.
The India Under-19 women’s team will also host Sri Lanka U-19 in June and July for three T20s and three 50-over games, and England U-19 in November and December for five T20 fixtures.
The Australia A men’s side will tour India for two multi-day fixtures and three one-dayers in September and October, while the Australia U-19 side will visit India for two multi-day fixtures and three one-dayers also in September and October.
[Cricinfo]
Oil prices have dropped and global stock markets have risen following reports that the US and Iran are close to a deal to end the war.
Brent crude futures, the global benchmark oil price, fell to $97 (£73) a barrel after the reports before rebounding to over $101. The price was over $108 earlier in the day.
The FTSE 100 index of London’s largest public firms and Germany’s Dax index closed over 2% up while the French Cac 40 was up 3%. Asian indexes also ended the day higher while the US S&P 500 was up by more than 1% over the day.
The market movements come after Axios reported that the US believes it is close to a one-page document which will end the war and set up detailed nuclear talks.
Hours later, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson told Iranian Students’ News Agency that the US proposal to end the war with Iran was still being considered.
However, not long after that, Trump suggested a deal could still be a way off.
He said on Truth Social that any agreement by the Iranians is “a big assumption” and that a failure to come to a deal will result at bombardments “at a much higher level and intensity ” than was the case during Operation Epic Fury.
Oil prices are still much higher than the $70 a barrel they were hovering around before the start of the US-Israel war with Iran, which has caused caused production and transportation of oil in the region to slump.
Central to the conflict is Iran’s threat to attack oil ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway south of the country, in response to US-Israeli strikes since 28 February.
About a fifth of global oil and gas shipments usually cross the strait, which has been effectively closed for weeks. Global gas prices have also soared since the conflict began.
As for stock markets, the big European bourses are lower than they were at the end of February, while the S&P 500 climbed by more than 1%.
The main Asian markets all rose on Wednesday, with the South Korean Kospi closing up 6.45%, the Hong Kong Hang Seng ending the day up 1.22%, and the Japanese Nikkei finishing 0.38% higher.
The Hang Seng is down since the start of war, but the other two are up.
[BBC]
Pakistan Women 343/4 in 50 overs (Sadaf Shamas 101, Gull Feroza 100, Sidra Amin 59; Christina Mutasa 1-19, Lindokuhle Mabhero 1-52, Olinder Chare 1-40, Nomvelo Sibanda 1-61) beat Zimbabwe Women 137 in 39 overs (Runyararo Pasipanodya 33*; Fatima Sana 3-15, Diana Baig 1-23, Momina Riasat 2-39, Rameem Shamim 2-20, Syed Aroob Shah 2-18) by 206 runs
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Maldivian President concludes state visit to Sri Lanka
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