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Kohli guides India to third successive Champions Trophy final
India marched into the final of the ICC Champions Trophy for the third successive time by putting out a clinical performance with both bat and ball against Australia. The run-chase was guided largely by Virat Kohli, who went past 8000 runs while chasing in ODIs, in typical style with adequate support right through.
Kohli anchored the chase through some muddled waters to keep India on track. His entry to the chase was early with Shubman Gill chopping on in the fifth over. But Rohit Sharma, who was dropped twice, was playing the characteristic aggressor early on unafraid to exploit the powerplay. He hit 28 off 29 before missing a sweep against left-arm spinner Cooper Connolly to be trapped LBW. At 43/2 inside eight overs, the chase was in the balance with Australia eyeing to make more inroads. But Kohli, along with a resolute Shreyas Iyer, saw them through a worrisome period without many hiccups. The duo were adept at milking Australia’s spinners cutting off much risk-taking. Their 91-run stand got the chase back on track while also laying a solid foundation to build from.
Kohli got to his 74th ODI fifty but was put down soon after. Connollly induced a leading edge only for a diving Glenn Maxwell to spill it at short-extra cover. Iyer, who had been compact until then, was done in by a slider from Zampa to be bowled for 45. But Kohli found another able partner in Axar Patel, who got going with a slog-swept six off Tanveer Sangha. Their 44-run association off 50 balls pushed India closer towards the target while also ensuring that the required run-rate never got out-of-hand.
On a slow surface, Australia were still able to drag the game deep through regular strikes. Axar was then bowled by Nathan Ellis off a shortish delivery that skidded onto the offstump. KL Rahul, who followed, got into a similar template while Kohli held one end up adeptly. Heading into the last ten overs, India needed 65 but with six wickets in hand. Rahul lofted a couple of boundaries in the following overs to keep reversing the pressure. He added another loft off Adam Zampa to tilt the equation further. But in the same over, Kohli uncharacteristically, attempted a loft off Zampa only to hole out to long on. With the equation still being run-a-ball, Australia had a chance to get back into the game.
However, Hardik Pandya got his hitting right to pick up three sixes against the legspinners as India raced ahead. Pandya’s 24-ball 28 tilted the game decisively in India’s favour as they finished the chase with 11 balls to spare.
It capped off a similarly clinical performance with the ball that had seen them restrict Australia to a par-score of 264 after they were asked to bowl. India went in with an unchanged team, meaning they had four frontline spinners in the attack. On a fresh surface, and against an Australian batting line-up that was keen on reversing the pressure, they were not able to exert the same amount of dominance as in the previous game. But they still managed to create an impact right through. It started with Varun Chakravarthy, who struck with his first ball to Travis Head, having India’s nemesis miscuing a loft to long off. Head had mixed success in his 33-ball 39. The first 11 balls he had faced yielded only one run before he managed to accelerate. Mohammed Shami’s round-the-wicket line to both of Australian openers – Cooper Connolly being the other – had posed a few problems straight-up. Head was even dropped first ball when a leading edge was not held by Shami on his follow-through. But the pacer had the better of Connolly, beating his outside edge repeatedly, before inducing an edge that ended a scratchy 9-ball duck.
With Head’s acceleration too being nipped in the bud, India were on the ascendancy before they ran into Steven Smith. The Australian captain looked the most assured of all the batters, and rode on the confidence marking his intentions with a lofted boundary off Axar Patel in his first over. He had the rub of the green a couple of times when the bail wasn’t dislodged after an inside edge off Patel hit the stumps and later Shami dropped a tougher return catch. India managed to keep the innings boundary-free for 50 balls with the Smith-Labuschagne pair in the middle before the latter brought one up with a fine late cut. Labuschagne brought out the slogsweep as well to try and put the left-arm finger spinners off but his knock too was cut short when Jadeja trapped him plumb in front ending a 56-run partnership. Meanwhile, Smith brought up his fifty off 66 balls – the fifth time he’d gone past that mark in 7 ICC ODI knockout games – and anchored the innings well. The support at the other end though was dwindling with Josh Inglis chipping a simple catch to cover on 11.
However, the arrival of Alex Carey injected more momentum to the innings. His 54-run partnership with Smith came close to a run-a-ball through the middle overs with the spinners bearing the brunt of the assault. Carey was the aggressor in the partnership and continued to drive Australia through the rest of the innings almost single-handedly. Smith’s vigil came to an end when he jumped out against Shami and missed a full toss on 73. Australia were impeded further when Axar bowled Glenn Maxwell immediately after being hit for a boundary. But Carey took on the mantle thereafter bringing up a fifty off just 48 balls and played a key part in rendering Kuldeep Yadav ineffective. But just as he was gearing up for a big finish, he was run out by a sharp direct hit by Shreyas Iyer while attempting a second run. Carey became Australia’s eighth wicket with just under three overs remaining which robbed them of a late surge and were bowled out for 264 in the final over.
Brief Scores:
Australia 264 all out in 49.3 overs (Travis Head 39, Steven Smith 73, Marnus Labuschagne 29, Alex Carey 61; Mohammed Shami 3-48, Varun Chakravarthy 2-49, Ravindra Jadeja 2-40) lost to India 267/6 in 48.1 overs (Rohit Sharma 28, Virat Kohli 84, Shreyas Iyer 45, Axar Patel 27, KL Rahul 42*, Hardik Pandya 28; Nathan Ellis 2-49, Adam Zampa 2-60) by 4 wickets
The UK has said it will contribute drones, fighter jets and a warship to a joint mission aimed at safeguarding shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Defence minister John Healey announced the package at a virtual summit of defence ministers on Tuesday. It includes autonomous systems to detect and clear naval mines, drone boats and Typhoon jets for air patrols.
More than 40 other nations are involved in the mission, which Healey said would begin when conditions allow.
For months Iran has been controlling the Strait of Hormuz – one of the world’s busiest oil shipping channels – in retaliation for US and Israeli attacks.
The US, for its part, has been enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports to exert pressure on Tehran to agree to its terms – a move that has infuriated Iran.
Some 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas uses the crucial waterway, whose blockage has sent prices soaring globally.
A ceasefire has been in place between the US and Iran since April, but US President Donald Trump has said it is on “massive life support”.
Both sides have accused the other of launching attacks in the strait.
There is already more than 1,000 British personnel deployed in the region as part of existing defensive operations, including counter-drone teams and fast jet squadrons, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Defence said the multinational mission – which was announced last month by the UK and France – is strictly defensive and aimed at restoring confidence for commercial shipping along the Strait of Hormuz.
It said the contribution is backed by £115m new funding for mine-hunting drones and counter-drone systems.
“With our allies, this multinational mission will be defensive, independent, and credible,” Healey said in a statement.
Under the plan, HMS Dragon – the air defence destroyer that is already on its way to the Middle East – will also “be ready for any mission” to secure the strait, the MoD said.
It added that another British ship, the RFA Lyme Bay, continues to be upgraded by with new equipment, if required for operations in the strait.
The announcement comes as Healey offered his support to Sir Keir Starmer, as dozens of Labour MPs called on the prime minister to resign.
[BBC]
Jess Phillips, a high-profile Labour minister, has quit in protest as Prime Minister Keir Starmer refuses to heed growing calls to resign, according to Sky News. Hours earlier, Miatta Fahnbulleh, a junior minister, was the first politician to leave government over the issue.
Starmer has promised to “get on with governing”, defying calls from about 80 MPs who are urging Starmer to leave imminently or set out a timetable to do so after his Labour Party suffered heavy losses in local elections.
As Labour was hammered, the hard-right Reform UK party surged in the local elections.
The UK’s fourth prime minister in five years, Starmer also faces pressure over the Labour Party’s vetting process to approve Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the United States, given Mandelson’s relationship with the billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
[Aljazeera]
Bangladesh’s bowlers combined to trounce Pakistan by 104 runs in the first Test in Dhaka. Nahid Rana struck decisive blows while Taskin Ahmed, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam were among the wickets as the home team put together a rare triumph on the fifth day. This is now Bangladesh’s third consecutive win against Pakistan, after they won the 2024 series by 2-0 margin.
Rana removed Shan Masood, Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan in a fiery spell, before he took down Noman Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi to finish with figures of 5 for 40 from his 9.5 overs. Taskin and Taijul took two wickets each while Mehidy, who took a five-for in the first innings, took one wicket.
For most of their fourth innings, Pakistan were kept together by debutant Abdullah Fazal. He initially overcame Pakistan’s early loss of Imam-ul-Haq before lunch, when he struck Mehidy for consecutive fours just after lunch. Rana then went for three fours in a row; Fazal edged twice through the slips before driving hard down the ground.
Mehidy brought back Bangladesh immediately when he bowled Azan Awais next over. The opener was undone by a delivery that held its line before sliding into the stumps. Awais, who made a century in the first innings, fell for 15 this time.
When Rana removed Masood soon after, Pakistan were 68 for three staring at trouble. Fazal reached his half-century with an upper-cut off Ebadot Hossain. He is now the sixth Pakistan batter to get fifties in both innings of his debut Test.
Fazal however fell in the first over after tea when Taijul got the ball to spin sharply into the left-hander’s defensive prod, with the TV umpire confirming the dismissal through a review. Fazal made 66 off 113 balls, with eleven fours.
Soon after, Taskin had Salman Ali Agha caught at second slip. Shadman Islam however had to walk off after the catch hit his chest, although he held on to the chance.
Earlier in the day, the home side jumped into action in the fifth morning, adding 88 runs in 20 overs. They lost six wickets in the process, but Bangladesh made a laudable approach to keep the game alive. The morning however began with Hasan Ali removing Mushfiqur Rahim, caught at mid-off for 22.
Hasan then took an excellent catch at the fine-leg boundary after Litton Das top edged a hook off Shaheen Afridi after making eleven runs. Mehidy Hasan Miraz struck couple of fours and a six before Noman removed him for 24. It was his 100th wicket.
Shanto fell to Noman too, lbw for 87 while trying to play a reverse sweep. Shanto missed out on becoming only the fourth batter, after Sunil Gavaskar, Ricky Ponting and David Warner, to score twin hundreds in a Test on three occasions.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 413 [Monimul Haque 91, Najmul Hossain Shanto 101, Mushfiqur Rahim 71; Shaheen Shah Afrid 3-113, Mohammad Abbas 5-92] and 240 for 9 dec [Mominul Haque 56, Najmul Hossain Shanto 87; Hasan Ali 3-52, Noman Ali 3-76] beatPakistan 386 [Azan Awais 103, Abdullah Fazal 60, Salman Agha 58, mohammad Rizwan 59; Mehidy Hasan Miraz 5-102] and 163 [Abdullah Fazal 66, Salman Agha 26; Nahid Rana 5-40] by 104 runs
[Cricinfo]
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