Sports
Rampant India take 1-0 lead
West Indies’ struggles in the 50-over format continued as India registered a relatively comfortable victory in the first ODI in Bridgetown, Barbados on Thursday (July 27). Kuldeep Yadav picked up a four-wicket haul while Ravindra Jadeja bagged three as they expedited West Indies’ collapse, with the hosts losing their last seven wickets for the addition of only 26 runs to be bowled out for a paltry 114 in 23 overs. India experimented with their batting order in the chase, with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli not coming out to bat in their usual positions, making way for the others up the order. They lost half their side in the process, on a pitch aiding the spinners, but Ishan Kishan’s 46-ball 52 guided India in the chase and they eventually got home with 27.1 overs to spare.
A confident pull shot off Dominic Drakes helped Kishan get off the mark with a boundary in the first over. Shubman Gill’s first runs came off a top edge that got him a four off Jayden Seales. The openers were building a steady partnership when Gill got an outside edge off Seales, with Brandon King taking a low catch at second slip. Third umpire Marais Erasmus referred to multiple angles before ruling the batter out. Suryakumar Yadav came in at No.3 and he glanced Drakes for a four to score his first runs after a hat-trick of ducks in his previous ODI outings. Kishan was quick to read the lengths, striking a straight four off a full delivery from Drakes and also played the pull to put away a short ball.
Suryakumar, who struck a cover drive off Seales for his second four, also played his favourite pick-up lap shot for a six over fine-leg. The pair scored at a steady rate, combining their boundary shots with singles as India reached 50 in 10 overs. Suryakumar played a sweep off Gudakesh Motie for a boundary but the spinner hit back by bowling it a lot slower, getting the batter out leg-before, with India also losing a review. Kishan, meanwhile was playing shots all round, playing a one-handed shot over mid-off and a cut off Yannic Cariah for two boundaries. Hardik Pandya was also pushed up the order but he had a short stay, run out at the non-striker’s end after a shot from Kishan deflected off Cariah’s hands onto the stumps.
Kishan then put away a full toss from Cariah for his first six and struck a powerful shot past Motie for another four. He also got a lucky break as he was dropped by Kyle Mayers off Motie when he tried to pull, and he brought up a 44-ball fifty a short while later. But Kishan fell in his attempt to play a heave off Motie and Shardul Thakur also departed soon after, bringing Rohit to the crease. The captain, along with Jadeja, helped their team across the line without further damage as India took a 1-0 lead in the three match series.
Earlier, with the pitch offering extra bounce, Pandya and debutant Mukesh Kumar troubled the West Indies openers with deliveries that took off from a length after skipper Rohit opted to bowl. Mayers tried to force the pace but the bounce got the better of him as he handed a simple catch to Rohit Sharma at mid-on to give Pandya the first wicket. A steady partnership between Alick Athanaze and Brandon King ensued, with the two batters scoring a few boundaries. Athanaze’s first shot of authority was a pick-up shot for a six off Pandya and he added three more fours to his tally before he hit a short and wide ball from Mukesh to Jadeja, who timed his jump well at backward point. King fell soon after, bowled by Thakur as West Indies slipped to 45/3.
Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer, who returned to the West Indies XI after a lengthy gap, tried to rebuild as they extended their stand past 40. Hope struck a couple of fours off short balls from Umran Malik while Hetmyer pulled a Jadeja delivery to fine leg for his first four. But Jadeja, who was a bit wayward to start off, hit his straps and left West Indies in further trouble. Hetmyer’s innings came to an end when an attempted paddle shot resulted in him being bowled. Jadeja had Gill and Virat Kohli to thank for his next two wickets as they held onto fine catches off edges to first and second slip, resulting in Rovman Powell and Romario Shepherd falling in the same over.
West Indies slid further when Kuldeep struck in quick succession. The chinaman bowler trapped Drakes in front with a googly and then got Cariah also with a wrong’un, with India using the DRS successfully. At the other end, Hope watched on helplessly as West Indies lost their direction completely. The West Indies captain tried to farm strike with the tail batting with him, even striking a six off Jadeja to enter the 40s. But an attempted reverse sweep brought about his downfall, giving Kuldeep his third wicket. He picked up his fourth in just three overs when Seales handed a catch to leg slip to become the last to fall, bringing the curtains down on a shoddy batting display from the West Indies who were bowled out for their second lowest total against India.
B Sai Sudarshan strengthened his case to retain the No.3 spot for the upcoming Test series in Sri Lanka, with his 168 for India A against Sri Lanka A in Galle. Sudharsan converted his overnight 104 not out into his career-best score for India A, helping his side stretch their lead to 175 by the end of the third day’s play. India A closed out the day on 541 for 8 in response to Sri Lanka A’s 366.
Devdutt Padikkal failed to add to his overnight 94 and Ruturaj Gaikwad retired hurt on 13, but India A zoomed ahead thanks to Sai Sudharsan, captain Dhruv Jurel (53), Shaik Rasheed (45) and Saransh Jain (68*).
Jurel’s innings was cut short when he was trapped lbw by left-arm spinner Dilum Sudeera, who also claimed the wicket of Sai Sudharsan. Allrounder Keshara Nuwantha, meanwhile, claimed the wickets of Padikkal and Shaik Rasheed, and Gurnoor Brar late in the day. Overall, he had figures of 4 for 158 in 50 overs.
Sri Lanka A toiled away, using as many as eight bowlers, but only Sudeera and Nuwantha were among the wickets until captain Sahan Arachchige struck late in the day.
India A’s bowling allrounders Saransh and Auqib Nabi (30) combined for an 81-run stand to take the visitors past 500.
Scores:
India A 541 for 8 in 142 overs (B Sai Sudharsan 168, Devdutt Padikkal 94, Druv Jurel 53, Saransh Jain 68*, Shaik Rasheed 45; Keshara Nuwantha 4-158, Dilum Sudeera 3-101) lead Sri Lanka A 366 in 110 overs (Sahan Arachchige 127; Gurnoor Brar 4-77, Saransh Jain 4-92) by 175 runs
(Cricinfo)
Vaobhav Sooriyavanshi at just 15 years and 99 days, has become the second youngest cricketer to play for a Full Member men’s team*, making his debut against England in Manchester. He enters a list of other precocious talents who had burst on to – and sometimes, gone away – from the international stage in their teenage years.
Hasan Raza (Pakistan), 14y 227d
Hasan Raza was a wonderful timer of the ball. He took the field against Zimbabwe before turning 15 in October 1996, and batted once, scoring 27 off 48 deliveries from No. 5.
Doubts, however, later emerged about his age, and the PCB withdrew the claim that Raza was the youngest men’s Test debutant in the history of the game.
Whether he was 14, or 15 as some claimed, he showed tenacity at the international stage but without the results. He played just one more Test before the turn of the century, and then was dropped from the side. A recall in 2002 resulted in his only two Test fifties, against Australia – slow knocks of 54* and 68. However, he never quite found the same success as he did in first-class cricket, where he scored 13,949 runs in a 20-year career.
Jhon Arias scored the only goal as Colombia beat Ghana 1-0 in sweltering conditions in Kansas City on Friday to reach the World Cup round of 16, continuing a quietly impressive campaign that has established them as dangerous outsiders.
Arias struck in the 14th minute, guiding home a cross from substitute Luis Suarez, and Colombia’s disciplined defence did the rest as Nestor Lorenzo’s side extended their unbeaten run and booked a meeting with Switzerland in the next round.
Colombia had largely flown under the radar at the tournament, despite going undefeated against Portugal, Uzbekistan and DR Congo to top Group K.
Their breakthrough on Friday came from two players who had not been expected to combine, as Suarez, thrust into action after Jhon Cordoba was forced off with an apparent groin injury in the eighth minute, delivered a pinpoint cross to the back post where Arias had somehow drifted unmarked.
With time and space to pick his spot, Arias calmly guided the ball into the bottom corner to hand his side a deserved lead.
The stadium felt more like Barranquilla than Kansas City as tens of thousands of Colombia supporters turned the clash with Ghana – a team ranked 60 places behind them – into a de facto home game, giving the South Americans a level of support rarely seen so far from home.
The stands were a writhing, dancing sea of yellow jerseys, twirling scarves and black-and-white sombrero vueltiao hats, that many used to fan their faces in the oppressive 30-degree Celsius (86-degree Fahrenheit) heat.
They bounced in unison, roared their team forward with every attack, and regularly broke into chants of “Vamos Colombia! Esta noche tenemos que ganar!” (Spanish for ‘Let’s go Colombia, tonight we have to win!’).
They need not have worried. Colombia were the better team by some distance.
Luis Diaz had numerous scoring chances. He fired into the side netting in the first half, then celebrated what he thought was the game’s second goal early in the second half when he slotted home Arias’s cross, but it was disallowed for offside.
Lorenzo’s men continued to push for a second goal, and Ghana goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi, who was excellent all night, made one terrific save after another in the dying minutes as Colombia’s fans cheered every one of their team’s touches of the ball.
Antoine Semenyo was Ghana’s biggest attacking threat, yet Colombia’s disciplined defence denied him a clear sight of goal.
Colombia became the fourth South American team to reach the last 16, joining surprise package Paraguay, who stunned Germany, along with Brazil and Argentina, both of whom survived scares of their own.
Colombia – whose best finish was reaching the quarterfinals in 2014 – play the Swiss on Tuesday in Vancouver.
[Aljazeera]
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