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Bangladesh create history, defeat world champions New Zealand in first Test

Bangladesh created history against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui on Wednesday after beating the Kiwis by 8 wickets in the first Test of the two-match series. Chasing a target of just 40 runs in the second innings, Bangladesh lost an early wicket after Shadman Islam was out for 3. 

But Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mominul Haque first steadied the ship with a partnership of 31 runs and then the skipper along with Mushfiqur Rahim took the team over the line. Shanto was undone for 17 by Jamieson but his departure didn’t really put much impact as the visitors were in cruise control. 

Earlier, New Zealand began the day at 147/5 with Ross Taylor and Rachin Ravindra at the crease but the home side couldn’t really add much runs to the tally and were bowled out for 169 in the second innings. 

Taylor was the first batsman to be sent back in the pavilion for 40 and the hosts then witnessed a collapse to eventually get bowled out. Ebadot Hossain eventually returned with figures of 6/46 while Taskin Ahmed had three scalps to his name. 

Hossain who was adjudged man of the match for his performance and expressed his joy on the win. He also mentioned about the long wait that the Asian side had to see before this victory. 

“We have come here for the last 11 years and not won a game. When we came this time, we set a goal and we said to ourselves we can do it. New Zealand are Test Champions and if we beat them then it will inspire the next generation to do the same. I have been working hard with Ottis Gibson,” he said after the match. 

“The conditions are too flat in Bangladesh and we are still learning how to bowl away from home. I am a soldier of Bangladesh and know how to celebrate (after a wicket). My journey from volleyball to cricket is a long story. I am enjoying my cricket,” he added. 

The two sides will now lock horns in the second match slated to begin on January 9, 2022 in Christchurch.  

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SA vs IND | 2nd Test, Day 2: Shardul rules the show as tricky pitch keeps batsmen, game on the edge

Around this time last year, when Ravichandran Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari had resisted the Australian bowling attack to secure India a historic draw in Sydney, he had pinpointed his side’s ability to respond in “adversity”. Almost a year to that day, the second day of the second Test against South Africa ratified what Ashwin wanted to assert as India found a way back once again from situations where the hosts appeared to be taking off to achieve an indomitable position. They lost their skipper right before the big game that could go on to be a historic one for the side if they end up winning it and lost the heart and zip of one of the vital cogs of the bowling attack in Mohammad Siraj late on the second day. Coming into the second day, they had to breach the defence of Dean Elgar and Keegan Petersen, who showed perfect memory as top-order batsmen to forget misbehaving deliveries and impeccable temperament to treat every delivery on its merit. The first hour did not go their way in the same fashion the last hour of the second day did not work for them albeit Mohammad Shami bowled unplayable deliveries one after another to both batsmen. He bowled such immaculate lengths and line to both batsmen that if he would have run through the South African batting line up in the moring spell, no one would have pointed fingers at the batsmen. However, that’s not how the game of cricket goes and India were made to work hard through another mode of attack and while Siraj showed heart by bowling with a shortened run-up, they were definitely falling short. KL Rahul was reluctant to use Shardul Thakur that he first went to Ashwin before going to him with the ball and the former’s weakness of giving away boundary balls must have influenced that decision as India did not have the leverage of too many runs to play with. However, as Shami was unlucky to not get wickets in the cluster despite bowling tremendously, India reaped the rewards. Shardul caught the elusive edge of Elgar’s bat to end his marathon resistance. Rassie van der Dussen never looked convincing and was found in no man’s land against a delivery that bounced awkwardly from the good length area. Keegan Petersen looked the most fluent batsman in the morning session and hit some crisp boundaries off Shami to rub salt to his wounds. However, his concentration and ability to pick perfect balls to play drives worked well only till he reached his maiden fifty. He appeared too eager to drive the ball towards the off side and Shardul produced a perfect outswinger to draw him into a cover drive and Mayank Agarwal was delighted to send Petersen back. India were back in the game before the lunch interval but the threat of Temba Bavuma persisted for them in the afternoon session. A new kid on the block, Kylee Verreynee, who clearly looked out of sorts and shape at the crease, found some streaky boundaries to get South Africa going. Both put the Indian bowling attack under some pressure before Shardul trapped the wicketkeeper-batsman rooted to the crease and in front of the stumps. Bavuma was aggressive at the other end and he could well have assessed that Indian bowlers would eventually bowl a delivery that would have his name on it and hence he tried to maximise his presence at the crease. He played some eye-catching strokes to reach the second fifty of the series in as many games. However, just as Petersen did in the morning session, he unnecessarily tried to step down the track to Shardul Thakur and now a veteran of T20 cricket, he was aware of the change at the other end to shorten the length. The ball caught the glove of Bavuma and Rishabh Pant dived acrobatically to take a stunner to end South Africa’s hopes of batting India out of the game. Keshav Maharaj and Marco Janse tried their best to frustrate India and make life difficult for them in the second innings but they could not manage a lead beyond 27 runs, which the opening pair of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal nullified in a matter of few overs against the new ball. Both Kagiso Rabada and Duanne Olivier were guilty of being inconsistent once again with the new ball and they offered scoring opportunities in between unplayable deliveries to let the Indian openers breathe a little easy. Marco Jansen came into the attack and drew the edge of Rahul and Aiden Markram took a low and contentious catch that ignited the fire between the sides for the first time in the series. Mayank Agarwal was looking fluent and appeared positive in his approach to take full advantage of half volleys Proteas pacers had to offer him in search of his nick. However, he went down in a meek fashion while shouldering arms to a back of length delivery from Olivier that cut back off the seam towards him. With the dismissal of both Mayank and Rahul, who have been the cornerstone of India’s batting so far in the series, the responsibility of rescuing India and maintaining the flow of runs to chip away at the deficit fell on the old but struggling shoulders of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara. They did not have to battle the fire from the pacers on the pitch but they must have been batting many battles in their heads with swords hanging over their places due to a string of low scores and poor execution in the first innings. To their credit though, both of them batted with fluency and panache to hit some aggressive shots. Pujara, in particular, was more aggressive of the two and he was daring to drive fullish length deliveries to four even in the last few minutes of the day. He finished the day unbeaten on a 42-ball 35 which is rarest of the rare occasion in the world of cricket and India will bank on both of them to come good with the bat and vindicate the team management’s decision to keep on relying on them to do the hard yards with the bat.

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Ranji Trophy 2022: Minister Manoj Tiwary included in Bengal's squad

Bengal has included Manoj Tiwary, a sitting minister, into the Ranji Trophy squad for the upcoming season. Tiwary is West Bengal’s Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports. “I have built a core team that will do the job in my absence in my constituency. My team has the (local Trinamool Congress) block president, women’s wing head, members of our students wing and other experienced political leaders and our work force. So far, we haven’t faced any problem. We have been able to provide services at my constituency,” Tiwary told The Indian Express. The right-handed batter won from the Shibpur constituency in Howrah in the last Bengal Assembly elections while contesting for Trinamool Congress. “I never thought about quitting cricket and I discussed it with our chief minister. She told me, ‘No problem, khel na (keep playing)’. This is my profession and passion, which is the reason I didn’t announce my retirement. Whatever I’m today is because of my cricket,” Tiwary said. Bengal will begin the campaign against Tripura on January 13, 2022. Squad: Abhimanyu Easwaran (c), Manoj Tiwary, Sudip Chatterjee, Anustup Majumdar, Abhishek Raman, Sudip Gharami, Abishek Das, Writtick Chatterjee, Ritwik Roy Chowdhury, Abhishek Porel, Shahbaz Ahmed, Sayan Sekhar Mondal, Akash Deep, Ishan Porel, Mukesh Kumar, Kazi Junaid Saifi, Sakir Habib Gandhi, Pradipta Pramanik, Geet Puri, Nilakantha Das and Karan Lal.