Covid-19 and South Africa: Two players positive, domestic tourney postponed

AUS vs IND: Ashwin rules out comparison with Lyon, calls it 'out of context'

Playing his first test of this year, a lot was stacked against Ravichandran Ashwin while a lot of India’s chances of getting to a good total was riding on his bat. Turned out, the day started on a horror note and it was the wicket of Ashwin who was undone by a jaffa from Pat Cummins that prevented tourists from reaching a total Chesteshwar Pujara had hoped at the end of the first day’s play. Ashwin could not be blamed for the collapse of the lower batting order as it was beyond his pedigree to contain Cummins in full rhythm but India’s long tail was exposed and their vulnerabilities were capitalised by the Australian bowlers and Ashwin was not to be spared either. Although Ashwin has good batting credentials, a lot more was riding on him when the team walked out to fled and defend the Australians from marching ahead with the game and there, Ashwin put his hands up and made his performances counted for the team as the hosts got bundled out in deficit on 191. Australian spinner Nathan Lyon had got assistance from the pitch on the first day and a similar performance was expected off Ashwin when he was brought into the attack when the best Australian batting pair of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith were at the crease. Ashwin enjoyed the big wicket and celebrated vigorously and at the end of the day’s play, he outlined the value of Smith’s wicket in the context and the phase of the game he got better of Smith. "With regards to the wicket of Steve Smith, obviously it's a big wicket. You know how much time he bats. In the context of the game, and where it was placed, I felt it was a really important wicket so I really enjoyed it,” Ashwin said on his efforts to dismiss Smith with a delivery that went on with the arm and flummoxed Smith who was waiting on the backfoot for it to turn into him. Ashwin had seen Lyon getting overspin on the ball to trouble Indian batsmen on the first day but backed he understands his own game and backed his own set of skills to get the better of Steve Smith in his very first over. There have been discussions about the similarity in skills and dissimilarity in the style of his bowling with that of Lyon’s bowling style, but the off-spinner called all those discussions ‘out of proportions.’ He said that his approach to bowling is different from Lyon’s and that he relies more on consistency with tight line and lengths to control the flow of the game in order to induce false shot out of batsmen. "At times things can get blown out of context on how one approaches their trade. Even in this particular Test, Nathan and I bowl very differently. We are different bowlers and successful in our own way. For me, it's not so much about the trajectory. It's about trying and changing it up and trying to making it difficult for the batsman to be able to defend or score,”: Ashwin added. He also came hard at suggestions that he should watch and learn lessons from Lyon on how to bowl effectively on Australian pitches. He said that expectations of players replicating one another with respect to different playing conditions are unfair expectations to make. "Nobody asks batsmen to go and watch how Steve Smith bats and replicate that all the time when we tour Australia. Nobody does that to Alastair Cook or Joe Root the way they play. We are all aware that everybody skins a cat very, very differently. You can learn, there's no stoppage to what you learn from people. You can always learn all the finer things, how they go about their business, how they set their fields, the passage of play,” Ashwin added while weighing in the thoughts about how differently he approaches a game than many other spinners like him. Ashwin ended up being the most successful bowler for the Indians on day two, picking up four wickets that included big wickets of Travis Head and Cameron green, apart from the popular wicket of Smith in the middle session. However, Ashwin is not going too far ahead with his successful outing on day 2 and reinserted that his role in overseas tests is to hold one end up to give the captain breathing space where other bowlers such as the pacers can be rotated around. He fulfilled that role perfectly as he bowled continuously from one end in the session between the dinner break and tea interval while Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami kept charging in from the other end. "When you are playing abroad, my mindset is to just hold one end up and allow the captain to rotate fast bowlers from the other end. I also go for wickets if there is enough assistance or enough early wickets. For me it's all about making it as difficult as possible for the batsman," Ashwin added. Although Ashwin’s role was to hold one end up, the wickets he picked brought tye momentum backing India’s favour and the Aussies could not quite get back the flow of the game in their favour. Now, India have a lead of 62 runs and have nine wickets in hands. He would hope that batsmen would be able to replicate the resistance they put forward in the first innings and also translate those into big innings to set up a big total for the hosts to chase. Australia will bat last on this pitch and deep down his wise head, Ashwin would be the first one to know that in the second innings his role will not be limited to holding one end up, rather he will have to match his first innings performance if not better it if India have to win this crucial first test to start off the series on a dominating note and put all the pressure they were under onto the host Australia.

Rajiv Shukla to be elected BCCI Vice-Prez unopposed

Chairman of the IPL Governing Council and veteran Congressman Rajiv Shukla is set to be elected as the next Vice President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. His name has been recommended by the DDCA President and son of Popular politician Arun Jaitley, Rohan Jaitley. Mahim Verma of Uttarakhand, the incumbent Vice President, who had just completed his tenure also seconded Jaitley’s recommendation. The 61-year-old former Journalist and former Vice President of teh BCCI will be officially given the post during BCCI's Annual General Meeting in Ahmedabad on December 24. Brijesh Patel, the IPL Chairman, and Khairul Jamal Majumdar were the other two members elected to teh BCCI governing council, they too have been elected unopposed. "At this time, none of the units want any election. It was always going to be unanimous choices,” A senior official of the state associations was quoted as saying by PTI. “Patel's re-election was proposed by TNCA top boss RS Ramaswamy and Kerala's Sreejith Nair seconded his name. In the case of Majumdar, CAB president Avishek Dalmiya was the proposer, and Mumbai Cricket Association secretary Sanjay Naik was the seconder,” the official added.

Warne wants ‘rubbish’ Red Ball to be replaced by the Pink one in all Tests

Australian spinner Shane Warne believes that the Red Ball, the original Test ball, which has been in use since the start of the game should be replaced by the Pink Ball altogether, even in day Test matches. "I've been saying this for the last few years. I believe the pink ball should be used in all Test matches. Day games, not just day-night games," Warne was heard saying while commentating on Fox Cricket during the first Australia-India Test in Adelaide. Recounting the advantages of a Pink ball over the Red one, Warne said, "The pink ball, you can actually see the ball easier, the crowd can see the ball easier.” He further asked, “It generally does more than the red ball and it looks fantastic on TV. So why not use a pink ball the whole time?” "Maybe change it at 60 overs because it goes soft, but I'd be using the pink ball for every Test match so more of it I would say," he added. Vehemently opposing the use of teh Red cherry, the 51-year-old said, "No more red ball, it doesn't swing, it doesn't do anything, goes soft after 25 overs. It has been pathetic for so long now. Except for the Dukes ball in England, it has been rubbish." The man with more than 700 Tets scalps with the Red ball itself believes that now the time of r the change has come. "The pink ball can't be any worse than what the red ball has been for Test cricket. We haven't seen swing, we haven't seen seam. Absolutely nothing. Pink ball has generally offered more help to the bowler sand in five years since it's the first use, no Pink Ball Test match has ended in a draw.

He builds pressure: Ponting reckons Lyon can be decisive in second innings

Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting believes that off-spinner Nathan Lyon could be a decisive factor going into the third of the Adelaide Test, especially against the Indian right-handers (which is all the batsmen). "He's had as much success as any spinner, I think, against India over the years. He's got Virat Kohli out (in Tests) more than anybody in the history of the game, he looked like he troubled Pujara a lot today," Ponting was quoted as saying to cricket.com.au. Explaining how he gets nasty against the right-handers, Ponting said, "The right-handers that come out to bat against him - he gets so much over-spin on the ball when you've got fielders around the bat - they must feel like they're going to get out every ball.” "He builds pressure, he bowls very few bad balls so he'll be a massive threat for them," added the 45-year-old. However, Punter believes that there is still room for improvement and 33-year-old Lyon could do much more if he could go wide of the crease and try and challenge both the edges of the bat instead of just one. "I think it's more about trying to challenge both edges of the bat. When he creates the angle from wide and angles back in, that really only challenges the inside half of the bat and a glove whereas if he can get it out a little bit wider (off the crease), it brings the catch at slip in play,” Ponting said. Lyon, into his 97th Test, has taken 397 wickets so far and with India at 9/1 and a 62 run second innings lead in their favour, it would be up to him to help Aussies fight back.