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Dwaine Pretorius' record-breaking spell helps young Proteas pin down Pakistan


Dwaine Pretorius bowled the spell of his life picking five wickets for just 17 runs in his four overs quota to break the back of the Pakistani batting lineup at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Riding on his brilliant performance, the South Africa team chased down a minuscule total of 145 with 22 balls remaining and six wickets in hand. 

With this win, the South Africans have now pushed the series into the decider which will take place on Sunday, 14th February. The figures of Pretorius were also the best for any South African bowler in T20I cricket. Not only that, but they were also the best against Pakistan for any bowler and counted as a first five-for in T20i cricket on the Pakistani soil. 

Skipper Heinrich Klassen and David Miller remained not out at the crease at 17 and 25 respectively when the winning shot was hit. The opening batsmen didn’t start the chase in a manner that the Proteas would have wanted with Janneman Malan getting dismissed in the very first over. Soon after JJ Smuts became the second victim of Shaheen Afridi. 

But after that, the South African pair of Reeza Hendricks and Pite Van Bijon didn’t offer any chance to the Pakistanis, adding 77 runs in just 53 balls to take the game away from the opposition. There was a chance when Hendricks was bowled by last match hero Usman Qadir. But it turned out to be a no-ball, sinking Pakistani hopes further down. 

When the wicket finally fell, it was too little too late for the home team. Qadir, the Trump card for the Babar Azam led team was taken for cleaners, vanishing any hopes of a comeback for the Pakistanis after a horrific batting display. 

Earlier in the evening, South Africa once again won the toss and decided to bowl first. The pitch was really slow in the first innings and the Proteas bowlers made good use of it. Babar Azam failed once again, getting plumbed in front of the wicket. Mohammad Rizwan tried to hold one end up, but couldn’t accelerate the run rate as the South African spinners, especially Tabrez Shamsi choked the flow of runs by bowling very tight line. Pretorius too varied his peace brilliantly. 

At one point in the game, Pakistan could score only 12 runs in four overs. Tanks to Faheem Asharaf’s 12 balls 30 that Pakistan was able to reach a fighting total of 144 in their 20 overs. Rizwan top-scored with 51 off 41 balls.

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2nd Test, Day 1 Report: Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane silence critics, resurrect India

It was known from the outset that the pitch for the second Test will assist spinners more than it did on the first couple of days in the last game, and it unturned out no different from the expectations. India were coming in this game with huge pressure on them after facing a big defeat in the first Test of the series, and there was no quick end to their misery. Shubman Gill, who according to Virat Kohli was the best Indian batsman in the first Test was proved to be inefficient by an express Ollie Stone who was picked only for his extra pace over a more reliable Chris Woakes. Gill has always been good on judging the line of the balls, but only in the second over of the game, one back off the length moved off the pitch to find him ‘stoned’ dead in front of the stumps shouldering his arms in hope of the ball going away from the off stump line. The next man in—Pujara, had once again the task of resurrecting the batting and he started to soak up the pressure from the one end. He was composed as usual and used his feet sparingly to combat spinners as the pitch started to explode a lot earlier than predicted. At the other end, Rohit Sharma appeared to be batting on a completely different strip. He was severe against pacers who committed mistakes of providing him short deliveries while full balls were also dealt with immaculate placements. He looked hungrily for runs after missing out in the first Test on the pitch as flat as a road and was in no mood to allow the bowlers, especially spinners to dictate terms to him. He was eager to sweep spinners off their lengths but was vigilant enough to not sweep from the line of the stumps. His sweeps at regular intervals kept on dragging Moeen Ali away from the off stump, and a smart Rohit was quick to pounce on with cut shots through the off-side. Pujara looked certain, but after spending quite a bit of time in the middle, he tried to rotate strike and Root and Leach were proactive to tempt him with an open field on the off-side. Pujara was opening the face of the bat to nudge the ball in gaps for singles, but eventually, a ball turned to take the outside edge of his bat and England’s plan worked perfectly well for them. Virat Kohli entered the fray after the first hour which threw a lot of actions with wickets falling and Rohit scoring at a rate of knots. He started with good defence but a tossed up delivery outside off stump from Moeen Ali outside tempted him to go for a big booming drive through the cover which was left vacant by Root and Moeen. Until his dismissal, Kohli had done everything correctly for his team as he finally won an all-important toss and he was delighted to bat first on the pitch he said will start crumbling fairly quickly. Kohli went for the drive, the ball dipped, and took a puff of dust along with it to sneak through the big gap Kohli left between his pad and bat in pursuit of his signature cover drive against spinners to hit the stumps. He was so shocked that he could barely believe it and rather asked the umpires if the ball actually hit the stumps after beating him. After Kohli’s departure, it was the moment of reckoning for the pair of Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma, who faced the ire and scrutiny of fans after the loss in the first game to bail the team out of the big hole. Rahane had defended Rohit saying his value can’t be measured by the failure in four-five innings, and he got the best seat in the ground to see Rohit justifying the huge confidence shown on him before the start of the Test. Both Rahane and Rohit batted with authority and control as England spinners started to lose control over the line and lengths with the ball getting older, Rohit was extremely severe while Rahane was measured in his approach. Rohit marched on to hit a critics-silencing century and with the ease, he batted in such a tricky pitch must have also exonerated him from the tag of being a ‘flat-track bully.’ He converted his hundred into a daddy hundred and never looked finished. He was willing to wait for loose deliveries which kept on coming his way courtesy of his proactiveness in the crease. He was distraught after getting caught at the boundary after mistiming a sweep shot which he was playing the whole day with so much fence. He looked really disappointed even after scoring a mammoth 161 runs that could well be the difference between the teams on this pitch that has all in it to be called a dustbowl. At the other end, Rahane too brought up a much-needed fifty to shed off all rounds of questions around his place in the team and the value he brings to the table for the Kohli’s side. He was decisive in his footwork and rad the lengths of the spinners well until he got out attempting to sweep a very full delivery off Moeen Ali. England got back in the game with three wickets in the late third session of the day otherwise the game would have been lost on the very first day itself. Rishabh Pant has launched yet another assault on them and he did not look in a lot of hurry like the first Test and it appeared that he was eyeing the big opportunity of scoring on the second day. Root’s hands were tied due to possible injury concerns to Ben Stokes who could bowl only two overs on the first day and hence the skipper had to go back to Moeen Ali again and again, albeit the off-spinner was struggling to find his length where he could bowl for a lengthy spell or even an over. Ali leaked 112 runs which could not be a satisfactory performance by any stretch of the imagination, although he got the big wickets of Virat Kohli and Rahane. He was brought into the team in place of Dominic Bess to provide control and a helpless Root had to bring himself on from one end to make good use of the turning pitch. Root will be hopeful England will strike early tomorrow to check India running away with the game. This is not a pitch supporting 500 runs and hence anything above 350 runs will make their challenge steeper and steeper. Root will be banking on his pacers to get the best of Pant as he does not have the leverage of too many runs on the board to keep the heat on Pant and wait for him to be found out hitting one shot too many. All will depend on the battle between Pant and England bowler tomorrow as it will dictate the terms of the challenges of England’s challenge when they will walk out to bat.

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Ind vs Eng: Umpiring howlers on Rahane, Rohit and Pant dismissals bring wittiest replies from Twitterati

The on-field umpires officiating the second Test between India and England gave some ordinary decisions. But the thing that surprised the people the most was the decision making of the third umpire, who instead of looking at the reviews fully and from all angles, chose to make decisions in an arbitrary fashion. This style of umpiring didn’t go down well with Twitterati who punched the decision-maker left, right and centre with their witty replies. Two decision in question were a stumping of Rohit Sharma where the back leg of Rohit seemed to be on line but the umpire declared it not out even before confirming it from different angles. The second one was a catch of Ajinkya Rahane. Rahane was caught at the short leg by Ollie Pope off Jack Leach. The ball did not hit the bat first, but ricochet off the pad and hit back of the gloves to be caught by the fielder. The original decision was not out. England reviewed it and the third umpire did not bother to check the part where the ball ricocheted, he just checked the first impact and the Leg Before Wicket, declaring it not out. The replays clearly showed that Rahane’ gloves touched the ball before being caught by Pope. The worst part about the dismissal was that the umpires, after deciding that England should lose their review, reinstated as Rahane was bowled by Moeen Ali in the very next over. The Third decision involving Rishabh Pant was a clear case of misjudgement as the ball past the bat, without making any contact with it and went to the keeper Ben Foakes. Foakes appealed and Pant was given out of a Joe Root delivery. He reviewed and the replays confirmed that there was daylight between bat and ball and the cherry had kissed Pant’s trousers. India ended their day at 300 at the loss of six wickets.

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Delhi Capitals CEO Dhiraj Malhotra becomes BCCI's GM

Delhi Capitals CEO Dhiraj Malhotra has replaced former India cricketer Saba Karim as the General Manager (Game Development) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Malhotra has held senior positions in the International Cricket Council (ICC) as well. "Yes, Dhiraj Malhotra has been formally appointed as GM (Game Development). He will be joining from Monday, February 15," a senior BCCI source told PTI on Friday. Karim’s tenure of three years ended last month. Malhotra will now be monitoring the match playing regulations, standards of venues, including pitches and outfields, besides the administration of the Domestic Tours Programme. According to the BCCI website, the GM (Game Development) “will be responsible for determining and monitoring the match playing regulations, standards of venues, including pitches and outfields besides the administration of the Domestic Tours Programme.” Talking about Dhiraj’s role with Delhi Capitals, a source close to BCCI said that Malhotra’s presence in the DC camp helped them produce some good performances in the last couple of seasons. "Dhiraj's joining Delhi franchise coincided with two of their best seasons, including a playoff and a second-place finish," the source said. "Also, when he was with DC, he was asked to help out at the ODI World Cup in England due to his vast knowledge." The DC franchise had an impressive last season where they reached the final of the Indian Premier League for the first time. However, it lost the title clash to Mumbai Indians eventually.

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Jeetan Patel applies for full-time spin bowling coach of England

Former New Zealand off-spinner Jeetan Patel has applied for a full-time role as the spin bowling coach of the England Men’s cricket team. Patel has been with the England side on a consultation basis for the last 18 months and has now applied for the post advertised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). "The ECB are still in the process of trying to hire three roles. They're still in the background for them. There's a lot going on so I'm not sure when that process will end, but right now it's on a consultancy basis and I love it. I've been very lucky to see this team win Test series, win games of cricket out of nowhere in some cases, to watch Joe Root score the runs he has, to see the young spinners come through and take five-fors, and also to see the group in some wonderful Test matches in South Africa through to Sri Lanka recently,” Patel said on the eve of the second Test match between India and England. "I've really enjoyed my time here and I'd love to continue, but the reality is that I don't make those decisions. I'll put my best foot forward and make sure that I keep growing these guys as much as I can. I'd love it to be full-time." Jeetan Patel has earned a lot of accolades as he has been helping the English spinners—Jack Leach and Dominic Bess in finding better control over their line and lengths. England have won two overseas Test series in South Africa and Sri Lanka under his watch. England are 1-0 up in the Test series against India and it was their spinners in Leach and Bess who claimed eight wickets between them to hand the hosts a heavy defeat.