IPL schedule likely to be out next week; BCCI assures support from Maharashtra govt

Washington Sundar stranded on 96

Washington Sundar was left stranded on the non-striker end and remained unbeaten on 96 while India's lower order batsmen were blown away by Ben Stokes with the ball. He was outstanding with the bat and stitched valuable partnerships of 113 with Rishabh Pant and followed it with another hundred-run partnership with Axar Patel. Axar Patel got run out on 43 and that exposed the remaining two pacers Mohammed Siraj and Ishant Sharma with the bat against Ben Stokes and the all-rounder did not take more than four balls to wipe out both of them to leave Washington helpless at 96 not out. India got bowled out for 365 runs in their first innings and earned a massive lead of 160 runs over England in the first session of the third day’s play.

WI vs SL | 2nd T20I: All-round Hasaranga, disciplined bowlers set up series decider

Sri Lanka bounced back in the second T20 against West Indies with all their might and levelled the three-match series at the Coolidge. Having set a challenging target of 161 runs, the Lankan bowlers were at the top of their game and did not allow any batsman of the power-packed batting line up to come at the top of them, and defended the score by a big margin of 63 runs. Hasaranga de Silva was adjudged the Player of the Match for his all-round display where he picked up three big wickets and provided flourish to Sri Lanka’s batting efforts down the order. Skipper Angelo Mathews relied on the spin and variations of Akila Dananjaya along with the pace of Dushmantha Chameera and the duo bowled tight lines to send a sense of desperation in the hosts’ camp. Dananjaya was all over him Lendl Simmons and the right-hander could not find a way to get away with the required run rate. The effect of quiet overs was telling and Lewis decided to slog his and Windies’s out of the early struggle, but Dananjya was too succinct with his variations and beat him with the one that kept on coming into him with the arm. The universe boss arrived at number three and he literally started bossings around with a six and a boundary of Chameera to bring Windies on track to chase down the target. Dananjaya tried to choke them once again from the other end, but Thisara Perera paid for his discipline with both Gayle and Simmons setting themselves up to send him over the boundary lines repetitively. Simmons and Gayle plundered the all-rounder for 20 runs with three foursa and one six to end the first powerplay, and the partnership started looking ominous for the tourists. S Simmons started timing the ball nicely, but Hasarranga arrived at the bowling crease just after the end of the powerplay. He did not start well, but in a first sign that the night was to be his, Hassaranga picked up the big wicket of Chris Gayle with a real drag on delivery. Sri Lanka were back in the game, but only just with another danger man Nicholas Pooran out to bat. Hassaranga was not finished in that over and accounted for Simmons with a googly to pegg Windies significantly back in the game. Windies promoted Jason Holder over skipper Kieron Pollard, but the tall all-rounder could be as good as only for a six but another spinner Danushka Gunathilaka accounted for him to leave the men in marron in real tatters. Fresh from belligerent innings where he hit six sixes in an over, Pollard was in the mood to use his finishing skills and asked Bravo to bat ahead of him. If the previous setbacks were due to spinners and their variations, natural variations off the pitch of Chameera were too good for Pooran and Bravo and Windies were under real pressure just like in the last game and needed Pollard to come good once again if they were to win the game. Pollard was on the money from the word go and smashed his only third ball and thumped Hasaranga’s googly over the mid-wicket boundary to send a signal to the Sri Lanka camp. Fabian Allen too started to get the feel of the game with a six off Dananjaya to resurrect Windies. Hasaranga came back strongly to send Allen back to the pavilion while also not allowing batsmen to run away with a flurry of boundaries. The job was getting tougher for the hosts, but they had hope as long as Pollard was there and Lakshan Sandakan shattered the last piece of respite Windies were banking on. He dragged Pollard towards the off side and in the desperation of surging required run rate, Windies skipper holed out at the deep cover to be the final nail in the coffin. However, Obed McCoy tried the best he could do and rattled Perera in his second over as well. He smashed him all corners to take 23 runs off him, but the target was too far away from his reach and finally, West Indies had to squander the 1-0 lead in the series. Earlier in the evening, Sri Lanka’s skipper Angelo Mathews won the toss and elected to put the runs on the board. The opening pair of Danushka Gunathilaka and Niroshan Dickwella was separated from the last game, and Pathum Nissanka was rewarded a promotion for his batting in the first game of the series. Gunathilaka and Nissanka started not so belligerent, but classical shots paid off for them as Fidel Edwards started with fuller balls in search of some swing in the air. Two boundaries in the very first over were good enough to set up the batting for the tourists, and they did not take their foot off from the pedal. Pollard tried to replicate a marvellous catch like in the last game just around the end of the powerplay, but it was not to be his day in the field and Gunathilaka was handed a reprieve and the left-hander reached a fifty from 35 balls to give a near-perfect platform to the batsmen batting down the order. Just when they were looking to take the game completely away from the West Indies, the old and wily Dwayne Bravo came into the attack to send both of them back to the pavilion. He was not finished and came back to dismiss Dinesh Chandimal to push Sri Lanka’s advantage into disarray. Angelo Mathews and Ashen Bandara were tasked with the resurrection of Sri Lanka’s batting, but neither of them could make it big and departed only after stabilising the innings, before Hasaranga came into the scene and bludgeoned the bowlers around to take Lanka past 150 run-mark. The three-match T20 series between the sides has now been levelled with this Sri Lanka win and the decider of the series will be played at the same venue on March 08.

4th Test Day 2 Report: Audacious Pant, calm Washington ride around England

India had to bat well on the second day of the fourth and final Test of the series to keep their hopes of playing against New Zealand in the finals of the World Test Championship alive, and by the end of the day’s play, they have taken a significant stride ahead towards achieving that goal. India finished the day on 294/7 and achieved a lead of 89 runs, which could well be the difference between the sides in the game leading into the third day, even if the remaining three wickets don’t yield too many runs for India. However, Washington Sundar has shown enough resilience with the bat to assure India of some more runs and England of more and more agony. However the dominating position India find themselves in this Test match at the end of the second day’s play, it did not appear to be a smooth ride for them in the early and middle part of the day’s play before a talisman in the form of Rishabh Pant and a calm, composed batsman in Washington Sundar joined each other in the middle. They started their partnership when Ravichandran Ashwin walked off the field disgruntled after falling off courtesy of a leading-edge of his bat when he tried to exploit Jack Leach’s leg-side delivery and unleashed their superb ball-striking skills mixed with solid defence to put the England team under a lot of pressure and frustration. Pant took a bit of time at the start of his innings, but when spinners gave the ball air in hope of enticing a big shot from him to dismiss him, he obliged and did not disappoint Indian fans on either entertainment or in terms of runs scored. Dominic Bess was not too accurate against Pant, while Root seemed to be reluctant to stack Leach against Pant with only 50-odd runs in his hands to play with. He rather backed on the pace duo of Anderson and Stokes to take away probably the last thorn in their flesh. Pant had better ideas in his minds, and he kept on chipping away at the deficit, mixing caution with periodic aggression. But, all of a sudden, without any obvious provocation from the pitch or the England bowling line up, Pant seemed to have shifted his batting gear just when the new ball was three overs away. Maybe he was calculating in his mind that England were playing only two seamers and one of them—Ben Stokes was bowling at that moment and to rattle the tourists, started taking the game to the opposition’s line up. Joe Root might have rated his off-spin very highly after a fifer in the last game, and lack of accuracy too might have propelled him to bowl to Pant, but by that time, he was in his zone and batting with a fearless attitude. Root once again went to Anderson who was a miser with the ball at his worst, and brilliant with his control over line and length at his best with the new ball in pursuit of success against Pant. Little did he know at that time that what was to follow will take the heart and soul away from his whole team. Anderson was welcomed by Pant in a blistering fashion as the left-hander jumped down the track to hit the highest wicket-taker among pacers over his head towards the long-off boundary. Anderson pushed another one in his zone and he bludgeoned another one toward the cover region to send the England team searching for cover. All England players such as Stokes and Root who were standing in slips in hope of an edge from Pant’s bat were left to console themselves with a wry smile on their faces. If getting hit over the head was not enough for Anderson, Pant had some more pain for him. Just like his first over with the new ball, Pant gave him another shock by reverse scoop over the slips to leave every commentators and analyst bewildered about his mindset when batting. On the other hand, Washington was taking care of a tiring Stokes from the other end and matched Pant by values hitting him for two boundaries against the new ball. Pant was nearing his much-elusive maiden hundred on home soil, and the madness that he was batting with was putting everyone on the edge of their seats. There was no heartbreak this time around and Pant brought his maiden century with a typical six over mid-wicket off Root. The celebration was short-lived after his century as Anderson redeemed himself by Pant’s wicket but Washington brought up his fifty and ensured India did not falter the advantage they gained after so much of magic and audacity by Rishabh Pant and calmness of Washington. Earlier in the day, there were completely different priorities for both sides. England had to bowl well and bring about a collapse of the Indian batting order, while on the other hand, India were targeting to bat the whole day and put England under a spot of bother. Anderson and Stokes were immensely disciplined with the ball and both Pujara and Rohit did not get the loose balls to run away with the game. India had their tasks cut out and they backed themselves to survive the initial tough phase and looked set to attack the spinners. However, Leach turned out to be a party-spoiler for them and trapped Pujara as soon as he was brought into the attack. He has dismissed Pujara on four occasions in this series and exposed a vulnerability that India’s number three had never shown in his career. England were playing only two seamers and Root had no option to bank on Stokes to produce goods with the ball. He bowled his heart out and extracted extra bounce on a back of length delivery to surprise Virat Kohli and send him back to the pavilion for a duck. With Kohli and Pujara’s departure, India were in a spot of bother and needed the pair of Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma to come good like in the second Test of the series. Rahane stared on a positive note and looked confident from the outset. He was decisive in his footwork and latched onto anything short or too full bowled at him. Looking at him running away with the game against spinners and Stokes, Root brought Anderson into the attack and he started with an absolute jaffa that beat the right-hander all end up. Rahane was caught tentative against Anderson and the pacer was all over him in the first two overs of spell and finally caught him poking to an away going delivery to send the first session. Rahane departed after a good looking but middling score fo 27, and could not justify the clarion calls about putting his hands up when the team required him to come good with the bat on the second day. All were reliant on Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant’s shoulder to resurrect India’s innings. Rohit batted with immense patience and it appeared he would not throw his wicket away—a criticism he has always faced in his playing days. It needed a special delivery to get him out and the England vice-captain Ben stokes put his hands up to come up with a jaffa to beat a well-set Rohit trapped inside the crease. India seemed to be walking off on the same path England batted on the first day, except they did not have a magic band in the form of Rishabh Pant to change the game in a span of the session and by the end of the second day’s play, it appeared that Pant stood between India and England in a game that carries a spot for them in the WTC Final.

IND vs ENG, 4th Test: Rishabh Pant scores scintillating hundred

India wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant scored his third Test hundred in the first innings during the fourth Test against England. India were in a spot of bother after being reduced to 146/6 when Pant was joined by Washington Sundar in the middle and the two stitched a partnership of over 100 runs. Pant notched up his ton with a six in Joe Root’s over. England were earlier bundled out for 205 in the first innings on the first day while the home side ended the day’s proceedings at 24/1. The hosts then had a disappointing start to the day’s play after losing few quick wickets in quick succession. But Rohit Sharma and Pant stitched a stand of 41 runs before Sharma departed for 49. The left-handed batsman was eventually dismissed 101 after he hit one straight to Root who was stationed at short mid-wicket off Anderson. Pant’s knock included 13 fours and two maximums.