Ish Sodhi appointed Team Liaison Officer by the Rajasthan Royals

3rd Test Report: Root's England succumb to wily Ashwin, accurate Axar in contest of bowlers

Not five, not 10, but as many as 17 wickets fell on the second-day pitch at Motera and India trounced England by a margin of 10 wickets. The colossal margin of the win by India is ironical as the game did not pan out to be a contest between the batsmen of one side and the bowlers of the other, instead, it was reduced to which among both teams will bat more poorly on the surface that appeared threatening, although a lot of wickets came off the deliveries that did not turn and went straight on or kept on going according to their angles. At the end of the third innings that happened just around the scheduled Dinner break on the second day, England handed India a target of mere 49 runs— at target well accomplished by the openers Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma who batted with supreme confidence and flair under lights against the unlikely English spin twins of Jack Leach and Joe Root. Chasing a target well within their sight handed them an opportunity to bat without having to worry about a lot of stuff surrounding the pitch and balls were treated on their merit— a usual craft of batsmanship that was rarely on display from the batsmen across the dressing rooms in all the three finished innings before the final one by Rohit and Gill. The day belonged to spinners from both sides. Axar Patel shone brightly even in the sunlight in Ahmedabad with his impeccable accuracy while the variations, both natural and from the hand of Ashwin were too good for the whole English batting line up. England made a dream start into the second day with Leach finding Ajinkya Rahane going back to a ball that skidded from a length and stuck his pad. While there can be divided opinions on his shot selection, the execution was undeniably shoddy and the Indian vice-captain went back to the pavilion, and for the Indian fans, into another slump after a good innings in the last game. Rahane’s wicket brought Rishabh Pant in the middle, and while fans were getting ready for another round of duel between him and the left-arm spinner Leach, English skipper Root trusted his abilities with spinning balls against the three left-handers slotted in the lower Indian middle order. The job was well done by Root as he brought a sense of chaos and total mayhem with his turning balls. Pant was edged behind on a ball he should not have poked, Washington Sundar was bowled with an absolute jaffa while Axar Patel’s attempt to break free and take the game to his off-spin found Dominic Sibley at the short cover position. Root was looking menacing with the ball turning from good length areas and while he was celebrating wickets one after another, a sense of guilt and repentance of not playing Dominic Bess must have crossed between his two ears. On a pitch and in a crucial game where Root was expected to lead the team with the bat in his hand, he was leading the team off the ground but with the ball with which he claimed a figure of 6.2-3-8-5. From the overnight score of 99/3, India slipped to 145 all out and gained a lead of only 33 runs when they looked threatening for a lot more at the end of the first day’s play. However, for England, the lead of 33 runs was significant and Virat Kohli missed no opportunities to make it look like a lot more than how many it was. Axar Patel, England’s tormentor-in-chief was the first man tasked to go at the tourists, and he started off on a similar note to the first innings. The only good looking English batsman in the first innings—Zak Crawley was done in on the very first ball, while a nervous Jonny Bairstow was adjudged LBW on the very next ball, but survived as DRS found the ball bouncing over the stumps. There was no lack of spirit in Axar’s bowling and the next ball breached Bairstow’s defence and the left-arm spinner did not even need any of the umpire’s nod to erupt in joy. Another opener Dom Sibley, who has been known for showing guts to fight out tough situations in a game, threw his wicket by playing an ugly hoick across the line off Axar. The shot was attempted in pure helplessness as his limitations with the bat against spin have been brutally exposed by Axar’s relentlessness and Ashwin’s crafts. The 89 he scored in the first innings of the first innings to set up the game with Joe Root would now appear as a stuff of the wildest dream. The next man in—Ben Stokes started to open up his shoulders against his nemesis—Ashwin who had already got him out on 10 occasions. The duo was a dangerous element for India and kept on chipping away at the lead and for a brief period of time, they started to look comfortable. There was enough assistance to spinners and neither Axar and nor Ashwin got flustered by the solid defence of Root and aggressive approach by Stokes. Finally, Ashwin got the better of Stokes with an innocuous arm for the 11th time in his career, while Root too became another victim of a ball that did not turn while he was playing for a lot of it. After the fall of Root and Stokes, there was not much other batsmen could do on that pitch that had already done much damage to the mindset of English batsmen. If anything was left to be embarrassed for the tourists, Ollie Pope was made to look like a soldier who jumped into a war without having any sense of combat by Ashwin. Having bowled him round the wicket with a one that kept on going with the arm, Ashwin took the help of natural variation while coming over the wicket in the second innings, and Pope could not answer the clarion calls by the England team and was left embarrassingly flummoxed looking at his stumps rattled. In the process of a complete capitulation by the English batting order, Ashwin breached a special milestone of 400 Test wickets and stood behind only the great Muttiah Muralitharan in terms of taking fewer games to go past the landmark. He finished the game with 401 Test wickets from 77 games compared to 72 taken by the great man from Sri Lanka. In his career spanning almost a decade, Ashwin has risen with every game he has played for India, especially at home. His inevitability with the ball gives India a completely different outlook and competitive edge in games such as the third Test against England when batsmen fail to rise to the occasion. Axar Patel picked up 11 wicket-haul in his maiden Test match at home and the gesture from Kohli to both Ashwin and Axar at the boundary line when the duo was getting off the field after bowling England out on 81 showcased how badly India needed them to come good on this pitch. The day was packed with a lot of action, but the balance of the game was tilted too much towards the bowlers and it will not go down well with pundits and critics who had their eyes set on this pitch after the exaggerated amount of turn and bounce on offer in the last Test at Chepauk. India have been apologetic about producing pitches that have supported spin from the very first day in order to take the uncertainties around the toss out of the equation and there is no evidence to suggest anything will change in the next game in terms of the pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

PSL 6: Oozing with confidence Lahore face soul searching Sultans from Multan

After a day’s break in the sixth edition of the Pakistan Super League, two teams far apart from each other both in Points Table, as well as the mood in the dressing room, will start off the double header’s day on Friday, 26th February. The only similarity in the teams is they share the same province in Pakistan. Lahore Qalandars, sitting at the top of the Points Table and representing the Northern parts of Punjab will face second from bottom in the table, Multan Sultans representing Southern Punjab. Hafeez-Shaheen-Rauf three-dimensional attack of Qalandars The Lahore Qalandars have one of the most dangerous bowling lineups in the tournament with two outstanding quicks in the form of Haris Rauf and Shaheen Afridi. To complement them, they have David Wiese and Ahmed Daniyal with their medium pace and wicket to wicket bowling. The Qalandars though would miss the facilities of Rashid Khan who has left for International duties after playing match-winning roles in the first two games. In batting, they have the Professor patrolling the troops and he has done exceedingly well in the first two matches, remaining unbeaten in guiding the team home in both of them. For help, he has opener Fakhar Zaman and most likely would have either Joe Denly or tom Abell for company in the upcoming game. Thus this trio holds the key for Sohail Akhtar’s men in the battle of the Punjabis. Multan in search of a death overs specialist In the two games that they have played so far, the Sultans of Muktans have met the same fate in each of them, losing it in the 19th over, after having dominated the proceedings for the first 18. In the first game, it was Sohail Tanvir who killed the game with his 19th over, in the last one, it was Shahnawaz Dhani. The Sultans would therefore be searching for someone who could bowl specifically at the death. Somebody of the likes of Sohail Khan or Imran Khan who are known for their ability to hit the yorker length need to be drafted in the XI. The batting is en route being one of the great lineups in the tournament with Mohammad Rizwan and James Vince hitting form. If Chris Lynn gets going, it would become one of the most fearsome lineups. With 112 runs, Rizwan is currently the leading run-scorer in the tournament. Lahore Qalandars vs Multan Sultans: Match Details Match Number- 07 Venue: National Stadium, Karachi Date & Time: 26 February 2021, 03:30 pm IST, 03:00 pm Local, 10:00 am GMT Broadcast and Live Stream: Sony SIX, Sony LIV Pitch Report The tournament did start with mid-range totals, but over the last two games, it has got better as the totals are getting bigger and bigger. The pitch for this game would be a fresh one and most probably one, which will have good bounce and carry and favour batsmen with the ball coming on to the bat. The fresh wicket might have some juice as well and might offer some swing early on as well. Weather Report The weather in Karachi would be ideal for playing cricket as the temperatures would range between the late 20s to early 30s. There would be sunshine and the mild chill of receding winters to compliment it, making it an ideal scenario for a cricket match without any interference from rain. As has been the tradition in the tournament so far. Skipper would look to field first after winning the toss. Probable XI Lahore Qalandars Fakhar Zaman, Sohail Akhtar (c), Mohammad Hafeez, Joe Denly, Ben Dunk (wk), Samit Patel, David Wiese, Ahmed Daniyal, Maaz Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf Multan Sultans Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), Chris Lynn, James Vince, Rilee Rossouw, Sohaib Maqsood, Khushdil Shah, Shahid Afridi, Carlos Brathwaite, Sohail Khan, Usman Qadir, Shahnawaz Dhani Dream XI / Fantasy XI suggestions Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), Fakhar Zaman, James Vince, Mohammad Hafeez (vc), Sohaib Maqsood, Rilee Rossouw, Carlos Brathwaite, Shahid Afridi, Usman Qadir, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi

Ravichandran Ashwin gets to 400 Test wickets; second fastest after Muralitharan

Ravichandran Ashwin became the fourth Indian bowler to pick up 400 Test wickets. The off-spinner came into the third Test against England at 394 wickets in the longest format of the game and picked up three wickets in the first innings. He reached the special milestone with the wicket of Jofra Archer on the second day of the Pink-Ball Test at Motera. He is the second-fastest man to reach the milestone of 400 Test wickets after Muttiah Muralidharan who had registered as many wickets in 72 games in whites. Ashwin has taken 29 five-wicket hauls in Tests innings and seven ten-wicket hauls in Tests. Ravichandran Ashwin became the fourth Indian bowler to pick up 400 Test wickets. The off-spinner came into the third Test against England at 394 wickets in the longest format of the game and picked up three wickets in the first innings. He reached the special milestone with the wicket of Jofra Archer on the second day of the Pink-Ball Test at Motera. He is the second-fastest man to reach the milestone of 400 Test wickets after Muttiah Muralitharan who had registered as many wickets in 72 games in whites. Ashwin has taken 29 five-wicket hauls in Tests innings and seven ten-wicket hauls in Tests. He now stands behind only Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh among Indian spinners who have taken 400 or more wickets in Tests. Harbhajan scalped 417 wickets from 103 Test matches, while Anil Kumble is miles ahead of both of them with 619 wickets in a 132 Test matches long career.

NZ vs AUS | 2nd T20: Guptill, Neesham help Blackcaps overpower Stoinis-Sams onslaught

New Zealand held onto their nerves in the wake of brutal counterattacking innings from Marcus Stoinis and Daniel Sams and registered a win by the barest of margin in the second T20 of the series in Dunedin. For the hosts, the heroes were Martin Guptill and James Neesham who provided blitz with the bat in the first innings while the latter came back to leave his mark on the day with the ball and got the better of heroes in the opposition camps in the form of Stoinis and Sams just when the game was hanging on the edge. The Blackcaps now lead the five-match series by 2-0 and the tourists have their task cut out to win all of the last three games of the series to win the trophy back home. Chasing a mammoth target of 220 runs, Australia were off to a better start compared to the last game as both Aron Finch and Matthew Wade put on a decent partnership of 34 runs from three and a half overs. Wade was going berserk from the one end, while Finch’s slump with the bat continued and he could not get going once again. Wade was severe on anything short bowled at him, but the struggle of Finch at the other end forced him to keep going for boundaries almost every ball and he perished in the process. On the other end, Finch’s misery was cut short by Ish Sodhi whose good moments in the game were about to get over towards the end. Josh Phillipe did not waste the opportunity to impress one and all after missing out in the first game, and started timing shots in the same manner he has been doing in the Big Bash League that paved the way for his entry into the Australia T20 team. He hit three sixes in his 32-ball-45, and two out of them were picturesque. Australia must have been disappointed by another low score from Glenn Maxwell and his absence from the middle order in terms of runs derailed the tourists’ effort of chasing down the target of 220 runs. While Ish Sodhi struggled with the onslaught from the Australians, Mitchell Santner owned the stage. He broke the back of the Australian batting order with big wickets of Phillipe, Ashton Agar and Mitchell Marsh in a single over and put a big question mark on the tourists’ spirit in Dunedin. When Marsh walked off the field at the end of the 13th over, Australia were in disarray, needing 107 runs from the last 42 balls and the story seemed to be over for them. However, Stoinis and Sams had other ideas and they started taking the game into the Blackcaps’ camp. They got stuck into Sodhi and Southee and plundered them for 20 runs and 25 runs in the 15th and 16th overs respectively. Stoinis was brutal in his power game and pulled everything that was pitched away from his arc over the leg side fence. Sams did not hold back and match Stoinis shots by shots and the duo started hunting the Kiwis down over by over and the effect of the onslaught was telling on the hosts’ bowling line up. The duo was relentless and did not allow any bowler to get away unscathed from their hammerings and they cut down the improbable task fo 107 runs from 42 balls to 15 runs off the last six balls. The task was not impossible especially the momentum Stoinis and Sams were riding on, but the day belonged to James Neesham who could do no wrong today and he dismissed Sams on a ranked full toss to start the 20th over. He went on to account for Stoinis as well, and Blackcaps could manage to finish the fiery resistance from the Australian to go 2-0 up. Earlier in the day, Finch won the toss and asked the hosts to bat first on a pitch that promised some assistance to seamers with the new ball. Martin Guptill was under pressure coming into this game, but showed no signs of vulnerability and looked in good touch at the start of the innings against his nemesis in the last game-- Daniel Sams. When Jhye Richardson was called up by Finch to challenge Guptill’s footwork in the third over, he was greeted with signature shots as Guptill planted his foot down the pitch of the ball to hit him over the top of his head for a monstrous six. Guptill was up and running but his partner at the other Tim Seiffert could not get going and Australia tasted early success. Finch found Guptill comfortable against pace and brought on Ashton Agar to take the pace off the ball, but Guptill was in a complete unforgiving mood today and his first over yielded 15 runs. Agar’s spinning partner--Adam Zampa was welcomed in a similar fashion by Guptill and two colossal sixes into the car parking outside the stadium to reach fifty in 27 balls were the signs of Guptill’s comeback in top form. Looking at Guptill going for glory at the other end, Williamson too decided to shift gears and they started to despatch Australian bowlers over the park to reach the 100-mark bu the end of the 11th over. Guptill did not let the pressure of nearing a century and kept coming at the bowlers, but ultimately succumbed in the process. His departure from the field did not provide any respite to the tourists as James Neesham took off from the same point where he had left. Both Richardsons-- Jhye and Kane tried their best to bring Australia back in the game on the back of three big wickets of Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips and Mitchell Santner in quick successions, but Australia’s hopes of owning the control of the game were put to rest by Neesham. Australia fought well to challenge New Zealand in pursuit of big runs, but Finch will be realistic to recognise the lack of discipline shown by his bowlers while the top order batsmen including himself have found it tough to get going at top of the order. They need to make amends in the next game otherwise the series will be gone before it finishes and the path of preparation towards the T20 World Cup scheduled to take place in India later this year will hit a major roadblock.