SA vs IND | 1st Test, 4th Day: Jansen, Rabada affect another collapse but India set big target

South African seamers gave their all and brought about a collapse of the Indian batting order to 174 all out in their second innings in the afternoon session of the fourth day of the first Test of the series.

Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen were at the top of their games and picked up four wickets each to derail India’s attempt to bat them out of the game. Skipper Virat Kohli edged to the keeper Quinton de Kock on the very first ball after the lunch interval off the bowling of Jansen while Cheteshwar Pujara was unlucky to get out down the leg side on a leg-side half volley off Lungi Ngidi.

Ajinkya Rahane batted in tremendous touch before failing to control an aerial pull shot of Rabada and getting out for a mere 20.

Rishabh Pant batted with usual belligerence and took India closer to the 300-run lead mark. However, he too paid the price of attempting to score quickly while Proteas pacers were attacking Indian bowlers with short of length deliveries on the surface providing a lot of variable bounce.

South Africa have to chase 305 runs to win the first Test of the three-match long series and there are almost 50 overs left to be bowled on the fourth day of the Test.

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Ben McDermott becomes first batsman to score two tons on the trot in BBL history

Hobart Hurricanes’ Ben McDermott became the first batsman in the history of Big Bash league to hit two centuries on the trot. McDermott achieved the feat during the clash against Melbourne Renegades in Melbourne on Wednesday. The Hurricanes didn’t really have a good start to the proceedings while batting first as they lost three early wickets but McDermott took the onus on himself and steadied the ship from one end to stitch a partnership of 115 with Peter Handscomb for the fourth wicket. Handscomb struck 24 off 20 while McDermott smashed a 65-ball 127 which included 9 sixes and as many fours during the course. He was eventually run out on the final ball of the innings. Tim David who had come in at number 6 chipped in with a brisk 30* off 9 as the side posted 206/5 in 20 overs. “Pretty special. But it is still job half done, wouldn't want a hundred in a losing cause. Batting first is always different as you are setting a target and not sure how much is enough (comparing the two hundreds). I didn't want to go into the shell and give them an opportunity to get on top. Hopefully we have enough to defend,” he Dermott said after the innings. He had earlier scored a hundred against Strikers where he notched up 110* in Hobart. At the time of writing, the Renegades had lost an early wicket in the form of Aaron Finch’s dismissal and were 23/1 in 2.1 overs.

SA vs IND |1st Test, Day 4: Proteas strike twice but Kohli, Pujara extend India’s lead beyond 200

South Africa managed to pick up two wickets early on the fourth day despite not bowling well according to the nature of the pitch and conditions and sent back both the overnight batsmen KL Rahul and Shardul Thakur. They also created the opportunity to dismiss Cheteshwar Pujara but Kagiso Rabada split an easy chance at short mid-on and he got a big reprieve. The next man in, Virat Kohli looked good during his stay at the crease and both he and Pujara cashed in on the boundary-scoring opportunity to keep the scoreboard moving. India have managed to extend their lead to 209 runs by the end of the first session on the penultimate day of the game and Kohli would look to take the attack to the opposition to take his side to a big total. There are rain forecasts for tomorrow and hence the visitors will be looking to mount a big score for the Proteas to chase. They would hope to press on in the afternoon session for more runs and push Proteas under pressure.

SA vs IND | 1st Test, Day 4: Ball tracking continues to create confusion in otherwise great contest

Although there have been a fair bit of competition between bat and ball in the ongoing first Test of the series between India and South Africa, the issue of technology in the game has also attracted a fair bit of unwarranted attention from players and watchers of the game. There were numerous instances of confusion and uncertainty about the hawk-eye that charts the path of deliveries and helps the umpire in making decisions and broadcasters in analysing the game and the issue came to the fore on the fourth day of the Test as well after South Africa wasted a review against Shardul Thakur. Shardul left a delivery from Marco Jansen on the final ball of the 10th over in India’s second innings only to be hit on the pads. South Africa opted for review as they believed the ball was to hit the stumps. The ball, however, appeared to be missing the stumps on hawk-eye. The decision was not contentious but subsequent replays of that and following deliveries to KL Rahul showed a bizarre level of bounce on hawk-eye which was not the case in the real-time play. Earlier, on the third day, the Indian team led by Virat Kohli made clear their dissatisfaction for the lack of display of DRS methodology on the big screen at the venue. Earlier on the first day, Mayank Agarwal was given out on DRS when hawk-eye suggested that the ball was to hit the stumps. Former players such as Wasim Jaffer questioned the path of the ball shown by the ball tracking and said that the ball at best could have just hit the stumps leading to upholding of the umpire’s decision which was not out.

BBL 11 | Brisbane Heat score their lowest total; put up just 105 after choosing to bat first

Playing their seventh match of the season, Brisbane Heat were bowled out for just 105 runs in Sydney on Wednesday, 29 December. Up against the Sydney Sixers, Heat chose to bat first on a used SCG track, hoping to make the best out of it. Things went sideways very quickly against the quality of left-right seaming combination of Sean Abbott and Ben Dwarshuis who ran through the batting line up in the first 10 overs, reducing the batting line up to 21/4 inside the powerplay. After swinging early in the first couple of overs, the seamers made full use of the slow track to trap batsmen with cutters bowled into the surface. Sixers were very good with their catching as well. In the first XI for the first time this season Shadab Khan did not return with any wickets, but the pace battery of Abbot, Dwarshuis, Hayden Kerr and veteran Daniel Christian picked 9 wickets between them to wrap Heat up in 19.1 overs.