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Sa Vs Ind 2Nd Test Day 1 Kl Rahul Departs To Leave India In Danger Of Poor 1St Innings Score

SA vs IND | 2nd Test, Day 1: KL Rahul departs to leave India in danger of poor 1st innings score

India’s stand-in captain KL Rahul and Hanuma Vihari resurrected the innings after twin strikes from Duanne Olivier right before lunch on the first day of the second Test against South Africa in Johannesburg. The duo batted with superb control and patience around off stump to lead India’s fightback in the afternoon session on the first day.

However, the partnership could not trouble South Africa significantly as Kagiso Rabada found an awkward bounce and got the splice of Vihari’s bat. Rassie van der Dussen, who has had to go through many close moments in the first session plucked the catch with one hand to dent India’s recovery.

The next man in, Rishabh Pant, started off his innings on the typical note and punished Rabada through the off side.

Rahul carried on his merry way and brought up yet another fifty to lead from the front. However, he could not stretch his innings to a three-figure mark like in the first Test and perished in the process of attempting to hook a short ball of Marco Jansen through another spectacular catch by Rabada at the fine leg boundary.

India had won the toss and elected to bat first and the pair of Rishabh Pant and Ravichandran Ashwin carried them to 146/5 at the tea interval. Ashwin is unbeaten on 21 runs while Pant has been watchful for his 32-ball 13.

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BBL 2021-22: Despite a few hiccups, Melbourne Renegades etch 5-wicket win over Stars

Melbourne Renegades etched a five-wicket win over Melbourne Stars in Melbourne on Monday. Chasing a target of 127 runs in 20 overs, the Renegades went over the line by 5 wickets and with a couple of overs to spare. They lost Sam Harper early in the chase after he was sent back in the hut for 7 by Qais Ahmed in the second over but Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh joined hands to stitch a partnership of 63 runs for the second wicket. While Finch struck a fifty, Marsh scored 21 off 17 during the course. But the Renegades then lost a few wickets in quick succession and were reduced to 91/5 in the 13th over when Mackenzie Harvey and James Seymour came in for the side’s rescue. The two batters steadied the ship for the team and also made sure that there were no further fall of wickets. Harvey remained unbeaten at 23 off 25 while Seymour scored a 14-ball 17*. Tom O Connell scalped two wickets for 11 runs in two overs for his side. Earlier, the Stars lost an early wicket in the form of Justin Avendano. Opener Travis Dean along with Charlie Wakim then put up a 30-run stand for the second wicket but Wakim’s departure in the seventh over certainly broke the shackles as they lost wickets at regular intervals to be left tottering at 99/7 before getting bundled out for 126. Cartwright top-scored with 41 off 29. Topley and Kane Richardson picked up three wickets each for the Renegades. Richardson later talked about the win in the post-match presentation. “It is a bitter-sweet feeling, I'm feeling for the boys who are not there tonight. Thoughts are with the boys, we know the game has to go on but it doesn't feel right. I did not even know if I was playing tonight, just turn up and get on with the show and play the game seems to be the way now,” he said.

The Ashes | Stuart Broad's limited role in the Ashes surprises Steve Smith

As Stuart Broad did not feature in the first and third Test match of the ongoing Ashes, fans and cricket pundits were left to ponder about England's selection decision.

The Ashes | Both the energy and mood in England camp is low, says Stuart Broad

England fast bowler Stuart Broad admitted that the mood in the English camp is quite low after the side lost all the three games in the Ashes series so far. The right-arm bowler further added that this Australian side is a good team but “not the best” that they have played. “Part of the reason things feel so down within our camp is that while Australia are a good cricket team, they are not the best we have faced here and I still feel that, without Covid, an opportunity existed to do something special,” Broad wrote in a column for The Daily Mail. “Both the energy and the mood in the camp is low,” Broad wrote. Mentioning about his future, Broad wrote that he isn’t someone who would take decisions emotionally and added that he is pretty fit. “There is a long time between now and the tour of the Caribbean in March and I have never been one to make emotional decisions. So I’m not going to make any spur-of-the-moment calls on my future. I feel fit, I’ve come back from the calf injury feeling strong and I’m taking wickets in the nets. That’s all I can do given the lack of tour games and the tight schedule,” he wrote. Australia have taken an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series while the penultimate clash is scheduled to take place in Sydney from January 5, 2022.

SA vs IND | 2nd Test, Day 1: Duanne Olivier rattles India as Pujara, Rahane continue to disappoint

A brilliant comeback after a poor and ineffective first spell of bowling from Duanne Olivier pushed India on backfoot in the first session of the second Test against South Africa. Olivier was trusted to partner Kagiso Rabada with the new ball over Lungi Ngidi, who had taken a five-wicket haul in the last Test, but he looked short of rhythm and offered half volleys to Mayank Agarwal. The right-hander was up to the task and hit him for two boundaries to get India off to a confident start. The duo carried on with their usual patterns from the last game. KL Rahul was more defensive of the two but he received the most number of good balls from the Proteas pace bowling attack. He was particularly troubled by Lungi Ngidi, who bowled the best among the pacers in the first half of the first session. The first success though came to Marco Jansen, who got one to angle across Mayank Agarwal right after the drinks break and the right-hander could not resist the temptation to drive the ball. On the other hand, Rahul was going strong as ever while Cheteshwar Pujara was battling the pace attack on a surface offering spongy bounce and a lot of demons in his mind. He was defensive as ever and never tried to put South Africa pacers under pressure even when they offered him short and wide deliveries. Olivier was brought back into the attack just before the lunch break and he was all warmed up for the role of enforcer after a poor start. He first extracted the extra bounce he has been known for to take the splice of Pujara’s bat and Temba Bavuma took an easy opportunity. Virat Kohli’s absence pushed Ajinkya Rahane to the top order and a lot was expected of him at the number four slot. However, continuing the trend of his career over the last few years, he failed to make good use of his fluency and form from the first Test and played a nervous poke way outside off stump to give catching practice to Keegan Petersen. All the hard work of KL Rahul and positive intent from Mayank Agarwal was squandered in a span of two deliveries by Olivier and India will have to bat really well in the remaining two sessions of the day to post a fighting total on the board.