Shardul Thakur-Washington Sundar lead India's resurgence with 100-run unbeaten stand

Shardul survives iinjury scare, stitches first 50-partnership with Sundar

Struggling with poor showings for the top order batsmen, India were dealt yet another injury scare when Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood wrapped hard on Shardul Thakur’s gloves on the second ball of India’s 86th over. Thankfully for the tourists, the injury was not serious, and he carried on batting after quick support from the team physio Nitin Patel. Shardul’s stay at the crease was essential for India who were reeling at 186-6 before the right-hander joined Washington Sundar at the crease. The duo has put on a record unbeaten partnership of 67 runs for the 7th wicket against Australia at Brisbane beating the previous best of 58 by Kapil Dev and Mano Prabhakar set in the year 1991. Earlier in the afternoon session, India were off to a poor start with Mayank Aggarwal getting out playing a rash shot followed by Rishabh Pant’s indecisive stroke. At the end Tea of the third day of the fourth Test, India were 253/6, trailing by 116 runs.

Mark Boucher feels Pakistan would be litmus Test for South African batsmen

South Africa coach Mark Boucher feels that the Pakistan tour, especially the two Tests on the tour is going to be a litmus test for the Proteas batsmen. He believes that Pakistan bowlers could utilize the home condition better. "Pakistan bowlers will have home advantage, so this series will be a test for our batsmen, but once they are successful in occupying the crease, they will be able to score freely," Boucher said. However, he also feels that coming on the back of the Sri Lanka series, where the South African batters were in full flow could act as a morale booster, and hence, more than his bowlers he trusts his batsmen to deliver. "The wickets here in Pakistan are batting friendly, and we are relying on our batsmen to score runs. Their confidence will be high after scoring runs against Sri Lanka. Our fast bowlers will have to work very hard to get wickets," said the former South Africa wicket-keeper. Saying that Pakistan is a dangerous side at home, Boucher, 44 believes that the series will be a crackerjack his team ‘will have to come up with a proper strategy’ to beat Pakistanis at their own backyard. On the other hand, opposition coach Misbah-UI-Haq feels that even though nine new players have been drafted into the 20 men Pakistani squad, his team is still more than capable enough to beat the touring party. "The series against South Africa is an important one, and I am sure the players selected in the squad have the potential and hunger to give best results in the series," Misbah said. The first Test begins on 26th January at the National Stadium in Karachi, while the three-match T20 series will start from 11th February in Lahore. This is the first tour by South Africa to Pakistan in 14 years. In the last series in 2006-07, the guests won it 1-0.

Moeen Ali released from quarantine, joins England team bubble

England all-rounder Moeen Ali has joined the teammates at Lighthouse Hotel in Galle after going extended isolation of 13 days having tested positive for covid-19 on landing in Sri Lanka for the two-match Test series earlier this month. The two teams are currently playing the first Test of the two-match series in Galle. "It's great to have Mo back," Sam Curran, Moeen's team-mate, said. "When we walked into the changing room after one of the sessions today, we saw Mo and just saw the smile on everyone's faces,” England all-rounder Sam Curran was quoted as saying to ESPNCricinfo Ali, 33, had tested negative in England built after landing in Sri Lanka, he was found to be carrying the new ‘British’ variant of the covid and had to go through a lengthy procedure by the Sri Lanka government to finally get a decent place for quarantine. "He's obviously had a really tough couple of weeks and no-one wants to get into the situation he was in. Thankfully he got through that okay, and we're all really excited to have him back in the group to play cricket again because we all know what an awesome player he is, and to be around,” Curran added. Saying that the team was happy that Ali has finally been added to the group, Curran could not confirm whether he would be given a run in the next Test or not. "I'm sure tomorrow when he has a run around it will be nice for him to get back playing cricket but to be honest I don't really know when he'll be back," Curran said. "I'm sure everyone's just really looking forward to having Mo back. I'm sure he'll start training tomorrow." Ali last played a Test match way back in the 2019 Ashes and had since found it difficult to make it to the England Test XI.

Watch: Shane Warne, O’Keeffe make fun of Rishabh pant’s sunglasses

Rishabh Pant was once again the center of attraction of the commentary team of Fox Cricket as former Australian great Shane Warne and former Australian Test player Kerry O'Keeffe made fun of the Indian wicket-keeper and his sunglasses. Terming it as something ‘very unattractive’ the two commentators said that the bright fluorescent yellow shades of Pant were 'straight out of the service station'. The Video of the interaction between the two commentators was posted by BT Sports on Twitter. “What do you think of those shades that Rishabh Pant is rocking Skull? “Straight out of the service station?” Warne is heard asking O’Keeffe. “They are servos aren’t they?” O’Keeffe replied. “And he bought flowers as well,” he continued. “No, they are not getting me. You would want them to get scratched so you can just put them in the bin.” “Would you like fly buys with those?” he added. In the entire video, the two can be heard laughing while discussing the shades. Pant though hit an extremely brilliant 97 runs in a game-saving chase by the Indian team at Brisbane. Team India, however, did extremely well during the second day’s play at the Gabba, Brisbane to crawl their way back into the game until Rohit Sharma’s brain fade short got him out and Team India was left with two of the most experienced players in skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara at the crease at the end of day’s play.