Siddarth Kaul's economical bowling pushes Karnataka on backfoot vs Punjab

Joe Root can surpass Sachin Tendulkar's record: Geoffrey Boycott

Former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott has said that current skipper Joe Root can surpass Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most number of runs in Test cricket. The English captain has shown his class in the recently concluded two-match Test series against Sri Lanka away from home where he scored a couple of tons on the trot including a double-century. "Forget just scoring more Test runs for England than David Gower, Kevin Pietersen and myself. Joe Root has the potential to play 200 Tests and score more runs than even Sachin Tendulkar," Boycott wrote in a column for The Telegraph. Tendulkar holds the record for the most number of Test runs and has amassed 15921 runs in 200 matches for India at an average of 53.8 including 51 centuries to his name. Root on the other side has been a part of 99 matches for England and has scored 8249 runs. "Root is only 30. He has played 99 Tests and scored 8249 runs already. As long as he does not suffer serious injury there is no reason why he cannot beat Tendulkar’s all-time record of 15,921," Boycott added. Boycott though lauded India skipper Virat Kohli, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and former Australia skipper Steve Smith and went on to suggest that these players can also notch up more runs in the longer format. "His contemporaries, such as Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson, are wonderful players as well who could also score that many runs. We should enjoy Root and only judge him alongside those guys, not great names of the past because every player is a product of their environment," wrote Boycott.

Dinesh Karthik in awe of new Motera stadium; can’t wait to see IPL in it

Veteran India wicket-keeper batsman and skipper of the Tamil Nadu team for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021, Dinesh Karthik has praised the newly re-built Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad Gujarat. He lauded the work done by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) in the construction of the largest cricket stadium in the world. Posting pictures of the stadium on his Twitter account, the 35-year-old wrote, “The new 🏟️ looks awesome! Well done, @bcci & @GCAMotera. I'm sure the International matches played here are gonna be fun and hopefully it becomes an IPL venue soon. Excited to play here tomorrow!” Karthik is at Motera as Tamil Nadu have made it to the Quarterfinals of the SMA Trophy 2021 and will play against Himachal Pradesh in the evening from 7 pm onwards. The team from down south has been unbeaten in the tournament so far and would look to continue their form in the Knockouts as well. All the knockout games of the SMA Trophy would be played in the Motera Stadium only. The ongoing match between Karnataka and Punjab is the first competitive match to be played after the stadium was inaugurated in 2020 after it’s renovation.

All-round Marnus Labuschagne takes Brisbane home against the Scorchers

Marnus Labuschagne’s three-wicket haul in which he removed the likes of Ashton Turner, Josh Inglis, and Colin Munro and scored a crucial 46 of 38 balls helped Brisbane Heat beat the fancied Perth Scorchers by 6 runs at Adelaide Oval to qualify for the BBL10 Finals. With this win, their points tally moved to 29 as they got all four points from the game. Chasing a total of 182, the Orange brigade did get a good start as Liam Livingstone and Jason Roy added 53 in the first six overs before Swespon removed Livingstone. From there onwards it was a case of wickets falling at consistent intervals as Scorchers lost five wickets for just 41 runs. Aaron Hardie and Mitchell Marsh did try to pull things back but it was too little too late. With 17 required from the last over and veteran Ben Laughlin, who had gone for 26 in his previous three overs, gave away just 10 as all the Scorchers could manage at the end of their 20 was 175-6. Marsh, 29 top-scored for the Perth side with 54 from 26 deliveries. For the Heat, Labuschagne was the best bowler with figures of 3-35 in his four. Man of the Match Labuschagne credited fast bowler Ben Laughlin for bowling a tight line in the last over and also showed faith in his side for ‘making a meal’ of their chances in crunch situation every season. “Our season has come down to the last game the last few years and we've made a meal of it. But Benny Laughlin got us through today with hitting that wide yorker. There's a lot of good things to take and momentum to take us to Brisbane,” he said in the post-match interview. Earlier in the morning, Scorchers won the toss and invited Heat to bat. With the help of skipper, Chris Lynn’s 51 (25) and Lewis Gregory’s slog overs hitting 36 (23) combined with a calculated 46 from Labuschagne took the Brisbane side to 181 in their 20 overs.

Joe Root urges 'well prepared' England to be at top of game to defeat India in India

Although the England team has annihilated Sri Lanka by batting and bowling better than the home in their own conditions and pitches, captain Joe Root is realistic about the chances for his team in the upcoming Test series against India. Root was at the peak of his form as he piled on the runs in the two Tests against Sri Lanka but believes India is the best team in the world in their own conditions. Root said that the series against India will require them to be at the top of their game at all times on the course of four Tests in the series as Indians are too strong a side to be defeated in home conditions. However, Root also suggested that the tourists could not have prepared much better than sweeping the series Sri Lanka by 2-0. "We've got four very important games against arguably the best team in the world in their own conditions," Root said after the second Test against Sri Lanka. We'll have to play right at the top of our game to win out there but we couldn't be in a better place to go and challenge them (India)," Root said after the end of the second Test against Sri Lanka Notably, England in 2016 struggled to challenge India for a long period of time and lost the series 0-4. Also, India have lost only three Tests at their home grounds since 2013 and hence Root acknowledged the mounting challenges his team will be up against when the two sides meet in a four-match Test series starting February 05 in Chennai.