Six players of Sri Lanka women's team test positive for Covid-19

Plan was to play as many balls as possible: Shreyas Iyer on rescuing hosts from difficult situation

India’s new debutant Shreyas Iyer stamped authority with the bat right away after he scored a century in the first innings of the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur and then followed it with a responsible fifty in the second. The home side were in a spot of bother after they were reduced to 51/5 in the second innings before Iyer along with R Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha provided the resistance to get the side back on track. The right-hander first stitched a stand of 52 runs for the sixth wicket and then put up 64 runs with Saha for the seventh wicket during the course. He was eventually undone by Tim Southee for 65. Talking about his knock, after the end of day’s play, Iyer revealed his plans and what was going on his mind while the side was in a tricky situation. “I had been in this situation before as well, not with the Indian team but with my Ranji team. Mindset was to play the session and play as many balls as possible. I wasn't thinking too far ahead, was just focusing on the present. (On being the first Indian to score a ton and a fifty in debut Test) Yeah, I knew about it. When I came back, one of my teammates told me about it. Yeah, many others have done it from other teams but I was told I am the first from India,” he said. Iyer further shared the conversation that he had with head coach Rahul Dravid. “Rahul Sir had told me to bat as many balls as possible and I was determined to do that. We felt that 250 including the first innings lead would have been a good score, so we're very happy with where we are now,” he added. New Zealand were handed a target of 284 runs and they ended the fourth day’s play at 4/1 with Tom Latham and William Somerville at the crease.

IND vs NZ | 1st Test: Wriddhiman Saha scores first Test fifty since 2017; India set 284 as target

India wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha played a crucial knock after he notched up a half-century against New Zealand in the second innings of the first Test in Kanpur. The right-handed batsman went past the 50-run mark for the first time since 2017. The hosts were in a spot of bother despite taking the first innings lead as they were reduced to 51/5 in the first session of the penultimate day of the Test. But Shreyas Iyer and R Ashwin steadied the ship for the side and stitched a stand of 52 runs for the sixth wicket. Ashwin was eventually undone for 32 by Kyle Jamieson. Iyer was then joined by Saha in the middle and the two batters put up an important partnership of 64 runs for the seventh wicket. Iyer who became the first Indian to score a century and a fifty on his debut match was sent back in the hut by Tim Southee while Saha went on to score a half-century and remained unbeaten at 61 as India declared the second innings at 234/7 handing a target of 284 runs to New Zealand. The contribution made by Saha holds a lot of importance as he was suffering with a stiff neck issue and didn’t keep wickets in the first innings. KS Bharat had replaced him in the middle

Watch: Gurinder Sandhu becomes first Australian to take two List A hat-tricks

Queensland Player Gurinder Sandhu became the first Australian in history to pick up two List-A hat-tricks. He achieved this feat while bowling in the Australian One-Day Cup, also known as Marsh Cup. Bowling against South Australia in his first year as a Queenslander, Sandhu finished with figures of 4-44 in his nine overs. Prior to this hat trick, Sandhu had also taken a hat-trick against Victoria in the Marsh Cup final of 2018 while he was playing for Tasmania. Sandhu, who came back for his last spell in the death, got the wicket of Thomas Kelly on the fifth ball of the 45th over with his slower one. On the next ball, he removed Nathan McSweeney with yet another off-cutter and he was caught at cover-mid-off by Marnus Labuschagne. Sandhu then came back in the 47th over and cleaned up Nathan McAndrew with a beautiful yorker. Earlier he had also gotten rid of Henry Hunt the opener. Apart from Sandhu’s feat, the match also saw the brilliance of Matt Renshaw who guided Queensland to victory with his brilliant 156 off just 109 balls. The knock was once again a statement f the fact that he is rightly being considered as one of the best going around in the Australian domestic set-up as was pointed out by Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist early this summer. Also making a strong case of his selection for the first Ashes Test as the Australian team’s first choice wicket-keeper batter was Alex Carey who hit a century in this game even as he ended up on the losing side. Carey scored 101 off 93 balls to give his team a great start. But the late batting order squandered it to finish the innings in the 48th over itself at 274.

R Ashwin surpasses Wasim Akram in number of wickets in Tests

India spinner R Ashwin surpassed former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram in the wickets tally in Test cricket. Ashwin returned with a three-for during the first innings of the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur and now has 416 scalps in the format, two more than Akram. Ashwin dismissed Will Young, Kyle Jamieson and Somerville during the course of the innings. Akram on the other hand has 414 wickets to his name from 104 matches. The record of the highest number of wickets in Test cricket is held by Muttiah Muralitharan. The former Sri Lankan spinner picked up 800 wickets in 133 Tests while Shane Warne and James Anderson follow him at number two and three respectively. Warne has a total of 708 wickets in 145 Tests to his name. Anderson, on the other side, has dismissed 632 batsmen in his career so far in 166 matches. Former India captain Anil Kumble has 619 Test scalps to his name from 132 matches. Talking about the match, the hosts took a first innings lead of 49 runs after bundling out the Blackcaps for 296 in the first innings.