The Ashes | 3rd Test | Day 2: Test continued after delayed start despite Covid-19 scare in England camp

SA vs IND | 1st Test, Day 1: Commanding KL Rahul inspires dominant start against spiritless Proteas

A lot of the conversations in the build-up to the three-match long Test series between India and South Africa revolved around the performance of batsmen from both sides as the quality of bowling attacks was more of an accepted reality than a contentious fact. It was argued that as was the case during the last Test series between the sides in 2017-18, the outcome of this series too will be dependent on the quality of batting from either side. India’s captain Virat Kohli took that responsibility to another level by asking himself and his batting mates to bat first on a greenish pitch at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. To intensify the onus on batsmen’s shoulders, he and Rahul Dravid went ahead with a five-bowler strategy, meaning that the six-man batting group comprising of Rishabh Pant had no option but to put their hands up if India were to make a promising start to the series. Thankfully for his side, his batsmen heard his clarion call and the opponent pace attack was not well-oiled on the first day of the series. The opening pair of Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul survived the entire first session but they would be honest to themselves if they admit they did not have to go through as stern an examination they would have expected while coming to South Africa. Before the start of any action, both sides made some brave and controversial selection calls that kept the commentators discussing the game. The hosts preferred the variety that Marco Jansen brought to the table over the tried and tested offerings of bounce from Duanne Olivier. On the other hand, the tourists took a contrasting decision and chose to stick with their experienced hands in Ajinkya Rahane over a prepared Hanuma Vihari and in-form Shreyas Iyer. Coming back to the action of the day, Indian got the same contributions from their openers that they have got accustomed to from the series in England although they were without their best batsman from that series in Rohit Sharma. Mayank Agarwal batted with awareness of his off stump but he was open to take the bait when South African pacers tried to make desperate attempts to pitch the ball up. He hit some crisp boundaries with immaculate footwork while Rahul started his grinding process and waited for the bowlers to lose their steam and passion after the sun broke through the patches of the overcast sky. The hosts resurrected themselves in the afternoon session and stuck to line and length bowling to deny Indian batsmen free-scoring opportunities. The rewards came in the form of wickets of Mayank and Cheteshwar Pujara on consecutive deliveries and Lungi Ngidi came forward as the saviour for the hosts. Two quick wickets threatened to derail the hard work of Indian openers and the incoming Virat Kohli had to make himself counted for the responsibility he had put his team under by choosing to bat first. He was ready for the battle and did not offer his bat at deliveries around the fifth and sixth stump line and Rahul stitched a partnership where pacers were lured to bowl closer and fuller to him. He too was up to the scoring opportunities and played some delightful strokes to keep himself going. However, as has been the case for him in the last two years since his last Test century, he played a flawless innings until the ball he committed his first mistake that turned out to be a fatal one. Ngidi was once again the man for Dean Elgar as the skipper chased one of the many wide, tempting delivery around the 8th stump line. There was no impact of wickets at another end on Rahul’s temperament but Rabada has too much quality up his sleeves to let a batsman have a comfortable feeling at the crease. He found an awkward bounce from the short of a length area of the pitch and notwithstanding his composure and watchfulness around off stump, Rahul was made to work hard by the right-armer. There were many hits and misses and leading edges that sailed over the slip cordon and Rahul was lucky enough to ride through another overseas Test ton—his sixth in overseas Tests overall and second in the year. The man who was selected to play in one of the biggest controversial calls of the day, Ajinkya Rahane, looked the most fluent batsmen from the Indian side and he offered a full-blooded drive to Ngidi’s full balls to announce his intentions. He was very disciplined and played only one waft outside off stump which have been causing of his downfall in the recent past and scored a brisk 40 runs to deny South Africa any sort of way back in the game. India are in a formidable position in the game having won the toss and decided to bat first and although there are a lot of actions left in the first innings itself, they would be ambitious of batting only once in the game. For that to happen though, Rahane will have to bring the same fluency and command he batted on first day while Rahul will have to convert his hundred into a daddy hundred that will push the Proteas to the brink.

BBL 2021-22 | All-round Perth Scorchers consolidate top of table ranking with big win over Renegades

A blistering half-century from Colin Munro and an all-round performance from Mitchell Marsh led the Perth Scorchers to an easy win over the Melbourne Renegades. With the win, the Scorchers strengthened their position at the top of the points table with an unbeaten run in the ongoing edition of the tournament. They have now won all six games this season and are way ahead of the other sides both in terms of the net run rate and overall points. Marsh was adjudged Man of Match for picking up the big wickets of Mohammad Nabi and scoring a 33-ball 42 with composure to stay unbeaten till the end of the game. Chasing a par total of 152 runs, the Scorchers were helped immensely by a brilliant start from the openers Cameron Bancroft and Josh Inglis, who added 49 runs inside six overs. However, both the openers departed in quick succession leaving the task of finishing the game onto the shoulders of Munro and Marsh. The duo stabilised the innings and kept the scoreboard moving until they opened their shoulders in the 12th over. There was no return for either them or the Renegades bowling attack as Munro took a liking to English left-arm pacer Reece Topley and smashed him for a 16-run over to bring the Scorchers closer to the target. Then, he smashed Jack Prestwidge for consecutive boundaries to seal the game. Earlier, the Renegades won the toss and their skipper Nic Maddinson had no hesitation in deciding to bat first. They could not get off to the desired start though as Tymal Mills produced a perfect slower ball to faux Aaron Finch in the second over. Mackenzie Harvey and Sam Harper then resurrected the innings with a brisk 56-run partnership but their rescue act too could not prolong Renegades command in the game. They suffered a mini batting collapse in the middle order with the wickets of Maddinson, Jake Fraser-McGurk and Nabi to lose the plot and any chance of posting a match-winning total. Jason Behrendorff was both economical and wicket-taking form as he scalped two wickets for just 19 runs in his four overs while Mills conceded 36 runs for as many wickets. Ashton Agar too took two wickets but he was also very expensive and hence Marsh’s spell in the middle phase of the game was adjudged a Man of the Match performance. With the defeat, the Renegades have slipped further to the bottom of the points table having won just one game out of the five this season.

SA vs IND | 1st Test, Day 1: KL Rahul scores another overseas Test ton to lead India's dominance

KL Rahul continued his dream run at the top of the order in the longest format and scored his second century of the year on the first day of the first Test against South Africa in Centurion. He reached the landmark with a push off the bowling of Keshav Maharaj that went to the boundary line. He hit 14 fours and one six off Maharaj to score his seventh century in the longest format. He batted with remarkable assurance around off-stump which was the feature of his batting in the Test series against England earlier this year and continued with the same discipline and immaculate defence. He stitched a 117-run partnership for the first wicket with Mayank Agarwal and followed it up with another big partnership of 82 runs with the skipper Virat Kohli to lead India into a commanding position on the first day. Rahul had gone out of the race for the opening slot in the Indian Test side but made the most of the fortunate opportunity he got after the head injury to Mayank Agarwal right on the eve of the Test series against England.

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021 | Passionate Himachal Pradesh outrun Tamil Nadu to win maiden title

There was some drama in the middle in the final minutes of play during the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021-22 final between Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh when bad lights eventually stopped play. Chasing a mammoth 315 in 50 overs, Himachal Pradesh were 299/4 in 47.3 overs when the play had to be stopped but the Rishi Dhawan-led side was well ahead of the requirement and they were crowned the CHAMPIONS eventually after winning the finale by 11 runs (VJD Method). Rishi Dhawan was emotional. The Himachal Pradesh players were delighted. Their joy knew no bounds. The hard work had paid off. After all, they had won their first Vijay Hazare Trophy and against a side which is certainly looked up as the giant in domestic circuit. Dhawan expressed delight at lifting the trophy after the game. “It was long pending and we've finally done it. Really happy,” he said. Shubham Arora’s resistance It’s not really for a batter to negotiate a formidable bowling line up when the side is chasing a target of over 300 runs and the wickets had fallen around him but Himachal Pradesh’s Shubham Arora was strong-headed enough to help his team overcome a tricky situation. Himachal had started off well as the openers Arora and Prashant Chopra had put up 60 runs on the board but the latter’s departure certainly broke the shackles and the team began to lose wickets at regular intervals and was 96/3 when Amit Kumar came out to bat. The complexion of the game certainly changed from here on. It seemed as if Arora and Amit had a plan in their minds and the two batters were executing that pretty well. They began the rebuilding process in a cautious manner but never let the asking rate mount and eventually stitched a stand of 148 runs for the fourth wicket. Kumar was eventually undone for 74 off 79 after he was trapped in front of the stumps by Baba Aparajith but his departure didn’t really impact Shubham as he remained unbeaten at a well-compiled 136 off 131 to anchor his side to the victorious triumph. Rishi Dhawan’s aggressive stroke-play Himachal Pradesh captain Rishi Dhawan had been in good form in the tournament but what unleashed on Sunday was a master class from an experienced lad. Dhawan took on the Tamil Nadu spinners and especially Murugan Ashwin and hammered runs all around the park. He struck an unbeaten 42 off 23 deliveries including five fours and a maximum. He in fact discussed his knock after the game. “I was telling Shubham not to take any pressure, just get a single and I'll handle the pressure,” he said during the post-match presentation. Dinesh Karthik & his valuable experience As we talk about Shubham Arora for his performance in this final, the credits can’t really be taken away from Tamil Nadu’s Dinesh Karthik who helped his side come out of critical situation and put up a huge total on the scoresheet. In a process of shielding the regular batsmen early in the day, Tamil Nadu certainly experimented with their batting line up where they promoted lower middle order batters like Murugan Ashwin and Sai Kishore up the order. The track and the conditions in Jaipur early in the morning were favouring the bowlers and this was pretty evident when Himachal Pradesh reduced Tamil Nadu to 40/4 before Karthik and Baba Indrajith joined hands and put up a partnership of 202 runs for the fifth wicket. While Indrajith scored 80 off 71, Karthik piled up a ton. The right-hander too took his time to get his eye in first and then accelerated to eventually score 116 in 103 deliveries which involved 7 sixes and eight fours during the course. Later, Shahrukh Khan who is known to score runs at a brisk pace capitalised on the foundation laid by Karthik and Indrajith as he chipped in with 42 off 21 as Tamil Nadu struck 314 in 49.4 overs before getting bowled out. Pankaj Jaiswal eventually picked up four wickets while Rishi Dhawan scalped a three-for. Buttery hands The only thing that two sides will look back and will like to work on is the fielding efforts. Barring the early minutes of the day, the fielding from both the teams was dismal. In fact, Himachal Pradesh dropped Dinesh Karthik twice before he had scored his ton while Tamil Nadu missed out on run out chances and sitters. Later, Karthik showed some sportsman spirit and specially went to congratulate the Himachal Pradesh players.