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Pakistan win series 2-0 as spinners run riot

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Pakistan

by Dawn

Sharjah: Pakistan spinners took nine wickets as the hosts defeated England by 127 runs to take the three-Test series 2-0 in Sharjah on Thursday.

England started the day needing 238 runs for a series-levelling victory with eight wickets in hand. But Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar made early inroads, dismissing the top order within the first hour.

Captain Alastair Cook offered solid resistance, scoring 63 off 164 balls as Yasir picked up four while Babar and Shoaib Malik ended with three.

It was Malik, playing his last Test match, who gave Pakistan the prized wicket of Cook, stumped by wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed, to finish with seven wickets in the match.

Shah had Ben Stokes stumped in the next over for 12 to spark celebrations in the field as Pakistan players embraced each other.

The victory lifts Pakistan to an equal highest ever number two in the ICC (International Cricket Council) Test rankings, a spot which they previously attained only for a few days in August 2006.

Pakistan won the second Test by 178 runs in Dubai.

Alastair Cook’s team fought well throughout the three Tests and was unlucky not to win the first Test in Abu Dhabi, forced into a draw due to bad light with just 24 needed for victory.

England are now pushed to sixth from their pre-series third in the Test rankings.

England were in danger of losing the match before lunch but Adil Rashid (22) helped add 49 for the seventh wicket with Cook to delay Pakistan’s win.

Cook punched paceman Rahat Ali for a single to reach his 46th half-century in Tests.

When the final day began England were rocked right at the start, losing four wickets in the space of 31 balls after resuming at 46-2.

Shah trapped Joe Root in the second over with a delivery that kept low and caught the batsman in front of the stumps before he had added to his overnight score of six.

James Taylor survived nine deliveries to score two before Babar spun one across his bat for Younis Khan to take the edge in the slip. In the next over, Shah trapped Jonny Bairstow leg-before for nought.

It became 59-6 when Samit Patel was leg-before in Babar’s next over, leaving England in fear of being bowled out for their lowest total of 72 against Pakistan when they crumbled in Abu Dhabi in 2012.

But the Rashid-Cook stand got England past the 100-mark before Rahat bowled Rashid with 15 minutes to go before lunch.

South Africa dismiss India for 201

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south-africa

Mohali: Left-arm spinner Dean Elgar bowled beautifully to claim a four-wicket haul as South Africa dismissed India for 201 shortly after tea to secure an upper hand on the opening day of the first cricket Test at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here on Thursday.

Elgar returned figures of 4/22 in eight overs while fellow spinner Imran Tahir (2/23) and pacer Vernon Philander (2/38) also bowled well. Off-spinner Simon Harmer (1/51) and fast bowler Kasigo Rabada (1/30) also claimed a wicket each.

Opener Murali Vijay was the highest scorer for the hosts with 75.

(Agencies)

Shoaib Malik announces retirement from Tests

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Shoaib Malik

New Delhi: Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, who made a spectacular comeback into the Pakistani Test squad after five years, on Tuesday announced retirement from the longest format of the game.

Malik confirmed the news on social micro-blogging site Twitter.

The 33-year-old said that he wanted to vacate the place for youngsters who are ready to fill in his shoes.

Malik added that he wanted to focus more on ODIs and is willing to play the 2019 World Cup.

In the first Test of the on-oing three-match series, Malik slammed 245 runs against England at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. The match ended in a draw.

Malik has played 34 Tests for Pakistan where he has scored 1860 runs at an average of 35.76.

(Agencies)

Sania-Martina clinch WTA Finals crown

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martina-sania

Singapore: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis lifted their ninth title together this year beating the Spanish pair of Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro to clinch the WTA Finals women’s doubles trophy here on Sunday.

Sania and Martina, the top seeds, prevailed 6-0, 6-3 over their eight-seeded rivals in a lopsided summit clash, which lasted little over an hour.

Before this, Sania and Martina had won eight titles (Indian Wells, Miami, Charleston, Wimbledon, US Open, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Beijing) and finished runner-up just once (Rome – falling to WTA Rising Stars Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic).

The Indo-Swiss pairing dropped serve only once through the match and broke their opponents five times to wrap up a comprehensive victory.

Sania and Martina are now unbeaten in 22 matches, stretching back six tournaments. In fact, since their last defeat — to Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan in Cincinnati — they have dropped just two sets.

Muguruza and Suarez Navarro — late replacements in the draw after Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova’s withdrawal — were completely outplayed in the match.

“I feel like it was a perfect day. Sania just played out of her mind – she was everywhere today, getting everything back and playing incredible tennis,” Hingis said.

This triumph is especially huge for Martina as the trophy was her 50th WTA doubles title, a milestone only 15 players have reached (Martina Navratilova, Rosie Casals, Pam Shriver, Billie Jean King, Natasha Zvereva, Lisa Raymond, Jana Novotna, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Gigi Fernandez, Helena Sukova, Larisa Neiland, Cara Black, Rennae Stubbs, Wendy Turnbull and Liezel Huber).

Sania and Martina ended the year as the world number one women’s doubles team and the Indian tennis ace said a win in the WTA Finals is the perfect way to wrap off the year. “To play in tournaments like this is what we’ve fought all our lives for and it’s incredible to play in front of a packed stadium,” said Sania.

“We feel very fortunate. We’ve done some amazing things together and it’s the perfect way to end the year for us,” she added.

(PTI)

Sachin did not know how to make double, triple tons: Kapil Dev

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Kapil Dev

Dubai: Former India captain Kapil Dev says the iconic Sachin Tendulkar “did not know how to make double hundreds, triple hundreds and 400 though he had the ability” to scale such peaks and was “stuck in the Mumbai school of cricket”.

“Don’t get me wrong, but I think Sachin didn’t do justice to his talent. I always thought he could have done much more than what he did,” Dev was quoted as saying by the ‘Khaleej Times’.

“He (Sachin) got stuck with Bombay cricket. He didn’t apply himself to the ruthless international cricket. I think he should have spent more time with Vivian Richards than some of the Bombay guys who played just neat and straight cricket.

“Sachin was a much better cricketer but somewhere along the line he just knew how to score hundreds. He didn’t know how to make it a double hundred, or a triple or even 400s,” added the 1983 World Cup winning India captain.

The great all-rounder, under whose captaincy India won its maiden World Cup in 1983, said he would have advised Tendulkar to play like Virender Sehwag.

“He (Sachin) had the ability. He was technically sound but I felt he was there to get his hundred and that’s it. Unlike Richards, Sachin wasn’t ruthless, he was more of a perfect, or rather correct cricketer. Had I spent more time with him I would have told him ‘go enjoy yourself, play like Virender Sehwag’. You will be a much better cricketer.”

The 56-year-old Dev made these remarks before a select crowd at the Cove Beach Club at Jumeirah Hotel in Dubai alongside three other cricketing icons — Shane Warne, Wasim Akram and Ian Botham.

Spin legend Warne remarked that Tendulkar was special.

“He is a wonderful player and in my 20-odd years of playing, he is the best batsman that I played against. The expectations he was under and the skill he had against fast and spin. The way he judged the balls. He was great for the game of cricket and he was a fantastic and wonderful player. He dominated bowlers in the mid-90s and he was just outstanding against any bowler. He also played exceptionally well against Australia,” said Warne.

“I now see Sachin’s different side as I am now doing business with him. He is a wonderful friend,” he added.

Pace bowling great Akram regretted for having played much against Tendulkar.

“One of the regrets Waqar Younis and I had as a bowler is that we never played Test cricket against Tendulkar for nearly 10 years,” he said.

“We played against Sachin when he made his debut in 1989 when he was 16 and then, we played Tests against Sachin in 1999 in India. As Warne said, he was the best in the game and 100 international hundreds speaks volumes of his talent.”

When the former greats were asked to name the best they had played against, Kapil said: “I think Viv in my time is the best I have seen. More than his cricket, it was the way he played the game and his attitude. I loved to take his wicket all the time.”

Botham echoed similar sentiments: “Viv Richards is certainly the best player I have seen in all formats of the game. I don’t think there has been anyone better. I remember in Old Trafford we left him in the raps and Michael Holding came out to bat and 200 runs later, Richards was 189 not out — which was obscene. You bowl him outside the off stump with a packed field, and he will flick you into the grandstand on the leg side. He never read the MCC coaching annual.”

Akram added: “When I started out, it was the great Viv Richards and the Little Master Sunil Gavaskar. I got out him out only once. In the 90s, it was (Brian) Lara and Tendulkar.”

(Agencies)

South Africa trounce India by 214 runs to win ODI series

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South Africa

Mumbai: South Africa defeated India by 214 runs in the fifth and final One-Day International (ODI) match at the Wankhede Stadium here on Sunday to clinch the series 3-2.

Faf du Plessis (133 retired hurt), AB de Villiers (119) and Quinton de Kock (109) lofted the visitors to a massive score of 438/4 in 50 overs.

All the Indian bowlers suffered under the Protean onslaught — with Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceding the maximum 106 runs off 10 overs claiming a solitary wicket.

In reply, despite a fighting 58-ball 87 from local batsman Ajinkya Rahane and 59-ball 60 from Shikhar Dhawan, India were bowled out for 224 in 35.5 overs.

(IANS)

Ranji Trophy: Ugly scene at Kotla as Gambhir, Tiwary nearly exchange blows

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Gambhir-Tiwary

New Delhi: There were ugly scenes at Feroz Shah Kotla ground as rival captains Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary nearly came to exchanging blows during the Ranji Trophy match between Delhi and Bengal, here on Saturday.

Situation came to such a pass that umpire K Srinath had to come between the two players as Gambhir moved towards Tiwary to hit him and he also came charging at the Delhi skipper.

In fact in an unprecedented ugly gesture, Gambhir even pushed umpire Srinath, who was trying to get him out of the way to hit Tiwary.
Touching umpire is a grave offence in cricket, which could invite a ban.

The incident happened in 7.1 over when Partha Sarathi Bhattacharjee got out of Manan Sharma’s bowling and Tiwary came in to bat at No. 4 wearing a cap.

Tiwary first took guard and was about to take strike. But he stopped the bowler and signalled at the dressing room to bring his helmet as a pacer was operating from the other end.

Delhi players felt that it was a deliberate time wasting tactic.

Manan ticked off Manoj and he told him to lay off. All of a sudden, Gambhir, at first slip, got into the action and started abusing the Bengal skipper, who then retaliated.

Suddenly all hell broke loose as Gambhir said: “Shaam ko mil tujhe maroonga (Meet me in the evening, I will hit you). And Tiwary retorted, saying: “Shaam kya abhi bahar chal (Why wait till evening, let’s go out and settle it now”).

Umpire Srinath then sprinted from bowler’s end.

Gambhir with his fists raised charged towards Tiwary, who was also not ready to back down. Umpire Srinath came in the middle, but Gambhir to everyone’s horror pushed the umpire trying to get him out of the way.

Manoj was then seen shouting at Gambhir, saying: “Did I tell you anything? Why did you have to come in between.”

Both Tiwary and Gambhir will be summoned by the match referee Valmick Buch.

(PTI)

Saina Nehwal loses to Ratchanok in French Open quarters

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Sania-Nehwal

Paris: Leading Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal suffered a stunning defeat in straight games against Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in the women’s singles quarter-finals of the $275,000 French Open Super series here on Friday.

Top seed and world No.2 Saina lost 9-21, 15-21 in 39 minutes against 2013 world champion Ratchanok at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin to bring an end to the Indian campaign at the tournament.

With this win, 20-year-old world No.7 Ratchanok improved her head-to-head record to 4-6 against the 25-year-old Olympic bronze medallist and 2015 World Championships silver medallist.

Saina was not at her best on Friday and Ratchanok pounced on every mistakes and weaknessess shown by the Indian.

The Thai held a 6-4 lead initially that swelled to 10-5 as she bagged four consecutive points. Ratchanok employed her trademark deceptive shots and Saina had no answer to them. She was not good at net-play and movement, too.

This allowed Ratchanok to snatch eight points on the trot to hold an 18-5 lead and later win 21-9.

She continued the momentum in the second game and dominated Saina from the outset. A 4-0 lead at the beginning meant Saina always trailed her. Ratchanok stamped her authority to race to an 11-5 lead at the break.

Saina played a bit better after the break. She collected 10 points – the same as Ratchanok – after the break.

But there was not stopping the three-time former world junior champion Ratchanok as she pocketed the second game 21-15 and entered the semi-final.

(IANS)

India win 4th ODI against S Africa by 35 runs, level series

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Harbhajan Singh celebrating the wicket of South Africa's Quinton de Kock during the fourth ODI at M A Chidambaram Stadium. Photo: PTI

Harbhajan Singh celebrating the wicket of South Africa’s Quinton de Kock during the fourth ODI at M A Chidambaram Stadium. Photo: PTI

Chennai: Powered by a superb ton from Virat Kohli, India defeated South Africa by 35 runs in their fourth and penultimate ODI at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday.

Coming in at the fall of Rohit Sharma, Kohli was part of a couple of crucial 100-plus partnerships with Ajinkya Rahane and Suresh Raina to help the hosts amass a total of 299/8 in 50 overs.

In reply, South Africa could only manage to score 264/9 despite a defiant century from AB de Villiers who scored 112 off 107 deliveries.

With this win, India levelled the five-match series 2-2.

(IANS)

Kohli’s 138 propels India to 299/8 in 4th ODI

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virat-kohli

Chennai: Virat Kohli’s 138 powered India to 299/8 in 50 overs against South Africa in their fourth One-Day International (ODI) at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Thursday.

Kohli, who scored his 23rd ODI ton, was involved in two 100-plus partnerships with Ajinkya Rahane (45) and Suresh Raina (53).

For the visitors, opening pacers Kagison Rabada and Dale Steyn took three wickets each, while Chris Morris picked up one.

(IANS)

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