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P Star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and batsman Rohit Sharma were ruled out of the second cricket Test against Australia, starting at the WACA here on Friday.

Pacer Umesh Yadav, all-rounders Hanuma Vihari and Ravindra Jadeja were included in the 13-man squad.

“Ashwin has a left-sided abdominal strain. He is receiving treatment at the moment. He has been ruled out of the second Test,” a Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) statement said.

“Rohit Sharma jarred his lower back while fielding in the first Test at Adelaide. He is undergoing treatment. He too is ruled out of the second Test,” it added.

The BCCI also said that teenage opener Prithvi Shaw was recovering well from his left ankle injury but still undergoing treatment.

Shaw too will be out of the second Test.

Squad: Virat Kohli (C), M Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (VC), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav.

  Lying at the third place in Zone B, the Telugu Titans are struggling to seal a play-off berth as the cash-rich Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) approaches its business end, but the team’s star raider Rahul Chaudhary is optimistic of his side’s advancement to the next stage.

The Titans, who are currently playing their home leg here, have fetched 45 points from 17 games with seven wins and nine losses. They have to win all their remaining five contests to march ahead in this year’s league.

Three teams each from zones A and B will qualify for the next round. The Titans are facing some tough competition from the fourth placed Bengal Warriors, who are breathing down their necks at 43 points from 15 matches. Currently placed fifth, UP Yoddha are also in with a chance, provided they win their remaining four contests.

However, Rahul, who has been a part of the Titans’ roster since the inaugural PKL, is confident that his team will surpass all the hurdles. 

Talking to IANS, Rahul, also known as “raid-machine”, spoke on his team’s chances for play-offs beside his personal journey over the years.

“All the our boys are fit and none of them are injured, which is very good from the team’s point of view. There was a bit of combination problem, we failed to make a right decision as what should we do and what we shouldn’t, which resulted in our losses in some games,” the 25-year-old said.

“We are trying to not repeat the mistakes. All our raiders are performing very well.The only problem is that at crucial moments, we fail to stop them (opponent’s raiders) from taking points. Our defence needs slight improvement and if it happens, we will certainly be victorious in all our matches,” Rahul opined.

In the history of the league, the Bijnor boy tops the points chart with a total of 845 points. He has amassed 135 points from 17 games in the ongoing sixth season but Rahul insisted that he has never played for personal records.

“I don’t aim for records .My only aim is to make the team win so that the trophy is ours at the end. Points keep on coming but the trophy doesn’t. I hope the trophy also comes to us this time,” he said.

On being asked whether his team is over-dependent on him, Rahul said: “It is not like that but yes the main raider is the lifeline of any team. Yes, I think they rely on me a bit (laughs).”

Rahul, who earlier used to play as a defender, also said that he is enjoying to be a raider now.

“I am enjoying being a raider than a defender. A defender would make a maximum of five catches in 40 minutes and that too, it can be both successful or unsuccesful. While raiding, just one single good jump or a good raid brings more applause to you,” expressed the ace raider.

Since the day the Titan’s home-leg kicked-off, Rahul and his team mates have enjoyed immense support from the locals with fans chanting the name of the star raider and every game at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here turning out to be jam-packed.

However, Rahul feels it was something which motivates him to perform better rather than adding extra pressure.

“They (local fans) have given tremendous support to us, be it on-the-field or off-the-field. Such great support only motivates you to perform better so that we could also make them (fans) happy. But, once being on the mat, we solely focus on our game, we forget the outer hustle and bustle,” said Rahul.

Rahul, who used to be overweight during his childhood, is today considered as one of the fittest player in this sport. 

Commenting on how he keeps himself fit, Rahul explained: “It (fitness) all depends on your diet and practice. I also try to practice more and more besides keeping a proper check on my daily intake. I mostly rely on dry fruits, fruits and avoid foods containing carbohydrate.”

“Earlier, I used to be overweight during my childhood days as I ate anything, anytime and my daily routine lacked physical labour. It has now changed completely,” the raid-machine signed off.

IANS

 Cheteshwar Pujara, whose knocks of 123 and 71 were the cornerstone of India’s victory against Australia in the first Test, moved ahead of Joe Root and David Warner to take the fourth position while pacer Jasprit Bumrah achieved a career-high ranking of 33rd, after his three for 47 and three for 68, in the latest ICC rankings.

Pujara helped India out of a hole in the first innings with a brilliantly crafted hundred and then in the second innings played a vital role in helping the tourists set the Aussies a target of 323.

Bumrah, meanwhile, restricted the hosts to 235 by taking the wickets of Peter Handscomb, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc. In the second essay too, he accounted for the dangerous Shaun Marsh, skipper Tim Paine and Cummins.

Kane Williamson also became the first New Zealand batsman and 32nd overall to break the 900-point barrier in the ICC player rankings for Test batsmen following a stellar performance in the third Test against Pakistan, which helped his side win their first away series against the Asian side in 49 years.

Williamson scored 89 and 139 in Abu Dhabi last week, which set up New Zealand’s convincing 123-run victory over Pakistan.

This performance not only helped Williamson win the Player of the Match award, but also earn 37 points in the latest player rankings, which, in turn, has allowed him to leapfrog Australia’s Steve Smith into second position on a career-high 913 points.

Richard Hadlee, ICC’s Cricket Hall of Famer, is the only other New Zealand player – with bat or ball – to reach the 900-point mark in the ICC Test rankings.

While Williamson shone with the bat in Abu Dhabi and was richly rewarded, number-one ranked Virat Kohli managed only three and 34 in his side’s impressive 31-run victory over Australia at the picturesque Adelaide Oval.

As a result, Kohli has conceded 15 points to slip to 920 points, just seven points ahead of Williamson.

With Williamson breathing down Kohli’s neck, the India captain will be under pressure to perform strongly with the bat in the second Test starting in Perth on Friday otherwise he will potentially lose his number-one ranking he has been holding since the Edgbaston Test against England in August.

The other two notable movers from the Adelaide Test are Ajinkya Rahane in 17th (up by two places) and Mitchell Starc in 16th (up by two places).

Amongst the newcomers, Australia’s Marcus Harris has reached the 116th batting position, while amongst the bowlers, off-spinner William Somerville of New Zealand has emerged in 63rd spot and Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has popped up in 111th place.

Seoul South Korea and North Korea have agreed to hold working-level talks this week on sports cooperation, including the co-hosting of the 2032 Summer Olympics, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said Monday.

The sports dialogue will be held on Friday at the joint inter-Korean liaison office in North Korea’s border town of Kaesong, reports Xinhua news agency.

During the talks, the two sides would discuss details to push for the co-hosting of the 2032 Summer Olympics and the joint participation in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

It was a part of efforts to implement the Pyongyang Declaration, which South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed after their third summit in Pyongyang in September.

Following the latest sports dialogue in November, the two Koreas agreed to jointly participate in international sports events and field unified sports teams through consultations with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and other international summer sports federations.

South and North Korea fielded their first unified Olympic team for the women’s ice hockey competitions at the 2018 Winter Olympics that was hosted in February by South Korea in the country’s eastern city of PyeongChang.

(IANS)

Kolkata, Dec 10 (IANS) Lauding India’s 31-run victory over Australia in the first Test in Adelaide, former captain Sourav Ganguly on Monday predicted the series will be a hard-fought one and all four rubbers will yield results.

“It’s an excellent win. Really credible,” Ganguly told reporters at the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) premises.

Chasing 323 for victory, Australia’s lower middle order gave a tough fight in their second innings against an inspired Indian bowling attack before being eventually bowled out for 291 just before tea on the fifth and final day.

This is India’s sixth Test win on Australian soil and is the first time they have won a series opener in Australia.

India had posted 250 in the first innings riding Cheteshwar Pujara’s 123 with Australia managing 235 in reply as Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah grabbed three wickets apiece.

In the second innings, Pujara (71) starred with the bat once again as India made 307, setting the hosts a daunting target, to which they fell short. For the Aussies, off-spinner Nathan Lyon grabbed six wickets while India’s Bumrah, Ashwin and Mohammed Shami bagged three wickets.

India have never won a Test series in Australia with their best result being a 1-1 draw in the 2003-04 series under Ganguly.

There are three more Test matches to go and Ganguly predicted every match will have a winner.

“It will be a competitive series. There will be a result in every match.”

India will next play in Perth from Friday.

India have done it, at last, winning the first Test of a series in Australia. It took 70 long years, starting from their inaugural Test two months after the country attained independence.

The victory at the Adelaide Oval on Monday is only India’s sixth Down Under and the sweetest as it was hard fought and came 10 years after Anil Kumble’s team won at, of all venues Perth, on a pitch considered pace-friendly. The second Test of this series is at Perth, but not at the good old WACA. It is at the new Perth Stadium hosting its first Test.

The series opener was a test for the Indians who lost their first Test in England by the identical margin of 31 runs they won at Adelaide. A couple of months earlier, they were beaten by South Africa by 72 runs in the first of the three-Test series after both the teams collapsed for 130 or so in the second innings.

Despite their hold on the game by the end of the fourth day’s play, the Indians were haunted by their previous experiences and things did not make any better as the lower-order Australian batsmen got stuck with a bit of pluck and luck.

Nathan Lyon’s prophecy of “we definitely believe we can win this and we still believe we’re in this game,” adding that Shaun Marsh is also confident and has the belief he can be the hero of Australia’s victory, is proved right, though only partially.

The Australians may not have won, but they were very much in the game till the end. Marsh couldn’t keep his word and once he and his overnight partner Travis Head’s departure by the 73rd over at 156 for six, India looked well on their way.

Lyon himself was there till the last wicket fell as the leeway came tantalizingly close to the Indians’ comfort. Skipper Virat Kohli put it in perspective, “I wouldn’t say that I was cool as ice, but I tried not to show it.” He could not have been more truthful seeing the last four Australians, all bowlers, adding 104 runs.

If only the Indian bowlers had applied themselves similarly in the second innings and the last five wickets had not crashed for 25 runs, the last four for four runs, they could have batted Australia out of the Test.

To pick an Indian hero would be unfair to the eleven that played. Yet, Cheteshwar Pujara is the man who held the innings together, getting the others to play around him. If the lower-order stood by him in the first innings after the top-order folded and in the second he and Ajinkya Rahane gave the Indians a score that could be defended.

This inexplicable collapse should be a worrisome aspect of Indian batting, all so frequently, when their four-man attack has been unfailingly getting 20 wickets in a Test. It is more glaring looking at the way the Australian tail fought resolutely on a fifth day Adelaide pitch against the world’s top off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and three never-say-die pace men Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah.

The value of Man-of-the-Match Pujara’s 194 runs in the two innings (123+71) should be weighed in gold. All the rubbish heaped on him of not the ideal Number 3 because he doesn’t rotate the strike or not a quick runner between the wickets has to be put at rest for ever after this Test.

Pujara has shown there is no better player than him for any situation. He is the one top-order batsmen who has shown how to hold an innings in trying conditions and also how to farm the attack nursing the tail-enders. Rahane is not far behind.

The other subject close to the Twitterati’s heart is Rohit Sharma and Rishab Pant. Both look the two sides of a coin, except that Pant is a little more predictable in his tonking. Both will have to curb their instincts and take Test cricket more seriously, particularly Rohit who is experienced enough not to throw his wicket away.

Pant’s 4,4,4,6 off consecutive deliveries of the crafty Lyon looked the right at that stage in the game, though gifting the wicket away to the next ball looked silly. At 21, he can be expected to learn soon to be a good wicket-keeper-batsman.

Pant’s wicket-keeping should be seen in different shades. He looks safe standing back and has to get the hang of Ashwin’s variations soon. You can’t talk about his consistency behind, and he will remember how he missed setting the world record for the number of catches, by dropping Lyon before the game got nerve-wracking. His 11 catches in the match is a fantastic effort.

Coming to the bowling, rarely have India been blessed with three genuine pace bowlers who consistently clock 145 km plus while maintaining their line and length. What was heartening at Adelaide was their use of the bouncer, particularly Ishant who has developed into a bowler who keeps his ball up. Shami and Bumrah always look like getting a wicket on the Australian pitches. They looked clearly superior to the much touted Australian pacers.

With hardly any time to rest before the Perth Test, all the Indian bowlers need to relax as there is no scope for any changes in the winning side, except if Prithvi Shaw is fit he can come in for Murali Vijay.

Even the DRS is getting more curious and the Indians, who objected to its introduction for a long time before falling in line, should be happy that they were the ones to benefit the most at Adelaide.

More excitement is in the offing in the series.

IANS

 Skipper Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara came up with a steady partnership as India put themselves in a strong position after the third day of the opening cricket Test against Australia here on Saturday.

The visitors posted 151/3 in their second innings at stumps and have a lead of 166 runs. At the end of the day, Pujara was batting on 40 while Ajinkya Rahane was on 1.

Coming together after the fall of openers Lokesh Rahul (44) and Murali Vijay (18), Pujara and Kohli added 71 runs between them to give India a platform from which they now have the chance to win the Test.

Kohli, who lost his wicket to a somewhat careless shot in the first innings, employed a much more careful approach in his second essay.

The Indian captain was well on his way to what would have been a well deserved half-century when he was outfoxed by some extra turn from off-spinner Natha Lyon just before stumps. This is the sixth time Lyon has dismissed Kohli in the longest format of the game, the most in world cricket.

Kohli, who scored 34 runs off 104 deliveries, had tried to defend on the front foot. But the extra turn saw the ball take the edge of the bat before nestling in the hands of a delighted Aaron Finch at short leg.

Pujara, on the other hand, resumed from where he left in the first innings. The Saurashtra batsman, who was run out after posting a gritty century in the first innings, put on yet another tenacious batting display and looks set to register a big score.

For Australia, apart from Lyon, fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood also picked up a wicket each.

Earlier, India lost both openers after a steady start to reach 86/2 in their second innings and stretch their lead to 101 runs at tea.

At the breather, Pujara (11 not out) and Kohli (2 not out) went back undefeated after the fall of openers Vijay and Rahul.

After gaining a slender 15-run first innings lead, Vijay and Rahul gave the visitors a slow-but-steady 63-run start and more importantly denied the home pacers early inroads on a rain-affected day.

Despite the initial run-rate going at just over 1 run per over, both Vijay and Rahul didn’t attempt any silly shots and played the ball to its merit, until Rahul broke the shackles with a boundary by the 10th over.

The Bengaluru right-hander continued the onslaught by dispatching Pat Cummins for a massive six and a couple of boundaries even as Vijay struggled to find his feet.

The partnership soon flourished past the 50-run mark before left-armer Mitchell Starc got Vijay to drive a wide delivery outside the off-stump, only to find a thick edge that landed into the hands of Peter Handscomb at second slip.

The fall of Vijay brought in the first innings centurion Pujara, who started off in his trademark fashion before getting a life on 8 when a DRS review saved him from caught behind charge from off-spinner Nathan Lyon.

Rahul, on the other hand, failed to cash on the reprieve he got early in his innings, before being dismissed caught behind off Josh Hazlewood.

With just an over to go for the tea break, skipper Kohli joined Pujara in the middle and the pair saw the team to safety before heading to the dressing room.

During the truncated first session, Australia resumed the day at 191/7 but pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami soon cleaned up the remaining three wickets with the addition of just 44 runs to the overnight score.

Travis Head top-scored for the hosts with a gritty 72 before Shami struck twice consecutively to hand India a psychological 15-run edge.

Brief scores:

India: 250 & 151/3 (Cheteshwar Pujara 40 batting, Virat Kohli 34, Lokesh Rahul 44; Mitchell Starc 1/18, Josh Hazlewood 1/25, Nathan Lyon 1/48) vs Australia: 235 (Travis Head 72, Peter Handscomb 34; Jasprit Bumrah 3/47, Ravichandran Ashwin 3/57).

IANS

Adelaide India gained a slender 15-run first innings lead after dismissing Australia for 235 in a truncated first session of Day 3 of the opening Test at the Adelaide Oval here on Saturday.

Resuming the day from their overnight score of 191/7, the hosts managed to add 44 runs before the Indian pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami sprang into action to get the final three wickets.

As soon as the new ball was taken this morning, Bumrah got rid of the overnight batsman Mitchell Starc (8) to claim his third wicket, before rain interrupted play for a while.

Coming back after an almost an hour of rain interruption, off-spinner Nathan Lyon (24 not out) came out to bat, in the company of Travis Head (72), the other overnight batsman.

Lyon batted aggressively and had the Indians in knots as the eighth wicket stand yielded 31 runs before India skipper Virat Kohli introduced Shami into the attack.

From there on it was just a matter of time as Shami, who went wicketless on Day 2, ended Head’s 167-ball vigil by getting him nicked behind to stumper Rishabh Pant, for 72.

Shami struck again the very next ball to claim No.11 Josh Hazlewood for a duck to hand India a slim 15-run psychological advantage.

For the visitors, Bumrah and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin emerged the wrecker-in-chiefs with three wickets apiece while Ishant and Shami bagged two scalps.

With around 15 minutes of play before lunch, the Indian openers — Lokesh Rahul and Murali Vijay stepped out of the dressing room but were sent back as it started drizzling once again.

Brief Scores: India- 1st innings 250 (Cheteshwar Pujara 123, Rohit Sharma 37; Josh Hazlewood 3/52) vs Australia – 1st innings 235 (Travis Head 72, Peter Handscomb 34; Jasprit Bumrah 3/47, Ravichandran Ashwin 3/57).

[IANS]

 India failed to add any further run to their overnight score before being packed for 250 on the very first ball of the second morning of the opening Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval here on Friday.

Pacer Josh Hazlewood got the last man Mohammed Shami (6) caught behind on the very first ball to deny the visitors any addition to the overnight score.

For the hosts, Hazlewood shone with three wickets, while fellow quicks Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins took two scalps each. The spinner Nathan Lyon also bagged a couple of wickets.

Earlier on Thursday, India were reduced to 19/3 before centurion Cheteshwar Pujara’s gritty 16th Test ton (123) anchored the innings to 250/9 at stumps.

Pujara, however, fell to a brilliant run out on the last ball of the opening day.

Brief Scores: India 250 (Cheteshwar Pujara 123, Rohit Sharma 37; Josh Hazlewood 3/52, Pat Cummins 2/49) vs Australia.

IANS

Adelaide Australia lost both the openers before reaching 57/2 at lunch on Day 2 of the opening Test against India at the Adelaide Oval here on Friday.

Usman Khawaja (21 not out) and Shaun Marsh (1 not out) headed back undefeated at the interval as the hosts trailed by 193 runs to the visitors’ first innings total of 250.

The Indian response came quite early in the Aussie innings, with a brilliant inswinger from veteran pacer Ishant Sharma cleaning up Aaron Finch in the very first over for a third-ball duck.

Thereafter, the other opener Marcus Harris (26) and the in-form No.3 Khawaja struck a 45-run stand for the second wicket.

The partnership went on smoothly as both the batsmen looked at ease while facing the pace trio of Ishant, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.

But Harris’ troubles of reading off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was evident from the time the tweaker came in to bowl before eventually falling to the same bowler after a decent start.

Earlier, Australia took just one ball to wrap up the visitors’ innings for the overnight score of 250.

Pacer Josh Hazlewood got the last man Shami (6) caught behind on the very first ball to deny the visitors any addition to the overnight score.

For the hosts, Hazlewood shone with three wickets, while fellow quicks Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins took two scalps each. The spinner Nathan Lyon also bagged a couple of wickets.

Earlier on Thursday, India were reduced to 19/3 before centurion Cheteshwar Pujara’s gritty 16th Test ton (123) anchored the innings to 250/9 at stumps.

Pujara, however fell to a brilliant run out on the last ball of the opening day.

Brief Scores: India 250 (Cheteshwar Pujara 123, Rohit Sharma 37; Josh Hazlewood 3/52, Pat Cummins 2/49) vs Australia 57/2 (Marcus Harris 26, Usman Khawaja 21 not out; Ishant Sharma 1/9).

(IANS)