The Indian men’s hockey team scripted history by thrashing minnows Hong Kong 26-0 in a Pool A encounter at the 18th Asian Games here on Wednesday.

This is the highest ever victory margin by India, breaking an 86-year-old record. The previous highest victory margin was 24-1 against the US at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.

India were off to an explosive start with Akashdeep Singh (2nd minute) Manpreet Singh (3rd), Rupinder Pal Singh (4th, 5th) and S.V. Sunil, who scored twice in the seventh minute giving their team a 6-0 lead within the first seven minutes.

Vivek Sagar Prasad scored with a deflection from a close range in the 13th minute to put India 7-0 ahead by the end of the first quarter.

The Indians continued their rampage as Lalit Upadhay (17th, 18th, 35th, 55th) Mandeep (20th, 22nd), Amit Rohidoss (27th), Manpreet (28th), Varun Kumar (28th), Akashdeep (32nd, 39th), Sunil (45th), Dilpreet Singh (47th), Chenglensana Singh (51st), Harmanpreet Singh (52nd, 53rd, 55th), Simranjeet Singh (53rd) and Rupinder (59th) finding the target.

Palembang (Indonesia) India’s woman shooter Rahi Sarnobat won the gold medal in the 25m pistol competition at the 18th Asian Games here on Wednesday with a Games record score of 34 in the finals to improve upon her bronze medal winning feat at the 2014 edition.

Nottingham,India skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday celebrated the 203-run thrashing of England in the third Test by dedicating the win to the flood victims in the southern state of Kerala.

Coming back from a 0-2 deficit, India put up a clinical all-round performance at Trent Bridge to deflate England, who could only blame their dismal batting effort for the loss.

“We, as a team, want to dedicate this win to the flood victims in Kerala. This is our bit we can do as the Indian cricket team. A tough time there,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation, where he was adjudged the Man-of-the-Match for his knocks of 97 and 103.

“The victory was much-needed in this series and in context, and to have been clinical in all departments is a victory for the entire dressing room. A complete Test for us. There was no panic, and we were outplayed in only one game out of the last five, and that was Lord’s,” he added.

The 29-year-old praised his batsmen for putting runs on the board that gave his bowlers, including the injured off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, the cushion to attack the in-form English batting.

“We dominated in this game because we put runs on the board and then the bowlers did well, they were waiting and ready, even Ashwin did well with his injury,” he said.

“The bowling group was ready to take 20 wickets again, and I’m glad the batsmen stepped up. So we, as batsmen, did well to give them a cushion for the bowlers to go hard.

“Even the slips did well, and this mix of all skills couldn’t have come at a better time,” he added.

With the win, the visitors reduced the lead to 1-2 in the five-match rubber, but Kohli is confident that his team has the ability to turn the tables and make it 3-2.

“We definitely believe we can come back from 0-2 to 3-2, we just need to keep moving forward, keep winning. We wouldn’t be 2-1 if we didn’t believe.”

“The respect and the belief in the change room is important, and one must keep wanting to win. We need to bring out the impact performances in the next two Tests as well,” he added.

Prithvi Shaw, the 2018 Under-19 World Cup winning skipper, on Wednesday broke into the India Test side even as the BCCI senior selection committee dropped off-colour opener Murali Vijay and Kuldeep Yadav from the squad for the remaining two Tests of the five-match rubber against England.

The 18-year-old Shaw, who captained the India colts to the World Cup title in February, has since been part of India’s A teams, besides being picked by the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Besides Shaw, Andhra Pradesh skipper Hanuma Vihari was also picked in the squad that will face England in the fourth and fifth Tests at Southampton and London respectively.

Both Shaw and Vihari are in great batting form, having each belted centuries against South Africa A earlier this month. They also impressed with the bat during their recent trip to England.

Meanwhile, the axe on Vijay came on expected lines after he was dropped from the Trent Bridge Test that India won by a handsome 203 runs on Wednesday and managed to stay alive in the five-Test series.

The 34-year-old Vijay, who played the opening two Tests at Edgbaston and London, could manage just 26 runs.

On the other hand, Kuldeep’s selection under overcast conditions at Lord’s had already raised a few eyebrows and the chinaman has now been sent back home to play for the India A team.

Head coach Ravi Shastri said at the end of the third Test that he hoped premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to recover from his hip injury by the time the fourth Test starts on August 30. Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja is already waiting for his turn.

India squad for fourth and fifth Tests: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hanuma Vihari.

India staged a thrilling comeback in the five-match Test rubber on Wednesday by thrashing England by 203 runs in the third Test at Trent Bridge here.

In their pursuit of 521 runs for victory, England resumed their innings at 311/9 and lasted a little over two overs before losing the final wicket of James Anderson (11) to off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. England’s innings closed at 317.

India now trail the five-match rubber 1-2 as they proceed to Hampshire for the fourth Test, starting August 30.

Brief Scores: India 329, 352/7 decl. beat England 161, 317 (Jos Buttler 106, Ben Stokes 62; Jasprit Bumrah 5/85, Ishant Sharma 2/70) by 203 runs.

Indian shooter Sanjeev Rajput clinched a silver medal in the men’s 50 metre Rifle 3 Positions event at the 18th Asian Games here on Tuesday.

Sanjeev scored 452.7 in the final. The 37-year-old had earlier bagged bronze in the same category at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.

China’s Hui Zicheng secured the gold medal after scoring 453.3, while Japan’s Takayuki Matsumoto settled for bronze with a score of 441.4.

The 37-year old Rajput gave a good account of himself in the keeling and prone positions, although he struggled in the standing round which eventually stood in the way of him winning the gold.

Rajput rallied to recover from 7.8 in the third series of the kneeling position to finish in the top position with a score of 151.2.

In prone, Rajput consistently shot 10s and was ahead of the pack from start to finish. He had a total score of 307.1 after 30 shots.

In the standing position, Rajput led after the first series with a score of 355.6. But as Zicheng fought to catch up with him, Rajput lost his spark and ended second best.