[Nasheman news] Sydney The Virat Kohli-led Indian team registered its name in history books after winning their first-ever Test series in Australia here on Monday.

After the visiting team won the Adelaide and Melbourne Test of the series, the fifth and final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) here ended in a draw as no play was possible on the last day due to continuous downpour and India clinched the series 2-1.

Opting to bat in the final Test, India took a commanding position as Cheteswar Pujara and stumper Rishabh Pant’s scintillating 193 and 159-run respective knock guided India to a massive 622/7 in their first innings. 

India then rode chinaman Kuldeep Yadav’s fifer to bundle out the home side on 300 runs before enforcing a follow-on.

Australia were six for no loss in their second innings and play wasn’t possible on the final day of the Test, thanks to the continuous rains as the contest ended in draw.

Earlier, wet conditions had forced an early finish on day three and allowed less than two hours play on day four, before completely washing out the final day on Monday.

Pujara was one of the main reason behind India’s historic series win as the Saurashtra batsman accumulated 328 runs from three games, averaging 54.67. Meanwhile, Pujara also slammed three tons in the crucial Border-Gavaskar series. Kohli also effectively supported with 259 runs from three games.

In the bowling department, pacer Jasprit Bumrah turned out to be the most effective bowler for the visitors after bagging 21 wickets from four games while his partner Mohammed Shami also scalped 16 wickets.

Brief Score: India 622/7 d (Cheteshwar Pujara 193, Rishabh Pant 159 not out; Nathan Lyon 4/178) draw vs Australia 300 all out and 6/0 (Usman Khawaja 4 not out, Marcus Harris 2 not out)

Sydney, Jan 5 (IANS) Australia were left struggling at 236/6 in their first innings, trailing India by 386 runs at stumps on the third day of the fourth cricket Test here on Saturday.

At the close of the day’s play, Peter Handscomb was batting on a patient 28 while Pat Cummins was on 25 at the other end.

The day belonged to the Indian bowlers as they completely dominated the Australian batsmen, putting the visitors in a very good position to push ahead for a win.

The Australians will thank the weather gods for some respite as poor light and rain forced the umpires to take the players off the field before calling it a day around an hour before the scheduled close of play.

After a somewhat quiet opening session, the Indians took the upper hand after lunch as the Australians lost wickets at regular intervals.

Kuldeep Yadav was the most successful bowler for India with figures of 3/71.

Fellow Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja also took two wickets.

Resuming the day at the overnight score of 24/0, Australia lost their first wicket when Usman Khawaja was dismissed by Yadav.

Khawaja, who was batting slowly and steadily, scored 27 runs off 71 balls with three hits to the fence.

He gave good support to fellow opener Marcus Harris who was in good form at the other end.

The two of them put together an opening partnership of 72 runs to give the Australian innings a steady start.

The Australians were forced onto the back foot in the second session as the Indian bowlers started to dominate.

Harris was the first to depart after lunch when he was bowled by Jadeja.

Harris scored 79 runs with eight boundaries studding his 120-ball stay in the middle.

Jadeja bagged his second wicket soon after when he sent Shaun Marsh back to the pavilion.

Marnus Labuschagne seemed to be in good touch before Ajinkya Rahane pulled off an excellent catch off Mohammed Shami’s bowling.

Travis Head fell to a superb caught and bowled effort by Yadav shortly before tea as the hosts plunged into further trouble.

The Australians ran into even deeper trouble in the very first over after tea as Tim Paine was bowled by a flights delivery by Yadav.

But Cummins and Handscomb ensured that the Australians lost no more wickets before the close of play.

Brief scores:

Australia (first innings): 198/5 (Marcus Harris 79; Kuldeep Yadav 2/50, Ravindra Jadeja 2/51) vs India (first innings): 622/7 declared at tea on Day 3.

[Nasheman news] Sydney Australia posted 198/5 in their first innings, trailing India by 424 runs, at tea on the third day of the fourth cricket Test here on Saturday.

At the break, Peter Handscomb was batting on a patient 21 while Tim Paine was on 5 at the other end.

After a somewhat quiet opening session, the Indians took the upper hand after lunch as the Australians lost wickets at regular intervals.

Left-arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets each for India.

Brief scores:

Australia (first innings): 198/5 (Marcus Harris 79; Kuldeep Yadav 2/50, Ravindra Jadeja 2/51) vs India (first innings): 622/7 declared at tea on Day 3 .

Nasheman News : Cheteshwar Pujara missed a double ton as India posted a healthy 491/6 at tea on second day of the fourth test against Australia here on Friday.

Pujara (193) could only manage to add 12 runs to his individual score in the second session before he was caught and bowled by spinner Nathan Lyon.

Rishabh Pant (88) and Ravindra Jadeja (25) were at the crease when umpires called for the tea break.

Starting the session with overnight score of 389/5, Pujara was the only batsman to depart. He played 373 balls and slammed 22 boundaries.

Earlier in the first session, India was at 389/5 at lunch.

Pujara (181 runs in 332 balls) and Pant (27) were at the crease when umpires called for the break.

Starting the day with overnight score of 303/4, Pujara and Hanuma Vihari (42) could only manage to add 26 runs to the total as Vihari was dismissed when the scoreboard was reading 329. 

Vihari played 96 balls before he got dismissed by spinner Nathan Lyon in 102nd over.

The fall of wicket brought in Pant. Pujara and Pant then played throughout the first session, making sure they don’t lose their wickets.

In the process, the duo played some beautifully crafted shots.

Nasheman News : Cheteshwar Pujara came up with a typically gritty century as India posted 303/4 in their first innings at stumps on the opening day of the fourth cricket Test against Australia here on Thursday.

Pujara was batting on 130 when the umpires decided to call it a day. His 250-ball stay in the middle was studded with 16 hits to the fence. Hanuma Vihari was batting on 39 at the other end.

For Australia, Josh Hazlewood was the most successful with figures of 2/51. Fellow pacer Mitchell Starc and off-spinner Nathan Lyon bagged a wicket each.

India are 2-1 up in the series.

Brief scores: 

India (first innings): 303/4 (Cheteshwar Pujara 130 batting, Mayank Agarwal 77; Josh Hazlewood 2/51) at stumps on Day 1 vs Australia.

[Nasheman news] Pune World Championship silver medallist PV Sindhu began the New Year with a morale-boosting win over compatriot Saina Nehwal to give defending champions Hyderabad Hunters a 3-1 lead over North Eastern Warriors in the fourth edition of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) at the Balewadi stadium here on Tuesday.

Sindhu, who had lost her last two matches in the PBL against Sung Ji Hyun and Beiwen Zhang, was keen to start the year with a win and there couldn’t have been a bigger opponent across the net than Saina as the two shuttle queens of Indian badminton would have been keen to earn the bragging rights early in the year, as Sindhu finally ended the match with a 11-15, 15-9, 15-5 win.

Saina, who had sat out of the earlier three matches of North Eastern Warriors due to a shin injury, was definitely not 100 percent and was seen struggling for stamina following long rallies but the way she fought back from a 7-10 deficit to clinch seven straight points and then wrap up the opening game showed that the former world number one was not going to go out without a fight.

But Sindhu simply managed to raise the tempo in the second game as she raced to a 8-3 lead and though Saina fought back to close the gap to 6-8, the 23-year-old always looked in control. 

Saina clearly looked tired in the third and final game and Sindhu simply dominated the proceedings thereafter as the Commonwealth Games gold medallist struggled to lunge towards her forehand and lost the decider rather easily.

Earlier, the experienced Lee Hyun Il got the Hunters back into the contest from the brink as he fought back from a game down to win the trump match against Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk.

With the Hunters trailing 0-1 following the 8-15, 14-15 loss of Kim Sa Rang and Eom Hye Won in the opening mixed doubles match against Kim Ha Na and Liao Min Chun, Lee had to win the team’s trump.

And it looked an arduous task when Tanongsak dominated the opening game and looked on a roll. But Lee is a veteran of many a battles and the 38-year-old showed why he is still considered the most dangerous opponent on the circuit as he moved his Thai opponent all around the court to take a 7-1 lead in the second game and then held on to the advantage to force a decider.

Tanongsak seemed to lose steam after the Lee masterclass in the second game as he was always chasing the game in the decider and the Hunters earned two points with a 10-15, 15-13, 15-9 win before Saina and Sindhu took the court for the Super Match of the Day in front of a packed stadium, as the league now proceeds to Ahmedabad.

[Nasheman news] MelbourneIndia defeated Australia by 137 runs in the third cricket Test to take a 2-1 lead in the four-match series here at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday.

With the fourth Test starting on January 3, the Indians are now in with a chance to register their first ever series win on the Australian soil.

The play on the fifth and final day was delayed due to rain.

Most of the opening session was lost to the inclement weather, and the play resumed in right earnest only after lunch.

Resuming their second innings at the overnight score of 258/8, the Australian batsmen could battle for only 27 deliveries before being dismissed for 261 runs.

Pat Cummins, who had delayed the Australian defeat with a heroic half-century on the fourth day, was the first to return to the pavilion on the fifth day.

The tail-ender had added only two runs to his overnight score when he edged a delivery from Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah to Cheteshwar Pujara at first slip.

Cummins scored 63 off 114 balls, hitting five boundaries and a six over the course of his gritty innings.

Ishant Sharma then dismissed Nathan Lyon with a short pitched delivery to complete the victory.

Lyon tried to go for the pull, only to edge a simple catch to wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant.

The victory saw Virat Kohli become the first Indian captain to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy on the Australian soil. The Indians had clinched the trophy in the 2016-17 season when they pipped Australia 2-1 in a four-Test series at home.

Kohli also equalled former skipper Sourav Ganguly’s record as the most successful Indian captain on foreign soil.

This was Kohli’s 11th away win as captain in 24 Tests. Ganguly had achieved the same number of wins off 28 matches. 

The current Indian team has registered four Test wins away from home this year. They thus notched up the most away Test wins by an Indian team in a calendar year. The previous record was three Test wins, all of which were achieved in New Zealand way back in 1968.

Pacer Ishant Sharma, who dismissed Nathan Lyon to complete the victory, became the sixth most successful Indian bowler in Test cricket with 267 wickets to his name.

The list is headed by leg-spin great Anil Kumble with 619 scalps. He is followed by Kapil Dev (434), Harbhajan Singh (417), Ravichandran Ashwin (342) and Zaheer Khan (311).

Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah also cornered a piece of history by notching up the best-ever figures by an Indian pacer in Australia with his match haul of 9/86. The previous best was achieved by Kapil Dev with his 8/109 during the Adelaide Test in 1985.

Bumrah has claimed 48 wickets in 2018, the best ever by an Indian in his debut year in Test cricket. He is third on the overall list behind former Australian pacer Terry Alderman and former West Indies star Curtly Ambrose.

Alderman had 54 Test scalps to his name in 1981 while Ambrose took 49 wickets during his debut year in 1988.

With 42 dismissals in 2018, India’s rookie wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant equalled former Australian stumper Brad Haddin’s record of most dismissals by a wicket-keeper in his debut calendar year. Haddin had set the record in 2008.

Brief scores:

Australia: 151 & 261 (Pat Cummins 63, Shaun Marsh 44, Usman Khawaja 33; Ravindra Jadeja 3/82, Jasprit Bumrah 3/53) vs India: 443/7(d) & 106/8(d) (Mayank Agarwal 42, Rishabh Pant 33; Pat Cummins 6/27)

 Nasheman News : Venus Williams prevailed over younger sister Serena 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 in an exhibition match at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship.

Serena, 37, broke 38-year-old Venus’ serve twice to win the first set, but faltered in the second, dropping three service games on the way to losing 6-3 here on Thursday, reports Efe.

The contest went to a super tie-break.

While Venus dropped her opening serve, she outlasted Serena to win 10-8.

“Serena said I was playing well. I think we can only go up from here and that’s our plan,” Venus said after defeating the winner of 23 Grand Slam titles.

“It was really fun and so good to see everyone come out to support myself and Venus. It was really fun out here,” Serena said.

MIndia slumped to 54/5 in their second innings even as they opened up a lead of 346 runs at the end of the third day of the third cricket Test against Australia here on Friday.

Mayank Agarwal was batting on 28 while Rishabh Pant was on six at the other end when the umpires decided to call it a day.

Australian Pat Cummins continued his good form from the first innings with four crucial wickets to return figures of 4/10 off his six overs. His victims included the dangerous Virat Kohli and the in form Cheteshwar Pujara, both of whom were dismissed for zero in the same over.

Earlier in the day, Australia were bundled out for 151 runs in their first innings. Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was the standout performer for India with figures of 6/33.

Spinner Ravindra Jadeja got two wickets while fast bowlers Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami bagged one each.

Brief scores: 

India: 443/7 & 54/5 (Mayank Agarwal 28 batting; Hanuma Vihari 13; Pat Cummins 4/10) vs Australia (first innings): 151 (Marcus Harris 22, Tim Paine 22; Jasprit Bumrah 6/33, Ravindra Jadeja 2/45) at stumps on Day 3.

Nasheman News : India declared their first innings after scoring a mammoth 443/7 to leave Australia with just seven overs to bat on Day 2 of the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) here on Thursday.

India’s massive total was powered by a classic century from Cheteshwar Pujara (106) and half centuries from skipper Virat Kohli (82), debutant opener Mayank Agarwal (76) and Rohit Sharma (63 not out).

To add to Australia’s woes, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane (34) and stumper Rishabh Pant (39) also got decent starts but more importantly, were engaged in crucial partnerships with Rohit.

For the hosts, pacer Pat Cummins emerged the hero with the cherry, returning with figures of 3/72 on a docile MCG track while Mitchell Starc contributed with two wickets.

Josh Hazlewood and lone spinner Nathan Lyon worked hard for their one wicket apiece.

Brief Scores: India 443/7 (Cheteshwar Pujara 106, Virat Kohli 82, Mayank Agarwal 76, Rohit Sharma 63 not out; Pat Cummins 3/72) vs Australia.