NAGPUR: India Vs South Africa, Jacques Kallis posted an unbeaten half-century as South Africa recovered from two early shocks to reach 90-2 at lunch Saturday on the first day of the opening test against India.
At lunch, Kallis was on 55 and Hasim Amla was on 24, having added 84 runs for the third wicket after South Africa was reduced to 6-2 by pace bowler Zaheer Khan (2-15).
Batting first after skipper Graeme Smith won the toss, South Africa conceded the initial advantage to the hosts as paceman Khan struck early to claim openers Ashwell Prince (0) and Smith (6).
Prince was the first to go, trying to evade a bouncer from Khan that lobbed off his gloves to Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the fifth over.
Khan claimed the prize wicket of Smith two overs later with a fine delivery that swung in sharply and dislodged the stumps.
Amla and Kallis denied further success to the home team, batting resolutely to remain unbeaten at lunch.
Kallis was the more aggressive of the pair, hitting six boundaries and a six from 81 balls.
An injury-stricken India picked rookie middle-order batsman Subramaniam Badrinath and wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha.
They got the chance to make test debuts as V.V.S. Laxman was ruled out by a finger injury while Rohit Sharma twisted an ankle in the morning warmup. India had already ruled out Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and S.Sreesanth through injury.
DHAKA, Bangladesh: India declared its first innings at 544-8 after the first session to take a formidable 311-run lead over Bangladesh on the third day of the second and final cricket test Tuesday.
Yuvraj Singh was to join unbeaten Pragyan Ojha (1) after lunch, but instead India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni elected to declare the innings due to soreness to Singh’s elbow.
Resuming on overnight score of 459-5, Dhoni smashed a half century before being stumped for 89 by wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim off Raqibul Hasan just before lunch.
India also lost Zaheer Khan for a duck, caught by Shahadat Hossain off Shafiul Islam (3-86). Ishant Sharma was caught behind by Rahim off Mohammad Ashraful for 13 runs.
Dhoni’s 50 came off 84 balls and included seven boundaries and one six.
On Monday, Sachin Tendulkar smashed 143 while Rahul Dravid made 111 before retiring hurt after he was hit in the face by a short-pitched delivery.
Bangladesh was dismissed for 233 on the fist day in its bid to level the series after India won the first test by 113 runs
CHITTAGONG: Bangladesh Vs India in first Test, Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and sent India in to bat in the first cricket Test here on Sunday.
Virender Sehwag was leading India in the absence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was ruled out with back spasms. Leading spinner Harbhajan Singh was also missing due to a stiff neck.
The start was delayed by 90 minutes because of fog and murky weather over this coastal city.
Bangladesh:
Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Ashraful, Raqibul Hasan, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Shahriar Nafees, Shahadat Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam.
Hosts India finished the opening day’s play of the first Test at Ahmedabad at an incredible 385 for 6 after being reduced to a disastrous 32 for 4 within the first hour of the match. Rahul Dravid proved his class yet again when the chips were down and partnered with Yuvraj Singh and Skipper MS Dhoni to steer India out of trouble. ‘The Wall’ – Rahul Dravid remained unfinished on 177 and MS Dhoni played a Captain’s knock to come up with his second Test hundred. Dravid also became the fifth player to cross 11,000 test runs during his big hundred.
MS Dhoni won the crucial toss which gave his team the opportunity to bat first on a good wicket. India stuck with a predictable line-up of seven batsman and four bowlers. Sreesanth had to sit out. Sri Lanka came up with some surprises with Nuwan Kulasekara and Thilan Thushara missing out. Chanadaka Welegedara and Dammika Prasad got selected ahead of them. But the biggest decision was to drop Ajantha Mendis and retain left arm spinner Rangana Herath.
Sri Lanka had a dream start in rattling the Indian top order with left armer Chanaka Welegedara swinging the ball both ways to make inroads. The 28-year-old Welegedera got an unsure Gambhir inside edging onto the stumps and then followed up with a late inswinger to trap Sehwag lbw. Three balls after Sehwag’s fall, Sachin Tendulkar got cleaned up by one that nipped back sharply to knock his off stump bail through the gate. And six balls later, VVS Laxman too disappeared to the dressing room after chopping a drive off Dammika Prasad onto his stumps. India were out of the Test Match it seemed with the score tottering at 32 for 4 in the 8th over. They were in the danger of getting bowled out very cheaply like before against South Africa at this same venue when they could put up just 76.
Fortunately for India, the most important batsman survived the early blows and it was none other than Rahul Dravid. Yuvraj Singh walked into the middle in a situation that wasn’t new for him. The left hander had already featured in a rear-guard action against Pakistan along with Sourav Ganguly when India faced the same kind of pressure. Yuvraj replicated the same fightback and along with India saw through the difficult first session. At Lunch, India had started to claw back steadily at 105 for 4 in 25 overs with Dravid on 45 and Yuvraj on 35.
After lunch, Dravid and Yuvraj eases past their fifties but their partnership was broken when the latter lobbed a simple catch to covers off Murali against the run of play. Yuvraj fell in the 37th over having scored 68 (from 93 balls with 13 fours). The left hander put on 125 runs for the 5th wicket with Dravid. Sri Lanka now had got back the chance of dismissing India inside the 220-mark. But that wasn’t the case with Skipper MS Dhoni continuing Yuvraj’s good work and giving the right kind of support to Dravid. India went into Tea smoothly without any further damage to 221 for 5 in 54 overs. Dravid was just two runs short of his century and Dhoni worked his way to nearly 30.
The final session was a repeat of the previous one with Dravid putting up another big partnership. The Sri Lankan spinners – Muralitharan and Herath failed to get any purchase off the wicket and that left the Indian pair to dominate them with ease. After an hour’s play, India was out of trouble completely at 299 for 5 in 70 overs with the bowlers getting tired totally. MS Dhoni got to his second Test match hundred but fell just moments before the close of play when he edged a cut shot off the second new ball to the keeper from the expensive Dammika Prasad. Dhoni got out scoring a well-paced 110 from 159 balls (with 10 fours and a six) and his partnership with Dravid was worth 224 runs!
India finished Day 1 safely at 385 for 6 with Dravid still holding fort and Harbhajan Singh batting out the last few balls quite sensibly. Dravid’s unbeaten 177 took just the 251 balls and was filled with 26 fours and a six over long on off Herath. Welegedara, who did all the damage in the first session had to settle with figures of 3 for 75 in 17 overs. Muralitharan and Herath who were expected to wrap up the Indian innings after Welegedara’s blows came a cropper.
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Reliable middle order batsman Misbah-ul-Haq has arrived in New Zealand today to join the Pakistan team ahead of the second Test at Wellington on the 3rd of December.
Misbah-ul-Haq is the replacement of Skipper Younis Khan who had opted out of the NZ tour following a disastrous Cool and Cool Cup Series in Abu Dhabi. Pakistan now has as many as 18 players in its Test Squad.
The 35-year-old Misbah-ul-Haq will most probably get into the playing XI straightaway and making way for him could be either Khurram Manzoor or Imran Farhat. There is a lot of pressure on Pakistan to win the second Test at Basin Reserve after losing the first Test at Dunedin by 32 runs.
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India’s dashing left handed opener Gautam Gambhir will miss the third and final Test at Mumbai due to family commitments. The southpaw has been given leave by the BCCI to attend his sister’s marriage. Gambhir has been in cracking form for India saving the first Test at Ahmedabad with a century and then starring in the innings victory at Kanpur with a superb 167 on the first day.
Replacing Gautam Gambhir is most probably going to be another specialist opener Murali Vijay from Tamil Nadu. The right handed Vijay had played one Test so far which was against Australia. The third and final Test at Mumbai is to be played at the Brabourne Stadium from the 2nd of December.
India’s Squad for third Test at Mumbai : MS Dhoni (Captain and Wicket Keeper), Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Murali Vijay and S Badrinath.
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Rain and then bad light ensured that just the 36 overs were possible in the second day’s play of the Dunedin Test. New Zealand dominated that period of play to stretch their first innings total from 276 for 6 to 404 for 8.
Skipper Daniel Vettori had a heart breaking moment towards the fag end of the day’s play when he nicked his cut shot to the keeper on a score of 99! Vettori struck 14 fours and got his runs in just 133 runs.
Brendon McCullum, the other overnight batsman went onto score 78 before getting cleaned up by an Umar Gul yorker. McCullum changed the match in New Zealand’s favour with a partnership of 164 with Vettori.
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India smashed as many as 417 runs in the opening day’s play of the second test at Kanpur. Gautam Gambhir top scored with 167 from 215 balls while his partner Virender Sehwag came up with 131 from 122 balls. The opening pair put on a terrific stand of 233 in just over 40 overs against an attack that had Muralitharan, Herath and Mendis.
It was a good toss to win for Dhoni’s team as the Green Park pitch is expected to crumble and keep low as the match goes ahead. Sehwag was put down by the keeper and first slip in the very first over when he had not even opened his account. After a watchful first hour, Sehwag along with Gambhir got used to the slow pace of the wicket and what followed in the rest of the morning session and the afternoon one was a wonderful display of strokeplay by both the openers.
By the time Sri Lanka could break the opening partnership which was in the 42nd over, India had raced away to 233! Sehwag was the first to go after driving Murali in the air to covers but not before he had set up the match with a dominating 18th test century. His innings contained a couple off sixes which came against Ajantha Mendis. Gautam Gambhir lasted a little longer than Sehwag and was key to another solid partnership in the day for India. The left hander put on 137 with the inform Rahul Dravid before getting brilliantly caught and bowled by Muralitharan. Gambhir’s 167 had 15 fours and most of his runs had come from some superb running. It was his 8th test hundred and the second consecutive one against Sri Lanka.
At close of play, Rahul Dravid (85* from 153 balls with 8 fours) consolidated India’s position with an unbeaten stand of 47 with Sachin Tendulkar (20* from 53 balls). The hosts had made two changes going into this match with Sreesanth and Pragyan Ojha replacing Ishant Sharma and birthday boy Amit Mishra. Sri Lanka brought in Ajantha Mendis in the place of the injured Dammika Prasad.
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Pakistan’s new Test Captain – Mohammad Yousuf has expressed his desire to have Misbah-ul-Haq to join the squad for the 3-Test Series in New Zealand. Misbah-ul-Haq who was dropped from the Pakistan Squad in all the three formats of the game gets a possible chance to comeback into the team following Younis Khan’s exit recently. Younis had asked the PCB to give him a break after leading the side to a 1-2 defeat in the Cool and Cool Cup ODIs against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi.
Pakistan already has a 17-man squad in New Zealand but their middle order looks brittle with only Skipper Mohammad Yousuf having significant amount of experience. Misbah is most likely to be flown in although the PCB has maintained that no decision has been taken yet regarding Younis Khan’s withdrawal. Misbah is fresh with a score of 284 which he made last month in the ongoing Quaid-i-Azam Trophy. Most likely Pakistan will not be having the services of Misbah-ul-Haq for the first Test at Dunedin which begins on the 24th as the Selection Committee and the PCB is not expected to come to a decision until this weekend.
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Tillakaratne Dilshan spanked his 10th Test hundred to provide the necessary impetus for Sri Lanka in reply to India’s 426. Sri Lanka ended Day 2 at an impressive 275 for 3 with former Skipper Mahela Jayawardene (36) and Samaraweera (45) defying the Indian bowling comfortably.
The visitors wrapped up the Indian innings in the first session by taking the last four wickets for 41 runs in just under 15 overs. Rahul Dravid, the hero of Day 1 couldn’t add a single run to his overnight score of 177 as he was comprehensively bowled by an inducker from left armer Chanaka Welegedera. Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan then managed to steer India past the 400-run mark. Both these useful lower bats couldn’t last long enough to trouble the Lankans and India had to settle with a first innings total of 426.
The Lankan openers – Dilshan and Paranavitana saw through the testing period before lunch and after the break batted confidently. India had to work very hard to get its first wicket which came through a brilliant diving catch from MS Dhoni. Paranavitana (35) was the man to be dismissed off an outswinger from Ishant Sharma in the 17th over having put 74 on the board with Dilshan. That was the only success for India in the afternoon session as Dilshan and Sangakkara took charge to consolidate Sri Lanka to 155 for 1 at Tea.
The final session saw Dilshan bring up his 10th hundred and India was in serious trouble as the attacking right hander was looking to plunder the bowling further. However, Zaheer Khan got rid of Dilshan at the right time and also removed Kumar Sangakkara in quick succession. Dilshan (112 from 133 balls with 12 fours) got out miscuing a pull while Sangakkara (31) hooked one to fine leg. Sri Lanka were now under pressure at 194 for 3. The tails were up for the Indian bowlers but the experienced duo of Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera eased through the tricky situation to take SL to safety at stumps. Sri Lanka have finished the day at 275 for 3 in 70 overs with a healthy run rate of 3.92.
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DHAKA, Bangladesh: India declared its first innings at 544-8 after the first session to take a formidable 311-run lead over Bangladesh on the third day of the second and final cricket test Tuesday.
HITTAGONG: Bangladesh Vs India in first Test, Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and sent India in to bat in the first cricket Test here on Sunday.
Hosts India finished the opening day’s play of the first Test at Ahmedabad at an incredible 385 for 6 after being reduced to a disastrous 32 for 4 within the first hour of the match. Rahul Dravid proved his class yet again when the chips were down and partnered with Yuvraj Singh and Skipper MS Dhoni to steer India out of trouble. ‘The Wall’ – Rahul Dravid remained unfinished on 177 and MS Dhoni played a Captain’s knock to come up with his second Test hundred. Dravid also became the fifth player to cross 11,000 test runs during his big hundred.
Reliable middle order batsman Misbah-ul-Haq has arrived in New Zealand today to join the Pakistan team ahead of the second Test at Wellington on the 3rd of December.
India’s dashing left handed opener Gautam Gambhir will miss the third and final Test at Mumbai due to family commitments. The southpaw has been given leave by the BCCI to attend his sister’s marriage. Gambhir has been in cracking form for India saving the first Test at Ahmedabad with a century and then starring in the innings victory at Kanpur with a superb 167 on the first day.
Rain and then bad light ensured that just the 36 overs were possible in the second day’s play of the Dunedin Test. New Zealand dominated that period of play to stretch their first innings total from 276 for 6 to 404 for 8.
India smashed as many as 417 runs in the opening day’s play of the second test at Kanpur. Gautam Gambhir top scored with 167 from 215 balls while his partner Virender Sehwag came up with 131 from 122 balls. The opening pair put on a terrific stand of 233 in just over 40 overs against an attack that had Muralitharan, Herath and Mendis.
Pakistan’s new Test Captain – Mohammad Yousuf has expressed his desire to have Misbah-ul-Haq to join the squad for the 3-Test Series in New Zealand. Misbah-ul-Haq who was dropped from the Pakistan Squad in all the three formats of the game gets a possible chance to comeback into the team following Younis Khan’s exit recently. Younis had asked the PCB to give him a break after leading the side to a 1-2 defeat in the Cool and Cool Cup ODIs against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi.
Tillakaratne Dilshan spanked his 10th Test hundred to provide the necessary impetus for Sri Lanka in reply to India’s 426. Sri Lanka ended Day 2 at an impressive 275 for 3 with former Skipper Mahela Jayawardene (36) and Samaraweera (45) defying the Indian bowling comfortably.
