After MSK Prasad
another Wicketkeeper from Andhra came close to representing India. India called up Andhra wicketkeeper-batsman Kona
Srikar Bharat as cover for the injured Rishabh Pant, just before the second ODI
in Rajkot today. KL Rahul kept wickets,
did well too behind the stumps with a classy stumping of Aaron Finch. He scored so well earlier. Bharat joined the squad and was training with the
team ahead of the toss.
The whole of yesterday was
spent in social media on what is happening to MS Dhoni – ‘is he out ?’ as BCCI dropped him from Central list – this removal
- from earning INR 5 crore a year to nothing - led to fresh speculation around
Dhoni's playing future. As if to tease
them a little more, he trained with the Jharkhand Ranji Trophy team the same
day in Ranchi. Expectedly, it was news that Dhoni was formally denied a
retainer with the BCCI, but it really doesn't change where Dhoni stands
vis-à-vis Indian cricket.
For those following
Indian Cricket for ages, sad news that Bapu Nadkarni, the former India
allrounder known for his extreme economy with the ball, has died aged 86. Nadkarni,
who made his India debut in 1955, played
41 Test matches, scoring 1414 runs and taking 88 wickets at 29.07. The
statistic that defined him, though, was his economy rate of 1.67, the
second-best in history among all bowlers with 50 or more Test wickets. Nadkarni
took four Test-match five-fors with his left-arm spin, including a
match-winning 6 for 43 in Wellington, during India's historic tour of New
Zealand in 1967-68, when they won their first-ever overseas series. His most
famous performance, however, included no wickets. At the Corporation Stadium in
Chennai in Jan 1964, Nadkarni finished
with figures of 32-27-5-0 in England's first innings, bowling 21 successive
maidens (and 21.5 scoreless overs in a row) along the way. It remains the most
economical spell of 60 or more balls in Test cricket.
Away, South Africa's
frustrations on the second afternoon at Port Elizabeth were exacerbated by a
bizarre incident towards the end of England's first innings, when Joe Root was
permitted to withdraw his team's declaration after an umpiring error.
The incident occurred in the 149th
over of England's innings, after the
apparent dismissal of Mark Wood who was caught at mid-on off the bowling of
Kagiso Rabada. Root waved his batsmen in with the score of 467 for 9, only to
change his decision when Rabada's delivery was shown by the TV umpire to have
been a no-ball. England were handed the extra run as the players returned to
the middle, and went on to add a further 31 runs in 20 deliveries, before Wood
was this time legally dismissed for 42, leaving Ollie Pope unbeaten on 135. According
to Law 15.3, pertaining to declaration and forfeitures, a captain's decision
"cannot be changed" once he has notified the opposing captain and the
umpires.
Proteas paceman Kagiso
Rabada has been suspended for one Test match following his celebration when he
dismissed England captain Joe Root on day one of the third Test in Port
Elizabeth. Rabada was found guilty of
breaching the ICC's Code of Conduct for "using language, actions or
gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a
batter upon his or her dismissal during an international match". He was
fined 15 per cent of his match fee and received one demerit point, taking his
tally to four demerit points in the past 24 months, which is enough to see the
right-armer miss one Test match. He will now miss the fourth Test in
Johannesburg. Rabada bowled Root for 27 on day one at St George's Park with a
delivery that kept low and cannoned into off stump. He was then mobbed by his
teammates as he screamed in celebration right next to Root as the England
captain began his walk off the ground. It's the second time the 24-year-old has
been suspended for a Test match for disciplinary reasons. He missed the Trent
Bridge Test on South Africa's 2017 Test tour of England having been penalised
for incidents against Sri Lanka in February 2017 and the preceding Test at
Lord's.
Back home, India drew
blood and bounced back at Rajkot. Steve
Smith's highest ODI score in three years couldn't save Australia from their
first loss of the summer, as India sealed a 36-run victory. After Adam Zampa took three wickets and India
scored an imposing 6-340, Smith scored 98 and Marnus Labuschagne hit 46 as
Australia were bowled out in the last over for 304. For the second series in a row, India stayed
alive having fallen 1-0 behind and lost the toss in the second. India began the series looking to find space
to squeeze KL Rahul in the top order. Instead, batting at No. 5 with that
experiment lasting only one match, Rahul responded with a 52-ball 80 to take
India to 340 after they threatened to end up with little over 300 despite
fifties from Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli.
India lost wickets in two
braces, which reduced them to 198 for 3 and 280 for 5, but Rahul played a part
in pulling India out of strife on both occasions. If it was Adam Zampa's
analysis of 3 for 50 kept India in check, India's spinners Ravindra Jadeja and
Kuldeep Yadav rocked Australia in the middle overs with two big wickets each.
Jadeja kept India in the contest with tight overs and wickets of Aaron Finch
and Marnus Labuschagne, and Yadav ended the chase with the strikes of Steven
Smith and Alex Carey in the same over. Smith
missed out on a hundred by two runs. He wasn't the only man to fall in the 90s.
Like the openers did in the must-win match against West Indies, it was Dhawan
who made India's intent clear with a 90-ball 96.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
17th Jan 2020.
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