Relentless Kohli takes India to a commanding position

It was Virat Kohli's day all the way as he hit his 15th Test Century to help India take a lead of 51 runs.

India suffered an early loss of wicket when debutant Jake Ball dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara(47) on the second ball of the day. Pujara misjudged the line as he left the ball and it came straight onto his stumps kissing his thigh pad.

In came the skipper, who knew the importance of his wicket and also the criticality of the situation.

Starting slowly and steadily, he build a partnership with Murali Vijay. Vijay was already settled on the crease as he continued his innings from yesterday.
He gave good support to the skipper and just played his basic game.

Vijay got his reward as he reached yet another century. It was his 2nd century in this series. Vijay was given out LBW when he was on 116 but he successfully reviewed the decision as the ball hit bat and then pad.

India ended the first session on top as they scored 101 runs and lost just one wicket. They didn't let England take hold of the game.

The second session was dominated by England as they scalped 4 wickets and kept India under some pressure. Their only worry was Virat Kohli as the swashbuckler was still present in the middle. 

Kohli and Vijay had a 116 run stand for the 3rd wicket before Vijay got a bit casual and hit the ball straight into the hands of Adil Rashid. Rashid fumbled first but successfully grabbed it the second time.

Karun Nair(13) once again failed as he got LBW on a Moeen Ali delivery. The decision was initially not out but England reviewed the decision successfully.

The highlight of the second session, though, was Joe Root.

Root showed he has got golden arm as he picked up two wickets in successive overs.

First one to go was Parthiv Patel(15), who edged the ball as it went up in the air only to be taken by Jonny Bairstow. Next was R. Ashwin(0), he was stunned when he got out on short leg.

Debutant Keaton Jennings took the catch.

India came under a bit of pressure as they were still 95 runs behind England. 

But Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli played sensibly and made sure India didn't lose another wicket. 

However Virat Kohli got dropped on 68 when he hit the ball straight but Adil Rashid failed to grab it in his hands.

India scored 101 runs again but lost 4 wickets in this session.

In the last session of the day, India came out strong as they lost just one wicket in the face of Ravindra Jadeja(25). Jadeja tried to hit the ball long but an abrupt bounce in the dust makde him mishit the shot and got caught by Jos Buttler.

Virat Kohli stood tall and went on to complete his 15th Test Century after he took a single of a miss field. It's Kohli's 8th century as captain and it just showed how well he handles pressure. 

It was a treat to watch as he hit shots all over the ground and delighted the 20,000 audience in the stadium and millions on the TV. 

Kohli played some brilliant shots after the century and looked classier than ever.
Jayant Yadav gave good support to the captain as he hung in the middle. He also contributed some valuable runs lately once he settled himself.

Virat(147*) and Jayant(30*) helped India reach 451/7 at the end of the day's play.

India summed up the day on top. 

Stat Attack -

• Virat Kohli completed 1000 runs in tests in 2016.
• He also goes past 4000 runs in Test Career and becomes 14th Indian batsman to do so.
• Kohli has now 8 centuries as captain only 3 behind leader Sunil Gavaskar, who hit 11 centuries as captain of Indian team.

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

India keeps hold on England despite debutante Keaton Jennings heroics

It was England's day until a 30 minute period which balanced the game at the end of the day.

England won the toss and made a solid start with skipper Alastair Cook partnering with debutante Keaton Jennings. They both paced the innings beautifully, played shots all around the ground and survived any early scare. Jennings with the help of six fours reached 50 on his debut. The partnership fell just short of a century stand as captain Cook(46) was first to depart. Once again Jadeja picked up Cook's wicket in the series as he continues his hunt of the English skipper. Cook was stumped by Parthiv Patel.

Jennings was dropped on 0 by Karun Nair off Umesh Yadav's delivery

England lost only one wicket in the first session and ended it on 117/1. Jennings and Root continued the innings in 2nd session, but Root(21) gave away his wicket as skipper Kohli and the no. 1 bowler in test cricket, R. Ashwin combined to dismiss him. Keaton Jennings took full advantage of the early lifeline as he scored a century in his first ever test with 12 fours. It was a memorable moment for the debutante. After Root's wicket, England added 60 more runs in the session without losing any more wicket and went for tea at 196/2.

Umpire PR Reiffel was replaced by M Erasmus as the on-field umpire. Reiffel got hit on the head by the ball, as the throw came in from the deep.

Jennings and Moeen Ali continued the innings with full control and not gave away too much to the Indian bowlers. Ali reached his 9th test fifty. It looked like England will own the day, but in came R. Ashwin to pull the game into balance. 

The master of spin rolled his fingers to pick up two wickets in a single over. First to go was Moeen Ali(50), whose attempted sweep shot saw the top edge of the bat to land in hands of Karun Nair. Then after 1 ball, Jennings(112) get caught brilliantly by Pujara in the slips. 

With Moeen Ali's wicket, Ashwin crossed Javagal Srinath's 236 wickets to become 7th highest wicket taker for India.

With both set batsmen gone, India sensed the opportunity to pull themselves back into the game. Ben Stokes had to face the peril of Ashwin's spin but he somehow survived and got away. But this didn't stop India from getting one more. Ashwin got his 4th of the day after he dismissed Jonny Bairstow. 

Jos Butler and Ben Stokes survived the day with England putting 288 runs on board at the end of the day's play.


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India two to the good

A commanding display by a young Indian Team, helped them to win the third test match at Mohali by 8 wickets.
Led by their aggressive captain Virat Kohli, India outclassed England quiet remarkably and extend their unbeaten streak to 16 after the win today. 

After losing the toss, everything just went right for Virat Kohli and India in this test right from day 1. Everybody stood up to the task, eager to take part in the game. The hunger was visible in the Indian team as they were playing against a side who won the last 3 test series, both home and away. England ran out of weapons as they had no answer for the brilliant spin bowling by India.


One thing which India enjoyed in this test was the resistance shown by the lower order during the first innings. Both Jadeja and Ashwin are in top 10 all-rounders in the world. The way they bowled in the 1st innings and then batted to take India past England's score and then take the lead was commendable.

Jayant Yadav has grown leaps and bounds as he enjoyed his 2nd test with maiden test fifty and some crucial breakthroughs. His experience in 1st class cricket helped him a lot.

Alastair Cook will be having some big concerns as their batting department hasn't fared very well in this test as well as the last test. Joe Root did show some signs of being the top run getter in tests in this calendar year but failed to bundle up big score. Moeen Ali was another failure with the bat.
New entrant Gareth Batty could not open his account today.and Jos Butler too crumbled under the pressure. Youngster Haseeb Hameed put up a brave performance despite a broken finger and coming out to bat at no. 8.

Parthiv Patel hit a half century in the 2nd innings, chasing a small total of 103. He looked aggressive right from the start, played great shots in both the innings. Virat Kohli is impeccable with his bat and he has shown it time and again. Other Indian batsmen should aspire to reach Kohli's level.

India has come a long way with Virat Kohli at the helm and there is still a long way to go but the kind of performance this team has put up just assert that why they are the no 1 ranked team in the world.

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

England reeling at the end of day 3

Team India in complete control of the Mohali Test. Indian spinners are on a roll. England still trail by 56 runs in 2nd innings with almost half of their side back into the pavilion.

It was a good day at the office for Team India. First with the bat and then with the bowl. Ravindra Jadeja resumed from where he left on day 2 along with Ashwin. They both added some valuable runs with their partnership. After Ashwin got out, Jadeja found a new partner in Jayant Yadav, who only in his 2nd test match scored his first test fifty. A fifty of real quality. England were helpless in the first session of the day. Striking just one blow on India.

India's lower order showed great resistance and helped mount a good lead of 134 runs. India batted for almost two sessions of day 3. It was a remarkable performance from Ashwin, Jadeja and Jayant.
India ended their 1st innings on 417 runs. Ben Stokes was the pick of the bowlers with a five-wicket haul. His figures were 5/73.

England started their 2nd innings under real pressure with such a big lead to overcome, they knew they could not afford to lose early wickets. But looking at the form India bowlers were in, wickets were inevitable.

And as it was written in the script for India, Ashwin drew the first blood in the form of Alastair Cook's wicket. It was just 27 runs on board. Ashwin's blistering performance continued as he scalped Moeen Ali's wicket to get his 2nd of the innings.England were 39/2 at the moment. Bairstow and Root tried to make amends for the early losses but could not go the distance as England lost two more wickets by the end of day's play.

The killer blow was Ben Stokes' wicket in the last over of the day when he was given not-out by umpire Chris Gaffaney and Team India challenged the decision and got it right as the three reds which brought smile on India's face made Ben Stokes' face red.

England ended day on 78/4 and have their lives on the sword as team India are completely on top. 

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

India vs England Second Test Preview

England's performance in the last test match in Rajkot was more than alarming bell for India.
An envious home record was put to some threat in the last test, that certainly made Indian team put on their thinking hats, to better their strategy and tactics.

England have clearly shown their intent that they are up for a challenge. And as England skipper Alastair Cook said,  "We are here to give India a run for their money." It's time for Indian team to tighten up their belts.

Five test series is a long journey so each team has to be vigil in every department not leaving any loophole.

Spinners friendly pitches will be there but the stats from the last test tells a different story. Indian spinners only managed 9 wickets giving out 521 runs in total.
Also the fact that Indian batsmen are good players of spin bowling, Indian team only had two centuries while England got four.

But a new day means a new start and Indian team knows the importance of this test. With KL Rahul coming into the side, Gambhir may have to surrender his place.
Virat Kohli will have to lead this young Indian side with all his diligence as they will be up against the only team whom they have not managed to beat in the last few years.


Second Test starts at 9:00am IST in the beautiful city of Vishakhapatnam.



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