Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], February 25 (ANI): Former Australia spinner Shane Warne on Thursday said he was “very surprised” that India was not “super aggressive” in the first session of the second day of the third Test against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
India witnessed a dismal start on day two as Joe Root and Jack Leach completely dominated the hosts’ batsmen. Only Rohit Sharma (66) managed to find a bit of rhythm but other than that, it was a poor show from the Indian team with the bat.
Resuming the day on 99/3, India lost wickets at regular intervals and their innings was brought to an end in the 54th over. India managed just 145 runs in their first innings as Root scalped five wickets while Leach picked four to help England fight back.
Analysing the game, Warne posted a series of tweets and said England — bundled out for 112 runs on the opening day — were right back in the game.
“Just turned the tv on to see the score between #IndiaVEngland ! Wow, a bits happened in this 1st session & Eng are right back in this – big time. Favourites from here ? What could India chase in the last innings ? 150 tops even though they played 4 seamers. Awesome @root66,” Warne tweeted.
“Ps England need to be ruthless right now as 40/50 run lead is enormous ! No easy singles for Ashwin anywhere, make him@play a big shot,” Warne wrote in another tweet.
Warne then wrote: “Very surprised that India weren’t super aggressive this morning. Seemed like the mindset and attitude was to be patient and just bat – lacked intent ! 50+ run lead India become favourites. Worth Archer steaming in for an over or two I reckon. Nose and toes !!!!!!!!”
Commenting on the pitch, former England player Michael Vaughan wrote: “Let’s be honest this is not a 5 day Test pitch !! #INDvENG.” In another tweet, he said England are now favourites to the game.
Trailing India by 33 runs, England will begin their second innings with an aim to capitalise on India’s poor show with the bat. (ANI)

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], February 25 (ANI): India lost seven wickets in 20.2 overs in the first session of the second day of the pink-Test against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday as the visitors rode on skipper Joe Root’s maiden fifer to roar right back into the game. In the end, the hosts managed just 145 in their first essay — a lead of 33 runs.
Root has become the first England skipper since Bob Willis in 1983 to take a Test fifer and his figures of 5/8 from 6.2 overs reminded many of the spell from former Australia batsman Michael Clarke. Handed the ball by Ricky Ponting in the second innings of the Mumbai Test in 2004, Clarke finished with figures of 6/9 from 6.2 overs.
Coming back to the third Test, the end of the Indian innings saw the umpires call for early Tea. If it was Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin who spun a web over the English batsmen on the opening day, it was the turn of Root and Jack Leach to do the same on Thursday as they picked nine wickets among them.
While Root picked a fifer, Leach finished with figures of 4/54 from his 20 overs as Rohit Sharma (66) was the best batsman on display for the hosts.
The rest had no answer to Root and Leach on a wicket that was turning square at times on the second afternoon. Interestingly though, the ball that didn’t turn caused much damage on the first two days as the batsmen have found it tough to adapt to the skidding pink ball.
Starting the day on 99/3, Rohit did not have Ajinkya Rahane’s company for long as India’s Test deputy was out for 7 minutes after passing England’s first innings total. His lack of consistency will be a concern for the team management.
While Leach got the ball to skid onto Rahane and the batsman faltered by going back to a full ball, Rohit was the next to go as he missed a sweep off the left-arm spinner.
It was the Root show after that as he started with the wicket of dangerman Rishabh Pant. While Pant pushed away from the body and was caught by keeper Foakes, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel went back in quick succession without bothering the scorers.
While Sundar was a classic off-spinner dismissal for Root, Axar tried to attack the spinner from the word go and ended up giving a simple catch to Sibley at short extra cover.
Ashwin and Ishant Sharma did try their bit as they hit 17 and 10* respectively, but it was clearly Root’s afternoon as the Indian lower-order had no answer to his disciplined effort.
Brief Scores: England 112 (Zak Crawley 53; Axar Patel 6-38); India 145 (Rohit Sharma 66; Joe Root 5/8). (ANI)

Dunedin [New Zealand], February 25 (ANI): New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill feels skipper Kane Williamson assisting him during the 131-run partnership had set the perfect platform for a win in the second T20I against Australia on Thursday.
Guptill returned to form with a sensational knock before Marcus Stoinis and Daniel Sams almost got Australia over the line.
After being one wicket down in the fourth over, going through a lean patch, Guptill slammed a whirlwind 97 off just 50 balls to steer New Zealand to 219 runs in the allotted 20 overs against Australia in the second T20I. Williamson assisted the opening batsman with a customary 53 off 35 balls.
“The beauty about cricket is that it doesn’t matter about what’s happened in the past. You move forward. You go on. I was lucky enough to spend a bit of time at the wicket today and get a few runs, but having Kane [Williamson] out there in that partnership really set the game up for us,” stuff.co.nz quoted Guptill as saying.
Guptill’s next target is to win the T20I series against Australia as he shifts focus towards the third game slated to be played on March 3. The right-handed batsman, who also broke Indian opener Rohit Sharma’s record of most sixes in T20Is, praised his bowlers for keeping the visitors’ batsmen at bay.
“I’m looking forward to hopefully going 3-0 up in Wellington. Our guys held their nerve. Tim and Trent’s last overs were really clutch, and they bowled fantastically to keep Australia at bay,” said Guptill.
In reply to New Zealand 219, Australia got off to a good start as the visitors smashed 33 runs from the first three overs. But the visitors’ chase was derailed in the middle overs courtesy of some quality bowling by the Kiwis before Stoinis and Daniel almost got Australia over the line. (ANI)

New Delhi [India]. February 25 (ANI): Special Olympics Bharat conducted their first national coaching camp post the pandemic, in Manali, Himachal Pradesh, to prepare for Special Olympics World Winter Games to be held in Kazan, Russia in 2022.
The camp was held from February 8-20 in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports and saw attendance from over 60 campers hailing from Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir.
Alpine Skiing, Snow Boarding, and Snow Shoeing were the three snow sports that were the primary focus of this preparation camp.
Athletes from the hot and humid regions, successfully acclimatized to temperatures ranging between -8 and -14° C and carried out daily practices of improving sport-specific skills as well as maintaining essential fitness levels and enhancing breathing capacity, to help them keep warm within short spans.
The coaching staff, which included experienced trainers from the Mountaineering Institute, also trained the campers in various fitness and yoga routines which can even be practiced under regular weather conditions.
“The national coaching camp concluded at a joyful note as all campers went back safe and healthy. We were on a constant vigil to keep the camp safe, also keeping a contingency plan in place that would cater to any emergency, medical or otherwise. Sports has proved itself a catalyst and a powerful tool to affect the inclusion of the marginalised,” said Malika Nadda, Vice-Chair, SO Bharat in an official statement.
“Winter games that initiated with the participation of athletes from the cold regions of India has, over the years, expanded to other regions of the country as well. These are the sports which many, even the mainstream sportspersons, are unfamiliar with,” she added.
Although novice level competition commences from the lower altitude slopes, the practice had to be enhanced directly to a higher altitude due to the unfavourable climatic conditions and the melting ice. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], February 25 (ANI): Indian boxers Naveen Boora and Manjeet Singh registered comprehensive victories in their respective categories on the third day at the 72nd Strandja Memorial tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The 2019 national champion Boora outpunched Brazil’s Eravio Edson 5-0 to enter in the 69kg semi-finals. With a place in the last-4, Boora is now assured of at least a bronze medal.
Boora had progressed into the last-8 stage with a 3-2 win over Armen Mashakaryan of Armenia B in the men’s 69kg category. Manjeet, who is playing his first senior international tournament, notched up an easy 4-0 win against Irish boxer Gytis Lisinskas to progress into the 91kg plus quarter-finals. The Haryana boxer will play against Armenia B’s Gurgen Hovhannisyan in +91 kg last-8 match later on Thursday night.
Earlier, Jyoti Gulia had produced a scintillating performance to upset two-time world champion Nazym Kyzaibay of Kazakhstan and progressed into the quarter-finals of women’s 51kg category.
The 2017 World Youth Champion Haryana pugilist Jyoti was clever with her footwork and showed great attacking display of boxing before outpunching experienced Kyzaibay 3-2. On the other hand, Bhagyabati had outclassed Russian opponent Anna Galimova 5-0 in the 75kg category.
Jyoti, Bhagyabati Kachari, and Deepak Kumar are the other Indians who will play their quarter-finals bouts on Thursday night.
The 2017 Youth World Champion Gulia will be up against Romanian boxer Lacramioara Perijoc in 51kg while Baghyabati (75kg) will face a stiff challenge from world championship bronze medallist Naomi Graham of USA.
In the men’s 52kg, Asian Championship silver medallist Deepak will play against Bulgaria’s Darislav Vasilev.
Also, four Indian men made an exit with narrow defeats in the pre-quarters. Asian Championship silver medallist Kavinder Singh Bisht (57kg) went down fighting against Ukraine’s Mykola Butsenko 3-2 while Ankit Khatana (75kg) lost to Viktar Dziashkevich of Belarus. Sachin Kumar (81kg) and Naveen Kumar (91kg) also suffered 3-2 losses against Armenia A’s Gor Nersesyan and France’s Wilfried Florentin respectively. (ANI)

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 25 (ANI): Tabebuia Open 2021, the first official ranked tennis tournament for people with physical disability since COVID time, will kick off on Saturday. The tournament will see 38 players from across the country competing for the top position in singles and doubles events for men and women. The showpiece event will run for four days.
Indian Wheelchair Tennis Tour (IWTT) under the aegis of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) in association with the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (TSTA) is conducting the tournament.
Tabebuia Open is a wheelchair tennis tournament that brings together some of the best wheelchair tennis players in India. The tournament will be hosted while complying with the AITA and International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) rules and regulations.
“IWTT is excited to extend a warm invitation to all citizens of Bengaluru and beyond to come witness the grit and determination of men and women with disabilities as they compete for top slots in singles and doubles events for men and women,” an official statement from IWTT read.
“We request the visitors to strictly follow all the COVID guidelines in everyone’s interest. Entry for spectators is free for all. The tournament will take place from the 27th Feb to 2nd March from 12noon to 4:00pm,” it added.
The tournament is hosted at the completely accessible sports complex “D-Cube Sports Complex” at Yelahanka. As a tribute to the Trumpet Flower that blossoms at Cubbon Park in Winter the tournament is named after Tabebuia, one of the beautiful trumpet flowers.
The tournament’s opening ceremony is on Saturday and will be graced by Mahantesh G K, founder of Samarthanam and president of Cricket Associations for Blind in India. The final matches will be live on YouTube on the channel “Indian Wheelchair Tennis Tour”. (ANI)