Ipl 2018 letest updates

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Day 3 report: Pakistan spinners Yasir Shah and Nauman Ali grabbed three wickets in the space of 10 runs shortly before the close to halt South Africa's fightback on Day 3 of the first Test in Karachi on Thursday.

It looked as though South Africa would end the day at parity after wiping out Pakistan's big 158-run first innings lead, but Yasir struck twice and Nauman once to leave the tourists on 187-4 at close, a lead of just 29 with six second-innings wickets in hand.

Nightwatchman Keshav Maharaj was unbeaten on two and skipper Quinton de Kock was yet to score.

Earlier, the Pakistan tail wagged effectively as they added a further 70 before South Africa could take their final two wickets.

Pakistan's 378 all out gave them a crucial first-innings lead of 220.

South Africa were off to a confident start with Aiden Markram and Dean Elgar defying Pakistan's attack, and were 37 without loss at lunch.

Elgar, in visible discomfort after being hit on the left hand by a rising delivery from pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, was caught by diving wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan off Yasir for 29.

Markram then added 127 for the second wicket with Rassie van der Dussen and at 175-1, South Africa looked to be ready to take control.

But Yasir changed the scenario by dismissing Dussen for a solid 64, inducing him to pop up a soft catch for Abid Ali at silly mid-off. He then trapped Faf du Plessis LBW on the back foot for 10.

In between, Markram pushed forward uncertainly to Nauman, offering another soft catch for Abid in the same position, as three wickets fell in the space of 33 balls.

Markram, who had a leg before decision overturned when he was on four and survived a chance to Babar Azam off Yasir on 27, had batted with some polish, hitting 10 crisp boundaries in his 74, his eighth Test fifty.

Both Yasir and Nauman will be major threats for South Africa on a fourth-day National stadium pitch which produced 14 wickets on the first day, four on the second and six on the third.

Rabada 200

In the morning Pakistan resumed on 308-8 but the tail frustrated the Proteas bowlers who were looking for wrap up the innings quickly.

South Africa's 25-year-old pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada, playing in his 44th Test, bowled Hasan Ali for 21 to reach 200 wickets — the eighth South African to reach the landmark in Test cricket.

Pakistan were 323-9 at that point, but Yasir and Nauman added 55 valuable runs for the final wicket.

Yasir, who scored a Test century in Australia in 2019, hit a six and four fours in his 38 not out, while debutant Nauman scored three boundaries before falling leg before to left-arm spinner Maharaj for 24.

Rabada with 3-70 and Maharaj, who took 3-90, were the pick of the South African bowlers.

With inputs from AFP 

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Kolkata: Bengal senior batsman Manoj Tiwary suffered a knee injury and will miss the team's camp beginning at the Jadavpur University second campus ground at Saltlake from Friday.

Bengal on Thursday named 32 players for the camp under batting consultant VVS Laxman.

"Manoj is nursing an injury and will not be attending the camp for now. He will join as soon as he is able to resume practice," joint secretary Debabrata Das said in a statement.

Tiwary said he sustained the cartilage injury on his left knee in the beginning of the season.

"The injury has aggravated. I have been advised rest and will be back as soon as my rehab is complete," Tiwary said.

Meanwhile, Cricket Association of Bengal president Avishek Dalmiya said pacer Jhulan Goswami will be the first woman cricketer to be the signatory in their blood donation camp which will be held at Eden Gardens and districts on 3 February.

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New Delhi: He was among the key plotters of England's historic 2012 Test triumph in India and former coach Andy Flower sees no reason why an encore is not possible this year as he believes the visitors have enough "formidable players" to challenge the upbeat hosts.

The spin duo of Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar, along with the magnificent Kevin Pietersen, were the architects of England's 2-1 series win that year, the only victory by an overseas team in India during the last decade.

Flower, a former Zimbabwe captain and one of England's most successful coaches in recent history, didn't want to get into predictions but cited India's remarkable Test conquest of Australia to assert the point that visitors are no longer underdogs in the longest format.

"India won a T20 series, the Melbourne and Brisbane Tests this year and a Test series a couple of years ago in Australia, which goes to show that there are ample opportunities for visiting squads to make a mark," Flower told PTI in an interview.

"The nature of cricket has changed, as both batsmen and bowlers have become more athletic, backed by an aggressive outlook. It must be viewed through the lens of changes taking place around us, and it will not be so monotonous anymore as we shall begin to see patterns," he said.

Asked to pick a favourite for the four-Test series starting 5 February in Chennai, Flower declined.

"It would be premature to declare the direction in which the fortunes of any team would swing. However, the English side has a formidable combination of players who can set themselves into comfortable or winning situations," Flower said.

He was obviously referring to the likes of skipper Joe Root along with the pace duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, and not to forget that powerhouse of all-round talent called Ben Stokes.

Flower said that the series, like every other contest, would be about how one seizes critical moments.

"A lot will depend on the game day, and the star performers' ability to convert critical opportunities. The English squad has some amazing players who have excelled in all formats of the game," the Zimbabwean said.

A lot of England's Test success can be credited to the champion pace bowling duo of Broad and Anderson, who between them, have a whopping 1,100-plus Test wickets.

Flower admitted that once the two leave, it will be hard to fill in their big shoes.

"All teams undergo such periods of transition when they have to replace star performers that are phasing out," said Flower.

"Building a fierce bowling attack often takes some amount of time, and both Anderson and Broad have dominated the pace attack for England for little over a decade.

"They will be leaving a memorable legacy behind, and the new set of bowlers have large shoes to fill," said the gritty left-hander of yesteryears, who himself enjoyed a lot of success in the sub-continent.

Asked to identify the successors, Flower came up with the very dynamic Jofra Archer's name among others.

"...bowlers like pacer Jofra Archer, newer entrants like Ollie Robinson, Sadiq Mahmood, and all-rounder Sam Curran etc. need to be given the necessary support to create a depth in bowling."

England would be coming into the series after beating Sri Lanka in their own backyard, a confident build-up to what is likely to be a gruelling assignment next month.

India, on the other hand, can't be faulted if they are still a bit giddy after that epic win over Australia in Brisbane, which earned them all-round praise and respect.

Flower feels that in the past few years, the game's traditional format has become way more competitive and interesting.

"...as we can now see matches being decided or ending in result. This is in contrast to Test cricket at least until a decade ago when drawn matches were more commonplace, and batsmen played longer innings," he pointed out.

In recent times, there has been a trend of top batsmen playing express pace well but coming up short against swing bowling.

These include Indian players who haven't done well against Anderson, Broad or a Trent Boult for example.

"It is not necessarily true for all international batsmen, as it has got more to do with preparation for a series and reading the bowlers' tactics right,' said Flower, who played 63 Tests and 213 ODIs for Zimbabwe.

He then cited the factors that, at times, lead to questionable technique.

"It could be due to the players not adjusting to the conditions, (not) taking the right guard while batting, or even the movement of feet, head weight and body," he explained.

"It often takes long and arduous preparation to adjust to swing, and it is not undoable."

Flower, who has been one of the coaches in the Kings XI Punjab set-up during the last IPL, is now in Abu Dhabi where he is the coach of the Delhi Bulls team in the T10 league starting Friday.

"I have done one year of coaching in franchises as coach and assistant coach, including Kings XI Punjab, and it was exciting to confront challenges and resolve situations.

"I shall be looking at another year of that and probably assess where my coaching career will go from that point."

So is he game if BCCI offers him a job in near future?

"Obviously, India is one of the greatest Test nations in the world, and it would be an honour for anyone to coach such an impeccable side," he concluded.

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Day 2, report: Fawad Alam gave further evidence of his considerable patience with a grafting century which helped Pakistan take a useful first innings lead over South Africa on the second day of the first Test in Karachi on Wednesday.

The 35-year-old left-hander, who returned to the side last August after a decade in the international wilderness, scored 109 in almost six hours to anchor Pakistan's 308-8 at the National Stadium, lifting the team from a precarious overnight total of 33-4.

Azhar Ali and Faheem Ashraf also weighed in with half-centuries as Pakistan closed with a lead of 88 after bowling South Africa out for 220 on the first day.

Just four wickets fell on the second day which was in stark contrast to the opening when 14 wickets tumbled on the grassless pitch. It would have been different had South Africa not dropped four catches.

Fawad, relishing his first Test at his home ground, added 102 runs for the seventh wicket with Faheem who cracked a relatively rapid 64 from 84 balls.

Resuming on five and with Pakistan in serious trouble, Fawad led the recovery with an invaluable 94-run stand for the fifth wicket with Azhar, who played within himself for three hours 40 minutes for his 51.

Fawad had a life on 35 when Dean Elgar failed to cling on to a sharp edge off Keshav Maharaj in the slips but he and Azhar, who survived a tight leg before shout and review from left-arm spinner George Linde, batted right through the morning to take Pakistan to 104-4 at lunch.

Fawad added another 55 for the sixth wicket with Mohammad Rizwan who made a counter-attacking before edging Lungo Ngidi to Faf du Plessis at first slip.

- Third Test century -
Shortly after tea, Fawad opened his shoulders to hit a flighted delivery from spinner Keshav Maharaj for a six over long-on which brought up his third Test century in just his eighth Test.

He was finally caught at mid-wicket off Ngidi after batting for six minutes under six hours, hitting nine boundaries and two sixes.

Fawad's ton marked yet another remarkable milestone in his return to international cricket.

After making a debut hundred in Sri Lanka in 2009, Fawad played just twice more that year before being dropped -- for 10 years and 259 days.

Despite scoring heavily in Pakistan's domestic matches, he was constantly overlooked, primarily because of his peculiar stance -- facing front-on to the bowler before turning side-on when playing the ball.

He was recalled for Pakistan's tour of England in August last year but his first innings back ended with a four-ball duck in Southampton.

But he followed up with another gutsy century in the first Test defeat by New Zealand in Mount Maunganui in December.

Ashraf's entertaining 64, which included nine boundaries, ended in unorthodox fashion when he jammed down on a yorker from Anrich Nortje only to see the ball backspin into his stumps.

The two-match series marks South Africa's first trip to Pakistan in 14 years, after a deadly 2009 attack on Sri Lanka's team halted visits by foreign sides.

With inputs from AFP

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The BCCI president Sourav Ganguly underwent a successful angioplasty at the Woodlands hospital in Kolkata on Thursday.

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Dilhara Lokuhettige has been found guilty of three offences under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code following a hearing by an independent Anti-Corruption Tribunal.

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Former England coach Andy Flower sees no reason why an encore is not possible this year as he believes the visitors have enough "formidable players" to challenge an upbeat Indian team.

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