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West Indies come up with dogged reply after India post 438
Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul frustrated India with a watchful half-century stand after the visitors finished their innings with 438 on the board on Day 2 of the second Test in Port of Spain. India managed to end their resistance with the wicket of Chanderpaul but Brathwaite and Kirk McKenzie ensured that it was the only success with the ball for the visiting team as West Indies went into Stumps on Friday (July 21) at 86/1, although they still had a deficit of 352 standing before them.
Brathwaite and Chanderpaul began watchfully in reply to India’s sizeable total, with the Indian new-ball duo of Mohammed Siraj and Jaydev Unadkat bowling testing lines. Barring a delivery which Siraj strayed on the pads and was put away for a four by Brathwaite, and a firm push by the West India captain off Unadkat for three, the openers were kept in check by the pacers. Ravichandran Ashwin was introduced into the attack in the 11th over and debutant Mukesh Kumar got the ball for the 14th. They continued to test the West Indian openers, who were happy to play the wait and watch game.
The second four of the innings, which came off Brathwaite’s bat, was a guide past the slip cordon off Mukesh in the 18th over. Chanderpaul, hit his first boundary by paddle sweeping Ashwin in the 19th over, and repeated it in the same over for the same result. The openers took 22 overs to raise a half-century stand, batting with resolve to deny India wickets. Ravindra Jadeja, who bowled in tandem with Ashwin, bowled a string of maidens but the West Indies openers were in no hurry.
Siraj, brought back into the attack, went short and had Chanderpaul in trouble a couple of times but he also was struck for two fours. The partnership, which extended to 71, was the highest opening partnership for West Indies against India since the 137 added by Brathwaite and Adrian Barath in Mumbai in 2011. But it came to an end when Jadeja had Chanderpaul edging to short third man. Debutant Kirk McKenzie announced his arrival in grand style, striking a six off Ashwin over long-off and driving a Jadeja delivery through covers for a four, and remained unbeaten along with Brathwaite at the end of the day’s play.
Earlier, Kohli ended the wait for his first away Test hundred since December 2018 as his 29th Test century put India in a position of strength. Kohli equalled Sir Don Bradman’s tally of Test hundreds early on Day 2 and was involved in a big partnership with Jadeja to power India’s progress. Although West Indies dismissed the set batters during the session, the advantage was with India thanks to the Kohli and Jadeja who led India’s revival after they had slipped to 182/4 on Day 1.
West Indies opted for the second new ball right at the start of the day but Kohli and Jadeja were untroubled as they both reached their personal milestones and extended their partnership past 150, with boundaries coming regularly. But the stand came to an end when Kohli found himself short at the non-striker’s end as a direct hit from Joseph ended his 206-ball stay. Ishan Kishan came out with a positive mindset, taking on Jomel Warrican to score a couple of boundaries. But Jadeja’s innings also came to an end in the opening session as he went for an expansive drive only to edge the Kemar Roach delivery to the ‘keeper, with West Indies using the DRS to send him back. Despite the wickets, India had a productive session as they managed 85 runs at a run rate of over 3.5.
Ashwin’s steady 56 then took India past 400 in the second session. It was slightly slow going for India for a large part of the post-lunch period with Ashwin having to bat with the lower order for the majority of the period, but he managed to come up with an important contribution and score some quick runs towards the end as he ensured India crossed the 400 mark. But West Indies did not allow the tail to wag too long, taking the last four wickets for 45 runs.
Kishan, who was involved in a 33-run stand with Ashwin, got a lucky break when McKenzie failed to take a tough catch. But the Indian wicketkeeper-batter could not capitalise as he fell the very next ball, getting caught behind. Ashwin then used the DRS to reverse a leg-before decision in Warrican’s over, and used his feet to the spinner to get some runs. A 23-run association between Ashwin and Unadkat came to an end when the latter was stumped off Warrican.
Siraj was dismissed soon after, leg-before to Warrican, with West Indies using the review successfully this time. But India chose to review the decision with the ball seemingly hitting Siraj’s front pad first which could have resulted in the decision being overturned but the original decision on impact was upheld for the second time. This was the second instance of DRS being under the spotlight after the broadcasters showed different footage of Jadeja’s caught behind review when the decision was initially made, with bat seemingly close to pad, and then changing it during the Tea break with the commentator Darren Ganga quoting that the right decision was made eventually. With No.11 Mukesh at the crease, Ashwin struck a flurry of boundaries to cross fifty before he became the last to depart as Roach picked up three along with Warrican.
The aid group Doctors Without Borders has reported recovering 11 bodies and rescuing dozens of people off the coast of Libya as it criticised the migration policies of the North African country and European countries.
In a statement on Friday, the group, known by its French initials MSF, said its Geo Barents rescue vessel managed to recover the bodies following a search operation lasting more than nine hours after being alerted by German nongovernmental organisation Sea-Watch, which also rescues refugees and migrants.
“As we cannot determine the reason behind this tragedy, we know that people will continue to take dangerous routes in a desperate attempt to reach safety, and Europe must find safe and legal pathways for them,” MSF said in a post on X. “This catastrophe must end!”
Sea-Watch said it is unclear whether the bodies were victims of a previously unknown shipwreck, adding that they tried to contact Libya’s coastguard to go and retrieve the dead, but received no reply.
“The so-called Libyan coastguard – financed by the EU – ignored our call demanding that the bodies be recovered,” the group said.
Thousands of people trying to head from Africa to Europe use Libya as a departing point, with the Italian island of Lampedusa the nearest European destination as they undertake the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean to escape war, poverty and persecution.
Italy, which wants to put a stop to the migration stream, has said Libya and neighbouring Tunisia must do more to stop people from going to sea. It has also clamped down on the operation of the rescue ships, arguing that they encourage people to head to Europe, a charge that is denied by the charities.
Emphasising its policy on the rescue ships, Italy said on Friday that it forced the MSF rescue vessel to take the 165 people that it had saved from boats in the Mediterranean operation to the northern port of Genoa. The port was more than 650 nautical miles (1,200km) from their position and much farther than the more convenient ports in nearby Sicily, significantly delaying assistance to the rescued.
The route in the central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migrant crossing in the world, with the United Nations registering more than 20,000 deaths and disappearances in the area since 2014.
More than 3,000 refugees and migrants went missing in 2023 while attempting to use the route, according to the International Organization for Migration.
According to Italy’s interior ministry, the number of arrivals in the country has dropped in 2024 to fewer than 21,800 people since the beginning of the year, compared with close to 53,300 in the same period last year.
[Aljazeera]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
Afghanistan boosted their Super Eight chances with yet another dominating win, this time thumping New Zealand by 84 runs in Providence. Having beaten Uganda by 125 runs in their opening match, they are now at the top of Group C with a net run rate of 5.225.
After being sent in, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran gave Afghanistan a start of 103 in 14.3 overs. It came off the back of the 154 the pair added against Uganda, thus making them the first opening pair to register two successive century stands in the history of the T20 World Cup.
Afghanistan’s was an innings of two halves. They scored 55 for no loss in the first ten overs and 104 for 6 in the last ten, with Gurbaz contributing 80 off 56 balls. New Zealand, who had decided not to play any warm-up games, looked every bit rusty as their fielders dropped catches and missed run-out opportunities.
With the pitch assisting both seamers and spinners, chasing 160 was not going to be easy. But few would have expected New Zealand to collapse in the manner they did.
Fazalhaq Farooqi picked up three wickets in the powerplay and Rashid Khan three just after it. Eventually, both ended with identical figures of 4 for 17 as New Zealand were bowled out for 75 in the 15.2 overs. Glenn Phillips and Matt Henry were the only New Zealand batters to reach the double digits.
Trent Boult found some swing in the opening over but Gurbaz and Ibrahim showed their intent by picking up three fours off Henry from the other end. Both batters had luck on their side, too. Gurbaz got a second life when he skipped down the track to Santner and missed the ball, which went on to brush the leg stump but the bails did not budge. In the following over, Finn Allen dropped Ibrahim off Henry at the deep-square-leg boundary.
That was not all. Gurbaz got another reprieve after being involved in a miscommunication with Ibrahim. Having taken off for a single, Gurbaz had to retrace his steps and would have been run out had Conway not fumbled the throw.
Two balls later, New Zealand finally seemed to have found success when Santner pinged Ibrahim’s pads and umpire Kumar Dharmasena ruled it lbw. But the batter got the decision overturned on review as the ball was heading down the leg side. Immediately after that, Ibrahim hit Santner for an inside-out four as Afghanistan ended the powerplay on 44 for no loss.
New Zealand went against the prevailing wisdom of not bowling an offspinner when two right-hand batters at the crease, and Michael Bracewell repaid that faith by conceding only six off his first two overs.
Lockie Ferguson was even more frugal, going for five in his first two. He could have had Ibrahim off a slower full toss but a leaping Kane Williamson failed to pull off a one-handed stunner at mid-off. That meant while Afghanistan remained unscathed, they had only 55 on the board after ten overs.
Afghanistan had not hit a single six in the first ten overs, but there were five in the next three, including three in one Bracewell over as Gurbaz and Bracewell stepped on the accelerator. The pair took the side past 100 in the 14th over. New Zealand finally broke through when Ibrahim bottom-edged a short ball from Henry onto his stumps, after having been hit on the grille on the previous delivery.
Promoted to No. 3, Azmatullah Omarzai played his part with 22 off 13, which included two sixes in three balls off Henry. Mohammad Nabi fell for a first-ball duck but Gurbaz kept finding the boundary at regular intervals. However, a three-wicket, three-run final over by Boult kept Afghanistan to 159.
Farooqi gave Afghanistan a dream start with the ball. With the very first delivery of the innings, he uprooted Finn Allen’s leg stump as the ball moved in late. In the seamer’s next over, Conway pushed at one that seemed to come slower off the surface and was caught at extra cover.
The decision to give Farooqi a third over in the powerplay brought further rewards. This time, bowling around the wicket to Daryl Mitchell, he got a length delivery to just straighten and take the outside edge. Gurbaz took a regulation catch to complete the dismissal and leave New Zealand 28 for 3.
It could have been worse for New Zealand. In between, Naveen-ul-Haq had rapped Kane Williamson’s front pad after the batter had moved across to play a delivery. Afghanistan sent it upstairs for an lbw review but the umpire’s call saved the New Zealand captain.
Afghanistan did not have to wait too long for Williamson’s wicket. Rashid brought himself on after the powerplay and struck straightaway as Williamson guided one to first slip. But Rashid was just warming up. In his next over, he dismissed Mark Chapman and Bracewell off successive deliveries to leave New Zealand on 43 for 6. Chapman went for a pull and got bowled; Bracewell was late to bring his bat down and was lbw.
Phillips was New Zealand’s last hope. He did hit a couple of boundaries but was soon caught at long-on when he tried to take on Nabi. That ended any hopes of revival New Zealand might have had.
Brief scores:
Afghanistan 159 for 6 in 20 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 80, Ibrahim Zadran 44, Azmatullah Omarzai 22; Trent Boult 2-22, Matt Henry 2-37, Lockie Fergusoan 1-28) beat New Zealand 75 in 15.2 overs (Glenn Phillips 18; Rashid Khan 4 for 17, Fazalhaq Farooqi 4 for 17, Mohammad Nabi 2-16) by 84 runs
[Cricinfo]
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