Tim Paine praises Rishabh Pant, Sachin Tendulkar's great gesture and more - Cricket News Today, 3rd January 2019

Welcome to Sportskeeda's Cricket News Today, a section that covers a summary of the trending news topics of the day in the world of cricket.

There were as many as three international matches today. First, it was the fourth Test between India and Australia in which the Indians are on top after opting to bat first as they ended day 1 at 303/4, thanks to an unbeaten century from Cheteshwar Pujara.

New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 45 runs in the first ODI, thanks to a 138 from Martin Guptill and an all-round show from Jimmy Neesham, who scored a 13-ball 47 and took three wickets with the ball.

In the final match of the day, South Africa bundled out Pakistan for just 177 on day 1 of the second Test at Cape Town. Duanne Olivier picked up four wickets while Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada picked up three and two wickets each.

Apart from this, a lot of other things happened in the world of cricket over the last 24 hours. Let's take a look at the top news from today.

---

Sachin Tendulkar's great gesture

Sudhir Gautam

In the first three matches of the ongoing India-Australia Test series, Indian fan Sudhir Gautam was not spotted cheering for the Indian team from the stands. However, he was seen at the Sydney Cricket Ground waving the Indian tri-colour and cheering for Virat Kohli's men.

It all wouldn't have been possible if not for former Indian cricket team legend Sachin Tendulkar as he financially helped his most loyal fan to fly down to Australia for the final Test and the upcoming three-match ODI series.

It is still unclear whether he will travel to New Zealand to watch the five-match ODI and three-match T20I series. He is banking on Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan to arrange flight tickets to New Zealand.

"I had requested Sachin sir to bear my ticket fares and visa expenses for Australia tour. My friends in Australia have promised me to make my arrangements for internal travel and other expenses. I will also watch the three ODIs' in Australia before deciding to go to New Zealand also. My return ticket from Melbourne is booked for January 21 but will request Rohit Sharma or Shikhar Dhawan if they can arrange for my tickets to New Zealand", Sudhir Gautam said before flying to Sydney.

Mayank Agarwal credits Rahul Dravid

Australia v India - 4th Test: Day 1

After scoring a stroke-filled 77 in the ongoing Sydney Test, Indian opener Mayank Agarwal thanked former India batsman and the current coach of India A, Rahul Dravid for helping him manage his mental energies.

"Playing under him (Dravid) is good, we as batsmen speak a lot to him about our game and technique. And he is out there to guide us and help us climb the ladder. His advice has been very, very helpful. He told to me particularly think how to manage my mental energies. And that's something that we've spoken about for four to six months. He's helped me go through that path," he said after the end of the day's play.

Mayank, who is playing just his second Test, was batting well earlier today and was looking good to register his maiden international ton before he threw his wicket trying to hit Nathan Lyon out of the park for the second time in the same over.

He admitted that he threw his wicket away and vowed not to do a similar thing again.

Indian players wear black armbands at SCG

Players from both India and Australia were seen wearing black armbands on day 1 of the ongoing fourth and final Test of the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the SCG.

Usually, cricketers wear a black band as a token of respect to the deceased or in the case of any unfortunate event that occurs in relation to the sport or their country.

BCCI confirmed that the Indian players were wearing it as a mark of respect to the demise of Mr. Ramakant Achrekar, who was instrumental behind the careers of a few former India internationals including Sachin Tendulkar, Ajit Agarkar etc.

Australians, on the other hand, were wearing black armbands in memory of former Australia and New South Wales batsman Bill Watson who passed away recently at the age of 87.

Nathan Lyon's banter with Cheteshwar Pujara

Pujara scored another century

Cheteshwar Pujara has been a thorn in Australia's flesh since the start of the series as he has been frustrating the hosts whenever he walks out to bat. He has faced over 1000 balls in the series so far and is still looking fresh.

He piled on the agony in the third Test at SCG as he scored an unbeaten 130 on day 1 to take India to 303/4 at the end of day's play. This is his third century of the series and all the other batsmen have scored a combined total of one century, thanks to Virat Kohli in Perth.

After the Indian batsman reached his century, Australian spinner Nathan Lyon couldn't control himself as he asked Pujara, "Aren’t you bored yet?.” Pujara, in return, just smiled and moved on.

Tim Paine praises Rishabh Pant

Paine and Pant

Australian skipper Tim Paine praised the kind gesture of Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant after the left-hander spent some time with his kids after the MCG Test and ended up babysitting them, according to Tim's wife Bonnie Paine.

On the New Year's day, Bonnie posted a photo of Pant holding one of her kids, Mila, as her Instagram story with a caption "best babysitter tagging the Indian wicketkeeper".

Following this, Paine, who sledged Pant during the third Test, asking him to babysit his kids so that he can take his wife to a movie, acknowledged Pant's light-hearted gesture and called him a 'sport', both on and off the field.

Both Paine and Pant, who is fast becoming a fan favourite in Australia with his antics, were seen sledging each other constantly throughout the series.