Pant's response to Bonnie's Paine's Instagram story, KL Rahul's great gesture and more - Cricket News Today, 5 January 2019

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India are in pole position for a 3-1 win in the four-match Test series as they are on top at the end of Day 3, having the Australians reeling at 236/6, thanks to a three-wicket haul from Kuldeep Yadav.

Pat Cummins, batting on 25, and Peter Handscomb, batting on 28, are holding the fort for the hosts when rain and bad light forced them to take early stumps.

Thisara Perera's 74-ball 140 was not enough for Sri Lanka to beat New Zealand in the second ODI as they lost the match by 21 runs. Chasing 320 to win, Sri Lanka kept losing wickets regularly and were bundled out for 298 in just 46.2 overs.

In the Cape Town Test, Pakistan managed to take the lead but the Proteas are still the favourites to win the match and take a 2-0 lead as they need just 42 runs to win with two days left.

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.

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I need more time to improve as Test bowler: Kuldeep Yadav

Indian Chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the Indian bowlers in the day 3 of the fourth Test as he picked up three wickets.

In spite of that, he showed a lot of inexperience. The spinner realizes it and has conceded that he needs to play more matches in the format in order to improve as a bowler in the format.

"To be very honest I haven't changed anything (for bowling in Australia). I am playing my first Test in this series and so was nervous," he said on Saturday.

I have played enough cricket to have decent enough knowledge but in Test cricket I will need a little more time perhaps to improve. The more you play with the red ball the more you can improve," Kuldeep said.

Rishabh Pant's response to Bonnie Paine's Instagram photo

Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant has been the talk of the town for the last week as he has gained a lot of fans on and off the field

Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant has been the talk of the town for the last week as he has gained a lot of fans on and off the field.

First, he was the centre of attraction after he was sledged by Australian skipper Tim Paine and he gave it back to the Australian gloveman the next day.

He was asked to babysit his kids by Paine so that he can take his wife for a movie. A few days back, Tim Paine's wife Bonnie posted a photo on Instagram with a pic of Pant holding their kids and had a caption "Best babysitter" and tagged Rishabh in it. He followed it up with an unbeaten 159 in the fourth Test match.

When he was asked about Bonnie's Instagram story, Pant said, "Everyone's family were really nice. We met most of the people during the function at the prime minister's house. It was lovely meeting them. I don't think I have to change myself for something like that. The only thing is they put the photo on Instagram and it went viral".

Cheteshwar Pujara's father hospitalized

Cheteshwar Pujara

While Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has mentally disintegrated the Australians in the fourth Test match in Sydney, his father Arvind Pujara wasn't able to witness his son dominating the strong Australian attack as he was hospitalized because of cardiac irregularities and underwent surgery.

The 68-year-old usually watches and enjoys his son's knocks from the stands, but due to the unfortunate hospitalization, he couldn't watch Pujara's 193 in the fourth Test but has vowed to watch the replays of the brilliant knock. Arvind also expects that his son's recent performances will dismiss all the critics who doubted his caliber overseas.

“I have been hearing people praise my son from across the world. It’s very heartening if anybody had any doubt about his batting it’s all cleared. I will go home watch the replays,” Arvind said from the beds of the hospital.

Umpire praises KL Rahul after his act of sportsmanship at SCG

Rahul put in a full-stretch dive forward and took the ball and the Indian fielders started celebrating

Early on day 3 of the fourth Test between India and Australia, the fans witnessed an act of sportsmanship from Indian batsman KL Rahul. Ravindra Jadeja, bowling his first ball of the day, forced Marcus Harris to take him on and the batsman mistimed one towards mid-on.

The fielder at mid-on, KL Rahul, was in with a chance to pouch a catch but the ball was always going to fall short of Rahul. Rahul put in a full-stretch dive forward and took the ball and the Indian fielders started celebrating.

Rahul himself suggested that the ball didn't carry to him and he took it on the bounce. The on-field umpire Ian Gould was impressed with Rahul's gestures.

Gould first showed Rahul a thumbs up when the bowler was going back to his mark and then, during the change over in-between the overs, he said, "KL Rahul, outstanding mate. Well done."

Watch: Umpire praises KL Rahul after his act of sportsmanship at SCG