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Azhar Ali creates record, slams triple century, Pakistan declare on 579/3
Pakistan opener Azhar Ali notched his highest score in Test cricket after completing his triple ton against West Indies in the first Test at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday.
Azhar carried on from where he had left off on the first day of the second pink-ball Test at 146 and looked well assured right from the outset. He was on top of the West Indies bowling attack once again and played the brilliant drives and the wonderful backfoot shots which had helped him get to his century on the first day.
By the time he went into Tea, he was batting at 194. After the resumption of play, Azhar flicked one to the ropes and then crashed another off the back foot to bring up his double hundred.He looked even more composed after getting to the feat. He quite easily skipped past his previous best of 226 and then got past the 250 runs mark.
He got a little stuck in the 290s but then battled the nerves to eventually get to his first triple hundred courtesy of 23 fours and 2 sixes from 469 deliveries. He then kissed the ground to celebrate. He remained not out on 302 as Pakistan declared their innings at 579/3
A declaration that cost Indian cricket a world record
Maharashtra’s Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawne put on a staggering 594 runs during their third wicket partnership against Delhi at the Wankede Stadium today. This is now the highest partnership in Ranji Trophy history.
But when Maharashtra declared their innings at 635/2 and the duo still at the crease, social media erupted. And for good reason. For, their unbeaten partnership was just 30 runs shy of the all-time record for the highest partnership in first-class cricket. That record belongs to Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, who added 624 against South Africa at Colombo in 2006.
Speaking after the game to Cricbuzz, Swapnil Gugale admitted that neither he nor Ankit Bawane were aware of the records that could have been attained.
"During the tea break, we were told that we were very close to (Ravindra) Jadeja and (Sagar) Jogiyani's record (of the highest partnership in Ranji Trophy). We went for that."
"But apart from that, all we knew was that we had to post 600 runs on the board. So our focus was on that. It was only after we declared the innings and came back to the dressing room that we got to know of the kind of records we had broken," he said.
Also read: Maharashtra’s Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawne break all-time Ranji record of highest partnership
A 'six' along the ground
The batsman swinging away with all his might and the ball soaring into the stands for a six is the stuff of modern day cricket. The batsmen love it and the crowds crave for more. But have you ever considered the thought of a shot not clearing the ropes and yet yielding six runs.
This rather bizarre incident occurred on Day 2 of the Test match between Pakistan and West Indies at Dubai. Azhar Ali was batting on 244 and the West Indies were wilting under the heat and the Pakistani onslaught.
Jason Holder, the West Indies skipper, bowled a short one which Ali promptly pulled away towards long-leg. Leon Johnson sprinted across from square-leg, while Miguel Cummins ran in from fine-leg to lend support. The former got there first, fielded the ball and employed the "relay technique". Johnson dived to gather the ball and tossed it across to Cummins, who was now behind him, to complete the fielding play. Unfortunately, Cummins was left wrong-footed and Johnson's relay lay-on went straight over the boundary ropes.
After a brief consultation, the umpires awarded 6 runs and Azhar Ali raised his bat to celebrate his 250. As the replays played on the big screen, the players couldn't hold back their smiles and the sparse crowd cheered on in delight.
They had just witnessed six runs being scored through a shot played along the ground.
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Shahid Afridi allegedly threatened by Dawood Ibrahim
Reports have emerged that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim has called Shahid Afridi and instructed him to stop slamming Javed Miandad or face consequences.
Javed Miandad and Shahid Afridi have been engaged in an ugly public spat with the former accusing the leg-spinner of fixing matches. In response, Afridi had threatened legal action. Such has been the nature of these exchanges that former Pakistani skipper, Wasim Akram intervened while requesting the two to sort out their differences.
Dawood reportedly made the call on October 12 at around 8 or 9pm and Afridi was told to shut his mouth or face consequences. It's well know that Miandad's son is married to Dawood's daughter since 2006 and the cricketer has close ties with the don.
Dawood has been India's most wanted man since the 1993 Bombay Bombings and continues to allegedly live in Pakistan.
Cricket boom in Germany draws Film-makers' attention
Cricket is not a sport that you would traditionally associate with a country like Germany. That said, as of last year, there were over 1,500 active cricketers playing across 70 teams. If these are astonishing figures on their own, 2016 has witnessed a boom. The primary reason for this has been the onset of refugees.
In 2015, 890,000 refugees found asylum in Germany. Over 40,000 of these were Afghans and Pakistanis and sure enough, several of them asked, "Where can I play cricket?". They country now has 5,000 cricketers playing across 250 teams.
The German national cricket team has just secured promotion from the International Cricket Council's European Division Two and with a spike of interest in the game, the country looks to target promotion in division one. And such has been the interest and publicity that a London-based film company, Life & Soul Pictures, has now expressed interest in turning this story into a movie.
Berlin-based writer O'neil Sharma, who worked on blockbusters such as "Inglorious Basterds" and "Valkyrie" is writing the script. With sport as the theme to bridge cultures, Cricket is bound to receive worldwide attention with the movie.
Former India batsman and cricket commentator Sanjay Manjrekar had a lot of good things to say about India's Test captain Virat Kohli. In his special column with Espn Cricinfo, Manjrekar spoke about how Virat has matured as a captain and how his batting has immensely improved over the years.
"This observation does not come because he has just won a Test series; it is more to do with how he has been visibly more patient, when earlier his almost child-like exuberance seemed to get the better of him. The tendency to make frequent field and bowling changes seems to have gone now. Kohli's on-field tactics this series had the perfect blend of attack and defence; not once did it seem like he was over-attacking or ultra-defensive," said Manjrekar.
Shardul Thakur, who was selected for the West Indies tour of India earlier this year has heaped praise on Indian coach Anil Kumble. Thakur was the leading bowler for his side in the Ranji Trophy last season and is yet to make his debut for the national team.
Speaking about Anil Kumble, he said, “The time in the dressing room is a great place to learn. Anil Kumble’s experience counts a lot. We took into account whatever he told us and tried it out in the nets. He spoke out of his own experience, and that helped me a lot.”
Following their 5-0 drubbing of Australia in the 5 match ODI series, South Africa have climbed two places to reach No 2 in the latest ICC ODI rankings. Australia still continue to be on top despite the loss, but have lost 6 valuable points
South Africa leapfrogged India and New Zealand to reach within 2 points of Australia's 118 points. India are currently at 4th place with 113 points.
India could employ the services of the Decision Review System during their five-match Test series against England. Head coach Anil Kumble and Test skipper Virat Kohli are understood to be in favour of the idea.
No formal announcement has been made yet on the issue. It is learnt that a presentation on the system by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to the ICC’s cricket committee, which is headed by Kumble, had a positive impact on him.
The first day of the warm-up game between England BCB XI slated to start later today has been called off because of a wet outfield.
After winning the ODI series at home against Australia 5-0, interim limited-overs skipper Faf du Plessis has said that the state of the game in the country was in a healthy state and people can calm down a bit now.
"People will relax now and see that it's not that bad. People were expecting big changes and big defeats, but now, people can relax and see there is enough talent, no matter what colour you are.Our cricket is in a healthy state. People can be confident that even with those targets, we are a force to be reckoned with," du Plessis said post the win.
The makers of the pink ball have said that ball used for the Pakistan-West indies series was a refined one and they had been taking suggestions to make improvements to it ever since it was used for the first time in international cricket last year in Adelaide.
"There’s been a natural progression of the pink ball since the Adelaide Test. We had feedback that players had some difficulty with vision of the seam (dark green and white), in that the contrast wasn’t great enough. So we adjusted to a black seam that was subsequently trialled in first-class cricket (in Australia) with improved visibility. The black seam is now used with all Kookaburra Turf pink balls.”
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ICC allocates special fund to PCB
The International Cricket Council has decided to allocate special funds to the Pakistan Cricket Board owing to the financial status of the board. This step is driven mainly because the there has been no International cricket in Pakistan, and as a result of which the PCB is not able to generate enough revenue.
"The ICC Board, on the recommendation of the Financial and Commercial Affairs Committee, agreed that some form of assistance will be provided and the matter will be discussed with PCB going forward,” the ICC said in a release after concluding its Board meetings.
Apart from this, the ICC has also decided to allocate USD 500,000 each to Ireland and Afghanistan to stage more ODIs and T20Is. Also, a sum of USD 250,000 will be paid to other with ODI and T20I status for the same purpose.