Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Harbhajan Singh’s reception in New Delhi. (Source: Express photo)
Former prime minister of India Manmohan Singh attended cricketer Harbhajan Singh’s reception in New Delhi on Sunday.
The India off-spinner married Bollywood actress Geeta Basra on October 29 in a ceremony in Jalandhar.
Various other celebrities and cricketers are attending the reception.
James Anderson finished with exemplary figures of four for 17 from 15.1 overs. (Source: Reuters)
James Anderson claimed four wickets as England made an excellent start to the third and final Test in Sharjah by bowling out Pakistan for 234 on Sunday.
With England needing a victory to level the series, Pakistan won the toss and batted but Anderson and fellow paceman Stuart Broad made them regret their decision by producing combined figures of six for 30.
Pakistan were 116 for five at one stage and were only spared complete embarrassment by captain Misbah-ul-Haq’s 71 and 39 from Sarfraz Ahmed.
Sarfraz, batting at number seven, was caught by Joe Root off spinner Moeen Ali and Misbah’s men collapsed with their last five wickets falling for just 38 runs.
Pakistan’s top order did not show much application, failing to convert good starts into significant contributions.
Misbah won his sixth successive Test toss and, for the third time in the series, opted to bat first on a wicket that offered significant turn.
Anderson was rewarded for his immaculate line in the third over when the scoreless Azhar Ali, one of two changes in Pakistan’s side, was caught behind.
Mohammad Hafeez (27) looked confident but the opener succumbed to a soft dismissal, top edging Moeen to Broad at deep backward square leg.
The bearded spinner also had Shoaib Malik trapped leg before on 22 but the Pakistani reviewed the decision and got it overturned.
Broad tasted success after lunch when he had Malik caught behind by Jonny Bairstow for 38 and the lanky paceman sent down five maiden overs on the trot to stifle the batsmen.
It yielded immediate dividends as Anderson, replacing Broad, trapped the dangerous Younus Khan leg before for 31 with the first ball of his new spell.
Playing his first Test since December 2012, left-arm spinner Samit Patel then dismissed Asad Shafiq for five.
Anderson finished with exemplary figures of four for 17 from 15.1 overs while Broad was equally mean with the ball, taking two for 13 in as many overs. Moeen and Patel also picked up two wickets apiece.
England were four for no loss at the close of play.
Ashish Hooda scalped four wickets for 39 runs in an impressive pace bowling spell as Haryana came back into their Ranji Trophy Group A match against Bengal on the third and penultimate day in Lahli on Sunday.
Haryana, led by Virender Sehwag, conceded a 104-run first innings to the visiting team as they were all out for 225 midway in the morning session in reply to Bengal’s first innings total of 329 all out.
Overnight batsmen Rohit Sharma (78) and Yuzvendra Chahal (42) were dismissed in quick succession after they shared 105 runs for the ninth wicket as the home side folded their innings.
Sharma and Chahal were instrumental in taking Haryana to a respectable total as the home side were 120 for 8 at one stage before the duo took the total past 200-mark.
With 104-run first innings lead, Bengal found themselves in the drivers’ seat but their batsmen came a cropper in their second innings giving Haryana a chance to come back into the match. Bengal ended the day at 146 for 7 for an overall lead of 250 runs with three second innings wickets in hand.
Hooda rocked the Bengal innings early on by dismissing three of the top-four batsmen to reduce the visiting team to 50 for 4. Sudip Chatterji (49) and Pramod Chandila (24) stitched 56 runs for the fifth wicket and that was the biggest Bengal partnership.
In fact, Chatterji was the top scorer as none of the Bengal batsman could score a half century.
Pankaj Shaw and Pragyan Ojha were batting on 19 and one respectively when the stumps were drawn for the day.
Brief Scores: Bengal: 329 & 146/7 in 71 overs (Sudip Chatterji 49; Ashish Hooda 4/39) Haryana: 225 all out in 83.4 overs (Rohit Sharma 78, Yuzvendra Chahal 42; Mukesh Kumar 4/53)
Odisha give strong reply to Delhi on day three
Nataraj Behera and Anurag Sarangi struck fifties as Odisha gave a strong first innings reply to Delhi by reaching 195 for four on day three of the Ranji Trophy Group A game in Bhubaneshwar on Sunday.
Sarangi was unbeaten on 76 while Behera made 62 at the top to take the hosts closer to Delhi’s 311 at the KIIT stadium.
Delhi, resuming the day at 245 for 7, went on to add 66 runs to their total with the help of tail-ender Pulkit Narang (41 not out ).
Brief Scores: Delhi 1st Innings: 311 in 136.1 overs (Milind Kumar 59, Dhruv Shorey 42, Gautam Gambhir 41, Pukit Narang 41 not out; S Pradhan 4/119) Odisha 195/4 in 67 overs (Natraj Behera 62, Anurag Sarangi 76 batting; Pradeep Sangwan 2/30)
Karnataka look to post outright win over Rajasthan
Riding on Sreenath Aravind’s superb bowling and a quickfire century by Robin Uthappa, Karnataka on Sunday gained an upper hand as they reduced Rajasthan to 42 for three, chasing 358-run target, at the end of third day’s play of their Group A Ranji Trophy match in Jaipur.
On the fourth and final day on Monday, Rajasthan face an uphill task as they need 316 runs with seven wickets in hand.
Earlier on the day, Karnataka managed to take a slight 32-run first essay lead after bundling out Rajasthan for 241 in their opening innings.
Brief scores: Karnataka: 281 & 318 for five decl (Robin Uthappa 160, Abhishek Reddy 69) Rajasthan: 242 & 42/3 (Sreenath Aravind 2/20)
Maha need another 241 runs to win against Vidarbha
Maharashtra needed another 241 runs to win their Ranji match against Vidarbha at stumps on day three in Nagpur.
Chasing 244, Maharashtra started their second innings with opener Swapnil Gugagale back to the pavilion on a duck.
At the end of third day’s play Maharashtra were 3 for 1 in three overs.
Brief scores: Vidarbha: First innings 332 all out. Maharashtra: First innings 237 all out (Chirag Khurana 78, A Sarwate 3/41, S Wagh 2/55, Ravi Thakur 2/28) Vidarbha: Second innings 149 all out (Wasim Jaffar 33, Amol Ubarande 47. Akshay Darekar 5/78, Bharat Solanki 2/21) Maharashtra: Second innings: 3/1
Paras Dogra smashes 23 boundaries and one six in his knock. (Source: PTI File)
Vetaran Paras Dogra smashed an unbeaten double ton to help Himachal Pradesh gain complete control against Tripura at stumps on the third and penultimate day of their Group C Ranji Trophy cricket match, in Dharamsala on Sunday.
Dogra, overnight unbeaten on 21, finished unbeaten on 209 off 241 balls with the help of 23 boundaries and six hits over the fence as Himachal Pradesh declared their first innings at 561 for five in reply to Tripura’s 285.
Apart from Dogra, Robin Bist made 58 while Nikhil Gangta scored 50.
Besides, Himchal Pradesh openers Ankush Bains (114) and Prashant Chopta (101) too struck centuries on Saturday.
For Tripura pacer Rana Dutta picked up three wickets for 79 runs.
Tripura were 88 for three in 30 overs in their second innings.
The visitors still need to amass 188 runs to avoid an innings defeat, which looks highly unlikely with one full day’s play remaining in the match.
Udiyan Bose was unbeaten 29, while giving him company was Rakesh Solanki on 5.
Ankush Bedi picked (3/37) up all the three Tripura Pradesh wickets.
Brief Scores: Tripura: 285 & 88 for three in 30 overs (Udiyan Bose 29 not out; Ankush Bedi 3/37). Himachal Pradesh: 561 for five decl in 130 overs (Paras Dogra 209 not out, Ankush Bains 114, Prashant Chopra 101; Rana Dutta 3/79)
Praveen Kumar dismissed Parthiv Patel and that triggered Gujarat’s collapse. (Source: Express file)
Left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar finished with a 10-wicket haul in the match to help Uttar Pradesh post a 155-run win over Gujarat and earn six points from their Group B Ranji Trophy encounter on the third and penultimate day in Valsad on Sunday.
Chasing 431 for victory, Gujarat’s one-down batsman Bhargav Merai chipped in with a crucial 54, while Manpreet Juneja (91 off 101 balls) and Axar Patel (80 off 89) played gritty late-order knocks, adding 142 runs off 153 balls for the seventh wicket, but failed to avoid defeat.
Saurabh, who claimed five for 37 in the first innings, once again wreaked havoc by taking five for 106 in the second essay to give the visitors an outright win.
Having already taken a 173-run first innings lead over Gujarat, UP resumed on Sunday at 163 for seven in their second innings and went on to score 257 all out with overnight batsman Piyush Chawla (62 not out) hitting a solid half-century.
Chasing a massive target, Gujarat lost two early wickets to be reeling at 6 for two inside five overs.
The home team, however, steadied the boat with a 60-run stand between Merai and captain Parthiv Patel (18).
But after Praveen Kumar dismissed Parthiv, Gujarat suddenly found themselves reduced to 110 for six from 66 for three with left-arm spinner Ali Murtaza (3/38) picking up two of the three wickets to fall.
Although lower-order batsmen — Juneja and Axar — tried to bring the hosts back on track but Murtaza removed the former to claim his third wicket before Saurabh came back to clean up the tail.
Saurabh finished with a match haul of 10 for 143.
Brief scores: Uttar Pradesh: 273 & 257 (Piyush Chawla not out 62, Axar Patel 5/90). Gujarat: 100 & 275 (Manpreet Juneja 91, Axar Patel 80; Saurabh Kumar 5/106, Ali Murtaza 3/38).
Points: UP 6, Gujarat 0
TN in front but Cheluvaraj, Rawat keep Railways afloat
Fast bowler A Aswin Crist registered the best bowling figures of his first class career to help Tamil Nadu enforce follow-on on Railways on the third and pentultimate day of their Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match, in New Delhi on Sunday.
After posting 328 in their first innings, Tamil Nadu rode on Aswin Crist’s (6/60) brilliant bowling to bundle out Railways for 164 after the hosts resumed at the overnight score of 129 for seven.
Brief Scores: Tamil Nadu 1st innings; 328 all out in 111.2 overs (Baba Indrajith 151; Anureet Singh 5/104). Railways: 164 & 200 for four in 70 overs (V Cheluvaraj 80 not out, Mahesh Rawat 77 not out; Malolan Rangarajan 2/46)
Baroda take first innings lead against MP
Baroda made 296 all out in reply to Madhya Pradesh’s 269 to take the vital first innings lead on the third and penultimate day of their Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match, in Vadodara on Sunday.
Resuming at the overnight score of 188 for four, Aditya Waghmode (68) added just four runs to his Saturday’s score being dismissed.
Brief Scores: Madhya Pradesh: 269 & 113 for two in 40 overs (Jalaj Saxena 39, Rajat Patidar 29; Swapnil Singh 1/19). Baroda: 296 all out in 113.2 overs (Aditya Waghmode 68, Yusuf Pathan 55; Mihir Hirwani 5/60)
India had lost to Guam 1-2 in their away match in June.
National football team head coach Stephen Constantine on Sunday announced a 25-member squad for India’s 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2 match against Guam on November 12.
The match is scheduled to be played at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. India had lost to Guam 1-2 in their away match in June.
The players will assemble in Bengaluru on November 8.
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India up against Asian giants in World Cup 2018 qualifiersA winless India are already out of reckoning for a final round berth as they have lost all the five matches they have played so far in Group D.
The eight group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals.
The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.
The Squad:
Goalkeepers: Subrata Paul, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Karanjit Singh, Laxmikant Kattimani.
Defenders: Arnab Mondal, Sandesh Jhingan, Aiborlang Khongjee, Lalchhuanmawia, Narayan Das, Pritam Kotal, Augistine Fernandes, Robin Gurung.
Midfielders: Eugenson Lyngdoh, Cavin Lobo, Sehnaj Singh, Pronoy Halder, Francis Fernandes, Rowlin Borges, Romeo Fernandes, Bikash Jairu, Harmanjot Singh Khabra.
Forwards: Jeje Lalpekhlua, Robin Singh, Sunil Chhetri, Holicharan Narzary.
