The legendary Sunil Gavaskar on Saturday lashed out at Rishabh Pant for his "stupid" shot in crunch situation but praised young Nitish Kumar Reddy to the skies for conjuring up "one of the greatest Test knocks" on the third day of the Boxing Day match. With India desperately looking for a big partnership in the fourth Test against Australia at the MCG, Pant attempted to scoop Scott Boland to fine leg, only to get a leading edge for Nathan Lyon to complete a simple catch at deep third man. Pant had tried to play a similar shot in the previous ball too but failed to connect and was hit in the naval area. The batter seemed to be in pain as he lay on the ground. Gavaskar said the wicketkeeper-batter had let the team down by throwing his wicket away when India needed him the most. "Stupid, stupid, stupid. You have got two fielders there and you still go for that (shot). You missed the previous shot and look where you have been caught. You have been caught at deep third man. That is ...
Sam Konstas's competitive nature aligns with that of Virat Kohli and it would not be surprising if the two share a laugh about the shoulder-barging episode before posing for a photo after the Boxing Day Test, reckoned former Australia pacer Stuart Clark. Kohli had intentionally bumped Konstas during the ongoing fourth Test at Melbourne, an act for which he copped a 20 percent fine from the ICC, besides getting booed by the Australian fans. But Clark, who played 28 Tests for Australia, these two ultra-competitive sportspersons will gel well eventually. He's (Konstas) a competitor. He wants to compete. He wants to do well. So, from that point of view, I think that incident (shoulder-barging) that happened in history, I think what you'll find is, I wouldn't be surprised if (Virat) Kohli takes him under his wing, Clark told PTI. And there'll be a photo of them after the game, smiling and laughing about it. He won't take a backward step. No one expects Kohli to either. No one expects ..
The duo rescued India from a precarious position when they were reduced to 221 for 7 to end the day at 358 for 9
Reddy's maiden ton at MCG helped India gain momentum in the match after being reduced to 221 for 7 at one point
Washington Sundar, along with Nitish Kumar Reddy, led India's fightback at the MCG on day 3 with a 127-run stand for the seventh wicket
4th Test Day 3 | IND vs AUS Highlights: India are at 358-9, trailing by 116 runs, when rain stopped play. Reddy unbeaten on 105 runs off 176 balls.
Rohit has scored only 22 runs at an average of 4.4 in the four innings he has batted in the ongoing India vs Australia Test series
Smith was struggling with his form ahead of the series, but it seems like he has overcome that phase, as he now has two centuries under his name in the last two Tests
The incident took place during the 41st over when Jaiswal played the ball to mid-on and called for a single, but Kohli turned around to track the ball, missing Jaiswal's call
MCC, on their social media page on X (formerly Twitter), confirmed that Sachin has accepted their invite to join the club as a member on Friday
Sundar said that the wicket conditions improved as the day went on, which will prove beneficial for Indian batters on day 3
Irfan Pathan, who is part of the Star Sports' broadcast team in Australia, said that the same media that labelled Kohli as 'King' ahead of the series is now calling him a 'joker'
Steve Smith's magnificent knock of 140 that truly anchored Australia's innings. His performance ensured that the home team would post a formidable total, as Australia reached a massive 474 runs.
4th Test Day 2 | IND vs AUS Highlights: India lost three wickets in final 30 minutes of play on Day 2. 102-run stand between Kohli and Jaiswal ended with a runout-it can be termed a Great Mix-up
In just the 2nd over, a short ball from Pat Cummins proved his undoing. Attempting to play it towards the leg side, Rohit misjudged the shot, resulting in a simple catch for Scott Boland at midwicket
Sam Konstas tore the MCC coaching manual to shreds with his brazen batting approach and flippant treatment of an intimidating Jasprit Bumrah, former India coach Ravi Shastri said on Thursday, adding that the Australian teenager reminded him of legendary Virender Sehwag. Konstas, 19, grabbed eyeballs with his scintillating batting on Test debut. He had the Indian camp in disbelief with his bold ramp shots off Bumrah, one of the most revered fast bowlers in modern-day cricket. "I don't think anyone's taken or treated Bumrah like that in any format of the game, let alone red-ball cricket," Shastri told Star Sports. "For him to go out there with that swag and attempt some outrageous shotsit was something else. He tore that MCC coaching manual to shreds." Shastri said at one point, it felt like "India had run out of ideas". "They actually didn't know what hit them. Initially, he missed the first two shots, and there was a smile on the faces of the Indian players. They thought, If he ta
"It was just another day for him" but not for a filled-to-capacity MCG as 19-year-old Sam Konstas went after a modern-day pace great with the ferocity of a Greek warrior, refused to back down from a confrontation and showed utter disdain for the archaic defence-first approach against India. It wouldn't be wrong to say that the sensation from Sydney, who is of Greek descent, made a debut to remember at the Boxing Day Test and created the impact that the Australian team management wanted from him. "I reckon maybe 20-30 years ago, people were probably saying defend a lot, just about all day but I think for new generation, there are new shots," Konstas said after a 65-ball 60, that included a couple of audacious sixes in the peerless Jasprit Bumrah's first spell. "It's exciting for me obviously, I like doing that, putting pressure back on the bowlers and hopefully it pays off in the next innings," not for once he sounded arrogant but the confidence was quite stunning to observe. At the
If going after the much-feared Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah came naturally to Sam Konstas, it had something to do with an innocuous mistake his father committed during the teenager's childhood training. Making a Test debut that will be talked about for a long time, Konstas lived up to the hype around his talent by smashing an impressive 60 off 65 balls when the Boxing Day Test got underway here on Thursday. More than the runs he scored, it was Konstas' audacity to take on the world class Bumrah with the new ball that had the experts singing his eulogy. Konstas' brother Billy, who is a physiotherapist by profession, revealed how his father's error eventually helped his younger brother learn tackling pace bowling from an early age. "We were little kids and the first time dad took us to a bowling machine, he had it on 90 miles an hour, thinking it was 90 kilometres," Billy told Fox Cricket. "Dad fed the machine, and he hit it straight out of the middle. I think from the age of five or
The 19-year-old Sam Konstas played a brilliant 60-run innings in just 65 balls on his debut against India at Melbourne Cricket Ground
Star batter Shubman Gill was dropped from the Indian squad for the Boxing Day Test between India and Australia in the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy