Indian skipper Rohit Sharma smashed sixes and fours to reach the double century mark. He also became the first player to score an ODI double century both as captain and non-captain.

Rohit had scored his first double century (209) which was against Australia in Bengaluru (2013), while the second (264) was against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, in 2014.

India virtually batted Sri Lanka out of the game by scoring the highest total and surpassing the 351/5 South Africa made against Netherlands in 2011 at Mohali ground.

Another record shattering performance by Rohit was of the highest individual score at this venue, surpassing the 154 score of Virat Kohli against New Zealand last year.

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Rohit Sharma also became the only player in world cricket to hit three double centuries in List A cricket. He has also surpassed the record held by Surrey’s Alastair Brown’s who had two of them in his name. Big name players in cricket like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle and Martin Guptill are the others who have breached the 200-run mark in 50-over cricket ODI.

The fit-again duo of Rohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami was on Monday recalled to the 15-member India squad for next month’s ICC Champions Trophy, as the cricket selectors also reposed their faith on talismanic wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s abilities.

BCCI’s chairman of selectors M.S.K. Prasad had no hesitations in calling the former India skipper “the best stumper” in the world despite his erratic run with the willow in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).

“We all believe that he is still the best wicket-keeper in the world. He is invaluable to the team in terms of inputs,” Prasad told reporters after BCCI joint secretary Amitabh Choudhary announced the Virat Kohli-led squad here.

“He is the best person to guide Virat. In the past 10-plus years that I have seen when he has played for India, he has never had a bad day as far as gloves are concerned. The phenomenal performance he puts in behind the wicket, nobody looks at that,” he added.

Besides Rohit and Shami, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin also made his way back after a brief injury lay-off.

Fit-again Rohit Sharma and Mohd Shami recalled

While Rohit sustained a thigh injury during the One Day International (ODI) series against New Zealand in October last year Shami’s last appearance in ODIs was in the 2015 World Cup semi-finals. 

Ashwin, who suffered a sports hernia, was also advised six-to-eight weeks of rehabilitation after a gruelling Test series against Australia.

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With no surprises in the team, Prasad said it was easy to pick the squad as it has shaped up well in the last four months.

“May be, one place here and there. But this is the best side.”

On including Ashwin without testing him in a match situation, Prasad said the Chennai tweaker’s injury was not serious and he merely required some rest.

“The injury was not serious. The (IPL) franchise was magnanimous enough to listen to our request to rest him. Rest is what Ashwin required as the last game that India played, he was there. That shows he is fit and not like others who are getting rehabilitated after surgery,” Prasad said.

The chief selector also responded in the negative when asked if skipper Kohli or all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja needed some rest from the IPL, considering their respective teams are out of the race to the IPL play-offs.

While Virat’s Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are at the bottom of the standings, Jadeja’s Gujarat Lions are two spots above RCB at sixth.

“Virat didn’t play the last Test (against Australia) and also the first few matches in IPL. The more he plays, it is better for him. We have also given Jadeja a break. (But) considering how fit he is, it wasn’t a problem,” he said.

While an in-form Gautam Gambhir failed to grab the attention of the selectors, the other senior members — Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik — were, however, kept as standby players alongside the young trio of Rishabh Pant, Shardul Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav.

“As of now, we have picked Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma as openers and Ajinkya Rahane is the back-up opener,” Prasad replied when asked about Gambhir.

The stand-by players will be issued visas and will practise at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, Prasad said.

Explaining the reason behind Pant and Kuldeep’s omission, Prasad said: “We are completely impressed with Rishabh Pant. But he missed out because of squad combination. We will groom him for the future.”

“We definitely considered Kuldeep. He would have been a surprise package but whether we would have played with two spinners is a question. Since Yuvraj (Singh) and Kedar (Jadhav) can bowl spin, he narrowly missed out,” Prasad added.

Prasad further said that the panel not only banked on the performances in the IPL but also the past year while selecting the squad.

“We respect IPL but in the longer format, we have to also consider the English conditions that we are playing in. Not just IPL but one needs to take into account the performance of last one year also in such a big tournament,” Prasad said.

The eight-team tournament will be played in June, with defending champions India pooled with South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Group B. 

India will start their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on June 4.

Squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (WK), Yuvraj Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Ajinkya Rahane.

Stand-bys: Rishabh Pant, Suresh Raina, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Dinesh Karthik.

IANS

India lost the wicket of opener Lokesh Rahul (67) to finish the second day’s play at 120/1 in their response to Australia’s first innings total of 451 in the third cricket Test here on Friday.
Playing his 50th Test, opener Murali Vijay looked rock solid to remain unbeaten on 42 along with Cheteshwar Pujara on 10 not out at stumps.

Earlier, the opening duo of Rahul (67) and Vijay led India’s fightback with a 91-run stand before the Karnataka right-hander was sent back by pacer Pat Cummins caught behind by wicketkeeper Matthew Wade.

IANS

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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday named OPPO Mobiles India Private Limited as the new team sponsor for the national team.
“The mobile manufacturing giant OPPO’s association with BCCI will start from April 2017 for a period of five years,” the BCCI said in a statement.

OPPO takes the place of Star India, whose contract runs till March 31.

“OPPO Mobiles India Pvt Ltd., has won the sponsorship rights for Team India through a tender process today. The Team India sponsorship rights are for a period of five years and have been acquired at Rs. 1079.29 crore,” read the statement.

“The bids were opened today (Tuesday) in the presence of a Committee of Administrators (COA) representatives — Diana Edulji, BCCI officials and the bidders through a tender process at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai.”

During the five years of OPPO’s association with BCCI, the Indian team will play 14 home series and 20 overseas series, which would also include the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Champions Trophy, ICC Cricket World Cup and the World T20 events.

Commenting on the association, BCCI CEO Rahul Johri said: “On behalf of the BCCI, I would like to congratulate OPPO Mobiles India Pvt Ltd., on winning the rights and welcome them to the BCCI family.”

“OPPO today, joins our other prominent sponsors like PayTM, PepsiCo, Hyundai and Janalakshmi Financial Services. OPPO Mobiles and the BCCI share a common vision and I am confident that we will work together to further grow Indian cricket,” he added.

OPPO Mobiles global Vice President Sky Lee said the game of cricket is much more than just a sport for the Indians and hoped that the brand reaches new heights after associating with the Indian team.

“Cricket in India isn’t just a sport, it is also a way of life, a culture, even a religion. OPPO is the most adorable youth centralised brand, we aim at reaching new heights alongside the Indian cricket team. Indeed as a smartphone brand OPPO has become a favourite brand among young people, today more than 100 million young people across the world are using OPPO camera phones,” he said.

However, according to media reports, Star India decided not to renew the contract due to the recent administrative problems within the BCCI.

Star had won the rights to be the team sponsor in 2013 after Sahara’s bid was found to be ineligible.

–IANS

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Riding on Karun Nair’s breath-taking unbeaten triple ton, India declared their first innings at a mammoth 759/7 and took a 282-run lead against England in their fifth and final cricket Test. This is India’s highest score against any opponent surpassing the previous best of 726/9 declared against Sri Lanka in 2009.

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Playing only his third Test, the 25-year-old Nair forged two major partnerships — 181 for the sixth wicket with Ravichandran Ashwin (67) and then 138 for the seventh wicket with Ravindra Jadeja (51) – to take India to the record total at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.

Nair has now become only the second Indian batsman to score a triple ton after swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag, who has two triple tons to his name.

Brief Scores: England 477 vs India 759/9 declared (Karun Nair 303 not out, Lokesh Rahul 199, Parthiv Patel 71).

IANS

India reached 60/0 in their first innings at stumps in reply to England’s 477 on the second day of the fifth and final Test at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Senior wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel, who was promoted to open the innings in place of injured Murali Vijay was unbeaten on 28 runs with Lokesh Rahul (30) when the umpires dislodged the bails for the day.

Vijay had injured his shoulder while diving to stop the ball at point during the second session of play. The Chennai batsman is expected to bat down the order on Sunday.

Earlier, England lost their remaining two wickets just after the tea break to end their first innings at 477.

Coming into bat in the final session, Parthiv and Rahul started on a cautious note, denying any chance to the English bowlers and ensured that India went into close of play without any hiccups.

The runs came at a steady clip and the openers picked up five fours between them, in their contrasting styles: mostly off the front foot for the tall, languid Rahul, and mostly off the back foot for Parthiv.

Rahul consumed 68 deliveries for his 30 runs with three hits to the fence while Parthiv’s 52-ball knock comprised of just two boundaries.

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Earlier, leg-spinner Adil Rashid (60) and debutant Liam Dawson (66 not out) frustrated India with an 108-run eight-wicket stand as England recovered from a mini collapse to reach 452/8 at tea.

Dawson and Rashid, resuming play at 352 for seven with individual scores of 27 and eight respectively, batted with grit and resoluteness to keep India at bay for the major part of the second session as they went on to score first and second Test fifties respectively.

Their 108-run partnership was the second highest for the eighth wicket at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.

After Rashid’s dismissal, Dawson was joined by Stuart Broad in the middle and the latter was unbeaten on a quick 17 runs, as the tea was called.

England, who had lost three wickets in the morning session scoring 68 runs, were in great need for a big partnership.

Dawson and Rashid built up their stand by blocking the deliveries, especially when Ashwin was operating along with an in-rhythm paceman Ishant Sharma. Once the duo spent some time, they scored runs in ones and twos, mixing it with occasional boundries.

They were aided by the lack of accuracy from India’s third spinner, Amit Mishra. The Haryana leg-spinner, coming into the team after the first Test played in Rajkot from November 9 to 13, struggled with his line and length.

After playing him confidently, the English duo also fared well against the other two spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

While Rashid’s knock included eight hits to the fence from 155 deliveries, Dawson’s innings featured five boundaries and a six from 155 deliveries, as England moved towards to a healthy total.

England, however, lost the remaining wickets of Broad (19) and Jake Ball (12) quite cheaply as Dawson lost short of partners at the other end.

While Broad was run out by Rahul, Ball was Mishra’s lone wicket in the innings.

Dawson, who finished unbeaten on 66, has also become the highest scorer by an English debutant batting at No. 8.

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Skipper Virat Kohli and opener Murali Vijay hit superb centuries to power India to 451/7 at stumps on the third day for a crucial 51-run first innings lead against England in the fourth Test here on Saturday.

Kohli’s (147 not out) reassuring presence helped them immensely after India were reduced to 348/6 at tea from 247/2 at lunch, in response to England’s first innings score of 400. Jayant Yadav (30 not out) was at the crease at stumps.

Vijay scored 136, his eighth ton and second of the series, to put India in a strong position from where they slipped before Kohli took control.

Joe Root (2-18), Moeen Ali (2-139) and Adil Rashid (2-152) were the most successful bowlers for England. 

Kohli struck his 15th hundred, in his 89th innings and 52nd Test, also completing 4000 runs, 1000 in 2016, in the process. He also became the highest run getter of the year across all formats with 2492 runs and the sixth fastest Indian to achieve the 4000 mark.

Virender Sehwag is the fastest Indian to cross the milestone at 79 innings. Kohli reached the mark when he got to 41 runs during his knock.

The 28-year-old also registered 1,000 Test runs in the year in just 11 matches, becoming the third Test skipper after Sachin Tendulkar (1997) and Rahul Dravid (2006) to do so.

India were 247/2 at lunch and coasting along with opener Murali Vijay (136) striking his eighth century in the morning session.

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Resuming at their overnight score of 146/1, India were jolted as early as the second ball of the day when No.3 batsman Cheteshwar Pujara (47) was dismissed off the bowling of Jake Ball (1-29).

Pujara shouldered arms to a length ball that nipped back and knocked out his off stump.

But it was the only joy England could get in the next two hours of the morning session as Vijay-Kohli consolidated India’s position with a 116-run partnership.

India were comfortably placed at 247/2 at lunch, Vijay completing his century before lunch, hitting 10 fours and three sixes. India accumulated 101 runs in 31 overs in the morning phase of play.

But it all went south in the second session after Vijay was dismissed. His fall after a 282-ball knock triggered a middle order batting wobble.

Karun Nair (13), Parthiv Patel (15) and Ravichandran Ashwin (0) all departed in quick succession to raise fears of India conceding a vital first innings lead.

Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja then arrested the slide, stitching a 57-run seventh-wicket stand to guide India towards safety after being reduced to 307/6. India went into tea at 348/6 with the Kohli-Jadeja partnership unbroken.

Jadeja departed with India still needing 36 runs to level England’s score. But Kohli then encouraged Jadhav to play positively. Jadhav repaid the faith shown on him by the skipper, staying unbeaten till the end, forging an unbroken 97 run partnership for the eighth wicket.

The partnership ensured India took a potentially decisive first innings lead. Kohli, who struck 17 fours in a superb knock, would be keen to extend it beyond 100 runs when the fourth day’s play resumes on Sunday.

IANS

Cricketer Yuvraj Singh and actress Hazel Keech tied the knot on Wednesday as per Sikh traditions at a gurdwara in Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib district.

Sporting a red Sherwani with cream coloured churidar, Yuvraj was all decked up as the groom with a red turban and ‘Sehraa’. Yuvraj grew a beard for the ceremony.

Hazel wore a heavily embroidered Lehenga with her head covered with an embroidered dupatta.

The marriage ceremony was solemnized as per Sikh traditional ‘Anand Karaj’ at the gurdwara in Dufera village in Fatehgarh Sahib village, about 40 km from here. The gurdwara was decorated for the occasion.

Traditional ‘dholis’ and singers were present outside the gurdwara as part of the wedding celebrations.

Yuvraj’s mother Shabnam Singh, relatives and close friends were among the limited number of guests.

Yuvraj’s father, ex-cricketer Yograj Singh, did not attend the ceremony at the gurdwara. He had attended another function of his cricketer son at a hotel here on Tuesday evening.

Security arrangements were in place at the wedding venue. The ceremony was followed with a party in Chandigarh.

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The couple ushered in their wedding functions with a Cocktail Sangeet on Tuesday evening at a hotel where they were joined by the Indian cricket team, which earlier won the third test match against England in Mohali.

The Sangeet function was held at the same hotel where the Indian and England teams were staying.

Indian test team captain Virat Kohli, coach Anil Kumble and other team members joined Yuvraj and Hazel for the ceremony at the hotel.

The couple will have more celebrations in Mumbai and Goa followed by a big reception in New Delhi on December 7.

Indian cricket team chief coach Anil Kumble on Thursday dismissed allegations of ball tampering levelled against Test captain Virat Kohli by a British publication.

British tabloid Daily Mail had produced inconclusive evidence on Tuesday to show that Kohli used to shine the ball with the residue of a sweet in his mouth during the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam.

Referring to television footage of the incident, the newspaper had claimed that Kohli put his hands deep in his mouth, and then shined one side of the ball during the second Test which was played from November 9 to 13.

Watch : Virat Kohli reveals unknown secrets of his life

But the doubts raised by the English media seemed to backfire as Kohli’s actions were not cited by the umpire or the match referee after the match.

“First of all, I don’t want to react to any reports in the media. As far as I am concerned, the umpires or the match referee never ever came to us talking about it.

“It is certainly something we will not like to give much wind about. As far as I am concerned, there is nothing to worry about. People can allege, they can write what they want in the media. As far I am concerned, there is nothing that our players are a part of,” Kumble told reporters

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Kumble also defended South Africa’s stand-in skipper Faf du Plessis who was fined his entire match fee for allegedly tampering with the ball during the recent Test against Australia in Hobart.

“Even for Faf du Plessis, South Africa have played exceptional cricket to beat Australia 2-0 (in the series) and to be told that there has been ball tampering is very silly. It is like making a mountain out of a molehill,” the former leg-spinner asserted.

Kumble also praised the Indian bowlers for their performance during the ongoing Test series against England.

England had dominated the drawn first Test in Rajkot before India won the second contest in Visakhapatnam to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

“Very impressed. Like I said in the first press conference at the start of the series that the bowlers have been brilliant. It was not easy because they have bowled about close to 240 overs in Rajkot and then within three days they bowled almost 200 overs in the last Test match,” Kumble said.

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“So never easy when have to go in there back to back. Although we have five bowlers, still the effort and the way they responded and went about being very relentless in their pursuit to go out there and win was very evident and I am really pleased with the way we were able to win the Test match in Vizag,” he added.

The former India captain heaped praise on rookie off-spinner Jayant Yadav for his performance in his debut Test in Visakhapatnam.

Yadav bagged three wickets during England’s second innings at Visakhapatnam for a match haul of four wickets.

He was also useful with the bat, posting vital contributions lower down the order.

“(I am) very impressed. In the interactions that I have had, he comes across as a very balanced person. Probably he had a dream debut. He contributed with the bat, he contributed with the ball and had a brilliant fielding effort in the first innings.

“So overall you can’t ask for more. The team goes on to win as well, so there is nothing more you can ask for. But as a youngster, coming into this team he showed a lot of character and maturity,” Kumble said.

“Although he was playing his first match, he showed a lot of maturity in the way he batted with the lower order and even in the second innings batting with (Mohammed) Shami and getting those 30-40 runs. The way he bowled was very impressive.

“It really augurs well for Indian cricket that someone who has just come into the team has really showed that kind of an approach,” he added.

With the third Test due to start here on Saturday, Kumble asserted that the Indians are not too worried about the pitch at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.

“It (the pitch) has certainly gone a lot slower to what probably it used to be in the 90s. I am not someone who will give too much importance to the conditions. We need to play good cricket,” he insisted.

“I certainly believe that we played really good cricket both in Rajkot and Vizag. That’s why we are 1-0 ahead in the series. We will have to do that again. No matter what the conditions are,” Kumble added.

“The pitch has certainly gone a bit slower and is not the way it was in the early 90s.”

IANS

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Superb batting by captain Virat Kohli (167, 81) and a solid bowling by spinners helped India beat England by 246 runs in the second cricket Test match. India take 1-0 lead in the five-match Test series.
Ravichandran Ashwin also came up with an outstanding all round peformance.

Chasing 405, England lost wickets at frequent intervals on the fifth and final day to end their second innings at 158.

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Rookie off-spinner Jayant Yadav enjoyed a memorable Test debut with figures of 3-30 while star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin also bagged three wickets.

Fast bowler Mohammed Shami and left-arm pacer Ravindra Jadeja claimed two wickets each.

England skipper Alistair Cook top scored for his team with 54 runs.

Jonny Bairstow remained unbeaten on 34.

India captain Virat Kohli, who has been in excellent form with the bat in recent times, was adjudged the Man of the Match.

Kohli had scored 167 runs in the first innings and 81 in the second. Ashwin was the most successful among the Indian bowlers with a total of eight wickets in the match.

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Resuming at the overnight score of 87/2, England lost Ben Duckett in only the sixth over of the day. The left-hander went for a sweep off an Ashwin delivery but was outfoxed by the extra bounce as the ball looped up for an easy catch to wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha.

Duckett’s dismissal triggered a middle-order collapse for England.Moeen Ali was the next to go, defending patiently to score a mere two runs off 31 balls before Jadeja induced an edge to Virat Kohli at backward short leg.

Ben Stokes joined Root in the middle and continued with the English strategy of adopting an overtly defensive strategy in a desperate bid to stave off defeat.

He battled for 33 deliveries for his six runs but Jayant Yadav put an end to his innings with a delivery that turned in sharply after pitching and beat the outside edge before crashing into the stumps.

England suffered another crucial in the very next over when Joe Root also went back to the pavilion. Root, who lasted 107 deliveries for his 25 runs, was trapped leg before by an inswinger from Shami.

Shami also dismissed Adil Rashid with a short-pitched delivery just before lunch and an Indian win was only a matter of time from there.

The third Test begins at Mohali on November 26.

IANS