Batsman Rohit Sharma’s dominant half-century put India firmly in command of the second Test against New Zealand as the hosts stretched their lead to 339 on the third day in Kolkata yesterday.
India were 227 for eight at stumps in their second innings with Wriddhiman Saha on 39 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar on eight at the crease. New Zealand bowlers Matt Henry and Mitchell Santner took three wickets each.
Sharma, who scored 82, put on 103 runs with Saha to get their second innings back on track after the New Zealand seamers rattled the Indian top-order with regular wickets.
Fast bowlers Henry and Trent Boult shared five wickets between them to strike back on the two-paced wicket after the visitors conceded a 112-run lead.
? S AFRICA, AUSTRALIA
AFP, JOHANNESBURG
South Africa captain Faf du Plessis overcame a thumb injury to hit an aggressive century in the second one-day international against Australia at the Wanderers Stadium yesterday.
Du Plessis made 111 as South Africa piled up 361 for six wickets after being sent in to bat. He was struck on the left thumb by a throw from Aaron Finch as he raced through for a quick single to score his first run. He immediately went down clutching the thumb and required lengthy treatment on the field before resuming his innings.
The injury did not stop him playing some aggressive drives as he went to his half-century off 42 balls. He reached his sixth one-day international century off 84 deliveries with 13 fours.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier