Sourav Ganguly reached a personal landmark of 5,000 Test runs to leave India on 396-6 at lunch on the third day of the first Test at Queen's Sports Club yesterday.
However, the India captain needed 146 balls and over 210 minutes at the crease to grind out his 51, which he will be keen to take past a hundred given some mediocre performances in recent months.
India had a lead of 117 with four wickets standing, having bowled Zimbabwe out for 279.
PHOTO: AFP
This was certainly not what the Indians were looking for at the start of play. They lost three wickets during the morning session and added only 71 runs in the two hours.
VVS Laxman swept to his eighth Test century for India against Zimbabwe on Wednesday to put his country fully in command with 325-3 at the close of play.
Replying to Zimbabwe's all out first innings total of 279, Laxman and Ganguly survived two overs of the new ball for a lead of 46 runs with seven wickets in hand going into the third day.
PHOTO: AFP
After a patchy performance on the field on Tuesday, Laxman scored freely all around the wicket.
He struck 17 fours and used 186 balls in a top class and faultless innings, to achieve his eight Test century, five of which been made outside India.
When Laxman reached 39 he passed a personal landmark of 4,000 runs in Test cricket. He also figured in a 130 runs partnership for the third wicket with Rahul Dravid, who scored 77, which was his 124th half century.
"I got off to a slow start because I felt I needed to build concentration," Laxman said.
"After that it was a matter of treating carefully an attack that was not really up to the mark. Whatever the circumstances I was delighted to get another century and I want to add a lot of runs to that when we resume," he said.
Dravid's 77 runs gave a sound foundation to the Indian innings, adding weight to useful contributions early on by Virender Sehwag (44) and Gautam Gambhia with 46. Ganguly played a more subdued role with 23.
The only successful Zimbabwe bowler was Blessing Mahwire, the taker of all three Indian wickets to fall. He ended with 3-67.
Zimbabwe started the day on 265 for seven down. They had hopes of exceeding 300 at least but came up against Irfan Pathan, who took all three remaining wickets, and were able to add only a further 14 runs.
Transgender athletes are to have an ally in the White House next week, as they seek to participate as their identified gender in high school and college sports — although state legislatures, the US Congress and the courts are all expected to have their say this year, too. Attorneys on both sides say they expect US president-elect Joe Biden’s Department of Education to switch sides in two key legal battles — one in Connecticut, the other in Idaho — that could go a long way in determining whether transgender athletes are treated by the sex on their birth certificates or by
Fickle winds produced farcical scenes yesterday on day two of the America’s Cup challenger series in Auckland, as the so-called “flying” yachts spent almost as much time in the water as above it. “I’m not sure today is a really accurate read because it’s so puffy, it’s shifty,” British sailing legend Ben Ainslie said after his Ineos Team UK maintained their perfect start to the Prada Cup series with a third straight win. The series would determine which of the 23m yachts — which fly above the water balanced on hi-tech foil arms — would challenge defending champion Team New Zealand for
DOUBLE VISION: The men’s duo of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin downed the South Korean pairing of Choi Sol-gyu and Seo Seung-jae to secure their place in the final Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday easily defeated Mia Blichfeldt in her women’s singles match to advance to the finals of the Yonex Thailand Open in Bangkok, while Chou Tien-chen crashed out of the tournament. Tai quickly ousted world No. 18 Blicheldt, of Denmark, in 34 minutes, winning 21-8, 23-21. The world No. 1 today must overcome Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain, who took down An Se-young of South Korea yesterday 21-18, 21-16. In men’s singles, Taiwan’s Chou fell to Hong Kong’s Angus Ng Ka Long after a tough 66 minutes of play. While Chou, the world No. 2, bested Ng in the first set,
World No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying yesterday eased past her Thai opponent to advance to the second round of the Toyota Thailand Open. The Taiwanese star toppled world No. 46 Supanida Katethong 21-16, 21-11 in 29 minutes at the Impact Arena in Bangkok. “I think I played OK today. I am feeling a little better than last week,” Tai said. Tomorrow, Tai faces Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung. The two have faced each other six times, with Tai beating the world No. 21 in all six matches. Tai on Sunday reached the final of the Yonex Thailand Open before losing decisively against Carolina Marin of Spain.
RSS