England thrashed India by an innings and 76 runs to win the third Test at Headingley yesterday with more than a day to spare.
Victory saw England level the five-match series at 1-1 after India’s 151-run win in the second Test at Lord’s.
India, 215-2 overnight in their second innings, collapsed against the new ball, losing eight wickets for 63 runs in 19.3 overs yesterday, with Ollie Robinson taking 5-65.
Photo: AP
India’s 278 all out was 200 runs more than their woeful first innings of 78 — made after captain Virat Kohli won the toss — which saw England great James Anderson rip through the top order with 3-6.
England took the new ball at the start of play yesterday.
From the moment Cheteshwar Pujara was LBW playing no shot to Robinson without adding to his overnight 91, England were in complete command, with Kohli falling soon afterward for 55 — his first half century of the series.
However, India will take some heart from a return to form for Pujara.
Rohit Sharma on Friday said that Pujara’s quality was “always there” after the two batsmen had frustrated England on Day 3.
Pujara, who played at Headingley for Yorkshire, has scored 18 hundreds in his previous 88 Tests, but he has not reached three figures at this level since a superb 193 against Australia in Sydney in January 2019.
“This innings of ours was never about survival,” Rohit said. “We had an intent to score runs and Pujara really showed that... Anything loose he was ready to pounce on it.”
“Pujara, we have seen over the years, is a very disciplined batsman,” Rohit said. “Of late, the runs haven’t come, but that doesn’t mean the quality of Pujara has gone missing. The quality is always there.”
“The way he batted shows the character of an individual and shows the mindset of an individual, but the team’s job is not done yet,” he said. “We’ve got a crucial couple of days coming. Hopefully, he can still put his head down and keep batting like he does.”
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS