SPORTS

We will exploit Australia's weakness against swing: Rohit

Right-handed middle-order batsman and occasional right-arm offbreak bowler Rohit Sharma has said that India will look to exploit Australia's weakness against swing bowling. 'I heard they are having some problems against swing bowling, so we are very much putting all our thoughts together,' Rohit said. 'We will try and come hard at them where swing is concerned. We have a very good bowling unit which can put pressure on the Australians.' 'We're not really concerned about what's going on their side. We want to focus on our preparation. It's a good sign they are having a batting camp, so we know their weaknesses and what they've gone through the last couple of weeks. We have all kept that in mind going into the first Test match. We will walk out there and we need to put pressure on them rather than taking the pressure on us,' said Rohit, who scored an unbeaten 56 in India's two-day game against CA Chairman's XI. India made 320/6 to CA's 398/6 in the drawn game. 'It was a good preparation. We just wanted to get into the groove first. There's another practice match as well. There wasn't much there for the bowlers on a flat track and the batsmen also got the runs, so I think we should be very happy with the way things have gone for batters and bowlers.' Rohit said that India would like to take one Test match at a time.

INDIA UNSTOPPABLE

India took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match ODI series against England after they beat the visitors by five wickets in a closely contested game here at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali today. After England posted an impressive score of 298, Ajinkya Rahane (91) and MS Dhoni (35*) played crucial knocks to help the hosts secure their third successive win of the series.  

England batted first on the Mohali wicket after captain, Alastair Cook, won the toss. However, the visitors, once again, had a disappointing start as Cook (3) was trapped lbw by R Vinay Kumar in the fourth over of the innings. Craig Kieswetter made a brisk 38-ball 38 before a delivery from part-time bowler Virat Kohli found the inside edge of Kieswetter’s bat and uprooted his leg-stump. England were 53 for two in 12.1 overs at that stage.

Kevin Pietersen then produced his best knock of this series with a 61-ball 64. The England No. 4 added 101 runs for the fourth wicket with Jonathan Trott before he was trapped lbw by Ravindra Jadeja. Ravi Bopara, coming in at No. 5, made 24 before he dragged a Praveen Kumar Yorker onto his stumps.

But with Jonathan Trott standing tall, England maintained a solid run-rate right through their innings. The 200-run mark was raised in 39.1 overs (just above 5.00 an over). Trott, who has been England’s highest run-scorer in ODIs this year, remained unbeaten right through the visitors’ innings and was unlucky to finish at 98, two runs short of what would have been a well-deserved century.

However, the England innings received a late flourish thanks to Samit Patel being promoted ahead of Jonny Bairstow in the batting order. Patel struck an unbeaten 70 off just 43 deliveres (strike-rate of 162.79) to help England score a whopping 103 runs in the last 12 overs. That cameo from Patel helped England to a mammoth score of 298 in 50 overs. 

However, on a wicket where the ball was coming on to the bat nicely, the Indian openers gave the hosts the perfect start to chase down England’s score. Parthiv Patel and Ajinkya Rahane added 79 for the opening wicket in just 15.4 overs before Patel (38) was trapped lbw by Tim Bresnan. 

Rahane then combined with Gautam Gambhir and added 111 for the second wicket. Their partnership threatened to give India an easy win when Gambhir (58) was out caught brilliantly by Kevin Pietersen off Steven Finn’s bowling. Rahane, under pressure for his lackluster form, meanwhile worked his way into the 90s but fell short of the three-figure mark. The Indian opener was caught by Alastair Cook at mid-off for 91.

The hosts, who were still sitting pretty at the fall of Rahane’s wicket with the score at 212 for three in 37.5 overs, then lost two quick wickets to give England the upper hand. Suresh Raina went without opening his account, the southpaw caught by Pietersen at mid-off while Virat Kohli (35) was trapped lbw by Graeme Swann with India needing 64 to win off 51 deliveries.

In the end, though, it was MS Dhoni who once again played a brilliant knock under pressure to take India home. The Indian captain stuck a 65-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja (26* off 24) and remained unbeaten on 35* (31 balls) to take the hosts past the target with four deliveries to spare. 

The fourth ODI between the two sides will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on the 23^rd of October.

Brief Scores – India 300/5 in 49.2 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 91, Gautam Gambhir 58, MS Dhoni 35*, Steven Finn 2/44) beat England 298/4 in 50.0 overs (Jonathan Trott 98*, Samit Patel 70*, Virat Kohli 1/20) by five wickets

Man-of-the-match: Ajinkya Rahane for his well paced innings of 91 (104b, 4X6)

ROCKING RCB

Royal Challengers Bangalore beat New South Wales Blues to enter the Nokia CLT20 2011 final. In the first semi-final played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, RCB, riding on two blazing knock from Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli, chased down a 200-plus score for the second time in two games to oust NSW Blues.

Three days after his unbeaten knock of 135, the highest score-ever in CLT20 history, that catapulted the Blues into the semis, David Warner cracked another blazing century to take his team to a mammoth 203 for two in 20 overs. After New South Wales had lost Shane Watson (3) early, Warner and Daniel Smith put on a 146-run stand in 14.3 overs to take NSW past the 150-run mark in 16.2 overs.

Daniel Vettori surprised the Blues by opting to open the bowling attack with part time off-spinner Tillakarante Dilshan. Not only did Dilshan get Watson, but finished with the most economical figures in the game with 4-0-10-1. However, the other RCB bowlers proved to be expensive as Warner tore into them enroute to his 68-ball 123. Sreenath Aravind was ineffective for the second game in a row with Warner hitting the left-arm pacer for 23 runs in the last over of the innings.

RCB started the run chase with a bit of a stutter as Dilshan (4) was caught by Moises Henriques off Pat Cummins at mid-off with the score at 21 in 2.5 overs. After that, Gayle and Kohli to put on a 141-run stand that took the game away from NSW. Gayle was at his destructive best as he smashed 92 runs off just 41 deliveries as RCB reached 150 in 12.5 overs.

NSW also had a bit of misfortune when Pat Cummins dropped Virat Kohli at the sweeper cover boundary when he was on 44. At that point, RCB were still 80 runs away from the victory mark. That lapse proved costly, as after Gayle (92) fell to Cummins, it was Kohli who saw RCB through with an unbeaten 84. Cummins struck thrice in the space of four deliveries to leave RCB wobbling at 172 for four but Kohli’s composure ensured that RCB reached the target. Mohammed Kaif hit the winning runs by smashing two consecutive fours off Steven Smith in the 19th over as they won by 6 wickets with nine deliveries to spare.

RCB will meet the winner of the semi-final between Mumbai Indians and Somerset in the Nokia CLT20 2011 final on Sunday in Chennai.

Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 204/4 in 18.3 overs (Chris Gayle 92, Virat Kohli 84 n.o., Pat Cummins 4/45) beat New South Wales Blues 203/2 in 20 overs (David Warner 123 n.o., Daniel Smith 62, Tillakaratne Dilshan 1/10) by six wickets

Man-of-the-match: Virat Kohli for his match-winning innings of 84 n.o. from just 49 balls (10x4, 3x6)