1st Test, Day 4: Jasprit Bumrah takes five-wicket haul, England set India target of 209 runs

1st Test, Day 4: Joe Root hits splendid century to put India under pressure

England captain Joe Root scored a splendid hundred on the fourth day of the first Test against India to steer his team to a commanding position. He drove Shardul Thakur past mid-on to bring up his 21st century in the longest format of the game. He walked out to bat after the fall of Zak Crawley and batted with supreme confidence and fluency to put England in the lead. He was severe against anything pitched fuller to him by Indian pacers and smashed 14 fours n his way to the century. England had started the fourth day trailing behind India’s first total of 278 runs by 70 runs and they came under pressure after the departure of Rory Burns and Zak Crawley. However, Root stitched partnerships with Dom Sibley, Jonny Bairstow and Dan Lawrence to keep India at bay. Root has 21 century including the ongoing one against India and 50 fifties in a 106-match long Test career. He had made his Test debut against the same opponent in 2013 in Nagpur. It was his 10th century as the captain of the England Test side in 97 Test innings. England have exceeded their lead over India beyond the 160-run mark and India would need to bat really bat to get those runs to chase to go 1-0 up in the series.

BCCI announces Rs 1 crore reward to India’s Olympic Gold Medalist Neeraj Chopra

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that it would be awarding a cash prize of Rs. 1 crore to India’s historic Olympic Gold medalist Neeraj Chopra, who won the independent country’s first-ever medal in Athletics in its 73-year-old Olympic history. Apart from Chopra, the Indian Hockey team, which won the Bronze at Tokyo 2020 to end the country’s 41-year-old drought of Hockey medal would also be given a cash prize of Rs. 1.25 crore. Jay Shah, the Secretary of BCCI tweeted the news hours after Chopra won the country’s only Gold at Tokyo to take the medal haul to seven after Bajrang Punia won the Bronze medal in Wrestling earlier in the day. Along with these athletes, the BCCI also confirmed that Silver Medalists from Tokyo 2020 Mirabai Chanu (Weightlifting) and Ravi Kumar Dahiya (Wrestling) would be getting Rs. 50 Lakh each while Bronze Medalists PV Sindhu (Badminton), Lovlina Borgohain (Boxing) and Bajrang (Wrestling) would be getting Rs. 25 lakh each. It was however surprising that the Indian Women’s Hockey team, which had put up an inspiring show to reach the Semi-Finals of an Olympic event for the first time ever, but went down fighting valiantly 3-4 against Great Britain in the Bronze Medal match, was not in the list of the awardees by the BCCI.

After fearing England career was over, Ollie Robinson cherishes proving himself as 'real deal'

Seamer Ollie Robinson returned to Test cricket with a five-wicket haul in the ongoing Nottingham Test against India. He was brilliant with his lengths throughout the length of India’s first innings and scalped valuable wickets of Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja among others. Notably, he was making a comeback from the ban he was imposed upon by the ECB for “racist and sexist” tweets he had posted as an 18-year old. His suspension from the game highlighted the issue of “historic” tweets and ignited a deep debate over whether the ECB took too drastic measures by suspending Robinson. Now, having returned from what he calls the “the toughest few weeks” for himself and his family, Robinson has said that for once he feared his England career was over. He said that the expectation quantum of suspension was two years and someone else would have taken his place in the side by the time he would have been eligible to come back. "I definitely had doubts over my career. There was a time I was speaking with my lawyers and we were looking at the fact I could be banned for a couple of years. That would have taken me up to the age of 30 and someone else could have come in and taken my spot. So yes I had doubts over my career. I thought I might never play for England again,” Robinson said. "It was tough. Probably the toughest few weeks I've had in cricket to be honest, or in my life, actually. It affected not only myself but my family. But luckily it all came good today." He lamented “a lot of mistakes’ including those tweets that went viral after his Test debut at a young age. He also conceded his naivety at the time he had sent those tweets and also pointed out the “bad press” he attracted after exclusion from Yorkshire. However, he said that the last decade has been a learning curve for him and he has tried to become “the best person” he can be in the last 10 years when he has also become a father. "I was a young, naive guy. I made a lot of mistakes. Not just those tweets. I had negative press when I got sacked from Yorkshire as well. But I've learned a lot. I have grown as a person in that time. I've tried to develop myself as a person in the last ten years. I am father now, as well, and I have just tried to make myself the best person I can be. I hope people will be able to see that,” Robinson said. He had some moments of banter with India’s batsmen between him and KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja and Robinson said that he wanted to induce some shots out of Rahul’s bat, who was batting with supreme concentration. "It was friendly banter," he says. "I was trying to get them out of their bubble and play a few shots. They were batting well. But they were pretty defensive and I wanted KL Rahul to play some shots. It was all good fun out there. However, he was delighted to show himself as a ”real deal” on the field on the third day of the Test and will cherish the moment for a long long time. "But it was important for me to show everyone that I am the real deal on the field and try to get the scrutiny off me. It was a proud moment for myself and my family; a moment I'll cherish for a long time,” the seamer added. Robinson could well have picked a five-wicket haul on the Test debut against New Zealand earlier this year. But, Stuart Broad had spilt an easy catch of Tim Southee and hence it was fitting that it was Broad himself who took the catch of Jasprit Bumrah to help Robinson claim his maiden fifer.

BAN vs AUS | Dan Christian pummels Shakib Al Hasan for five sixes in an over

Australia’s Dan Christian seemed in a very different mood altogether as he dismissed Bangladesh’s prime bowler Shakib Al Hasan for five sixes in an over after being prompted as a pinch hitter in the fourth T20I of the five-match series. Christain, who was ridiculed for not being able to even make a good connection in the 19th over of the third T20I against Mustafizur Rahman in the 19th over, chasing 22 off two overs to keep Australia alive in the series, it was looking like a revenge story for the 38-year-old. Into the fourth over, which was also the second for Shakib, who till then had only gone for five runs in his last over, was tonked over mid-wicket, long on and cow corner by Christain for the five balls hat he hit for six. While he hit three sixes in a row on the first three balls of the over and then after missing out on the fourth ball, he once again hit the next two balls for sixes as well. However, instead of going on to remain there and see his team home, Christain was dismissed by Mustafizur Rahman for 39 off 15 balls. At the time of writing this piece, the Australians were 61-4, needing 43 to win from 66 balls to chase down 105, set up by Bangladesh, as they managed to get only 104/9 in their 20 overs earlier on August 07.