SPORTS

South Africa pacer Lungi Ngidi on Thursday (January 14) said the Indian team’s reactions to the DRS call which saved captain Dean Elgar showed their frustration and them being under pressure. Ravichandran Ashwin had Elgar trapped lbw but the South Africa skipper reviewed and ball-tracking showed that the ball would go over the stumps, surprising the Indian team with some reactions heard on stump mic from Ashwin, Virat Kohli and his deputy KL Rahul.

“I think reactions like that show a bit of frustration. Sometimes teams capitalise on that. You never really want to show too much emotion but I guess we could clearly see right up there those emotions were high and probably tells us that maybe they are feeling a little bit of pressure. That was a really good partnership for us, so they wanted to really break that. I think those feelings were showing up there. At the end of the day, everyone reacts differently to certain situations,” said Ngidi in the post-day press conference.

Jasprit Bumrah and Marco Jansen are not the best of friends despite playing for the same IPL franchise. The bowlers were at each other’s neck during the second Test match in Johannesburg when the latter peppered him up with ‘short stuff’ which left Bumrah flabbergasted. He charged towards the youngster asking him to stop the preposterous tactic. Meanwhile a few days later in Cape Town, Bumrah got his opportunity and he used it to the full, unrooting his stump with a brilliant delivery. 

Tempers flared between Jasprit Bumrah and Marco Jansen during the third day of the second Test between India and South Africa in Johannesburg. The two cricketers exchanged words before charging towards each other requiring the intervention of umpire who doused the situation.

Jay Shah, the Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Tuesday said that along with the TATA group, the board will look to take Indian cricket and the Indian Premier League (IPL) to greater heights. Shah`s remark comes as TATA will be replacing Vivo as the title sponsor of the IPL from this year onwards. "This is indeed a momentous occasion for the BCCI IPL as the Tata Group is the epitome of global Indian enterprise with an over 100-year-old legacy and operations in more than 100 countries across six continents.

The BCCI like the TATA Group is keen to promote the spirit of cricket across international borders, and the growing popularity of the IPL as a global sporting franchise bears testimony to the BCCI`s efforts," said Shah in an official statement."We are truly happy that India`s largest and most trusted business group has believed in the IPL growth story and together with the Tata Group, we will look to take Indian cricket and the IPL forward to greater heights," he added.

India have another shot at conquering what is being labelled as the final frontier as they take on South Africa in the 3rd and final Test at Newlands in Cape Town from January 11. The World No.1 Test side had headed into the series as favourites and they lived up to the reputation by becoming the first team from Asia to win a Test match in Centurion. However, South Africa bounced back in Johannesburg, coming up with a resolute effort to deny India an unbeatable series lead.

With the series level at 1-1, India have another opportunity to script history and win their first-ever Test series in South Africa. It's not going to be easy as history doesn't favour the Asian giants who have never managed to win at Newlands. In 5 matches in the past, India have lost 3 and managed draws on 2 occasions. In 2018, India were let down by their batters as they failed to chase 208, losing the Test by 72 runs.

England managed to pull off a nail-biting draw against Australia in the fourth Test of the ongoing Ashes 2021-22 at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in Sydney on Sunday. It was a dramatic end to the Test match as England's last pair of Stuart Broad and James Anderson survived the final two overs of the fifth day's play to help the visitors save the Test match.

Australia were on the verge of their fourth straight win in the ongoing Ashes 2021-22 when Steve Smith dismissed Jack Leach on the final delivery of the 100th over with the hosts requiring only one wicket to win. However, Broad and Anderson defended exceptionally well to deny Australia a victory at the SCG.