Australia stood seven wickets away from claiming the World Test Championship crown heading into the final day at the Oval, but Virat Kohli’s presence was enough to give India a glimmer of hope in adversity.
Needing to pull off a world record chase of 444, India looked down and out at 93 for three but Kohli’s accomplished 44 not out kept Australia wary of a remarkable comeback. The former captain put on an unbroken 71 with Ajinkya Rahane, and looked in determined mood.
He walked off the field at 164 for three with his side still strong outsiders, but were not yet down and out. Having scored their runs at a lively rate of 4.10, India kept in touch with what seemed an unattainable goal.
Australia skipper Pat Cummins set up the final equation by declaring at 270 for eight midway through the fourth afternoon, asking India to score 26 more than any side has ever made to win a Test, 38 more than their own record and 181 beyond the best at Surrey’s home ground.
India’s openers began brightly in the face of stifling odds, but saw their optimism dented by a sensational catch from Cameron Green in the last over before tea.
With Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill racing to 41 from the first seven overs, Scott Boland clipped the latter’s outside edge and watched on as Green flung his 6ft 6in frame to the left to take a quite brilliant left-handed effort in the gully.
Gill stood his ground as he waited to see if the catch was clean, with the heavily partisan India-supporting crowd unanimous that the ball had been grounded as Green held his fingers under the ball. English umpire Richard Kettleborough was the man on television duty and he took a long and deliberate look at the slow motion replays before settling in the bowler’s favour.
There were loud jeers and boos, as well as some chants of “cheat”, from the stands, but while there was some ambiguity around still images of the incident it seemed hard to believe that Kettleborough could have made a different verdict.
It was Green’s second brilliant catch of the match, having produced another remarkable diving effort with his right hand to dismiss first-innings top-scorer Rahane, and reminder to England of the all-rounder’s burgeoning ability to stamp his imprint on proceedings.
The wicket was badly needed given India’s early aggression, scoring nine fours and a six in the first 10 overs and rollicking along at almost exactly a run-a-ball. Sharma was in impeccable touch, producing flowing drives when the seamers went full and swivelling into trademark pulls when they dragged their length back.
At one stage Cummins tested his opposite number out with a bouncer and was hooked over the ropes at fine-leg. It took a change of pace in the form of Nathan Lyon’s to halt his charge, Sharma getting in a tangle as he shaped to sweep over mid-wicket and falling lbw.
When Cheteshwar Pujara followed in the next over, caught behind off the face attempting an uncharacteristic uppercut, India were rocking at 93 for three. But rather than fold, they carried on the the fight through Kohli and Rahane.
Kohli gave no leeway at all on line, flicking away a sequence of boundaries through the leg side. The ball was pinging sweetly from his bat and Rahane was offering solid support as Australia laboured away with minimal joy in the last half-hour.
Australia had earlier progressed with relative serenity towards their declaration.
Marnus Labuschagne failed to add to his overnight score of 41 before nicking Umesh Yadav to slip, and Green ground out a sedate 25 before diverting spinner Ravindra Jadeja into his own stumps as he ploughed away on a leg-stump line, but the runs kept flowing.
Alex Carey banked some vital time in the middle ahead of the Ashes as he made an undefeated 66, while Mitchell Starc swung the bat with freedom to make a lively 41.
All eyes were on Cummins from the moment the advantage snaked past 400 and he finally obliged when he was eighth man out, thrashing Mohammed Shami into the on-side.
Windies A end Nepal tour with six wicket defeat; top five-match series 3-2
West Indies A concluded their tour of South Asia on a losing note, as they were handed a six-wicket beating by Nepal in the final encounter of a five-match T20 series at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, on Saturday.
Despite the loss, the Caribbean side topped the series 3-2, but had very little to celebrate, as they failed to really put together a dominant collective display. Instead, the series win was lined with individual performances, namely from captain Roston Chase, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Alick Athanaze, as well as stellar efforts from Gudakesh Motie and Obed McCoy with the ball.
It was more of the same in the curtain call contest, where Athanaze’s unbeaten 29-ball 42 and Chase’s 33 off 23 balls, were the highlight of the West Indies A innings, which ended at 172-7, after they opted to take first strike.
Sagar Dhakal (3-17) and Sompal Kami (3-16) did the damage for Nepal with the ball.
In reply, Nepal, courtesy of half-centuries from Aasif Sheikh (51) and Anil Sah (58), easily got to their target with seven balls to spare.
McCoy led West Indies A bowlers with 3-36.
Scores: West Indies A 172-7 (20 overs); Nepal 173-4 (18.5 overs)
After losing opener Kushal Bhurtel (13) to McCoy in the second over, Nepal had very little trouble fending off West Indies A’s bowling attack, as Sheikh and Sah put together a 96-run second wicket stand, which laid the platform for the victory.
Wicketkeeper Sheikh smashed two fours and five sixes in his 35-ball knock, while Sah had four fours and four sixes in his 58 off 45 balls.
Even when that partnership was eventually broken by McCoy, who removed Sheikh in the 14th over, the host remained in firm control, and the win was inevitably wrapped up by Kushal Malla, who struck three fours and three sixes in a brisk unbeaten 18-ball 37.
Earlier, West Indies A lost their top order in the eighth over with just 60 runs on the board, as Johnson Charles (24), Kadeem Alleyne (11) and Mark Deyal (11), all failed to repel the attack of Dhakal’s slow left-arm orthodox spin.
Chase, who struck five boundaries in his 23-ball 33, and Athanaze, who had one four and three maximums, tried to repair the damage with a 40-run fourth wicket stand, before the former fell in the 14th over.
Matthew Forde, with a 12-ball cameo of 23, including three sixes, added some impetus to the innings, but when he fell to Kami, West Indies A lucked out, as the right had medium fast bowler also removed Fabian Allen (three) and Motie (one) in quick succession.
Athanaze and Hayden Walsh (seven) were left not out.
West Indies win fifth T20I by eight wickets to secure 4-1 series victory
The West Indies Women defeated hosts Pakistan by eight wickets in the fifth and final T20 International at the Karachi National Stadium on Friday to complete a 4-1 series victory.
Pakistan, after being put in to bat by the West Indies, had an excellent start to their innings with Ayesha Zafar and Sidra Ameen putting on 38 for the first wicket before Zafar fell in the fifth over for 22.
Ameen and Muneeba Ali then put on a further 46 before the latter fell for 25 in the 13th over.
That same over saw Pakistan reduced to 86-3 when Nida Dar fell for two.
What proceeded that can only be described as a collapse as the hosts then lost their next five wickets for just 35 runs in five overs.
They eventually ended their 20 overs 134-8. Ameen was the final person out for a top score of 48 as Afy Fletcher was excellent with the ball for the Windies with 3-17 from her four overs.
Qiana Joseph also bowled well with 2-26 from four overs.
The successful chase was then anchored by superstar batter Hayley Matthews.
The skipper faced 59 balls and hit 11 fours on her way to a top score of 78 as the West Indies needed just 18.2 overs to reach 136-2.
Shemaine Campbelle provided good support with 33.
Matthews was named player of the series thanks to her 205 runs and seven wickets.
Full scores: Pakistan 134-8 off 20 overs (Sidra Ameen 48, Muneeba Ali 25, Ayesha Zafar 22, Afy Fletcher 3-17, Qiana Joseph 2-26)
West Indies 136-2 off 18.2 overs (Hayley Matthews 78, Shemaine Campbelle 33)
IPL: Iyer and Starc boost Kolkata's top-two hopes after Mumbai win
Venkatesh Iyer starred with 70 for Kolkata Knight Riders before Mitchell Starc's four-wicket haul eased his side to a 24-run victory over Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.
The Knight Riders only managed to post 169 at Wankhede Stadium as Iyer and Manish Pandey (42) were the only Kolkata batters to pass 15 runs on Friday.
Nuwan Thushara registered figures of 3-42 and Jasprit Bumrah picked up three wickets for just 18 runs as Kolkata limped to a target that appeared somewhat reachable for Mumbai.
Yet Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma and Naman Dhir all failed to get going in response for the Indians before Suryakumar Yadav's 35-ball 56 promised a tense ending.
However, Andre Russell forced Suryakumar to launch a full toss into the sky for a simple Phil Salt catch – with the West Indian one of three Kolkata bowlers to collect two wickets, along with Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy (both 2-22).
Suryakumer's dismissal teed up Starc's three-wicket blitz to end the innings with 4-33, moving the Knight Riders up to second in the table as Tim David's quickfire 24 proved redundant for Mumbai.
Data Debrief: Iyer the hero as Mumbai play-off hopes stunted
Having been reduced to 57-5 in the first innings, Iyer stood up with his season-best 70 off just 52 balls – including six fours and three maximums – guiding Kolkata to a commendable target.
This defeat left Mumbai ninth in the table, some six points adrift of the play-offs with just three games remaining – they may live to rue not capitalising on a promising first-innings position.
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