SA Seal Top Spot In WTC Standings, Beat Pak By 10 Wickets In 2nd Test

Temba Bavuma-led South Africa on Monday clinched a massive 10-wicket victory over Pakistan in the second and final match of the series at the Newlands in Cape Town. With the win, the Proteas whitewashed Pakistan in the two-match Test series. According to ICC, Pakistan began Day 4 of the second Test trailing South Africa by 208 runs with nine wickets in hand in their second innings. Unbeaten overnight, Pakistan skipper Shan Masood continued eating away at the South Africa total with help from the Pakistan middle order. However, South Africa managed to eke out the wickets of Khurram Shahzad (18) and Kamran Ghulam (28) in the first session.

South Africa got back into the game with the new ball in hand, dismissing Saud Shakeel in the 83rd over. And then soon after, debutant Kwena Maphaka delivered a crucial breakthrough by trapping Masood in front of his pads. Masood walked back after a valiant 145.

Under pressure once again, Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Agha showed remarkable resilience, building another vital partnership. The duo took Pakistan to 398-5 at Tea, narrowing the deficit to just 23 runs.

But the Pakistan innings crumbled in the final session. Keshav Maharaj was South Africa's star, getting the wickets of Rizwan, Salman and Aamer Jamal. When Kagiso Rabada had Mir Hamza dismissed for 16, Pakistan had reached 478, setting the Proteas a modest target of 58.

Having been promoted to opener, David Bedingham went all guns blazing at the total and smashed an unbeaten 44 off merely 30 balls as South Africa secured a win in just 43 balls without losing a wicket.

Ryan Rickelton was the Player of the Match for his impressive double ton that helped South Africa set a massive first innings total of 615. Pakistan had been bowled out for merely 194 in their first innings, before being asked to follow on.

Marco Jansen was the Player of the Series for his all-round excellence. The lanky all-rounder scored 80 runs and picked up 10 wickets in the series.

With this win, Proteas maintained their unbeaten record in the home summer (four on a trot) and the overall season too.

With a win in the first Test, Temba Bavuma's side had already secured a place in the ICC World Test Championship final, where they'll take on Australia at Lord's.

South Africa's point percentage of 69.44 means that they'll finish this cycle of the World Test Championship as the leaders of the league phase.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Ashwin Sends Message To Wrong Ritika Amid Rohit Future Talks, Deletes Post

Veteran cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin had an awkward interaction with a fake account of Ritika Sajdeh, wife of Indian team captain Rohit Sharma. However, after realising that the account was fake, Ashwin was quick to delete his post on social media platform X. As India lost the Sydney Test to Australia and conceded the series 1-3, a user on X named @Nishitha018 replied to one of Ashwin's post on the micro-blogging platform. Since the user had Ritika's name and photo on her profile, Ashwin dropped a reply on her comment, unaware that it was a fake account.

'Australia thought they can clean sweep us," the user commented.

Since Ashwin was not aware that it wasn't Ritika's official handle, he asked her: "Hi Ritika, how are you? Regards to the little one and family."

"I'm good Ashwin anna," the user replied, which prompted Ashwin to delete his message.

See the conversation here:

Meanwhile, Rohit and Ritika welcomed their second child in November, a baby boy named 'Ahaan'.

Rohit had missed the series-opener against Australia in Perth as the match was clashing with the expected date of his son's birth.

After India won the match without him, Rohit returned to the team for the second Test.

However, Rohit decided to "opt out" of the series-decider in Sydney, owing to poor form.

India lost the match by 6 wickets, losing the series 1-3.

Reports have been circulating that Rohit is no longer in the scheme of things, as far as the Test team is concerned.

However, Rohit insisted that he was not going anywhere and the decision to sit out in Sydney was a tactical one.

Ashwin, on the other hand, returned to India after the second Test in Melbourne, having announced his retirement from international cricket mid-series.

Ashwin will now be seen in action during the IPL in late March.

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Amid Retirement Claims, Report Says Kohli Wants To Play Till This Tournament

Has the world seen the last of Virat Kohli in Test cricket, or will he be able to revive his career and enjoy a second wind? The flag-bearer of Indian batting since the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar, Kohli yelled at himself and punched his thigh, as he got out for the eighth time edging to the slip cordon or keeper in his nine visits to the crease in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The 36-year-old's career was hanging by a thread after he once again fell victim to a back-of-length delivery on a sixth-stump line on the second day of the fifth and final Test against Australia, the bowler being the self-effacing but relentless Scott Boland.

His problems seem unsolvable at the moment as it is more mental than technical.

The sameness in the mode of his dismissals mean it has become his second nature to "fish" at deliveries on the corridor of uncertainty.

Kohli batted in nine innings across five Tests and barring the second innings century at Perth in the opening Test, and a 36 in the first innings in Melbourne, he has failed to get going.

Remove the 136 runs he had aggregated over his two innings in Perth and Melbourne, and Kohli is left with just 54 runs across his seven other completed knocks.

For a champion player, it is very difficult to take a decision when he is going through his career's all-time lowest phase.

It is understood that Kohli is in no mood to retire and wants to play for India till the 2027 ODI World Cup.

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has been constantly saying that the right-hander would continue.

But an ex-national selector looked at the situation differently. He asked how Kohli plans to convince the selectors for the England tour in June without playing any tangible red-ball cricket.

"It would be very hard for selectors to pick either Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli on the basis of IPL performance or form. Their has to be some red-ball cricket for them in lead-up to England tour. Else you can't justify their selections," the former selectors told PTI.

If sources are to be believed there is no indication as of now that Kohli intends to play the Ranji Trophy, which restarts from January 23.

Delhi will play Saurashtra from January 23-26 in an away game in Rajkot when the Ranji Trophy resumes.

In the next round of matches from January 30 to February 2, Kohli's state team Delhi is scheduled to play Railways.

However, playing domestic red-ball cricket in India in January and February for Test matches in England in June practically won't make sense.

Kohli lives in his new home in London for better part and only joins the national team or IPL side before the start of a series or tournament.

India's next assignment is a three-match ODI series against England from February 6 followed by the Champions Trophy (from February 19 to March 9) and then the IPL starts on March 14.

Clearly there is no window to play any red-ball tournament for preparation unless he skips the IPL for a county stint to gear up for the England tour.

Kohli is one of the biggest brands of the IPL and he won't be losing a chance to captain RCB once again this year and fulfil his dream of winning at least one IPL trophy before drawing the curtains on his glorious career.

The only other option left is talking to selectors and playing at least couple of India A games during its shadow tour to England just before the senior team's tour begins with the first Test at Leeds from June 18.

As of now, Kohli has played his last Test at SCG. But when the name is as big as Virat Kohli, there could always be a twist in the tale.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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5th Test Live: With Bumrah Doubtful, India Eye 200-Plus Target vs Austraila

India vs Australia 5th Test Day 3 Live Updates: With the match hanging in the balance, Team India resume at the score of 141 for 6, with a lead of 145 runs against Australia on Day 3 of the final Test match. Ravindra Jadeja (8 not out) and Washington Sundar (6 not out) will resume India's innings and the visitors' first aim will be to get past the 200-run mark at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Scott Boland has been the wrecker-in-chief in India's innings, picking four wickets so far. It was Rishabh Pant's 61 off 33 on Day 2 that kept India in the hunt after their pacers did a commendable job to bundle out Australia for 181. India had scored 185 runs in their first innings. (Live Scorecard)

Here are the Live Score and Updates of India vs Australia 5th Test Day 3 -

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2nd Test: Pakistan In Trouble After Rickelton Leads South African Run Feast

Pakistan were reeling in response to a relentless South African batting performance on the second day of the second Test against Pakistan at Newlands on Saturday. Pakistan were 64-3 at the close after double centurion Ryan Rickelton led South Africa to a first innings total of 615. Kagiso Rabada struck twice and Marco Jansen once when Pakistan started their innings. The tourists were effectively four down because opening batsman Saim Ayub was ruled out of the match with a broken right ankle.

Babar Azam, forced to open the batting in Ayub's absence, was 31 not out at the close with his side still 551 runs behind.

Left-handed opening batsman Rickelton made a chanceless 259, South Africa's joint seventh highest Test score, before he was seventh man out with the total on 557.

South African captain Temba Bavuma opted to keep Pakistan in the field until the last man, 18-year-old debutant Kwena Maphaka, was out 40 minutes after tea.

By then, South Africa had added 299 runs to their overnight 316-4, scoring at almost five runs an over.

Resuming on 176, Rickelton was content to play the anchor role while Kyle Verreynne hit 100 off 147 balls in a sixth-wicket partnership of 148 off 222 deliveries.

Verreynne holed out to deep midwicket after an innings which included five sixes as well as nine fours, but Rickelton continued to bat flawlessly while Jansen thrashed a 42-ball half-century.

A rapid seventh-wicket stand of 86 was ended when Rickelton was caught at mid-on going for a big hit after batting for 607 minutes. He faced 343 balls and hit 29 fours and three sixes.

Jansen was out for 62 off 54 balls, but Keshav Maharaj hit 40 off 35 deliveries as the bowlers continued to take a pounding.

South Africa's innings ended when Maphaka was bowled second ball for nought to become the 100th Test wicket for Mohammad Abbas.

At 18 years 270 days, Maphaka became South Africa's youngest Test player when the match started on Friday.

Abbas took three for 94, while wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan held six catches in the South African innings.

Pakistan captain Shan Masood was caught at first slip off Rabada for two in the first over of his team's reply.

Kamran Ghulam was bowled by Jansen for 12 and Saud Shakeel was out for nought, providing a second catch for David Bedingham at first slip off Rabada.

Pakistan were floundering at 20-3, before Babar and Rizwan put on an unbeaten 44 for the fourth wicket as the day's play ended.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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"Baby Bunch": Bumrah And Co Target Of Nasty Assault By Australian Media

It was an interesting day of play in Sydney as India and Australia fought it out in the final Test encounter of their five-match Test series on Friday. From India skipper Rohit Sharma not playing in the match following a dismal run of form to Jasprit Bumrah engaging in an on-field spat with Sam Konstas, the day had it all. Australia finished with the advantage as India were bowled out for just 185 but Usman Khawaja's dismissal on the final ball of the day was enough to set up an interesting encounter. While experts and fans had a lot of opinions about everything that transpired on Friday, the Australian media once again took a brutal dig at Jasprit Bumrah and Co. The West Australian featured a number of Indian cricketers looking disappointed along with the caption - "The Baby Bunch - India cement status as world's biggest sooks".

The back page of tomorrow's The West Australian.@TheWestSport @westaustralian pic.twitter.com/kPCMyQ6A2u

— Jakeb Waddell (@JakebWaddell) January 3, 2025

Meanwhile, Sanjay Manjrekar was amazed by the aggression shown by the Indian team and especially stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah on Day 1 of the final Test.

The atmosphere flared up when a heated altercation between Bumrah and young Sam Konstas unfolded towards the final moments of Day 1.

The expressions on Bumrah's face clearly indicated he wasn't pleased with whatever Konstas had said to him while standing at the non-striker's end.

On the next delivery after the fiery exchange, Bumrah gave a fitting reply to the young Australian. He put Usman Khawaja in an awkward stance to lure out a thick outside edge, with KL Rahul taking a sharp catch at the second slip.

The entire team celebrated in front of Konstas, with stalwart Virat Kohli being the most animated among all the Indian players. Bumrah initially charged and then slowed down while staring at Konstas, who walked away to avoid the Indian's gaze.

"Yeah, they're all fired up, and it's great to see, right at the end of a long series, this kind of emotion. I mean, Bumrah has been phenomenal, and 'great' doesn't seem to be enough to describe his performance as a bowler. To see him fired up in this fashion is quite rare. Sam Konstas--there's something about him that gets under the skin of the Indian players. You saw Virat Kohli in the background as well, really fired up," Manjrekar said on Star Sports.

(With IANS inputs)

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5th Test Day 2 LIVE: Action Starts, Bumrah On Cusp Of Historic Record

India vs Australia Live Score, 5th Test Day 2: Australia are set to face an ultimate Jasprit Bumrah challenge on Day 2 of the fifth and final Test vs India at Sydney Cricket Ground. The dramatic scene that unfolded on the final ball of Day 1 has added more life to the crucial Test match, which is a do-or-die affair for India. Bumrah and Sam Konstas first got involved into an argument, which seemed to be initiated by the Australian teenager. Bumrah dismissed Aussie opener Usman Khawaja off the very next ball and the Indian players were all over Konstas. The opening day however belonged to hosts Australia, who bundled out India for 185 after getting an invitation to bowl first. The Pat Cummins-led side was 9 for 1 at the end of play on Day 1. (Live Scorecard)

Here are the Live Score and Updates of India vs Australia 5th Test Day 2 -

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