India beat Australia by 8-wickets in second Test, level series 1-1
Melbourne: India thumped Australia by eight wickets in the second Test on the fourth day to level the four-match series 1-1, here on Tuesday.
Chasing a mere 70 to win, India overhauled to target in 15.5 overs with more than four sessions to spare.
India had lost the pink-ball Test in Adelaide.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane (27 not out) and opener Shubhman Gill (35 not out) took the side past the finish line after India lost Mayank Agarwal (5) and Cheteshwar Pujara (3).
India had wrapped up Australia's second innings for 200 in the extended opening session on Tuesday morning after the hosts began at 133 for six.
India had taken a 131-run lead on the third day with skipper Ajinkya Rahane (112) and Ravindra Jadeja (57) taking the hosts to 326 in reply to Australia's first innings total of 195.
Number six Cameron Green was top-scorer for the hosts with his 45-run knock while make-shift opener Matthew Wade made 40.
Green and Pat Cummins (22) added 57 runs for the seventh wicket with the pitch offering nothing to the bowlers. The partnership was broken only after the new ball was taken.
For India, debutant pacer Mohammed Siraj (3/37) took three wickets while Jasprit Bumrah (2/54) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/28) and Ravichandran Ashwin (2/71) took two wickets apiece.
Brief Scores:
Australia: 195 and 200 in 103.1 overs (C Green 45, M Wade 40, M Labuschagne 28; M Siraj 3/37, R Jadeja 2/28, J Bumrah 2/54)
India: 326 and 70 for 2 in 15.5 overs. (S Gill 35 not out, A Rahane 27 not out; M Starc 1/20, P Cummins 1/22).
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
