India 51/4 at lunch on Day 1 of opening Test against Australia
Perth (PTI): Electing to bat, India reached 51 for 4 at lunch on the first morning of the opening Test against Australia here on Friday.
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and one-down Devdutt Padikkal failed to open accounts in their first Test outings in Australia while star batter Virat Kohli was dismissed for 5 after facing 12 balls.
The other opener, KL Rahul got out just before lunch for 26 off 74 balls.
Rishabh Pant was batting on 10 along with Dhruv Jurel (4 batting) at the break. The first morning session saw 25 overs being bowled.
Josh Hazlewood accounted for Padikkal and Kohli while pace colleague Mitchell Starc took the wickets of Jaiswal and Rahul.
Earlier, India captain Jasprit Bumrah won the toss and elected to bat first as pacer Harshit Rana and all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy made Test debuts.
For Austraia, opener Nathan McSweeney also made his debut.
Brief Scores:
India: 51 for 4 in 25 overs (Virat Kohli 5, KL Rahul 26, Rishabh Pant 10 batting; Josh Hazlewood 2/10, Mitchell Starc 2/10).
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Trump warns he's considering limited strikes as Iranian diplomat says proposed deal is imminent
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump warned on Friday that limited strikes against Iran are possible even as the country's top diplomat said Tehran expects to have a proposed deal ready in the next few days following nuclear talks with the United States.
In response to a reporter's question on whether the US could take limited military action as the countries negotiate, Trump said, “I guess I can say I am considering that.” Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a TV interview that his country was planning to finalise a draft deal in “the next two to three days” to then send to Washington.
“I don't think it takes long, perhaps, in a matter of a week or so, we can start real, serious negotiations on the text and come to a conclusion,” Araghchi said on MSNOW's “Morning Joe” show.
The tensions between the longtime adversaries have ramped up as the Trump administration pushes for concessions from Iran and has built up the largest US military presence in the Middle East in decades, with more warships and aircraft on the way. Both countries have signalled that they are prepared for war if talks on Tehran's nuclear programme fizzle out.
“We are prepared for war, and we are prepared for peace,” Araghchi said Friday.
Trump said a day earlier that he believes 10 to 15 days is “enough time” for Iran to reach a deal following recent rounds of indirect negotiations, including this week in Geneva, that made little visible progress. But the talks have been deadlocked for years, and Iran has refused to discuss wider US and Israeli demands that it scale back its missile program and sever ties to armed groups.
Araghchi also said Friday that his American counterparts have not asked for zero enrichment of uranium as part of the latest round of talks, which is in contradiction to what US officials have said.
"What we are now talking about is how to make sure that Iran's nuclear programme, including enrichment, is peaceful and will remain peaceful forever," he said.
He added that in return Iran will implement some confidence-building measures in exchange for relief on economic sanctions.
In response to Araghchi's claim, a White House official said Trump has been clear that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons or the capacity to build them and that it cannot enrich uranium. The official wasn't authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Tehran has long insisted that any negotiations should only focus on its nuclear programme and that it hasn't been enriching uranium since US and Israeli strikes last June on Iranian nuclear sites. Trump said at the time that the strikes had “obliterated” Iran's nuclear sites, but the exact damage is unknown as Tehran has barred international inspectors.
Iran has also insisted that its nuclear programme is peaceful. The US and others suspect it is aimed at eventually developing weapons.
