Rohit finds form with 73 as India manage 264 for 9 against Australia
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Adelaide (PTI): Rohit Sharma mixed a lot of grit with some grace to score a potentially career-extending 73 on a spicy track that formed the cornerstone of India's decent total of 264 for 9 against Australia in the second ODI here on Thursday.
Courtesy Rohit's 97-ball knock and his 118-run stand for the third wicket with Shreyas Iyer (61 off 77 balls), India managed a fighting total after losing skipper Shubman Gill (9) and Virat Kohli (0) in quick succession.
Towards the back-end, Axar Patel (44 off 41 balls) did what Ravindra Jadeja has been doing for the Test team. His innings and a stand of 39 with a gutsy Washington Sundar (12) gave the bowlers something to bowl at.
Harshit Rana (24 not out) and Arshdeep Singh (13) added 37 off 29 balls for the ninth wicket to take the team score past the 260-run mark.
For Australia, Adam Zampa, back after attending the birth of his second baby, got 4 for 60 with most of the batters getting dismissed trying to attack him. Xavier Bartlett (3/39 in 10 overs), with the prized scalp of Kohli and a maiden over, also stood out.
However, the Indian innings was about Rohit's determination as he had to survive a lot of anxious moments in the Powerplay when Josh Hazlewood (0/29 in 10 overs, including two maidens) made the ball talk.
There was a point when Rohit had played 17 consecutive dot balls off Hazlewood and both him and Iyer looked overtly cautious due to the underlying moisture and lateral movement.
In case of Kohli, he was shaping for an outswinger but Bartlett got one to move in sharply after pitching and the maestro was caught plumb in front.
While leaving the ground, he acknowledged the fans at Adelaide, a venue where he has scored multiple Test hundreds and a World Cup century against Pakistan.
For Rohit, the first 50-odd balls were about consolidation and keeping the bat close to his body, trying to leave the deliveries on the length and taking a few on the body.
The only positive shot in that phase was a flicked boundary over square leg off Mitchell Starc.
The first time one got a glimpse of vintage Rohit was when he played back-to-back customary pick-up pulls off Mitchell Owen's friendly medium pacers.
India got 17 from that over and with Iyer also rotating the strike with an upright stance, the scoreboard suddenly saw movement and momentum.
The innings was, however, far from being silken smooth.
It was about a veteran, who wanted to make his naysayers eat humble pie. He was ready to grind it out and look ugly initially before eventually opening up.
The 2027 World Cup is far away but what Rohit intended to prove was that there is still some fuel left in the tank. Once the initial phase was negotiated, Rohit didn't look in any kind of discomfort.
There was enough time for a 33rd ODI hundred but the swivel off his hips while trying to deposit Starc over the square leg boundary became his undoing.
While Rohit got much-needed breathing space, Kohli continued to be under pressure and left the ground raising his fist for the Adelaide spectators who probably saw the last of him.
It is not the first time that Kohli scored consecutive ducks but it seems that the intensity that added to his legend has diminished considerably. India had lost the opening match of the three-game series by seven wickets in Perth.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
