Shami, Ashwin strike back as Australia reach 75/2 at lunch
Ahmedabad (PTI): Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami squared things for India in the second hour as Australia lost the initiative after an impressive start to go into lunch at 75 for two on the opening day of the fourth Test here on Thursday.
The dogged Usman Khawaja (27 batting, 94 balls) was being given company by skipper Steve Smith (2 batting, 17 balls) after Travis Head (32) and Marnus Labuschagne (3) were dismissed in quick succession by Ashwin (1/18 in 10 overs) and Shami (1/14 in 8 overs) respectively.
There is nothing in the track and Australia, if they apply themselves well, could post their best total of the series.
Head, in fact, must be feeling horrible as he undid all his good work in the first hour by playing an indiscreet shot. He tried to chip Ashwin over mid-on without reaching to the pitch of the delivery.
Ashwin had just altered the length slightly and deceived Head, who offered the easiest of catches to one of the world's best fielders, Ravindra Jadeja.
Head got a reprieve while batting on seven when wicketkeeper KS Bharath dropped a regulation catch off Umesh Yadav's bowling. Umesh, who has always been blamed for his inconsistency, was once again erratic as he gave a lot of boundary balls.
Out of the seven boundaries that Head got, half a dozen came from Umesh's overs.
Bharath would like to forget the session in a hurry as he was troubled by inconsistent bounce on both sides of the wicket. He found it difficult to gather a lot of balls which kept low from one end, and conceded eight byes, apart from dropping a dolly.
The end from which Shami bowled, a lot of deliveries kept low and one such ball brought about the downfall of Labuschagne. It was an off-cutter and Labuschagne wanted to play the square cut but dragged it back onto the stumps, much to his dismay.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
