1st India-England Test, Day 3: Lunch Scoreboard
Jofra Archer removes Indian openers before lunch
Chennai, Feb 7: Pacer Jofra Archer consolidated England's position, removing both openers as India went to lunch at 59 for 2 in reply to hosts' mammoth first innings score of 578 in the opening Test here on Sunday.
Cheteshwar Pujara and skipper Virat Kolhi were batting on 20 and 4 respectively at lunch while Archer had figures of 2 for 25.
The home team lost opener Rohit Sharma (6) early, edging one to Jos Buttler after Archer got the ball to move a shade along with extra bounce.
India suffered a second jolt when the young Shubman Gill (29, 28 balls, 5 fours) was brilliantly caught by veteran James Anderson at mid-on when he failed to keep the on-drive down.
Earlier, England posted a mammoth 578 in their first innings, losing the last two wickets in the morning session while adding 23 runs to the overnight score.
Dom Bess (34, 105 balls, 6 fours) was the first to go, trapped leg before by Jasprit Bumrah with one that angled in sharply.
No 10 Jack Leach (14 not out) and No.11 James Anderson (1) prolonged the England innings by five more overs before the latter was bowled when he failed to connect a slog-sweep off Ravichandran Ashwin.
Ashwin, who bowled 55.1 overs, the most by him in an innings so far, finished with 3 for 146 for his efforts while Bumrah also ended up with three wickets for 84 runs from his 36 overs. Ishant Sharma (2/52) and Shahbaz Nadeem (2/167) took two wickets each.
Skipper Joe Root's marathon 218-run knock was the cornerstone of England's massive total on a docile pitch after the visitors opted to bat on winning the toss.
Opener Dominic Sibley (87) and Ben Stokes (82) were the other major contributors.
England ended day two at 555 for eight, with Root leading the way with a marathon effort of 218 (377 balls, 19 fours, 2 sixes) and sharing two massive partnerships with Sibley and Stokes.
Root also became the first cricketer to score a double hundred in his 100th Test.
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KCA suspends S Sreesanth for three years over remarks in Sanju Samson row
Thiruvananthapuram, May 2 (PTI): The Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) has suspended former India pacer S Sreesanth for three years for allegedly making false and derogatory statements against it in connection with the controversy surrounding Sanju Samson’s omission from the Indian team for the Champions Trophy.
In a statement, the KCA said the decision was taken at its special General Body meeting held in Kochi on April 30.
Sreesanth is currently a co-owner of Kollam Aeries, a franchise team in the Kerala Cricket League.
Earlier, in relation to his controversial remarks, show-cause notices had been issued to Sreesanth as well as to the franchise teams Kollam Aeries, Alappuzha Team Lead, and Alappuzha Ripples.
"Since the franchise teams gave satisfactory responses to the notices, no further action will be taken against them. However, the meeting decided to advise greater caution when appointing members to team management," the statement said.
The General Body also resolved to file a compensation claim against Sanju Samson's father, Samson Vishwanath, and two others for making baseless allegations using Sanju Samson’s name, it added.
The KCA had issued a show-cause notice to Sreesanth--who was part of the India squad that won two World Cup titles--for his remarks linking the state cricket body and Samson during a panel discussion on a Malayalam television channel.
In a statement, the KCA had clarified that the notice was not issued for supporting Samson but for making misleading and defamatory comments against the association.
During the televised discussion, Sreesanth allegedly pledged his support to Samson and vowed to protect him and other Kerala players, while levelling accusations against the KCA.
His remarks came amid criticism of the KCA for dropping Samson from the Kerala squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy, which was believed to have affected his chances of being selected for India’s Champions Trophy team.
