Adelaide Test: Australia 191/7 at stumps, trail India by 59 runs
Adelaide, Dec 7: The last-wicket pair of Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah resumed India's innings on Day Two of the ongoing first Test against Australia here at the Adelaide Oval on Friday.
Pacer Josh Hazlewood, with the figures of 3/52, wrapped up the Indian innings at 250 runs on the very first ball. Aaron Finch, along with debutant Marcus Harris, came in the middle to open the Australian first innings.
However, pacer Ishant Sharma struck Finch for a golden duck on the third ball to set the tone for the match. Usman Khawaja, who came in at number three, along with Harris, held the fort for Australia for quite some time as the duo kept hitting boundaries at regular intervals.
To provide the breakthrough to India, spinner Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed Harris for 26 runs as he gave a comfortable catch to Murali Vijay. Having lost two wickets, Australia posted a meagre score of 57 at lunch.
The home team trailed India by 193 runs, with Khawaja and Shaun Marsh present in the middle. Resuming from the score of 57 post lunch, Ashwin scalped Marsh's wicket. The left-handed Australian batsman ended up dragging back while attempting a wide delivery. Following Marsh's dismissal, Peter Handscomb walked in.
The game slowed down a bit and the Indian bowlers used the opportunity to build pressure on the home team. An on-fire Ashwin then picked up India's fourth Australian and crucial wicket as Khawaja walked back for 28 runs. Australia went into the tea break at a score of 117 with the loss of four wickets.
Now when Bumrah chipped in, he broke a 33-run partnership between Handscomb and Travis Head. Handscomb (34), who was looking to run the ball to the third-man area, edged straight to wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant, who made no mistake in completing the catch. Following Handscomb's dismissal, Australia skipper and wicket-keeper Tim Paine came to the crease. However, before the skipper could make any impact, Ishant sent him back for five runs.
The Indian pacer followed the short ball with a back of a length delivery andPaine, who got stuck yet again in the crease without any footwork, edged the ball back to the keeper. To save his side from falling, Head, with his gritty performance, took the onus and fought back with an unbeaten 149-ball 69 and Australia ended Day Two of the opening Test at 191-runs with the loss of seven wickets.
For India, Ashwin picked three wickets, Ishant and Bumrah scalped two wickets apiece, while Shami returned sans wicket even after creating multiple chances.
Courtesy: www.aninews.in
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Gulmarg terror attack: Two soldiers succumb to injuries, toll rises to four
Srinagar (PTI): Two soldiers who were critically wounded in Thursday's terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Gulmarg succumbed to their injuries, raising the death toll in the ambush to four.
Two Army porters died on Thursday while another porter and a soldier were injured.
Terrorists attacked a vehicle of the force six kilometres from tourist hotspot Gulmarg in north Kashmir's Baramulla district, officials said on Thursday.
They had said the terrorists opened fire on the Army vehicle in the Bota Pathri area in the evening when it was headed for the Nagin post in the Afrawat range.
Confirming the deaths of the two porters, the officials had said the condition of two of the injured soldiers was critical.
They had said the soldiers in the vehicle opened retaliatory fire when they came under attack.
The area is completely dominated by the Army and there were reports recently that a terrorist group had infiltrated during early summer and taken shelter in the higher reaches of the Afrawat range, they said.
The Bota Pathri area was recently opened to tourists.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the recent spate of attacks in the Valley was a matter of serious concern.
"Very unfortunate news about the attack on the Army vehicles in the Bota Pathri area of north Kashmir, which has resulted in some casualties and injuries. This recent spate of attacks in Kashmir is a matter of serious concern," he said in a post on X.
"I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms and send my condolences to the loved ones of the people who lost their lives. I also pray that the injured make a complete and swift recovery," he added.
Former chief minister and People's Democratic Party supremo Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the attack.
The BJP's Jammu and Kashmir president Ravinder Raina, meanwhile, condemned the attack and blamed Pakistan for trying to destabilise peace and tranquillity in the Union Territory.
The attack came amid a spike in terror incidents in the Valley.
In another deadly attack on Sunday, six non-local labourers and a local doctor were killed when terrorists fired indiscriminately upon them at the Z-Morh tunnel construction site in the Gagangir area of central Kashmir's Ganderbal district.
Before that, a labourer from Bihar was shot dead by terrorists in Shopian district on October 18.
Earlier on Thursday, terrorists shot at and injured a labourer from Uttar Pradesh in the Tral area of Pulwama district.
