Ashwin, Ishant reduce England to 86/6 at lunch
Birmingham, Aug 3: Indian bowlers triggered a collapse taking five wickets in the morning session as England managed to stretch their second innings lead to 99 runs, reaching 86/6 at lunch on the third day of the opening Test at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground here on Friday.
Pacer Ishant Sharma produced a brilliant spell that saw him take three quick wickets after off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin dented the hosts with two wickets within the first hours of play.
Ishant removed Jonny Bairstow (28) and Ben Stokes (6) just at the stroke of lunch even as England lost the key wickets of opener Keaton Jennings (8), skipper Joe Root (14) and Dawid Malan (20) in regular intervals.
Ashwin once again turned out to be the tormentor of the England line-up, as he continued from where he left on Thursday.
Ashwin, who dismissed former skipper Alastair Cook for a duck on the second evening to leave the hosts reeling at 9/1, started off the proceedings on Friday and immediately succeeded in packing back an in-form Jennings, caught beautifully by Lokesh Rahul at second slip.
Struggling at 18/2, Root along with new man Malan played out Ashwin watchfully but the offie constantly kept asking questions before prevailing over the English captain.
Root fell while trying to pull Ashwin only to find the ball landing in the safe hands of Rahul at leg slip before Ishant joined the party in rocking the English line-up.
The lanky Delhi pacer first dismissed Malan caught by Ajinkya Rahane, before packing Bairstow and Stokes within a span of three balls.
While Bairstow fell to the safe hands of Shikhar Dhawan at second slip, one ball later Stokes was brilliantly caught by skipper Virat Kohli at third slip as England started looking down the barrel at the break.
Brief Scores: England 287, 105/7 (36.4) (Jonny Bairstow 28, Dawid Malan 20; Ishant Sharma 3/21, Ravichandran Ashwin 3/34) vs India 274.
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Rocket from Yemen strikes Tel Aviv, injuring 16, as Palestinians mourn 19 dead in Gaza
Tel Aviv, Dec 21: A rocket fired from Yemen hit an area of Tel Aviv overnight, leaving 16 people slightly injured by shattered glass, the Israeli military said Saturday, days after Israeli airstrikes hit Houthi rebels who have been launching missiles in solidarity with Palestinians.
A further 14 people sustained minor injuries as they rushed to shelters when air raid sirens sounded before the projectile hit just before 4 am Saturday, the military said.
The Houthi rebels issued a statement on the Telegram messaging app saying they had aimed a hypersonic ballistic missile at a military target, which they did not identify.
The attack comes less than two days after a series of Israeli airstrikes on Yemen's Houthi rebel-held capital, Sanaa, and port city of Hodeida killed at least nine people. The Israeli strikes were in response to a Houthi attack in which a long-range missile hit an Israeli school building. The Houthis also claimed a drone strike targeting an unspecified military target in central Israel on Thursday.
The Israeli military says the Iran-backed Houthis have launched more than 200 missiles and drones during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The Houthis have also been attacking shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and say they won't stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Israeli strikes Thursday caused “considerable damage” to the Houthi-controlled Red Sea ports “that will lead to the immediate and significant reduction in port capacity,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The port at Hodeida has been key for food shipments into Yemen in its decade-long civil war.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said both sides' attacks risk further escalation in the region and undermine UN mediation efforts.
