Australia reduce India to 84 for seven on rank turner
Indore (PTI): India's aggressive approach on a track offering vicious turn backfired as Australia reduced the hosts to 84 for seven after a rather eventful opening session of the third Test here on Wednesday.
Like the last two Tests, the pitch was expected to offer plenty of turn but the ball turning square in the first hour of play and the odd one keeping low came as a slight surprise.
Matthew Hayden on air called the the black soil surface at the Holkar Stadium a day-three pitch and it sure behaved like one.
Three batters including skipper Rohit Sharma (12), Ravindra Jadeja (4) and Shreyas Iyer (0) perished while trying to attack.
Virat Kohli (22 off 52) looked assured in the middle before being trapped lbw by Todd Murphy towards the end of the session.
Left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann and veteran off-spinner Nathan Lyon took took three wickets each.
Winning the toss for the first time in the series, India expectedly decided to bat first. Shubman Gill replaced an out-of-form K L Rahul in the playing eleven while Umesh Yadav was brought in for the rested Mohammad Shami.
Rahul has been struggling for runs and finally Gill, who is in terrific form of late, got a chance.
Having regained match fitness, both Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green made Australia's playing eleven.
Starc's first over to Rohit was among the highlights of the session. Before the spinners ran through the Indian batting, Starc got the ball to swing giving the India skipper a tough time.
Rohit got a faint outside edge on the very first ball he faced but Australia did not take a review. Three balls later, Starc got the ball to swing back in and it flicked Rohit's pads. Ball tracking showed the ball would have hit the off stump but Australia decided against taking DRS again.
Gill faced Green from the other end and began his innings with an elegant cover drive.
Spin was introduced in the sixth over and Kuhnemman got the ball to turn sharply. In the last ball of the over, Rohit stepped out to play across the line and got beaten in the flight and Alex Carey made a clean stumping.
Kuhnemann had Gill caught at first slip with the opener getting a thick outside edge while offering a forward defence.
Cheteshwar Pujara's stay lasted only four balls as Lyon got one to turn massively from wide off stump that crashed into the middle stump. The ball kept a tad low as well and Pujara was found wanting on the back foot.
Jadeja's fall made it 44 four.
After surviving a close DRS call, the southpaw went for the attack against Lyon and was caught at short extra cover.
Kuhnemann got this third wicket of the morning when Iyer played an attempted cut on to his stumps and within first hour of play, India had lost half their side.
Kohli and K S Bharat shared 26 runs for the sixth wicket and looked confident in the middle. However both departed towards the end of the session to end a rather forgettable sessions for the hosts.
Kohli was adjudged leg before off Murphy while trying to flick one that pitched on the off-stump and turned to hit the middle.
Bharat, who slog swept Murphy for a six, was out lbw to Lyon while offering a long defensive stride.
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CBI cracks down on digital arrest syndicates, arrests 4 after searches at 12 locations
New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI): In a major crackdown on syndicates running digital arrest scams, the Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested four people following searches at 12 locations, officials said on Tuesday.
Terming it "Operation Chakra-V", they said the CBI carried out searches in connection with a digital arrests case registered by it on the request of the Rajasthan government in which two persons each were arrested from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai.
It was alleged that the arrested accused extorted a total of Rs 7.67 crore in 42 instalments. The victim was digitally detained for over three months by cybercriminals posing as personnel of various law enforcement agencies, the officials said.
"The CBI has been adopting a multi-pronged approach in investigating digital arrest cases, with a special emphasis on dismantling the infrastructure behind such offences," a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.
He said the CBI has registered multiple cases of digital arrests in recent months.
The agency conducted an in-depth investigation involving extensive data analysis and profiling after taking over the Rajasthan case.
"The CBI employed advanced investigative techniques to identify the perpetrators. Based on the leads generated during the investigation, the CBI conducted extensive searches recently across 12 locations in Moradabad and Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh, Krishnanagar in West Bengal, Mumbai and Jaipur, leading to the arrest of four individuals involved in this highly organised crime syndicate," the spokesperson said.
The agency seized bank account details, debit cards, chequebooks, deposit slips, and digital devices/evidence during the searches, he said.
The arrested persons have been remanded in police custody for five days.
