Disciplined England restrict India to 256/8 in series decider
Leeds, July 17: Leg-spinner Adil Rashid's triple strikes in the middle overs helped England restrict India for a below par 256/8 in the series-deciding third and final One-day International (ODI) at the Headingley cricket ground here on Tuesday.
Put in to bat, India rode on captain Virat Kohli's run-a-ball 71, combined with his predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni's laborious 66-ball 42 and a valuable 44 from opener Shikhar Dhawan even as Rashid applied the brakes to return figures of 3/49 off his 10 overs.
India were in trouble early on, losing in-form opener Rohit Sharma for a sluggish 18-ball 2, before Dhawan and Kohli forged a 71-run second wicket stand to inject life back into the innings.
With the right-left duo of Kohli and Dhawan going all guns blazing, all-rounder Ben Stokes brought the hosts back into the game with the run-out of Dhawan, who by then had faced 49 balls and struck seven fours.
The southpaw's dismissal brought in stumper Dinesh Karthik for his first game on the tour. Karthik started off well with a boundary before picking two more on his way to a quickfire 22-ball 21 but an inside edge off a tossed up delivery from Rashid ended his stay and also the 41-run third wicket stand.
Despite losing his partners at the other end, Kohli kept his cool to raise his 48th ODI half century with a boundary off pacer Liam Plunkett and thereafter began switching gears even as Suresh Raina (1) joined him in the middle.
However, Rashid and his fellow spinner Moeen Ali managed to keep the run flow in check, which prompted both the Indian batsmen to take risks and in the process the leggie bamboozled the India skipper with a ripper which broke through his defences before Raina too departed off the same over, thanks to a brilliant catch by Joe Root at leg slip.
With India in deep trouble, Dhoni once again came to the rescue with a hard working innings, and together with all-rounder Hardik Pandya (21 off 21 balls), raised a 36-run stand for the sixth wicket before adding another 27 runs with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (21 off 35) to stretch the total to some sort of respectability.
Towards the end, pacer Shardul Thakur produced a brilliant cameo of 13-ball unbeaten 22, that saw him launch Stokes for two sixes in the penultimate over as India's total crossed the 250-run mark.
For England, besides Rashid's three wickets, pacer David Willey also returned figures of 3/40 while fellow quick Mark Wood took one wicket.
Brief Scores: India (Virat Kohli 71, Shikhar Dhawan 44, M.S.Dhoni 42; David Willey 3/40, Adil Rashid 3/49) vs England.
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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.
