Murali Vijay finishes tour game with hundred
Sydney, Dec 1 : Murali Vijay struck a confident hundred while K L Rahul scored a half-century in the warm-up game against Cricket Australia XI, easing off any worries in the Indian dressing room in their final outing before the first Test.
Vijay, returning to the Test squad after being dropped mid-way through the England tour, celebrated his comeback with an unbeaten century off 118 balls. He looked solid throughout the innings on the fourth day, and had reached his half-century off 91 balls.
Thereafter he sped through the second fifty-runs, off only 27 balls, getting to three figures off 118 deliveries. He hit 26 runs off Jake Carder (0-41) in one over to race to his hundred.
Earlier, Rahul scored 62 (98 balls) as the duo put on 109 runs for the opening wicket as India finished at 211-2 (43.4 overs) in their second innings at stumps on day four of the tour game against Cricket Australia XI here at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Rahul batted with greater confidence than in recent times, hitting eight fours and a six, as he warmed up for the first Test. At times, he did look shaky with circumspect timing, as seen in his dismissal off a full toss caught at mid-wicket.
Hanuma Vihari (15 not out) came out at number three and finished unbeaten at stumps.
This was after Cricket Australia XI finished at 544 runs (151.1 overs) in their first innings and kept India in the field for as long as possible. India had scored 358 in their first innings.
Mohammed Shami (3-97) did not bowl on this final day, while R Ashwin (2-122 in 40 overs) and Ishant Sharma (1-73 in 22 overs) sent down a majority of overs in the morning session.
India though tested their fifth bowling options again as Vihari (0-34), Virat Kohli (1-27) and Murali Vijay (0-17) sent down 13 overs between them.
Harry Nielsen (100) scored a hundred off 170 balls, including nine fours, and was out caught at mid-off as he hit a skier off Kohli.
The hosts' lower order all got good runs with Daniel Fallins (43), Luke Robins (38 not out) and Jackson Coleman (36) keeping the visitors chasing leather in the sun. The latter duo added 57 runs for the final wicket.
So much so that India brought on Jasprit Bumrah (1-0) and Kuldeep Yadav (0-3), not initially included in the 14-man list at the start of the game, to bowl after lunch.
Bumrah looked in good rhythm as he bowled Coleman with a well-aimed yorker off his seventh delivery.
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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.
