Virat Kohli eclipses Dhoni to become most successful Indian Test captain
Kingston: Virat Kohli has surpassed Mahendra Singh Dhoni to become India's most successful Test skipper after the team recorded its 28th win under his leadership, a 257-run hammering of the West Indies here.
The 28 wins have come from 48 matches for Kohli as captain. His predecessor Dhoni led India to 27 wins from 60 Test matches during his tenure.
Sourav Ganguly and Mohammad Azharuddin are third and fourth in the list of successful Indian Test skippers with 21 and 14 wins respectively.
Overall, former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith remains the most successful skipper in the world with 53 Test wins, followed by ex-Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who recorded 48 Test wins in his captaincy tenure.
India have made a superb start to the World Test Championship and the win in the second match not only helped them sweep the series 2-0 but also put them on top of championship points table.
With 120 points from two games, India lead the nine-team table even though Pakistan, Bangladesh and South Africa are yet to begin their bilateral campaigns in the championship.
Under Kohli, India have achieved some memorable victories in both India and abroad. Earlier this year, India clinched their maiden Test series in Australia, beating the hosts 2-1 in their own backyard.
In the match here, India entered the fourth day needing eight wickets to win and Kohli's men completed the task after lunch, dismissing the hosts for 210 in 59.5 overs in their chase of a near-impossible target of 468.
The bowling quartet of Ishant Sharma (2/37 in 12 overs), Mohammed Shami (3/65 in 16 overs), Jasprit Bumrah (1/31 in 11 overs) and lone spinner Ravindra Jadeja (3/58 in 16.5 overs) were relentless in their pursuit of keeping the home team batsmen on a tight leash.
Such was India's dominance in the two Tests that West Indies couldn't even cross 250 in any of their four innings and the only half-century was scored by Shamarh Brooks (50) in this game.
It was one of the most satisfying tours for skipper Kohli as his team claimed dominating triumphs in all three formats (3-0 in T20Is, 2-0 in ODIs, and 2-0 in Tests).
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Investors become poorer by Rs 12 lakh cr in three days of market fall
New Delhi, Jan 10: Investors' wealth tumbled Rs 12 lakh crore in three days of market slump due to uninterrupted foreign fund outflows and concerns over quarterly earnings.
Also, rising crude oil prices and a strengthening dollar index added to investors' pessimism.
In three days, the BSE benchmark Sensex tanked 820.2 points or 1.04 per cent.
On Friday, the 30-share BSE benchmark declined 241.30 points or 0.31 per cent to settle at 77,378.91. During the day, the benchmark gyrated 820.15 points between the day's high of 77,919.70 and low of 77,099.55.
The NSE Nifty dropped 95 points or 0.40 per cent to 23,431.50.
The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms diminished by Rs 12,07,314.99 crore to Rs 4,29,67,835.05 crore (USD 5 trillion) in the three days.
From the 30-share blue-chip pack on Friday, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, UltraTech Cement, State Bank of India, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, Tata Steel and Power Grid were among the major laggards.
Tata Consultancy Services jumped nearly 6 per cent after the IT services company reported an 11.95 per cent surge in the December quarter net profit to Rs 12,380 crore.
Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research at HDFC Securities, said, "Strong quarterly earnings from TCS drove the IT index up 3.4 per cent, helping the market withstand a sharp sell-off."
However, despite broad gains across IT stocks, the Nifty fell for the third consecutive session, Vakil added.
Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Infosys and Bajaj Finserv were the other big gainers.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 7,170.87 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
"Domestic market sentiment remained subdued due to rising crude oil prices, driven by supply concerns, and a strengthening dollar index. Despite the IT sector's resilience following positive early Q3 results, broader indices bled due to uncertainties surrounding Trump policies and high valuations.
"Consolidation may persist in the near term, yet investors are closely watching the US non-farm payroll data today for further guidance," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.
The BSE smallcap gauge dropped 2.40 per cent and midcap index declined 2.13 per cent.
Among BSE sectoral indices, power tanked 3.07 per cent, utilities (2.86 per cent), realty (2.64 per cent), industrials (2.08 per cent), commodities (2.05 per cent) and consumer durables (1.98 per cent).
BSE Focused IT jumped 3.17 per cent, IT (2.65 per cent) and teck (2.24 per cent) were the biggest gainers.
As many as 3,167 stocks declined while 827 advanced and 84 remained unchanged on the BSE.
"Markets continued its downward trajectory as the rupee dropping to new lows against the strengthening dollar has further dampened investors' sentiment. Amid concerns of subdued economic growth and expectations of a slowdown in the quarterly earnings, investors cut their bet on banking and mid & small cap stocks.
"With expensive valuations of Indian markets at large still a concern, investors would mostly resort to stock-specific activities," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd, said.
