INDIA A BOWLERS DISAPPOINT AS KIWIS MAKE 458/9
MOUNT MAUNGANUI: New Zealand A’s last-wicket pair frustrated India A with a 83-run partnership as the hosts kept the first innings deficit to just nine runs after third day’s play in the first ‘Unofficial Test’ here on Sunday. In response to India A’s 467/8, New Zealand A declared their first innings at 458/9 after being reduced to 375/9 at one stage. No 10 batsman Seth Rance (69*) and Blair Tickner (30*) played out the next one hour to negate India A’s chances of gaining a substantial lead. For India A, off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham took three wickets while fast bowlers Deepak Chahar and Navdeep Saini took two apiece. At stumps, the visitors were 35/0 in their second innings with Prithvi Shaw (33*) hitting seven boundaries in the company of Murali Vijay (2*). Brief Scores: India A 467/8 dec and 35/0 (Shaw 33*) lead New Zealand A 458/9 dec (Rutherford 114, Rance 69*, Gowtham 3-107) by 44 runs.
BCCI skips Asian Cricket Council meeting in Lahore KARACHI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) didn’t send its representative at the Annual General Meeting of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in Lahore on Saturday due to “security concerns” and existing political tension between the neighbouring nations. Although the BCCI skipped the meeting, the head of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), Nazmul Hassan took over as ACC’S president from Ehsan Mani till 2020.
Will be surprised if Kohli keeps quiet: Cummins MELBOURNE: Refusing to buy Virat Kohli’s self-appraisal that he is no longer the one looking for confrontations, pacer Pat Cummins said on Sunday the Australians will hold their ground in the face of any verbal barrage from the India captain. Prior to departing for Australia, run-machine Kohli said he doesn’t need to get into confrontations to get a feel of the contest. But Cummins thinks otherwise. “I think I heard him say in the media the other day he won’t, but I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t,” Cummins told Fairfax Media. “He’s so competitive, he really thrives on that. We’ll hold our ground, we’re going to be competitive and all those things. We wouldn’t treat him differently to any others. I think you’ll see a lot of passion from both sides but nothing super fiery like we saw against India a couple of years ago,” he added. India will play four Tests, three ODIS and as many T20s in Australia. India lost the four-test series 2-0 the last time they toured Down Under in 2014-15.