India elect to bat in fourth Australia ODI
CHANDIGARH, India: India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat in the fourth one-day international against Australia in Chandigarh on Sunday.
The hosts, who lead the five-match series 2-1, have made four changes in their bid to clinch the series.
Rising star Rishabh Pant will keep wicket for the rested Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Batsman KL Rahul, paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal also return to the starting line-up.
“Looks like a belter of a pitch. Can’t really predict when the dew is going to come, if at all it’s going to come,” Kohli SIENA, Italy: France’s Julian Alaphilippe won a tight uphill struggle to claim an “unbelievable” victory in the Strade Bianche (White Roads) one-day cycling race run over 184km through the rolling hills and white gravel roads of Tuscany on Saturday.
The 26-year-old, riding for DeceuninckQuick-Step, pipped Denmark’s Jakob Fuglsang of Astana by just two seconds on Siena’s historic Piazza del Campo after 4hr 17min 14sec in the saddle.
Belgian Wout Van Aert (Team JumboVisma) crossed in third at 27sec, for the second successive year, in the race which begins and ends in Siena.
Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas suffered a puncture, with the Welsh rider finishing in 12th position 2min 41sec behind the winner, as home hope Vincenzo Nibali trailed in at 8min 57sec.
Earlier Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten returned from a broken knee to leave her rivals in the dust by winning the first of the 23-event women’s World Tour series.
“It’s unbelievable,” said one day classics specialist Alaphilippe, competing for the first time in the Tuscan race.
“Strade Bianche was my first big goal of the season.
“I knew it was a race that suited me but I wasn’t confident in winning until the last said at the toss.
“Australia has to win the match, so let’s put them under pressure. We have to be good enough to bowl with a wet ball.”
Australia have made two changes to the side that won the third ODI on Friday with Ashton Turner and Jason Behrendorff replacing Marcus Stoinis and Nathan Lyon.
“Looks like a good pitch. Should stay the same throughout the game,” said captain Aaron Finch, who admitted his intention was to bat first had he won the toss.
“We want to win the series, but going forward it’s about getting the processes right.” - AFP
Alaphilippe snatches ‘unbelievable’ Strade Bianche win
corner.
“I felt heavy legs in the finale and Jakob Fuglsang was fresher than me. I had to arrive with him at the bottom of the San Caterina.”
In sunny conditions the French rider -- who won La Fleche Wallonne, the San Sebastian Classic and two stages of the Tour de France last year -- held off Fuglsang on the steep Santa Caterina climb in the heart of the old city of Siena, and into the Piazza del Campo.
The early breakaway riders had been caught with 35km to go with Alaphilippe among a group of 15, along with teammate Zdenek Stybar, Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet and last year’s winner Tiesj Benoot.
Alaphilippe and Fuglsang shook off the group on the short but steep final three sectors which split the elite lead group that had formed on the longer earlier sectors.
Fuglsang attacked, but Alaphilippe responded on the narrow twisting streets in the final few hundred metres.
The Frenchman accelerated to overtake the Dane before the final bend and subsequent drop to the line in the Piazza.
Alaphilippe raised his arms in delight as he crossed for his fourth win of the season after two stages of the Vuelta San Juan in Argentina and one at the Tour of Colombia. - AFP