Ariya first Thai to reach No. 1
THAILAND’S Ariya Jutanugarn has seized the No. 1 world ranking from New Zealand’s Lydia Ko with neither lifting a club in the LPGA ShopRite Classic – where Ryu So-Yeon missed the cut yesterday to cement the shift. Ryu, ranked third in the world, had a chance to leapfrog Ariya by finishing third or better in the tournament in Galloway, New Jersey. But she fired back-to-back rounds of 3-over 74 to miss the second-round cut in the 54-hole tournament, where South Korea’s Kim In-Kyung and American Paula Creamer shared the 36-hole lead. Ko will slip from the summit after 84 straight weeks at the top. She’s been ranked No. 1 for 103 weeks overall. Ariya becomes the 10th player to reach No. 1 since the women’s rankings were introduced in 2006 and the first from Thailand. Both Kim and Creamer signed for four-under par 67s. Kim, seeking a fifth LPGA title and her first since a win in China in October had six birdies and two bogeys. She closed out her round with back-to-back birdies and said she’s feeling “even stronger” after a winter spent rehabbing injuries suffered in a freak fall down some stairs. awkwardly in his delivery stride.
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed won the toss in what was the opening Group B match for both the arch-rivals in a tournament featuring the world’s top eight one-day international teams.
India’s openers made an initially cautious start before they upped the tempo either side of a 50-minute rain break.
Sharma, however, was fortunate when, on 21, he edged Amir just beyond a diving Azhar Ali at slip for four.
Pakistan were donated a wicket, however, when Dhawan hoisted a full toss from teenage leg-spinner Shadab Khan straight to Azhar Ali at deep midwicket.
There were times when Pakistan’s bowlers, Wahab apart, maintained the disciplined line and length needed on a good batting pitch.
Sharma went 43 balls without a boundary before cover-driving and pulling Wahab for a four and a six off successive deliveries.
But in sight of what would have been his 11th ODI hundred, Rohit was run out when he just failed to beat Babar Azam’s throw to wicket-keeper Sarfraz after Kohli called him for a tight single.
It was the end of a 119-ball innings featuring two sixes and seven fours.
Yuvraj should have been out for eight but Hasan Ali, sliding round at long-on, dropped the two-handed catch off Shadab.
Hasan eventually had Yuvraj lbw on review but by then the damage had been done.
Kohli had made 43 when he was missed by substitute Fakhar Zaman, who got both hands to a top-edged hook off Wahab but could not hold on.
A blizzard of boundaries followed, with Kohli flat-batting Hasan down the ground for six to complete his fifty. – AFP