Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar went all guns blazing in the final session to help India chase down the mammoth 326-run target set by Australia. Wicketkeeper-batsmen Rishabh Pant kept the momentum going for India after Pujara’s dismissal and held his nerve to get the visitors across the line. With the win at Brisbane, the Indian team now finds themselves within visible distance of reaching the World Test Championships finals scheduled to be held at Lords, England.

Pant showed why he is one of the most dangerous batsmen, never leaving the focus and keeping the pressure on Australia who needed nothing less than a win to stop India from retaining the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

Pant smashed 89 not out, stitching a crucial 61-run stand with Cheteshwar Pujara. Washington Sundar, on debut, played a blinder hitting 22 before Pant gave the finishing touches.

In the absence of Virat Kohli and their first-choice bowling attack, India has pulled off what will be remembered as one of their greatest game in Test history.

It was the young guns, who led the show. Mohammed Siraj, playing his 3rd Test, picked up a 5-wicket haul. Washington Sundar, on debut, hit a fifty and came up with an all-round performance. Shardul Thakur picked up 7 wickets and hit a first-innings fifty as India cut down Australia’s lead to 33 after being 186 for 6. T Natarajan picked up 3 crucial first-innings wicket as youngsters stepped up in the absence of the old guards.

“It means a lot to us. I don’t know how to describe this, but our boys showed a lot of character and determination after the Adelaide Test. I’m really proud if each individual. The conversation between Pujara and me was that he would bat normal, and I would take it on. Credit to Pujara, the way he handled the pressure was magnificent. Rishabh and Washington were very good at the end. Taking 20 wickets was the key, so we opted for 5 bowlers. Sundar brought the balance in place of Jadeja. The intention was clear to play five bowlers. Siraj played two Tests, Saini just one, so it was inexperienced but the character shown by the bowlers and everyone else was incredible”, Indian skipper Ajinkya Rahane said in the post-match presentation.

After the historic win at Gabba, PM Modi tweeted, “We are all overjoyed at the success of the Indian Cricket Team in Australia. Their remarkable energy and passion was visible throughout. So was their stellar intent, remarkable grit and determination. Congratulations to the team! Best wishes for your future endeavours.”

We are all overjoyed at the success of the Indian Cricket Team in Australia. Their remarkable energy and passion was visible throughout. So was their stellar intent, remarkable grit and determination. Congratulations to the team! Best wishes for your future endeavours.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 19, 2021

Dubbing India’s Gabba win as the greatest ever, Google CEO Sundar Pichai also congratulated Team India.

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Kohli won the toss and elected to field. Opener Matthew Wade scored 80 runs from 53 balls, to help his side post a target of 187 runs. Australia finished at 186 for five after 20 overs, with Glenn Maxwell (54) also scoring a half-century.

Sundar was the top bowler for India, notching two wickets. Meanwhile, T Natarajan and Shardul Thakur also registered a dismissal each.

India had a shaky start to their chase, losing KL Rahul early. Virat Kohli attempted to anchor India’s chase, scoring 85 runs from 61 balls, but didn’t receive much support from the other Indian batsmen.

In the end, the visitors could only muster 174 for seven in 20 overs. Mitchell Swepson took three wickets for Australia, while Glenn Maxwell and Adam Zampa registered a dismissal each, respectively.

The win also puts an end to India’s winning streak in the shortest format of the game. Virat Kohli and his side have won the T20I series, 2-1. This series will be followed by a four-match Test series, which begins on December 17.

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Tooter, with a conch shell(shank) icon, is an Indian alternative to Twitter that became popular amid call for going ‘vocal for local’ in the country. Modelled in the likes of Twitter, the site also has a white and blue coloured interface and is inspired by the US-based platform Parler.

This ‘Made in India’ social media site went viral after it identified itself as a swadeshi social network.

In fact the website became active around June or July. But it caught netizens’attention only recently and ever since then desi Twitter users have left no stone unturned to create hilarious memes and jokes about it.

#Tooter
*Indian version of Twitter exist*

Expectation Reality : pic.twitter.com/6U35Euf2Ui

— अभिमन्यु (@abhiishutup) November 24, 2020

https://twitter.com/sircazm/status/1331392267043500032

Twitter #Tooter pic.twitter.com/fgv3kIhLIC

— Patriotic Indian (@SwadeshiINC) November 24, 2020

https://twitter.com/AbdulSRKian01/status/1331209543167066112

If you wonder who will be using this identical twin of Twitter, one won’t be surprised as the site has some prominent personalities as its users like PM Narendara Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, actor Abhishek Bachchan, Sadhguru and cricketer Virat Kohli.

The site claims that it aims to promote free speech and not punish users for “exercising their god-given right to speak freely.”

The platform is a cross between Facebook and Twitter. It follows the same mechanism as Twitter, as the user has to create an account on Tootter with a username and an email address. After signing up, users can follow other accounts , read through a feed and customise groups and lists. Like posts on Twitter are called tweets, it is Toots on Tooter. The app is available only for Android users.

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Royal Challengers Bangalore routed Kolkata Knight Riders in the 39th match in Abu Dhabi on October 21 piggyriding on Mohammed Siraj’s brilliant spell of three wickets for the loss of 8 runs. Kolkata could make only 84 for 8, the lowest total of the season, despite winning the toss and batting first. Bangalore easily chased the target at the loss of two wickets.

Right-arm pacer Siraj who replaced Shahbaz Ahmed in the team took three wickets in consecutive overs. He dismissed Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana in his first over and then Tom Banton in his second. He also had two consecutive maiden overs, thus creating a history in the IPL.

This was followed by leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal’s onslaught destroying Kolkata batting line-up beyond repair. Washington Sundar (1 for 14) and Chahal (2 for 15) destroyed KKR middle order.

Captain Eoin Morgan (30 runs off 34 balls) alone made a valiant attempt to save the innings for KKR.

Bangalore’s chase was aided by Devdutt Padikkal (25 off 17). Virat Kohli (18 off 17) and Gurkeerat Singh Mann (21 off 26) remained unbeaten to ensure an easy 8-wicket win for RCB with 39 balls to spare.

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After winning the toss, RCB elected to bat and put up a challenging 169 for four wickets against a stiff Chennai attack. Though skipper Kohli shone throughout, Devdutt Padikkal (33 off 34 balls) and Shivam Dube (22* off 14 balls) also presented good batting.

Chasing 170 for a win, the three-time champions ended at 132 for eight after 20 overs. Ambati Rayudu top scored with 42. Rayudu’s 64-run third wicket partnership with Narayan Jagadeesan (33) gave hope of a good chase but once they departed, the rest of the batting crumbled under the pressure. Dhoni, who has not been playing his best game, went out for 10.

RCB bowling attack has been largely steered by Yuzvendra Chahal (1/35) and Washington Sundar (2/16). Newcomer Chris Morris, who finished with 3/19, provided valuable support this time.
CSK has now lost five out of seven matches. CSK captain Dhoni admitted batting has become his team’s major worry in the IPL campaign, and there are “too many holes in the ship”. CSK has been dependent on openers Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis or Ambati Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja, who cannot be expected to successfully anchor every chase in a long tournament.

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Virat Kohli put down two crucial catches off rival skipper KL Rahul, who went on to score an unbeaten century , and then was himself dismissed for just one run off five deliveries against Kings XI Punjab in Dubai on September 25.

In the commentary box, Gavaskar came up with a comment involving Anushkar Sharma. “He only practiced against Anushka’s bowling during the lockdown. See the video. That won’t help,” Gavaskar is heard saying during commentary.

Many videos of Sunil Gavaskar’s remarks were doing the rounds on social media. The remark was in bad taste and did not go down well with the RCB skipper’s fans, with some of them urging the BCCI to remove Gavaskar from the commentary panel.

Reacting to Gavaskar’s comment, Anushka Sharma responded saying, ”Mr. Gavaskar your message is distasteful is a fact but I would love for you to explain why you thought of making such a sweeping statement on a wife accusing her for her husband’s game? I am sure over the years you have respected the private lives of every cricketer while commentating on the game.”

Over the years, on quite a few instances, the Bollywood actress has been blamed whenever Kohli under-performed on the cricket field.

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K.L. Rahul, the Kings XI Punjab skipper, smashed an unbeaten 132 off just 69 deliveries – the first century of the 2020 season and the highest in IPL by an Indian so far – to help his team post a massive 206 for 3 and a 97-run win.

The Karnataka batsman also recorded the highest score ever by a captain in the IPL, and broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record to become the fastest Indian to reach 2,000 IPL runs, achieving the feat in 60 innings compared to Tendulkar’s 63 innings.

India as well as RCB captain Virat Kohli dropped Rahul twice – on 83 and again on 89 one over later – in the match in Dubai on September 24. Rahul, who hit 14 fours and seven sixes in his blistering attack, was adjudged player of the match. For RCB, Ravi Bishnoi took three wickets for 31 runs and Murugan Ashwin 3 for 21.

Kohli, who elected to bowl after winning the toss, acknowledged that he did not have the “best day of the office”. While he was dismissed for 1, his team was packed off for 109 in 17 overs.

Dean Jones’ death

The game started on a sombre note on account of the sudden death of Australian batsman and cricket commentator Dean Jones, who had been covering the IPL tournament from Mumbai, from a heart attack.
Players from both teams wore black armbands to honour Jones and in a pre-match show, fellow commentator and Australian Brett Lee praised the late 59-year-old as an “absolute legend”.

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Sunrisers Hyderabad suffered a 10-run defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first Indian Premier League match on September 21 at the Dubai Cricket Stadium.

Chasing 164, Sunrisers – who won the toss and decided to bowl – looked comfortable with Jonny Bairstow in superb form and batting on 61 (6 fours and 2 sixes) after the initial setback of losing opener David Warner (6) to a second-over run-out. Sunrisers looked all set with 121-2 in the 16th over but when Bairstow decided to attack a delivery from Yuzvendra Chahal (3-18), he became the first of eight wickets lost in 26 balls.

Vijay Shankar fell for a duck from the next delivery while the wickets of Priyam Garg (12) , Abhishek Sharma (7) and Rashid Khan (6) fell quickly soon after. An injured Mitchell Marsh demoted down the batting line-up led to the collapse of the lower order and RCB romped home in the IPL opener. RCB’s win was achieved in the final over when Sandeep Sharma (9) was caught in the deep by skipper Virat Kohli off Dale Steyn (1-33).

Devdutt Padikkal (56) and AB de Villiers (51) helped RCB shore up 163-5 in their 20 overs.

RCB’s maiden victory in IPL 2020 could signify that their jinx in the IPL is over and that they can hope for the title for the first time.

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