#652 Mayank Agarwal’s fine 76 on debut gives India a platform to make a huge total; Pujara and Virat shine too; Lakmal shocks NZ with a 5-fer but all round show by Southee gives NZ back the control; Babar Azam plays a gem to rescue Pakistan ; Oliver ran through Pakistan middle and lower order ; Liverpool and Barca keep winning in their league; Man City shocked by crystal Palace and more...:-)
In Boxing day test, India won the all important toss. India made 3 changes. Mayank Agarwal made his debut. Rohit Sharma and Jadeja made comebacks. Murli Vijay, KL Rahul and Umesh Yadav were dropped. India started well though cautiously. Mayank didn’t show nerves early on which showed with confidence in defending as well as attacking. Vihari kept blocking . Mayank kept the scoreboard ticking. Run rate was not going beyond 2.5. Lyon came as early as 8th over. He could have had Vihari LBW but Australia decided not to review. India moved to 40-0 slowly before Cummins got one to bounce to dismiss Vihari for 8. Ball was not swinging. So Australia bowled short. Lyon bowled negative line by bowling around the wicket. India reached lunch at 57-1. Post lunch, Mayank opened up. He scored 2 boundaries of Lyon’s over to get past 50. He was looking really confident. Pujara batted just like he did in Adelaide. He waited for bad balls and blocked or left rest of them. They both took India past 100. Just when it looked like they would take India to tea without further fall of wickets, Cummins got one to climb on Mayank’s leg side. He edged it. India 123-2. Mayank’s 76 on debut was a fabulous display of storkeplay. He is here to stay. Post tea, Kohli started briskly with a couple of neat boundaries. Post that he and Pujara settled down. Pujara brought up his 50. This was his 3rd fifty of the series. Lyon reviewed for LBW against Kohli but impact was way outside off stump. These 2 took India 200 in 83rd over. Pitch was slow and it was not easy to bat aggressively. India had to bat once and bat big to take control of the match. India ended day at 215-2. Kohli was dropped by Paine later in the day. It was India’s day even though run rate was just 2.41. If Kohli and Pujara bat till lunch tomorrow, India could be in a commanding positon. Kohli was unbeaten at 47. Pujara looked classy at 68*.
There were 2 other Boxing day matches being played. NZ hosted Lanka and SA hosted Pakistan. NZ faced Lanka in Christchurch. Lakmal ripped apart NZ top order to reduce them to 64-6. NZ looked like they would get dismissed for under 120. But Watling did what he does best. He calmed things down a bit with gritty batting. Southee came and took NZ to safety with almost run a ball 68 . He hit 3 sixes and 6 boundaries. He had 108 run stand with Watling. Post that Kumara cleaned up NZ tail. NZ were dismissed for 178. Southee took his rhythm to bowling as he single handedly reduced Lanka to 21-3. Mendis and Mathews then played with caution like they did in first test. Against the run of play, Grandhomme dismissed Mendis. Mathews and Silva took Lanka to 88-4 by end of day’s play. Match is evenly poised at this stage. Lanka need another century from Mathews with help from lower order. NZ need Southee and Boult to fire.
In SA, Pakistan were dismissed for 181. Pakistan were decently at 54-2. But Oliver ripped apart middle and lower order as he grabbed a 6 fer. Pakistan were reduced to 111-8 from 54-2. Babar Azam then took Pakistan to a respectable total of 181. His 71 was a fearless innings. Pakistan needed quick wickets early on. SA though were placed decently at 43-1. But 3 wickets fell for the same score. SA 43-4. Shaheen Afridi grabbed 2 in 2 wickets. Bavuma and De Bruyn then played well to take things forward for SA. SA were placed at 112-4 by end of 32 overs. This fifty plus stand took SA to safety.
In EPL, Liverpool continued to dominate as they beat Wolves 2-0. Salah was star again for Liverpool. Crystal Palace shocked City 3-2. This gave Liverpool 4 point lead over City. Schlupp and Townsend were stars for Crystal Palace. ManU thrashed Cardiff 5-1. Spurs thrashed Everton 6-2. Kane was the star with 2 goals. In La Liga, Barca continued winning run with 2-0 win over Celta Vigo. Athletico Madrid beat Espanyol 1-0.
