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England trail Sri Lanka by 214 on Day One after bad light stops play

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MANCHESTER: England trailed Sri Lanka by 214 runs on day one of the first test after bad light stopped play on Wednesday at Old Trafford where the tourists’ decision to bat first backfired when they were all out for 236.

Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva won the toss and opted to bat under cloudy skies but his side were three down for six runs after seven overs before he led their recovery efforts with a confident knock of 74 in the middle order.

England were 22 for no loss in four overs with Ben Duckett and Dan Lawrence at the crease. Sri Lanka, who were unable to get their fast bowlers to use the new ball in fading light, opted to walk off with a few minutes left until stumps.

“I think it’s a good day. When you bowl on day one on a test surface like that, to be batting at the end of the day I think you’re really happy,” England’s Chris Woakes, who took 3-32, told Sky Sports.

With a hard pitch offering assistance for England’s seam attack in the first innings, Sri Lanka’s openers were stifled early on as the bowlers dominated the opening session to reduce the visitors to 80-5 at lunch.

Despite the pressure, De Silva walked in and provided resistance, scoring at nearly a run a ball at one point.

England, captained by Ollie Pope with Ben Stokes ruled out with a hamstring injury, were left frustrated when De Silva stitched together a valuable 63-run partnership with test debutant Milan Rathnayake, who came in at number nine.

But De Silva fell just before tea when he was caught at leg slip off right-arm spinner Shoaib Bashir (3-55) as the Old Trafford crowd applauded the opposing skipper.

BAD LIGHT

Bad light in the final session forced England to bowl only their spinners with Joe Root also coming into the attack under the floodlights.

Rathnayake, however, continued to annoy England’s bowlers and notched up a well-made 72 off 135 balls before Bashir struck again to have him caught at mid-on.

Sri Lanka’s innings came to a close when Vishwa Fernando was run out by Pope after he had made his way halfway down the pitch before being sent back by Asitha Fernando.

“It would have been nice to bowl them out earlier than what they got, but with the bad light we couldn’t bring our quick guys on to mop up the tail,” Woakes added.

“We wanted to stay out there and feel we could bowl them out. Thankfully, we did in the end. It could have been for 30 less than they got but still really happy.”

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K L Rahul likely to skip England series

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India batter K L Rahul is set to miss the white-ball series against England, starting in Kolkata on January 22, after requesting a ‘break’ from the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

The series, comprising of five T20s and three ODIs, holds significance as it precedes the ICC Champions Trophy, starting on February 19.

However, Rahul will be available for selection for the ICC Champions Trophy next month. India will play all their games in Dubai while the rest of the matches will be held in host nation Pakistan.

“He has sought a break for the England series but he will be available for selection for Champions Trophy,” a BCCI source told PTI.

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Jasprit Bumrah will be the next India captain says Gavaskar

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The legendary Sunil Gavaskar is in awe of Jasprit Bumrah’s leadership qualities and reckons the peerless fast bowler will succeed Rohit Sharma as the next captain of the Indian team following his extraordinary display in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Bumrah recently produced one of the best-ever bowling performances by an overseas pacer in Australia and picked 32 wickets over five Tests.

He was also captain during India’s only victory in the series, helping the visitors to a convincing win at the Optus Stadium in Perth in the opener.

“He could be the next man. I think he will be the next man. Because he leads from the front, he has got a very good air about him, the air of a leader but not somebody who is going to pressure on you,” Gavaskar aired his views on Channel 7.

The batting great added, “Sometimes, you have captains who put a lot of pressure on you. With Bumrah you can see that, he expects the others to do what their job is, why they are in the national team, but it doesn’t seem to pressurise anybody.”

Bumrah has been spearheading the Indian pace attack for some years now and his guidance has helped the likes of Mohammed Siraj to grow as a fast bowler.

“With the fast bowlers, he has been absolutely brilliant, standing at mid-off, mid-on and every time just being at hand to tell them. I think he was absolutely brilliant and I won’t be surprised if he takes over very soon.”

Bumrah took his wickets at an incredible average of 13.06 and an even better strike rate of 28.37 before pulling up injured midway through Australia’s first innings at the SCG in the final Test.

In Bumrah’s absence, the home team chased down 162 on the third day to win the series 3-1.

The lead pacer was handed the captaincy in the final Test after the out-of-form Rohit Sharma “opted out” but a back spasm prevented Bumrah from bowling on the crucial third day.

Bumrah destroyed Australia in Perth with eight wickets, grabbed six wickets in the first innings at the Gabba, and nearly turned the Boxing Day Test on its head with his exploits on the fourth afternoon at MCG.

In the series decider at SCG, Bumrah sent back Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne early in Australia’s first innings but could only bowl one over after lunch on the second day when the game was evenly poised.

The Indian pacer was named the Player of the Series for his unforgettable performance.

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‘Kohli knows what to do’: Du Plessis backs India star

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Virat Kohli will be “super motivated” to put a struggling phase behind him and the premier India batter is capable of returning to his run-making ways, said former South African captain Faf du Plessis here on Wednesday.

Kohli had a torrid time in Australia during the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy, amassing a mere 190 runs at an average of 23.75 across five Tests despite starting off with an unbeaten hundred in the first Test at Perth.

Du Plessis backed Kohli, his one-time teammate at Royal Challengers Bangalore, to come back stronger from the struggles, and said retirement is a “very personal” choice.

“That is very, very personal. No one can speak to you about when that time is (up) as a player, you’ll know,” du Plessis told PTI on the sidelines of the SA20 Season 3’s Captain’s Day.

“I know someone like him is super super motivated, he’s gone through it all before, so he knows exactly what to do,” said Du Plessis.

The 40-year-old then went back to the day when he felt his time was up as a Test cricketer.

“It is different for every player. Every player needs to answer that question. I remember when that time was for me,” he said.

“I just knew that certainly from the Test cricket perspective for me. I didn’t have that same hunger and drive anymore and I felt that that stage certainly for me was a good time to let new guys come in and also step into the T20 world.

“I wanted to do that at the stage where I still felt like I was on top of my game,” he added.

Du Plessis was not pleased with ICC reportedly exploring the possibility of a two-tier Test system.

“No, I think we need the game to be healthy,” Du Plessis said.

“We saw over the last few years the value that was put on Test cricket by Australia, England and India making sure that there were 4-5 Test series.

“When you look at the other teams, there are two Test matches here and there and playing six Test matches a season. I do not think that is healthy for the game,” he offered.

“As long as we can look at Test cricket as (being) important, you just look at all the Test matches that took place over the last few weeks, some incredible matches have been played,” Du Plessis noted.

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