Page 50 - The Indian EYE 011422

SpORTS JANUARY 14, 2022 | The Indian Eye 50

indian ToUr oF soUTh aFriCa

Bumrah rises in ICC rankings,

Kohli slips and Pujara & Rahane

regain lost form

where we wanted some runs for the
OUR BUREAU
team,” he added.
Johannesburg (South Africa) South Africa need 122 runs to
win the second Test against India
ndia opening batter KL Rahul has with six sessions left in the match
made a huge gain of 18 slots to
Ireach 31st position among batters here. Pujara is confident that India
will seal the match on Thursday de-
in the ICC Men’s Test Player Rank- spite not picking “many” wickets on
ings after his Player of the Match Day Three.
effort in Centurion that helped In- “Whenever you have some runs
dia defeat South Africa by 113 runs on the board it always helps, if you
to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match look at this game it has been a chal-
series. lenging pitch but we have runs on
Fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and
Mohammad Shami are other Indians the board, so the game is still very
balanced. We haven’t picked up too
to move up the rankings. Bumrah is many wickets today but we are con-
up to three spots to ninth after fin- fident that we’ll have more chances
ishing with five wickets in the match tomorrow,” said Pujara.
while Shami’s eight wickets, includ- Indian Test captain Virat Kohli
ing a five-for in the first innings, see had a spasm on his upper back on
him move up two places to 17th. Monday morning and was ruled out
Rahul, whose best in the format
is in the eighth position that he at- of the second Test.
“He (Kohli) is definitely getting
tained in November 2017, struck 123 better and I feel he will soon be fit,”
in the first innings and was associat- said Pujara on Wednesday.
ed in an important 117-run opening
partnership with Mayank Agrawal lEarn To TaKE iT Kid,
(60) as India became the first Asian
team to win a Test match at the venue says sTEyn aFTEr BUMrah
while gaining important points in the Jasprit Bumrah in action in South Africa (ANI) sTarEs doWn aT JansEn
WTC points table. Kagiso Rabada, who grabbed ane stitched a 111-run stand for the
India skipper Virat Kohli has
dropped two slots and he is now in seven scalps, has advanced one place third wicket and helped India extend ormer South African player
Dale Steyn on Wednesday ad-
their lead on Wednesday. Both bat-
to sixth position while his fellow
the ninth spot in the rankings. Rohit fast bowler Lungi Ngidi has gained ters were going through a lean patch Fvised India’s Jasprit Bumrah to
Sharma is static at the fifth spot in 16 slots and is 30th on the list after but ended up hitting crucial fifties ‘take it’ after the latter was involved in
the Test rankings. finishing with eight wickets in the on Day Three of the second Test. a heated confrontation with the Pro-
Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin
has held onto his second spot in the match. Debutant left-arm fast bowler “This pitch has variable bounce and teas’ bowler Marco Jansen on Day 3
Marco Jensen entered the rankings
it’s not easy whenever you get a vari-
of the ongoing second Test match in
Test bowling rankings. in 97th position. able bounce, you put it away because Johannesburg.
Agarwal has gained one place
The incident happened in the
for his contribution while Ajink- noThinG ExTra, you never know when you will get an 54th over of India’s second innings
unplayable ball. It was a part of my
ya Rahane is up two places to 25th
in the latest update that is carried says PUJara on his valianT game, that if get a loose ball I’ll try when tailender Bumrah couldn’t
out on Wednesdays and includes all KnoCK and convert it,” said Pujara in the connect properly on a short delivery
post-match press conference after
from Jansen. Following that the pair
matches that are completed by Tues- the end of day three’s play. confronted each other mid-pitch and
day each week. heteshwar Pujara might have “But I didn’t do anything extra, I let loose a barrage of words. On the
For South Africa, captain and
scored fifty on Wednesday
opener Dean Elgar have progressed Cbut the Indian batter feels have been batting well and it was one previous delivery too, the pair were
seen sharing glares following a short
of those days when everything went
two spots to 14th after a fighting 77 he didn’t do any extra effort for his as per my plan. Overall really happy delivery by the Proteas bowler. The
in the second innings while Temba knock-on Day Three of the second with the way things went and I think 28-year-old Indian eventually lost his
Bavuma is up 16 places to 39th for Test against South Africa. my partnership with Ajinkya was very wicket in the 57th over, outside edg-
his scores of 52 and 35 not out.
Pujara along with Ajinkya Rah- crucial, given that we were at a stage Continued at next page... >>
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