The big news: Kohli-Pujara show takes India past 300

The second Test between India and England in Vizag began with the hosts winning the toss and electing to bat first. India had a horrible start with KL Rahul, who was making a comeback, getting out for a duck with a Stuart Broad delivery. Murali Vijay also had a short stay at the crease, making 20 runs before falling to James Anderson.

With advantage clearly to England and India stuttering at 22/2, in walked two batsmen who changed the complexion of the match. Cheteshwar Pujara and India’s Test captain, Virat Kohli, took the team to safety with a superb partnership of 226 runs. Pujara eventually fell for 119, while Kohli remained unbeaten on 151. India ended the day’s play at 317/4 with Ravichandran Ashwin (3) at the crease with his captain.

Other top stories

  1. West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell, who missed three dope tests between January and July last year, will see proceedings begin against him on Thursday in Kingston. The anti-doping hearing will be important because an athlete can be suspended for up to two years under the World Anti-Doping Agency code if they miss three tests in a year, which amount to a failed dope test.      
  2. South Africa’s stand-in skipper in the ongoing three-match Test series in Australia, Faf du Plessis, will find out on Sunday if he will face a charge for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct. Du Plessis was seen shining the ball with what appeared to be a sweet in his mouth in the second Test in Hobart. ICC CEO David Richardson is expected to take a call over the incident.
  3. The Indian women’s team take on West Indies in the first T20I match in Vijaywada on Thursday. Recently, the Indian team beat West Indies 3-0 in the one-day series and will look to repeat the feat in the T20I games. 
  4. Australia’s Adam Voges suffered a concussion after being struck on the helmet by a bouncer during a Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania on Thursday. The Western Australia captain was ruled out of the rest of the match after he failed to duck to the delivery from Cameron Stevenson and received a sickening blow to the helmet, which saw him fall to the ground. He was later assisted off the field by medical staff. 
  5. Gautam Gambhir is set to leave the Indian Test squad and join his Ranji side Delhi for their clash with Rajasthan. Gambhir is likely to be released by the Indian team management as the selection committee of the Delhi & District Cricket Association has named him in the 16-member squad with Ishant Sharma also being included. 
  6. England’s director of cricket, Andrew Strauss, backed Alastair Cook as the Test captain well into the summer of 2017. “He’s batting well and he’s still young. It is quite scary how young he is really and I have every faith that he will carry on past this series and into the summer,” Strauss said during an interview.