SPORTS

Sunil Gavaskar was not at all pleased with India captain Rohit Sharma's tactics of not giving the ball to Ravichandran Ashwin for almost the entire first hour of Day 2 of the third Test against Australia in Indore. Ashwin, India's second-highest wicket-taker in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy was introduced into the attack only a few minutes before the drinks break. By that time, Peter Handcomb and Cameron Green had batted well to stretch Australia's first-innings lead over 75.

Gavaskar was not convinced by Rohit's ploy of perhaps paying more attention to the match-ups instead of the quality of the cricketer. Gavaskar said because Handscomb and Green are two right-handers, Rohit started with pacer Mohammed Siraj and left-spinner Ravindra Jadeja. The former was replaced by Axar Patel and Ashwin, an off-spinner, was kept waiting.

Ravichandran Ashwin was dimissed by Matthew Kuhnemann after some smart glovework behind the stumps by Alex Carey on the first day in the third Test at Holkar Stadium on Wednesday.

Kuhnemann flighted the ball nicely around middle, inviting Ashwin forward, as he tried to defend, but the turn away took the slightest of outside edges. Alex Carey took a sharp catch behind the stumps to his right and also managed to get the bails off in a flash for the stumping.

The Australians went up in an appeal almost immediately. The square leg umpire sent it upstairs for a referral as UltraEdges showed a spike and Ashwin had to make the walk back to the dressing room.

Team India will take on Australia in the third match of the four-Test series in Indore starting Wednesday, March 1. With a 2-0 lead in the series, the hosts have put one foot in the door for a spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) and if they win the Indore Test, the door will open fully. While the focus in the past 10 days has been on Australia, their struggles, their inability to adapt and the injuries they have suffered, India too had their fair share of issues owing to just one player, KL Rahul.

Rahul's form has divided former cricketers and even incited a spat between a couple of them and everybody else had an opinion of what the opening batter should do to come out of this form slump. Rahul, who has scored just 38 runs in three innings, lost the tag of vice-captain when the BCCI announced the squad for the remaining two games and it seems that was a way to likely leave him out of the side. Rahul hasn't scored a fifty for 10 innings spanning over a year in the longest format and Shubman Gill's inclusion into the side seems like a mere formality now.

It will be difficult for KL Rahul to avoid scathing criticism for his protracted poor run because of the enormous expectations attached with the job, especially when past cricketers have set high standards, says former India skipper Sourav Ganguly.

Stripped of vice captaincy, Rahul hasn't crossed 25-run mark in his last 10 Test knocks. An average of less than 35 in 47 Tests isn't an actual realisation of his real potential.

"When you don't score runs in India, obviously you will get flak. KL Rahul hasn't been the only one. There have been players in the past also," Ganguly told PTI in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of Delhi Capitals' IPL pre-season camp.

Sune Luus' South African team feel they have done their bit to raise the profile of cricket in their country and are turning it over to the governing body, CSA, to keep up the momentum they started. In reaching a senior World Cup final for the first time, South Africa Women have established themselves as the most successful white-ball team in the country but believe they will need greater investment and more resources to keep up with top-tier sides.

"We've done our best to give the girls in the country the best possible chance," Luus said. "We would have obviously loved to win, but I don't think we could have given it a bigger shot and more of a chance. It's obviously up to CSA and the Minister of Sport and whoever's in charge of cricket in this country to knock on doors and open those doors and give women's cricket the best chance they could possibly have to keep up with Australia, with England and with India."