SPORTS

Both of England’s wicket-takers were in operation when Rohit Sharma was dismissed less than two overs after the tea-break. They were Ollie Robinson, who had just gotten rid of Sharma leg-before, and Craig Overton, the remover of KL Rahul from earlier in the day. Yet, the focus had shifted to two men emerging on to the field from their respective dressing rooms – not just because Virat Kohli was one of them, but mainly due to James Anderson being the other.

Anderson hadn’t taken the field immediately after tea but was now by the edge of the boundary rope, warming up his bowling arm and raring to go. And why not, given that he had dismissed both the Indians out in the middle – Kohli and the well-set Cheteshwar Pujara – on 17 collective occasions in Test cricket; Pujara 10 times and Kohli seven.

After Nasser Hussein, another former British cricketer has made a strong remark on India captain Virat Kohli. Writing in ‘Dailymail’, David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd has said that he is not impressed with the way Kohli keeps questioning the umpires; he is apparently referring to the gestures Kohli made on the opening day’s play between India and England at Leeds.

Ishant Sharma bowled a wayward over that contained ten balls. Sharma overstepped a few times and then bowled a wide. When Umpire Alex Wharf made the call, Kohli looked disappointed standing at first slip. Lloyd remarked that a person of Kohli’s stature can’t keep doing that and must be penalized.

It was not a monster surface that was responsible for the Indian batsmen’s swift procession to the dressing room on Day 1 of the third Test at Headingley. It was the combination of their ineptitude and James Anderson’s mastery that culminated in a horror first day for the visitors.

It was as if the eight-day recess had dulled the resolve and resilience of India’s batsmen. While India’s batting line-up is flawed and prone to malfunctioning, they seemed to have compensated for these deficiencies with an unbreakable mindset. Here, they lost that spirit to capitulate for 78 all out.

Sunshine in England is the best time to pile runs in the country, but not perhaps in the first session of a Test match, not at Headingley of all venues, though the ground is no longer seen as a seamers’ paradise it once used to be. Anderson, with the wine-dark Dukes ball and pent-up angst since the Lord’s Test, made telling blows early in the Test.

India captain Virat Kohli on Tuesday said the World No. 2 side will not back down in an on-field altercation and such moments fire up the team to do better. Kohli's comments came on the eve of the 3rd Test against England at Headingley in Leeds, starting August 25.

India were fired up on the last two days of the Lord's Test which they won by a margin of 151 runs after scripting a remarkable comeback with their tail-enders Mohammed Sami and Jasprit Bumrah leading the show with the bat on the final day. India went into Day 5 in a spot of bother but an 89-run stand between Sami and Bumrah turned the tide in the visitors' favour.

It all began when Jasprit Bumrah and James Anderson had a go at each other after the former came up with a barrage of bouncers to the England great. Kohli did not hold back as he was involved in a verbal duel with Anderson during the 2nd innings of the Lord's Test. The India captain was charged up as he was constantly on the face of the England batsmen when they were chasing 272 in the last 2 sessions of the 2nd Test.

India is sending its largest-ever contingent for the 2020 Paralympics, which starts in Tokyo on August 24.

The 54-member Indian contingent will compete to win India’s highest medal tally, just like their compatriots did in the Tokyo Olympics.

Here are the Indian parathletes who can win medals at Tokyo 2020: