Prague

Prague

Vidit Gujrathi keeps lead despite loss

Vidit Gujrathi suffered a defeat at the hands of Czech GM David Navara in the eighth round of the Prague Chess Festival but remained on top of the standings. He has five points in his kitty and leads Russian Nikita Vitiugov, David Anton Guijjaro and Alireza Firouzja by half-point. Gujrathi lost to Navara in the eighth round in a West Indian opening in 64 moves after coming under time pressure. He meets top seed Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland in the final round and will aim for a victory to seal the title after having finished second in the 2019 edition. P Harikrishna was held to a draw by Austrian Markus Ragger in 35 moves as his quest for a win continued. It was the Indian No. 3 player’s seventh draw in the tournament against one loss. He lies in the ninth spot with three points and faces Navara in the final round

Poonam’s trips Aussies

Leg-spinner spins web around defending champs as India defend below-par total

Sydney, Feb 21

Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav bowled a magical spell in her comeback game to steer India to a comfortable 17-run win over defending champions Australia in their opening match of the Women’s T20 World Cup.

Put in to bat, India struggled to 132 before Poonam (4/19) foxed the Aussies with her googlies, turning the match decisively in her team’s favour. Australia were all out for 115 in 19.5 overs.

“A bowler like Poonam is someone who leads from the front. We were expecting a great comeback from her. Our team is looking nice, earlier we depended on two-three players,” India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said.

Collapse

Australia started their chase with opener Alyssa Healy making a 35-ball 51, laced with six boundaries and one six. However, the Indian spinners led by Poonam triggered a collapse as Australia slipped to 82/6. Poonam (4/19) snapped four wickets, two off successive deliveries in the 12th over, to break the back of Australia’s chase. Ashleigh Gardner (34 off 36) tried her bit but did not get any support from the other end. As wickets fell and the team ran out of overs, there was little she could do. Australia needed 21 off the final overs, with only two wickets in hand, and the task was too much for Ashleigh.

Flying start

Earlier, India squandered a flying start to end up with a below-par total. Sixteen-year-old Shafali Verma took India to 40/0 in four overs with an aggressive 29 off 15 balls but her fall derailed the innings as the other batters disappointed. Deepti Sharma made a 46-ball 49 but the firepower that India needed in the death overs was badly missing.

Left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen snapped two quick wickets, Smriti Mandhana (10) and Harmanpreet (2), to reduce India to 47/3. Deepti then shared 53 runs with Jemimah Rodrigues (26) to bring up 100 runs in the 16th over.

For Australia, Ellyse Perry (1/15) and Delissa Kimmince (1/24) were the other wicket-takers.

India next play against Bangladesh in Perth on February 24. — PTI

BOX BOX BOX

Hat-trick missed

Poonam Yadav, who missed the preceding Tri-series due to a hand injury, also got good support from pacer Shikha Pandey. The 28-year-old from Agra was on a hat-trick but narrowly missed out as wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia dropped a difficult catch.

“It was great to come back from an injury and perform like this. It was the third time that I was on a hat-trick but I am satisfied that I was able to do the job for the team,” said Poonam.

13,000 The tournament-opener saw a record 13,000 plus attendance with a sizeable chunk supporting India.

No play on second day of J&K-Karnataka Ranji QF because of wet ground conditions

Jammu, February 21

The second day’s play in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match between Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir was called off without a ball being bowled because of wet ground conditions. Despite sun shining brightly today, water seepage after last night’s downpour left wet patches near the run-up area at one end. The on-field umpires conducted as many as five inspections before eventually calling off the day’s proceedings. Karnataka were wobbling at 14/2 at stumps after only six overs were possible due to bad light on the opening day.

Brief Scores

Bengal: 332 (Anustup Majumdar 157, Shahbaz Ahmed 82; Basant Mohanty 4/53, Suryakant Pradhan 3/115, Preet Singh Chohan 2/52); Odisha: 151/4 (Debasish Samantray 68, Shantanu Mishra 62)

Saurashtra: 419 (Chirag Jani 121, Perak Mankad 80, Vishvarajsingh Jadeja 73, Sheldon Jackson 50; Prithvi Raj Yarra 3/51, KV Sasikanth 3/149); Andhra Pradesh: 40/2 (Jaydev Unadkat 2/20)

Gujarat: 602/8 decl. (Parthiv Patel 124, Roosh Kalaria 118*; Felix Alemoa 3/86); Goa: 46/2