SYDNEY, Jan 5: India batsman K L Rahul was on Tuesday ruled out of the remaining two Tests against Australia after sustaining a wrist injury during training in Melbourne, the BCCI said.

             Rahul had not played any match of the ongoing series in which the third Test starts on Thursday here.

             “KL Rahul sprained his left wrist while batting in the nets at the MCG during Team India’s practice session on Saturday,” the BCCI said in a statement.

             “The wicketkeeper-batsman will not be available for the remaining two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as he will need about three weeks time to recover completely and regain full strength,” it added.

             It has been learnt that the stylish right-hander suffered a sprain while facing one of the three throwdown specialists at the nets and had to call off his training session.

             For the time being, he will not be able to add to his 36 Test matches although Virat Kohli, before the start of the Test series, had stated that they were looking at Rahul as a middle-order batsman.

             Rahul had accompanied the squad to Sydney and on Tuesday left for India.

             He will head to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for rehabilitation.

             The injury also puts him in doubt for the four-match home Test series against England, which begins February 5.

             Rahul’s departure will effectively mean that one among Mayank Agarwal or Hanuma Vihari will save their place in the Indian playing XI depending on where vice-captain Rohit Sharma bats.

             Both Vihari and Agarwal have been in poor form with one score of fifty plus in eight innings.

             If Rohit bats in his new-found opening slot, then it could be curtains for Agarwal for the time being.

             Another option could be Agarwal and Rohit opening with Shubman Gill, despite his 45 and 35 not out, being pushed to middle order in place of Vihari.

             The third option is Rohit batting in the middle order and Agarwal and Gill getting one more Test as an opening pair. (PTI)

SYDNEY, Jan 5: ATP Cup champion Novak Djokovic and runner-up Rafael Nadal are set to return for the season-opening men’s team tennis event starting Feb. 1, but the United States will be missing because of a change in format that has halved the field.

            The inaugural event last year featured 24 teams and was played in three Australian cities, with Djokovic’s Serbia team beating Nadal and Spain in the final at Sydney’s Ken Rosewall Arena.

            The Feb. 1-5 second edition will involve 12 teams and be played entirely at Melbourne Park amid COVID-19 restrictions, along with WTA and ATP tournaments, in the week leading into the Australian Open.

            The draw will be held Jan. 20, with teams divided into four groups. The winner of each round-robin group will advance to the semifinals.

            Qualification for the ATP Cup was based on the ranking of each country’s top player, with Australia included on a wildcard entry. Other competing countries include Austria, Russia, Greece, Germany, Argentina, Italy, Japan, France and Canada.

            All players arriving in Melbourne for the Australian Open will be required to quarantine for 14 days before the delayed start of the season’s first major. The Australian Open is usually staged in the last two weeks of January, but has been pushed back to Feb. 8-21 because of travel and other restrictions in place for the COVID-19 pandemic.

            Qualifying for the men’s singles draw will take place in Doha, Qatar and for the women’s in Dubai, both from Jan. 10-13.

            As with other sports, the international tennis calendar was disrupted in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, including the postponement of the French Open’s start from May to September, and the cancellation of Wimbledon for the first time since World War II. (AP)

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 5: South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 10 wickets inside three days in the second and final test on Tuesday to clinch the series 2-0 and gain some revenge for a surprise loss to the Sri Lankans the last time they toured.

             South Africa’s quicks bowled Sri Lanka out for 211 in its second innings at the start of the day at a typically pace-friendly Wanderers, leaving the Proteas batsmen with a simple target of 67 to win.

             South Africa got there without losing a wicket and in just 13.2 overs as the home team cruised to victory. Aiden Markram was 36 not out and Dean Elgar 31 not out.

             Sri Lanka tested South Africa in stages but its hopes ultimately faded when captain Dimuth Karunaratne was out at the start of the day and soon after making a century.

             Karunaratne led the resistance with his 103 but he went less than five overs into the day’s play, and with his exit Sri Lanka lost its last six wickets for 35 runs.

             Pace bowler Lungi Ngidi finished with 4-44 for South Africa and was denied the chance of a five-wicket haul when pace partner Lutho Sipamla knocked out Asitha Fernando’s off stump to end the innings and collect three wickets.

             South Africa gave opportunities to young seamers Sipamla and Wiaan Mulder in the tests alongside Ngidi and Anrich Nortje in a bid to build depth ahead of upcoming series in Pakistan and at home to Australia.

             “The four seamers bowled really well,” said South Africa captain Quinton de Kock, who was successful in his first series as test skipper.

             “Our young lineup, they will get more experience, but good to see them come out hungry.”

             Sri Lanka started the day 150-4, with Karunaratne on 91, and had hopes of setting South Africa a reasonably challenging target on a difficult Johannesburg pitch for batsmen.

             The tourists weren’t able to do that as Karunaratne fell early trying a pull shot off fast bowler Nortje. He succeeded only in looping a catch to Mulder. His overnight partner Niroshan Dickwella was out four balls later and Sri Lanka’s resistance ended.

             “We fought hard but lost wickets,” Karunaratne said.

             “Individually, a couple of things we need to highlight, but as a group we have some positives to take out of the series.”

             The Sri Lankans showed grit in a losing effort after an horrendous run of injuries hampered them on the tour.

             They were missing two of their most experienced players before the series and had five players injured during the first test, contributing to their innings defeat.

             Four of those players were ruled out of the second Test. That left the bowling attack especially depleted and Vishwa Fernando, who took five in the first innings, was the attack’s most experienced member with just nine test appearances coming into the game.

             South Africa’s run chase at the end was relatively untroubled.

             Markram was given out in the over before lunch to a catch in the slips by Kusal Mendis but that decision was overturned when video replays showed the ball touched the ground as Mendis took it low down.

             Markram and Elgar saw it through soon after lunch and South Africa completed a first test series win in two years and since beating Pakistan in early 2019.

             A month later, they were shocked to lose 2-0 at home to Sri Lanka, which became the first Asian team to win a test series in South Africa.

             Sri Lanka heads home to host England, and South Africa prepares for its first tour of Pakistan in 14 years.

             “Never been there before, totally foreign,” said Elgar, who was man of the series for his 95 in the first Test and 127 in the first innings at the Wanderers.

             “Looking forward to it.” (AP) 

VASCO, Jan 5: Boosted by their first-ever Indian Super League victory, SC East Bengal will look to continue the good form when they take on FC Goa at the Tilak Maidan Stadium here on Wednesday.

             The new year brought new fortunes for debutants SC East Bengal as they finally bagged their first win in the ISL, brushing aside Odisha FC 3-1 in their last outing.

             Both sides find themselves at the opposite ends of the points table. SCEB are placed second from the bottom while Goa have jumped to third after late comeback victories over Jamshedpur and Hyderabad.

             The Gaurs, while starting as favourites, will look to make it three wins on the trot but with the monkey finally off the back for East Bengal, Robbie Fowler’s side will certainly fancy its chances.

             “We want to win games,” said Fowler, whose side has been unbeaten in the last three games.

             “The lads are in a better space now than what we were a few weeks ago. But like I said to them, we got to go out and play the way we can. If you can play the way you can, you will win games.

             “We are not a million miles away. We’ve won a game but we won’t get carried away. Likewise, when we lost a game early in the season, we weren’t getting carried away then,” he added.

             Fowler expects his team not just to nullify Goa’s threat but also to cause them problems.

             “Goa will have a little bit of possession but it’s up to our players to work hard. Hopefully, we’ll put the ball in the back of the net and give Goa something to worry about.        “It’s not all about what we can do to stop Goa but we’ve got a team to play, we’ve got games that we will try to win,” he added.

             Defensively, both sides have struggled. While SCEB are yet to register a clean sheet, Goa have kept just one, despite their attacking flair. The two sides have also been guilty of conceding in the dying minutes of the game.

             Goa coach Juan Ferrando is not taking SCEB lightly.

             “The team is more compact and has displayed its quality in the last few games, ” he said.

             “Two weeks ago, there was more pressure as they were in the last position. (But) when you have three points, the emotions in the dressing room are different.

             “Against SCEB, we have a problem because they come into the game without any pressure or stress. It’s a new opportunity (for them),” he added.  (PTI)

*LG congratulates awardees

Excelsior Correspondent
KARGIL, Jan 5: Najuma Hybatullah and Mansoor Mehdi, two Class 10th students of Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) Kargil has been awarded prestigious INSPIRE Award.
On being awarded the prestigious award, Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh R K Mathur has extended congratulations to both the students.
“LG #Ladakh congratulates, Najuma Hybatullah&Mansoor Mehdi of Class X, Kendra Vidyalaya # Kargil, for being awarded the prestigious #InspireAward conferred by the Min of S&T,GoI. @ MinScTechGoI……Sh @R_K_Mathur stated that they will inspire many more students with this achievement,” the LG office said in a tweet posted tonight.
Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) scheme is on of the flagship programmes of Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India. The INSPIRE Awards-MANAK (million Minds Augmenting National Aspirations and Knowledge), being executed by DST with National Innovation Foundation (NIF) India, an autonomous body of DST, aims to motivate students in the age group of 10-15 years and studying in classes 6to 10th.
Under the scheme, all the schools across the country nominated 5 best original ideas/innovations of students and out of these one lakh ideas with potential to address societal needs through Science & Technology were shortlisted by NIF and an award of Rs 10,000 were disbursed into the bank accounts of short-listed students through Direct Benefit Transfer scheme.
Further, 10,000 best ideas/innovations will be shortlisted for State Level Exhibition and Project Competitions wherein top 1000 ideas/innovations will be shortlisted for the National Level Exhibition and Project Competition (NLEPC). Finally, top 60 innovations will be shortlisted for national awards and future directions.