Cricket news round-up – January 27: 2-0 lead for India against Kiwis, England dominating at Wanderers

India took 2-0 lead in the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand. England continued to dominate at Wanderers. Vernon Philander was fined 15% of his match fees.

An easy win for India

Indian bowlers with the help of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer ensured a relatively easy victory for India in the second T20 International to take them 2-0 up in the series. Kane Williamson won the toss at Eden Park and decided to bat in a slowish pitch. Colin Munro was struggling from the beginning and it put more pressure on Martin Guptil who perished on the last ball of the powerplay for a 20 ball 33. More tight bowling was in store in the middle orders and none of Kiwi batsmen could score runs with ease. Ravindra Jadeja was the star for India with 2 for 18 in his four overs and got good support from rest of the bowlers. Jasprit Bumrah finished with 1 for 21 in his four and ensured that there was no late push from New Zealand. Tim Seifert top scored with 33 as New Zealand could only score 132 for 5 in their 20 overs.

Indian chase did not start well as they lost the Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli within first six overs to Tim Southee. However, Rahul and Iyer showed their maturity and controlled the chase with ease. They took five overs to settle down but never let the required rate go too high and then changed gear to finish the match with 15 balls to spare. Iyer scored 44 off 33 balls before he was dismissed with 8 runs required. Rahul survived couple of run out chances and finished unbeaten on 57 off 50 to take India to victory.

England dominating at Wanderers

England are looking favourite to wrap up an astounding 3-1 away series victory as the home team is required to survive two full days or score 466 runs for an unlikely win.

South Africa started the day on 88 for 6 in their first innings and although they lost Vernon Philander early, there was some resistance by Quinton de Kock and Beuran Hendricks as the duo added 79 runs in the 8^th wicket. However, Mark Wood continued his good work and broke the partnership. He also took the final wicket of the innings to finish with 5 for 46 as South Africa were all out for 188.

England decided to bat again and put up 248 runs in 61.3 overs with more than 4 runs per over. Joe Root top scored with 58 and there were contributions from Dom Sibley (44) and Sam Curran (35). South Africa had a huge blow as Philander had a hamstring tear and could bowl only 9 balls. He will bat if required in his final innings. Hendricks became the 25^th South African bowler to take a five-wicket haul in his debut test match.

Philander fined in farewell Test

Vernon Philander was by the ICC in his farewell match for his send-off of Jos Buttler on Saturday. The South African was seen using swear words after dismissing Buttler on the second day of the final Test at the Wanderers. Butler had received the same sanction after abusing Philander in the second Test on the ongoing series. 15% of Philander’s match fee had been deducted and he had been given demerit point.

According to a media release Philander had admitted his guilt on a charge of “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter upon his/her dismissal during an international match” and accepted the sanction proposed by the match referee.

Wasim Akram and Yuvraj Singh to feature in Bushfire relief match

Wasim Akram and Yuvraj Singh are two new big names to have joined a bunch of former cricketers for the Bushfire relief match on February 8. The idea is to raise funds a game through a cricket match for the affected ones by the forest fires in Australia.

Ricky Ponting XI and Shane Warne XI will have a clash on the day just ahead of the Big Bash League final 2020. Cricket Australia decided to include the BBL final and the women’s T20I between India and Australia scheduled to be played on the same day as part of The Big Appeal. Sachin Tendulkar and Courtney Walsh will act as the coaches of the two star-studded teams.