Cricket news round-up – October 6: Rohit hits another century, KKR add Hussey and Mills

India controlled Day 4 for the ongoing first Test match against South Africa based on another century by Rohit Sharma. Hardik Pandya underwent back surgery in the United Kingdom. Mike Hussey and Kyle Mills joined the Kolkata Knight Riders as coaches.

Rohit Sharma shines again

South Africa could add only 46 more runs to their overnight score as Ravichandran Ashwin finally finished the innings with an astonishing bowling analysis (46.2-11-145-7).

India’s second innings was once again all about Rohit Sharma. He yet again hit a ton to score 127 off 149. Rohit who started his new innings as a Test opener from this match ended with flying colours. Apart from Rohit Cheteshwar Pujara scored a calculative 148-ball 81. He was in his usual good and both added 169 runs for the second wicket. Ravindra Jadeja (40 off 32), Virat Kohli (31 off 25) and Ajinkya Rahane (27 off 17) all played their part and helped India post 323/4 before the skipper declared the innings.

With a target of 395, South Africa got chance to bat for last nine overs of the day. This turned out to be tricky and the visitors were reduced to 11/1 by stumps on Day 4.

Hardik Pandya fit after surgery

Hardik Pandya is reportedly fine after a back surgery on Friday in the United Kingdom. He shared a post-surgery photo on his social media page and shared news about the same.

Later in the day, the BCCI provided  details of the surgery through a media statement. It said that the surgery was carried out keeping in mind “long-term” benefits.”The BCCI Medical Team consulted a panel of spine specialists in England and they recommended surgery for a long-term solution of this issue. On Friday, a successful surgery was conducted. Hardik will soon commence his rehabilitation process.”

Hardik Pandya was suffering from a lower back issue since the Test series in England in 2018. It resurfaced during the T20I series at home against South Africa and he was eventually kept out of the Test series. After Jasprit Bumrah, he is the second Indian player who is not playing the ongoing series due to injury.

Ganguly and Azharuddin to contest BCCI elections

Ganguly and Azharuddin have been nominated from their respective associations – Cricket Association of Bengal and Hyderabad Cricket Association – as representatives at the upcoming BCCI Annual General Meeting. According to the electoral draft released on Friday, Brijesh Patel (Karnataka Cricket Association), Jay Shah (Gujarat Cricket Association), Jaydev Shah (Saurashtra Cricket Association), Rajat Sharma (DDCA) and Rajiv Shukla (Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association) are some of the other prominent names who figure on this list.

The list of 38 representatives has been sent by the state associations and will be vetted by the BCCI’s electoral officer N Gopalswami. These representatives will attend the BCCI’s annual general meeting, which happens alongside the elections. The final electoral list will be released on October 10 with the elections to be held on October 23. Then the state associations would have to send in names from that to contest various positions at the BCCI elections. On October 16, the final list of candidates will be released along with the positions they would be contesting.

Hussey and Mills join McCullum

David Hussey and Kyle Mills joined the Kolkata Knight Riders management as the chief mentor and as bowling coach respectively for the 2020 IPL season in an announcement on Saturday. This is a part of an overall backroom revamp after the franchise finished at fifth in IPL 2019. Brendon McCullum, their former star player was already appointed as the chief coach, for the Kolkata franchise as well as the owners’ team in the Caribbean Premier League, Trinbago knight Riders.

The announcement was made on Saturday and Franchise CEO Venky Mysore welcomed the duo in the KKR family. He said, “It’s great to welcome David Hussey and Kyle Mills to the Knight Riders Family. They bring a wealth of experience as professionals and are terrific individuals. We are confident that their contribution as part of the think tank of KKR, and to the KKR Academy, will be invaluable.”