Cricket news round-up – September 29: Rahul shines in Vijay Hazare, Rohit flops against South Africans

Cricket news round-up – September 29: Rahul shines in Vijay Hazare, Rohit flops against South Africans

Rohit Sharma India

Scrutiny on Rohit Sharma’s position as new India Test opener increased after the limited-overs vice-captain fell for a two-ball duck against the South Africans in a tour game. Elsewhere, KL Rahul, out of the Test reckoning for now, scored a confidence-boosting century for Karnataka. There was also a CPL thriller that went down to the wire, and conflict of interest notices for the Cricket Advisory Committee.

Rohit flops as opener in tour game against South Africans

Rohit Sharma is set to open the innings in Tests for the first time, in the three-match series against South Africa, but his credentials suffered a major blow when he was dismissed for a duck for the Board President’s XI against the South Africans.

Rohit lasted just four minutes in the middle, and was dismissed on the second ball he faced. Having left alone the first delivery from Vernon Philander, Rohit had a pop at the next delivery in the corridor outside off, and nicked it.

The BP XI went on to post 265/8 in response to the South Africans’ 279/6 declared. While Aiden Markram scored a century and Temba Bavuma an 87* for the visitors, India had their domestic stars – Priyank Panchal (60), Siddesh Lad (52*) and Srikar Bharat (71) – standing up for them.

The match ended in a draw, but questions on Rohit will continue.

KL Rahul lights up Vijay Hazare with ton

KL Rahul, dropped from the India squad, has sent a timely reminder of his abilities in the domestic circuit, notching up 122-ball 131 – his highest List A score – to help Karnataka win by 60 runs against a Kerala side led by his one-time Karnataka team-mate Robin Uthappa.

Rahul’s knock comprised 10 fours and four sixes, and despite only Manish Pandya (50) making a score of note among the rest of the batsmen, Karnataka posted 294. Kerala’s reply had a century too, with Vishnu Vinod scoring a 123-ball 104, but Ronit More’s 3/42 helped keep them to 234 in 46.4 overs.

“I just want to stay disciplined with my shot selection, get time in the middle and enjoy my batting again. I haven’t been in the middle for a while, so just wanted to enjoy spending that time,” said Rahul.

Patriots sneak past Tridents in thriller

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots moved up to No.2 on the CPL 2019 points table after securing their fifth win of the campaign against Barbados Tridents. However, it was a nervy encounter, with the match going down to the wire before the Patriots emerged with a one-run win.

The Patriots posted 149/7 after opting to bat, thanks largely to Shamarh Brooks’ 33-ball 53 and 20s from both Devon Thomas and Fabian Allen. The Barbados batsmen, in their turn, struggled to convert their starts, but plenty got those starts to keep the runs ticking, even as the wickets fell.

Shakib Al Hasan’s 25-ball 38 first, and Raymon Reifer’s 18-ball 34 later on kept them in the hunt, but the fall of Reifer in the final over – a run out – proved costly. Harry Gurney was dismissed off the last ball, with the Tridents needing two to win, and the Patriots claimed a much-needed victory.

They’re No.2 on the table, but have played three more matches than the sides immediately above and below them.

Kapil Dev, CAC get conflict of interest notice

Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy have been served conflict of interest notices by the BCCI ethics officer, Justice DK Jain. The charges have been levelled by Sanjeev Gupta, a member of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association.

Gupta accused Dev of having multiple roles in cricket – he is a commentator and a member of the Indian Cricketers’ Association as well, apart from his role with CAC – while Gaekwad was, Gupta said, guilty of owning an academy while also being a member of BCCI Affiliation Committee.

All three will have to respond by October 10.