Junior Digest

North Sound (Antigua), July 21 : Virat Kohli continued his sublime form to ease to a 12th hundred and lead India to 302 for four on day one of the first Test against the West Indies here today.

Kohli (143 batting) led from the front to lay a solid platform for his team with the other major contribution coming from opener Shikhar Dhawan (84).

The Indian captain, who also crossed the 3000-run mark in his 42nd Test, had the support of Ravichandran Ashwin (22 batting) at close of play as the two shared an unbeaten 66-run stand.

The away side had a rather quiet first session where it managed 72 for one in 27 overs before Kohli arrived at the crease and stepped up the tempo. By stumps, India had a decent run rate of 3.35 runs per over.

The pitch was flat and the West Indies bowling lacked depth to trouble the visitors who found it tough early on after Kohli opted to bat.

Starting at 65 after tea, Kohli put on 57 runs with Ajinkya Rahane (22) as the duo looked to build after losing both Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara (16) in the second session of play. Rahane was nearly dismissed cheaply, for 5 runs, as Shannon Gabriel (1-43) induced an edge that fell short of slips. But thereafter the vice-captain tightened up his game and didn t give another chance until his eventual dismissal.

In the meantime, the duo kept the run-rate flowing, bringing up the 200-mark in the 61st over. Then, five overs later, they brought up their 50-partnership, coming off only 65 balls. Kohli was looking particularly good in this period, as cover drives and on-drives started booming off his blade.

Perhaps Carlos Brathwaite (0-46) was the only bowled who troubled him a bit, but even was not able to create a straightforward wicket-taking opportunity.

Just as they were looking good, Rahane was dismissed, a loose stroke off Devendra Bishoo (3-108) lobbing up and he was caught at midwicket. It was yet another loose dismissal for India, with only Murali Vijay (7) getting out to a good delivery earlier in the morning.

Thereafter, with 22 overs remaining in the day’s play, it was surprising to see Ashwin come out to bat ahead of Wriddhiman Saha.

But he did an immaculate job, including some silken drives down the ground, and the two batsmen stayed unbeaten until the end of play, bringing up the 300-mark in the 88th over. Kohli and Ashwin’s stand partnership rescued India from what looked like a disappointing first outing for the five top-order batsmen theory.

New Delhi : Former Australian great Greg Chappell feels that coaching Indian cricket team for two years was a “bit more complicated” than he would have apprehended as there are “so many layers to life in India”.

“It was perhaps a little bit more complicated than anyone could have imagined. There were so many layers to life in India, let alone cricket. That was pretty hard to expect anyone to master, particularly an outsider,” Chappell told ESPN Cricinfo in an interview.

Chappell had a tumultous two years at helm during which he famously fell out with erstwhile skipper Sourav Ganguly and also did not share a great rapport with a lot of senior players.

Asked to reflect back on his time, Chappell drew the analogy comparing the popularity of Indian superstar cricketers with that of iconic Beatles who also had a crazy following during 1960’s upto early 1970’s.

“Being with the Indian cricket team was what it must have been like travelling with the Beatles. It was remarkable the way they were feted around the country wherever they went. Big crowds gathered at airports. The whole airport would come to a standstill.

“To see it from the inside and to understand some of the pressures on the players. It wasn’t an easy thing to be an Indian cricketer, especially a renowned Indian cricketer. The expectations, the interruptions to their day-to-day lives, and the restrictions on their ability to move freely – I marvelled at the way they managed to absorb all of that and just get on with it,” Chappell tried to explain the pressures of being an Indian cricketer.

The former Australian captain also opined that the team he coached had more depth in terms of talent than the ones he played against in the 1970’s and early 1980’s.

“The one that I coached had more depth in talent. There was a lot of talent in the teams we played against in the top half a dozen players, but then it dropped away a bit. More from an experience and a belief point of view rather than a lack of talent.

“The Indian teams that I coached, on paper, had one of the best batting line-ups that any Test team could boast. Not many that outshone it as far as talent was concerned. The depth of talent in that group was extraordinary.”

But Chappell did say that he does not know whether that group which had some modern day greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman achieved a lot or not.

“I don’t know that they got the best out of the group that they had. Other teams probably got more out of the talent they had,” he said.

“There are a number of reasons for that. Partly because they didn’t have the bowling attack to make the most of that batting line-up. Away from India it didn’t do as well as it probably should have done.

London : Rohit Khandelwal has become the first Indian to win the coveted Mr World title at the grand finale of the 2016 competition in the UK, defeating 46 contestants from across the globe.

26-year-old Khandelwal, who looked dapper in a tuxedo by designer Nivedita Saboo, received a cash prize of USD 50,000 on winning this celebrated title at the Southport Theatre and Convention Centre in Southport.

The model-actor from Hyderabad defeated 46 contestants from across the globe to be crowned the first Indian winner last night.

“I still can’t believe that I have won the Mr World title.

Being the first Indian ever to win this title internationally makes me immensely proud and ecstatic. It’s a dream come true and am very thankful to the Miss India Organization for giving me this opportunity and guiding me throughout my exciting journey.

“My family, friends and my fans have been a constant support for me and this wouldn’t have been possible without the support of my well-wishers,” he said in a statement.

Mr World 2014 Nicklas Pedersen passed on the title to the new winner.

Fernando Alvarez, 21, from Puerto Rico and Aldo Esparza Ramirez, 26, from Mexico were the first and second runner respectively.

The event was hosted by Filipino Superstar and Miss World 2013 Megan Young alongside professional singer and former Mr England Jordan Williams and Frankie Cena of Canada.

Khandelwal also competed for various sub-titles at the pageant like Mr World Multimedia Award, Mr World Talent, Mobstar People’s Choice Awards, Mr World Sports Event and won the Mr World Multimedia Award.