A heroic stand of 137 in nearly 11 hours at the crease by Gautam Gambhir ensured the second Test between India and New Zealand ended in a draw on the final day yesterday.
When Gambhir’s match-saving, marathon performance came to an end he had batted through three days’ play and rescued his side from a perilous situation.
After New Zealand made 619-9 declared, India were in strife when they were rolled for 305 in their first innings and lost their first second innings wicket at 30 when asked to follow on.
But Gambhir, in his 24th Test, was unfazed by the carnage and set about a rescue mission that lasted 642 minutes and ended with India all but safe.
It was left to VVS Laxman on 124, the 14th century of his Test career, and Yuvraj Singh on 54 to bat out the last two hours and get India across the line with their 1-0 series lead intact.
New Zealand have one chance left to salvage a draw from the three-Test series when the final match starts in Wellington on Friday.
With conditions against the bowlers, the five days of cricket produced 1,400 runs including a double century, four centuries and seven half-centuries.
Jesse Ryder’s 201 for New Zealand was the man-of-the-match feat, but Gambhir’s second innings response for India, when he came in on Saturday and departed yesterday, was the most exemplary.
That he scored 64 fewer runs than Ryder mattered little to India. Of more importance was that he soaked up 153 more minutes of playing time than the New Zealander.
His dogged fifth Test century was the seventh-longest stand by an Indian, though it was also the lowest score among the top 30 innings of endurance by Indian batsmen.
Marloon Herrera was crying — happy tears. With Cuba trailing in the fifth inning of its Little League World Series (LLWS) opener on Thursday, Herrera lined a two-run double to give his team the lead. When the Czech Republic, representing Europe-Africa, made a pitching change, he ran over to give his third base coach a hug. Cuba went on to win 4-1. It was the first game at this year’s tournament for both sides, but it was also the beginning of Cuba’s second appearance in the series ever — and it was emotional. “You breathe baseball in Cuba,” manager Everaldo Machado said on
Taiwan on Friday beat Australia 11-0 at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Taiwan are represented at the tournament by Taoyuan’s Gueishan Elementary School, who won the Asia-Pacific regional tournament to earn the trip to the US. Australia are represented by the Hills Red team from Sydney. Taiwan advanced to a game tomorrow against Santa Clara, representing Cuba, who won 4-1 against the Czech Republic’s Brno, the Europe-Africa regional qualifiers. Australian starter Sayre Howick had a tough time controlling his pitches at Volunteer Stadium, one of which allowed Taiwan to open their account. They scored six in the inning and
World Boxing, an international amateur boxing organization formed last year after a breakdown in relations between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA), has announced the admission of Taiwan, along with four other nations, into its growing list of members. In a statement released on its Web site on Friday, the Swiss- based organization said that in addition to Taiwan, admitted as Chinese Taipei, Bhutan, Ecuador, Fiji and Pakistan have also become members. The new members all have well-rounded national and international boxing programs as well as transparency in the leadership and management of their national boxing programs,
COOLED DOWN: Du Plessis apologized after the fight for comments about his Nigerian-born opponent, after Adesanya said he planned to take the belt back to Africa South African Dricus du Plessis yesterday took a flurry of body hits across four rounds before defeating Israel Adesanya by submission to retain his middleweight championship at UFC 305. After scoring some early takedowns, Du Plessis (22-2) had to withstand a flurry of body strikes from Adesanya through the middle rounds, which appeared to be taking a toll on the 30-year-old South African as the fight progressed. However, a left hook followed by three rights helped bring Adesanya down, giving Du Plessis the opening he wanted as he swiftly got the choke hold that forced the Nigerian-born New Zealander to tap out