Triple ton not enough for Nair, Rahane to return

Reuters: Karun Nair’s triple century in his previous test was not enough to secure his place in the India team for their one-off test against Bangladesh beginning at Hyderabad on Thursday.

Replacing an injured Ajinkya Rahane, Nair smashed 303 not out in India’s last test match in Chennai to help secure the team’s 4-0 series victory against England in December.

With Rahane having recovered from the finger injury that kept him out of the last two tests against England, Nair will now have to wait at least until the home series against Australia to play his fourth test.

“I feel one game does not overshadow two years of hard work from another player,” India captain Virat Kohli said on Wednesday.

“You need to understand what Jinks (Rahane) has done for the team over the past two years. He averages almost 50 in this format and is probably the most solid batsman in the team in the test format. We look at him from that point of view certainly.

“Karun was stepping into his shoes and what he did was remarkable... but you can’t overlook two years of hard work from Ajinkya. He deserved to walk back into the team whenever he got fit.”

Currently the top test team with a formidable home record, India are overwhelming favourites in the one-off match against a side eight rungs lower in the official rankings.

Bangladesh are particularly handicapped by their limited test exposure and the team managed to lose a test match in Wellington last month despite scoring almost 600 in their first innings.

It was yet another instance of their batting inconsistency but Kohli refused to be complacent.

“It’s an equal battle, you can’t discount Bangladesh batting,” said the 28-year-old.

“They did really well in New Zealand...Scoring more than 350 runs in one day was phenomenal and going at four-and-half throughout the day was something very special.

“We can’t take any aspect of their team lightly. We need to play the same way that we played against any other team in the world. Bangladesh do have many quality players.”

Bangladesh enjoyed an unbeaten run in six bilateral ODI series at home until England ended it last year. With more test exposure, they can replicate their limited-overs success in the longest format, said Kohli.

“They have the skill, it’s just that they don’t play that many test matches to gain confidence as a squad.”

39 sixes as Indian batsman hits T20 triple ton

AFP: A little-known batsman made headlines across India on Wednesday after scoring an unbeaten triple century in a Twenty20 match, a knock which included a staggering 39 sixes.

Mohit Ahlawat also smashed 14 fours in his 72-ball 300 – thought to be the first T20 triple century – which has earned him a trial with the Delhi Daredevils for next month’s glitzy Indian Premier League (IPL).

Ahlawat, who hails from a family of farmers, hammered the hapless bowlers from a team called Friends XI to all corners of the ground in east Delhi on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old was playing for the Maavi XI, a semi-professional team which had invited him to join them for a league match at the last moment.

“They invited me to play and I simply went. It’s good that something like that has happened,” Ahlawat told The Times of India newspaper. 

“When I reached 150, I told myself 250 was there for the taking. So I told my partner at the other end that I was going to take most of the strike.”

His last 50 runs came off the final two overs, leaving him unbeaten on exactly 300 as his team finished on 416 for two. Friends XI only managed 200 in reply.

Sanjay Bhardwaj, Ahlawat’s coach at the LB Shastri Cricket Academy in Delhi, said he was not surprised by his protege’s heroics.

“This doesn’t surprise me. He is an aggressive batsman who hits it long but also has a clear sense of the game,” Bhardwaj told AFP. 

Bhardwaj, who has coached several Indian players including the opener Gautam Gambhir, said news of Ahlawat’s barnstorming knock had spread so quickly that he had already been tapped up by the Delhi Daredevils. 

“You won’t be able to reach him on the phone today as the Daredevils called him for a trial after they heard of his knock,” Bhardwaj said.

It is the first time that anyone is believed to have hit a triple century in a T20 game, although it was not classified as a first class match.

The highest score recorded in a first-class T20 was the West Indian batsman Chris Gayle’s 175 while playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2013 IPL.

Australia’s Aaron Finch holds the record for the highest score in a T20 international after hitting 156 against England in 2013.