The big news: New Zealand fail to hold resilient display

Ravichandran Ashwin once again came to India’s rescue as New Zealand were bowled out for 299 in their first innings, with the off-spinner bagging 6/81. Ashwin was on song as he took the wickets of Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Luke Ronchi and James Neesham to complete his 20th five-wicket haul in Tests. He bagged the last wicket of Trent Boult to wrap up the Kiwi innings to give the India the upper hand on day three of the third Test in Indore on Monday. Ashwin also chipped in with a run out of Jeetan Patel and Martin Guptill.

India did not enforce a follow-on and were 18/0 in their second innings as the day’s play came to an end. With a healthy lead of 276 runs, India will look to continue their surge ahead and will hope to get to a target of 450 by tea on day four.

Other top stories

  1. England's coach Trevor Bayliss said that his players "will not back down" if confronted in the future, following captain Jos Buttler's heated argument with Bangladeshi fielders during the second ODI on Sunday. Buttler was reprimanded by the International Cricket Council match referee Javagal Srinath, while Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza and Sabbir Rahman were fined 20% of their match fee. 
  2. The Board of Control for Cricket in India has called for a Special General Meeting on October 15 in Delhi. The reason behind the meeting is to discuss the interim order passed by the Supreme Court last week. The order had given the board and state associations time till October 17 to decide whether they will comply with the Justice Lodha committee's recommendations.
  3. South Africa have included two uncapped spinners, Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj, in their 16-man squad for their three-Test tour of Australia in November. Fast bowler Morne Morkel will make a comeback as well after coming through a first-class match starting on Tuesday.
  4. Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes could not have been saved after he was hit in the neck by a ball while batting in a Sheffield Shield match in 2014, a judicial inquiry into his death revealed. Professor Brian Owler, a neurosurgeon and the former head of the Australian Medical Association, reviewed the incident as well as the postmortem results, and said, “No intervention, no matter how early, that could have been performed to avoid his death.” 
  5. You can now take home the pitch with you, literally. The Rajasthan Cricket Association has imported 28 synthetic roll-out pitches from the UK to make quality wickets accessible in the remotest parts of the state. These portable pitches are similar to standard turf wickets, and also are capable of revolutionizing the game at the grassroots level, said RCA officials.
  6. Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi has decided to sue former Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad after the latter levelled allegations of match-fixing against him. “I challenge Afridi to swear upon his daughter and say that he didn’t sell Pakistan’s matches,” said Miandad. Afridi responded saying that money has always been an issue for Miandad, which separated him from World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan.