Friday 45 Sports Friday, November 17, 2017 Sri Lanka’s Lakmal rattles India on rain-hit day Kohli, out for a rare duck in his glowing career

KOLKATA: Sri Lanka paceman Suranga Lakmal time,” Ratnayake told reporters. jolted India with three , including skipper “Saying that the was very receptive, it , to leave them reeling at 17-3 on a was very helpful and it’s going to be a big chal- rain-hit opening day of the first Test yesterday. lenge... But the job isn’t finished. It has only Lakmal claimed Lokesh Rahul with the first ball started.” “I believe it’s a 50-50 chance for both of the match at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens and teams and if that’s the option one wants to take bowled six overs without conceding a run. as a fast bowler, as a fast bowling coach, I would Put in after a long rain delay that washed like to play on wickets like this. But it might be a away the first session, India batted for only 11.5 nightmare for the batsmen,” the former paceman overs before bad light ended the day. Chetesh- added. Pujara, who was beaten by the moving war Punajara, on eight, ball on a few occasions, and , yet and Kohli tried to es- to open his account, tablish themselves be- were at the crease after Wicket was very fore bad light forced the India suffered early umpires to call an early blows on a green wicket receptive, it tea. The break did India that offered bounce to no good as Lakmal re- the seamers. was very helpful turned to trap Kohli lbw Rahul edged a rising for an 11-ball zero. from Lakmal to Kohli, in a desperate wicketkeeper Niroshan bid to avoid a rare duck Dickwella before the crowd had even settled. in his glowing career, reviewed the dismissal but KOLKATA: Sri Lanka’s Suranga Lakmal celebrates after taking the wicket of India’s Shikhar The paceman then took Shikhar Dhawan for replays suggested the ball would have clipped Dhawan during the first day of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka at the Eden Gar- eight, after the left-hander dragged a moving his leg stump. Soon Pujara, who played 43 of the dens stadium in Kolkata.—AFP delivery on to his stumps. That left the hosts on 71 balls bowled in the day, and Rahane com- 13-2. Sri Lankan fast bowling coach Rumesh plained of low visibility against the seamers and to play on wickets like this. A team doesn’t really said. Sri Lanka, who lost three Tests, five one- Ratnayake lauded Lakmal’s efforts on a pitch he the umpires halted play for the day. want to play on easy conditions,” Bangar said. day internationals and a Twenty20 international said was a “nightmare” for the batsmen. “I am India’s assistant coach Sanjay Bangar said the “We challenge ourselves and most players in a home series against India from July to Sep- not sure if it’s the best spell I have seen but (it world’s number-one team was keen to challenge are open to such challenges. We want to con- tember, are searching for their first Test win in is) one of the finest I have seen for a long, long itself in every condition possible. “We are happy tinue improving as a team,” the former batsman India. —AFP

championships and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. both ways, exactly like Johnson does, and Sumgong is the highest-profile athlete on a long doesn’t even know he’s doing it. “He’s also got list of Kenyans to be banned for doping in recent Harris backs that brutal yorker that he can pull out when he Sumgong banned years. Her case follows that of Rita Jeptoo, who wants. So, I’d love to see that happen again, was the top women’s marathon runner in the someone rip through the English again and put world when she also tested positive for EPO in Starc as next a bit of fear in the back of their minds.” for four years an out-of-competition test in Kenya in 2014. Along with Peter Siddle, Harris was on hand Jeptoo also received a four-year ban. to witness Johnson at his destructive best as a Sumgong waived her right to have her England tormentor member of the pace trio in Michael Clarke’s for doping backup “B” sample tested and said she had Australia that captured all 20 English wickets in MELBOURNE: The spirit of Mitchell Johnson taken EPO unintentionally after visiting Keny- each of the five tests. could return to haunt England’s batsmen during atta National Hospital in Nairobi six days before Johnson set the tone early in the opener at NAIROBI: Olympic marathon champion Jemima her doping test to be treated for an ectopic the Ashes in the form of another left-arm pace- the Gabba, taking nine wickets in a short- Sumgong was banned for four years after a dop- pregnancy. She claimed she was suffering from man, Mitchell Starc, according to former Aus- pitched blitz that set up a 381-run battering ing tribunal rejected her explanation that blood- severe abdominal pain and was given a blood tralia fast bowler Ryan Harris. against the shell-shocked touring party. The boosting hormone EPO was in her system from transfusion and unidentified medication by an A rampaging Johnson took 37 wickets at an mustachioed Queenslander remained a problem being treated at a hospital in Kenya days before unnamed doctor. astonishing average of 13.97 to fire Australia to throughout the series for England’s batsmen, her failed test. The Olympic champion couldn’t provide the a 5-0 whitewash in the 2013-14 series Down who tried in vain to adjust but ultimately had few The tribunal found no legitimate record of name of the doctor who supposedly treated her Under, leaving mental scars on a number of the answers. “Once Mitch got on a roll it was very the hospital visit and treatment for an ectopic or reliable documents showing she was admitted tourists’ batters. hard for them to stop him,” said Harris, now a pregnancy claimed by Sumgong, it said Tuesday to the hospital, the tribunal said. It said docu- Australia spearhead Starc had a similar high performance coach at the National Cricket in a decision released by the Anti-Doping ments she provided were denounced as fake by volatile mix of pace, swing and bounce to be a Centre in Brisbane. “I reckon it put a little bit of Agency of Kenya. the hospital. The hospital visit was not disclosed Johnson-style wrecking ball in the series that fear in their minds and fair enough. It was The panel ruling on her case said the 32- by Sumgong at the time of the doping test. She started in Brisbane next week, said Harris. bloody fast bowling. Fast bowling at it’s best. year-old Sumgong’s hospital story was “incon- said that was because of the “taboo” surround- The 27-year-old has also been in ominous “That was genuine pace and they had no way sistent at best.” “We might go so far as to state ing ectopic pregnancies and she wanted to hide form, capturing 17 wickets for New South Wales of combating it. Even talking to their old bowl- that the athlete’s attempt to explain how the it from her husband, who is also her manager. in his two Sheffield Shield warmup matches. ing coach (David Saker) who was there at the substance entered her body bordered on an at- The only record the hospital had of a visit by “He’s definitely got it in him. I’ve just spent some time, they just didn’t know how to stop the rot.” tempt to deceive the panel,” the ruling said. Sumgong was in April, when she inquired about time with him. He’s bowling fast,” Harris told Harris was the second highest wicket taker of Sumgong became the first Kenyan woman to treatment for ectopic pregnancies. The Anti- Reuters in an interview from Brisbane. the series with 22 victims, while Siddle grabbed win Olympic gold in the marathon when she tri- Doping Agency of Kenya said it believed Sum- “He probably had a little bit of an issue over 16 in vital support roles. It was a triumph built umphed at last year’s Rio de Janeiro Games. She gong was taking EPO ahead of the defense of the last few months with not swinging the ball as on excellent camaraderie between the three failed an out-of-competition test on Feb. 28 and her London Marathon title in April. much as he’d like. But giving him that red ball, quicks, said Harris, a quality he was confident was banned for four years from April 3, the date Sumgong has also won the Rotterdam and he’s probably as consistent as I’ve seen him for Starc would share with his fellow test pacemen her provisional suspension was announced. Las Vegas Marathons and finished runner-up in a while as well. and New South Wales team mates Pat Cummins It makes her ineligible for the 2019 world the Boston, Chicago and New York races. — AP “He’s got the pace of Johnson, he moves it and Josh Hazlewood.—Reuters