EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE THE HINDU DELHI TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2019 SPORT 17 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Pakistan’s roar silences England Men in Blue in prep mode Amla and Steyn train Hafeez­inspired team effort trumps Root, Buttler tons, ends 11­game losing streak Undergo long batting stints and fielding drills Special K.C. Vijaya Kumar Correspondent Southampton Southampton Monday, at the Hampshire Just as the skies cleared Bowl here, provided a su­ and sunshine lit up the preme illustration of the fick­ Hampshire Bowl on a le English weather. One mo­ Monday afternoon, two ment, the sun was out and a South African stalwarts cap had to be procured. The under an injury cloud next second, a chill breeze honed their skills. blew in across the port city Hashim Amla, who and a sweater had to be was rested from the worn. World Cup match Reuters A few minutes later, tufts against Bangladesh, Nottingham of dark clouds lingered low and spearhead Dale and a feathery drizzle sash­ Steyn, nursing a Pakistan beat England by 14 ayed down while correspon­ shoulder injury that runs at Trent Bridge on Mon­ dents sought sheltered spots forced him to skip the day as the World Cup’s first or a hot cup of Assam tea in­ first two games of the centuries from Joe Root and side the press box. Proteas, tussled on the Jos Buttler were not enough Oblivious to the quirky at­ practice pitches. to help the host overhaul a mospheric conditions, out Amla, watchful in his daunting target of 349. there in the middle, the Men demeanour, and Steyn, England had put Pakistan in Blue limbered up. There building up a steady in to bat, banking on fast were the mandatory nets and rhythm, spent bowlers Chris Woakes and Jo­ fielding drills but the most considerable time in fra Archer for early wickets reassuring sight was that of the middle. Having and hoping to recreate the Virat Kohli having a hit in the faltered at the start, way West Indies skittled the morning, against throw­ South Africa needs its Asian side out for 105. downs. The forward­press time­tested duo to be fit Instead, the visitors put Punishing blade: Hafeez was all aggression as he blunted the England attack.* REUTERS was emphatic, the bat stayed in time for that woeful performance be­ Vital cog: India will bank on Kuldeep’s striking ability. * AP firm and the Indian skipper Wednesday’s clash hind them and racked up 348 looked confident, both in his while a few guests at the Hil­ watch. Ravindra Jadeja, lithe against India. for eight, delighting fans in the ship with a partnership stride and shots. ton Hotel, which interesting­ and ever­alert, plucked the stands with 29 fours and of 88 as Pakistan set England ly is a part of the venue, rel­ catches with ease, while six sixes. a larger score than any side Kohli seems fine ished the action from their some others ran with hope Mohammad Hafeez was had ever chased down in the After suffering a bruised balconies. and caught a few. Mean­ DIARY the top scorer with 84 off 62 history of the competition. thumb a few days back, Kohli while, Dhawan, after his balls, while Babar Azam Perhaps, as a pointer to England lost Jason Roy, seemed fine. And that is good sprints and throws, had a made 63 and captain Sarfa­ the team­management’s pre­ Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan news ahead of India’s open­ chat with the ICC media raz Ahmed belted a quickfire ference for K.L. Rahul at No. and Ben Stokes to leave the ing World Cup game against team. 55. “Everyone chipped in to­ 4, he padded up after the top side on 118 for four and give South Africa here on day and gave everything troika finished its outing. Among the bowlers, Jas­ Root and Buttler a mountain Wednesday. M.S. Dhoni walked in with prit Bumrah, underwent a which was required to win to climb. the game,” said Hafeez. Kohli played straight, fine­ measured steps, flexing his random dope test, part of the The two did their best, tuning his muscle­memory, bat, shadow­practising a few customary protocol at ICC each eventually reaching while the other leading lights strokes before he got into his events. The spearhead is one Good start three figures. Root hit 10 Fakhar Zaman and Imam­ul­ of India’s batting line­up groove, nudging a few off his of the most critical compo­ fours and one six on his way buckled down for a long hips and punching on the up. nents of India’s attack and Haq delighted the vocal sup­ to 107. Buttler smashed a four porters by belting a string of stint. would determine how far to notch up his own hundred Shikhar Dhawan was busy Jadhav takes it easy Kohli’s men would progress boundaries off Archer and a few overs later, only to fall Woakes in an opening part­ driving or squeezing deliver­ And as the rest did their hard in the championship. the very next ball. ies towards an imaginary yards, Kedar Jadhav, who suf­ Just as the players finished Thomas Muller. * nership of 82. three more and also took As the balls­remaining sweeper­cover and his open­ fered a left­shoulder injury their training, a lone auto­ TWITTER.COM/ESMUELLERT England spinner Moeen four catches on a day when count dwindled, Moeen and ing partner Rohit Sharma did while playing for the Chennai graph­hunter tailed a retreat­ Ali finally broke up the pair, England was otherwise un­ Woakes swung valiantly at what he does best — mixing Super Kings in the Indian ing Kohli and got the Indian Football star Muller getting Fakhar stumped, on characteristically ragged in everything they could but it disdain with destruction. Premier League, took it a captain to sign on a poster. backs India’s challenge his way to a three­wicket the field. was not enough to carry the The spinners were lofted touch easy. The ‘Bharat Army’, though, Bayern Munich forward haul, while Woakes grabbed Babar and Hafeez steadied team over the line. and some of the fast bowlers Jadhav squared up against is yet to land but the fans are Thomas Muller has faced the heat of his blade. A throw­downs and did some expected to troop in by Wed­ emerged as an unexpected fan of India. Muller SCOREBOARD ENGLAND VS PAKISTAN massive blow sailed high and catching practice while the nesday and there will be no thudded into the sight­screen coaching staff kept a close dearth of colour and drama. revealed India captain PAKISTAN b Riaz 32 (31b, 4x4, 1x6), Joe Virat Kohli had often Imam­ul­Haq c Woakes b Mo­ Root c Hafeez b Shadab 107 supported the German een 44 (58b, 3x4, 1x6), Fakhar (104b, 10x4, 1x6), Eoin Morgan national football team in Zaman st. Buttler b Moeen 36 b Hafeez 9 (18b, 1x4), Ben India presser — a non­starter the past, so he has (40b, 6x4), Babar Azam c Stokes c Sarfaraz b Malik 13 returned the favour by Woakes b Moeen 63 (66b, 4x4, (18b, 1x4), Jos Buttler c Riaz b backing the two­time 1x6), Mohd. Hafeez c Woakes b Amir 103 (76b, 9x4, 2x6), Mo­ K.C. Vijaya Kumar Southampton World Cup winner. Wood 84 (62b, 8x4, 2x6), Sar­ een Ali c Fakhar b Riaz 19 (20b, “...I cross my fingers for faraz Ahmed c & b Woakes 55 1x4), Chris Woakes c Sarfaraz b (44b, 5x4), Asif Ali c Bairstow b Riaz 21 (14b, 1x4, 1x6), Jofra If ever there was an anti­cli­ @imVkohli, the captain of Wood 14 (11b, 1x6), Shoaib Ma­ Archer c Riaz b Amir 1 (2b), Adil max specific to a pre­match the Indian team. He’s a fan lik c Morgan b Woakes 8 (8b), Rashid (not out) 3 (4b), Mark press­conference, this was it. of @DFB_Team and Wahab Riaz c Root b Woakes 4 Wood (not out) 10 (6b, 2x4); The build­up to India’s supported it multiple (2b, 1x4), Hassan Ali (not out) Extras (lb­3, w­5): 8; Total (for customary media­interac­ times in the past #Cricket 10 (5b, 1x6), Shadab Khan (not nine wkts. in 50 overs): 334. tion at the Hampshire Bowl #GermanyCheersFor out) 10 (4b, 2x4); Extras (b­1, FALL OF WICKETS here on Monday afternoon India.” lb­8, w­11): 20; Total (for eight 1­12 (Roy, 2.1 overs), 2­60 (Bair­ Ngidi out of India game wkts. in 50 overs): 348. followed familiar tropes. An stow, 8.6), 3­86 (Morgan, International Cricket Council South Africa’s troubles FALL OF WICKETS 14.5), 4­118 (Stokes, 21.2), 5­ (ICC) official spoke about compounded after young 1­82 (Fakhar, 14.1 overs), 2­111 248 (Root, 38.5), 6­288 (But­ (Imam, 20.1), 3­199 (Babar, keeping the phones on silent fast bowler Lungi Ngidi tler, 44.3), 7­320 (Moeen, mode, and also instructed was ruled out of the team’s 32.5), 4­279 (Hafeez, 42.4), 5­ 47.5), 8­320 (Woakes, 47.6), 9­ that the microphone be held next game against India 311 (Asif, 46.1), 6­319 (Sarfaraz, 322 (Archer, 48.4) 47.2), 7­325 (Riaz, 47.5), 8­337 closer while raising ques­ here on Wednesday. (Malik, 49.1). PAKISTAN BOWLING tions. “Ngidi suffered a sharp ENGLAND BOWLING Shadab 10­0­63­2, Amir 10­0­ Repartee time! Mohammed Shami and Yuzvendra Chahal discomfort in his left 67­2, Riaz 10­0­82­3, Hasan The assembled correspon­ Woakes 8­1­71­3, Archer 10­0­ share a laugh in the nets in Southampton on Monday.* AP hamstring.