Top Stories: Things that made news in the cricket world today

‘Babar used to calm me down, but now as vice-captain, he gets angry,’ reveals Sarfaraz Ahmed

• After the hosts breeze past the inexperienced Sri Lankans 2-0 in the One-day Internationals, the succeeding T20I series was expected to be another one-sided affair.
•  Firstly, Pakistan’s numero-uno spot in the T20I rankings coupled with Sri Lanka’s recent struggles in white-ball cricket. Secondly, the fact that the visitors fielding a whole host of youngsters as compared to Pakistan who was at their full-strength and thirdly Babar Azam.
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I’m very happy that I don’t have to play Test matches against Steve Smith ever again: Dale Steyn

• Steve Smith’s triumphant return during the recently concluded Ashes was a case-study in how one should use adversity as an opportunity to come back stronger and better.
• After making a tearful exit from the International stage for a period of 12 months in the aftermath of the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal, Smith returned hungry for runs as he always was.
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‘My body had shut down’- Steve Smith after strenuous Ashes campaign

• There were massive expectations from Steve Smith in the 2019 Ashes, though he was making his comeback in the red-ball format after 16 months.
• And the 30-year-old started weaving his magic from the opening Test itself, notching back-to-back tons. Going deep into the series, the England bowlers hardly found out a way to stop Smith, who ended with 774 runs at an average of 110.57.
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Dasun Shanaka joins MS Dhoni in the elite list as T20I captain

• Sri Lanka’s interim T20I skipper Dasun Shanaka created history when he led Sri Lanka to a 3-0 series win over Pakistan in their own backyard, as the Islanders beat Men in Green by 13 runs in the last and final match of series.
• He was leading the team in place of regular captain Lasith Malinga, who refused to travel to the country due to security concerns.
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India vs South Africa: Virat Kohli explains the reason for picking Umesh Yadav over Hanuma Vihari in Pune Test

• The second Test match of the Gandhi-Mandela Freedom Trophy is currently underway at the M.C.A Stadium in Pune.
• After having registered an easy 203-run-win in the first match at Visakhapatnam, India are batting first after winning the toss and entered the game as the favorites.
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Saurabh Gade – The Virat Kohli lookalike who is no less busy than the original star

• India captain Virat Kohli is sporting as well as a style icon for youngsters across the world. A few months ago, even a biker was seen cruising on the highways in Pakistan sporting a shirt that displayed No.18 – Kohli’s jersey number – on his back.
•  Back home, too, there is no dearth of crazy fans imitating the ace batsman’s style and flaunting themselves as his lookalike.
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Virat Kohli spends more time on the field than footballers like Lionel Messi, and Mohamed Salah, says a report

• Cricket and Football come under the category of team sports but varies from each other to a great extent.
• The players who feature in these games are known globally. Although it is a fact that football has a bigger fanbase than any sport but, when it comes to the playtime of the professionals, footballers stand nowhere close to the cricketers.
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Jasprit Bumrah an inspiration for both boys and girls, says Nita Ambani

• His rise in international cricket has been phenomenal. Even a couple of years ago, he was seen mainly as a limited-overs bowler but from January 2018, Jasprit Bumrah showed that he is no less an achiever in the longer format.
• In his first year in red-ball cricket, Bumrah made rich exploits and was one of the fastest to reach 50 wickets against the West Indies in the series played in August-September.
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‘Handle Rohit Sharma with care and lots of love’: Gautam Gambhir

• All the talks leading into the Test series against South Africa was around Rohit Sharma- The Test opener. In his maiden tryst with opening the batting, Rohit Sharma broke an umpteen number of records.
• Besides becoming only the sixth Indian batsman to register hundreds in each innings of a Test match, Sharma proceeded to become the first player to rack up more than 300 runs in his debut game as an opener.
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Manish Pandey all set to enter wedlock with South Indian actress Ashrita Shetty

• Indian middle-order batsman Manish Pandey is on his way to start a new life and has found his partner.
• He is one of the top cricketing talents in the country and he is going to tie the knot with South Indian actress on December 2 in Mumbai.
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