COLOMBO, SRI LANKA // Sachin Tendulkar magnanimously deflected the attention from the fifth double-century of his Test cricket to heap praise on Suresh Raina who made a hundred on his debut yesterday.
Tendulkar, 37, cemented his position as cricket's leading run-scorer by adding 95 runs to his overnight score of 108, sharing 256 runs for the fifth wicket with Raina, the left-handed batsman, who made 120.
India closed day four on 669 for nine in reply to Sri Lanka's first innings score of 642 for four declared. With India 27 runs in front and just a day's play remaining, the match is heading for a draw at Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC).
"I don't count the runs that I am scoring," said Tendulkar, who now has nearly 14,000 runs in the longest form of the game. "It's nice to be scoring runs and I am enjoying as much being in the middle as in the past."
Tendulkar averages more than 55 in Test cricket, 45 in one-day internationals (ODI) and nearly 40 in Twenty20 cricket. As for Raina, who had been seen as a limited-overs specialist having played 98 ODI matches, showed that he can adapt to Test cricket by facing 228 balls and occupying the crease for nearly five hours.
"He showed tremendous character," Tendulkar said. "He was solid in defence and played some magnificent shots. I thought this particular innings was terrific because when he got in to bat it was a tricky time. At that time a big partnership was needed and both of us were able to do something special."
India were 241 for four - and needing 200 more runs to avoid the follow-on - when Tendulkar and Raina came together.
Tendulkar made Sri Lanka pay for a dropped catch by Prasanna Jayawardene, the wicketkeeper, off Dilhara Fernando, the fast bowler, when he was on 29 runs, scoring his sixth Test century this year. He faced 347 balls and stroked 23 boundaries and a six.
Raina was the first batsman dismissed yesterday caught by Kumar Sangakkara at mid-wicket off Ajantha Mendis, the spinner. He hit 12 boundaries and two sixes. Raina, in the process, became only the ninth Indian to score a century in the first innings of his Test debut. Tillakaratne Dilshan, the top-order batsman and part-time off-spinner, then ended Tendulkar's epic knock by taking two wickets in the third over after tea yesterday. He had Tendulkar caught behind by Prasanna Jayawardene for 203 before Harbhajan Singh drove his delivery through midwicket only to find the safe hands of Sangakkara. But the pitch at SSC continued to favour batting with MS Dhoni, the India captain and No 7 batsman, scoring 76 off 138 balls. Even Abhimanyu Mithun, the tailend batsman, scored 41 runs off 97 deliveries before getting out to a loose shot, trying to paddle-sweep a straight ball.
Tendulkar's reaction was a natural one when he said that the pitch was tough for the bowlers. "It's a tough track to bowl on," he said. "It's a batting paradise."
Mendis, who replaced the retiring Muttiah Muralitharan, returned Test-best bowling figures of four for 157 for Sri Lanka while Dilshan had three for 50.
Trevor Bayliss, the Sri Lanka coach, praised his bowlers for their consistency and discipline on a flat pitch.
"What we are happy about is that we stuck to our game plan and have been able to bowl to those fielding plans," Bayliss said. "Everyone knows it's been a very good batting wicket and a very difficult one for the bowlers to bowl on.
"We've been striving for over a period of time to be consistent and have discipline and we've shown that. Some of the plans may not have worked, but at least we bowled according to those plans and made it as difficult as possible for the Indians to score."
* AP
1st inns 2nd inns Total Opposition Ground Year
88 10* 98 Australia Mohali 2008
68 47 115 Australia Delhi 2008
109 12 121 Australia Nagpur 2008
37 103* 140 England Chennai 2008
11 5 16 England Mohali 2009
160 DNB 160 New Zealand Hamilton 2009
49 64 113 New Zealand Napier 2009
62 9 71 New Zealand Wellington 2009
4 100* 104 Sri Lanka Ahmedabad 2009
40 - 40 Sri Lanka Kanpur 2009
53 - 53 Sri Lanka Mumbai 2009
105* 16 121 Bangladesh Chittagong 2010
143 DNB 143 Bangladesh Dhaka 2010
7 100 107 South Africa Nagpur 2010
106 - 106 South Africa Kolkata 2010
8 84 92 Sri Lanka Galle 2010
203 - 203 Sri Lanka Colombo 2010
Innings: 28; Runs: 1,803; Avg: 75.12; 100s: 9; 50s: 6
At stumps on the fourth day of the second Test between Sri Lanka and India at Sinhalese Sports Club.
Sri Lanka 1st Innings: 642-4 declared
India 1st Innings (Overnight 382-4)
Murali Vijay lbw b Mendis 58
Virender Sehwag st P Jayawardene b Randiv 99
Rahul Dravid lbw b Randiv 3
Sachin Tendulkar c P.Jayawardene b Dilshan 203
VVS Laxman lbw b Mendis 29
Suresh Raina c Sangakkara b Mendis 120
Mahendra Singh Dhoni c and b Dilshan 76
Harbhajan Singh c Sangakkara b Dilshan 0
Abhimanyu Mithun b Mendis 41
Ishant Sharma not out 10
Pragyan Ojha not out 0
Extras: (9b, 5lb, 12nb, 4w) 30
TOTAL: (for 9 wickets) 669.
Overs: 198.
Batting time: 830 minutes.
Fall of wickets: 1-165, 2-169, 3-173, 4-241, 5-497, 6-592, 7-592, 8-643, 9-668.
Bowling: Dammika Prasad 19-1-96-0 (4nb), Dilhara Fernando 31-1-116-0 (5nb, 3w), Angelo Mathews 9-1-24-0 (1w), Suraj Randiv 64-14-212-2, Ajantha Mendis 54-7-157-4 (3nb), Tillakaratne Dilshan 21-4-50-3.
Umpires: Daryl Harper and Rod Tucker, Australia
TV Umpire: Ranmore Martinesz, Sri Lanka
Match Referee: Andy Pycroft, Zimbabwe.
Toss: won by Sri Lanka.
Series: Sri Lanka leads three-match series 1-0.
From Europe to the Middle East, economic success brings wealth - and lifestyle diseases
A rise in obesity figures and the need for more public spending is a familiar trend in the developing world as western lifestyles are adopted.
One in five deaths around the world is now caused by bad diet, with obesity the fastest growing global risk. A high body mass index is also the top cause of metabolic diseases relating to death and disability in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – and second on the list in Bahrain.
In Britain, heart disease, lung cancer and Alzheimer’s remain among the leading causes of death, and people there are spending more time suffering from health problems.
The UK is expected to spend $421.4 billion on healthcare by 2040, up from $239.3 billion in 2014.
And development assistance for health is talking about the financial aid given to governments to support social, environmental development of developing countries.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE fixtures:
Men
Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
Tuesday, September 19 – 12.15pm, v Singapore; 5.30pm, v Sri Lanka
Thursday, September 21 – 2pm v Malaysia
Friday, September 22 – 3.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final
Women
Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
Monday, September 18 – 5.30pm, v England
Tuesday, September 19 – 10.30am, v New Zealand; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
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CONCRETE COWBOY
Directed by: Ricky Staub
Starring: Idris Elba, Caleb McLaughlin, Jharrel Jerome
3.5/5 stars
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A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
Stage results
1. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Deceuninck-QuickStep 4:39:05
2. Michael Matthews (AUS) Team BikeExchange 0:00:08
3. Primoz Roglic (SLV) Jumbo-Visma same time
4. Jack Haig (AUS) Bahrain Victorious s.t
5. Wilco Kelderman (NED) Bora-Hansgrohe s.t
6. Tadej Pogacar (SLV) UAE Team Emirates s.t
7. David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ s.t
8. Sergio Higuita Garcia (COL) EF Education-Nippo s.t
9. Bauke Mollema (NED) Trek-Segafredo s.t
10. Geraint Thomas (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers s.t
How will Gen Alpha invest?
Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.
“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.
Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.
He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.
Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”
The specs
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How to improve Arabic reading in early years
One 45-minute class per week in Standard Arabic is not sufficient
The goal should be for grade 1 and 2 students to become fluent readers
Subjects like technology, social studies, science can be taught in later grades
Grade 1 curricula should include oral instruction in Standard Arabic
First graders must regularly practice individual letters and combinations
Time should be slotted in class to read longer passages in early grades
Improve the appearance of textbooks
Revision of curriculum should be undertaken as per research findings
Conjugations of most common verb forms should be taught
Systematic learning of Standard Arabic grammar
The years Ramadan fell in May
Salah in numbers
€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.
13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.
57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.
7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.
3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.
40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.
30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.
8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.
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