adminthe Champions Trophy.
He will now fly to Cape Town to attend his mother’s funeral before flying back for India’s final Champions Trophy group game against arch-rivals Pakistan in Birmingham, central England, on Saturday.
“Duncan Fletcher’s mother passed away on Sunday,” a BCCI spokesman said on Tuesday. “He will fly to Cape Town tonight, but he will be back for the game against Pakistan.”
Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan hit his second century in a row as India crushed West Indies by eight wickets to book their place in the Champions Trophy semi-finals. Ravindra Jadeja took 5-36 as the Windies were restricted to 233-9 despite Darren Sammy’s 56 not out. Dhawan led the reply with a superb unbeaten 102, bringing up his hundred with a six as India reached their target in just 39.1 overs. India’s victory at The Oval eliminates Pakistan from the tournament.
South Africa and the Windies, meanwhile, will go head to head tomorrow for the second semi-final place. India’s commanding win followed on from an equally impressive triumph over the Proteas and established the World Cup holders as early front-runners in a tournament featuring the world’s top eight sides.
In Jadeja and Ravinchandran Ashwin, they have two spinners who have exploited dry pitches to excellent effect and in Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, who put on 100 for the second game in succession, they have an opening pair in scintillating form.
India, their board’s continued opposition to it notwithstanding, also made shrewd use of the Decision Review System as Jadeja overturned the umpire’s original not-out decision to remove Marlon Samuels lbw and Dinesh Karthik. — AFP.
Online Reporter