Bopanna

India pacer Mohammed Siraj on Wednesday became number one bowler in the ICC rankings for ODI bowlers, a testament to his rapid rise in international cricket.

Siraj went past New Zealand’s Trent Boult and Australia seamer Josh Hazlewood to become the top-ranked ODI bowler for the very first time. Not only has Siraj’s form over the last 12 months been imperious, but his effort in the ODI series at home earlier this month against Sri Lanka and New Zealand has shown just how much the right-armer has improved in recent times. India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey challenged Siraj to work on certain aspects of his game last year and the extra training the energetic quick has put in has paid off.

Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza advanced to the Australian Open mixed doubles semi-finals without having to move a muscle as they got a walkover from Jelena Ostapenko and David Vega Hernandez here on Tuesday.

The Indian team has not yet dropped a set in the mixed team competition. They will take on third seeds Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski in the last-four stage.

They are the only Indians left in the fray at the Australian Open.

For Sania this will be her last grand slam appearance and she will naturally want to go out on a high.

Bopanna and his partner Mathew Ebden, seeded 10th, had made a first-round exit from the men’s doubles event.

Sania and her Kazkah partner Anna Danilina also lost in the women’s doubles second round.

Ramkumar Ramanathan and his Mexican partner Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela, and the pair of Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni had also made first-round exits. Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and N Sriram Balaji had reached the second round before bowing out.