Underdogs have their day!

It was a day for an underdog to come out all guns blazing against a fancied opponent in Melbourne and eventually prevail while in neighbouring Brisbane South Australia a visiting cricket team showed spine after being humbled in the opening Test but failed to fully capitalise on the situation by the end of days playAt Melbourne which is playing host to the years first Grand Slamthe Australian Open Novak Djokovic the World Number 1 and holder of 24 Grand Slam titles crashed out in the semifinals after losing to rising 22yearold Italian Jannik SinnerWhile Djokovic has more Grand Slams to his credit than the number of birthdays that Sinner has celebrated to date it hardly mattered on the day as the Italian produced some of his best tennis to get the better of the championIn the biggest upset of the Australian Open the defending champion was outplayed in four sets in a clash that pitted experience and vintage against unbridled talent and the fearlessness of youthAt the end of the fascinating clash which spanned three hours and 21 minutes Sinner came through against the seasoned and battlehardened Serbian The eventual scoreline read 16 26 76 6 36 in favour of the 22yearold ItalianThe result coming in the face of heavy odds made Sinner the first player to defeat Djokovic in the semifinal of the Australian OpenThrowing caution to the winds and going allout against the 24time Grand Slam winner Sinner made Djokovic work hard for every point and as the opening set went to the Italian there were murmurs in the stands that an upset could be on the cardsAnd so it turned out after four sets as the wiry Italian lifted his maiden Grand Slam trophy at the years first majorAlso ReadIfs buts and maybesMeanwhile as Djokovic found the going tough against the Italian cricketing giants Australia who have mastered all formats and have most world titles to their credit struggled literally to put bat to ball in the face of fiery bursts from West Indian quicks on Day 2 of the ongoing second Test at the Gabba in Brisbane on FridayHowever by the end of the days play the match was on an even keel with the hosts managing to reduce the deficit and boldly declare while they were within sniffing distance of the Caribbean total with the last pair standingEarlier as play resumed on Day 2 debutant Kevin Sinclair waged a brave battle in the company of wicketkeeper Joshua DeSilva scoring a fine halfcentury Their enterprising association in the middle helped the visitors close their first innings at a respectable score of 311After a lateorder cameo with the bat speedster Alzarri Joseph in the company of bowling spearhead Kemar Roach put the Kangaroos in a tight corner in fortress GabbaBowling at fiery and extracting deadly bounce off the surface the Windies quicks made the Aussies sniff the leather sending half the side back to the hutch with not many runs on the scoreboardAlso ReadRanji Trophy Mumbai to clash with Uttar Pradesh at Wankhede StadiumFor Australia skipper Pat Cummins 64 Usman Khawaja 75 and Alex Carey 64 helped the hosts save their blushes after they were reduced at one point to 244After lifting the score to a few runs short of the West Indies target largely on the back of a rearguard revival the Aussies declared boldly at 2899However the visitors did well not to crumble in the face of the newball bursts by the Aussie quicks as they closed the days play at 131 stretching their lead to 35 runsWith agency inputs