LISTEN: Full script of Episode 60 of Spodcast where we discuss javelin thrower Sundar Singh Gurjar's silver, India's ODI squad and more

Welcome to Spodcast, where we look at the main sports headlines of the day.

India named the squad for the first two ODIs against the West Indies on Wednesday. Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has been included in the squad, and could make his ODI debut in the upcoming series. He replaces Dinesh Karthik, who struggled to score runs in the Asia Cup. Pant’s selection comes after a Test century on debut in England and a blistering 92 in the first test of the ongoing series. Pant has been picked for his batting. With Hardik Pandya unavailable due to injury, and MS Dhoni’s recent struggles with the bat, India are keen to include a deft finisher in the ODI squad. Dhoni will continue to be wicketkeeper for the ODI team.

Ambati Rayudu, who was reliable when batting up the order in the Asia Cup, retains his place in the side. Manish Pandey has also been included in the squad, thanks to Kedar Jadhav’s injury. Virat Kohli has also been included for the ODI series.

Meanwhile, strike bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested for the first two games. The first ODI will be played on October 21 in Guwahati.

Day four at the 2018 Youth Olympics proved a pretty ordinary day for Indian athletes. There were no medals for the Indian contingent on Thursday. Archana Kamath, the 18-year-old table tennis player from Karnataka, lost her bronze medal match to Andreea Dragoman of Romania. Kamath won the first game 11-8, but Dragoman made a great comeback to take the next three games 13-11, 11-9, 11-5. The final game was a hard fought one, and Dragoman prevailed 11-9 to win the semi-final and claim the bronze.

The Indian women’s U-18 hockey team lost their match to Argentina 2-5. This was their first loss at this year’s games after three wins on the trot. Argentina scored their first goal just seven minutes into the match, only to have India equalize the very next minute. Two minutes later, Argentina scored again to make it 2-1. India drew level just before half-time but Argentina dominated the second half, scoring three goals in quick succession. The women’s hockey team will face South Africa in their next match. The men’s hockey team lost to Australia 3-4 as well.

Thursday was another successful day for India at the Asian Para Games 2018 in Jakarta. Javelin thrower Sundar Singh Gurjar won a silver medal in the men’s F46 category. Another Indian javelin thrower, Rinku, won the bronze in the same event. The F46 category of disability covers upper limb deficiency, impaired muscle power or impaired range of movement. Gurjar, who trained for 22 days in Finland before the Games, had a best throw of 61.33m on his fifth attempt. He finished in second place behind Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Herath, who took the gold after smashing the Games and the Asian record with a 61.84m throw. Rinku had a best of 60.92m, which won him the bronze.

Meanwhile, two-time Paralympic gold-medallist Devendra Jhajharia finished fourth after he managed to throw the javelin only 59.17m. He had won the silver in the previous edition of the games. Avnil Kumar finished third in the men’s 400m T13 category to claim the bronze medal. The T13 classification deals with visual impairment. Kumar finished the race in 52 seconds. Iran’s Omid Zarifsanayei, who clocked 51.41 seconds, won the gold medal while Thailand’s Songwut Lamsan won the silver.

Usman Khawaja scored a gritty 141 runs to help Australia draw the first Test match of their series against Pakistan being held in the UAE. Faced with a daunting target of 462 runs, Australia’s batsmen dug in on a flat, spin-friendly pitch to finish the last day of the match at 362/8. Khawaja batted for over eight hours and faced 302 deliveries for his match-saving innings. His innings is the second longest in the fourth innings of a Test. The longest was Michael Atherton’s 645-minute vigil against South Africa in 1995.

Khawaja found support from skipper Tim Paine and Travis Head. Paine ended the day 61 not out from 194 balls, grinding it out in the middle to ensure Australia did not lose the match. Earlier, Travis Head scored a steady 72 runs from 175 balls to help save Australia’s innings that was tottering at 87/3 in just the 32nd over. He added 132 runs along with Khawaja for the fourth wicket. Khawaja was dismissed with 14 overs remaining in the day, and Australia weathered some very anxious moments as Mitchell Starc and Peter Siddle fell to Yasir Shah’s bowling in the same over. However, Paine and Nathan Lyon batted out the remaining 12 overs to draw the match. Yasir Shah took four wickets out of the eight that fell in Australia’s second innings. Khawaja, who also scored 85 in the first innings, was declared the Player of The Match.