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Wednesday,
February 6, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Virender Sehwag find of the season Kiwis look to rein in South Africa Vineet pulls Punjab back into contest Tamil Nadu toil against
Railways |
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Aslam Sher Khan flays
Gill Champion colleges hockey from
today Durand Cup: keen
fare in offing Tatas to sponsor NFL
Punjab boys, girls win handball
titles Dingko opens campaign in style
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Virender Sehwag find of the season What was generally expected to be a purely one-sided series turned out to be the most exciting one with the visitors growing in stature with every outing and the hosts giving the impression that they had progressively run out of ideas and by the end they appeared totally incapable of correcting their ever-recurring shortcomings: the very same shortcomings that have been around for over a decade. Basics, in fact, like how to rotate strike, like to bowl to your field, like field aggressively, like build partnerships — these very same factors have hounded the team since God knows when and have been repeatedly acknowledged by our several coaches — whatever hue they belonged to — but efforts at exorcising the demons have seemingly been an exercise in futility. We won the Test series 1-0 but the result could easily have been 2-1 in the visitors’ favour. The one-day series should have been won 4-1 but, like good hosts, we contrived to have the visitors make good the deficit and leave our shores triumphantly, their morale on an unexpected high. Fair enough — at least we did not lose in either format of the game. Only this English team did not have a single player of world renown for the entire duration of the tour. Graham Thorpe was partially available and Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick joined the team only in the last stages. The Indians, on the other hand, were cock a hoop after the good showing against
Australia. Something went wrong. What? Complacency in playing against what was regarded as a substandard English team? Thought that home advantage would ensure immediate capitulation of the enemy? Overconfidence in our spinners against a young and inexperienced adversary? A considered opinion that some of the best batsmen in the world would tear the weak English attack to shreds? Where was the question of a keen contest? It should have been a piece of cake. What actually transpired, however, was that our much-wonted batsmen performed to known ability only sporadically. A batsman of VVS Laxman’s calibre had eventually to be dropped for continuously failing to convert good starts into something meaningful. Was there proper guidance that he should apply himself much more once he got into the 20s because that was where his concentration wavered and his nemesis waited in the form of a wayward whim. However, he is too good a batsman not to stage a comeback and he will be a better and much chastened player in the future. The same could be said to apply to Dinesh Mongia and Hemang Badani, both excellent stroke makers but once again succumbing to the pressure of high expectations. Happily, they seem mature enough not to go the Yuveraj Singh way. The find of the season where batting is concerned was, of course, Virender Sehwag and what a revelation he was! His aggression as an opener reminded me of Farrok Engineer and Budhi Kundaran who, opening the batting, would go after the bowling from the word go (and this not in one-dayers which, of course, did not exist in those days). In the limited-overs matches, he has Sachin Tendulkar to nurture, guide and inspire him and he is indeed lucky to have the master technician at the other end of the wicket when opening the innings. In Tests, of course, Sehwag could come lower down and be equally effective. Shiv Sunder Das with S.Ramesh (or Gautam Gambhir, if he continues to develop the way he is) would be the choice as openers for the longer version of the game. Mohd Kaif’s batting in the Delhi match was most encouraging and he should be persevered with. With Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, the above mentioned youngsters will form the nucleus of Indian batting for at least the next few years. Deep Dasgupta could be considered purely on his batting ability but unless Nayan Mongia is given another lease of life — a most unikely possibility — young Ajay Ratra appears destined to fill the wicketkeeper’s slot as he is a plucky little customer and can only improve with greater exposure. As to the bowling, Javagal Srinath has a couple of more years left in him and like good wine, seems to be improving with each year. His waywardness appears like a bad dream. Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan paid the price for playing when unfit and one hopes the lesson has been well learnt. Ajit Agarkar remains an enigma — a match winner and a disaster at the same time. If he decides not to try too many things at the same time, he could be a useful prospect. Anil Kumble continues with useful contributions even though most batsmen — and some tailenders — appear to have worked him out and he is not the same relentless tormentor of yore. Harbhajan Singh has added considerably to his armoury with the away going ball becoming a potential threat. It is a shame that no worthwhile left arm
spinner was given a chance though Murali Karthik appears ready for a longish trial. As to captaincy, Ganguly though — and perhaps because — he wears his aggression on his sleeve was still ideal against the Aussies. In fact, I really believe his brand of no-nonsense captaincy unsettled the Australians to a large extent. With experience he will mellow down and should be more effective. He gives the impression, though, of being largely his own man, this reflecting inevitably in his running between the wickets and inability to rotate strike. However, the match in Mumbai showed that he was learning and he took some audacious singles and set a wonderful example. His decision to field first in Delhi again demonstrated his desire to go by his own instincts and not blindly follow the popular opinion however right that may be. A good captain will, largely, follow his own instincts though he will give due weightage to other opinions. In the case of Delhi his instincts proved wrong and he must learn to play greater heed to others’ considered views if not to a set of age old conventions. Kumble’s good showing in the one match he captained may prompt the selectors to give him this responsibility but Ganguly remains a better long term prospect with Dravid continuing to be an able deputy and Tendulkar remaining the elder statesman and providing useful inputs. All told, the series against England brought us down a peg or two and made a deep dent in the theory that we are invincible at home. And for this we must thank Nasser Hussain and his highly underrated but hugely motivated band of young men. Indeed, one of the abiding images of the season was Hussain flinging himself repeatedly to save valuable runs. His captaincy too was innovative and inspiring. And therein, perhaps, lay the major difference between the two sides.
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Kiwis look to rein in South Africa Melbourne, February 5 Fleming today said his team - the surprise package of the tournament — would have to concentrate on preventing opponents South Africa from cutting loose in the last 10 overs if they are to win the best-of-three finals. “We’ve seen teams become very good at exposing bowling in the last 10 overs - we saw a case of it the other day with Australia beating South Africa, so it’s not easy,” said Fleming. “It comes down to accuracy in those last 10 overs and all the best plans depend on the accuracy of the bowler — it is a tough skill,” he added. Cairns and Bond would be the first choices to bowl at the end of the innings, but Cairns’ bowling availability remains in doubt as he shakes off a back injury. The powerful all-rounder bowled today in the nets but New Zealand will wait until shortly before the match to decide what role he will play. “If he’s 100 per cent fit, he’s a genuine option (to bowl at the end of the innings),” Fleming said. “It’s whether firstly he’s fit enough to bowl, secondly if he’s fit enough to come back, thirdly if he’s able to bowl a third spell at the death - a lot of question marks on that.” Australia were the title favourite at the start of this series, but New Zealand deserved their finals berth after some impressive wins, particularly in early games. But even with Cairns and Bond back, the numbers are against New Zealand — the Kiwis have beaten South Africa only once in their last 16 one-dayers. But South African captain Shaun Pollock said little could be read into the form between the two sides on the eve of the finals. “We have played well against them, but at finals time that counts for nothing,” he said. “What you bring into the finals from the rest of the series means nothing.” South Africa will be hoping Lance Klusener can continue the form with the bat he showed in South Africa’s loss to Australia in the last tri-series qualifying match in Perth, where he made an undefeated 25 with some powerpacked hitting that recalled memories of his prolific World Cup form in 1999. Meanwhile, ground staff at the Sydney Cricket Ground, which is due to host two games and, if necessary, three in the finals, were working frantically today to prepare a pitch despite two days of torrential rain in the city. The Australian Cricket Board announced that if the SCG could not host Friday’s second final and the third game on Sunday — the winner of tomorrow’s match in Melbourne would claim the trophy. If the second match was rained off, but the third final went ahead, that would decide a 2-0 series winner. Should each team win a match, the series would be declared a tie and the $57,200 prize money would be split evenly. Squads (from): South Africa: Shaun Pollock (capt), Nicky Boje, Mark Boucher, Boeta Dippenaar, Allan Donald, Hershelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Justin Kemp, Gary Kirsten, Neil McKenzie, Makhaya Ntini, Jonty Rhodes. New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (capt), Andre Adams, Nathan Astle, Shane Bond, Chris Cairns, James Franklin, Chris Harris, Craig McMillan, Dion Nash, Adam Parore, Daniel Vettori, Lou Vincent.
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Vineet pulls Punjab back into contest SAS Nagar, February
5 Vineet, in the process, put to shade the efforts of his rival and former India seamer Debashis
Mohanty, who earlier in the day bowled an impressive spell. Claiming four wickets, he hastened Punjab’s collapse who were skittled out for paltry 207, two minutes before the tea break and gave his team an opportunity to bat well and put pressure on the hosts. Vineet struck in the third over of the innings, having opener B B C C Mahapatra caught at gully. Orissa skipper S S Das and Rashmi Ranjan Parida looked to be cruising along nicely when Vineet sent the off stump of India opener Das for a walk with the gem of a delivery. Das looked clueless as he started his way back for the pavilion. With Orissa yet to recover from the losses, Vineet scalped
Parida, a prolific scorer in the domestic cricket, who was caught behind by wicketkeeper batsman Pankaj Dharmani as the visitors were reduced to 49 for three. Cover of clouds thickened as the play had to be stopped in view of deteriorating light. No play was possible after that. Earlier, Orissa won the toss and put the hosts in to bat. All hopes of Punjab putting up a decent total on the board never
materialised. No partnership worth the name developed. With Ravneet and Ankur Kakkar back in the pavilion with less than 50 on the board, Mohanty dealt a double blow claiming key wickets of Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh
Mongia, back last night after playing well in the just-concluded one-day series against England, in the same over. Punjab never recoved from the jolts. Opener Munish Sharma and skipper Pankaj Dharmani were able to stand up to the guiles of rival seamers as well as weather conditions which were not very conducive for batting.
Munish, who got a reprieve when he was just off the mark off Mohanty, batted confidently later on and remained unruffled throughout. He was close to a well-deserved century when he was foxed into giving a catch to Sanjay Raul at mid wicket by off-spinner Sanjay
Satpathy. Munish’s 99-run knock had 16 well-struck boundaries during the course of which he faced 157 balls. Seasoned Dharmani also batted with a great deal of responsibility and notched up breezy 41with the help of eight fours as the hosts were saved from total collapse. Punjab
(Ist innings): Munish Sharma c Sanjay Raul b Satpathy 99, Ravneet Ricky b A Barik 5, Ankur Kakkar lbw Bipin Singh 5, Yuvraj Singh c G Gopal b D Mohanty 19, Dinesh Mongia c G Gopal b D Mohanty 0, Pankay Dharmani b A Barik 41, Navdeep Singh c Mahapatra b Satpathy 3, Harbhajan Singh run out 10, Ishan Malhotra lbw b Mohanty 0, Vineet Sharma c Jayachandra b D Mohanty 0, Harish not out 0. Extras ( lb 13, nb 11, w 1) 25 Total: 207
FoW: 1-17, 2-43, 3-81, 4-83, 5-166, 6-196, 7-201, 8-202, 9-202. Bowling: D Mohanty 16-5-35-4; Ajay Barik 15-1-53-2; Bipin Singh 15-4-69-1; Sanjay Satpathy 12.2-4-37-2. Orissa
(Ist innings): BBCC Mahapatra c H Puri b Vineet 8, SS Das b Vineet 10, Rashmi Parida c B Dharmani b Vineet 16, Sanjay Raul not out 2, P Mulick not out 0. Extras: (b 4, nb 9) 13 Total (for 3 wickets) 49
FoW: 1-17,2-40,3-49. Bowling: Vineet Sharma 5.2-1-17-3; Ishan Malhotra 3-0-20-0; Harish Puri 2-0-8-0. |
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Tamil Nadu toil against Railways New Delhi, February 5 Electing to bat, Tamil Nadu lost both their openers — Sadgopan Ramesh (4) and Sridharan Sriram (0) — to the fast and spot-on Harwinder Singh in quick succession. TN (1st innings):
S. Sriram b Harwinder 0, S. Ramesh lbw b Harwinder 4, J. Madanagopal lbw b Parida 60, H. Badani st Wankhde b Kartik 40, S. Sarath c Goud b Kartik 43, R. Singh c Goud b Kartik 7, T.R. Arasu batting 25, A. Kapoor lbw b Harwinder 8, M.R. Shrinivas batting 6. Extras (lb-5, b-4, nb-12, w-1) 22 Total (for 7 wkts, 90 overs) 215 FoW: 1-0, 2-11, 3-90, 4-142, 5-166, 6-168, 7-194. Bowling: Harwinder 16-5-47-3, Yadav 15-4-30-0, Bangar 13-4-36-0, Kartik 30-7-69-3, Parida 16-5-24-1. KOLKATA:
Young Sanjib Sanyal struck a maiden unbeaten century as Bengal recovered from early jolts to reach 277 for seven at close on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy quarter final match against Gujarat at the Eden Gardens here today. Electing to bat after captain Rohan Gavaskar won the toss, the hosts lost their top order batsmen in quick succession but a valiant 176-run sixth wicket partnership between Subhomoy Das (77) and Sanjib Sanyal (109 no) pulled the team out of the pits. Sanyal, who came to the middle with Bengal precariously placed at 91 for five, showed good temperament as he mixed caution with aggression to notch up his maiden Ranji Trophy century and take Bengal to a far more respectable position at close. Saurav Ganguly’s hopes of finding his batting form ahead of the Test series against Zimbabwe did not bear fruit as the stylish left-hander perished for 36 though he looked quite comfortable at the middle. Bengal (1st innings): Chakraborty c Vora b Patel 7, Dasgupta c Damani b Patel 12, Gandhi c Varsani b Patel 4, Gavaskar lbw b Mehta 24, Ganguly c Varsani b Mehta 36, Das c Damani b Patel 77, Sanyal batting 109, Chatterjee b Bhatt 2, Shukla batting 1. Extras (lb-4, nb-1) 5. Total (for 7 wkts, 89.3 overs) 277. FoW: 1/8, 2/18, 3/31, 4/64, 5/91, 6/267, 7/274. Bowling: L Patel 25-5-62-4, S Bhatt 17.3-4-68-1, B Mehta 24-2-75-2, K Patel 12-3-35-0, T Varsani 7-2-20-0, K Damani 4-1-13-0. BARODA: A sparkling 101 runs by captain V.V.S. Laxman helped Hyderabad score 290 runs in their first innings on the opening day of the quarterfinal match against last year’s champions Baroda here. In reply, Baroda were 20 without loss at close of play. Baroda’s decision to field after winning the toss paid dividends and Hyderabad lost three vital wickets of Daniel Manohar, Ananda Kishor and Arjun Singh, with the score at 74. Then it was Laxman and Vinay Kumar, who steadied the innings and added 90 runs for the fourth wicket. Laxman piled up 101 runs, including 15 fours and stayed at the wicket for 231 minutes facing 151 balls. Zaheer Khan produced a fine spell claiming five wickets for 115 runs, while Joshi took three wickets conceding 45 runs.
PTI |
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Aslam Sher Khan flays Gill Bhopal, February 5 Addressing a press conference here, Khan was particularly critical of the selection of 22 players for the hockey World Cup to be played at Kuala Lumpur later this month. “Among the 22 players, there is not even a single player from Bhopal... This could only mean either there are no talented players left in the city or they are being discriminated against,” he said. Khan said it was strange that while three persons from Bhopal could find place in the new working committee of IHF, no player from the city finds a place in the Indian squad. Of the three persons from the city who made it to the IHF working committee, two had no connection whatsoever with hockey while the third had not played the game at national or international level, he said. The Olympian also alleged that 50 to 60 per cent of IHF’s working committee members were all retired IPS officers. This could be because Mr Gill may be of the opinion that while others may not back him in an election, these officers will always stand by him, Khan said.
PTI |
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Champion colleges hockey from
today New Delhi, February 5 The tournament, which was open to the champion colleges of 16 best hockey-playing universities, entering the semifinals of the four inter-university
tournaments, will now have only the first three teams from each zone. The remaining four vacancies have been allotted to the best left-over college teams as wild card entries. The tournament will be played in two phases. In the first phase, 12 teams will be divided into four pools of three teams each. The teams topping each pool will qualify to join the four seeded teams in the quarterfinals. The matches from quarterfinals onward will be played on knock-out basis. Nehru Hockey Tournament Society secretary Shiv Kumar Verma said here today that the prize money of Rs 2.20 lakh would be divided among the winners, the runners-up and the third placed team, and the four best players. Former Indian hockey international and sports officer of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) Gurdeep Singh said the tournament would be held in collaboration with the AIU, and will be sponsored by ONGC and Bharat Petroleum. ONGC has entered into the three-year contract worth Rs 15 lakh. St Xavier’s College, Ranchi take on Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa College, Delhi, in the opening match tomorrow at 3.15 p.m. The teams in the fray are: North Zone: GND University, Amritsar
(Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar); Panjab University, Chandigarh (Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, Chandigarh); Delhi University (Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa College). East Zone:
Ranchi University, VBS Paravanchal University, Jaunpur and Guru Ghasidas University, Bilaspur. West Zone: Jiwaji
Univesity, Gwalior, LNIPE, Gwalior and Rani Durgawati University, Jabalpur. South Zone: Bangalore University, Bangalore (St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore), Bharthidasan University,
Thiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu (TUK Arts College, Thanjavur) and Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai (American College,
Madurai). Aligarh University, Jamia Millia Islamia (New Delhi), Ch Charan Singh University, Meerut (NAS College) and Sambhalpur
Univesity, Sambhalpur (Rourkela Municipal College) have been seeded directly into the quarterfinals. |
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Durand Cup: keen fare in offing New Delhi, February 5 BSF and Army XI who made it to the last eight round through the pre-quarterfinals will join 10 other teams, including the defending champions Mohun Bagan, another Kolkata giant East Bengal, Mumbai’s Mahindra United, Indian Telephone Industries from Bangalore and the powerhouses of Goan Soccer Churchill Brothers and Salgaocar, directly seeded to the quarters and vie for top honours. Salgaocar are in group B along with East Bengal and Punjab Police. The Goans will take on the cops in the inaugural match tomorrow while ITI will clash with JCT Phagwara in group A which includes Mohun Bagan. Bagan and East Bengal will start their campaign playing against JCT and Punjab Police respectively on Friday. Title aspirants, Bagan currently occupying the top position along with ITI and Mahindra in the NFL, will again look to the goal scoring magic of Brazilian Jose Barreto who last year helped Bagan to lift the cup. Providing support to Barreto upfront would be Abdulateef Seriki and R.C. Prakash.
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Tatas to sponsor NFL Kolkata, February 5 With the Tata group deciding to sponsor the event as part of its commitment to promote sports in the country, the championship will be named the ‘Tata National Football League’ till the completion of the league. The winning team will take home a prize money of Rs 40 lakh, a Tata group press note said. The league commenced on December 12, 2001 and will go on until April 15 this year. Ten rounds have been completed and the 11th round will begin on February 20. Currently Mohun Bagan, Mahindra United, Salgaocar and ITI are positioned at the top of the table. The matches will be played at Salt Lake Stadium and Rabindra Sarovar in Kolkata, FA Stadium in Bangalore, Cooperage in Mumbai, Nehru Stadium in Goa, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi, Guru Gobind Singh Stadium in Jalandhar, and Guru
Nanak Stadium, Ludhiana. PTI |
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Kartar Singh is Director, Sports Chandigarh, February 5 Talking to The Tribune, Kartar Singh, who was recently decorated with the President’s Police Medal on the Republic Day, said he wanted leave no stone unturned in giving the desired boost to sports in Punjab. Showing concern over the under-utilisation of the facilities at the Dashmesh Academy of Martial Arts, Anandpur Sahib, he said he would try to increase the sports activities there. Regarding the PUDA Sports Complex at SAS Nagar, Kartar Singh said he would explore the possibility of its speedy completion. He said his office could be shifted there as already they were paying around Rs 50,000 rent for the current office in Sector 34. Once the new government took shape, then by April, the proper working of the department would be monitored, he said. Kartar Singh’s predecessor, Col Raminder Singh, retired on December 31, 2001. The appointment of Kartar Singh remained under heavy speculation for almost a month. |
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Punjab boys, girls win handball
titles Patiala, February 5 In chess, at the end of 10 rounds, Kerala girls team (U-19), comprising Sandhay, Nimmy George, Neenu George and Roshini, won the title. The Maharashtra squad, comprising Madhura Deshpande, Priyanka Desai, Pandgha Magal and Urushi Kulkarni took the second spot while Andhra Pradesh with Ramya Krishan, N.Krishna Manjusha, P. Gayatari and V.Vishnupriya were third. In the boys (U-19) section, the Maharashtra squad comprising Arjun Tiwari, Saurabh Deshpande, Wesley Falcao and Yash Aggarwal took the first spot, followed by the Kerala quartet of Nizam K.M, M.Shihab, G.S Sreejit and K.R Dhanulal while Andhra Pradesh having J.Prudhapal, P.Kranit Kumar, P.Ramakrishna and Tejdeep Adabala came a distant third. Other results: athletics: 200m (boys, U-17):
Surinder Singh (Haryana)-1, Anil Kumar (Haryana)-2, Jumma Musharage (Gujarat)-3; girls: Jyothi H.M (Kerala)-1, Aruna Kumari (AP)-2, G.D Gouramma (Kerala)-3; boys, U-19: Vishal Saxena (UP)-1, Hemanth P.A (Kerala)-2, Amol Khatal (Maharashtra)-3; boys, U-14: R. Ashok Kumar (MP)-1, Amarjeet Singh (Punjab)-2, R.H Tribhuvan (Maharashtra)-3. girls, U-17: Aliki Chiki (Kerala)-1, Alphonsa (Kerala)-2,S.Biswas (WB)-3; 100m hurdles: (girls, U-17): A.K Saranya (Kerala)-1, Monalisa Bora (Assam)-2, Shanti Berman (WB)-3; 400m hurdles: boys, U-19: Prabhjot Singh (Punjab)-1, Ranjot Singh (Punjab)-2, Achintya Mahato (WB)-3; 4 x 400m relay (boys, U-17): Haryana-1, UP-2, Kerala-3; boys, U-19: Kerala-1, Punjab-2, Delhi-3; girls, U-14: Kerala-1, Maharashtra-2, Delhi-3; girls, U-19: Kerala-1, WB-2, Gujarat-3; girls, U-17): Kerala-1, Karnataka-2, Maharashtra-3. The prizes were distributed by Mr R.S. Sandhu, secretary, Education and Sports amidst a colourful closing ceremony held at the Polo Grounds. |
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Dingko opens campaign in style New Delhi, February 5 Dingko, who has been out of action for several months, tested the waters with a flurry of combination punches to make Ashoka Subba groggy in the first round itself, and the referee intervened to save Subba from further punishment. On a crowded day when over 70 bouts were scheduled to be held, Girish Pawar of Maharashtra set the ball rolling when he scored a comprehensive 20-8 points verdict against Kaleem Ahmed of Tamil Nadu in the lightfly weight. In another lightfly bout, Manoj Shah of Uttaranchal scored a second round RSC victory against Dighnta Nath Sion of Assam. In a closely fought bantam bout, Raj Kumar of Jammu and Kashmir scored a narrow 11-10 victory over Pratap Raj Solankai of Rajasthan. Indian Amateur Boxing Association working President R.S. Dalal said 285 boxers from 36 units are taking part in the championship being organised by the Railway Sports Promotion Board. The five-day championship will witness 273 bouts. Mr Dalal said all top boxers of the country are taking part in the championship. |
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Kartar Singh is Director, Sports
