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Thursday,
October 31, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Bangar,
Laxman rescue India Indian batsman Sanjay Banger hits a ball off West Indies bowler Darren Powell during the third Test match between India and the West Indies in Kolkata on Wednesday. Disappointment
for Richards EXPERT
COMMENTS: RAVI SHASTRI CHETAN
SHARMA WRITES Resolute
batting by JP Yadav |
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Indian
men score win over Norway
Sanjeet,
Virender impress Goa,
Manipur in semis Bopanna
faces Mankad in semis |
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Bangar, Laxman rescue India
Kolkata, October 30 Aiming for a 3-0 sweep of the series, India were placed at 275 for six when bad light forced the end of day’s play half an hour after scheduled time with seven overs still remaining to be bowled. On a day when other batsmen threw away the advantage after being well settled, Bangar, who is proving a very consistent performer in the opening slot, played a sparkling 77-run knock, comprising two contrasting halves. Bangar scored only 41 runs in the first two sessions off 151 balls before shifting gears in the last session which saw him score 36 from just 50 balls which included seven fours. Bangar was associated in useful partnerships with Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and skipper Saurav Ganguly -all of whom got out in the 30s - but it was during the fifth wicket association with V V S Laxman that he flourished the most. Bangar and Laxman, who made 48 with eight fours, added 77 runs before getting out 29 runs from each other. West Indies, who have had a miserable series so far, probably had their most productive day today with all their four seamers and skipper Carl Hooper sharing the six wickets to fall. The Indians, who elected to bat after winning the toss, were off to a good start with the unstoppable Sehwag once again launching his onslaught early in the innings. He made his intentions clear in the second over of the match when he despatched Cameron Cuffy to the extra cover fence for the first boundary of the innings. The dashing batsman then hit Mervyn Dillon to the third man boundary before blasting him for two more fours in the bowler’s next over. Sehwag batted in his usual whirlwind fashion but failed to translate a good aggressive start into a big score. After making 35 runs off 35 balls with six boundaries, he was trapped leg before wicket by Mervyn Dillon. Rahul Dravid, who has been in top form in recent times, was unfortunate to be declared leg before wicket by umpire David Shepherd as television replays clearly showed he had played the ball from Darren Powell. Dravid could score just 14 and India lost their second wicket at 72. Bangar, who got a life on five when Shivnarine Chanderpaul failed to hold on to a edge despite a valiant diving effort, kept chugging along in the company of Tendulkar who got a standing ovation from the crowd as he entered the ground. The two batsmen took India’s score to 98 for two at lunch with Tendulkar, who looked in fine touch, having already overtaken his partner. Tendulkar hit a few aggressive shots and an elegant straight drive against Darren Powell was a treat to the eyes. But Tendulkar had scored just 12 runs after the lunch break when a rash stroke brought a premature end to his innings. He chased a wide delivery from Jermaine Lawson and gave a regulation catch to Chris Gayle at third slip. Tendulkar faced 65 balls for his 36 runs which included seven hits to the fence. His third wicket association with Bangar was worth 44 runs. Local hero Ganguly then joined the action and thrilled the packed stadium by opening his account with a boundary. Ganguly, who was chasing his first-ever century at his home ground, batted quite confidently during his 30-run knock which contained five boundaries. However, with just three balls to go for tea, he attempted a cut shot against Hooper and only managed a snick that was well taken by wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs. Having sent back the four most dreaded batsmen in the Indian an camp, the West Indians wore a very satisfied look at the tea break. But they still had Bangar and Laxman, whose legendary 281-run knock against Australia came at this ground, to contend with and the two batsmen made sure that they were not taken lightly by the West Indian bowlers. Bangar was a totally transformed batsman after the tea break as he started cutting and pulling with ease and quickly raced into his seventies. In fact, Bangar had been trying to open up in the second half of the post-lunch session itself but he succeeded only after tea. India 1st innings Bangar c Hinds b Cuffy 77 Sehwag lbw b Dillon 35 Dravid lbw b Powell 14 Tendulkar c Gayle b Lawson 36 Ganguly c Jacobs b Hooper 30 Laxman c Gayle b Dillon 48 Patel batting 18 Harbhajan batting 3 Extras: (lb-8, nb-6) 14 Total: (for 6 wkts, 83 overs) 275 Fall of wickets: 1-49, 2-72, 3-116, 4-165, 5-242, 6-271. Bowling:
Dillon 17-2-61-2, Cuffy, 20-4-52-1, Lawson 16-3-57-1, Powell 15-4-61-1, Hooper 12-4-25-1, Gayle 2-0-6-0, Sarwan 1-0-5-0.
PTI |
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Disappointment
for Richards Vivian Richards is no new face at the Eden Gardens. The Caribbean cricket super-star of the yesteryears is happy to be again back in Kolkata. He says he has been to the city a number of times. And every time he plays golf at Tollygunje Golf Club and he has never faced any problem in this regard. But this time, it proved different driving towards TGC on Tuesday from his hotel at Taj Bengal, he saw “no entry” sign everywhere which made it impossible for him to reach the place in time. This forced him to abandon the idea of playing golf. City police chief, Sujoy Chakraborty regretted that such a thing could happen to Vivian Richards as police chief was his fan during his college days. * * * The ‘fat father’ of the Caribbean cricket is at the Edens Gardens. He is Lester Armoogam, a Persee by birth who played 117 Test matches for West Indies. Now a contractor the 62-year-old “God father of Cricket” from Trinidad says he would want his boys to restore the Caribbean prestige to some extent. Armoogam prayed to Sai Baba before leaving Chennai. He does not know if his prayer would come true but he admits after visiting the Sai Baba ashrama at Chennai he felt relieved of the agony and the mental tension following the defeat of his team in two preceding Test matches in Mumbai and Chennai. * * * At long last, the Indian cricket players association has been formed, though necessary legal formalities like registration and election of the office-bearers have yet to take place. Most of the past and the present stars have extended their support to the body formation. But at least one person is sceptical about the real utility of the association and its future. And he is a former captain, Dilip Vengsarker. Dilip is sceptical from his past experiences. |
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EXPERT
COMMENTS: RAVI SHASTRI India’s performance was a mixed bag on the opening day of the final Test. Just when it looked like V V S Laxman and Sanjay Bangar had pulled the side out of a crisis-of-sorts, the West Indies struck back with both these wickets to make it evens-stevens before close. With a total in the region of 325 or thereabouts still possible, India have not done too badly, yet could have done much, much better. Almost everyone from the top order got a good start, but other than Sanjay Bangar, nobody could make the most of the opportunity. Rahul Dravid got a very poor decision, admittedly, but Sehwag, Sachin, Saurav and Laxman will surely be rueing their judgement which made them play rash shots when well set. Bangar was the pick of the batsmen today, a model of concentration and determination, batting almost through three entire sessions. If he has to be faulted, it would be for the inability to pace his innings, rotate the strike, get on top of the bowling once when well set. For most of the day he was in an ultra defensive mould, but after tea he came out blazing with shots. With more experience, he should acquire the balance between defence and attack to keep the fielding side at bay. I thought the West Indies did really well after losing the toss again. They came back into the match strongly in the second session by taking the wickets of Tendulkar and Saurav, and followed this up with an equally fruitful last session in which Bangar and Laxman became victims. The bowlers toiled hard on a wicket which has not yet provided great assistance to either fast bowlers or spinners, though it is likely that the slow bowlers will dominate as the match progresses. I thought the West Indies erred in playing four fast bowlers instead of including an extra spinner. The attack would have had more variety, and there would have been an asset should the track show wear and tear. The last two Tests have shown that fast bowlers by themselves will struggle to win matches on slow turners. Nonetheless, the West Indian quicks put up a brave show. Merv Dillon bowled an impressive opening spell in which he harried Sehwag and should have had him cheaper. Cameroon Cuffy looked ordinary till he struck in the final session. The two youngsters, Lawson and Powell also showed promise of what they could achieve. If these bowlers fulfil their captain’s expectations early tomorrow and bowl India out for not too many more, this Test could well be the best of the series.
(Gameplan) |
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CHETAN
SHARMA WRITES Watching the West Indian players make a spirited comeback on the first day of the third Test, I was left wondering whether the visitors would have been better off had this been a five-Test series than just three. They were mauled in the first Test but showed improvement in the second and today they held an upper hand over the Indians. Maybe they might have even upset the Indians had there been a fourth or fifth Test too. The decision to pack their side with four fast bowlers was a bold move by the West Indies captain Carl Hooper and it paid off well as the day progressed. Of what use is a spinner when the Indian batsmen score most of their runs off his bowling? Fast bowlers have in the past troubled the Indian batsmen even in Indian conditions so Hooper’s gamble was fairly justified. India ended the day at 275 for 6 but it could have been worse. They were saved by a timely partnership between Sanjay Bangar and VVS Laxman. But for that stand, India may have even been bowled out on the first day only. Now they can at least expect the tail to add another 60-70 runs and see if they can get India to 350 or so. That will be a good total on this Eden Gardens pitch which was slightly slow and will definitely assist spin as the days go by. I would also blame the Indian batsmen for giving the West Indians a chance to pick up wickets. All the batsmen were dismissed after settling in and not even one went for a century. Bangar, though he held one end up was too bogged down and at times he allowed the loose balls to go unpunished. Bangar is an able allrounder but I strongly feel the Indian captain and coach must ask him to score his runs at a better rate. Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly and Laxman were guilty of throwing away their wickets when they could have stayed on and played big innings. Here, I would say, Hooper played smart cricket and played upon the Indian batsmen’s eagerness to go for their strokes. His bowlers kept a tight length and the other thing, which made the difference, was that the West Indian fielders held catches, which came their way today. In the earlier Tests they had dropped too many catches and paid the penalty. Tomorrow’s morning session will be very crucial. If the Indian batsmen can take the score to 350 it will be good for them but if the West Indian bowlers strike early and dismiss India for under 300, there will be a job at hand for the Indian spinners. |
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Resolute
batting by JP Yadav New Delhi, October 30 Railways found the going extremely tough after they skittled out the Rest team for 266 in their first essay 10 minutes after lunch, losing three wickets for just 39 runs. Rest of India (1st innings): A Chopra c Pagnis
b Kartik 92 W Jaffer b Parida 41 Yuvraj st Sharma b Kartik 50 Kale c Pagnis b Parida 1 Gavaskar lbw b Harvinder 21 Dahiya c Kartik b Hussain 15 Lahiri c Sharma b Harvinder 1 S Singh c Kartik b Parida1 2 T Patel lbw b Parida 13 I Pathan c Sharma b Parida 0 T Youhannan not out 5 Extras:
(b-8, lb-3, nb-3, w-1)15 Total: (allout) 266. Fall of wickets:
1-90, 2-195, 3-198, 4-198, 5-235, 6-236, 7-237, 8-261, 9-261. Bowling:
Harvinder 21-6-38-2, Hussain 14-3-26-1, Kartik 45-26-59-2, J P Yadav 15-4-28-0, Parida 35.4-11-90-5, Khanolkar 1-0-14-0. Railways (first innings): J.P. Yadav batting 71 Amit Pagnis
lbw Irfan Pathan 6 Abhay Sharma c Wasim Zaffar b Sarandeep Singh 20 Yere Gaud lbw Irfan Pathan 1 Jacob Martin batting 25 Extras:
(b 5, nb 7)12 Total: (in 49 overs) 135 for 3 Fall of wickets:
1-8,2-33,3-39 Bowling: Yohanan 6-3-12-0, Pathan 12-1-26-2, Sarandeep 16-3-38-1, T Patel 7-1-31-0, S.Lahri 4-00-19-0, Yuvraj 3-2-3-0, R. Gavaskar 1-00-1-0.
PTI |
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Indian men score win over Norway
Bled, October 30 The win put the Indian men, on 10.5 points, in joint 16th position in the 14-round competition. Russia, who blanked Georgia 3-1, continue to lead the table along with Poland and Armenia with 13 points each. In the women’s section, the USA and China (both on 9.5 points) moved atop the leaderboard with identical 2-1 victories over Poland and Yugoslavia, respectively. The Indian team is placed in joint second position with Georgia, Russia and Poland. It was an outstanding performance on all three boards by the Indian girls with Vijayalaxmi giving them a flying start in the opener overpowering Firuza Venikhali. Playing white on the top board in a king’s Indian defence game, she went for her favourite Fianchetto variation which helped her get a slight advantage after the opening and exerted pressure on the queen side with thematic manoeuvres. Venikhali, who appeared to be at sea for the major part of the game, lost a central pawn that cast the dye in her opponent’s favour. Once on top, Vijayalakshmi did not rest on one pawn and went for an attack against the king and eventually won a piece for effectively no counter play which forced Venikhali to resign after 52 moves. On the second board, Subbaraman Meenakshi, younger sister of Vijayalakshmi, put up a good performance in a slightly inferior position to down Shukurova Meihreban with black pieces. This board was fought till the last nail after an intense middle game that arose from a Glek variation. Meenakshi put aside her slightly worse pawn structure and gained counter play on the queenside with a rook penetration. Meihreban’s 34th move spelt doom for her as she lost a pawn two moves later. Meenakshi handled the technicalities to perfection thereon to cruise to an emphatic 70-move victory. On the final board, adopting petroff defence Swati Ghate made mincemeat of Zeinab Mamedjaroba with white pieces. Mamedjaroba, who opted for a slightly inferior variation, allowed Swati to have an overwhelming attack against the king. With an exchange sacrifice, Swati opened her checkmate campaign and completed it in just 34 moves. The Indian men had quite uneventful draws on the top two boards as Grandmasters Pentyala Harikrishna and Abhijit Kunte appeared content with the peace treaty in quick time against Einar Gausal and Leif Johannessen respectively. |
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Irina
returns 2-under again Chandigarh, October 30 Irina played near flawless golf, dropping only one shot, an unlucky lipped out putt on the ninth in the entire round. Her string of pars was crowned by a hat-trick of birdies on the 12th, 13th and 14th holes. Feeling happy about her game she however felt she could have returned a better score but for three missed birdie putts. Anjali Chopra played good golf today making birdies on the fourth and fifth. But a dropped shot on the seventh saw her turn at one under. Two more birdies in the back nine were, however nullified by 3 bogeys that gave her a card of even par 72. In the silver division Rana Alam still leads even though she played over her handicap today. The Bronze division saw some keen competition with Neelu Chopra prevailing over Shruti Naik. The Super Seniors over-65 concluded their 36-hole competition today with Mrs Dalbir Sahi and Darshi Narang laying claim to the Gross and Nett trophies, respectively. The scores after the second round: Championship Bowl (Gross): Irina Brar (140), Anjali Chopra (150), Shalini Malik (155). Silver Salver (Nett): Irina Brar (138), Shalini Malik (139), Vaishavi Sinha (143). Challenge Bowl: Gross — Rana Alam (171), Nitika Jadeja (181), Kanika Minocha (182); Nett — Rana Alam (143), Naveena Punj (145), Dalbir Sahi (145). Bronze Plate: Gross — Neelu Chopra (204), Shruti Naik (213), Biba N Singh (216); Net — Shruti Naik (143), Darshi Narang (149), Neelu Chopra (154). Junior Shield: Gross — Mayali Talwar (157), Vaishavi Sinha (167), Neha Majithia (173); Net — Vaishavi Sinha (143), Shruti Naik (143), Meghna Bal (150). Subjunior Shield: Gross — Vaishavi Sinha (167), Megna Bal (174), Shruti Naik (213); Nett — Shruti Naik (122), Megna Bal (156), Vaishavi Sinha (168). Senior Challenge: Gross — Dalbir Sahi (187), Madhu Brar (189), S. Ratia (190); Net — Dalbir Sahi (145), Binny Bath (148), Darshi Narang (149). Super Senior: Gross — Dalbir Sahi (187), Darshi Narang (219), Saroj Joti (224); Nett — Dalbir Sahi (145), Darshi Narang (149), S.C. Mehta (160). |
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Sanjeet, Virender impress Chandigarh, October 30 Earlier the prize distribution function for the various winners of today’s events was held. Mr Surinder Singla, MLA from Bhatinda and Chairman, finance committee, Punjab and Mr Amarjit Goyal, an active member of the Managing Committee, were among those present. Results:
Girls : U-16: below 63 kg: Vidhi Nawandar (Emerald, Indore) 1, Ritu Narula (Agarsain Girls School, Sirsa) 2, Siri Thron (Laureat Public School, Shimla) 3. Bhavya (IS Dev Samaj-21) 3. below 52 kg: Tania (Gurdaspur Public School, Gurdaspur)1, Aekla (Sharda Sarvihitkari
School, Chd) 2, Mandeep (Shah Satnam School, Sirsa) 3. Kusum Saini (Maharaja Agarsain School, Sirsa) 3. Under19: Below 40 kg: Ashima (Shah Satnam, Sirsa) 1, Suman Negi (Sharda Sarvhitkari) 2,Vineeta (Bhavan Vidyalya, Panchkula) 3. Suma Verma (Maharaja Agarsain, Sirsa) 3. below 40 kg: Kiran (Agarsain, Sirsa) 1, Shrinkha (DAV Public, Surajpur) 2, Priyanka (Shah Satnam, Sirsa) 3. Anupam Sharma (Sharda- 40) 3. Below30 kg: Manju Yadav (Agarsain, Sirsa) 1, Neelam (Laureat Public, Shimla) 2, Sugandha (MRAS School, Sector 27,Chd) 3, Jagriti (Shah Satnam, Sirsa) 3. Under14: Priksha Bishnoi (Agarsain-Sirsa)1, Komal (Shah Satnam,Sirsa)2, Yashoda (IS Dev Samaj-21) 3, Mamta Lakra (Ganga International, Delhi) 3. Below 44 kg: Manisha (DRKAVM, Charkhi Dadri, Haryana) 1, Sarita Agarsain 2, Esha Sharma (AKSIPS-41)3, Sonali (Goodly Public, Delhi) 3. Boys section: Under 14:Below 45 kg: Raman Kumar (Chiranjeev Bharti, Gurgaon) 1, Sunny Sharma (DAV Public, Pitampura) 2, Anjit Thakur (Laureat School, Shimla) 3, Aman Mahajan (JK Public, Jammu) 3. Below 35 kg: Amit Panwar (Amar Jyoti, Hisar) 1, Shivam Kaushal
(Police Public School, Amritsar) 2, Sukhdev (Gurukul, Kurukshetra) 3, Rajbir Singh (Shah Satnam Ji, Sirsa) 3. Under16: below 60kg: Sanjeet Kumar (Sanjay Public, Chd)1, Meharban Singh (Sharda-40) 2, Subhash Chander (Shah Satnam, Sirsa) 3. Sukhbir (Yashoda Public, Hisar) 3. Below 45 kg: Gurnam Singh (Shah Satnam, Sirsa)1, Aman Rana (MRA-27) 2, Joginder (RKSD, Kaithal) 3, Hargun Singh (DAV Public School) 3. Below 73 kg:Manjeet Singh (Shah Satnam, Sirsa) 1, Amit Kumar (DRK Adarsh Mandir, Charkhi Dadri) 2, Sunil Rana (Chiranjeev Bharti, Gurgaon) 3. Dalvir Singh (Laureat
school, Gurgaon) 3. Under19: Below 66 kg: Virender Singh (Sanjay Public-44,Chd) 1, Manas Mahajan (AGDAV Centenary School, Delhi) 2. Sombir Singh (Chiranjeev, Gurgaon) 3. Narendra (DRKAVM, Charkhi Dadri, Haryana) 3. |
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Goa, Manipur in semis Imphal, October 30 Goa struck home in two minutes following a penalty kick from Winter Juses Dias Fernandes. Striker Sukhdev Arvade booted home in the 38th minute of play and led Goa 2-0 at half time. After resumption Karnataka fought back and reduced margin in the 55th minute from the right footer of Parameswaran. The defender went up when right out S K Dayanand took a corner kick and Parameshwaran found his target defeating Goa goalie Kalyan Chaubey. Karnataka, who had a 2-0 win over Punjab in first quarter final, tried hard for an equaliser to be in the contest, but Goa defenders led by Covan Lawrence were a hard nut to crack. Goa midfielder Menhinho Fernandes was declared ‘man of the match’. |
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Bopanna
faces Mankad in semis Chandigarh, October 30 Second-seeded Juraj Hasko of Slovakia and No 13 seed Pavel Ivanov of Russia won to complete the semifinal line-up. Bopanna had an easy match against Evgueni Smirnov, crushing him 6-1, 6-1 in just 43 minutes. Smirnov had trouble holding his serve throughout the match. He won only two games on his serve and failed to trouble Bopanna. Smirnon won the first game in the first set and the sixth game in the second set. Tomorrow Bopanna will meet Harsh Mankad, who had an equally easy match against Vishal Punna, winning 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and 11 minutes. Punna was unable to show the form which has brought him so far. Mankad allowed him no room to slice the ball and dictated the pace and course of the match. Punna’s game fell apart and all he could do was save a few match points but Mankad was relentless and did not allow Punna to make a comeback. Vijay Kannan fought a tough three-setter but eventually went down to second-seeded Juraj Hasko of Slovakia 4-6, 7-5, 4-6. Kannan started well by Hasko took control of the first set with a single break to win 6-4. Kannan fought better in the second set. Hasko broke Kannan in the third game with powerful groundstrokes to go 2-1 up but Kannan broke him in the next to level the score at 2-2. They again traded serves in the next games to level at 4-4 and then 5-5 as Hasko served a double fault, trying to save two break points. Kannan then managed to hold his serve in the 11th game and broke Hasko in the next to take the set 7-5. Hasko made life difficult for himself as he double-faulted again at the set point. In the third set Kannan broke Hasko in the sixth game to go up 4-2. Hasko handed him the break by serving a double fault again. But he made amends as he broke Kannan in the next game and then held his own serve (4-4). Kannan, 15-40 down, saved two break points in the ninth game but was eventually broken. Hasko served out the match as Kannan had two break points but failed to convert them. Hasko next meets Pavel Ivanov of Russia, who upset No 8 seed Jan Masik of the Czech Republic 7-6 (7/4), 6-3. Ivanov lost his serve in the fifth game but came back strongly to take the set to the tie-breaker, which he won 7-4. Ivanov had an easier time in the second set, winning the match on Masik’s serve. In the doubles, third seeds Sunil Kumar Sipaeya/Ajay Ramaswami overcame Nitin Kirtane/Saurav Panja 6-3, 6-4 while top seeds Rohan Bopanna/Vijay Kannan crushed Pavel Lobanov/Jan Masik 6-2, 6-2. Qualifiers Jaco T Mathew/Somdev K Dev Varman stunned the fourth seeds Kamala Kannan/Rishi Sridhar 7-6 (7/3), 5-7, 7-5. Mathew and Dev Varman began well running to a 5-0 lead in no time but Kannan and Sridhar won the next five games to level at 5-5. Mathew and Dev Varman held on tenaciously to take the set in the tie-breaker. Up 6-5 Kannan/Sridhar broke Dev Varman to take the set 7-5. In the decider Mathew/Dev Varman attacked Kannan’s serve to take the match away from them. They next meet top seeds Rohan Bopanna/ Vijay Kannan while Sunil Kumar Sipaeya/ Ajay Ramaswami clash with Pavel Ivanov/Evgueni Smirnov, who got past Anton Kokurin/ Stephen Nugent 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. |
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Kapil
visits house of Harbhajan Jalandhar, October 30 During his stay, Kapil shared some light moments with Harbhajan’s sister, Sandeep
Kaur, and his mother, Avtaar Kaur, and asked them about the childhood days of the young cricketer and how they spent time with him. “Did you play cricket with
Harbhajan?”, he asked a smiling Sandeep Kaur, who replied, “I remember he used to request me to bowl and it sometimes continued till our parents called us
back.” Kapil then asked her whether they were serious about their studies? She said they were more interested in playing Harbhajan’s mother also recalled the early days and her son’s love for the railway colony cricket ground. Kapil Dev, who was also accompanied by Harbhajan’s coach Davinder
Arora, later went to the ground. |
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Kolkata,
October 30
