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Monday,
October
20, 2003,
Chandigarh, India
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Kiwis are on top, says Vettori
Follow-on will dent Indian pride |
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More stories on Chandigarh page
Ganguly to miss tri-series opener Kasprowicz replaces Brett Lee
Football: India play Rwanda in opener Women’s sports festival begins Sports Department officials honoured Punjab boys enter basketball semifinals Khalsa College win Volleyball title Haryana games conclude
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Indian batsmen fail to fire Chandigarh, October 19 But what the enthusiastic fans saw on the penultimate day of the Test was the most pathetic batting display hard to recollect in the recent history. The Indian batsmen for the reasons best known to them dished out the type of fare which evoked only boos and jeers for them. Starting the day from the overnight score of 203 for one, they added just 187 runs to the overnight total, losing five more wickets during the day in which complete quota of 90 overs was bowled. All star batsmen back in the pavilion, with the exception of V V S Laxman, the chances of Indian having to face the ignominy of following on can not be entirely ruled out, given the unpredictability of the team. Luckily for India, Anil Kumble, who came in to bat towards the fag end of the day's play, survived some anxious moments facing left-arm bowler Daniel Vettori, the best bowler of the match so far. The only silver lining for the hosts is that Laxman is still on the crease. The stylish Hyderabad batsman will be required to bat in the same vein as he did today if India have to avoid any further humiliation. The display given by the Indian batsmen was hard to fathom. No devil was in the wicket as four New Zealand batsmen had hit centuries on the track. Sehwag had made the batting look the easiest thing in the world. The early fall of Dravid, who was caught behind, and Sehwag soon thereafter perhaps pressed the panic button. The India batsmen just went into their shell after these dismissals from where they refused to come out. Laxman, unbeaten on 86, however, was solid and played some attractive strokes. Tendulkar looked thoroughly off-colour. He was tentative and never batted the way he is known to. At some stages of the innings, he was denied the opportunity to score by Vettori, who chose to bowl outside the leg-stump. There was jubilation in the New Zealand camp when the wily left-arm spinner finally had Tendulkar immediately after the tea break. An uncharacteristic Tendulkar made 55 after his 238 minutes of stay at the wicket. Local batting star Yuvraj Singh disappointed. He dismissed Vettori hitting him over the deep mid-wicket for a six. But that was all he could manage. Tuffey spoiled his debut, having him caught behind after he had made 20. Parthiv Patel looked in good nick and was middling the ball well when Vettori struck again, sending him back. With only Harbhajan, Zaheer and Balaji to follow and 40 runs still needed to avert the follow on, the situation does not look encouraging for the hosts. Pace bowler Ian Butler got so many deliveries to rise above the shoulder height, proving that something was there in the wicket for the bowler willing to bend his back. Laxman needs all his experience to shield tailenders and try to avoid the follow on. Otherwise, it would a huge blow for the Indians before the triangular series which will start later this month and also includes the mighty Australians.
Scoreboard New Zealand (1st innings): 630 for 6 decl India (1st Innings): Chopra c Astle b Tuffey 60 Sehwag b Styris 130 Dravid c Hart b Butler 13 Tendulkar c Richardson
Laxman batting 86 Yuvraj c Hart b Tuffey 20 Patel c Richardson
Kumble batting 1 Extras: 7 Total:
(6 wkts, in
FoW: 1-164, 2-208, 3-218, 4-330, 5-364, 6-388. Bowling:
Tuffey 24-5-72-2, Butler 30-7-97-1, Styris 19-7-40-1, Vettori 53-24-77-2, Wiseman 32-7-95-0, McMillan 1-0-6-0. |
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Kiwis are on top, says Vettori Chandigarh, October 19 "Our aim will be to bowl India out as early as possible and see what happens then," he stated. "My job was to restrict the flow of runs and take some wickets" he said when mentioned about his superb bowling performance. It was Vettori who claimed the vital scalp of batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar. The untiring Vetorri bowled a marathon spell of 53 overs, 24 of which were maiden. He claimed two wickets conceding 77 runs. About batting of Tendulkar, who
uncharacteristically struggled to get 55 runs, he said even out-of-form Tendulkar was very dangerous. "He knows what he has to do in such circumstances." About the delay in the declaration of their first innings which saw them pile up 630 runs for the loss of six wickets and play for the third day also, he stated that the idea was to put a huge total on the board and be in a position from where New Zealand could not lose the match. "We batted exceptionally well," he said. Vettori said that the wicket was still good for batting. "Maybe, the Indians were a bit more cautious," he said when to comment on India's batting performance. |
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Follow-on will dent Indian pride Sunday's proceedings started and ended with some hectic activity at the crease, but not necessarily the way Indians would have liked it to be. One more day passed through at the PCA stadium but ‘Mission 430’ still has doubts lingering over its completion. I may be confident enough to say that it may not have much bearing on the outcome of the match, but a follow-on will be a severe dent on Indian team's pride. The entire fourth day belonged to the New Zealand team, the only aberration being Sachin and Laxman's 219-minute stand in the middle. Both overnight batsmen, Sehwag and Dravid found indigenous ways of escaping to the pavilion and that was the first instance when the home team looked in real danger. Fleming showed why he's recognized as the shrewdest skipper in international cricket when he latched on the first opportunity to grab the new ball. Tuffey and Butler did bowl a few good overs but that wasn't good enough to unsettle the fourth wicket partnership. It was interesting to see Butler bowl to Laxman and Sachin with the new ball. The New Zealand quickie bowled his heart out, fed them with short stuff, got a little bit chirpy, succeeded to an extent but his inconsistency to get the ball on the right line and length didn't help his cause. Butler is a good bowler every time he bowls into the stumps and make the batsman play but unfortunately, we didn't get much chance to see him that way. It surprises me why Tuffey and Butler left the cover region unmanned for most part of their new ball spell in search of a chance in the slips. Even with the shining ball, there isn't much deviation sideways, certainly not with the length they chose to bowl, and a cover fielder could have made Indians work much harder than just putting the left foot forward and showing their blade in that direction. By the time New Zealand posted one there, the damage had been done. VVS Laxman was at his elegant best, timing the ball well and hit some nice looking boundaries both on the front foot as well as on the back foot. But he needs to do much better today if India are to salvage their last bit of pride. I hope Kumble, Zaheer, Harbhajan and Balaji have practiced their defence techniques well, for the tail-enders need to be equally dodgy to supplement Laxman's efforts in the morning. It is unusual to see Sachin work
laboriously at the crease for a half century. Playing and missing a lot, not getting in term with the variable bounce of the wicket, Tendulkar lacked the trademark finesse, which catapults him to a different league as a batsman. Yuvraj flattered to deceive with the bat, not being able to convert a good start into a big knock and pull his team to the shores. Parthiv made his presence in front of the wicket equally forgettable as his wicketkeeping in the match. It would be cruel of me not to mention Vettori's towering influence in the Kiwi attack before I finish this piece. Vastly improved bowler since his last tour to the country, the left-arm spinner has stood up to his skipper's expectations. However, the big question still remains. Can India do it or will New Zealand stop them agonisingly close. At least we have something to look forward in this dead match!
— Dronacharya Sports Promoters Association |
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Where is vintage Sachin? Chandigarh, October 19 Even in poor touch where he played and missed the ball more often than middling it, Sachin Tendulkar hung around for 238 minutes for his 36th Test half century before falling to Daniel Vettori off the very first ball after tea. During the time he was at the crease it was definitely not the vintage Sachin Tendulkar on display. This must have been the biggest disappointment for the near-packed stands at Mohali. This could well be one of his slowest half centuries in Test cricket. Most of the New Zealand bowlers (who unlike the Indians were able to get some help from the strip) troubled him and he could not execute his shots to his satisfaction. The edges the ball took of his bat are uncountable. One thing which must be admitted in his favour is that the class batsman put his head down and did not lose his concentration even when things were not going his way. Of course, Sachin was under pressure to perform, pressure created not by anybody but by the lofty standards he has set for himself over the years. Unable to get going in the first Test between the two teams at Ahmedabad where he could score just 15 runs in two innings, he knew the team looked up to him to get the runs, specially when play resumed this morning and India lost two quick wickets, first of stand-in skipper Rahul Dravid (who so far is having a miserable debut as Test captain) and yesterday’s “master-blaster” Virender Sehwag. In fact, Rahul fell first this morning and when Sachin joined Sehwag in the middle, the near-packed stands keenly awaited a batting display as India needed quick runs to avert the follow on and infuse some life in a near-dead Test. That was simply not there. Sehwag, as is his style, played on to the stumps a delivery from Scott Styris which brought V.V.S. Laxman to the crease. Sachin discomfort also affected Laxman’s batting to a certain degree as just 64 runs came in the two hours of the morning session while 63 runs came in the two hours between lunch and tea. Of course, the Kiwis bowled well but then when has quality bowling ever stiffled the batting of Sachin? Today it seemed a different day. Could somebody say when did anyone hear “Sachin hai, hai” cries from the stand as it was heard today at the PCA Stadium? Over the years Sachin has played his cricket instinctively. No bowler has ever been able to tie him down and he has scored runs nearly at will. Today, it seemed, he was trying to analyse every delivery, and he faced a total of 175 balls during his stay at the crease, as soon as he played them. This probably was what bogged him down. |
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Ganguly to miss tri-series opener Kolkata, October 19 “There is marginal improvement in the wound but it is yet to be filled up and he needs some more dressing. For this the hospitalisation period has to be extended at least till Wednesday,” members of the medical board formed to treat the Indian skipper — M. Nandy and Sukumar Mukherjee — told reporters at a media conference. The doctors also said Ganguly was doubtful for the second match of the tournament. “It is difficult to predict (on Ganguly's return to action). But generally in such cases, at least 10 day bed rest is necessary. “You can logically conclude that he is not playing the first match. He is also doubtful for the second, though we are trying hard to make him fit before that,” the doctors said. Ganguly first underwent a minor surgery for the
abscess at Mohali two days before the start of the second and final Test against New Zealand. He missed the series decider and went under the
surgeon's scalpel for the second time on returning to his home town of Kolkata. The tri-series featuring New Zealand and Australia besides hosts India starts on October 23 with India taking on the Kiwis in a day-night match in Chennai. India take on Australia in the second match, also under the lights, at Gwalior on October 26. The final is scheduled for November 18 at Kolkata.
— PTI
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Kasprowicz replaces Brett Lee SYDNEY: Australia have turned to paceman Michael Kasprowicz to help them out on their tour of India after their frontline bowling attack was wiped out by injuries. “With injuries to our senior bowling line-up, we felt that on this occasion it was necessary to look for another quick,”
Australia's chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said in a statement. “Michael also has experience in the challenging conditions of the subcontinent and that will be a real asset to the squad.”
— Reuters
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Aussies in sight of series sweep
Sydney, October 19 The Zimbabweans held an overall lead of 56 runs with just six second innings wickets in hand and two days left to play. Paceman Brad Williams, playing in his first Test match, and Simon Katich, recalled after a two-year absence, took two wickets apiece for the
under strength Australian side. Opener Dion Ebrahim fell to the fourth ball of Williams’ opening over but Trevor Gripper and Mark Vermeulen then steadied the ship before Vermeulen (48) departed, also falling to Williams. Stuart Carlisle, who made a century in the first innings, then fell to part-time spinner Katich’s second delivery, caught by Williams at backward square leg for five, and the tourists were reduced to 103-3. Gripper was Katich’s second victim, caught at first slip by Matthew Hayden for 47 with the score on 114. Craig Wishart was unbeaten on 32 when bad light and rain halted play for the day. Tatenda Taibu was on 13.
Scoreboard Zimbabwe (1st Innings): 308 Australia (1st Innings): (overnight 245-3): Hayden c Carlisle b Blignaut 20 Langer c Streak b Blignaut 2 Ponting b Price 169 Martyn lbw b Price 32 Waugh c Carlisle b Price 61 Katich b Price 52 Gilchrist b Streak 20 Hogg c Ebrahim b Price 13 Bichel c Wishart b Blignaut 5 Lee not out 6 Williams c and b Price 7 Extras:
(lb-2, w-1, nb-13) 16 Total: (all out, 103.3 overs) 403 Fall of wickets:
1-7, 2-51, 3-148, 4-283, 5-306, 6-347, 7-375, 8-384, 9-394, 10-403 Bowling:
Streak 21-3-83-1, Blignaut 20-2-83-3, Mahwire 10-1-61-0, Price 41.3-6-121-6, Ewing 11-1-53-0. Zimbabwe (2nd Innings): Ebrahim c Katich b Williams 0 Gripper c Hayden b Katich 47 Vermeulen c Waugh b Williams 48 Carlisle c Williams b Katich 5 Wishart batting 32 Taibu batting 13 Extras:
(b-2, w-1, nb-3) 6 Total: (for 4 wkts, 44.4 over) 151 Fall of wickets:
1-0, 2-93, 3-103, 4-114 Bowling: Williams 9-3-45-2, Bichel 12-3-49-0, Hogg 14.4-2-32-0, Katich 9-0-23-2.
— AFP |
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Paul Adams, Asim Kamal in limelight
Lahore, October 19 South Africa, who conceded an 81-run deficit after the first innings, closed the day on 99 for one in its second innings _ an overall lead of 18 runs. Pakistan was bowled out for 401 in reply to South Africa's first innings of 320. Herschelle Gibbs was lucky to be there on 56 while Boeta Dippenaar was batting on 25. South Africa (1st innings): 320 Pakistan (1st innings) Umer c and b Adams 111 Farhat b Adams 41 Hameed c Boucher b Pollock 16 Youhana c Boucher b Nel 8 Kamal b Nel 99 Malik b Adams 47 Moin lbw b Adams 37 Akhtar st Boucher b Adams 1 Sami b Adams 0 Mushtaq not out 14 Kaneria c Smith b Adams 0 Extras: (b-2, lb-17, nb-6, w-2) 27 Total: (all out in 148 overs) 401 Fall of wickets: 1-109, 2-151, 3-160, 4-223, 5-322, 6-363, 7-366, 8-366, 9-401. Bowling: Pollock 22-7-48-1, Ntini 28-4-88-0, Adams 45-11-128-7, Nel 27-5-67-2, Kallis 18-3-37-0, Smith 8-0-14-0. South Africa (2nd innings): Smith c Umer b Akhtar 12 Gibbs batting 56 Dippenaar batting 25 Extras: (nb-6) 6 Total: (1 wicket in 31 overs) 99 Fall of wickets: 1-43. Bowling: Shoaib Akhtar 8-1-26-1, Mohammad Sami 8-0-32-0, Mushtaq Ahmed 7-1-17-0, Shoaib Malik 6-0-23-0, Danish Kaneria 2-1-1-0. — AFP
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Football: India play Rwanda in opener
Hyderabad, October 19 Placed in a relatively easy pool, India (FIFA ranking 130) will take on the African nation, ranked 109, while Malaysia play Ghana in pool A on the opening day. Iran and Uzbekistan will be the heavyweights in pool B along with Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe. Asian Football Confederation technical coordinator Indran inspected the grounds and the facilities available and gave his suggestions while the football matches would kick off ahead of the actual inauguration. “The ground is good but some work has to be done. There is some unevenness in the goal area and some such other loose ends need to be tied up soon,” he said after the inspection. Indian contingent had some stretching exercises at the Gymkhana grounds with Bhutia and goalkeeper Sandip Nandy. The Uzbekistan team arrived last night. The following are the groupings: Pool A: India, Rwanda, Malaysia and Ghana. Pool B: Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Iran and Uzbekistan.
— PTI |
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Women’s sports festival begins Jalandhar, October 19 The four-day meet, in which 582 sportspersons from 19 states are participating, is a joint effort of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Punjab Sports Department. The meet was formally declared open by the Food and Supplies Minister, Mr Avtar Henry, in the presence of scores of Olympians, international and national-level sportspersons. The Director (Sports) Kartar Singh and Parliamentary Secretary Kanwaljit Lalli were also present on the occasion. A loud and boisterous roar went up the moment the torch was carried into the stadium by former Indian hockey skipper Baljit Singh Dhillon, Arjuna awardee grappler Randhir Singh and Busan Asian Games gold medal winning shot-putter Bahadur Singh. The torch was finally handed over to Arjuna awardee and former skipper of the Indian football team Gurdev Singh, who lit the flame. The presentation of the ceremony involved the participation of dancers and drummers not to leave out the scores of volunteers who strove hard to make the programme a grand success for the 4000-strong crowd. The mandatory oath was read out on behalf of the participants by Gurpreet Kaur, skipper of the Punjab handball team. This was followed by a cultural programme which included Punjabi folk songs and a dance. In hockey , in a pool B league match, the hosts started their quest of the title they lost to Haryana in the last edition of the meet held in Ambala by blanking out Madhya Pradesh 6-0. Once the experienced Amandeep (senior), who played a vital role in the Manchester Commonwealth Games gold medal winning team, opened the scoring with a goal scored of an acute angle, the floodgates virtually opened for the hosts.. While Amandeep (junior), Baljeet Kaur and Meena Kashyap scored a goal apiece, centre half Vandana scored a brace. In another pool D league match, Kerala posted a 3-0 win against Gujarat with Viny V Thomas scoring two
successive goals and Indu T chipping in with the third. In handball, in pool C matches, Haryana prevailed over Goa 23-5 while Andhra Pradesh had to sweat it out against a fighting Uttar Pradesh before finally overcoming them 13-12. In tennis, Delhi posted a fluent 2-0 victory over Andhra Pradesh with Parul Goswami blanking out Radhika 6-0, 6-0 and Vishakha completing the rituals by recording another easy 6-0,6-1 against G. Sushma.
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Sports Department officials honoured The Punjab Sports Department honoured four of its employees on the opening day. Badminton coach Gursharan Singh, currently posted at Sangrur, was honoured for being the first umpire to officiate matches in the Olympics. He has been selected to officiate in the Athens Olympics to be held in August next year. Other’s who were felicitated were Mr Sohan Lal Lotey, District Sports Officer at Ludhiana, Mr Santokh Singh, in charge of the Sports Department's account section at Chandigarh and Davinder Kaur, currently posted as steno to the DSO, Ludhiana. All the four were honoured by the chief guest. |
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Punjab boys enter basketball semifinals Kangra, October 19 Chhattisgarh girls humiliated Punjab 68-32. The half time score was 48-12. Sumit of Punjab was the highest scorer with 24 points. Parvati and Pushpa of Chhattisgarh scored 20 points each. Karnataka girls beat Madhya Pradesh 62-44. Ritu Bisht scored 19 points for Madhya Pradesh while Samitha and Rajeshwari of the winning team scored 16 and 15 points. respectively. Maharashtra beat Kerala 69-36 in a one-sided match. Both the teams were neck-and-neck till half time with score at 18-19. In the second half Maharashtra played a versatile game to enter the semifinal. Tamil Nadu managed to enter the semifinal defeating Delhi 69-56. In the boys section, Karnataka barely over came Chhattisgarh in a well-contested match with a narrow margin of one basket with a final score of 69-68. Till half time both the teams were neck-and-neck at 40-39. Kerala boys beat Rajasthan 62-59 while Punjab overcame Delhi 81-76. Half-time score was 34-29 Supreet and Aman Deep of Punjab scored 26 and 16 points, respectively, while Nitan of Delhi scored 23 points. Andhra Pradesh beat Madhya Pradesh 92-75 to enter the semifinals with half-time score at 38-42. Arvind and Varundev of Madhya Pradesh scored 27 and 19 points while Shshir of the losing team scored 24 points. In other classification matches, Uttaranchal boys bagged the 11th position beating Tamil Nadu 67-62 while Uttaranchal girls got a walkover Chandigarh girls for the 11th position. For the 9th and 10th position, Uttar Pradesh boys beat Maharashtra 58-40, and in the girls section West bengal defeated Andhra Pradesh 78-58. In other classification matches, Punjab girls beat Madhya Pradesh 52-42, Kerala girls beat Delhi 55-40, Rajasthan boys beat Chhattisgarh 47-43 and Delhi boys beat Madhya Pradesh 68-37. |
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Khalsa
College win Volleyball title Patiala, October 19 In women’s section, the Physical College of Education came first while Punjabi University campus stood second. The best players award in the women and men sections went to Mukta of Punjabi University campus and Chanpreet Singh of Khalsa College, respectively. The prizes were distributed by Mr
Shashikant, Inspector General, Patiala. Mahant Atma Ram, president of the Patiala District Volleyball Association, thanked the chief guest and later proposed a vote of thanks.
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Haryana games conclude Yamuna Nagar, October 19 Union Petrochemicals and Fertilizers Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa handed over the Haryana Olympic flag to Panchkula District Olympic Association. President of the Haryana Olympic Association Abhey Singh Chautala declared the games closed. |
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Hamirpur meet concludes Hamirpur, October 19 The Deputy Commissioner announced a cash prize of Rs 5100 each to Pushpa Thakur and her coach Bhupinder Singh Thakur for their outstanding contribution in the field of athletics.
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