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India keen to maintain momentum
Dravid comes to Ganguly’s defence
Younis hints at changes in
top order
Ahmedabad ODI: Pak team insured
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HC stays order on telecast rights
‘Cricket should not be controlled by a few’
Khalil hurt in road mishap
Indian eves to face New Zealand in World Cup semis
Marshall twins prop up Kiwis
Chess row resolved, says AICF official
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India keen to maintain momentum
Visakhapatnam, April 4 As the hosts’ famed batting line-up fell like nine pins under three sessions in Bangalore, there was much talk of the visitors having the psychological advantage ahead of the one-day battle. But the pendulum has swung back after India’s convincing 87-run victory at Kochi, with Pakistan now being under pressure to raise their game and take on a resurgent India in the second game of the six-match series. “The mood in the team is good. We were understandably disappointed after Bangalore but then we have bounced back a bit after Kochi,” India vice-captain Rahul Dravid said. Dravid, however, expected Pakistan to put up a much better show in tomorrow’s match. “I have full respect for Pakistan. They are a quality side they are going to come back hard at us.” The match would also see a new addition to the growing list of one-day venues in India, with the picturesque HCA-VDCA ground on the outskirts of this port city all geared up for the high-profile clash. The oppressive heat, with humidity crossing 90 per cent, is bound to make the game a test of fitness and endurance and the day will belong to the side that shows greater resilience. “The heat poses a good challenge. Players have to be smart in the way they manage these conditions and the side which does it better will finish as winner,” Dravid said today. The Indian batting would once again look up to wonderboy Virender Sehwag, who is going through a fairy-tale phase of his career, with the Kochi hundred coming as an icing on the cake after the twin tons in the Test series. The Delhi opener continues to flatter his supporters and puzzle his cricketing foes with his breathtaking and audacious strokeplay and once again needs to take up the mantle to give an aggressive start to the Indian innings. Dravid, the other centurion at Kochi, is also in fine form, and can be relied upon to rise up to his ‘Mr Dependable’ tag. The hunger for runs must be paramount in the mind of Sachin Tendulkar, who would be too willing to let his blade do the talking after getting out cheaply in the first one-day game. But the batsman whose performance would be under the scanner is the Indian skipper. Having finished the Test series with an appalling average of 9.60, the first-ball duck at Kochi — where his leg stump went cartwheeling — has only raised to a shrill pitch the cry for the left hander’s scalp. The lack of runs from his bat must be giving agonising moments to Ganguly, just 64 short of completing 10,000 runs, and yet another lacklustre performance may endanger his position in the side. Also of concern to the Indian team management is the failure of the middle and lower order batsmen to speed up things after the perfect launch pad provided by the 201-run third-wicket stand between Dravid and Sehwag. Coach John Wright would be hoping for an improved display from the likes of Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif. The Indian bowlers, on the other hand, must be high on confidence after their show two days ago. While pacers Laxmipathy Balaji, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra did a decent job at Kochi taking Pakistan wickets at regular intervals, it was Tendulkar (5/50) who compensated for his failure with the willow. The surrender of the top order, that plagued Pakistan in the opening Test at Mohali, revisited the tourists at Kochi, and one wonders whether the side would have been better served by Shahid Afridi as opener in place of Kamran Akmal. The Pakistan batsmen, who have given a good account of themselves in the tour so far, with captain Inzamam-ul Haq, Younis Khan and Yousuf Youhana not letting the Indian bowlers get on top, would be intent on upping their ante to give the 26,000 strong sell-out crowd some magic moments. Pakistan would be eagerly awaiting the return of vice-captain Younis Khan, who proved the nemesis for the Indian bowlers in the Test series. “I’m better. I’ve been attending the nets for the past two days but whether I will play will be decided only tonight,” he told reporters. The teams (from): Pakistan: Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Younis Khan (vice-captain), Salman Butt, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi, Yousuf Youhana, Asim Kamal, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Nazir, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Sami, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Danish Kaneria, Arshad Khan and Shoaib Malik. India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid (vice-captain), Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh Mongia, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Laxmipathy Balaji, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh and Murali Kartik. Hours of Play: 9 am to 12-30 pm; 1-15 pm to 4-45 pm.
—PTI |
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Dravid comes to Ganguly’s defence
Visakhapatnam, April 4 “It is true that he has not been getting runs of late. But I’m sure that he will come back into runs sooner than later,” Dravid said. He said it was only natural for every player to lose his form at one point or the other and the challenge was to help those out of form. “Every player has a role to play, a job to do. At different times different players are not in form. The challenge for the team is to carry along the people who are not in form,” Dravid told reporters on the eve of the second one-dayer against Pakistan. Ganguly had a poor run with the bat in the just-concluded Test series where he totalled a paltry 48 at a meagre average of 9.6 before getting clean bowled off the first ball in the opening one-dayer at Kochi. Statistics reveal that Ganguly’s form has been equally dismal in his past seven ODIs where he has totalled only 147 at an average of 21. His record in the past five one-day matches against Pakistan has been marginally better — an aggregate of 112 at 22.4 runs per innings. But Dravid said the skipper’s repeated failures had not put any increased pressure on the team. “I don’t think there is increased pressure on the team on account of this,” he said. Ganguly, who has been drawing flak and facing a barrrage of questions from the media regularly for his run-less streak, skipped the customary match-eve press conference and sent Dravid instead. Dravid, however, made light of a query on Ganguly’s absence and said, “He is practising and we thought we will show you a different face.”
— PTI |
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Younis hints at changes in
top order
Visakhapatnam, April 4 “In one-dayers it does not matter if we lose one or two games. Our boys are very high on confidence. We have five more matches and God willing the result will be different,” Younis said at a pre-match conference. Asked why Shahid Afridi had not opened the batting at Kochi, Younis said, “In this match there will be changes in the top batting order” Regarding Afridi, he said the dashing batsman had been representing Pakistan for the past seven-eight years and was adept at playing at various positions according to the need of the team. “Though the team is yet to be decided, we may ask him to open the innings,” he added. On the strategy his team would adopt, Younis said, “Our batsmen need to stay on in the middle and build partnerships while the bowlers have to bowl on line”. But he said his team had an edge over India as far as allrounders were concerned.
— PTI |
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Ahmedabad ODI: Pak team insured
Ahmedabad, April 4 “All arrangements are in place at the stadium to ensure that the match goes off well. There should be no security concerns as adequate police cover will be given to both teams,” Gujarat Cricket Association president Narhari Amin told reporters. He said the Pakistan team had been insured for Rs 2 crore while a Rs 30 lakh insurance had been taken for any damage caused to the Sardar Patel Stadium at Motera on the city outskirts. Another cover for Rs 10 lakh is in place in case the match does not take place for any reason plus a Rs 50 lakh advertising insurance cover. Elaborating on the security arrangements, a key concern for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) which saw them refusing to play a Test at the venue, Amin said more than 15,000 personnel would be deployed from the airport to the stadium to prevent any untoward incident. There would be specialised ticket checkers within the stadium and Amin said the GCA would also instruct all ticket buyers to carry some kind of identity card so that no miscreant enters the stadium which can accommodate 47,000 spectators. “Tickets would be made available from March 9 at select outlets and on the BCCI’s request, 300 tickets have been kept for Pakistani fans who are expected to come for the match. If there are more fans coming, then more tickets can be made available,” he said. The GCA is hoping to rake in more than Rs 2.25 crore from ticket sales alone.
— PTI
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HC stays order on telecast rights
Chennai, April 4 Granting the interim stay, effective till April 20, on appeals filed by Zee Telefilms and the BCCI and Dalmiya, challenging the single Judge’s order, a Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Markandey Katju and Mr Justice F.M. Ibrahim Kallifulla, issued notice to Zee and ESPN-Star Sports, returnable on that day. In its appeal, Zee sought a stay on the single Judge’s order, permitting the board to call for fresh tenders for telecasting cricket matches in the country till September 30, 2008, after the conclusion of the India-Pakistan series. On March 21, Mr Justice K.P. Sivasubramanian, giving his ruling on a petition by Zee, challenging the termination of the tender proceedings, held that the BCCI action was “unjust, illegal and the result of bias against the petitioner (Zee Telefilms)”. The Judge came down heavily on Dalmiya for the tender proceedings being cut short. Mr Justice Sivasubramanian said after the conclusion of the India-Pakistan cricket
series, the BCCI could call for fresh tenders for telecast of international cricket matches in the country. Zee contended that if it finally succeeded in its appeal and got the consequential relief it was entitled to, it would suffer grave and irreparable loss and prejudice if the re-tender was held. Pointing out that during the pendency of its writ petition in the high court, the BCCI had given an undertaking that it would not finalise telecast rights with a third party, Zee contended that the Judge, in his order, while disposing of its petition, had left it to the board to call for fresh tenders after the conclusion of the India-Pakistan series. In their separate appeals against the Judge’s order, Dalmiya and the BCCI contended that the Judge had erred in making certain observations with regard to the alleged conduct of the former board President. The observation involved grave consequences and accused Dalmiya of wrongful conduct merely on the basis of the affidavit filed by Zee Telefilms, which had challenged the termination of the tender process in the high court, the appeals said. They said the Judge could have dismissed Zee’s petition on the basis of the channel’s admission that it neither had the production unit nor the requisite experience of producing international cricket matches on its own. The appeals termed as wholly erroneous and imaginative the conclusion of the Judge that Dalmiya wanted ESPN to walk over ZEE, the highest bidder, in a clandestine manner and that members of a select committee had politely recorded their dissent.
— PTI |
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‘Cricket should not be controlled by a few’
Mumbai, April 4 Speaking at the inaugural function of the ‘Frames-2005’, organised by FICCI, Mr Dasgupta warned that the game would suffer if it was continued to be controlled by a group of some people. Such a development would lead to more people approaching courts, he said, in an obvious reference to Zee TV dragging the BCCI to court over the telecast of the Indo-Pak series. The demand was basically against the BCCI deciding on the multi-million dollar telecast rights in the country. Zee TV chief Subash Chandra Goyal, who also spoke at the meeting, demanded a level playing field for broadcasters, but did not mention the telecast rights of cricket matches.
— UNI |
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Karachi, April 4 The bowler, in an unconscious state, was rushed to a local hospital where he was kept for 24 hours under intensive care. He was yesterday discharged with stitches on his face and head. He also suffered bruises on his shoulder, hand and other parts of the body but there were no fractured bones. Khalil had returned from India last week after participating in the three-Test series. He played the Kolkata Test which Pakistan lost. The 23-year-old has played two Tests and three one-day internationals for Pakistan so far. While he is yet to take a wicket in Tests, he has bagged five in ODIs.
— PTI |
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Indian eves to face New Zealand in World Cup semis
Mumbai, April 4 According to information received here, Australia will face England in the other semifinal tomorrow. New Zealand will take on India on Thursday. The rain also washed away South Africa’s chance to automatically qualify for the next World Cup — by the lowest margin of just one run. Had they scored 127 instead of 126 against Sri Lanka, they would have gained a bonus point and qualified for the next World Cup by finishing sixth. Now, since the rain prevented them from playing against New Zealand today, they will have to come through the qualifying rounds. The top four along with the West Indies and Sri Lanka have guaranteed their
places at the next tournament. India finished their league campaign with 30 points, while New Zealand had 29 points. The organisers have decided that Wednesday and Friday will be set aside as reserve days far each semifinal should rain prevent a result on the scheduled day.
— UNI |
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Georgetown, April 4 They had earlier been dismissed for a modest first innings total of 188. On two, Devon Smith dropped him at slip off Narsingh Deonarine, and on 14, part-time left-arm spin bowler Ryan Hinds dropped a return chance. After making the West Indies toil unsuccessfully in the equatorial heat between lunch and tea, South Africa lost opening batsmen AB de Villiers and skipper Graeme Smith in the final period to fast bowlers Reon King and Pedro Collins. Hardly a ball beat the bats of Smith and De Villiers, as they batted doggedly to stonewall the opposition and gather 40 runs from 31 overs in the afternoon period. However, King made the breakthrough after tea, when De Villiers was bowled for 20, the batsman driving off the backfoot, dragging a wide delivery on to his stumps. For close to an hour, Smith and Rudolph continued to defy the West Indies attack, but Collins bowled the South African captain with an in-swinging yorker in the third over of his final spell of the day to set the visitors back. Mark Boucher hit 41 to be joint top-scorer along with De Villiers, but he could not rally the lower order enough to get South Africa to the follow-on target of 343. Scoreboard West Indies (1st innings) South Africa (1st innings) Smith c Browne b Collins 2 De Villiers c Browne b King 41 Rudolph c R. Hinds b Powell 0 Kallis b Powell 0 Gibbs lbw b Collins 5 Boucher c Chanderpaul Hall c Collins b King 2 Boje b King 34 Ntini lbw b Powell 8 Langeveldt c R. Hinds Nel not out 6 Extras (lb-6, w-2, nb-31) 39 Total
(all out) 188 Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-16, 3-16, 4-30, 5-75, 6-95, 7-158, 8-169, 9-172. Bowling:
Collins 18-5-39-3, Powell 18-2-61-3, King 16-2-48-3, R. Hinds 13-5-29-0, Deonarine 1.5-0-5-1. South Africa (2nd innings) De Villiers b King 20 Smith b Collins 34 Rudolph not out 19 Kallis not out 1 Extras
(b-5, lb-1, nb-5) 11 Total (two wickets) 85 Fall of wickets:
1-46, 2-68. Bowling: Collins 9-6-12-1, Powell 12-7-15-0, King 8-0-18-1, W. Hinds 8-4-4-0, R. Hinds 13-6-13-0, Deonarine 12-5-17-0, Chanderpaul 1-1-0-0.
— AFP |
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Marshall twins prop up Kiwis
Napier, April 4 Marshall, who began the day with an impressive average of 54 from five Tests, was unbeaten on 133 when bad light brought an early end to play with New Zealand on 267 for three. Nathan Astle was 37 not out, adding an unbroken 80 with Marshall in 17 overs for the fourth wicket. After a pedestrian first session when New Zealand reached 61 for one off 29 overs, they added 114 off 30 overs in the middle two hours and 82 in the final session before play was called off with six scheduled overs remaining. Hamish Marshall and his identical twin James laid a sound base for the New Zealand innings, coming together after the early dismissal of Craig Cumming and putting on 107 in 140 minutes before James Marshall was caught for 52 off the bowling of legspinner Upul Chandana. It was James Marshall’s highest score in just his third Test innings, and was scored in 199 minutes off 149 balls, including five fours on the easy wicket. As the life dried out of the pitch through the day, and the outfield quickened, the Marshall twins scored freely, forcing Marvan Atapattu to turn to his spinners. Scoreboard New Zealand first innings Cumming lbw Vaas 12 Marshall c Samaraweera Marshall batting 133 Fleming b Malinga 16 Astle batting 37 Extras:
(b-4, lb-3, nb-10) 17 Total: (3 wkts, 84 overs) 267 Fall of wickets:
1-35, 2-142, 3-187. Bowling: Vaas 18-3-63-1, Malinga 14-4-37-1, Kulasekara 17-5-38-0, Herath 13-2-48-0, Chandana 18-2-61-1, Jayasuriya 3-1-8-0, Dilshan 1-0-5-0.
— AFP |
Chess row resolved, says AICF official
New Delhi, April 4 “We are very happy that the matter has finally been resolved and the controversy has ended after the inquiry by the Federation Internationale Des Echecs (fide),” AICF secretary D.V. Sundar told reporters here. The controversy began last year when long-standing AICF secretary P.T. Ummer Koya was found to have indulged in illegal activities, including siphoning off funds and claims of cutting 10 per cent from the players’ prize money. A group of state chess bodies from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Delhi had filed a case in the Madras High Court, which restrained Koya from functioning in any capacity or interfering in the administration of the AICF till the charges were cleared. The court’s final order is pending. Sundar distributed copies of a letter written by FIDE’s continental president for Asia, Khalifa Mohamad Al-Hitmi, recognising the AICF headed by president N. Srinivasan and secretary Sundar. “The official recognition by FIDE puts a lid on anyone else’s claims,” Sundar said, referring to the row with Koya. “In future, all matters concerning Indian chess should be dealt with D.V. Sundar, honorary secretary of the All-India Chess Federation,” wrote Al-Hitmi in his two-page letter dated March 30, 2005. Koya could not be reached on his mobile phone. Sundar also distributed copies of a photo of himself receiving the letter from Al-Hitmi in Doha, Qatar, March 30.
— IANS |
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Federer rallies to beat Nadal
Miami, April 4 Federer, the world number one, who claimed his fifth title of the year, won his 22nd straight match and extended his 2005 record to an astonishing 32-1, but Nadal made him work every step of the way yesterday.
I really didn’t expect to turn it around,” admitted Federer after the 3hr 42 min marathon. “I haven’t dug out many matches in my career. I’m extremely happy, and exhausted.
“What a pity for him,” Federer added with a flash of empathy.
“But we’ll see much more from him, I’m sure.” Nadal appearing in his first Masters Series final and bidding for the first hard court title of his career after four triumphs on clay, broke Federer for a 3-1 lead in the third set. Federer had a chance to return the favour in the next game, and berated himself when he hit a forehand long. Federer did break back in the seventh game to narrow the gap to 4-3, and held for 4-4. Federer had another break opportunity in the ninth game, but Nadal saved it with a winner on his second serve, and when Nadal held his serve for 5-4 normally mild-mannered Federer slung his racquet in disgust. Despite Federer’s obvious frustration, he kept Nadal at bay in the third-set tiebreaker. The Spaniard led 5-3, but that was as close as he came to a match point as Federer won the next four points to claim the set. Federer won the fourth set in just 30 minutes, never facing a break point, and in the fifth Nadal looked weary as Federer claimed the last five games of the match. — AFP |
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