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India poised to clinch series
Ganguly returns after meeting Pawar
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Amend BCCI rules, says Krishnamurthy
India can host 2011 WC if Australia agree: Mani
Don’t ignore PSUs in PHL: experts
Shocking defeat for IOC; PSB in semifinals
Sundergarh, Jalandhar boys in last four
Sanam wins
Preetpal, Alka win
200 m races
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India poised to clinch series
Ahmedabad, December 21 Set a near-impossible target of 509 runs for victory, the visitors put up a far better display with the bat but it was still not enough to prevent what appeared an imminent Indian victory which would give them a 2-0 verdict in the three-match series. The Lankans were battling at 235 for six at stumps on the fourth day at the Motera ground, with left-hander Jehan Mubarak (18) and Farveez Maharoof (2) at the crease. It would need a miracle to save the Lankans as they have to bat out 90 overs to escape with a draw, but the series, which India lead 1-0, is as good as lost for the Lankans. Lanka, who started their run-chase before lunch after India declared their second innings at 316 for nine, recovered from another batting collapse triggered by 100-Test hero Anil Kumble to move from 96 for 4 to 201 for five. Kumble's brilliant triple strike in the space of only 16 balls had left the tourists tottering midway through the post-lunch session when Mahela Jayawardene (57) and Tilekartne Dilshan (65) got together and were involved in a century stand for the fifth wicket. However, both these batsmen were dismissed by the Indian pace bowlers Ajit Agarkar and Irfan Pathan late in the day to once again tilt the scale in their team’s favour. The pacemen had to be called back into the attack after the Lankan duo defied the spinners with a century partnership for the fifth wicket on a track that had eased out and was not offering the spin bowlers the same purchase as earlier on in the match. It was Agarkar, reverse-swinging the old ball in his second spell, who gave the important breakthrough by inducing a return catch from Jayawardene, who scored 57 in 106 balls with seven fours and looked in splendid form, to break the stubborn partnership that realised 105 runs in 189 balls. The help of the third umpire had to be called for to determine whether the ball had been hit into the ground by the batsman or not and the replays showed Jayawardene was clearly out. Dilshan, who had top-scored with an identical score in the Lankan first innings essay of 206, was then dismissed by Pathan while edging an attempted drive to ’keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to push Lanka further towards the brink. Dilshan struck five fours in his 162-minute stay at the crease and faced 123 balls. Earlier, first innings bowling hero Harbhajan Singh gave an early breakthrough when Sri Lanka began their second innings by getting rid off captain Marvan Atapattu for the second time in the match to a bat-pad catch in the leg trap taken by Mohd Kaif. The Lanka skipper made 16. It was then the turn of Kumble to hold centrestage with a deadly spell of 16-4-35-3 to raise hopes of a massive Indian victory. The 35-year-old wily campaigner, who played second fiddle to his younger partner Harbhajan when the off spinner grabbed 7 for 62 in Lanka’s first innings, picked up the wickets of left-handed opener Upul Tharanga (47), wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara (17) and Thilan Samaraweera (5) in his 11th, 13th and 14th overs. The visitors slumped from 84 for one to 96 for four in a short time to make the sizeable crowd delirious. The tourists adjourned for tea at 160 for four with Jayawardene and Dilshan holding fort. Kumble broke the second wicket partnership between Tharanga and Sangakkara with some clever bowling. He started coming round the wicket to the left handers, and with a string of close-in fielders hovering around the batsmen, he kept angling the ball off the rough. The ploy succeeded when Sangakkara played back and was trapped plumb in front. The Lanka ’keeper, who had survived a close shave via the TV umpire’s verdict when the Indians appealed for a catch by Kaif at short leg off Kumble which was taken on the half-volley by the fielder, batted for 64 minutes and struck two fours. Kumble, with his tail up after this success, then got rid off Tharanga and the nervous-looking Samaraweera in the space of four balls spread over two overs. Tharanga, who was looking composed and played some pleasing cover drives against the spinners, fell to Kumble when he turned the leg-spinner straight to backward short leg fielder Gautam Gambhir. The Lanka opener made an attractive 47 in 139 minutes, studded with eight fours. From 84 for one, it quickly became 89 for three and worse followed when Samaraweera, who had no clue to what the ball or the bowler was doing, expectedly departed after gloving Kumble to Kaif at short leg who accepted a low catch to his right to leave Lanka gasping at 96 for four. For India Kumble was the most successful bowler of the day with three for 86 while Agarkar, Pathan and Harbhajan got a wicket each. Scoreboard India
(1st innings) 398 Sri Lanka (1st innings) 206 India
(2nd innings) Sehwag c Maharoof b Malinga 0 Gambhir c Sangakkara
b Muralitharan 30 Laxman c Sangakkara b Maharoof 5 Tendulkar lbw Dilshan 19 Yuvraj c Sangakkara
b Bandara 75 Kaif lbw Bandara 9 Dhoni lbw Muralitharan 14 Pathan b Muralitharan 27 Agarkar c and b Bandara 48 Kumble not out 29 Harbhajan not out 40 Extras
(b-7, lb-9, nb-3, w-1) 20 Total (9 wkts decl, 71 overs) 316 Fall of wickets:
1-0, 2-9, 3-34, 4-81, 5-100, 6-134, 7-174, 8-198, 9-247. Bowling:
Malinga 12-2-63-1, Maharoof 6-0-25-1, Dilshan 12-2-36-1, Muralitharan 21-5-90-3, Bandara 19-2-84-3, Mubarak 1-0-2-0. Sri Lanka (second innings) Tharanga c Gambhir b Kumble 47 Atapattu c Kaif b Harbhajan 16 Sangakkara lbw Kumble 17 Jayawardene c & b
Agarkar 57 Samaraweera c Kaif b Kumble 5 Dilshan c Dhoni b Pathan 65 Jehan Mubarak batting 18 Maharoof batting 2 Extras
(b-1, nb-7) 8 Total (6 wkts, 85 overs) 235 Fall of wicket:
1-39, 2-84, 3-89, 4-96, 5-201, 6-229. Bowling: Pathan 9-1-31-1, Harbhajan 27-6-68-1, Agarkar 11-3-18-1, Kumble 31-7-86-3, Sehwag 3-0-18-0, Sachin 4-0-13-0.
— PTI |
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Ganguly returns after meeting Pawar
Kolkata, December 21 BCCI Media Committee chairman Rajiv Shukla has said: “They did not discuss any selection matter. Selection is left to the selectors. They talked about general health of Indian cricket”. Ganguly’s sacking, coming in the wake of change at the helm of the BCCI, had created a big controversy with protests in Kolkata and political leaders from West Bengal demanding his inclusion in the team again. Former BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya had urged Pawar yesterday to ensure that he is included in the team for Pakistan series early next year. — PTI |
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Amend BCCI rules, says Krishnamurthy
New Delhi, December 21 This has been made clear by Krishnamurthy, who was appointed observer for the recent BCCI election by the Supreme Court, in his report to the court, suggesting that the board’s constitution needed several changes. “The constitution of BCCI suffers from ambiguities and infirmities in regard to the rules relating to election procedure” be it that of Annual General Meeting (AGM) Chairman’s right to vote or those of the state associations, he said. This assumes significance as the apex court, while formulating the guidelines for his appointment as observer, had asked him to give his suggestions on the BCCI rules also. The court had said that during the hearing of Zee TV petition against the BCCI on its status, it found various ambiguities in the rules. Since the Chairman of AGM, which normally is the BCCI president, had been claiming to have the dual voting right, to cast a normal vote and then a casting vote in case of a tie in election of the president or an office bearer, the former CEC said “Chairman’s right to vote is not properly worded.” “In my opinion, this needs to be clarified either by a suitable amendment or a clarification by the court for future guidance,” he said. Regarding formation of new state associations and granting recognition to them in the light of creation of new states and sometimes split in them, Krishnamurthy said the BCCI constitution “has to spell out the correct procedure in this regard.” He cited the instances of split in the cricket associations of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. He said in case a state has more than one association, there was need to bring in “parity” in respect of the voting rights of all states. “This needs to be looked into if we have to respect the equality of states with equal voting rights in national sport bodies, in view of the large collection of public funds by way sale of tickets and telecast rights,” he suggested. |
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HC refuses to stay I&B guidelines
Mumbai, December 21 The court refused to grant interim relief but admitted the petition challenging the guidelines. The guidelines have been challenged by Taj Television which owns Ten Sports Channel.
— PTI |
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India can host 2011 WC if Australia agree: Mani
Rawalpindi, December 21 “The ICC board has decided that every third World Cup would be held in Asia because it has four out of 10 members. But according to rotation policy, it is the turn of Australia and whether Asia would host the 2011 event or 2015 event, would only be decided after Cricket Australia let us know about their decision,” ICC president Ehsan Mani told PTI during the fifth ODI between Pakistan and England. Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland last week said his board had not decided about hosting the World Cup while the Indian cricket board have indicated their willingness to organise the mega event. Of the eight World Cups, Asia has hosted two — in 1987 when Australia won — and in 1996 when Sri Lanka won. “The papers and documents regarding the World Cup have just been sent to Cricket Australia. We have not set any deadlines (regarding the host country) but we know that the Australian board would soon let us know of their decision,” Mani said. “I would like to see all the four Asian Test playing countries jointly host the World Cup like that did in 1996. But again, its premature to say and it will depend entirely on the boards how they want to go about it.” Talking about betting and match-fixing, Mani was very candid in saying that it has been successfully curbed but the ICC was not aware if the players were individually involved.
— PTI |
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Don’t ignore PSUs in PHL: experts
Patiala, December 21 Experts at the NIS here have opined that any professional league in India should have a strong institutional component and if the IHF starts ignoring this particular component, it will, for all practical purposes, be ignoring the rich history of Indian hockey. Experts point out to the fact that the IHF, like it did in the inaugural edition of the PHL-1, has once again cobbled up artificial outfits like “Bangalore Hi-Flyers”, “Maratha Warriors”, “Sher-e Jalandhar” and “Chandigarh Dynamos”, whose fan following is limited to just one metropolitan region. On the contrary, the federation has ignored the claims of genuine high-flyers and PSU teams like Air India and Indian Airlines, who have name, recognition and fans across the length and breadth of the country. Said a former India player, “The IHF should not cold shoulder the role of PSUs as without these government institutions there would have been no Dhyan Chand (Army), Leslie Claudius (Bengal-Nagpur Railway), Balbir Singh senior and Pargat Singh (Punjab Police), Feroze Khan (Bombay Customs), Balkishen Singh (Railways), Ashok Kumar and Zafar Iqbal (Indian Airlines) in Indian hockey.” Experts also opine that the biggest stars and the best teams belong to Public Sector Institutions rather than private clubs like the ones selected by the IHF to take part in the Chandigarh PHL-1. “Many PSUs have invested full time in residential hockey academies like the one run in New Delhi by Air India. Moreover, how can the IHF ignore the fact that PSUs like Indian Airlines are nine-time winners of the senior National Championship and the Railways which have been winning the senior national women’s championship for a record 18 times now,” said a coach employed with a Jalandhar-based academy team. There is also a growing feeling among experts here that the IHF’s decision to hold the PHL at just one venue does not auger well for Indian hockey. A former International player says, “Hockey’s power centers in India are located far away from the metropolitan areas and on the contrary are located in areas like the tribal belts of Jharkhand, Orissa, Jalandhar and Sansarpur in the hinterland of Punjab, Kodagu — also known as Coorg — in Karnataka and the North Eastern region of India. The first Indian hockey captain, Jaipal Singh, was from Jharkhand while Padamshree and former Captain Dilip Tirkey belongs to a tribal area of Orissa. |
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Shocking defeat for IOC; PSB in semifinals
Chandigarh, December 21 However, former champions Punjab and Sind Bank, justifying their seeding in the last eight, overpowered Western Railway 3-1 to book a berth in the semifinals to be played on Friday. Pitted against formidable rivals, underdogs Punjab National Bank fought bravely and eventually carried the day in the battle of strokes. Man-of-the-match’
Jasbir Singh, the bankmen’s custodian, emerged as the hero blocking the strokes of Olympian Prabhjot Singh, just back from the Champions Trophy, and Raghunath. Internationals Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot Singh, who have been regular members of the Indian team, did show promise early on but a defence-splitting pass by the former went over the goal-line. Thereafter, PNB provided the first shock as Bikas Toppo shot home from close range to open the account for his team. A penalty stroke awarded to PSB in the 13th minute was successfully converted by Dedar Singh, who represented India in the Afro-Asian Games in 2003 (1-1). Two minutes later, IOC earned a penalty corner and off the push by Inderjit Chadha, Bikramjit Singh found the roof of the net with his powerful drag flick (2-1). He also twisted his knee in the process. The equaliser by PNB followed soon after with Bikas Toppo scoring in a melee (2-2). Two minutes from the breather, PNB shot into the lead when local lad Navdeep scored off a rebound (3-2). Indian Oil Corporation pressed hard to come back into the reckoning but had to wait till the 63rd minute to restore parity. A solo effort by Jaswinder, who initiated a move on the left flank, fetched the bankmen the equaliser as his angular hit brooked no resistance (3-3). In the tie-breaker, PNB converted their strokes through Jatinder Saroha, Harvinder Singh, Bikas Toppo and Ramandeep Singh. For IOC only Deedar and Gaurav Tokhi were on target. Earlier, Punjab and Sind Bank prevailed over Western Railway 3-1 after leading by a solitary goal at half time. Navpreet’s drag flick off a short corner by Mandeep put PSB ahead in the 13th minute. In the 50th minute, Rajinder Singh connected a pass by Ajit Pal Singh to make it 2-0. Another penalty corner earned in the 58th minute fetched the bankmen the third goal as Navpreet’s drag flick was bang on target (3-0). Off their second short corner in the 64th minute, Western Railway managed to cut the deficit to 1-3 as Amarjeet Singh found the target without much difficulty. Thursday’s
fixtures: (quarterfinals): Corps of Signals v BPCL 1 pm; Namdhari XI v Canara Bank
(2.30 pm) |
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Sundergarh, Jalandhar boys in last four
Chandigarh, December 21 Also entering the last four were Lyallpur Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Jalandhar, who defeated Government High School, Maqsudan, 4-1. The Sundergarh outfit took the lead in the 15th minute through a field goal scored by Anan Pritam Kido. Another field goal by Sunil Kujur in the 23rd minute boosted the tally to 2-0 but the Kolkata outfit managed to pull one back in the 48th minute through a field goal by Gurdeep Singh. However, a minute before the long hooter, Sunil Kujur was once again on target and his field goal made it 3-1 for
his side. In the second match, Lyallpur Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Jalandhar, made a promising start when Vikramjeet Singh converted a penalty corner in the seventh minute. The remaining goals came in the second half through Sanjeev Kumar and Daler Singh (two). A field goal by Gursharan Singh in the 69th minute provided some consolation to the Maqsudan outfit, who failed to force a single penalty
corner against five earned by the winners. |
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Sanam wins
New Delhi, December 21 Seventeen-year-old Sanam, who won his first Futures title at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association court here last week, saved a set point and then outpointed his rival in the tie-breaker of the second set to clinch the match in straight sets. He will take on second seed Karan Rastogi, who got the better of local boy, Vivek Shokeen 6-3, 7-5, in the quarterfinal. Divij Sharan of Delhi upset sixth-seeded Vijay Kannan of Tamil Nadu in just over an hour 6-4 6-2 . Former Davis Cupper Vishal Uppal of Delhi warded off a late charge by Ranjeet Virali Murugesan of Tamil Nadu before winning at 6-3 7-6 (3) in 85 minutes. In the women's section, seventh seeded Archana Venkataraman of Karnataka, despite struggling to cope up with the biting cold, fought back from a set down to prevail over Liza Pereira of Mumbai 3-6, 6-0, 6-1.
— OSR |
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Preetpal, Alka win 200 m races Ambala, December 21 Athletics: Race 200 m (boys): Sahil - I, Preetpal - II; 200 m (girls): Alka - I, Nidhi - II, 800 m (boys): Gurpreet - I, Arun - II; 800 m (girls): Shilpa - I, Priyanka - II; 400 m (boys): Harsimran - I, Vishal - II; 400 m (girls): Alka - I, Nidhi - II; 100 m (girls): Shruti - I, Neha - II; 100 m (boys): Vishal - I, Sahil - II; 1500 m (girls): Shilpa - I, Priyanka - II, 1500 m (boys): Vishal - I, Mohan Lal - II. 4 X 100 relay race (boys): S.A. Jain School, Ambala City, I, St. Joseph school, Ambala City, II; 4 X 100 relay race (girls): Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 4, Ambala Cantt, I, DC Model School, Babyal, II. Long jump (boys): Preet Pal - I, Brijesh - II; Long jump (girls): Alka - I, Rashmi - II. Football (boys): Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 2, Ambala Cantt, I, Kendriya Vidyalaya No.1, Ambala Cantt, II. Hockey (boys): AS Senior Secondary School, Ambala City, I, Farookha Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Ambala Cantt, II; Hockey (girls): Government Senior Secondary School, Police Line, Ambala City, I, Farookha Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Ambala Cantt, II. |
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Nehru hockey Kickboxers shine Malaysia XI |
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Chandigarh, December 21
