Kuala Lumpur, September 19
It will be a do or die situation for India when they play their penultimate league match of the cricket tri-series here tomorrow against the West Indies who have already assured themselves a berth in the final.

The Indians cannot afford any slip-up against the Caribbeans who will have nothing to lose but all to gain as they prepare themselves for the title clash on September 24.

Brian Lara’s men have turned out to be the surprise package of the tournament, putting it across India, albeit through the Duckworth-Lewis system, and then pulling off a shock three-wicket win against the mighty Australians to negate the effect from their defeat in the opening match to the Aussies.

The results of the West Indies have left India and Australia to fight it out for the second finalist’s spot and both of them would now have to win their remaining matches to avoid an early exit from this tournament, billed as a warm-up to the Champions Trophy to be hosted by India next month.

The Indians have been done in by a mix of poor luck and a wayward form.

After a roaring start in their opener when they piled up 309 runs but only to see rains rob them of a possible victory, the Indians lost the plot against Australia, losing 5 of their top order wickets with just 35 runs on the board in the rain- ruined contest.

With rains intervening both the times that India took the field in this day-night tournament, Rahul Dravid’s men would be hoping the weather would relent this time around and allow them to play a full 100-over match.

Rains apart, The Indians have not been able to put an all round show here — if the batsmen have delivered, the bowlers have disappointed and vice-versa.

This is something that must be worrying the Indian team management which will have to find a solution to the problem before it is too late.

The Indian bowlers did well in the last game against Australia by restricting them to a manageable 244 all out in 49.2 overs but the form of Irfan Pathan remains a concern.

Pathan, who made a quickfire 64 in India’s first match, is still struggling to find the rhythm with the ball and had to be pulled away from the attack after he was torn apart by the makeshift Australian opening pair of Phil Jaques and Shane Watson.

It should not be a surprise if the Baroda left-arm paceman is left out of tomorrow’s game but his form with the bat may still tilt the scale in his favour.

Dravid though defended Pathan who conceded 32 runs from his four overs in exchange for the wicket of Ricky Ponting.

“Irfan has struggled a bit. He was not able to bowl in the right areas... We want Irfan to bowl better. We have to nurse him through this period,” the skipper had said after the game against Australia.

“He had bowled so well against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. He is trying hard. Hopefully he will fight back.” Pathan apart, the other two fast bowlers — R. P. Singh and Munaf Patel did not disappoint and the same could be said of the two slow bowlers — Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag.

As far as the batting goes, should Sachin Tendulkar continue with the form he has shown, the rest of the batsmen can just rally round him and ensure they do not let the team down.

The track at the Kinrara Oval is showing signs of easing off though the odd ball is still keeping low. But as the batsmen of the likes of Michael Hussey and Chris Gayle have shown, runs can come in plenty provided one sees off the initial few overs.

West Indies might rest a couple of their key players on the morrow which would not be bad decision as the defending Champions Trophy winners would be keen to add another rare title triumph to their kitty.

Squads: India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Irfan Pathan, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, M S Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, R P Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel, Dinesh Mongia, S Sreesanth, Ramesh Powar.

West Indies: Brian Lara (captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Wavell Hinds, Runako Morton, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Carlton Baugh, Ian Bradshaw, Jerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards and Corey Collymore. — PTI 

Chandigarh, September 19
Reigning champions Minerva Academy lost to Indian Oil Corporation team by five runs in the ongoing 13th All-India JP Atray Cricket Tournament at DAV Cricket Grounds, Sector 8, here today. With this win, Indian Oil have entered into the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Asked to bat first, IOC innings ended at 237 in 50 overs. The resolute unbeaten knock by Mandhar Phadke (56 off 100) enabled his team to reach respectable total.

Chasing the target, Minerva started on disappointing note as T.P. Singh departed early after scoring 11 runs. However, the valuable partnership of 71 runs for the third wicket between Manvinder Bisla (43 off 71) and Pardeep Chawla (32 off 48) steadied the ship.

Farman Ahmad was the highest scorer for Minerva Academy hitting a fine 64 of 58 balls containing eight boundaries and a six. At 209 for five, Minerva Academy were 30 runs away from victory with five wickets in hand but fiery bowling by medium pacer Anand Ranjan, who claimed five wickets for 55 runs, sealed the victory for IOC. Minerva Academy folded up for 234 in 49.5 overs.

Anand Ranjan was declared man of the match.

The other match played between Madhya Pardesh Cricket Association (MPCA) and Air India at Sector 3 Cricket Stadium, Panchkula, was won by the latter by one wicket.

Batting first, MPCA scored 225 runs in 49.5 overs with the help of fine knock by Mohinish Mishra (99). At one stage M P were totterin. The other contributor was Sunil Dholpure, who made 39 off 57.

In reply, Air India started their run chase with Indian star Robin Uthappa (71) and Naman Ojha (31), who shared a century opening stand of 105 runs.

Sitting pretty at 172 for five, Air-India slumped to 179 for nine in 35.6 overs. But the last batting pair Mandar Dhalvi and Sidharth Trivedi who held on tenaciously for 47 balls to take their team to the victory in 43.3 overs.

Brief scores: IOC: 239 for seven in 50 overs (Phatkae 56 no, Virrla 41, Gill 3 for 21); Minerva Academy: 234 for 49.5 overs (Ahmad 64, Bisla 43, Rajan 5 for 55).

MP: 224 all out in 49.5 overs (Mishra 99, Dholpure 39, Parveen 5 for 35); Air-India: 226 for nine in 43.3 overs (Uthappa 71, Parveen 39, T Surdhira 4 for 31). 

Mohali, September 19
The sale of tickets for the inaugural match of the ICC Championship Trophy between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, to be held on October 7, will begin from September 25 at the PCA stadium here. This was announced by PCA president I.S. Bindra today.

“The online tickets of all matches are available on website www.bcci.tv. But we will start selling tickets on counters two weeks before every match. For the purpose, we will set up eight to 10 counters at PCA stadium from September 25, besides providing tickets to HDFC Bank for the purpose”, said Mr Bindra.

About the rate of tickets, he said the AC lounge, VIP block and general block tickets will be available for Rs 15,000, Rs 5000 and Rs 300, respectively, for all five matches to be played here. Whereas the rates of PCA members block, North Pavilion and student block will differ during the matches. “The students will get the tickets on subsidised rates after producing the identity card”, he added.

Elaborating on the preparation, Mr Bindra said three pitches have been prepared. Besides the expansion of media box, commentary boxes and other new construction, the PCA would set up anti-doping centre on its premises for the first time. “As there is no world anti-doping agency certified laboratory in India, the samples will be sent to Malaysia or Singapore for testing”, said Mr Bindra.

“This time the spectators will have to cross three-tier security cover to see the matches. The Punjab Police along with private security guards will look after the security part”, said Mr Bindra.

To facilitate the spectators, the PCA has decided not to charge any license fee from the caterers with a condition of providing the eatables on maximum retail price.

Kolkata, September 19
Determined to lift her plummeting rankings, crowd favourite Sania Mirza played with complete control to clinch a straight-set victory over veteran Rushmi Chakravarthi in $175,000 WTA Sunfeast Open here today.

The 19-year-old let loose an array of forehand shots and blazing winners to coast to a 6-0, 6-4 win and march into the second round where she will take on the winner of the battle between Galina Voskoboeva of Russia and Sandra Kloesel of Germany.

Rushmi, a qualifier, could never match Sania’s fast-paced power-packed game and practically bowed out without a fight at the Netaji Indoor Stadium centre court.

Cutting down on her unforced errors, World No. 70 Sania literally toyed with her opponent, ranked 387 places below her, blazing the court with her trademark aggressive shots.

The 5,000 odd spectators, including former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, appeared to enjoy thoroughly the 52-minute game.

In another match Shikha Uberoi paid the price for an erratic display to bow out with a straight set defeat over Czech girl Hana Sromova in the opening round here today.

The 23-year-old Shikha lost 4-6, 3-6 in the 77-minute duel as Sromova set up a second round clash with Russian Alla Kudryavtseva, who showed the door to compatriot and eighth seed Anastassia Rodionova earlier in the day.

The other upset was the defeat of the third seeded Ukrainian Yuliana Fedak who was stunned 4-6, 2-6 by Italian Alberta Brianti in the day’s first match on the centre court. The clash between the two Russian girls saw Kudryavtseva winning 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in a three setter on court number one. — PTI

Faridabad, September 19
With their opponents reduced to a 10-man squad, Chandigarh slammed three second half goals to beat Sikkim 4-1 in a Cluster III match in the 61st National Championship for the Santosh Trophy here today.

Both the sides were tied 1-1 at the half time and after K Lendup Lepcha was given the marching orders after picking his second yellow card of the day. Chandigarh grabbed the opportunity with both hands and struck thrice to tame Sikkim.

Chandigarh took an early lead in the match with Sameer Singh finding the net in the 16th minute. The joy, however, was shortlived as Sikkim equalised through Tenzin Tsephel within seven minutes and despite repeated forays, poor finishing by the forwards saw both the sides going into the breather on honours even.

Madrid, September 19
India’s Trupti Murgunde recovered from a one-game deficit to prevail over Larisa Griga of Ukraine and advance to the second round of women’s singles in the World Badminton Championship here today.

In a complete contrast, national champion Anup Sridhar squandered a one-game lead against Sheng-Shiun Liao of Chinese Taipei to go down 21-19, 15-21, 13-21 and bow out of the men’s draw.

Murgunde, who is India’s only remaining hope in the singles charts after the defeats of Chetan Anand and Saina Nehwal yesterday, clinched the hard-fought duel 17-21, 21-14, 21-19 in 48 minutes.

The mixed doubles pair of V Diju and Jwala Gutta also bowed out today after giving a fight to Teik Chai Gan and Chew Yen Fong of Malaysia 21-18, 17-21, 21-19.

But there was good news in the doubles event as Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurian gained from the last minute withdrawal of top Korean combination of Kyung Won Lee and Hyo Jung Lee to storm into the prequarterfinal of the women’s doubles.

The women’s doubles also saw B R Meenakshi and Murgunde clearing their first round hurdle yesterday. Meenakshi and Murgunde clinched a thriller against Amelie Felix and Florence Lavoie of Canada 21-12, 14-21, 22-20 to advance into the second round.

In men’s singles, Anand, ranked 25 in world, played his heart out and gave a tough fight to world no. 5 Lee Hyun II of Korea before succumbing 18-21, 21-18, 10-21 in a thrilling duel. The first round draw against world number nine Yanjiao Jian was always going to be a tough affair for India’s teenage sensation Saina. She went down 10-21, 16-21. — PTI

New Delhi, September 19
World number two Viswanathan Anand will not take part in the Doha Asian Games where chess will figure as a medal sport for the first time in the event’s history.

This was revealed by All India Chess Federation Secretary D. V. Sundar who, however, did not divulge the reason for Anand’s unavailability.

But it is speculated that Anand is apprehensive about taking part in team championship after he lost around 20 ELO points in the Chess Olympiad despite being a part of the second-seeded Indian team early this year.

It is believed that Anand had no problems taking part in the individual competition as it would be played in his favourite Rapid format. But according to the rules of the Games, one has to take part in both categories. The team championship would be played in the Classical format. — PTI