Three-way traffic

India have never won the tri-series Down Under. Their quest for an elusive title will be even tougher this time as they face World Cup champions Australia and runners-up Sri Lanka, writes Vikramdeep Johal

In the past year or so, Team India has done pretty well in two forms of cricket — Tests and Twenty20. It’s in the third form, one-dayers, that their record has been rather uneven. The ODI highs (series wins over South Africa and Pakistan) have been overshadowed by the lows (the World Cup disaster and the series defeats to Australia and England).

Now, the one-day team led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni faces a big challenge — getting past World Cup finalists Australia and Sri Lanka in the tri-series beginning tomorrow.

The squad is partly different (and much less experienced) compared to the one that held its own against Australia in the Test series. The names in common are Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma.

Those who have joined the team for the one-dayers are Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa, S Sreesanth, Munaf Patel (in place of RP Singh), Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla and Manoj Tiwary (back-up for Yuvraj).

With Tendulkar being the only 30-plus member, this team has a youthful look (with fresh legs and quick reflexes). Some of these guys distinguished themselves in the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, and the onus will be on them to not only deliver the goods but also inspire the rookies.

With the Champions Trophy coming up later this year, the tri-series is an ideal platform to test the mettle of the youngsters.

On paper, India’s batting looks much more solid than their bowling, even though Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid are conspicuous by their absence. Pathan is the only true-blue all-rounder, while Sehwag, Yuvraj and Tendulkar might have important roles to play with the ball.

The month-long tournament will be the last international outing for Adam Gilchrist, arguably the greatest wicketkeeper-batsman of all time. His team-mates would no doubt love to make his swansong special by winning the trophy for him.

Australia faltered in the tri-series finals last year, losing unexpectedly to England, and they would be determined to make amends this time.

Captain Ricky Ponting got among the runs quite late in the Test series against India, hitting a century in the Adelaide match. Hopefully for the hosts, he will score heavily in the one-dayers.

Sri Lanka have virtually retained the squad that reached the World Cup final in the Caribbean. Old warhorses Sanath Jayasuriya, aged 38, and Muttiah Muralitharan (35) will obviously be the cynosure of all eyes. Their batting mainstays are Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, while it will be the job of pacers Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga to exploit the lively conditions and take early wickets.

The tournament’s long-drawn-out format — every team plays each other four times before the top two clash in the best-of-three finals — may not be thrilling, but it keeps all teams in the hunt for the better part of the event.

The first objective for the three sides is to reach the finals. If India are able to do that, it would be half the battle won for Dhoni’s Daredevils.

Serial failures

India have an unenviable record in the annual triangular one-day tournament being held in Australia since 1979. Their win-loss record for 50 ODIs stands at 17-32, with one match being a tie. Against the Aussies, they have secured only five wins in 28 games.

Of the five occasions India have played in the tri-series, they have qualified for the best-of-three finals thrice (1985-86, 1991-92 and 2003-04) but never gone on to clinch the title.

The other ODI tournaments Down Under featuring India were the World Championship of Cricket (1985) and the 1992 World Cup. India won the former by beating Pakistan in the final, but failed to reach the semifinals of the latter.

A recap of India’s show:

* The India-West Indies match at Perth on December 6, 1991, ended in a tie.

The return of Viru

Virender Sehwag was not even among the probables for India’s Test series against Australia, yet he ended up as one of the key performers for his team. Anil Kumble took a gamble by showing faith in Sehwag despite his erratic form, and the latter didn’t let his captain down.

The “Nawab of Najafgarh” played only in the last two Tests (Perth and Adelaide) but he made the most of the opportunities that came his way. At Perth, he contributed moderately with the bat (29 and 43). It was with the ball that he really turned the tide. His twin strikes in Australia’s second innings — Adam Gilchrist and Brett Lee — paved the way for India’s historic victory. It was a rare sight to see Gilchrist being bowled round his legs by a off-break that spun rather sharply.

In a masterstroke, Sehwag asked Kumble to give another over to Ishant Sharma. The move did the trick as the lanky Delhi pacer got the crucial wicket of Ricky Ponting.

India secured a draw in the final Test at Adelaide thanks largely to Sehwag’s resolute batting on a wearing fifth-day pitch. Even as other top batsmen came a cropper in the second innings, he held the fort to score his 13th Test hundred.

Although Sachin Tendulkar won the Man-of-the-Match award at Adelaide, Sehwag perhaps deserved it more due for his all-round efforts.

After a successful Test series (286 runs and four wickets in two matches), India are banking on Sehwag to play a major role in the tri-series. He himself has to set a record or two straight, having failed to score a one-day hundred against Australia as well as Sri Lanka so far.

Australian Open
Serving up thrills & spills

Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic (R) and runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga have heralded the rise of a new generation of tennis stars. — Reuters photo

Brawling fans, the latest finish in Grand Slam history, some extraordinary tennis, and the emergence of a new generation of stars — the Australian Open served up its usual mixed menu.

In the end, the championships belonged to Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova, with world number ones Roger Federer and Justine Henin failing to live up to their reputations.

Organisers had been keen to avoid the ugly ethnic clashes that marred the event on its opening day in 2007 and they breathed a sigh of relief when the first 24 hours passed without incident.

But they soon found themselves embroiled in controversy when police pepper-sprayed a group of fans during a match between Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez and Greek player Konstantinos Economidis the following day.

The unprecedented images were flashed around the world and the tournament’s reputation took an unwanted hit.

Efforts to downplay the scenes weren't helped three days later when a year-old video surfaced showing Greek Cypriot crowd favourite Marcos Baghdatis chanting anti-Turkish slogans with the Greek supporters’ group involved in the clash.

Baghdatis went some way to redeeming his reputation when he was involved in an epic third-round match with Lleyton Hewitt that ended at 4:33 am (local time), the latest finish in Grand Slam history.

The Australian won in five sets but the decision by organisers to let the match start just before midnight was widely condemned. The sleep-deprived Hewitt lost his next match.

The reason for the late start was because Federer was unexpectedly pushed to a gruelling five-setter by Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic, which exposed his vulnerabilities for the first time since Wimbledon last year.

The Swiss great suffered a virus just before the tournament and he never looked totally in control, with Djokovic bringing him to his knees in the semifinals, marking a possible changing of the guard in men’s tennis.

“I’m going to take it easy, I’m not going to try to think about reaching higher goals right away. I just want to enjoy my success,” said Djokovic.

“I don’t think Roger’s dominance is over, it’s not possible that one tournament changes history. I’m sure he will come back in a big way.”

It wasn’t just 20-year-old Djokovic who impressed. Unheralded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 22, stunned second seed Rafael Nadal in the other semifinal after accounting for three other seeds en route to the final.

Only Djokovic halted the march of the Muhammad Ali lookalike.

It was a tournament where a clutch of promising young Serbians stamped their mark on the game.

Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic showed themselves to be future champions. Jankovic fell at the semifinal hurdle to an ice-cool Sharapova, who then beat Ivanovic in the final.

The Russian was in the zone from the first round, claiming her third Grand Slam title.While she dominated, top seed Henin unexpectedly bowed out to Sharapova in the quarterfinals.

And the Williams sisters had a tournament to forget with both crashing in the quarters. Defending champion Serena failed to negotiate Jankovic while Venus was crushed by Ivanovic.

“Sometimes when you’re putting the work in it just seems so hard, and you never know when that work’s going to pay off,” said Sharapova.

“When you’re going through tough moments, you never know when you’re going to have good moments. I’m just so thankful that I got this one.”

Many players rate the Australian Open as their favourite Grand Slam and praise generally rang loudly in organisers’ ears, with record crowds of more than 600,000 once again.

But suggestions also emerged that the tournament should be rotated around the Asia-Pacific, with Shanghai touted as an alternative.

To nip this in the bud, the authorities launched a business plan to determine how to redevelop the venue at Melbourne Park, including a possible new stadium and improved spectator, player and media facilities. — AFP

Hockey hub in turmoil

The hockey fraternity in Orissa has taken up cudgels on behalf of Dilip Tirkey against the state association.

Sundargarh, the tribal district of Orissa known as the hockey heartland, is in turmoil with the entire fraternity of the sport up in arms against the state association.

The memorandum said since Sundargarh had emerged as the state’s cradle of hockey with several players from the district — Dilip Tirkey, Prabodh Tirkey, Ignace Tirkey, Roshan Minz and William Xalxo — playing in the Indian team, there was little justification for the OHA headquarters to be based at Cuttack. — PTI

IN THE NEWS
Sania shining

Sania Mirza has rarely had it easy on the court ever since she burst on to the world stage in 2005. Off court, however, things have been even more difficult for her, with one controversy following another. It goes to her credit that despite all the distractions she has managed to keep her focus on the game, becoming Asia’s number one women’s tennis player.

The 21-year-old Hyderabadi girl had a reasonably good run in the Australian Open, finishing runner-up with Mahesh Bhupathi in mixed doubles and reaching the third round in singles as well as women’s doubles (with Aussie girl Alicia Molik).

Despite her loss to Venus Williams in the third round, she rose to world No. 29 in WTA rankings, thereby overtaking China’s Li Na as the highest ranked Asian.

Though Sania has upstaged the Chinese girl for the time being, she still has some catching up to do with the latter. Li’s best Grand Slam singles show is the quarterfinal finish at the 2006 Wimbledon, while Sania went as far as the fourth round at the 2005 US Open. Also, Li’s all-time highest ranking is No. 16, better than the Indian girl’s 27th.

At a time when she was contemplating quitting the game due to all the off-court furores, getting the Asian numero uno status must have boosted Sania’s morale. Of course, she has to pay the price for being a celebrity, but for the sake of Indian tennis, the public ought to let her simply play tennis and not bother about what she wears and says or whom she meets. — Agencies