Hyderabad, November 10
Though VVS Laxman has played Test cricket in all the Test-playing countries and will feature in his 116th Test when India lock horns with New Zealand in the second Test of the three-match series at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal on the outskirts of Hyderabad from Friday, the classy Hyderabadi right-hander will be interestingly making his Test ‘debut’ on a home ground.

Hyderabad last hosted a Test match at the old Lal Bahadur Stadium in the heart of the city way back in 1988 when they trounced New Zealand by ten wickets.

But when Laxman came of age to play Test cricket, Hyderabad lost Test status as the HCA did not have its own ground. HCA has corrected that aberration by building a magnificent new stadium of its own, and the International Cricket Council has restored the Test status to the City of Pearls. The match against the Kiwis has come as a God-sent chance for Laxman to impress his innumerable fans at home.

Laxman has now become the saviour of Indian cricket after featuring in two live-saving innings against Australia at Mohali and against New Zealand at Motera in the recent weeks, and fans at home are looking forward to watching yet another gem of a knock from his blade.

Strict security did not allow fans to throng the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium when the Indian team sweated it out here this afternoon with Laxman being the cynosure of the eyes. Every member of the Indian team put his best foot forward at the nets, but rains yesterday and today put a cloud of uncertainty as bright sunshine tomorrow has become imperative to firm up the pitch.

The pitch looks fine from a distance but the groudsmen were praying that there should be no more rain tonight or on the morrow, so as to enable them to prepare a sporting wicket.

The star-packed Indian team were sought after by the few fans and the media people who surrounded the nets but nothing seemed to distract Dhoni and his men from getting a good workout to prepare to dash the pretentions of New Zealand, who threatened to take the fight into the lion's den, but for the doughty rear-guard action by Laxman and Harbhajan Singh at the Motera ground in Ahmedabad.

Harbhajan, despite scoring his maiden Test hundred, was keener to get this bowling right and had a long session at the nets. So were the other key bowlers, including leg-spinner Amit Mishra.

Guangzhou, November 10
Rashid Khan's uphill battle to help China win a medal in cricket in the sport's Asian Games debut got considerably more achievable when India decided not to send teams to Guangzhou. Still, the ex-Pakistan Test said he wants to keep his ambitions in check for the Chinese men's and women's teams he is coaching.

All tickets for Saturday's opening day at the 6,500-seat Guanggong Cricket Stadium have been sold. Not surprisingly, a Chinese team will be involved in the first match - the women taking on Malaysia. Khan says the Asian Games will be an ideal opening for China to move ahead in cricket, and is targeting a semifinal spot for the women's team which is in a group containing Malaysia, Thailand and Pakistan.

The format of the men's competition - even without India - might be too tough for China as they would have to face one of the favourites if they advance to the quarterfinals. Pakistan and Bangladesh were seeded directly into the quarterfinals.

"It will be a huge task," Khan said of beating either of those potential opponents. "One should be realistic, but I just want my boys to do well and be competitive." He's predicting more for the women, though, expecting wins over Thailand and Malaysia in Group A.

"We have beaten Malaysia recently and have a good idea about them. We were beaten by Thailand two years ago, but have improved a lot since then." All-rounder Mei Hua was also confident of putting on a good show. "The games are in our country and it will be ideal if we win a medal," she said. "We have done so much hard work that I am confident of beating Malaysia and Thailand from our group and make it to the semifinals."

In recent months, Khan has taken the Chinese women's team twice on tours to India and once to Bangladesh to prepare for the Twenty20 format at the Asian Games. China expects to meet the winner of Group B - comprising Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Nepal and Japan - in the semifinal. Cricket is among the sports making its Asian Games debut at Guangzhou. — AP 

Johannesburg, November 10
Swashbuckling Indian batsman Virender Sehwag gave the visiting South African team a very tough time during the first Test in Chennai in 2008, former coach Mickey Arthur recalled in his book, released here on Monday. "Every single thing we tried, he countered," Arthur wrote in his book 'Taking the Mickey'.

"He had an answer for everything. When we changed our tactics, he changed his; he was always one step ahead of us." Arthur added that despite witnessing every delivery that Sehwag faced, he still found it difficult to believe some parts of his innings: "He scored 319 off 304 deliveries. Some of the 50 came off 25 or 30 balls, and I think his third century came from 84!"

Arthur went on to describe how Sehwag outwitted his strategy at every turn: "I was wracking my brains for a solution to the puzzle, but by the time I'd thought of something else to try, (Sehwag) would have scored another 70. I thought we might see the world record. The way he was going, he had the time to score 500!"

But Sehwag's good run was set to end the next morning: "Overnight I tried to come up with yet another plan. I thought he might be vulnerable to the short-of-a-length delivery early on - not the bouncer, but the back-of-a-length, chest-high delivery.

"Perhaps it was a complete fluke, but Makhaya (Ntini) caught him early, trapped on the crease early next morning, and he never got onto the front foot again for the rest of the innings, which didn't last much longer before he knicked one. Whether it was a chink in his armour or not, it worked for us. He certainly didn't score any more triple hundreds against us, anyway." — PTI 

Mohali, November 10
The clarity of the weather, it seemed, found no connect with the clarity of thought within the Punjab dressing room as the hosts ended a day highlighted by two amazingly baffling decisions and folded up for 243 in their Ranji Trophy Elite group encounter against Karnataka at the PCA Stadium, here today.

Electing to field first, Karnataka bowlers were on the money all through the day as they took wickets at regular intervals to give their batsmen a splendid chance of getting to a mammoth total. Spearheaded by pacer Vinay Kumar, the visitors struck with the second ball of the morning as Ravi Inder Singh left one close to the off stump, and the ball had to nip back ever-so-slightly to rattle the timber.

That forced the reliable Uday Kaul to walk in and he along with Sarul Kanwar stitched a small partnership of 41, before Vinay trapped Kanwar in front of the stumps. Then, a morning that had only looked dull till then, turned bizarre. The small crowd that had gathered to see Yuvraj Singh walk out, were bowled over by a ‘googly’ as pacer Harmeet Bansal came out to bat. The lanky pacer might not be the worst batsman on the field, but sending him ahead of the likes of Yuvraj, Karan Goel and the captain himself was a decision hard to understand. And almost befittingly, Bansal was cleaned up on the very first delivery by Vinay.

Yuvraj walked in with the sunshine drying up the moist outfield and much of Punjab’s hopes of fighting back from 42 for 3 resting on him. The southpaw drove with élan, ran hard between the wickets and was looking like hitting his groove but then, what seemed like a concentration lapse, he started getting beaten outside his off stump regularly, played across the line to Sunil Joshi and was even beaten for pace by Sreenath Aravind. Finally, the 84-run stand between Uday Kaul and Yuvraj was broken when Aravind made Yuvraj poke at a ball moving away from his body only to be caught behind.

But the diligent Kaul was in no mood to throw his hard work away. He kept chipping away the runs and kept one end intact for the hosts. He cut, drove and abstained from lofted shots to lend surety to the innings. He missed out on a well-deserved century when he too was removed by Aravind for 94.

The second bizarre decision of the day saw Karan Goel come in at six-down and though he tried to put up a fight, the tail barely wagged and the hosts folded up in the 90th over.

Scoreboard

Punjab 1st innings

Kanwar lbw b Vinay 26

RI Singh b Vinay 0

Kaul c Gautam b Aravind 94

Harmeet b Vinay 0

Yuvraj c Gautam b Aravind 39

Dharmani lbw Joshi 7

Bhalla c Gautam b Aravind 13

Goel lbw Aravind 24

Gony c Pandey b Vinay 21

Rajwinder c Gautam b Vinay 0

Sidhu not out 0

Extras: (b 10, lb 7, nb 2) 19

Total (all out; 89.5 ovrs) 243

Bowling: Vinay 22-3-61-5, Mithun 21-6-52-0, Aravind 22.5-4-63-4, Joshi 22-6-44-1, Verma 2-1-6-0.

The increasingly bizarre case of Zulqarnain Haider took a series of contradictory twists. At first he denied he was seeking asylum in the United Kingdom before later seemingly changing his mind on that too, although he maintained all along that he and his family did receive "death threats" over demands that he help fix the result of two one-day internationals against South Africa. But whatever the future holds for Haider, hopes among cricket's authorities that Pakistan were beginning to get to grips with the corruption problems that have threatened to engulf the side have been shattered by his claims that he was approached to fix the two games in Dubai.

Meanwhile his brother said that the wicketkeeper felt "pressure" from within the squad. Haider is staying in a hotel near Heathrow. Immigration officials and police officers spoke to him again yesterday and he is expected to remain in Britain for the time being. It was only last week that the International Cricket Council praised the Pakistan Cricket Board for the measures it has put in place in the wake of this summer's spot-fixing scandal in England.

Last month the ICC issued the PCB with an ultimatum that it must clean up its act or face the possibility of sanctions. The PCB has revised its code of conduct for players - Haider was one of three fined for a minor curfew infraction this weekend - with an emphasis on anti-corruption.

It led Haroon Lorgat, the ICC's chief executive, to say he was "impressed" with the progress being made. Haider was reported yesterday to have said that he has spoken to members of the ICC's anti-corruption unit, but that was contradicted by Lorgat last night as the ICC released a statement offering their support to the PCB's investigation.

He said: "We understand his plight if reports are indeed true, but we can only help if he is willing to engage with us." Yesterday, while his wife and father appeared on TV pleading for him to come home, Haider, 24, added further detail to his initial claims made on Monday. "I was approached by one person who asked me to fix the fourth and fifth matches and there would be problems for me if I did not do it," Haider told Pakistan's Geo Television. "One man threatened me but I felt behind us there were two or three more men. I don't know who they were or who was the man who threatened me. That man said, 'Come into our circle and you will get a lot of money, but if you don't you will be in trouble'.

"There is a threat to me and my family therefore I am leaving international cricket. The country is like a mother and anyone who sells it cannot get anything in life. I did not want to sell my mother. I did not want to sell my country and I did what I thought was better. I was afraid if I spoke to [the team's management] word could have gone out and I would have faced problems.

— By arrangement with The Independent 

Sydney, November 10
Australia's chief selector Andrew Hilditch has dismissed suggestions that top-order batsman Simon Katich was in doubt for the first Test when the Ashes start on November 25.Katich recovery from a thumb injury has improved markedly in the past fortnight and he needs to only emerge unharmed from a club game with Randwick-Petersham this Saturday to be available for NSW's Shield clash with Tasmania next week.

"I know that I've played with it. I know what it's like with it sore and been able to get through - but [I] didn't play as well as I liked," Katich said. Hilditch dismissed suggestions Katich was in doubt for the first Test, The Sydney Morning herald reports.

"I wouldn't have thought so. He played both Tests in India with exactly the same injury that he's got now, but it did concern him in India so we're taking a pretty conservative approach," Hilditch said. Katich's likely availability means Phil Hughes will have to be satisfied partnering Shane Watson during the Shield match and not representing Australia. — ANI

BRIEFLY

ICC offer to support troubled PCB
Dubai: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has offered to support troubled wicketkeeper Zulqanain Haider and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in its ongoing probe into the causes behind his bizarre disappearance just hours before the final one-day international against South Africa in Dubai. "The ICC has confirmed that it is in regular communication with the PCB and has offered to support the Board in its current investigations into the reasons behind wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider's decision to leave the Pakistan team," said an ICC media release on Tuesday. — ANI

Vuvuzelas as earrings!
London: The much reviled and controversial plastic horns that were the highlight of this year's football World Cup, Vuvuzela, are likely to be reinvented as earrings. A panel of South African artists and designers chose earrings as the best reuse of the vuvuzela from more than 150 photographs, videos and sketches submitted to a vuvuzela recycling competition, The Telegraph reports. Matt Blitz, the event organiser, said the group began taking submissions in July, after the World Cup football tournament ended. — ANI

Clarke ducks questions on Kyly
Melbourne: Michael Clarke ducked questions, at an event to launch Australia's Ashes ad campaign this week, about his new girlfriend Kyly Boldy. Asked if he and the one-time Miss Indy were going strong after she was spotted watching Australia play Sri Lanka at the SCG last week, Clarke side-stepped the question and made some joke about sponsors Vodafone. "I've said all I want to say on Twitter and now I'm just here with my Vodafone umbrella," News.com.au quoted him as saying. — ANI

Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant (L) goes up to shoot past Minnesota Timberwolves' Michael Beasley during their basketball game in Los Angeles on Tuesday. — Reuters

Gayle to play for Warriors
Sydney: West Indies batsman Chris Gayle is almost certain to play again for Western Australia during this summer's Twenty20 Big Bash competition. Gayle was a big hit for the Warriors last summer despite playing just two games due to a side strain. The prolific striker, who recently turned down a central contract offer from the West Indies Cricket Board to free up the option of playing in various T20 domestic leagues around the world, is keen to return to Perth, with only paperwork remaining in the way. — ANI

Sushil to volunteer in marathon
New Delhi: Star wrestler Sushil Kumar will be seen working as a volunteer in the annual Salwan Cross-country Marathon here along with his coach Satpal. The ace wrestler, who won gold at the recently-concluded Commonwealth Games here, will be assisting a visually-impaired child till the finish in the 3 Km-run at the Marathon. — TNS

Merga for Delhi Half Marathon
CHANDIGARH: Two-time defending champion and Ethiopian running machine Deriba Merga leads a super- fast field of male elite athletes from around the globe who have confirmed their participation for the IAAF Gold Label certified Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, to be run in the capital city on November 21, 2010, according to a release from promoters Procam International. A prize purse of $210,000 is up for grabs, with the overall male and female winners standing to win $25,000 each. — TNS