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Pietersun shines
Bowling feats of glovemen |
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Role reversals may ruin India’s plot
Narang in for Khel Ratna, Arjuna for Zaheer Khan
Women tennis players show promise, pluck
India take on UAE
Six athletes to face NADA panel on July 27
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Pietersun shines
London, July 22 Earlier, Kevin Pietersen was back in form as the South Africa-born batsman shrugged off his indifferent form with a patient century as England reached a commendable 305 for five at tea as visitors struggled due to the absence of pace spearhead Zaheer Khan. Pietersen reached the three-figure mark with possibly the best of all his 10 boundaries --- a scorching on-drive that raced past the ropes. It was his 18th century in his 75th Test and his fourth against India, the fifth at Lord's and first in the last seven Tests. It was a battle of attrition for him as he faced 216 deliveries in the process. Pietersen was the bedrock on which England innings was built—the tall right-hander was involved in two significant stands of 98 and 110 for successive wickets with Jonathan Trott (70) and Ian Bell (45). KP as he is known in the cricketing fraternity, has so far kept a 345–minute vigil at the crease and faced 245 balls with 12 hits to the fence. His characteristic pulls and whips across the line were on display as well as the occasional scratchiness due to his recent run of poor scores. India too earned respect for its unyielding spirit, no-one signifying it better than Praveen Kumar who has so far bowled 17 overs today and picked up all the three wickets to fall, two of them in one over. Though Praveen trapped Trott leg before with the old ball, he mesmerized the batsmen with the second new ball, taken after 87 overs. — PTI
Bowling feats of glovemen
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s bowling stint on the second day of the first Test against England at Lord’s on Friday is not the first time he has turned his arm over in international cricket. He also bowled one over at Faisalabad in 2006. In fact Dhoni claimed the wicket of the West Indies’ Travis Dowlin in the ICC Champions Trophy ODI tournament at Johannesburg in 2009. Though he was the third regular wicket-keeper to take a wicket in ODIs, Dhoni’s feat was unique as he had also snapped up two catches behind the stumps in the same match.
But the honour of being the first Indian wicket-keeper to take a wicket in Test cricket goes to Syed Kirmani. He achieved this feat by claiming the scalp of Pakistan’s Azeem Hafeez at Nagpur in 1983. The first instance of this unusual feat occurred way back in 1896 at Old Trafford when England’s ‘keeper Dick Lilley removed his pads and gloves and promptly had Australian captain Harry Trott caught behind the stumps by Jack Brown who was deputising for him. England’s AC (Alan Smith) performed the unique first-class feat of a ‘keeper taking a hat-trick when playing for Warwickshire in the county championship in 1965 and ended his career with 131 wickets with his medium-pace bowling. But he never got a chance to bowl during his six Test matches for England in the 1960s. — Gulu Ezekiel/GE Features scoreboard England 1st innings Strauss c Ishant b Zaheer 22 Cook lbw b Zaheer 12 Trott lbw b Praveen 70 Pietersen not out 202 Bell c Dhoni b Praveen 45 Morgan c Dhoni b Praveen 0 Prior c Dhoni b Praveen 71 Broad lbw b Praveen 0 Swann b Raina 24 Tremlett not out 4 Extras (b 14, lb 8, w 1, nb 1) 24 Total (8 wkts dec; 131.4 ovrs) 474 Bowling: Zaheer 13.3-8-18-2, Praveen 40.3-10-106-5, Ishant 32-5-128-0, Harbhajan 35-3-152-0, Dhoni 8-1-23-0, Raina 2.4-1-25-1. India 1st innings Mukund batting 8 Gambhir batting 7 Extras (nb 2) 2 Total (6 overs) 17 Bowling: Anderson 3-1-9-0, Tremlett 3-0-8-0. |
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Role reversals may ruin India’s plot
New Delhi, July 22 The sight of Dhoni bowling and Dravid donning the wicket-keeping gloves (again) basically means that there is a little bit of a crisis, promising to snowball into a big one. The captain’s intentions may be honest. Given that India has again gone into a Test match with four specialist bowlers, and one of them has broken down, it would be fair to give Praveen and Ishant Sharma a little bit of rest before the new ball was taken. Fair enough. But that doesn’t answer two questions - why four bowlers? Also, what sorts of fitness levels are acceptable for fast bowlers in particular and cricketers in general? Unfortunately, both questions flog a horse which died ages ago. India has opted for four bowlers time and again, practically right from the time when Sourav Ganguly took over the captaincy, or even before that. It all sounds fine when one sees the team climbing the charts, but in situations like this, they are a definite minus. As for the injury issue, there is always the theory that there is too much cricket played. But if professional athletes cannot get back into full fitness within a reasonable span of time, there is something wrong. One wonders what sort of fitness regime Zaheer went through during the break he took for the West Indies series. Sure, there would be time spent recovering from the barrage of cricket which ended with the IPL, but these are supposed to be athletes, with better fitness than average people anyway. So falling apart after bowling 13 overs and loose change isn’t exactly a great advertisement for Zaheer’s fitness, or for that matter, the process undertaken by the BCCI to decide who is fit and who is not. Zaheer is in the news today. One is an announcement of his being selected for the Arjuna Award, the other a terse statement from BCCI, saying he is out for the first innings, but “is likely to be fit to bowl in the second innings”. The first one is welcome - after all, he has done a lot for cricket. The second is to be regarded with some deserved cynicism. Day Two of a long series, and already Team India is walking wounded and walking on the pitch among their fast bowlers. By the look of things, all five, including Munaf Patel and S. Sreesanth, will be deployed way sooner than anyone would have liked. Not a very rosy picture.
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Narang in for Khel Ratna, Arjuna for Zaheer Khan
New Delhi, July 22 The 28-year-old rifle shooter, who was the first Indian marksman to qualify for next year's London Olympics with a bronze in the World Championships last year, had been disgruntled at being "ignored" for the award last year. "Gagan Narang has been recommended for the Khel Ratna this year," a source in the awards selection committee told PTI. "The recommended names for the Khel Ratna and Arjuna awardees have been sent to the Sports Ministry and it will be oficially announced after being approved by the Ministry," the source said. Indian pace spearhead Zaheer Khan has been picked for the Arjuna award. The 32-year-old fast bowler, who is currently in England for the ongoing Test series, has taken 271 wickets in cricket's longer format at an average of 31.94. The other Arjuna awardees this year include Indian football captain and striker Sunil Chettri, rising tennis star Somdev Devvarman and ace badminton player Jwala Gutta. Somdev had struck a golden double last year by finishing on top in both the Commonwealth and Asian Games singles events. — PTI
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Women tennis players show promise, pluck
Chandigarh, July 22 Natasha is one of a bunch of young women tennis players in the country who aim to make it big. But she knows this is easier said than done with the demands of the circuit increasing every day and sponsors not forthcoming. In that sense though, Natasha has been lucky to find support from the Dempo Group in Goa. “I have been playing tennis since I was 12, Natasha told The Tribune. “Even though I feel I started late because there were no tournaments held in Goa, now I want to excel in this sport and pursue it as a career.” Natasha was accompanied here by her father, Brian Palha, who is a lawyer back home. "The average total expense on a tennis player at this stage comes out to about 15 lakh per annum,” he said. “We could not afford that for a long time. So we are really happy that our daughter is being sponsored today, especially because she happens to be the only tennis player in Goa, where football is seen as some kind of religion.” Natasha’s mother and sister are both dentists and she too would have become one had she not discovered the joy of playing tennis. So instead of a drill, it was a tennis racket for Natasha. Another teenager, Delhi’s Shweta Rana (17) who lost in the final here to Natasha, also feels that it is difficult for women tennis players in India to excel at a higher level, but she too is determined to give it a go. “I will try my level best. I lost in the final today, but I will try to win the next one,” she said. Shweta has been fortunate to have Australian Todd Clark as coach. She has been training under him for the past couple of years. Clark first saw Shweta at the Harvest Tennis Institute in Ludhiana and saw a lot of potential. She also has a lot of support at home from her father, who is a football coach at the Nehru Stadium in Delhi. Unlike Natasha, Shweta is still to find a sponsor. Although women’s tennis is a tough sport for players in India - both physically and financially - and not many apart from Sania Mirza have been able to make a mark at the international level, yet young players like Natasha and Shweta are unfazed by the obstacles and are determined to make it big.
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Dubai, July 22 The United Arab Emirates, ranked 110 in the world, are certainly the better side, and will come into this game as clear favourites. They will also have the home advantage. However, considering the current form of the Indian team, coach Armando Colaco is confident his boys will put their best foot forward and will play to their potential at the Sheikh Khalifa International Stadium here. "UAE surely have the advantage, but my boys are up for the challenge. They are really playing good football at the moment," Colaco said. In the build-up to the World Cup qualifiers, India played two friendlies against Maldives and Qatar. While they were held to a 1-1 draw by Maldives, a historic victory was achieved when India defeated Qatar 2-1. "Every game we played was a great learning experience. This is a new team and it's a good build up for the future," he added. — PTI
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Six athletes to face NADA panel on July 27
Patiala, July 22 Talking to The Tribune, NADA Director-General Rahul Bhatnagar said that these players would appear before the anti-doping disciplinary panel to present their side of the story. After the panel hears their cases properly, they would decide on the quantum of punishment. All these athletes were tested positive for banned substances Methandienone and Stanozolol as a result of which they were names were axed from the Indian squad, which took part in the Asian Championship in Japan. Meanwhile, the papers for Mandeep Kaur and Jauna Murmu, who were tested positive during tests conducted by International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) reached NADA today after IAAF gave NADA the responsibility of hearing their case. As a result, their hearing could not be scheduled today. Now, the date of their hearing would be finalised on July 27 after the other athletes appear before the panel.
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Kevin Pietersen smashed an unbeaten double hundred as England declared at 474 for eight against India in the first cricket Test being played at Lord's. India were 17 for no loss at stumps.
New Delhi, July 22
Rashid rises at Selangor