Mohali, November 4
It was the turn of the Uttar Pradesh batsmen to get in amongst the runs on the second day of the Ranji game against Punjab at the PCA Stadium here on Friday. Tanmay Srivastava, Mohd Kaif and Parvinder Singh all got half-centuries and Suresh Raina was unbeaten with 15 as UP reached 221 for the loss of three wickets in reply to Punjab’s first innings score of 350.

The first session saw the Punjab team cave in rather meekly as they lost their remaining five wickets for the addition of only 21 runs. Mandeep Singh remained unbeaten with 175. Buvnesh Kumar picked up three wickets in four balls to hasten Punjab’s end. RP Singh was also quite sharp at the other end and struck Mandeep on the chin with a bouncer with the batsmen needing three stitches to repair the damage. RP finished with five wickets while Buvnesh picked up four.

Punjab squandered a perfect opportunity to pile up the runs today and allowed UP to come back into the match. When UP began their innings Manpreet Gony bowled with a lot of pace and also got bounce from the track but Tanmay and Kaif put on 121 for the second wicket to lay a solid foundation. Kaif threw it away after scoring 65 and Tanmay was soon bowled by Gony at his personal score of 62. But if Punjab thought they had created panic in the UP ranks with these twin-strikes, they were wrong. Parvinder Singh looked highly impressive in his unbeaten knock of 57 playing some rousing shots off the backfoot. And Raina looked in fine touch as he hit three boundaries in his unbeaten 15.

Punjab were expecting their skipper Harbhajan Singh to get them the wickets but the off-spinner sent down 17 wicketless overs. He bowled a tight line but it was more restrictive rather than being probing. Bhajji will have to bowl with more guile on Saturday if Punjab are to get the first innings lead. The way Parvinder and Raina were batting, it will be a tough task for the Punjab bowlers to dislodge them.

Chandigarh, November 4
Salman Butt, Mohd Asif and Mohd Amir are paying the price of their involvement in the murky world of spot-fixing. While the English justice system acted promtly and handed out sentences to these players, this by no means signals the end of the matter. The undercurrents of this sinsiter saga run deep. And of course all this could just be the tip of the proverbial iceberg. This is not the first time that the game of cricket has been brought into disrepute because of the wrongdoings of a few.

The whole episode of the Hansie Cronje era had already done irreparable harm to the image of the game. And now these fresh cases have once again underlined the fact that cricket as a sport remains highly vulnerable to outside forces such as the mafia and fixing syndicates.

“I will say cricket is a game that has many variables. You don’t have to fix the result. But a lot of other things can be fixed--like team composition, scoring rate, what will the captain do after winning the toss etc. So there are a lot things that you can bet on. So many variables are not there in other sports. In that sense it would be right to say that as compared to other sports cricket is more susceptible to fixing,” feels a former India player who is now a commentator.

Also in terms of popularity, cricket is streets ahead of any other sport, especially in the subcontinent. “You get tickets in black only for movies which feature superstars like SRK and Salman etc. There’s isn’t the same kind of excitement with movies of lesser known actors. It’s the same with cricket in the sub-continent. The game is so popular and so much is at stake that people indulge in betting. And that also brings in the factor of fixing,” he explains.

Many are also of the view that Pakistan cricketers are more vulnerable to such inducements. “You also have to see things from their angle. I don’t condone what they did but when Pakistan cricketers compare themselves with their Indian counterparts they really must be feeling frustrated. They have been debarred from playing in the IPL.

No foreign teams are ready to tour Pakistan. Because of their volatile board poilitics, no Pakistan player is certain for how long he will remain in the team and so on. The shelf life of these cricketers is very short. So they want to make a quick buck while they can,” reasons another player.

It’s also quite obvious now that the ICC has not been doing enough to curb this menace. They are spending a lot of money on their Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) but that unit is actually good for nothing and is merely an eyewash. Even this instance of spot-fixing in England was brought to light because of the efforts of an undercover reporter. As far as ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit is concerned everything is quite rosy in the world of cricket.

Cricket as a sport is more at risk because bets can be placed on so many things. This makes the role of the ICC much more important and they have to be extra vigilant. Sadly — as recent events have proven — that has not been happening. Top bosses of the ICC were coolly ensconced in their cushy seats in its HQ in Dubai, while spot-fixing was going on merrily in England. And ICC’s elite arm ACU was reporting that everything was in order. Clearly something is amiss.

Chandigarh, November 4
The action in the second edition of the Kabaddi World Cup continued today, with the focus shifting to Moga. In the first match of the day, hosts and defending champions India took on Nepal and the home team asserted their supremacy from the world go. Indian raiders Sukhbir, Hardavinder and Sandeep were all in the thick of the action, grabbing nine points each. The outcome of the game was not in much doubt at half time with India leading Nepal 32-10.

The second half saw pretty much a repeat of the first, with India starting stronger of the two teams. Nepal did stage a mini fightback, but it could not last too long with Indian stoppers Ekam, Sikander and Kanjhli also adding six points each to the team tally. The end result was a resounding win for India with the scores reading 67-21.

The second match of the day saw the team from United Kingdom take on first-timers Afghanistan. There was to be no reprieve for the Afghan side this time as well, as they had already lost their opening match, and they were outclassed by UK. At half time the scores read 34-5, making the final result a mere formality. The UK team did not waste any time and quickly grabbed a comprehensive lead in the second half as well and came out victorious by 68-13.

The final match of the day saw what was probably the closest encounter of the day as Australia took on a charged up Canada. The half-time score depicted the evenness of the encounter with Canada leading Australia by just three points (24-21).

But in the second half, the seasoned Canadians came into their own, and despite a valiant effort from the Australians, wrapped up the game with some ease (51-39).

Ludhiana, November 4
The Guru Nanak Stadium is not all set to host the final of the Kabaddi World Cup. With work progressing at snail’s pace, a worried district sports officer (DSO) Surjit Singh has sent a communique to Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rahul Tiwari requesting the latter to personally supervise the renovation process of the stadium.

“I am not happy the way things are going on. I have brought the matter to the notice of administrative authorities and raised concern over slow progress of renovation work. We are running shot of time, the crewmembers of Bollywood starts performing during the finals and support staff of event management company would arrive art Guru Nanak Stadium on November 15 and would start the rehearsal. I am clueless whether the renovation work would be complete by then,” said Surjit Singh.

Insiders said if the situation remained the same then the venue for the finals might be shifted to Bathinda.

With only 16 days left for the all-important final, the tension was visible on the face of director of sports Pargat Singh, who also visited the venue to inspect the renovation process this evening. “We have told the contractor to lay emphasis on the construction of the main portions of the stadium as we are running short of time. Don’t worry Guru Nanak stadium would host the finals of Kabaddi World Cup,” assured Pargat.

BRIEFLY

Deshpande, Preeti win
Pune: Maharashtra's Yash Deshpande and Karnataka's Preeti Gokhala clinched the boys and girls under 18 titles in the 3rd Om Dalvi Memorial under 16 and 18 National Ranking Talent Series Tennis tournament here today. While local boy Deshpande prevailed in straight sets over Tamil Nadu's Siddharth Sarthak in an hour and 15 minutes, Bangalore girl Preeti Gokhale got the better of Karnataka state mate Varunya Chandrashekar in three sets in the 105- minute encounter. — PTI

Salgaocar look to bounce back
Margao: Defending Champions Salgaocar will look to bounce back after their last match defeat to Air India when they take on Sporting Clube de Goa tomorrow in the fourth round of I-League championship here at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda. Salgaocar, the defending Champions and winner of the Federation Cup, came back strongly in their second match, beating minnows Pailan Arrows 4-0, after going down to Dempo fighting in their opening encounter. — PTI

NBA to build courts in India
Mumbai: As part of its commitment to the development of the game in India, National Basketball Association (NBA) is aiming to build 100 courts across the country within the next five years and to increase the scope of the Mahindra NBA Challenge to 10 cities. "Our ultimate aim is to make basketball the number two sport in the country (after cricket). We are seeking to do that by making a sustainable grassroots program in a minimum of 10 cities in India. We are looking to do that through school-based platforms," senior director of development for NBA India, Akash Jain, told PTI here. — PTI

National Weightlifting c’ship
Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh is all set to host the National Weightlifting Championship beginning from November 21, Arunachal Weightlifting Association (AWA) announced here today. The Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) joint secretary and AWA president Abraham K Techi today said preparations were going on full swing for event and informed that the weightlifting sets are being procured from Osaka, Japan while the trophies, medals and mementos from Taiwan to make the championship the best. — PTI

Lahiri leads, shoots 67
Greater Noida: Anirban Lahiri was consistency personified at the Jaypee Greens, turning in a brilliant five-under 67 to lead by five strokes after the third round of the Rs one crore Bilt Open golf tournament here today. Lahiri sank as many as six birdies against a lone bogey to aggregate 18-under 198 here. The trio of Vikrant Chopra, Shankar Das and Abhinav Lohan blasted matching seven-under 65s to hold the second, third and fourth spots respectively with totals of 203, 204 and 205 at the Jaypee Greens. — PTI

Frisbee goes competitive
New Delhi: Popular as a leisure sport, frisbee will go competitive when 300 players from 14 teams pass the disc in the first ever 'International Ultimate Tournament' to be held here for two days starting tomorrow. 'The Ultimate Delhight 2011' will take place at the National stadium in which 14 teams from India and countries such as Dubai, Kuwait and Bahrain would compete. — PTI

Chikka wins golf title
Mumbai: Seenappa Chikkrangappa, the reigning national champion, completed a comprehensive 11-shot win over fellow Bangalore player Khalin Joshi in the LIC Western India Golf Championship here today. Chikka, who was having a less than satisfactory last few weeks, carded a five-under 65, and totaled 20-under 260 at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club. — PTI