Mumbai, November 23
It has to be the sea breeze. Or maybe the stunning view of the Marine Drive they encounter while arriving at the Wankhede Stadium that has turned the West Indies batting line-up into a sudden run machine. There has to be some really good reason, since the Indian bowlers were not all that much off the mark, but taming Darren Bravo looked out of question for a long part of today as the West Indies ended a second consecutive day of domination with a first innings score of 575 for nine.

The day started with Kirk Edwards and Bravo picking up from where they had left off yesterday. The two were once again threatening snatch the momentum from India before Ishant Sharma was finally rewarded for bowling with heart and he got Edwards’ wicket, caught behind for 86.

Bravo was then joined by Kieran Powell and along came more hard work for the bowlers. The two went about their business with a lot of ease and while Bravo completed his century, his second in back-to-back matches, Powell also completed his half-century. It was almost like a continuation of the previous day's agony for the Indians.

There were a few moments here and there, but in total the visitors were in control for the first two sessions. It wasn't till Powell had reached 81 and Bravo had also sauntered past the 150-run mark that India got another breakthrough.

Pragyan Ojha, who had struggled to get any purchase off the wicket, pushed through one delivery slightly quicker. The ball found the edge of Powell's bat and Dhoni made no mistake. The West Indies though had no reason to be unduly bothered as they had already given themselves a pretty healthy first innings score to bowl with.

Samuels and Bravo did try to continue the flow but then there was finally some justice for debutant Varun Aaron as he got the big wicket of Bravo, his first Test scalp.

After keeping his concentration for a good part of the opening two days, Bravo finally tried chasing one delivery outside the off stump. It wasn't a very wide delivery but Bravo had stretched too much in the drive and ended up playing away from his body giving Aaron a debut wicket and Dhoni another catch.

Aaron, pumped after the first wicket, started generating good speed and was rewarded soon enough as he got the inside edge of Carlton Baugh's bat and the ball shattered the stumps. It finally brought some respite to the Indian team as well as the fans, who had to contend with not only an average performance by the home bowlers on a flat wicket, but also the searing sun.

Aaron wasn't done yet as he got rid of West Indies captain Darren Sammy, handing Dhoni his fifth catch of the innings and Aaron's third wicket. He could have added a fourth soon but Dhoni failed to hold on to an edge from Marlon Samuels.

Ashwin then got into the act and picked up the wickets of Ravi Rampaul and Samuels, leaving India just a wicket away from going into bat.

West Indies 1st innings

Barath c Dhoni b Ashwin 62

Brathwaite c Kohli b Ashwin 68

Edwards c Dhoni b Ishant 86

Bravo c Dhoni b Aaron 166

Powell c Dhoni b Ojha 81

Samuels c Dravid b Ashwin 61

Baugh b Aaron 4

Sammy c Dhoni b Aaron 3

Rampaul c Kohli b Ashwin 10

Fidel batting 7

Bishoo batting 2

Extras (b 8, lb 15, nb 2) 25

Total (9 wks; 181 ovrs) 575

Bowling: Ishant Sharma 30-9-72-1, Varun Aaron 28-4-106-3, Ojha 48-10-126-1, Ashwin 51-6-154-4, Sehwag 16-1-61-0, Virat Kohli 2-0-9-0, Sachin Tendulkar 6-0-24-0.

Abu Dhabi, November 23
Half-centuries from Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews took Sri Lanka to a respectable total of 218 for 9 in the fifth ODI against Pakistan at the Skeikh Zayed Stadium here on Wednesday. Sangakkara scored 78 and Mathews slammed 61 as Sri Lanka recovered from the fall of early wickets as Pakistan fast bowlers rattled their top order.

At one stage Lanka had been reduced to 46 for four but a crucial 120-run fifth wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Mathews steadied their innings. Perera also indulged in some late order hitting with 25 and extras were the next best score with 17 as Lanka reached 218.

For Pakistan Sohail Tanvir was the most successful bowler with four wickets. Shahid Afridi picked up just one wicket in his ten overs conceding 60 runs.

Earlier, Umar Gul peppered an under-pressure Tillakaratne Dilshan with deliveries that nipped in. When he got one to go the other way in the fifth over, Dilshan pushed loosely to be caught behind. Thirty five for 3 soon became 46 for 4 when Chamara Silva, replacing an injured Mahela Jayawardene, was sucked in by a length ball that he nicked straight to slip, giving Junaid Khan a wicket in his first over.

The only batsman unflustered by the damage around him was Sangakkara, and he was as assured as he'd been throughout this tour. — Agencies

Mumbai, November 23
He might have already picked up four wickets in an unfinished first innings, but Ravichandran Ashwin is mincing no words about the fact that the entire team is still trying to come to grips with the kind of surface they have been handed for the third Test.

“It is really disheartening,” Ashwin said after the day’s play. “We expect the Mumbai pitch to be a sporting one and not what we have here. We were really not prepared for this.

“Of course, I don’t think it should have spun from Day One, but then bounce is a different thing. It is pretty lifeless.”

Asked if India would still fancy a chance of winning the game, he laughed and said, “Maybe if you use the Ranji Trophy method of getting a first innings lead, then yes! But otherwise, our priority right now is only to get that lead and not get too ahead of ourselves.”

He also emphasised the importance of getting wickets in this series and said it would help him in the build-up to the Australian tour. “I have also played there a few times, like in the Emerging Players tournament, so I know what to expect. It will be hard and we know that.”

He also said that getting wickets all around the bat had made him happier as it meant that the batsmen were not getting out trying to slog him out of the park and he was creating the dismissals.

He played down any suggestions of being overworked and said, “It is a part of being an international player. We have to bowl, at times for very long hours. But that is how it is. You can’t really complain.”

London, November 23
Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and his team-mate Mohammad Amir's appeals against their jail sentences in the spot-fixing case was today rejected by the Court of Appeal which said the players could not be shown mercy as they had "betrayed their team and country".

The Court of Appeal, headed by Lord Chief Justice Igor Judge, dismissed their appeals and upheld the prison terms handed to Butt and Amir for their role in one of cricket's biggest scandals. "The cricketers betrayed their team, their country, the sport that had given them their distinction and all the world followers of the game," the judge said. "The reality is that all the enjoyment of watching cricket will be destroyed if this was allowed to continue.

This is a notorious and essentially simple case. It was a betting scam and they were very well rewarded." Butt, 27, was sentenced to two and half years in jail on November 3 by the Southwark Crown Court after being convicted in the plot to ensure that no-balls were bowled at predetermined times during the fourth Test between England and Pakistan at Lord's last August.

The 19-year-old Amir pleaded guilty in the pre-trial hearing in September and was handed a six-month sentence in a young offenders' institution. The third guilty player Mohammad Asif, 28, who was handed a one-year prison sentence, had also filed his appeal but his case is expected to be taken up later as he has changed his legal defence team after the Southwark Crown Court trial. Butt and Amir were not present today at the Court of Appeal for the hearing before Lord Chief Justice Igor Judge, the head of the English judiciary, and two other judges.

The Lord Chief Justice, called the appeal against Butt's sentence "unarguable" and agreed to trial court judge Jeremy Cooke's view that he was the "orchestrator" of the whole episode. — PTI

New Delhi, November 23
Veteran batsman Rahul Dravid will be bestowed the 'Polly Umrigar Award for India's best cricketer of 2010-11' season during the BCCI's annual awards ceremony to be held on December 10 in Chennai.

The 38-year-old Dravid, who scored 1258 runs in 15 Tests at an average of 53 this season, pulled off six hundreds during the year.

Dravid was the star of India's disastrous tour of England earlier this year, which cost India the top spot in the ICC Test rankings after they were whitewashed 0-4.

Only Dravid stood up and hit up three centuries as rest of the Indian batting tumbled. The Bangalorean will be honoured with a trophy and prize of Rs 5 lakh.

India women's team captain Jhulan Goswami will also be honoured at the annual awards. The pacer will be awarded the 'M A Chidambaram Best Woman Cricketer of 2010-11' trophy for claiming 21 wickets in eight matches, including a five-for. The Col. C K Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award will be bestowed on former captain and coach Ajit Wadekar.

Shanghai, November 23
Fourth seed Saina Nehwal made a shock first round exit from the China Open as Indian challenge ended in the singles events of the prestigious badminton tournament, here today.

Saina made a strong start by winning the first game but went on to lose 21-15, 22-24, 15-21 in the women's singles after battling for one hour and one minute. There is no Indian left in the men's singles event as Parupalli Kashyap lost 17-21, 16-21 to Japan's Kenichi Tago in 46 minutes in his first round match.

Adding to the disappointment of Indian camp, Ajay Jayaram then lost his men's singles first round match 18-21, 19-21 to Hong Kong's Wing Ki Wong.

However, Jwala Gutta and V Diju kept the Indian tricolour flying by winning their first round in the mixed doubles. They defeated Indonesian team of Debby Susanto and Muhammad Rijal 21-17, 21-16 in half-an-hour contest.

Jwala, teaming up with Ashwini Ponappa, has also advanced to the women's doubles second round after defeating Australia's Leanne Choo and Renuga Veeran 21-15, 21-16.

Indian challenge also ended in the men's doubles event following defeat of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas. They lost 12-21, 14-21 to fifth seed Malaysian pair of Kien Keat Koo and Boon Heong Tan. RMV Gurusaidutt and Arvind Bhat had lost in the men's singles qualifiers. Gurusaidutt had lost 21-13, 16-21, 21-23 to China's Yi Lu while Bhat failed to cross the qualifying hurdle after losing 13-21, 14-21 to China's Kai Wen. — PTI

London, November 23
Roger Federer crushed old rival Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-0 as the defending champion swept into the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals on Tuesday.

Federer went into the match knowing victory would guarantee his place in the last four after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Mardy Fish in the earlier Group B match.

The Swiss star seized the opportunity with a brutal demolition of the world number two in just one hour on court at London's O2 Arena.

The 30-year-old hadn't beaten Nadal since they met in the final of the ATP's season finale here last year, but he produced his most emphatic ever win against the Spaniard to ended a run of three successive head to head defeats.

While Federer can relax in his final group game against Fish, there is no margin for error for Nadal, who needs to neat Tsonga on Thursday to make the last four.

This was the 26th instalment of one of the great sporting rivalries and, while there wasn't a Grand Slam title at stake for once, Federer's masterclass made this just as memorable as some of their previous encounters. — AFP

Sirsa, November 23
The Maharishi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak, wrestlers stole the show by winning two gold out of the three gold medals decided on the first day of the All-India Inter-University Men’s Wrestling Championship, organised by the Chaudhary Devi Lal University here today.

Sandeep Kumar from MDU won gold in the 66-kg category by defeating Kuldeep Tomar of Kumaun University, Nainital, in the final. Vinod from Kurukshetra University and Sandeep from Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, got bronze medals in this category.

In the 84-kg class, Somber from MDU won gold and Ajeet from Chaudhary Charan Singh University bagged silver, while Anil Ghorpade (Mangalore University) and Gurpreet Singh (Panjab University, Chandigarh) got bronze.

Santosh Kumar Yadav of Punjabi University, Patiala, won gold in 50-kg category, defeating Morbale Eknath from Shivaji University, Kolhapur, in the final. Jagdish Singh from Chaudhary Charan Singh University and Amit from MDU bagged bronze medals.

Revamp of academies likely
Mumbai: A revamp of the various cricket academies - regional and state - has been suggested to the Cricket Board to remove overlapping of some functions by the BCCI's Specialised Academies Committee headed by its chairman M P Pandove. The suggestion of the Pandove-headed committee will be among the items that would come up for discussion at the BCCI's Emergent Working Committee meeting to be held in Delhi on December 3. — PTI

Young Boys blank Goans
NEW DELHI: Young Boys Association blanked Goans 4-0 in a Group I match of the Delhi Soccer Association B Division League played at the Jasola ground here on Tuesday. Striker Dominiq Gomes netted all the goals, with three of them coming in the first half. Sports Club dented Delhi Students with a 3-0 victory. Prinjal (2) and Dipanshu were the marksmen. Sports have won all the four matches played so far to collect 12 points. Thursday’s fixtures: Union vs Delhi Tigers (2 p.m.); Victory vs South India (3.30 p.m.). — TNS

United stun Mohun Bagan
Kolkata: United Sports Club today stunned high-flying Mohun Bagan 3-2 to extend their unbeaten run to seven matches in the I-League, at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan here. Fresh from their derby win against bitter foes East Bengal, Mohun Bagan drew the first blood but United SC bounced back, riding on a double strike by Ghanaian forward Yusif Yakubu who pumped in two goals in two minutes (54' and 56'). — PTI