S P O R T S

After bitter home truths, a series of joy
Mohali, January 23 A win is a win and needs to be celebrated no matter who the adversary is or how lopsided the past record may be. But on any other day and in other conditions, a series win for India against England at home would not have been as sweet as it has been this time. Man of the Match Suresh Raina finished it for India with 89*. — Tribune photo: S. Chandan

Of dropped catches, umpiring errors...
Mohali, January 23
The Indian team had a very ordinary day on the field. There were a couple of errors in the ground fielding. Notable among them was Ishant’s Sharma’s blooper on the boundary line when he could not pouch an ambling ball and watched it go past the boundary line.

Rohit, the man who doesn’t have to try too hard Mohali, January 23 Rohit Sharma is one player who can drive and divide Indian fans to extremities. Like a pendulum, he cannot just hang in between. Either he will be sublime, or he will be ridiculous. When on song, he is of those irresistible kinds. Rohit Sharma sweeps during his innings of 83 in Mohali. — Tribune photo: S. Chandan

Raina escape on dead ball crucial: Cook
Mohali, January 23
England skipper Alastair Cook said Suresh Raina’s dismissal on a dead ball (35.1 over) by Steven Finn was a crucial decision that could have changed the complexion of the game.

Hughes ton helps Oz win, draw series 2-2
Hobart, January 23
Phil Hughes returned to form with a century before Xavier Doherty and Moises Henriques took three wickets each to lead Australia to a series-levelling 32-run win over Sri Lanka in the final one-day cricket international on Wednesday.

Federer survives trial by Tsonga, ailing Serena falls Melbourne, January 23 Serena Williams went down smashing rackets and screaming as she bowed out of the Australian Open quarterfinals on Wednesday, hampered by a back injury and beaten in three sets by fellow American Sloane Stephens. Roger Federer had to sweat hard to a five-set victory over France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Melbourne on Wednesday. — Reuters

I want to break into world top-50 this year: Bhullar
Greater Noida, January 23
Ace golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar is aiming to break into the elite group of world top-50 players and said he would look to be more consistant at the international circuit. “Getting into top-50 is my goal this year.

After bitter home truths, a series of joy
India, battered by England and Pakistan in recent matches, get some respite by locking the series 3-1
Gaurav Kanthwal/TNS

Mohali, January 23
A win is a win and needs to be celebrated no matter who the adversary is or how lopsided the past record may be. But on any other day and in other conditions, a series win for India against England at home would not have been as sweet as it has been this time.

A 3-1 series win after the humiliating loss to the English side in Test series at home followed by a drubbing given by a callow Pakistan in the ODIs, again at home, has inflated India in a crucial transition phase.

Unmindful of the fact that England last won an ODI series in India 18 years back, Ravindra Jadeja triumphantly punch the air after scoring the winning runs, amply suggested how much it meant for India and the youngsters in the team.

A chase of 258 run was not a mountain to climb but it was not a walk in the park either. India started cautiously, laboured, stuttered in the middle but finally reached home (258/5) well in time with five wickets and 15 balls to spare. The protagonists of the narrative unmistakably being the young guns, whom MS Dhoni has been banking on despite copping the majority of the blame.

If Suresh Raina (89;79b,9x4,1x6) accomplished the role of a match finisher to perfection, talented Rohit Sharma put his head down to show that he too cannot be left out of the mix. Three timely scalps and 21 runs in the squeeze went to Ravindra Jadeja's credit almost saying that it is not for nothing that he is touted as the next all-rounder Team India has been looking for quite some time now.

If Bhuvneshwar Kumar does not get wickets he can do the containing role with equal ease. Ishant Sharma too isn't a spent force yet. It may be too much to read too much into mere one game but the signs are there to see.

England had a plan and they stuck to it. The first powerplay was negotiated innocuously and Alastair Cook with his punches, pulls, smashes and sweeps off short deliveries looked in complete though he took his sweet time in his knock of 76 runs. It was a typical Kevin Pietersen innings; edgy in the beginning, utilitarian in the middle, and dazzling in flamboyance towards the end. The fireshots were there for all to see as he scooped 17 runs off Ravichandran Ashwin in the 45th over with a 6, 0, 2, 4, 1, 4. England in no time were kissing the 200/4 mark after 46 overs. It was young Joe Root (57), cast in Test mould till now, who transformed into an improviser and helped the team post 257/7.

But in this battle of young guns, Indian guns boomed louder and made the impact.

Scoreboard

Of dropped catches, umpiring errors...
Gaurav Kanthwal/TNS

Mohali, January 23
The Indian team had a very ordinary day on the field. There were a couple of errors in the ground fielding. Notable among them was Ishant’s Sharma’s blooper on the boundary line when he could not pouch an ambling ball and watched it go past the boundary line. Later on, Ishant had to pay for the mistake dearly when Joe Root, who made 57, was given two lives by the Indians on the field.

The first one came no sooner had he arrived at the crease. Virat Kohli dropped him in the first slip off a thick edge from the batsman. The ball simply slipped from Kohli’s left hand. Ishant, on the other end could only cut a sorry figure. The score was 143/4 in 37.3 overs.

The second life came in the death overs (46.3 over) when Suresh Raina at midwicket dropped a dolly. This time it was Jadeja who was left ruing the missed chance. England, too, dropped India’s topscorer Rohit Sharma, Kevin Pietersen being the culprit at mid-off, off Tim Bresnan, as early as the eighth over.

Howwzzat, Umpire!

Much has been written about the DRS but certainly that’s not the end of it. There are plenty of reams still to be written in favour of and against it. The fourth ODI just added three footnotes to it. The BCCI, of course, will have the last word on it. The sad part is that it was India 2, England 1. Alastair Cook’s dismissal was the first one. The Chef missed the line of a delivery that was pitched outside the leg stump. Didn’t turn much but umpire Steve Davis is in no mood to give it a second thought. Gambhir got the finger as he strayed on to an offside delivery but failed to connect. The umpire thought otherwise — the second questionable decision of the day.

The umpire gave the LBW decision in favour of Steve Finn and got rid of Rohit Sharma in the 31.1 over. Replays showed that the ball was going down the leg side when it hit the batsman’s knee-roll.

Cloud over Dharamshala?

Even though the organisers are dead sure about holding the maiden ODI at the hill town successfully, a fog of uncertainty continues to loom over sceptical minds. And the early morning fog, dipping temperatures in Mohali did no good to Dharamshala.

Cook later said, “I’m not sure how the conditions are going to be like...”

He added he’s been hearing about the bad weather there.

“I was looking at the reports on my i-Pad which said it (weather) is clear,” he said. “We have to get in and out safely... I hope people behind me are going to make the right decisions.”

Rohit, the man who doesn’t have to try too hard
Gaurav Kanthwal/TNS

Mohali, January 23
Rohit Sharma is one player who can drive and divide Indian fans to extremities. Like a pendulum, he cannot just hang in between. Either he will be sublime, or he will be ridiculous. When on song, he is of those irresistible kinds.

Much like a Casanaova, he is the one who doesn’ t have to try too hard. He is the one who can just stand and deliver. One who just draws you in his flow and doesn’t even let you get a wind of it.

But there are off days too when the charm does not work. That’s where the problem begins.

Of late, Rohit has had too many off days and the flop show in the India-Pakistan series recently got on to the nerves of everyone except Dhoni. In his last 10 ODI innings, Sharma has had just one score into double figures, and a series of 0, 0, 4, 4 and 4 in the last five innings. Yet, MSD can't get enough of him.

Dhoni said later: “We all know Rohit is a gifted cricketer and it was a very good performance from him. He is a natural puller of the ball and once he got to his fifty, he converted it to a big one.”

Ditching the more industrious of the two Mumbaikars, Ajinkya Rahane, the Indian captain sided with Rohit in the fourth ODI. And luckily for him, the team made good their escape in trying conditions. Irrespective of the fact that Rohit, with negligible footwork, is circumspect in seaming conditions.

On his part, Rohit made sure that this was not going to be an off day for him. Not even if he is sent as an opener in unfamiliar circumstances. Once again he charmed everyone with his silken touch and sublime timing (scoring 83 off 93 balls, 11x4, 1x6) to help India clinch the series.

When it comes to Rohit there are not many options. One is to persist with him — India cannot afford to lose a talent like him; another, more radical one is to sack him, enough is enough. At an average of over 30 in 86 matches, there can be no doubt that he has had his chances. If he is to be in the team he has to be more consistent.

The other argument is: You cannot quantify a touch artiste like him. How many players in the domestic circuit would you find who are half as talented as him. Is there anyone more wristier than the 25-year-old? Certainly, he is not the next Tendulkar, but he too has that extra time to play his shots. His two centuries and 13 half centuries are a testimony to the skills he possesses.

But it is another irony that he has not realised his potential fully. If that was not enough, the No. 3 specialist has added one more by hitting a match-winning score as an opener in just his fourth outing in this role.

“I am happy with the innings today, I was told by the management today about the opening role,” he said after the match.

Raina escape on dead ball crucial: Cook
Gaurav Kanthwal/TNS

Yuvraj took three catches at his home ground. — Tribune photo: S. Chandan

Mohali, January 23
England skipper Alastair Cook said Suresh Raina’s dismissal on a dead ball (35.1 over) by Steven Finn was a crucial decision that could have changed the complexion of the game.

Finn had earlier been warned twice in Kochi in the ongoing series for disturbing the bails of the non-striker’s end while coming in too close to the stumps.

The bowler was warned then and there that if the same thing happened again it will be considered as a no ball, even if it is the first ball of the innings.

Finn yet again made the mistake and the umpire promptly declared it a dead ball even as Suresh Raina edged a ball to the first slip in the hands of Cook.

Cook said, “I do not remember having been intimated by the umpire, probably it must have skipped out of my mind. But it was unfortunate and things could have changed had the decision gone in our favour.”

Hughes ton helps Oz win, draw series 2-2

Hobart, January 23
Phil Hughes returned to form with a century before Xavier Doherty and Moises Henriques took three wickets each to lead Australia to a series-levelling 32-run win over Sri Lanka in the final one-day cricket international on Wednesday.

Hughes struck 138 not out at Bellerive Oval but Sri Lanka were on course to overhaul Australia’s 247-5 until Doherty exploited spin-friendly conditions to dismiss three of the tourists’ top four batsmen.

Pressure from Doherty reduced Sri Lanka from 50-0 at the 10-over mark to 85-4 from 25 and the tourists never fully recovered, stumbling to 215 all out and a 2-2 draw in the series.

Australia still have batting concerns despite Hughes’s second ton of the series, with David Hussey’s 34 the next highest score. — Reuters

Scoreboard

Federer survives trial by Tsonga, ailing Serena falls

Melbourne, January 23
Serena Williams went down smashing rackets and screaming as she bowed out of the Australian Open quarterfinals on Wednesday, hampered by a back injury and beaten in three sets by fellow American Sloane Stephens.

The injury robbed Williams of her serve — the most effective weapon in women’s tennis — but teenager Stephens will take much credit for holding her nerve to finish off the ailing 15-times grand-slam champion.

Roger Federer’s bid to emulate Williams as a five-times Melbourne Park champion survived a five-set test at the hands of an inspired Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and the Swiss marched on to a last-four meeting with Andy Murray, who crushed Jeremy Chardy.

Stephens will have 24 hours to prepare for her first grand-slam semifinal against defending champion and world number one Victoria Azarenka, who came through a minor scare to beat Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.

"Oh my goodness," said Stephens, teary-eyed and almost lost for words after beating a player whose picture once adorned her bedroom wall. "This is so crazy, but oh my goodness, I think I'll put a poster of myself up now."

Federer, also 31, started his match against Tsonga by breaking the Frenchman but it was just one of nine breaks in an absorbing three-and-a-half-hour contest that see-sawed back and forth all evening.

Tsonga, a finalist here in 2008, was tactically smart, sent down 20 booming aces and produced some brilliant forehands that overpowered even Federer's defences at times.

The 17-times grand-slam champion rode his luck on occasions, too, but had something in reserve for the deciding set and finally overcame the seventh seed’s resistance with a smash on his fifth match point to clinch a 7-6 4-6 7-6 3-6 6-3 win. “It was a tough close for sure, but the whole match was tough. Every set could have gone either way,” said Federer, whose victory ensured the top four seeds made the semi-finals for the 15th time at a grand slam in the professional era.

Bopanna-Hsieh lose

India's Rohan Bopanna and Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei lost their mixed doubles quarterfinal to Kveta Peschke and Marcin Matkowski today. Hsieh-Bopanna lost 2-6, 3-6 in 58 minutes at the Margaret Court Arena.

In the first set, which lasted a mere 20 minutes, the Czech-Polish pair broke Bopanna and Hsieh twice and sent down 11 winners to set the tempo for the game.

The second set followed a similar script as Peschke and Matkowski clinched the crucial a break of serve to seal the issue in their favour. — Agencies

I want to break into world top-50 this year: Bhullar