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Women’s World set to rock in Mumbai today
We hope to do well in our home event: Captain Mithali
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Zaheer doubtful for Australia series
Line-length important, but I won’t slow down: Shami
Davis CUP
Big name players, unique twists for
Golf Premier League
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Women’s World set to rock in Mumbai today
Mumbai, January 30 The day-night clash would set the ball rolling for the event, which will also be held in Cuttack where the Pakistan team (placed in Group B) is based due to security concerns in Mumbai. Group A matches are to be held in Mumbai`s Brabourne Stadium, MIG Club at Bandra and the Bandra-Kurla Complex ground of the Mumbai Cricket Association. Group B matches, involving strong contenders Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan, would be held in two grounds in Cuttack. The remaining Group fixtures for India, who finished third in the last championship, are against three-time winners (1973, 1993 and 2009) England at the Brabourne on February 3, and qualifiers Sri Lanka at the same ground on February 6.
England, led by Charlotte Edwards — who is playing her fifth successive World Cup — are tipped to top the group and commence their bid to win the crown for the fourth time with a game against Sri Lanka on February 1 at CCI. The second and third place in the group would be a hard fought contest, with the West Indies a vastly improved side from four years ago. If recent form is anything to go by, it will probably be Sri Lanka, led by Shashikala Siriwardena, who are expected to miss the Super Six stage, starting on February 8. Sri Lanka won the right to compete in the tournament when it finished in the top four of the Women`s World Cup Qualifiers held in Dhaka in November 2011. The England squad features familiar faces, including captain Edwards, while there are eight players from the original winning squad of 2009 including the in-form ICC Women`s Twenty20 Player of the Year 2012, Sarah Taylor, who will once again lead the side`s batting line-up. England captain Edwards requires a mere 61 more ODI runs to usurp Belinda Clark of Australia to become the most successful run-scorer in women`s cricket. Clark`s record of 4,844 ODI runs has stood since 2005. England`s bowling attack features world’s number one ODI bowler Katherine Brunt, who currently has 76 ODI scalps to her name. West Indies feature a mixture of youth and experience, including the only twins in the event, Kycia and Kyshona Knight of Barbados. The side is led by Trinidadian Merissa Aguilleira while ICC Women`s ODI Player of the Year 2012, Stafanie Taylor, is her deputy. The 2012 Women’s World Twenty20 champions and five-time World Cup winners Australia begin as favourites to qualify for the Super Six stage from Group B. Alongside Australia and New Zealand, who lifted the trophy back in 2000 and were runner-up in the last World Cup in 2009, will also be front-runners to qualify for the Super Six stage of the event from this group. Pakistan and South Africa qualified for the event after finishing second and fourth in the qualifiers staged in Dhaka last year. — PTI
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We hope to do well in our home event: Captain Mithali
Mumbai, January 30 “I honestly feel if you have a flat track, it could be anybody’s game. There will be lot of runs, it’s a batting track. Bowling needs to be tightened up and there should be disciplined bowling attack. The fielding aspect could crucial,” the skipper said. “The wicket will not change in either innings, but the fielding will play a crucial part. Last year, we toured West Indies, though we lost the one-dayers, they are a side who are developing every year. They have good players and hard hitters too,” she added. Asked about the West Indies bowling attack, that features spinner Anisa Mohammed who claimed 7-14 in the final of the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in 2011 against Pakistan, Raj said, “I don’t think it is going to be a challenge because it goes down to how you have prepared yourself for the World Cup considering the bowlers you are going to face.” On the advantages being the hosts, Raj reiterated that the weather will be the only upperhand they get compared to the other teams. “The only advantage that we would have (as hosts) is having better idea about the conditions. During the practise games, the wickets we saw were quite flat, very helpful to batters.” — PTI Mithali Raj (captain), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Ekta Bisht, Amita Dass, Jhulan Goswami, Karuna Jain, Reema Malhotra, Mona Meshram, Thirushkamini Murugesan, Sulakshana Naik, Niranjan Nagarajan, Rasnara Parwin, Punam Raut, Shubh Lakshmi Sharma, and Gouher Sultana
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Zaheer doubtful for Australia series
Mumbai, January 30 “Zaheer is not yet fit and it seems he would need at least three weeks to regain fitness,”informed Mumbai Cricket Association’s secretary Nitin Dalal after the selection committee meeting. The senior left-arm pacer, who was injured during Mumbai’s last league game against Gujarat at the DY Patil Stadium thus appears in doubt for at least the initial part of the four-Test series against Australia, commencing with the first game at Chennai on February 22. Zaheer has not played since he picked up the injury and missed Mumbai’s matches in the Ranji knockout phase. Mumbai made two changes to the 15-men squad that won the Ranji final by an innings and 125 runs against Saurashtra here, bringing in Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma for Nikhil Patil Jr. and Sushant Marathe, according to Dalal who convened the selection committee meeting. — PTI
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Line-length important, but I won’t slow down: Shami
New Delhi, January 30 "For me, pace and swing are the two most important aspects of my bowling. I know that line and length is very important but I will never compromise on pace as it has been my biggest strength and has been a primary reason for reaching this level," Shami said. Ask him about the four consecutive maidens that he bowled on his ODI debut to create an Indian record, Shami answered, "I just tried to bowl according to the field that my captain had set for me. You don't plan such things but it happened for me and I am happy. I always had confidence in my ability and was willing to work hard." Having made his debut in a low-scoring game against Pakistan, Shami said that he followed skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's instructions to the tee. "Dhoni bhai only told me not to get nervous and not deviate from the gameplan." After the final ODI against England in Dharamsala, Dhoni felt that Shami has the pace but still needs to improve a lot before being considered for the longer version. Representing India in white flannels though, is the Bengal pacer's ultimate ambition. "While playing the Ranji Trophy, I have learnt that in days' cricket, you need patience. In ODIs, you might try various things like slower, bouncer but in longer version, patience is the key. At this level, the batsmen who face you have a lot of quality and you need to be very persistent. You have to wait for batsmen to make mistakes." A month-long stint with the Indian team having played five ODIs has definitely made him realise that he has the potential to don the national jersey for a long time. "Just watching the likes of Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, you learn a lot. It's not that they will coach you but they tell you little things that you need to pick up. I had my state team new ball partner Ashoke Dinda and that also helped adjust easily in the dressing room. Dinda and I open the bowling for Bengal and share a very good rapport. Bengal coach WV Raman taught me a lot of little things during the Ranji Trophy while I had some good sessions with KKR bowling coach Wasim Akram. I am now planning to work on bowling yorkers," Shami said. — PTI
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Davis CUP
New Delhi, January 30 When India take on South Korea in the Asia/Oceania Group I tie at the RK Khanna Stadium here from Friday to Sunday, the tennis bosses hope that the second string team, save for veteran Leander Paes, come up tops to vindicate their stand of not fully bucking down to the demands of the 11 senior players, who had raised a banner of revolt, seeking better playing facilities and cash incentives, and opted out of the match. Ironically, Leander Paes and new coach Zeeshan Ali were beneficiaries of the All India Tennis Association’s decision to blood rookie players when the senior players grew too big for the AITA boots to fit in. Leander made his baptism by fire against Japan in Chandigarh in 1990, when Ramesh Krishnan was the torch-bearer of the Indian team after the domination of the Amritraj brothers had ended. Then non-playing captain Naresh Kumar took the risk of playing the untested Leander, but his decision was vindicated when Leander produced the kind of youthful, athletic game Indian tennis had not witnessed for long years. Before that, Zeeshan Ali made his Davis Cup debut, when Vijay Amritraj and his brother Anand Amritraj were ruling the roost, though they had fallen foul of the AITA. While Leander went on to make a name for himself not only in Davis Cup tennis, playing 48 cup ties, but also on the Olympic and Grand Slam arenas, Zeeshan had his limitations and after a few Cup outings, he opted to take up coaching as a profession. When Ramesh had problems with the association, Mahesh Bhupathi came on the scene, and when Mahesh and Leander had issues with the AITA, Rohan Bopanna and Somdev Devvarman got their chances. And when Bhupathi and Bopanna rebelled against the team composition for the London Olympics, the likes of Yukhi Bhambri and Vishnu Vardhan made their Davis Cup debuts. Leander has first-hand experience of falling foul of the AITA, and had suffered. He knows well the grievances of the players, but would rather advocate that the sport should not suffer in a bid to get better deal for the established players “as the game is bigger than all of us”. “I don’t believe that rebellion is important, as communication should always been open. At the end of the day, the sport is most important. Whether it’s the association, the players or the media, the essence of the game should not be lost,” Leander said during a media interaction at the DLTA here. “Tennis should not suffer, the country should not suffer,” he averred. Though Paes could not mentor the young team in the tie against the Kiwis at Chandigarh four months ago due to a prior commitment, he was proud of the fact that in his 24-year-old Davis Cup career was punctured with just three cup misses. “When you have a contract, you have a commitment (defending his decision to skip the Chandigarh tie). The other two ties, I was injured,” he clarified. Now, the AITA is looking down the barrel to unearth new talent, and the tie against Korea will be a perfect platform to test the waters to send a strong message to the rebelling players that no one is indispensable, and there will always be a new guy on the block, to be groomed. And the new crop is happy that Leander is on hand to guide them, motivate them and goad them on the big stage. No wonder, after a training session at the DLTA here this afternoon, Leander held forth with the players to put them at ease, and boost their confidence. The young Korean team has come here with a focus on winning the tie, though they know well that Paes’s presence will be a boost for the hosts.
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Big name players, unique twists for
Golf Premier League
Chandigarh, January 30 The round has been reduced to 14 holes — which historically was the way the game was played at one time in its evolution — and will be completed in four hours, easier to watch on TV. Also, a 30-second rule has been introduced to ensure fast play. Shiv Kapur and Neeraj Sareen, who conceptualised the tournament, have managed to rope in an exceptional field for the three-day event. The list includes five Major winners — Darren Clarke, Angel Cabrera, Michael Campbell, Shaun Micheel and Rich Beem. Other prominent players are Chapchai Nirat, Daniel Chopra, Anirbahn Lahiri, Shiv Kapur, Siddikur, Himmat Rai and Simon Dyson. There are eight eight teams in fray — Punjab Lancers, Uttarkhand Lions, UP Eagles, Delhi Darts, Maharashtra 59’ers, Gujarat Underdawgs, Tamil Nadu Pullees and Colombo Sixers, which is owned by cricketer Mahela Jayawardene. |
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Apart from Mithali, India would bank on former captain Jhulan Goswami, diminutive batter Poonam Raut, wicketkeeper Sulakshana Naik. The bowling attack would be spearheaded by Gouher Sultana and Niranjana Nagarajan.
