Hyderabad, March 4
India did not quite crush Australia with the pincer movement of runs and wickets. Australia conjured their best day of the Test today, yet India would be by far the happier team. Australia’s best wasn’t enough to dispel the sense of doom that has hung over them through the tour. They’d scored 237 in their first innings after winning the toss — better teams than theirs have made much more and yet lost in India. A feat of timeless quality is required of them in the second knock — their response showed aggressive intent but was undermined by the lack of skill against the turning ball on a worn pitch. At 74 for two in their second innings, they are still 192 runs behind.

India had reason to be mildly dejected after losing their last six wickets for 43 runs — and the last nine for 116. This meant that their lead was much less than the 400 that seemed on the cards when they began the day at 311/1. Yet, the lead of 266 is a significant advantage; conversely, it’s daunting enough to mess with the minds of the inexperienced visitors.

Two days left in the match, significantly behind, the natural instinct of any Australian team would be to attack. The Australians knew they’d perish quickly if they awaited the turning ball at the crease — they knew they had to step up and attack. A peep into the past would show them that some of their most successful batsmen in India relied deeply on the sweep shot — Matt Hayden in 2001, for instance.

Australia were cornered, they had to come out fighting. There was no other way.

Openers David Warner and Phil Hughes were both dropped off Bhuvneshwar Kumar — tough chances spilled by Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. That helped them add 56 for the first wicket.

They did manage to keep Ravichandran Ashwin, who shared the new ball with Bhuvneshwar, at bay for nine overs. In the 10th, Ashwin bowled the first three balls from around the stumps before switching to over the stumps; off the fifth ball, Cowan got away from the strike with a sweep from his off stump. Warner attempted his own sweep off the next ball — but it was pitched outside the leg stump, was angled in, turning in. Most crucially, it was fuller — not the best candidate for a sweep. Warner realised this a moment later as the sound of his shattered leg-stump announced his end.

Four overs later, Phil Hughes made exactly the same mistake. Ashwin bowled two balls from around the stumps, switched to over the wicket for the third ball. This set up the same sequence of events: the ball pitched outside the leg stump, angled and spun in; another failed sweep, more shattered stumps.

Hughes has made 25 runs in four innings so far off 85 balls. He’s been dismissed by spinners all four times; he’s scored just six off 51 balls from spin. In his last three innings, he’s made no run against the spinners, from 36 balls. If he’s going to be a success in India on this tour, he’d need to transmogrify into a Hayden or a Clarke. Or perhaps any one of the Indians — Cheteshwar Pujara would be an ideal man to be right now.

Pujara completed his second double-hundred in six Tests in the morning and was the standout performer in an innings that tapered off from glut to scarcity today.

Pujara and Murali Vijay had effortlessly picked up the strands from where they’d left them yesterday. They were comfortable and cautions and hit the first four only in the day’s fifth over. James Pattinson was quick but with no of life-threatening or wicket-taking quality. Twenty-four overs and three balls passed by before, against the run of play, the first wicket fell. The unfortunate Glenn Maxwell, only 15 first class matches old and thrown cruelly into the den of spinner-eaters, got Vijay out defending bat-pad to backward short leg. Maxwell must have been stunned by cheers for his first Test wicket — the whole stadium seemed to quake with the noise the 21,000 fans managed to raise.

It actually was the sound of Sachin Tendulkar coming in to bat.

Pujara was on 198 when Vijay fell. He got the double with a flick off Maxwell but fell in the next over, before Tendulkar had scored a run. The bouncer was not a prominent part of Pattinson’s plans; he fired one down in the 121st over of the innings, and Pujara instinctively went for the hook. Yesterday he’d cleared long leg with the shot, today he failed to beat Xavier Doherty, who had to run in and dive forward to take the catch.

Tendulkar and Kohli went to lunch with three and four runs, respectively, whetting the appetite of the vocal crowd.

After the break Pattinson broke the hearts of the fans, took away their collective voice when he got Tendulkar with a wayward ball down the leg side. Tendulkar had waited seven hours and 15 minutes, the duration Pujara and Vijay batted together, for his turn. The stadium was packed with over 30,000 people yesterday, in baking sun, for the sight of him batting, for probably the last time in a Test innings here. No matter. He had to walk when the third umpire judged that he had nicked the harmless ball and that it was taken cleanly by Matthew Wade.

Dhoni flogged 44 off 43, Kohli made 34. The Australians were masters of the least condition-dependant cricket skills, catching and fielding. Nine of 10 batsmen were caught, many with exceptional efforts. Now, only if they could be exceptional with the bat... 

Scoreboard 

Australia 1st Inns: 237/9 DEC.

India 1st inngs: (overnight 311/1)

Vijay c Cowan b Maxwell 167

Sehwag c Wade b Siddle 6

Pujara c Doherty b Pattinson 204

Tendulkar c Wade b Pattinson 7

Kohli c Cowan b Maxwell 34

Dhoni c Doherty b Maxwell 44

Jadeja c & b Maxwell 10

Ashwin c Hughes b Doherty 1

Harbhajan c Maxwell b Doherty 0

Bhuvneshwar st Wade b Doherty 10

Sharma not out 2

Extras: 18

Total: (all out in 154.1 ovs) 503

Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-387, 3-393, 4-404, 5-460, 6-484, 7-485, 8-489, 9-491

Bowling

Pattinson 29-11-80-2

Siddle 31-6-92-1

Henriques 21-7-45-0

Doherty 46.1-15-131-3

Maxwell 26-2-127-4

Warner 1-0-14-0

Australia 2nd inngs

Cowan batting 26

Warner b Ashwin 26

Hughes b Ashwin 0

Watson batting 9

Extras: 13

Total: (2 wkts in 32 ovs) 74

Fall of wickets: 1-56, 2-56

Bowling

Kumar 6-4-7-0

Ashwin 15-6-42-2

Harbhajan 8-5-10-0

Jadeja 3-2-2-0

Hyderabad, March 4
Cheteshwar Pujara, who’s made 910 runs from his last 13 innings at an average of 91, is a very confident young man who doesn’t mind telling things as he sees them. Thus, when asked what he thought of the Australian batting, he minced no words when he said that they “don’t know how to go about on turning tracks”.

Pujara himself knows a thing or two about “going about” on turning tracks. He’s stacked up four centuries in those 13 innings at home, including two double centuries. The first one was against England in Ahmedabad last November — India won that game. He followed it up with a century in the Mumbai Test, which India lost after being laid low by England’s spin twins, Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann.

Pujara says that having played well against Panesar and Swann, he was not troubled by Australia’s two spinners here, Xavier Doherty and Glenn Maxwell.

Actually, Pujara scored with equal comfort against both spinners and pacers. He made 103 off 169 balls off the three pace bowlers, 101 runs off 172 balls from the spinners; 15 fours were hit off the spinners, an equal number off the pace bowlers. The only six was hit off Peter Siddle, the medium-pacer, though his dismissal was also caused by a paceman, James Pattinson.

Was he surprised that Nathan Lyon, Australia’s first-choice spinner in the first Test, was sacked for the second Test? “Well, I think he went for lots of runs and that’s the reason they made the change. As a batsman I was comfortable facing him and I have batted well against Swann and Panesar in the past, which helped me in playing against Australian spinners,” Pujara said.

Pujara was asked if he found the England spinners more challenging than the Australian ones; he said it’s difficult to make a fair comparison of the attack he faced during his two double centuries because the wickets were quite different. “The conditions were different. That wicket (Ahmedabad) was slightly easier to bat on,” he said. “This was initially difficult to bat on but later on it was easier. There was a bit of turn today, more than yesterday. I think it’s difficult to compare the two innings, I really can’t say which attack was more challenging.”

Pujara added 370 runs for the second wicket with Murali Vijay, just 12 short of the record for the highest partnership against Australia — for any wicket. It was also six short of the Indian record against Australia, the 376 VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid put up for the fifth wicket in the Kolkata Test in 2001. Pujara revealed the gameplan behind his 109.4-over partnership which Vijay, during which they were both defensive and attacking as needed, scoring at a healthy rate of 3.37 runs an over.

“Initially we wanted to make sure that we don’t lose an early wicket because the ball was doing a bit and we were aware of the conditions,” Pujara said. “Later, once I scored my hundred, I was set and was seeing the ball well. I wanted to just play my natural game. I didn’t try anything extra. It was just my natural game that I played.”

“I pulled my hamstring yesterday in the first session, it was very difficult for me to run and even focus on my batting. When my hamstring was sore, I just wanted to hang around and let the time go on,” he added. “Afterwards I was much better and could concentrate on my batting. The injury is settling down and I hope I will be better.”

Pujara and Vijay played a total of 658 balls during their marathon partnership; the whole Australia first innings had lasted just 510 balls. There lies the difference between dominance and rout. Can Australia do to India what India did to them?

“They need to apply themselves, they don’t know how to go about on turning tracks,” Pujara said. “They have prepared but we know what their strengths are and are trying to find their weaknesses. And I think our spinners have been doing it successfully so far. Our spinners need to continue doing what they are doing.”

Hyderabad, March 4
After looking to have wrested his demons into submission by getting back his form for the Australian series, Sachin Tendulkar was left fuming on being given out for what seemed like a clear umpiring gaffe by Marais Erasmus, if not a blunder in the ongoing India vs Australia Hyderabad Test - fortunately for his team, the visitors have been pegged on the backfoot and his dismissal did not prove too costly.

The veteran right-hander appeared to have ended up on the wrong end of the stick when he was declared out caught behind after a 15-ball 7.

Umpire initially did not give Sachin out on appeals by Australian fielders, but then overturned it after repeated entreaties by bowler James Pattinson and the short mid-wicket fielder.

Shaping to play a length delivery down the leg side, Sachin Tendulkar missed the ball, which was pouched by Wade. Pattinson appeals hard and long with the support of short mid-wicket fielder. Displeased at the initial reaction of the umpire in snubbing his appeal, Pattinson let him know his mind, which is clearly a violation of rules.

However, the umpire succumbed to the pressure and asked the third umpire to adjudicate! TV replays went on to show a nick and the verdict was 'out'. Umpire thereafter raises his finger, sending Sachin walking forlornly back to the pavilion. The unfortunate part was that Sachin was shaping up for a fine innings having notched up a great boundary off the previous ball and had played all deliveries with confidence from middle of bat.

What seems likely to have happened is that, deprived of the Decision Review System due to India's steadfast opposition, umpires could be taking advantage of an anomaly in referral rules. What made the situation a trifle complex was the way onfield umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Marais Erasmus handled it - third umpire S Ravi, according to the rules, could only decide on whether the catch was taken cleanly. But the process before coming to the conclusion is such that Ravi could also suggest whether the batsman nicked the delivery or not.

This might have helped the onfield umpires get rid of any doubts on whether the batsman nicked the delivery. Similar drama had unfolded on the opening day as well when the Indians appealed for a catch of Moises Henriques.

The umpire, Erasmus again, referred it to the third umpire, a move which revealed that Henriques' bat or glove had not touched the ball at all. Erasmus ruled in favour of the Australian after consulting Ravi. But today Tendulkar was not so lucky as after a long chat with Ravi, Erasmus raised the dreaded finger.

The dismissal has raised questions about the referral laws even though the end result was a correct decision. — Agencies

Hyderabad, March 4
Spin legend Shane Warne says there is a "problem" with the way young Australian spinners are "handled" at the domestic level and stresses on the importance of putting more emphasis on aggressive bowling.

"I think the problem lies in what we expect from our young spin bowlers and the way they are handled at domestic level by their captains and coaches," Warne said. "The attitude should always be about taking wickets and not about economy rates: 4/100 off 25 overs is a good result and better than 2/60 off 25 overs," he added on the sidelines of the ongoing India-Australia Test series. Warne said it is not easy to be a wicket-taking bowler and an economical one at the same time.

Birmingham, March 4
Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal will return to Great Britain with a renewed hope of clinching the prestigious All England title but a tough draw awaits her in the women's singles of the Super Series Premier event, which starts with the qualifiers here tomorrow.

Ever since 2007, Saina has been playing in the USD 400,000 All England Championship and her best performance so far is a semifinal finish at the 2010 edition. In the last two years, Saina reached the quarterfinals of the event before being humbled by lower-ranked players and the second seeded Indian will have to be on her guard this year as well. The Commonwealth Games gold medallist will open her campaign against Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand. The Indian has played her four times and always had an upper hand but in their last encounter at Korea Open, the Thai girl had stretched Saina to three games.

If she clears the first hurdle, the 22-year-old will next take on Minatsu Mitani of Japan, who had spoilt her French Open title hopes when she beat the Indian at the finals. Even though Saina has beaten her thrice in the past, she needs to be careful of the Japanese.

If she can cross the second hurdle as well, then it will be either sixth seed Shixian Wang or Yanjiao Jiang in the quarterfinals. For the records, Saina holds a 3-1 advantage against Shixian but all the wins has been three-game affairs. However, Saina is likely to prefer Shixian over Jiang as the Indian has never beaten the the world number 12 in their five encounters.

"The draw is tough, it always happens that way. But I will try my best to come up well," Saina said. "I took all the practice in good direction. I have a little knee problem, otherwise I am alright," Saina said. "I am doing my best all the times, hopefully, I will do well. Let us see what happens," she said.

Saina's younger colleague and rising shuttler P V Sindhu too will start in the main draw for the first time and will meet Ongbamrungphan Busanan of Thailand in the opening round, whom she had beaten at the Badminton Asia Youth Under 19 Championships last year.

If she can cross the first hurdle, Sindhu will take on fourth seed Juliane Schenk. The Hyderabadi had lost to the German at the Indonesia Open last year. In the men's singles, world number 11 Parupalli Kashyap will open his campaign against Jen Hao Hsu of Chinese Taipei and will likely take on Japan's Kenichi Tago, seeded seventh, in the second round if he manages to cross the opening hurdle.

If Kashyap crosses the second round as well then he is likely to lock horns against second seed Chen Long of China. Chen has beaten Kashyap three times in the past but in their earlier clash, the Indian had defeated him in straight-games at the Indonesian Open last year.

"It is a challenging draw. I feel if I can get past the initial rounds, I can go much further in the tournament. The Chinese Taipei guy is also good and Tago is unpredictable, you never know when he will play well," Kashyap said.

Ajay Jayaram is the other Indian who will start in the men's singles main draw, taking on Zhengming Wang of China in the first round. Jayaram has beaten the Chinese at the Hong Kong Open last year and will look to repeat the performance. If he wins, Jayaram is expected to face top seed and world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia.

Another celebrated shuttler, Jwala Gutta too will return to action after a seven month sabbatical in this tournament and the Hyderabadi will pair up with her partner V Diju to take on German duo of Peter Kaesbauer and Isabel Herttrich in the opening round of the mixed doubles event.

Jwala and Prajakta Sawant will also combine for the first time in the women's doubles and take on Thai duo of Serithammarak Artima and Peeraya Munkitamorn in the qualifiers.

"The mixed doubles draw is good. We should win the first two rounds. We have never lost against the Polish pair in the second round. So I am positive," Jwala said. "I am playing in the qualifiers after a long long time but its okay, I know me and Prajakta will do well. I will look to just play for myself," she said.

One half of the Commonwealth Games gold medallist women's doubles pair, Ashwini Ponnappa will also pair up with Tarun Kona and take on Indonesian pair of Fran Kurniawan and Shendy Puspa Irawati in the first round of the mixed doubles.

Ashwini will also pair up with Pradnya Gadre to take on Sarah Thomas and Carissa Turner of Wales in the qualifiers of the women's doubles.

In the qualifers tomorrow, as many as four Indians - Anand pawar, Sourabh Varma, Sai Praneeth and RMV Gurusaidutt — will compete in the men's singles, besides two pairs of Tarun and Arun Vishnu and Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar will fight it out in men's doubles. — PTI

New Delhi, March 4
Grappler Geeta Phogat stood out in an otherwise average performance by the Indian team which finished fifth in the senior women's Senior Wrestling World Cup in Mongolia.

Geeta, who was playing in the 59-kg category for the first time, won all her bouts against her opponents from Japan, Canada, Mongolia and Belarus.

India had qualified for the first time in this eight-team event held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from March 1-3.The Indian team lost its opening Group B match against Japan 2-5, followed by another defeat by an identical margin to hosts Mongolia.

In their final match, India overhauled the Canadian challenge 4-3 to finish third from their Pool.In the 5th-6th classification match, India defeated Belarus 5-2 to get the fifth position.

China won the gold medal while Mongolia and Japan settled for silver and bronze respectively. Indian grapplers have been doing moderately well in the international tournaments but still need to do much better. — PTI

Greater Noida, March 4
Wiser in experience and stronger in technique, Indian golfer SSP Chowrasia says his confidence is quite high now and that alone would be enough to bring out the best in him when he aims for a second title triumph at the upcoming Avantha Masters.

Chowrasia became the first Indian to win a European Tour event on home soil - and only the third, after Arjun Atwal and Jeev Milkha Singh, to win one anywhere - when he captured the EMAAR-MGF Indian Masters title in 2008.

It was a real rags-to-riches tale for the self-taught 34-year-old, who used to sneak onto the course at night to play a few holes at Royal Calcutta Golf Club, where his father was a greenkeeper. Three years later, thanks chiefly to his razor sharp short game - which earned him the nickname "Chipputtsia" - he repeated the feat in the Avantha Masters, sparking jubilant scenes at DLF Golf & Country Club.

Chowrasia will go in search of a hat-trick of European Tour titles when the fourth edition of the euro 1.8 million event takes place at Jaypee Greens here.

"I'm very excited about playing the Avantha Masters - I'm sure the tournament will be a great success. It's the one all the Indian players want to win, and hopefully I can come out on top again," Chowrasia said.

"I've played Jaypee Greens many times, so I know what to expect. The fairways are quite wide, so unless the rough is very thick I think the scoring will be quite low. There is also a Golf Academy there which has a great driving range and practice facilities for the amateurs and us pros, so it's a great venue for the tournament." Chowrasia has fond memories of his Avantha Masters triumph in 2011, when he overhauled overnight leader Robert Coles with a round of 67 on the final day to prevail by a single stroke.

Having subsequently finished 80th in The Race to Dubai that season and 97th last year, Chowrasia has since established himself on The European Tour and has now set his sights on securing a place in the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai at the end of the season.

"After my win in 2011, I thought I could do anything.

Winning once on The European Tour is one thing; but if you then win again, it shows it wasn't down to luck the first time. I feel like I'm now a much better player than I was when I won for the first time in 2008. Playing in different conditions on different courses and against better players has definitely improved my game. — PTI

New Delhi, March 4
Defeating some of India’s top archers and their close competitors from other states, Punjab archers Gagandeep Kaur and Parveena have made it to the Indian women compound archery squad that will compete in the Asian Grand Prix Tournament at Bangkok beginning March 9. Parveena, who is pursuing her post-graduation at Punjabi University, and 2010 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Gagandeep Kaur, who is currently working with Railways, outclassed their opponents during the selection trials at Kolkata recently to book their berth. They are currently training at their home ground in Punjabi University under the coach Jiwanjot Singh, who will also be accompanying the squad.

Parveena said she is extremely excited about the tournament and thanked her coach and director sports Raj Kumar Sharma, who provided her equipment and monetary aid to help in preparing for international tournaments.

“It is the first big tournament of the year and getting selected for it certainly boosts the morale of any player. I am glad that I could hold my nerves and am looking forward to bag a medal at Bangkok now,” said Parveena.

She won two golds and a bronze in the All India Inter-University Archery Championship held last month. Gagandeep Kaur is equally hopeful of a good show during the Asian Grand Prix. She said, “Punjab players have been continuously making a mark at the international level and it is a proud moment to be a part of the Indian team. I hope Punjab government ensures proper jobs for deserving players so that we can contribute more to the nation. Coach Jiwanjot Singh said, “The girls have been training very hard and I am sure of their success.”

Yangon, March 4
India breezed past Guam 4-0 for their second consecutive win in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup 2014 qualifiers at the Yangon Training Centre here Monday.

After a barren first-half, India came out firing all cylinders in the second half scoring four goals. India, who now have six points from two matches, next play Myanmar in their last match slated for Wednesday. Sunil Chhetri opened the scoring in the 49th minute and completed the scoreline in the 91st. Clifford Miranda and Jewel Raja Shaikh scored a goal apiece in the 68th and the 80th minute, respectively.

After a goalless first half, Chhetri drew first blood four minutes after resumption. He followed Lenny Rodrigues's through pass, beat the off-side trap and slotted it past rival goalkeeper Douglas Herrick. — PTI

New Delhi, March 4
Continuing to reclaim lost ground in the ATP rankings, Somdev Devvarman today jumped 65 places to 250th to be India's best-placed singles player in the list issued.

Somdev was ranked 62nd in the world in 2011 before poor form combined with a shoulder surgery kept him out of action for the better part of the 2012 season.

The Indian's ranking took a severe beating in this period. He last week beat Russian world number 167 Igor Kunitsyn to earn 45 ranking points and climb up the ladder. Yuki Bhanabri is the next best Indian in the singles list at 266, down 15 places. Also sliding in the list was Sanam Singh, who now finds himself at 216 after losing 21 places.

In the doubles rankings, Leader Paes continued to be the best Indian at number 8, followed by Mahesh Bhupathi (11), who whose position was unchanged after defending his title at the Dubai Tennis championships.

Rohan Bopanna dropped out of top-10, losing two positions to be at number 12. In the WTA rankings, Sania Mirza was unmoved at number 14. — PTI 

New Delhi, March 4
Fresh from their exposure at the World Championship at Belarus last month, Indian cyclists will look to put up a solid display when they line up along with Asia's best riders in the Hero Asian Cycling Championship to be held at the national capital from March 7 to 17.

For India, the biggest hope will lie on the dynamic quartet of Chandrasekar Rajesh, Amarjit Singh, Amrit Singh and Bikram Singh, who created a little piece of history by qualifying for the World Championships for only the second time ever following their participation in in 2012.

Never before a cycling event of this stature in terms of participation has been held in the country as the prestigious event will witness close to 800 riders, including 49 Indian riders and half a dozen Olympic medallists, from 29 countries vying for the top honours. One of India's bright hope in cycling, C Rajesh did not even know he was ever going to walk again, leave alone ride a bicycle after a fatal head injury during a training session last year.

He was in coma for almost six months before reviving his chances in cycling, thanks to his father's support and encouragement.

"When I suffered the injury, I did not have any hope about ever racing in the future. All credit to my father for inspiring me to make a comeback," says Tamil Nadu's Rajesh, who had slipped into a coma 10 days after the injury.

When everyone had lost hope of his comeback, the Cycling Federation of India came to Rajesh's aid by chipping in and footing his medical bill. President, Organizing Committee, Hero Asian Cycling Championship, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, said: "It just goes to show the fighting abilities of our riders like Rajesh. We want more and more cyclists from India to take to the sport. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Dravid: Lyon's axing a tactical blunder by Oz
Former India skipper Rahul Dravid has termed Australia's decision to drop Nathan Lyon from the ongoing second Test as a "tactical blunder" and said the Michael Clarke must take some responsibility for the off-spinner's axing. The team management have come in for sharp criticism for not playing Lyon, who was dropped in favour of Xavier Doherty and Glenn Maxwell, a decision which Dravid feels could costs them the second Test. "The biggest tactical blunder that Clarke has to take some responsibility for is the decision not to play Nathan Lyon," Dravid said. "They are being too clever with their team selections. Lyon didn't run through the Indian side in Chennai but he bowled particularly well there, especially in the second innings, he looked like he was getting some confidence. "It's never easy to come to India and bowl batsmen on these kind of wickets they are so used to. By dropping Lyon, it shocked whatever confidence he gained in that Test," he said. Dravid believes the Test is headed for an early finish if spinners perform to their expectations. — PTI

WI enjoy easy win over Zimbabwe
Antigua: West Indies enjoyed a second easy win over Zimbabwe with a 41-run victory in Antigua.Lendl Simmons continued his good form with 41 and Kieron Pollard hit an unbeaten 45 from 39 balls as West Indies made 158 for seven in their allotted overs. Samuel Badree claimed three wickets to have the tourists struggling at 33/3 in the eighth over. Hamilton Masakadza hitting an unbeaten 53 with little support at the other end.

Lanka players available after pay row ends
Colombo: A pay dispute between Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and its 23 centrally-contracted players ended on Monday with the squad signing new deals and making themselves available for the two-test series against Bangladesh.The SLC and Sri Lankan sports minister had threatened to drop the 23 for the series against Bangladesh that starts on Friday if they did not sign new contracts by Monday.

Hockey meet on March 6
Rupnagar: The 26th Dashmesh Hawks All- India Hockey Festival, Rupnagar will begin on March 6. 12 teams shall participate and the final match will be held on March 10. — Agencies