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Day of landmarks at Ferozeshah Kotla
Pragyan Ojha reaches 100-wkt milestone in Tests
Match is evenly poised, says Murali Vijay
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ICC does not expect BCCI to accept DRS soon
Teams indulge in sledging
IPL 6: Fate of Sri Lankan players still uncertain
malaysian gp
Miami Masters: Somdev to play Djokovic in third round
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Day of landmarks at Ferozeshah Kotla
New Delhi, March 23 Sachin Tendulkar might have perhaps played the last but one innings of his Test career on Indian soil, Ajinkya Rehane made an eminently forgettable Test debut after a long wait, and Ravichandran Ashwin continued to reap wickets to emerge as a potent off-spinner. But the revelation was the coming of age of Nathan Lyon as a deadly spinner who wreaked havoc with the Indian batting lineup today with a five-wicket haul. Ashwin joined the select club of four spinners who have taken five or more wickets four times in a Test series. The previous achievers were Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Subhash Gupte and Harbhajan Singh. Ashwin also equaled Anil Kumble’s feat of bagging 27 wickets in a Test series when he claimed the scalp of Peter Siddle for 51. Ironically those looking for tickets cannot get them for love or money. There is no way one can buy tickets through online, as many fans have tried and failed. There are no counters at the DDCA to buy tickets on the spot. Tomorrow being Sunday, demand for ticket has risen sky high. The man who kindled the hopes of the visitors, off-spinner Nathan Lyon, said they were looking to tighten the grip on India. “Australia played fine cricket today,” he stated. About the aggression shown by the visitors on the field, Lyon said that’s how Australia played their cricket, though in the first three Tests they were rather subdued. May be stand-in captain Shane Whatson, who has stepped into the shoes of the injured Michael Clarke, who has flown back home, has brought in a new work ethic. He said Whatson’s advise to him, when he came on to bowl, was “just get into the contest.” Lyon said he was quite happy with every one of the five wickets he took, and he did not want to pick any particular wicket as the most cherished, though his scalps included Sachin Tendulkar. “I was enjoying myself,” he noted. Sachin Tendulkar may be past his prime, but whenever he walks in, the stands are aflutter and they welcome him with a huge roar. And it was indeed special for Lyon to scalp Sachin, though he had to wait for it, after the umpire had first turned down an lbw appeal. He said Australia can hope to push India into a corner only if they get the remaining wickets first thing on the morrow, and then bat well to hoist a substantial score to make the hosts struggle in the second knock. He said the attacking field Australia set, and their on-field aggression was typical of the way they played the game. “Australia play cricket very hard. But it’s something we haven’t done during the last three matches.” Scoreboard Australia 1st innings Cowan b Ashwin 38 Extras: 12 Total: (All out in 112.1 ov) 262 Fall of wickets: 1/4 2/71 3/106 4/115 5/117 6/129 7/136 8/189 9/243 Bowling Bhuvneshwar 9-1-43-0 India 1st innings Vijay c Wade b Siddle 57 Extras: 28 Total (8 wkts in 68.1 ov) 266 Fall of wickets: 1-108, 2-114, 3-148, 4-165, 5-180, 6-210, 7-254, 8-266 Bowling Johnson 17-3-44-0
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Pragyan Ojha reaches 100-wkt milestone in Tests
New Delhi, March 23 Ojha took his 100th wicket in only his 22nd Test; he’s the third fastest Indian to reach the landmark after Erapalli Prasanna (20 Tests) and Anil Kumble (21 Tests). Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Subhash Gupte also claimed their 100th wicket in the 22nd Test match. Ojha is the 18th Indian to take 100 wickets in Tests. The list includes six quick bowlers, 12 spinners; five of those spinners are of the left-arm variety; among those five, Ojha has the best strike rate (71.6). To get a strike rate better than that of Bishan Singh Bedi (80.3), Dilip Doshi (81.7), Vinoo Mankad (90.6) and Ravi Shastri (104.3) is creditable. Then again, he’s yet to bowl a single ball out of the subcontinent in Test cricket. Ojha, 26, made his debut against Sri Lanka in Kanpur in November 2009. He’s played 18 Tests at home (including the current one), three in Sri Lanka and one in Bangladesh. He’s taken 88 wickets in 18 Tests at home, at an average of 29.34; three Tests in Sri Lanka have fetched him eight wickets at 64.37; in Bangladesh, he averages 31.5 for his four wickets. Ojha can’t be blamed, he’s not the one who’s chosen his Tests and venues. Since his debut, apart from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, India have played Tests in South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies, England and Australia. He didn’t figure in any of these matches. He would be the first to admit that he needs to do well in these countries before his name could be taken along with that of Bedi, Doshi or Mankad. Or that of Maninder Singh, the left-arm spinner who finished with 88 wickets from 35 Tests. Maninder agrees that Ojha must do well outside his area of comfort. “On pitches at home, one needs to concentrate only line and length bowling,” Maninder says. “One can do well without too many variations. Ojha is a line and length bowler but hasn’t gone beyond that. To take wickets outside India, one needs to be mentally tough and have more variations.” Maninder believes that Ojha needs to get tougher. “He’s not the same material as Ashwin in mental toughness,” says Maninder. “Ashwin has done wonders under pressure, but Ojha’s form suffered under pressure when another left-arm spinner, Ravindra Jadeja, started doing well.”
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Match is now evenly poised, says Vijay
New Delhi, March 23 "It is interesting. The match is evenly poised right now. It can go either way. It will be crucial as to how many runs the tail-enders score," Vijay, who made 57, said. Asked what will be an achievable fourth innings target, Vijay replied, "Whatever target they set will be chased. No two ways about it." Vijay criticised the track in a veiled manner, stating that it was difficult to judge the speed of the deliveries. “The wicket is getting slower and lower. The cracks are getting wider and it is really difficult to judge the speed of the deliveries," he said. The opener, however, revealed that the pitch prepared by Venkat Sundaram is certainly not conducive for good batting. "It's a wicket where scoring runs is extremely difficult. However, it's not that difficult to stay on the wicket. We did bat well, but in patches. I could have batted a little longer but got out at the wrong time." His stop-gap opening partner Cheteshwar Pujara got a nasty hit on a finger of his right hand and Vijay said that the physio was working on him."It's swollen a bit and the physio is working on him." He, meanwhile, didn't wish to divulge the details of the heated exchange between Ravindra Jadeja and David Warner. "It's part and parcel of the game. Whatever happened on the field can't be told outside," he replied with a smile. Vijay said, "It's nothing new. They were aggressive throughout the tournament (series)." — PTI
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ICC does not expect BCCI to accept DRS soon
New Delhi, March 23 Richardson said it could take a long time for the BCCI to accept DRS and former players like Anil Kumble, who is now ICC Cricket Committee chairman, can play a role in influencing the Indian Board. "They are a long way from saying 'it's a good idea'. I don't think it's necessarily only the administrators, say people like Anil Kumble for example. He's going to take some persuading," Richardson said. "He (Kumble) was captain of the India team when they first trialled it and the technology wasn't very good. The players weren't used to it so every time the Indians asked for a review it went against them," he told 'Test Match Special' radio programme of the BBC. "I think it was Sehwag or one of their star batsmen who was given out by mistake by ball-tracking. It's going to take a lot of influencing." India, along with Sri Lanka, were the first users of the DRS in 2008, when Kumble was India's captain. Since technology then was not as enhanced as it is now, Richardson said it could take longer to convince the BCCI, the only Board not to have accepted DRS. "Kumble is a very influential guy in Indian cricket at the moment, he is on their technical committee, their working group. He's also now the chairman of our (ICC) cricket committee. Once these people start to see the benefits of DRS, that influence will probably filter back to the Tendulkars and the Dhonis. And once they are convinced, then the administrators will follow." Richardson also spoke about the ICC's preparation for the World Test Championship, which is expected to be played for the first time in the summer of 2017. "Once the Champions Trophy is finished, we'll then make an effort to really promote the road to the World Test Championship finals," he said. "Every series that gets played (between 2013 and 2017) will essentially be counting to the qualification for the Test championship," Richardson said. "It's a four-year period. We'll start playing all the Test series in 2013 and around about January 2016 or 2017 will be the cut-off time. The top four at that time will go through to the semi-finals to be played in England in June or July in 2017." The tournament was initially scheduled for 2013, but was delayed due to the ICC's commitments to its broadcaster and sponsors. — PTI
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New Delhi, March 23 It all started when Aussie pacer James Pattinson had a word with Jadeja, something that the India skipper MS Dhoni did not like. When Pattinson returned to bowl, Dhoni was warned by the umpire for running on the pitch. While a smiling Dhoni tried to settle the matter at his end, Warner, positioned at mid-on, looked the most animated and mumbled some profane words. Jadeja, at the non-striker's end, retorted by showing the handle of his bat. This further provoked the Australian opener and he complained to the umpire. The on-field umpires then called upon Jadeja and had a word with him. Both Dhoni and Australia's stand-in skipper Shane Watson were called in to soothe the fraying nerves but that did not seem to have deterred Warner and Jadeja from having another round of sledging. They once again exchanged expletives before heading to their respective ends. As Watson was walking past the India skipper after settling the matter, he himself got engaged in a war of words with Dhoni. — PTI
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IPL 6: Fate of Sri Lankan players still uncertain New Delhi, March 23 The BCCI is monitoring the situation and is also in touch with the state government and a final decision is expected to be taken soon. Protests have been going on various cities of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai over the UN resolution on Sri Lankan war crimes against Tamils. There are reports that some of the IPL franchises have requested the Governing Council to drop Chennai as a venue, citing security of the Sri Lankan players. A top IPL official, however, dismissed these reports as "baseless" and insisted that there was no proposal to remove Chennai as a venue. "We are aware of the situation in Tamil Nadu and we will take a decision soon. But as of now, we are not thinking of shifting matches,” the official said. Altogether 13 Sri Lankan players, two of whom are captains of their respective teams, are taking part in the sixth edition, which will start from April 3. The upcoming elections in Karnataka could also force the IPL to tinker with the schedule. — PTI
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malaysian gp
sepang, March 23 In his final run on a drying track, Vettel stormed across the line in a time of 1min 49.674sec, pipping Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa (1:50.587) and Fernando Alonso (1:50.727) with Mercedes pilot Lewis Hamilton fourth. Red Bull's Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg of Mercedes will start Sunday's race from fifth and sixth. Kimi Raikkonen, last week's winner in Australia, timed seventh but was hit with a three-place grid penalty for impeding Rosberg. McLaren's Jenson Button will occupy the fourth row alongside Force India's Adrian Sutil, with McLaren's new recruit Sergio Perez — second for Sauber in last year's rain-interrupted race — starting ninth and Raikkonen 10th. "It turned into an interesting qualifying session," said Vettel. "It was quite tricky because some parts of the track were still wet and others were dry, but still all in all a very good session for us. "We managed to save some tyres, which could be crucial tomorrow." Malaysia's ever-present tropical showers had disrupted Friday practice, and clouds were again looming ominously as qualifying got under way. With track temperatures at a sizzling 41 degrees Celsius (106 Fahrenheit), Sutil set the pace in Q1 with the Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber trailing in 15th and ninth respectively. Rosberg was leading Q2 when the rain set in, effectively bringing the session to an early halt as the cars returned to the pits — but not before Paul di Resta had twice lost control of his Force India. With the cloudburst quickly easing, the cars switched to intermediate wet-dry tyres for the final qualifying shoot-out and officials disabled the DRS overtaking system in the slippery conditions. Hamilton ran wide on the slick track but soon recovered to post the fastest time, before he was quickly usurped by Rosberg and then Vettel at the top of the standings after six minutes. Sahara Force India driver Adrian Sutil was ninth fastest while rain spoiled his teammate Paul di Resta's chances of making the Q3. Both Force India drivers looked set to for a top-10 after an impressive third practice where Sutil and di Resta were third and sixth fastest. The team got the strategy wrong in the case of Di Resta, who was called before setting a time in the initial part of Q2. — Agencies
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Miami Masters: Somdev to play Djokovic in third round
Miami, March 23 The unseeded Indian overcame world number 80 Edouard Roger-Vasselin from France 4-6 6-4 7-5 in the second round. Somdev saved seven of the nine break chances he faced in the match and that proved crucial in his win. With this victory, Somdev levelled the head-to-head record 1-1 with Edouard. The last they played was in 2009 when the Frenchman had emerged winner on Rhodes, Greece. He now plays the six-time Grand Slam winner for a place in the quarter-finals. In his previous clashes with one of the greatest players of all time such as Rafael Nadal, Somdev had put up a good challenge. Earlier, Mahesh Bhupathi and Daniel Nestor advanced to the second round of the men's doubles event after a hard-fought victory over Richard Gasquet and Edouard. Bhupathi and Nestor notched up a 7-6 (3), 6-3 win over their French opponents in a 79-minute opening round match. The third-seeded Indo-Canadian pair came from behind to force a tie-break in the first-set but they were in control of the second set. Bhupathi and Nestor won 82 per cent of their service points and saved both the break points they faced. They next play Spaniard Nicolas Almagro and his Austrian partner Oliver Marach, who beat Colombian Juan Sebastian Cabal and his Mexican partner Santiago Gonzalez 6-3, 6-4, in their first round match. Leander Paes Michael Llodra, have also advanced to the second round after defeating Germany's Christopher Kas and Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3 7-5. — PTI
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New Delhi, March 23
Opener Murali Vijay on Saturday said that the ongoing fourth Test match against Australia is "evenly poised and can go either way".
