Harare, JuLY 27
A dominant India will look to plug their bowling loopholes as they go into the third one-dayer against minnows Zimbabwe on Sunday with the aim of sealing the five-match series with another emphatic triumph.

India have taken a 2-0 lead on the back of an impressive show by their young batsmen and now need just one more win to take an unassailable 3-0 lead.

Zimbabwe to their credit have scored 200 plus scores in the previous two matches, which meant that both Indian batsmen and bowlers had some work to do though the matches were quite lop-sided affairs.

But it is the bowling which has been a cause of concern for the Indians with the pacers being inconsistent in both the matches.

Vinay Kumar has proved expensive as he has leaked 106 runs in his 18 overs and has taken just one wicket and that too of a tail-ender. Mohammed Shami has also been far from impressive and has been a disappointment in the absence of frontline pacers, who have been rested.

Jaydev Unadkat has been the most successful, with five wickets in two matches. Ravindra Jadeja continues to bowl impressively for India, proving miserly in the two matches even as his bat has been silent in the series so far.

Conditions and opponent may not be that difficult here for India but a good performance overseas builds the confidence and that’s precisely the gain for the visitors in the series. Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan have scored a century each to pilot India to two victories.

Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik too have contributed with a half-century each but neither Rohit Sharma nor Suresh Raina have been able to score much.

India would hope that these two batsmen, who are a vital part of the formidable batting line-up of the world champions, get some runs.

It will also be good for India if their young skipper Kohli keeps his anger in control. His persistent argument with officials after being given out did not give a good account of himself. Kohli can take a leaf out of skipper Dhoni, who remains calm in pressure situations. — PTI

Chandigarh, July 27
At the time the Indian Premier League was caught in a maelstrom of endless controversies, India Cements owner N Srinivasan, the man in the eye of the storm, was busy putting together a CSK-like winning outfit, this time for the Indian Badminton League.

It has now emerged that the India Cements owner was aggressively working out the nitty gritties of the bird game for the new league.

Had it not been for the national outrage and bad press, Srinivasan by now would have been the owner of an IBL team, with top badminton stars in the ranks.

And much like the Vijay of iconic movie Deewar, he would have said: “People are jealous of me because I have Dhoni… and Saina… and Lee Chong Wei…” and then some more.

Sources say the Tamil Nadu industrialist shelved the plan at the last moment, disgusted by the spate of unending criticism in the wake of the IPL spot-fixing scandal. That it did not make for sound business sense must have been the other consideration.

It is not clear whether Badminton Association of India (BAI) played a role in him desisting from going ahead, but a source, on the condition of anonymity said the plan has not been junked entirely. Srinivasan could buy a team if and when the league is extended from six to eight teams.

A former India coach who was approached by India Cements to be at the helm of affairs said: “It was supposed to be a big star team but the ongoing controversy put paid to the plans.” He added that money was not a constraint for the team management.

“I was to be given Rs 15 lakh for the job,” he said.

BAI treasurer Ashok Bajaj was his go-to man in the now-shelved enterprise. It is no surprise that Bajaj also happens to be from Tamil Nadu and is the secretary of the state badminton association.

When contacted, Ashok Bajaj said, “I am in a meeting. Call me on Monday.”

Adept at networking, the industrialist’s penchant for helming different sports is not unknown. Besides being at the helm of the cricket board, Srinivasan also calls the shots in the All India Chess Federation and the Tamil Nadu Golf Federation. 

Chennai, July 27
The itinerary for the upcoming tour of South Africa and a disciplinary panel report on sacked IPL chief Lalit Modi are among the issues that would dominate discussions when the BCCI’s working committee meets here tomorrow.

The BCCI is keen on the team playing two Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20 Internationals during the series, beginning November, while Cricket South Africa had announced the schedule with three Tests, seven ODIs and two T20Is.

“We have not taken any final call on the tour as yet, hopefully we will send an alternative itinerary over to CSA after tomorrow’s meeting,” BCCI’s acting President Dalmiya said.

There is also a section in the BCCI which wants to curtail the series to protest the appointment of former ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat as the CSA’s CEO.

The committee is also likely to discuss the findings of a Disciplinary Committee comprising Jyotiraditya Scindia and Arun Jaitley, who were appointed to investigate charges of financial bunglings against Modi.

An exhaustive report of 500 pages had been earlier submitted but it is unlikely that interim president Dalmiya would take a decision on Modi in tomorrow’s meeting.

There is also speculation that the two-member internal probe panel, comprising former judges T Jayaram Chouta and R Balasubramanian, has also submitted its report on the IPL spot-fixing scandal. The committee, according to some media reports, has cleared sidelined BCCI chief N Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan of betting charges but no BCCI official was willing to speak on the issue.

But both Dalmiya and BCCI Secretary Sanjay Patel have denied receiving the report. “We have not received any report... I’ve absolutely no idea about it,” Dalmiya said.

But insiders claim that the report was submitted on Thursday and the verdict would be read out absolving Meiyappan of the charges of betting in the last edition of the Indian Premier League.

A verdict in favour of Meiyappan would pave the way for Srinivasan into the BCCI as he had stepped aside from his post of president after Mumbai Police had levelled charges against his son-in-law in the spot-fixing and betting scandal.

Srinivasan’s return would also mean that he will be technically eligible to contest in the Board’s elections in September. — PTI

Chandigarh, July 27
Michael Nobbs has finally got some time to relax after a tough couple of years. After being relieved as the national hockey coach, he has been conducting coaching clinics at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala.

He also has been reassessing his stint as India coach.

“I am starting to accept now that what I had to deliver was impossible. All the previous coaches, including foreigners, who were very successful before coming to India could not deliver either,” said Nobbs, who was in Mohali for a training session with an academy of the Punjab Sports Department on Friday.

“It is not the coach. It is the system that needs to be changed. They need to focus on the aspects that will deliver,” the Australian told the Tribune.

Coaching concerns

As the former national coach engaged with the trainees, demonstrating (for them) a few drills, his eyes lit up and that habitual tugging of his cap became even more conspicuous. Nobbs, who shared his research material with the coaches at the academy, said that coaches in India were not up to speed with the modern methods used around the world.

“I have been teaching international coaching techniques at NIS for the last few days. The syllabus there needs updating in all areas. The basic fundamentals are good but they are using really old resources (books from the 1980s and even before that) from a time when hockey was played on grass.”

Building the second tier

The 59-year-old, who confesses to have fallen in love with India, wants to see hockey flourish once again here. He believes that an immediate step towards that goal would be to build the second tier, a pool of replacements for the national team.

“The national team can’t be sustained with the current system. We only depend on the national camp to train the next generation. But there is a huge discrepancy between the national team and the rest of the country.”

“Whenever a new player came into the team, it took us 12 months to develop him physically and mentally to bring him up to the level of other players,” he added.

“But most of the times the coach doesn’t have so much time for a new player. The youngsters never have a fair chance of competing with the existing players; they can’t cope at that level so we are left with the same bunch to choose from.”

Specialist trainers and scientific methods

This ‘vicious cycle’, Nobbs said, can only be broken by improving the training system in the academies. He said that there was a need for using modern coaching techniques and scientific methods like exercise physiology, sports medicine, biomechanics and sports psychology.

“The national coach doesn’t have time to develop new players. It is to be done at the lower level by the specialists. For example, most of the youngsters are physically not up to the international level. It is the job of a physical trainer and a dietician.”

Nobbs said that the change will take a lot of work but it is not impossible.

“They can start by improving the system at the higher level (17-21 years) so that there is a sufficient pool of replacements. Once there is a path built into the national side, younger kids will feel motivated. This will make it easier to bring change at the grassroots level.”

Talent scouting

Nobbs, who was with the trainees for over two hours, believes there is a lot of potential in India which goes unnoticed because of a lack of a talent identification program.

“The current process is limited to the Nationals, where the selectors usually watch the semifinals and the finals. But what about talented players from weaker teams that don’t reach the final stages?”

“Scouting should be done by young players, who have just been out of the system and know modern hockey, not by sexagenarians!” said Nobbs. “Former players like Rajpal Singh or Arjun Halappa should be asked to identify exceptional players from their regions.” 

Zagreb, JuLY 27
Croatia’s Marin Cilic, currently world number 15, failed a drug test at the April Munich tournament and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) is probing the case, local media reported on Saturday.

Cilic failed the test only two weeks after passing a doping control at the Monte Carlo Masters, the Slobodna Dalmacija daily reported, quoting “reliable sources.”

More details will emerge next week as the 24-year-old Croatian sent his explanation to the ITF, the daily said.

“There are no comments until we will be able to comment,” the Jutarnji List daily quoted Cilic’s manager Vincent Stavaux as saying.

Cilic’s test was allegedly positive due to “incautious use of glucose,” the daily reported. Local media said that Cilic had found out about the positive results of the test during Wimbledon, adding that this was the reason the 24-year old withdrew from the match against France’s Kenny de Schepper.