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Big-hitting Aussies have six-appeal
Indians not quite up to speed
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Stage set for Sachin special
Windies looking to ‘spoil’ Sachin’s farewell party
Punjab in driver’s seat
Asian Champions Trophy a chance to test new combinations before Jr World Cup, says hockey coach
Chandigarh Golf Club
win title
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Big-hitting Aussies have six-appeal
Nagpur, October 29
The rain has given the teams time to rest and reflect; the third match was completed on October 19. To India, the rain has given a headache. The narrow defeat in Mohali 10 days ago put Australia 2-1 ahead; two washouts in a row mean that India have no room for error — they must win the two remaining matches to win the series. At the beginning of the series, Australian captain George Bailey had said that the hosts were the overwhelming favourites; with two games to go, and 2-1 up, Bailey now wouldn’t mind admitting that the visitors are the favourites, though the most he’d say today was that he’d rather be in Australia’s position than India’s. The difference between the two teams hasn’t been massive. Australia romped home in the first game, India did so in the second. The third was a close affair and India were ahead before the game’s 98th over, bowled by a lean, tall man with long hair, in which four sixers were struck. The Australians have displayed greater six-hitting abilities than the Indians. They’ve hit 38 sixers in four innings — that’s 228 runs. They’ve also hit 113 fours, ie 452 runs; 680 of the 1216 runs made by the Aussie batsmen (ie, excluding the extras) have come from fours and sixers — nearly 56 percent. The Indians have hit 18 sixers (108 runs) and 94 fours (376 runs) in three innings; they’ve scored just over 56 percent of their runs from fours and sixers, slightly better than Australia. But they’ve hit only six sixers per innings on an average. And it’s the sixers which have proved decisive in this very close contest — specifically, the four sixers hit by James Faulkner in Mohali. Australia average nearly 10 sixers per innings so far; that figure doesn’t really suffer in comparison with Australia’s best ODI wins from the past — the World Cup finals of 2003 and 2007, for instance. In both these games, Australia hit 10 sixers. Then, this figure was thought remarkable. Now, in this series, hitting so many shots over the boundary has been a banality. Every bowler has suffered in this series; in the Indian attack, the surprising sufferer has been Ravichandran Ashwin, who has been smacked for 13 sixers in five innings — one T20I and four ODI innings. Ashwin’s economy rate (6.11 runs per over) and average (44) in the ODIs are too high for a strike bowler. The economy rate is worse than even that of Australia’s Xavier Doherty (5.63). Ashwin has tried to use some of his variations, but he’s not been successful. But it’s early days yet with the new ODI rule, which permits only four fielders outside the 30-yard circle after the Powerplays. This rule has altered the ODIs — old rules, and old figures to judge a bowler’s economy, don’t and can’t apply now. The tracks have been absolute brutes; the bats have been brutal. Ashwin today said that “we”, ie the Indians, have been surprised by the wickets in the series so far; the Australians have been surprised, too, for they expected wickets to turn a bit. Doherty had said that he expects the Nagpur track to turn a bit; Ashwin nearly said that today. But a run fest is expected here — the outfield, on which the mower was being worked until late evening, is lightning fast. The pitch is brown, dryer than any one of the recent wickets, and seems full of runs. The stadium, located miles out of the city, is right in the middle of a very green area — there will be dew in the evening. The team that wins the toss will want to bat first, and bat like the devil, to get a winning total.
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Indians not quite up to speed
India would be discouraged, though, by the fact that the two have struggled against genuine pace and bounce of Mitchell Johnson. Johnson has easily been the quickest bowler from both sides, bowling well over 155 kmph regularly. Just where he’s found such pace — at age 31, after serious injuries, and after playing international cricket for eight years — is a mystery. He himself is a bit uncertain about the source of his regained pace. “I've surprised myself a little bit, pace-wise,” Johnson recently said. “I think it's just a rhythm thing at the moment. I've lengthened my run-up a little bit and I'm running in probably at a good pace to get through the crease.” Wicketkeeper Matthew Wade says that this is the fastest he’s kept to for an Australian paceman for some time; Xavier Doherty says that Johnson has been very fast through the series. “He’s been fast enough for me to keep out of the nets!” Doherty says. “He’s got 10-15 miles on anyone else playing in this series. He’s got that extra pace. I know there have been a lot of runs scored, but from my point of view Mitch has probably been the Man of the Series so far for me.” Indians haven’t been on any sort of speed. Johnson was 10-15 kmph faster than the fastest Indian in the previous game, Mohammed Shami. In this series, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been bowling at about 130 kmph, Ishant Sharma has been slightly faster, while Vinay Kumar and Jaydev Unadkat have been considerably slower. These are speeds Australian batsmen have been raised upon. When Ishant tried his short ones at James Faulkner at Mohali, the batsman had the greatest time to hit him straight or over midwicket. George Bailey, the Australian captain, says that in Australia, batsmen as young as 15 could face bowlers who bowl at about 125-130 kmph. “If we can keep bowlers playing in grade (club) cricket till a little longer, then guys could be facing them when they’re as young as 15 or 16,” he says. Bailey said pacers hit their peak speed in ages late 20s to early 30s. The Indians, though, tend to lose speed once they taste international cricket. Pace matters. If you have it, the batsman has lesser time for his shots. And with real pace, there’s fear — fear of being hit, getting injured, getting humiliated. Indian pace bowlers don’t scare anyone.
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Stage set for Sachin special
Lahli (Rohtak), October 29 He will bat just one more time, in Ranji Trophy, for those who achingly saw him reach his 19th half-century on Tuesday and wished he could go on forever. Their wish to see more of him has been extended by one more day. Mumbai ended the day with 201 runs, 39 more to get with 4 wickets in hand. Victory may be Mumbai's or Haryana's; the home team has already won the privilege to give a guard of honour twice to the retiring maestro. This time they outdid themselves by giving him the final salute as he walked up to the pitch. Once he took his guard Haryana turned hostile. Their total of 241 to chase was still distant and there was half a day to survive on a tricky wicket. Sachin (55;122b, 4x4) did what was required of him. On a day when he bids adieu to the domestic career with his 115th first-class fifty, once more, he will be required to see his team through. The chase had begun well yet they had a long way to go. When he arrived on to the field amidst a roaring welcome Haryana spared no effort to put pressure on him. Rookie Mohit Sharma (2/65) vainly tried to lure him with his good length deliveries and then tried pushed him back with short stuff in the mid session. There was an occasional bouncer too. Seeing Sachin a bit tentative at the start, skipper Ajay Jadeja played mind games too, putting men in close catching positions to Jayant Yadav's off break. Haryana also chirped hard but played way harder even as Joginder Singh tried to get into the skin of an attacking Abhishek Nayar (24). At the other end, Sachin not just survived it but went about his way killing the contest sweetly. He nudged, tucked to square leg and played his leg glances fine to set in frustration. Joginder was not the one to give in, he made Sachin labour for four dot balls before allowing him a double with a flick to the square leg for his 115th first class half-century. The four boundaries that came off his bat, the first one to the fine leg, second an outside edge, third a cut towards the backward point, and the fourth a forceful drive through the extra cover, were interspersed with a caught behind, and lbw appeal by Yadav. Clearly showing Haryana did not even think of stopping to try. In just eight overs they got rid of three lower middle order batsmen and opened up the contest. Sachin though is the only specialist batsmen left; he has Dhawal Kulkarni (6) for company. While the Haryana team would try every bit to stop them the fans would like Sachin to depart only after he has scored the winning runs. Brief Scores: Mumbai 136 and 201 for 6 (Tendulkar 55*, Pawar 47, Mohit 2-65) trail Haryana 134 and 241 by 39 runs Meet the Sachin Encyclopaedia
He has not quite mastered the skill of construction but a 32-year-old mason from a hamlet in Sikhar district of Rajasthan seems to be a 'Ph. D' in the country's most loved subject -- Sachin Tendulkar -- having memorised each and every Test innings and ODI centuries of the retiring icon. Meet Ajeet Singh Tanwar, a one-of-a-kind Tendulkar fan, who, quite astonishingly, remembers how many the retiring cricketer has scored, where and in which match over his past 198 Tests, besides storing in his 'memory card' the details of 49 hundreds in his 463 ODI appearances. |
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Windies looking to ‘spoil’ Sachin’s farewell party
Kolkata, October 29 "Sachin's a legend and we wish him a great farewell and we want him to walk away happily, but not victorious," said Gayle. "That Test in Mumbai (Sachin's 200th Test) will be fantastic. The atmosphere will be great as they always have been a lively crowd. Indian crowd always come out to support cricket and with Sachin, it's going to be even bigger. The West Indies will put on a good show but we're eyeing the series so we may be spoiling the fun and parade." West Indies will play two Tests and three ODIs during their tour of India, commencing in Kolkata with first Test from November 6-10. Gayle noted that the series against India will finally settle the question on where the West Indies stand in Tests. West Indies are currently ranked sixth among Test-playing nations and Gayle said his team would be more than keen to move up the ICC rankings. "The big occasion for West Indies is a chance to gain points to move to No. 5 on the ICC rankings. That's our mission. I personally have never made a hundred versus India, so I will be looking to rectify that.” — PTI
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Mohali, October 29 The overnight pair of Mandeep Singh and Taruwar Kohli, resuming at 306 for 2, denied Odisha the much-needed breakthrough in the morning. And by the time Kohli was dismissed, the duo had put together a partnership of 282-run for the second wicket. The quick fall of Uday Kaul raised a little hope in the Odisha camp but that was snuffed out with Mandeep Singh continuing undeterred, and subsequent batsmen too joining the run fest. Harbhajan thought he had reached a half-century, which he actually hadn’t, and declared the innings, leaving himself stranded at 49. Brief scores: Odisha 1st inngs 205 all out; 2nd inngs: 110 for 2: Narenjan Behera 42 no, Gobind Poddar 52no, Sandeep Sharma 2 for 20); Punjab 560 for 6 (Taruwar 144,Mandeep 175, Amitoze 56 no, Harbhajan 49no). Himachal in command
Himachal are in driver’s seat against Goa. After declaring for 558, they bowled out Goa for 243, and enforced follow-on. Brief scores Himachal: 558/5 decl; Goa: 243 all out (R Shukla 79, R Dhawan 68/5); 38 for no loss. — TNS |
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Asian Champions Trophy a chance to test new combinations before Jr World Cup, says hockey coach
New Delhi, October 29 Hockey India has included as many as 13 players from the Sultan of Johor Cup-winning junior squad in the 18-man touring party announced for the third Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) to be held in Kakamigahara, Japan from November 2-10. “The Junior World Cup is merely five weeks away so the preparations are mainly aimed at that. We are testing out some new combinations. It's all part of the process to try and make sure that come December 6 we are in the best place as a team,” Clark told reporters at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium here today before departing for Japan later tonight.
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Chandigarh Golf Club win title
Chandigarh, October 29 The winning team, comprising H. S. Kang, I P S Mann , Darvesh Kumar & Sandeep Sandhu, grossed a total of 237. RCF golf club, Kapurthala, finished runners-up, losing out to the winners just by one stroke. The prize for longest drive went to Col. Yam Thapa, representing BEPTA golf club, registering distance of 306 yards. —TNS
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Lahli (Rohtak), October 29
Mohali, October 29
Nagpur, October 29
