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| Tuesday,
April 24, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Zaheer’s spell helps Baroda
clinch Ranji Trophy A special piece on Sachin Tendulkar’s 28th birthday BCCI working committee meeting today Windies work hard to capture early wickets Punjab youngsters
impress Dravid Pak fail to seal deal
with foreign coach |
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PM’s order: Afro-Asian Games on
time
Indians start with
win UPCA beat
Airlines Zee
Churchill hold Vasco
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Zaheer’s spell helps Baroda clinch Ranji Trophy Vadodara, April 23 Although the wicket was turning last evening and Railways were still in chase of the 223-run target, Zaheer Khan today changed the equation by grabbing five of the six wickets to fall this morning and helped Baroda to their fifth Ranji Trophy triumph. It was a brilliant fightback for Baroda who had overcome a 151-run first innings deficit to gain a challenging lead, thanks to a masterly 141-run knock by Satyajit Parab. Railways, who resumed at 91 for four today, wilted under pressure to gift away wickets at regular intervals, their cause also not helped by some controversial umpiring decisions. The first breakthrough for Baroda came when overnight batsman Yere Goud was out leg before wicket off Zaheer Khan on his very first delivery. Railways, however, overcame this initial shock and a vital partnership for the sixth wicket between Santosh Sahu (41) and S. Wankhede (58) put Railways back on track and tantalisingly close to the target. The turnaround in Railway’s fortunes was triggered by the fall of Sahu who edged a catch to Baroda skipper Jacob Martin at first slip off Zaheer Khan when the score read 192. Only 31 runs short of victory then, Railways failed to hold their nerves as Murali Kartik (2), S. Khanolkar (3), Kulamani Parida (0) wended their way back to the pavilion in quick succession. Tempers frayed when an unhappy Kartik gestured angrily at the umpire after he was given out, caught behind by ‘keeper Nayan Mongia off Ajit Bhoite. Kartik had scored a fluent 79 in Railways’ first knock and his dismissal brought about the inevitable sooner than expected. Baroda were without the services of the injured new-ball bowler Rakesh Patel, among the 26 probables picked by national selectors for the camp for the upcoming Zimbabwe tour, but the loss compensated by the fiery attack of Zaheer Khan. Set to score 223 for an outright win, Railways made the task difficult for themselves, losing early wickets and finishing at 91 for four yesterday. Valmik Buch and Ajit Bhoite claimed two wickets each to lead the Baroda fightback. Bhoite bowled Railway opener Sanjay Bangar for seven and within a space of four runs, caught and bowled Amit Pagnis for 31. Baroda exploited the pressure on the Railways team and impressed with agile fielding which paid dividends when new man in, Tejinderpal Singh failed to judge a delivery from Buch and holed out to Zaheer Khan for five. Captain Abhay Sharma, who looked in good nick, and Yere Goud, hardly settle down when Buch struck again to have Sharma caught by Connor Williams for 17. Scoreboard Baroda (1st innings): 243 Railways (1st innings): 394 Baroda (2nd innings): 373 Railways (2nd innings): A. Pagnis c and b Bhoite 31, S. Bangar b Buch 7, Tejinderpal Singh c Zaheer Khan b Bhoite 5, Y. Goud c Mongia b Zaheer Khan 20, A. Sharma c Williams b Buch 17, S. Wankhede b Zaheer Khan 58, S. Khanolkar lbw b Zaheer Khan 3, S. Sahu c Martin b Zaheer Khan 42, M. Kartik c Mongia b Bhoite 2, K. Parida c Buch b Zaheer Khan 0, Harvinder not out 2. Extras (lb-7, b-4, nb-2, w-1): 14 Total (all out in 64.2 overs): 201 Fall of wickets: 1-40, 2-44, 3-46, 4-69, 5-101, 6-107, 7-190, 8-193, 9-194. Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 18.2-1-43-5, I. Pathan 2-0-13-0, V. Buch 26-7-75-2, A. Bhoite 18-1-59-3.
PTI |
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Umpires biased, says losing skipper Vadodara, April 23 Speaking to reporters, he said normally a better side wins, “but in the case of this final, it was not so.” Blaming the umpires for giving four verdicts “blatantly” in favour of Baroda, Sharma cited Yere Goud, Shreyas Khanolkar, Murali Karthik and Kulmani Parida as the victims of their second innings. Sharma may have blurted out the allegations in the heat of the moment and out of bitterness of watching the trophy being wrenched away from Railways grip which they had for more than three days but unless he withdraws or denies his statement he could be in deep trouble. So will be the case of Murali Karthik, who as it is has a tag of ‘bad boy’ at the start of his career. He kept turning and showing his bat to Tarapore after he had been given out caught behind. According to Tarapore, Karthik used abusive language. Both umpires were also pressurised by incessant appealing by Baroda players. Jubilliant Baroda captain Jacob Martin singled out Zaheer Khan and Satyajit Parab as the two architects of Baroda’s come-from-behind-win. He said Zaheer finally showed his international status while Parab’s consistency was responsible for bringing the team in the final and also scoring a 100 in it. He refused to accept that batting first on a greenish wicket of the first day was a mistake. “I will do the same again”, he added. The team was engulfed by the huge crowd after the win and Mongia was given the honour of taking a lap with the trophy.
UNI |
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A special piece on Sachin Tendulkar’s 28th birthday Irrespective of the score, whenever Sachin Tendulkar comes to bat, he is under pressure. The pressure comes from all those people who look up to him, who pray that he gets a century, who cheer like India has already won when he comes in to bat, and who silently troop out of the stands once he gets out. When a visiting team comes to India, they know whom the Indians look up to. While they love watching India play, there is no doubt that Tendulkar is the player they love watching most. There is a buzz when he comes in to bat and if he fails, the crowd goes quiet for the rest of the game. The great player that he is, Tendulkar gets a fair bit of adulation wherever he goes. Australians love their sportsmen and know a champion when they see one. Out here in Australia, he is seen as a great champion and is highly regarded by everybody who follows the game. One of the significant reasons for this is the praise that Sir Don Bradman lavished on him a couple of years ago. Sir Don had said that Tendulkar reminded him of the way he used to play. While I don’t quite agree with that — the little I’ve seen of Bradman on film proves he was in a different league — people in Australia sat up and took notice. Whenever Sir Don spoke, Australians did take note of what he said, and while some like me may not have agreed with him on this point, their regard for Tendulkar only grew. Like most Australians, the first look I got of him was when he came on tour in the early nineties. He was only 18 years, but handled the conditions remarkably well. He scored two Test centuries, including one in Perth, and negotiated the pace and bounce of the pitches with consummate ease. All who saw him on that tour knew that he was a player to watch out for. And Tendulkar has proved just that in the subsequent years. During the nineties, Brian Lara, Inzamam-ul Haq and yours truly have often been spoken of as the best in the batting business, along with Tendulkar. However, I would rate Tendulkar higher than the rest. Lara comes close because he is a proven match-winner, but he does give the opposition chances. Tendulkar is technically superior, has every stroke in the book and some of his own, and above all is remarkably consistent. But these are not the qualities that set him apart or make him the great player he is. Those qualities are in the mind. His aggression, his knowledge of his abilities and limitations and his awareness of what the opposition bowlers are capable of are what make him remarkable. He knows the game very well and knows the opposition bowlers very well. He always tries to control and dominate and this makes him an extremely dangerous player when he gets going. The only flaw, if one can call it that, is that he can get carried away. I believe Tendulkar recently admitted that this is a drawback in his game. Sometimes he gets into the mindset of wanting to hit every ball to the boundary, and that over-confidence sometimes leads to his dismissal. But if I know the guy, he will soon be working on that aspect of his game as well. While Tendulkar is a master of both forms of the game, he has the one-day game worked out pretty well. This was in evidence in the one-day series between India and Australia. In the first two games he was in ominous touch but was dismissed because of his over-confidence. He decided he was worth more than 35 explosive runs in each match and changed his approach in the third game. Result: a superb century in which he did not murder the opening bowlers like in the first two games, but still managed to get a century at more than a run a ball. Add to that the fact that he is an under-rated bowler and you know why the Indians love this wonderful cricketer so much. It would be very difficult to pick any one knock and term it as the best I’ve seen because Tendulkar has always saved his best for Australia. It is also very difficult to predict how many centuries he will get before he retires. I reckon he’ll play another 8 to 10 years, and would be surprised if he does not get more than 40 centuries. I personally love to watch him bat from my position in the slips. While I keep hoping he gets out, I must admit that his strokeplay is a treat to watch from that position. A great ambassador for the game, he will be one of those players who will be regarded as an all-time great long after he has stopped playing.
Gameplan |
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BCCI working committee
meeting today Chandigarh, April 23 If the working committee decides in favour of Chandigarh then the time is not far when players from Chandigarh can play in national-level tournaments conducted by the board, including the Ranji Trophy. But in case the working committee opts not to give direct affiliation to Chandigarh then the game in the Union Territory will suffer. Once the working committee takes a decision the proposal will be put before the annual general body meeting of the board scheduled to be held in late September next. But once the working committee takes a decision the general body rarely reverses it. While the states of Jharkhand and Uttaranchal have come into existence fairly recently, Chandigarh has been waging a long-drawn battle spanning over 25 years for getting direct affiliation with the board. All this while the board refused to take recognition of Chandigarh and a one-time BCCI secretary, Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya, had gone on record to say that Chandigarh “is a disputed territory”. It was only at the last annual general body meeting of the board held in Chennei last September that the board decided to send a three-member fact finding team to Chandigarh as also the other states and the Union Territory of Pondicherry to examine the infrastructure and facilities available there. The report of this fact-finding team will come for discussion at tomorrow’s working committee meeting. The three-member panel of the board which included Shivlal Yadav, former Test cricketer and a senior functionary of the Hyderabad Cricket Association, Mr Ratnakar Shetty, joint secretary of the Mumbai Cricket Association, and Mr Sharad Dhiwadkar, executive secretary of the BCCI, was impressed with the facilities available in Chandigarh during its visit here earlier this month. Privately, they have said that the facilities in Chandigarh were as good if not better than those available in a number of affiliated units of the board. But the district units of the Punjab Cricket Association and the Haryana Cricket Association working in Chandigarh did try to put a spanner in the work of the UT Cricket Association (the body which all these years has been trying hard to get the affiliation of the board for Chandigarh) by raising all sorts of questions. In case direct affiliation for Chandigarh does come about then these bodies would be left with no work. Since players from Chandigarh can play for either Punjab or Haryana at the moment these “district units” have done their bit to promote the game in Chandigarh but in case direct affiliation does come about players from Chandigarh will not have to run to the neightbouring states to play top class cricket. One thing which might work in Chandigarh’s favour is the fact the working committee will take up a number of affiliation cases in one go. The states of Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and the union territories of Chandigarh and Pondicherry are situated in different zones and if affiliation is granted to all of them it should not disturb the “equation of numbers” in the board. North zone will get one more vote, as will central zone, south zone and east zone. And such a situation should be welcome by all factions in the board as they prepare for the next elections to the board. The only thing which might go against Chandigarh as also Pondicherry is the fact that the BCCI has so far never given affiliation to any union territory. Will the board go against laid down norms? But then it must be remembered that the BCCI has granted affiliation to more than one unit from certain states and has even granted direct affiliation to clubs. These clubs field no teams in tournaments and only matter at the AGMs of the board. The primary task of the BCCI is to propagate the game in India. And by granting affiliation to more units it will only take the game to more areas of the country. And should this not be welcome by all? But then who can ever predict the actions of the most prosperous and powerful sports body in the country? |
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Windies work hard to capture early wickets Kingston, April 23 South Africa lead the five-match series 2-0 after victories in the second Test in Trinidad and the fourth Test in Antigua. South Africa, set an improbable 386 to win, ended the fourth day on 140 for three. Opener Herschelle Gibbs topscored with 51, his fourth half century of the series. Neil McKenzie survived to close unbeaten on 40 in three hours while Jacques Kallis was five. There was a wicket apiece for West Indies captain Carl Hooper, Mervyn Dillon and Courtney Walsh. The West Indies had to work hard for their wickets as the tourists set their sights on batting out five sessions to save the match or achieve an unlikely win. Openers Gary Kirsten and Gibbs comfortably saw off the new ball assault of the wily veteran Walsh and Cameron Cuffy. The pair confidently added 37 before Dillon struck to consign Kirsten to another low score. Left-hander Kirsten made 14 before he aimed to leave alone outside off stump and deflected a catch to the wicket-keeper off the bottom edge of his uplifted bat. Kirsten, who scored a fine 150 in the first Test in Guyana, ended the series with 31 runs from his last six innings. Gibbs and McKenzie continued to play with assurance and the West Indies bowlers was stone-walled by the pair. The 27-year-old Gibbs started to stroke the ball sweetly and counted five boundaries in reaching his half century. He only advanced to 51 before an injudicious stroke to the part-time off spin of Hooper caused his downfall and lifted local spirits. Gibbs batted two hours, 45 minutes when he tried to hoist Hooper over the leg side and was bowled off stump. His second wicket partnership with McKenzie was worth 65. AP Scoreboard West Indies (First innings): 225 South Africa (First innings): 141 West Indies (Second innings): 301 South Africa (Second innings):
Target 386 Kirsten c wk Jacobs b Dillon 14 Gibbs b Hooper 51 McKenzie not out 40 Cullinan lbw b Walsh 18 Kallis not out 5 Extras: (byes 4, leg-byes 7, no-balls 1) 12 Total:
(for three wickets, 64 overs): 140 Fall of wickets: 1/37, 2/102, 3/124. Bowling:
Courtney Walsh 13-3-33-1, Cameron Cuffy 8-3-10-0, Mervyn Dillon 10-2-38-1, Dinanath Ramnarine 17-3-29-0, Carl Hooper 16-5-19-1. |
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Punjab youngsters
impress Dravid Chandigarh, April 23 The middle-order batsman known more for the correct technique while batting than the flamboyance and exuberance of the likes of master blaster Sachin Tendulkar or skipper Saurav Ganguly said he was pleased with his knock of 180 runs in the second Test at Kolkata against unofficial world champions Australia. “Since it helped turn the tables on the formidable Australians it was quite satisfying.” Dravid and middle order batsman V.V.S. Laxman were associated in the 376-run partnership as elegant Hyderabad batsman went on to pile up 281 runs, the highest by any Indian batsman in Tests, as India finally ended the unprecedented 16-Test winning streak of the Aussies. The stand proved crucial as it helped bring the Australians on to their knees and India aided by inspired offie Harbhajan Singh were able to wrap up the Test series. “I am comfortable batting at any spot,” was his curt reply when quizzed about the No 6 slot
allotted to him instead of the one-down position he had batted for so long, both in one-dayers as well as Tests. Looking supremely fit Dravid, who forms the nucleus of Indian batting along with Tendulkar, Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman, felt the current Indian squad, even after the induction of new blood, was fairly balanced and capable of putting up a good fight. Dravid, who went through the grind of county cricket last year, was all praise for the PCA Stadium and the facilities provided there saying they were comparable with the best in the world. Dravid looked content answering the queries posed by the sports reporters when certain overzealous officials of a company for which Dravid was in the city and signed a contract, cut short the interaction and whisked away the star batsman in a huff on the plea that a Press conference, though with business reporters had already been organised. |
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Pak fail to seal deal with foreign coach Karachi, April 23 The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said the delay had also been caused by concern over the fitness of five players and the announcements had been put back 24 hours tomorrow. “The negotiations with the coach are still in progress. We are hoping to finalise something very soon,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Director Munawwar Rana told Reuters from Lahore. “The team will now be announced tomorrow.” Rana did not say who the likely coaching appointment would be, although sources within the PCB say English-born, South African-based Richard Pybus was the leading contender. Former coach Javed Miandad was sacked at the start of April.
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PM’s order: Afro-Asian Games on time New Delhi, April 23 The dates will be as scheduled from November 3 to 12 and the number of disciplines will be eight as decided originally. The decision to hold the games was taken at a meeting convened by the Prime Minister at Indian Olympic Association’s request. Besides the Prime Minister and IOA President Suresh Kalmadi, Sports Minister, Uma Bharati and Vijay Kumar Malhotra, a senior Vice-President, IOA were also present at the 45-minute meeting. Expressing his relief and happiness, Mr Kalmadi told UNI “The meeting was cordial and the Prime Minister listened to our side and felt we could conduct the games on time.” Mr Kalmadi said Mr Vajpayee reviewed the status of the infrastructure and felt that “everything was in order”. After the meeting Uma Bharati said, “We will go by whatever the Prime Minister says.” The eight discipline games will be held in are athletics, swimming, hockey (men and women), tennis, shooting, weightlifting, boxing and football. Commenting on the decision by the Prime Minister, IOA Secretary-General Randhir Singh, who is also the Secretary-General of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said, “This is a great decision for sports in India. We have no time to lose and we must ensure that the job is properly done. All eyes are now on us.” The Prime Minister is believed to have told the officials of the Sports Ministry all concerned agencies must co-ordinate and ensure that the games were a success because the prestige of the country was at stake. Hailing Mr Vajpayee’s decision, Mr Kalmadi added, “The decision is great and ensures that our international commitments are honoured.” Added Randhir Singh, whose office was busy throughout the afternoon sending messages of the news to the other countries in Asia and Africa, “The technical manuals are all complete. We were just waiting for the go-ahead and now we will co-ordinate with the ministry to ensure that the renovation is completed in time. Since the money has already been cleared at the cabinet level, there should be no problems.”
UNI
Osaka, April 23 While the men defeated Saudi Arabia in Group K of the second division, women blanked Malta in Group G of third division. S. Raman gave India the lead by defeating Abdulaziz Al Abbad of Saudi Arabia 21-15, 21-11 in the opening game and Chetan Baboor made it 2-0 when he beat Khaled Al Harbi 21-14, 22-20. National champion Soumyadeep Roy then clinched victory for India overcoming the challenge of Khaled Al Khedair 10-21, 21-16, 21-16. Earlier, in the women’s section N.R. Indu capped India’s victory with a 21-0, 21-0 whitewash of Chen Shan of Malta in the third singles after the top two players Mouma Das and Poulomi Ghatak had registered convincing wins. Mouma defeated Nadia Bonett 21-5, 21-4 while national champion Poulomi beat Johanne Grech 21-16, 21-10 to give India a comfortable 2-0 lead.
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UPCA beat Airlines Lucknow, April 23 Given a victory target of 215 runs by the UPCA, the Airlines team crumbled under a disciplined bowling attack by their opponent, falling short of 50 runs in the end. Chasing the victory target, Airlines also opened in poor form, losing the first two quick wickets of Vijay Dahiya (5) and V.V.S. Laxman (7) with the team score at 29. SCOREBOARD UPCA: Dipankar Malviya c Ricky b V. Jain 13, Nasir Ali c Laxman b Harbhajan 50, M. Tripathi C.S. Sharma b V. Jain 01, Mohd Kaif c Sukhvinder b N. Chopra 72, Saurabh Shukla lbw N. Chopra 04, Gyanendra Pandey c Ricky b Chopra 10, Javed Anwar c Laxman b Chopra 00, Lalit Verma C.S. Sharma b Harbhajan 09, Praveen Gupta not out 24, Ratnesh Misra c and b Harbhajan Singh 03, S. Srivastava run out 09. Extras: (lb6, nb 3, w10) 19. Total: (all out in 45 overs) 214. Fall of wickets: 1/23, 2/29, 3/90, 4/114, 5/132, 6/133, 7/150, 8/173, 9/193. Bowling: A. Gayoom 6-0-40-0, V. Jain 7-0-26-2, Sukhvinder Singh 5-0-23-0, Harbhajan Singh 9-0-55-3, N. Chopra 9-0-31-4, S. Sharma 9-0-33-0. Indian Airlines: Ravneet Ricky c Salabh b R. Misra 91, Vijay Dahiya c Kaif b M. Tripathi 05, V.V.S. Laxman c Lalit Verma b Tripathi 07, Munish Sharma c (sub Ansul) b L. Verma 26, J. Arunkumar b S. Srivastava 03, Sukhvinder Singh b R. Misra 00, Nikhil Chopra c Javed b R. Misra 04, Harbhajan Singh b Ratnesh Misra 11, Abdul Qayoom lbw Praveen Gupta 06, Sonu Sharma b Shalab Srivastava 00, V. Jain not out 02. Extras: (lb 1, nb 5, w3 ) 09. Total: all out in 37.2 overs 164. Fall of wickets: 1/23, 2/29, 3/118, 4/126, 5/128, 6/139, 7/148, 8/158, 9/160. Bowling: Salabh Srivastava 7.2-0-40-2, Mritunjaya Tripathi 6-0-13-2, G. Pandey 4-0-16-0, Ratnesh Misra 6-0-25-4, Praveen Gupta 5-0-31-1, Lalit Verma 4-0-22-1, Mohd Kaif 5-1-16-0.
UNI |
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Zee
Churchill hold Vasco Margao, April 23 Edson Wanderly, in the 39th minute and Vishant Pednkar, in the 77th minute, scored for Vasco while Igor Shkvirin, in the 78th minute and substitute Abhisek Yadav, in the 85th minute, scored for Churchill Brothers. With this drawn match Churchill remained on fourth place in the overall standings increasing their point tally to 33 points from nine wins, six draws and six defeats. While Vasco jumped on to fifth place with 27 points from five wins, 12 draws and three defeats pushing down Salgaocar Sports Club to sixth place with 26 points. Vasco, leading by a goal at the breather through Edson Wanderely in the 39th minute, attacked with more vemon after change over and increased
their lead through Vishant Pednakar, who dribbled past couple of rival defenders and shot into the goal off a pass from Ristan Rodriques.
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