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Saturday,
February 23, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Saurav Ganguly writes ‘Lucky’ Hayden torments SA |
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Rain rescues East Zone; West Zone win
India fight off Russian challenge 11 teams for Asian U-19 eves soccer Selection tough: Cedric Union condemns police entry
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India sit easy with Das’ ton Nagpur, February 22 Zimbabwe and Nagpur once again proved lucky for the diminutive Das, who completed his second Test century and was associated in two fine partnerships with Deep Dasgupta and Rahul Dravid. Das’s earlier century had come against the same opposition at this very ground. After batting fluently for nearly five hours, Das who added 130 runs for the second wicket with Dravid, got out in the last over of the day for 105 which was studded with 19 boundaries. Dravid remained unbeaten on a sedate 57 while Sachin Tendulkar, who came out to bat for only four balls, was yet to open his account when stumps were drawn for the day. Earlier, Zimbabwe stretched their first innings to 287, thanks to a solid 59-run stand for the ninth wicket between Travis Friend and Ray Price, who later picked both the wickets to fall in the Indian innings. The duo resumed at Zimbabwe’s overnight score of 248 for eight and batted close to an hour in the morning before Price was run out for 18. Leg-spinner Anil Kumble then trapped last man Brighton Watambwa (0) leg before wicket to bring Zimbabwe innings to close. Friend remained not out on a well-made 60. Das started on a fluent note, his first seven scoring shots being boundaries. However, he was lucky to have survived two chances early in his innings. After hitting Heath Streak for a four in the very first over, Das snicked an outgoing delivery in the bowler’s next over which flew between the first slip and wicketkeeper on its way to the third man fence. One over later, Das was unable to get away from a sharply rising delivery from the same bowler but the ball fell just short of the fielder at gully. However, Das shrugged off the scares to play some beautiful cuts and drives, with Streak also taking his brunt. Dasgupta, who had taken a long time for his first run, also gained in confidence and flourished in the company of Das. The two took the score to 41 without loss at lunch. Both batsmen used their feet effectively against left-arm spinner Ray Price, who was introduced early in the Indian innings. Dasgupta even lofted the bowler for a straight six. However, price extracted his due when he clean bowled Dasgupta with a ball that spun in sharply. Dasgupta, who scored 33, had offered his pads and was stunned to see the delivery crash into the stumps. The first-wicket association yielded 79 runs. The run rate fell after the dismissal of Dasgupta and the second session produced 74 runs in 30 overs. Das continued with his attractive strokeplay with Dravid, coming back to international cricket after nursing a shoulder injury, and the two were hardly troubled by the bowlers even though Friend and Price bowled a disciplined line. Das reached his century with a cracking boundary, his 18th, through point off Trevor Gripper. He then celebrated the
occasion by pulling the next ball through mid-wicket for another four. Dravid, who in the meanwhile, had reached his forties took a long time to complete his half-century, finally reaching the milestone off 133 balls. Both played patiently after that before Das got unlucky to be caught in the slips by Alistair Campbell. Off the second ball of the last over, Das attempted a cut, a shot he played competently throughout the day, and the ball flew to the slips after taking the top edge of the bat. Earlier, Friend and Price frustrated the Indian bowlers in the morning with a defiant stand. The two of them stuck to their wickets and produced some fine strokes to keep the scoreboard moving at brisk pace. Friend, who was on 33 overnight, reached his half-century and continued to defy the Indian attack before the last two wickets fell in quick succession. SCOREBOARD Zimbabwe (1st innings): Carlisle run out 77 Gripper c Dasgupta b Zaheer 5 Campbell c Laxman
b Kumble 57 A. Flower b Zaheer 3 G rennie c sub (Sehwag) G. Flower c Dravid b
Kumble 14 Streak c Das b Zaheer 24 Taibu b Kumble 1 Friend not out 60 Price run out 18 Watambwa lbw b Kumble 0 Extras (b-6, lb-11, nb-2) 19 Total (all out, 103.5 overs) 287 Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-118, 3-125, 4-151, 5-175, 6-182, 7-194, 8-227, 9-286. Bowling: Srinath 22-6-65-1, Zaheer 14-3-45-3, Bangar 8-3-20-0, Kumble 33.5-12-82-4, Harbhajan 26-8-58-0. India (1st innings): Das c Campbell b Price 105 Dasgupta b Price 33 Dravid batting 57 Tendulkar batting 0 Extras (b-8, lb-1, nb-3, w-2) 14 Total (for 2 wkts, 74 overs) 209 Fall of wicket: 1-79, 2-209. Bowling: Streak 15-6-42-0, Watambwa 12-4-33-0, Price 23-5-64-2, Friend 10-2-18-0, G. Flower 11-2-28-0, Gripper 3-0-15-0.
PTI |
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Saurav Ganguly writes TWO
days into the Test and India are in a very good position to go in for the kill. It will be hugely disappointing if we don’t win from here since we have played excellent cricket over the first two days of the Test. I lost an important toss on a wicket that looked ideal for batting. However, the bowlers performed magnificently to ensure that the Zimbabweans could not capitalize after getting first strike. They deserve all credit for dismissing the team for 287 on this wicket. Deep Dasgupta and SS Das once again proved that they are a reliable opening pair. Deep was a little unlucky to get out after getting set, but Das once again dug into the Zimbabwean attack. He really likes batting against them, and now has two centuries to go with the man of the series award he won during our tour last year. Dravid took his time to settle down, and is playing a typical Dravid knock — solid and fighting. It’s difficult to say whether we could have scored faster since the field settings were extremely defensive right from the start. I would probably have liked 30-40 more runs at the end of the day. Among the bowlers, Zaheer Khan, who was essayed a tremendous comeback, certainly stood out. He was quick and accurate right through the first day. The ball he dismissed Andy Flower which was absolutely outstanding — I think he would have got any batsman in the world with that yorker. Anil Kumble, too, was accurate right from the start. I always believe that like batsmen, bowlers too blossom in partnership. Kumble was well supported by Harbhajan Singh, because the latter ensured that there was pressure on both sides. Harbhajan too bowled very well and was unlucky not to scalp anyone in the first innings. It was disappointing not to finish off the innings quickly after Zimbabwe were 194 for seven at one point. However, credit must go to Tavis Friend for batting extremely well. He was playing orthodox cricket shots rather than relying on edges and slogs. It was a genuinely good knock rather than bad bowling that elongated their innings. Tomorrow is a crucial day, with Sachin Tendulkar and Dravid at the crease. Since the second new ball is due, there is a good chance that the run rate will pick up, especially since Tendulkar is in very good nick. We don’t intend to bat a second time and will look at a score of around 600. It was unfortunate that Virender Sehwag had to sit out of this game since he is a talented player with a great future ahead. I had a word with him before the match and explained to him that on this flat wicket the pacers needed an extra bowler to relieve the burden. It is extremely hot out here and the fast men can only be used in short bursts. As I mentioned earlier, Sehwag is a talented batsman and will be back sooner than later.
Gameplan |
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Hayden, injuries torment SA Johannesburg, February 22 Hayden, put down in the second over by Jacques Kallis, took advantage of South Africa’s erratic bowling to score his century off 189 balls in 290 minutes and featuring 18 fours and two sixes. Mark Waugh added 53 runs on a day when South Africa’s woes were compounded by a tearful Alan Donald leaving the field with a hamstring injury in the final session. Donald collapsed in a heap clutching his right leg after a delivery to Adam Gilchrist, and had to be helped off the field. Donald’s departure came in the wake of Gary Kirsten leaving the field earlier in the day with a laceration under his right eye after being hit in the face off a hooked shot by Mark Waugh while fielding at silly mid-on. Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist, will resume tomorrow. Australia (Ist innings): Langer lbw b Donald 28 Hayden c Boucher b Nel 122 Ponting c Boucher b Nel 39 M.Waugh c Boucher b Ntini 53 S.Waugh c Gibbs b Kallis 32 Martyn not out 21 Gilchrist not out 25 Extras: (lb-7 w-4) 11 Total: (for 5 wkts, 90 overs) 331 FoW: 1-46 2-113 3-224 4-272 5-293 Bowling: Donald 15.2-2-72-1, Ntini 20-3-62-1, Kallis 14-1-57-1, Nel 20.4-5-64-2, Boje 20-2-69-0.
Reuters |
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Will history repeat itself after 27 yrs? Kuala Lumpur, February 22 The historic India-Pakistan clash for the gold in the third World Cup in this very city is too significant to be forgotten. Billed as the key tie of the championship, a 50,000 strong crowd thronged the stadium to witness the contest of the arch-rivals. Reminisces Raja Aftab, son of Sardar Mohammed Roshan Khan, owner of Omar Khayam restaurant on the Jalan Medan Tuanku, who is a close friend of former Pakistan skipper Akhtar Rasool as also the former Pakistan goalkeeper Saleem Sherwani: “As French umpire Renaud signalled the bully-off, Pakistan led by Islahuddin were the first to forge ahead through inside-left Mohammed Saeed and maintained the lead till the breather. However, a fully-charged up India under the command of Ajit Pal Singh, displaying nerves of steel, hit back with vengeance. The brilliant tackling and uncanny anticipation had to be seen to be believed. A penalty corner awarded by Malaysian umpire Vaidyanathan after VJ Phillips was body-checked by Manzur-ul-Hassan was successfully converted by the late Surjit Singh bringing the two teams level 1-1. About 20 minutes before the long whistle, the match winner off a 15-yard flick by Ashok Kumar after Harcharan had crossed to Phillips sent the crowd into raptures. Goalkeeper Sherwani was completely beaten and the goal drew protests from Islahuddin and his team-mates which, however, were of no avail. When the long whistle blew, it was
ecstasy all around as the victorious Indians tossed their jersies and sticks in the air to celebrate one of the most cherished wins of Indian hockey. As Indian skipper Ajit Pal Singh walked up to receive the $75,000 gold cup from the Malaysian Prime Minister, Mr Tun Abdul Razak, a mighty roar went up which refused to die down despite the rain that soon followed.” Back home, the mood was no different. In the national capital, a roar went up in the Central Hall of Parliament as MPs sitting glued to transistor sets heard commentator Jasdev Singh announce the momentous achievement. A massive crowd gathered in Connaught Place and to the accompaniment of drums danced through the streets of Delhi. At an adjoining restaurant, the owner overcome by emotion, refused lunch payments from customers. At Panjab University, Chandigarh, where the team had received coaching, a wave of joy swept through the campus and the din of crackers overshadowed all activity. Congratulatory messages from the President, the late Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, and the late Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, followed. “The players displayed great skill and dexterity,” said Mr Ahmed. Union Education Minister Nurul Hassan, former IHF chief Ashwani Kumar, and Punjab Chief Minister Zail Singh also lauded the team’s achievement. A public holiday was declared in Punjab for Monday, March 17. Team manager Balbir Singh and coach GS Bodhi were feted and lavishly praised and Zail Singh in a special gesture announced cash awards of Rs 5,000 for each member of the team. The nation was indeed basking in glory. When the team arrived at the Madras airport on March 19 from Singapore customs officials, unaware of the achievement, imposed heavy duty on the team’s baggage, which ,however, was waived on the Prime Minister’s intervention. The team arrived to a tumultuous welcome in Punjab. In Amritsar, people stood by the roadside for over three hours to cheer the new heroes. Receptions were organised at Ludhiana, Jalandhar and other cities. However, that is now history. But it is once again the same city where India will battle to regain lost glory. Will history repeat itself after 27 years ? Will Baljit Dhillon, Dhanraj Pillay and others deliver? Will another golden chapter be added to the history of Indian hockey? Recent victories, including gold in the Asian Games, gold in the junior World Cup at Hobart and the title in the Champions Challenge Trophy, have raised hopes of an improved Indian showing. Will the present lot maintain the winning streak? Only time will tell. |
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WORLD CUP DIARY Kuala Lampur, February 22 * * * The Kuala Lumpur weather is akin to the Indian monsoon season but with a difference. When it rains, like it did yesterday and today, there is hardly any trace of water in the end. The level of cleanliness and efficient storm water drainage system may well be an eye opener for administrators and bureaucrats back home. * * * The Concorde
hotel, where all the teams and officials are staying, is the hub of all
activity. Players, coaches, officials, and organisers are busy in last minute preparations. The World Cup secretariat is also functioning from its premises. * * * Love for Punjabi food sent India’s Sukhbir Singh Gill on the hunt for Indian restaurants on Friday afternoon and he was soon back at the Concorde with a stock of ‘chapattis’ and vegetable
curry. Then along with Baljit Saini and Daljit Dhillon,who were keenly watching European soccer on TV, he sat down to savour the simple but tasty food leaving the Concorde chef wondering whether his delicacies were palatable or not. * * * Sleep is indeed precious and who can vouch for it better than India’s mercurial forward Dhanraj
Pillay. After breakfast, Pillay enjoys uninterrupted sleep even at the cost of his lunch! Perhaps this is the secret of his versatility. |
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Rain rescues East Zone; West Zone win Ludhiana, February 22 Rain delayed the start of the play by more than two hours and the match was reduced to a 38-overs a side. East Zone won the toss and chose to field first. They tasted success in the fourth over, when right arm medium pacer, Laxmi Rattan Shukla got opener Gautam Gambhir caught in the third slip by Sanjay Raul. Munish (64), Dinesh Mongia (26) anchored the innings and piled up 56 runs for the third wicket. North Zone were 164 for five after 33.3 overs when the play was stopped due to bad light. When the play resumed after lunch East Zone were required to score 148 runs in 25 overs. They were struggling at 25 for two after eight overs at 3.42 pm when bad light forced the umpires to halt play. North Zone: Gautam Gambhir c Sanjay Raul b Laxmi Rattan Shukla 3, Munish Sharma c Laxmi Rattan Shukla b Debashish Mohanty 64, Yuvraj Singh c and b Sumit Pande 28, Dinesh Mongia c Ajay Ratra b Debashish Mohanty 26, Mithun Minhas not out 22, Vijay Dahiya c P Mullick b Sanjay Pande 18, Ajay Ratra not out 6. Extras: 12 (lb-4, nb-3, w-5). Total 179 for 5 in 33.3 overs. FoW: 1-13, 2-67, 3-123, 4-131, 5-164. Bowling: Debashish Mohanty 7-1-27-2, Laxmi Rattan Shukla 8-1-38-1, Sumit Pande 7.3-0-44-2, Parag Das 5-0-29-0, Uttpal Chatterjee 6-0-37-0. East Zone: Parag Das not out 6, Sumit Pande c Yuvraj Singh b Ashish Nehra 16, Devang Gandhi c Gautam Gambhir b Ashish Nehra 0, P Mullick not out 1. Extras:- 2 (nb-1, w-1). Total 25 for 2 in 8 overs. FoW: 1-22, 2-24. Bowling: Amit Bhandari 2-0-13-0, Ashish Nehra 4-1-8-2, Vineet Sharma 2-0-3-0. Ravi Dhaliwal from Jalandhar: West Zone made heavy weather of their run chase before finally defeating South Zone by five wickets with a ball to spare in their one-day match played at the Burlton Park cricket stadium here. Opting to bat, South Zone were cruising at 215 for six in 41.1 balls before rain interrupted play. West zone then needed 198 runs in 29 overs to win the match. Harishikesh Kanetkar scored the winning runs on the penultimate ball of the match to enable his team to collect team four points. South Zone: J. Arun Kumar b S. Bahutule 34, D. Manohar c Parthik Patel b R. Morris 0, H. Badani st P. Patel b Rajesh Power 62, Venugopal Rao P. Patel b L. Patel 0, V. Bhardwaj c P. Patel b S. Bahutule 74, MSK Prasad c C. Williams b R. Morris 14, Arjun Yadav 17 n.o., S. Sriram 3 n.o. Extras: 11. Total: 215 for 6. Bowling: Lalit Patel 9-0-41-1, R. Morris 9-1-56-2, S. Bahutule 9-1-45-1, Ajit Bhoite 4-0-32-0, H. Kanetkar 1.1-0-11-0. West Zone: C. Williams c S. Sriram b V. Bhardwaj 16, R. Morris 35 run out, V. Kambli c D. Manohar b V. Bhardwaj 63, Jacob Martin lbw V. Bhardwaj 53, A. Kale c H. Badani b V. Prasad 4, H. Kanetkar 13 n.o, A. Bhoite 9 n.o. Extras: 8. Total: 201 for 5 in 28.5 overs. Bowling: V. Prasad 6-0-38-1, K.S. Shabuddin 5.5-0-47-0, Venugopal Rao 6-0-30-0, S. Sriram 5-0-27-0, V. Bhardwaj 6-0-51-0. |
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Russia, Korea join protest chorus Salt Lake City, February 22 Unhappy South Korea said they too were considering a boycott after accusing the referee of robbing their short track speed skating champion of a gold medal. Amid the protests, one sporting moment stood out. Teenage Olympic newcomer Sarah Hughes skated out of her skin to beat two favourites and land women’s figure skating gold for the USA. Her win came after Russian Olympic chief Leonid Tyagachev called a press conference to air Russian anger and disgust over alleged bias in three sports. He said International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Jacques Rogge had agreed to carry out a full investigation. IOC media director Francois Carrard said that Rogge had immediately written a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin to assure him that the games were being fairly run. Simmering Russian anger boiled over when Larissa Lazutina was barred from competing in the women’s 20km cross-country relay, an event the Russians had won in the past four games. The 36-year-old, who has nine career Olympic medals, returned abnormally high haemoglobin levels in two blood tests prior to the race, and in accordance with International Ski Federation (FIS) rules she was forced to pull out. Russia were already
unhappy at the decision to award a second gold medal to the Canadians in the “skate-gate” pairs figure skating controversy and alleged bias against their ice hockey players and aerials skiers. Hughes’s victory could spark more Russian anger. She beat Russian Irina Slutskaya into second place and world champion Michelle Kwan of the USA into third. The Russian was in tears and said: “Interesting thing about these Olympics, I’m obviously not the only Russian to have suffered here.” Russia are not the only angry nation here. South Koreans are also up in arms. They want world champion Kim Dong-Sung declared winner of the 1,500 metres short track race. The gold medal went to Apolo Anton Ohno of the USA, who crossed the line second but was ruled to have been fouled by the South Korean. South Korean delegation chief Park Sung-In said Koreans were weighing “various measures” and didn’t rule out boycotting the closing ceremony or withdrawing from the games. As the controversy heated, athletes got down to the business of winning and losing. Austria’s Stephan Eberharter, finally won a gold medal on his third attempt after collecting only silver and bronze in the downhill and super-G. Eberharter’s luck changed yesterday as he carved out two near-perfect runs for a combined time of 2:23.28 in the giant slalom. America’s gold medal hope Bode Miller won his second silver medal of the games and Lasse Kjus of Norway was third. With Russia’s absence from the 4x5km women’s cross country relay, Germany won the race, with Norway second and Switzerland third. Britain won their first Winter Olympic gold medal in 18 years when their women curlers beat Switzerland 4-3 in the final. Canada took the bronze medal after beating the USA 9-5 in the third-place playoff.
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India fight off Russian challenge Eindhoven, February 22 India opted to travel to Eindhoven instead of Melbourne, where Asia’s preliminaries take place later this week, after deciding they had a better chance of qualifying for the May 9-19 finals in Guangzhou, China. But when Stanislav Pukhov yesterday beat one of India’s strongest players, Abhinn Shyam Gupta, 7-1 7-5 3-7 0-7 7-2 in the opening match an upset looked on the cards at Eindhoven’s indoor sport centre. Chetan Anand equalled the scores before Nikhil Kanetkar proved too strong in the third singles. India sealed victory when the doubles pair of Thomas Sanave and V Diju beat Nicolaj Zuev and Stanislav Pukhov 7-2 3-7 8-7 7-5 although the Russians took the final doubles. India top Group Z along with England, who won their tie against Poland 4-1. Earlier, Sweden proved too powerful for rising force Ukraine, winning 4-1 in Group X, while France edged USA 3-2 in a thrilling match that went down to the final doubles rubber. In the women’s Uber Cup, the Netherlands breezed past India 5-0 in the evening session and Olympic silver medallist Camilla Martin earlier led the way as Denmark trounced Finland 5-0 in qualifiers. Martin, who had sparkled in the Danes’ 5-0 win over Scotland on Wednesday when she won her rubber in straight games without losing a point, was similarly impressive against Nina Weckstrom. The darling of Danish badminton was made to work only slightly harder yesterday breezing to victory 7-1 7-1 7-0 in just 17 minutes.
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11 teams for Asian U-19 eves soccer New Delhi, February 22 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) secretary-general Datu Peter Vellappan conducted the draw ceremony in Delhi yesterday in the presence of All-India Football Federation (AIFF) president P R Dasmunshi, secretary-general Albert Colaco, senior vice-president C R Vishwanathan, treasurer A R Khalil and other top AIFF officials. The eleven teams have been drawn into three groups. Group A and B comprise four teams each while Group C has only three teams. Hosts India have been drawn in the tough Group A, which includes Japan, Guam and the Republic of Korea while Group B comprises the “Chinese group of countries”, headed by China, Singapore, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong. The comparatively easy Group C has DPR Korea, Thailand and Uzbekistan. Mr Peter Vellappan said Japan, China and DPR Korea have been given top billing on the basis of their rankings. AIFF Secretary-General Albert Colaco said each group would have three matches each, except Group C, and the top three teams in each group, plus the best losers, will qualify for the semi-finals. The champions and runners-up will qualify for the first World Under-19 Women’s Soccer Championship finals to be organised by the International Football Federation (FIFA) in Canada from August 17 to September 2. Twelve teams representing various continents will participate in the finals. Meanwhile, Mr Vellappan also unveiled the new logo of the AFC for the benefit of the Indian audience. He said the new logo was “dynamic and futuristic is Asia’s’”. |
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Selection tough: Cedric Kuala Lumpur, February 22 “Every player had worked hard to secure a berth in the final 18 but then harsh decisions had to be taken. We have picked the best talent available and hope the efforts will bear fruit,” said the national coach. Cedric was all praise for junior World Cup captain Gagan Ajit Singh, who incidentally was among the four players axed during the final selection. “I admire Gagan’s magnanimity. I can well realise how a player feels on being dropped at the last hour. However, Gagan has risen in my esteem after I saw him going around wishing his team-mates good luck before flying back home. It was not the right time to discuss things with him at that moment but I hope he emerges as a better player and person and fight his way back into the reckoning in future,” Cedric concluded. |
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Union condemns police entry Chandigarh, February 22 The union alleged that the police was probably called to tarnish the image of the newly appointed Director, Sports, Mr Kartar Singh. The union, refuting claims to the contrary said the driver of the security staff was not beaten, instead he was on duty with the Director when matter was reported. A press note signed among others by union president Chandan Singh demanded stern action against the officer who had called the police. |
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WORLD
CUP DIARY
