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Wednesday,
April 10, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Saurav
Ganguly to bat at number three Harbhajan
undergoes MRI scan Chance for
India to overcome jinx
Stage set
for Tendulkar-Brian Lara battle |
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Chris Nevin of New Zealand pulls the ball to leg for four against Sri Lanka
at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Kanitkar
hammers unbeaten 154 NATIONAL FOOTBALL
LEAGUE
Schumacher
looks for revenge Cathy
Freeman pulls out Duleep
Trophy play abandoned Big win for
Punjab Police Course
for yoga teachers Isha
Lakhani stuns Archana
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Saurav Ganguly to bat at number three
Georgetown, April 9 “I will come at number three in the Test series,” Ganguly said here as the tourists abandoned their plans to visit the famous Keifter Waterfalls, some 50 kms away from the capital, but decided to take a break from practice. Ganguly said his decision to bat at number three was not only due to his performance against Zimbabwe in the New Delhi Test in which he scored a century. “I just feel too tired waiting for my turn at number five,” Ganguly said adding “I have spoken to Rahul Dravid on this issue and he has agreed.” Ganguly batted one down against Zimbabwe in the Delhi Test after a long time and played a match-winning knock of 136. Ganguly who batted at number three on his debut against England at Lord’s in 1996 struck two successive centuries in the series. Thereafter, he was put at number six against Sri Lanka in an away series in 1997, swapping places with Rahul Dravid who made one drop spot his own for a number of years. Dravid was to yield the premier batting slot to V V S Laxman during the Test series at home against Australia last year, the Hyderabadi going on play an epic innings of 281 at Kolkata. But after a string of failures, Laxman again made way for Dravid to come at number three. Ganguly is now back at No. 3 and the coming matches will determine whether it will be Ganguly or Dravid who bats at that spot in future. Dravid has batted at No 3 63 times in 55 Tests and scored 3118 runs. Ganguly is not far behind with an average of 48.93 batting at the same spot in 16 innings of his 53 Tests, compiling 734 runs with three hundreds and two fifties. Laxman, scored 627 runs from 12 innings in his 30 Tests at number three and has an average of 52.25, with one hundred and two fifties.
PTI |
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Harbhajan undergoes MRI scan
Georgetown (Guyana), April 9 But, with the experience of stalwarts like Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath and Rahul Dravid before it, the Indian team management was taking no chances as they decided to make the off-spinner undergo a fitness test before the Test and arranged for fellow offie Sarandeep Singh to be flown in as a standby. “I feel confident about playing in the first Test against the West Indies,” said Harbhajan who experienced pain in his right shoulder after hurling in a throw during Guyana Board President XI’s second innings on Sunday. “After I threw in from the outfield, I was in extreme pain. I could not lift my hand,” said Harbhajan Singh. Though the MRI scan report was yet to come, the concerned doctor has apparently conveyed to the team management that the ace off-spinner has no reason to worry. But team physio Andrew Leipus, who accompanied Harbhajan to Trinidad for the scan, said: “Though Bhajji (Harbhajan) feels very confident about his shoulder, I still need to have an examination done and only then would I be in a position to declare him fit for the Test”, said Leipus. Leipus will thus have a thorough examination done on Harbhajan on the eve of the first Test tomorrow which would include bowling and throwing. “Though his feeling confident about it is very encouraging, we must remember he is a national treasure and we can’t afford to take any chances on his fitness,” said Leipus. Harbhajan took four for 37 in the first innings of the match against the Guyanese Board President’s XI which India won by nine wickets. “There have been experiences in the past where if adequate precautions had been taken, a few injuries could have been handled well in time. If Kumble’s shoulder injury had been diagnosed early, he wouldn’t have had to miss a year of cricket. Similar is the case with Rahul Dravid’s shoulder,” said Leipus. Kumble’s shoulder trouble became manifest during the triangular tournament in Sharjah in November 2000 and he could return to the Indian team only for the tour to South Africa last winter after undergoing a shoulder operation. Similarly, Dravid had to miss the one-day series against England early this year in order to go through a rehabilitation programme in South Africa. He was experiencing discomfort in his right shoulder for four years but repeated scans on his shoulder were not able to shed much light. Only, last year, a comprehensive test done in Cape Town in South Africa while the Indians were on tour revealed the extent of his injury.
PTI |
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Chance for India to overcome jinx Chandigarh, April 9 The West Indies squad has never been so low cricket-wise as at this current juncture and India are in the best position to record a series win outside the sub-continent for the first time after 1986. And in the process if they prove the star allrounder, who in his time had never missed a game (either Test or one-dayer) due to injury, wrong it will do a world of good to Indian cricket. Though Ganguly has already gone to record to say that he did not agree with the comments made by Kapil, the best way to prove him wrong is by performing, and performing well, in the Test series which is scheduled to commence on April 11 as well as the one-dayers which follow the Test series. What provoked Kapil to make such a remark is not difficult to fathom. For somebody who wears his heart on his sleeve, Kapil must have gone through a lot of heartburns after India’s indifferent performances, specially abroad. Even at home the Indians have not been as successful as they used to be in the past and the way England crawled back into reckoning both in the Test series as well as the one-dayers this winter must have left Kapil (as well as all other former players and followers of the game) a very sad man. Therefore, his remarks must have been made to provoke the Indians (specially Ganguly and Sachin) to pull up their game because if these two perform well and to their full potential there is enough impetus to others to also give their best. And when the Indian squad performs to its full potential then only can India hope to pull off a win against the West Indies who might be down but are certainly not out. Another reason for Kapil to make these comments might be the fact that the two Indian players, as well as other key players like Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble, are getting themselves injured far too often. Sachin, in particular, has missed a number of matches in recent times, due to various injuries and every time he has missed a match alarm bells have rung in the Indian camp. As stated earlier Kapil during his complete playing career spanning over a decade and a half and more had never missed a match due to injury but he has also often played with injuries which the current-day player is not willing to ignore and continue playing for the country as he had done. And this might be another reason why the star allrounder has questioned the commitment of Saurav and Sachin both to India as well as to the game. During his time there were no physio or other training experts to guide him. But still Kapil during his playing career was among the fittest players on the international scene. Also, nobody did ever question his commitment to India’s cause. And therefore his comments on the commitment on the two Indian stars should be accepted with grace, both by the players and all those who have love for Indian cricket. But maybe Kapil in his heart hopes that his comments on these two players will propel them to perform to their full potential and steer India to a long-awaited series win abroad! |
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Stage set for Tendulkar-Brian Lara battle
Georgetown, April 9 Now that Lara is back, the fans can not only hope for a West Indies revival but also the ‘battle of masters’ between Lara and the world No 1 Sachin Tendulkar as the five-Test series gets underway here on Thursday. The rare match-up between the two, only the third (after 1994 and 1997) in their dozen years of top cricket, will surely act as a great advertisement for the game in both countries. Both are coming back from injuries, have in excess of 7,000 runs and a 50-plus average and are the two most dominant batsmen in world cricket. Punters in the Caribbeans and beyond are already hedging big bets on who would outscore the other. Cricketing greats are no less curious either. “Tendulkar has something special and he’s blessed. He can play in any era at any level. I would say he is 99.9 per cent perfect. As for Brian Lara, I think he is hungry for runs and may be he thinks he missed out on two years,” says Sir Vivian Richards. Lara’s mid-career slump has still not scarred his statistics much as his 7221 runs with 18 hundreds from 83 Tests at an average of 50.50 illustrate. On the other hand Tendulkar, going from strength to strength, has 7,673 runs from 91 Tests with 28 hundreds at 58.57. Lara, who lacks the discipline of Tendulkar, is a brooding superstar and impulsive as reflected in the number of sabbaticals he has taken from the game. But, Tendulkar would love to play a match winning knock in a fourth innings chase as Lara did with his unbeaten 153 against the Australians in Bridgetown in 1999-2000. The closest the Indian achieved was 136 in their defeat to Pakistan by 12 runs in Chennai in 1999. On his last visit here, Tendulkar, leading the side, missed a golden chance when India collapsed to 81 all out chasing 120 in the third Test at Bridgetown, Barbados. Tendulkar would also like to emulate the left-hander in scoring the big double hundreds. Lara has the highest scores ever made in Test or first class cricket - 375 against England in the Antigua Test in 1994 and 501 playing for Warwickshire in county cricket the same year. One great bowler who has earned the respect of both these stalwarts, Sri Lankan off-spinner Muthiah Muralitharan feels the two are the hardest to bowl to. “Lara and Tendulkar are the hardest batsmen to bowl against but the West Indian has troubled me more,” says Muralitharan. “May be Lara has the advantage as Tendulkar is a right-hander. My ability to turn big doesn’t get me wickets because Lara’s batting stance makes it difficult to get a leg before decision,” Muralithran said. The two also have a brilliant record against Sri Lanka. Tendulkar has scored 1124 runs against the Lankans with six hundreds. And Lara recently smashed 688 runs at 114.67 with three hundreds in the recent series, which Sri Lanka won 3-0, before injuring his elbow. Listen to Wisden editor Tim De Lisle: “Tendulkar is more secure, more consistent. Out of form (Lara) is worse than Tendulkar could ever be. But his best is better than anybody’s. He scores more runs, faster and turns (the fate of) more matches.” South Africa’s celebrated coach Bob Woolmer says the debate on who is better is a never-ending affair. “The debate will last forever but I go for Tendulkar by a whisker. He is stronger mentally and more placid, whereas Lara can be up one day and down the next...Lara has a fraction more flair and his hundreds tend to be big ones, but Tendulkar is more consistent.” Both Lara and Tendulkar made their Test debut within a year of each other in Pakistan and both have scored only one hundred against each other from a similar number of Tests — eight. During his crest phases, Lara is relentless and finds gaps in the field with ridiculous ease. But his high backlift and shuffling ways have landed him in trouble. Tendulkar, on the other, had very few dry runs because of a technique that is close to perfection. Former West Indian great Rohan Kanhai says, on their day both are unstoppable.
PTI |
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Kiwis beat Lanka
Sharjah, April 9 Scoreboard New Zealand: Nevin c sub (Dilshan)
b Muralitharan 45 Astle c Kaluwitharana b Zoysa 1 McMillan c Vaas b Zoysa 6 Fleming c Arnold 34
b Muralitharan Styris c Vaas b Muralitharan 2 Harris c Arnold b Muralitharan 33 Sinclair c Sangakkara
b Muralitharan 28 Oram not out 46 Franklin c Jayasuriya
b Buddhika 9 Tuffy not out 1 Extras
(lb-7, w-4, nb-2) 13 Total (for 8 wkts, 50 overs) 218 Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-31, 3-86, 4-92, 5-99, 6-155, 7-159, 8-197. Bowling: Vaas 6-0-43-0, Zoysa 7-0-37-2, Arnold 7-0-40-0, Muralitharan 10-3-9-5, Chandana 10-0-32-0, Jayasuriya 7-0-31-0, Buddhika 3-0-19-1. Sri Lanka Jayasuriya c Fleming b Tuffey 1 K. Sangakkara c Tuffey
b Butler 23 Atapattu c Butler b Harris 61 Jayawardene c Tuffey
b Styris 38 Arnold c Nevin b Astle 24 Kalwitharana lbw b Astle 10 Chandana c Tuffey b Styris 9 Vaas c McMillan b Styris 0 Murali c Franklin b Oram 8 Fernando run out 2 Extras: 12 Total: (all out 49.1 overs) 207 FoW: 1-7, 2-56, 3-125, 4-134, 5-159, 6-173, 7-174, 8-181, 9-199, 10-207. Bowling: Tuffey 8-3-28-1, Franklin 4-1-16-0, Oram 7.1-0-31-1, Butler 7-0-32-1, Harris 10-0-37-1, Styris 10-0-42-3, Astle 3-0-16-2 .
Reuters |
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Kanitkar
hammers unbeaten 154 Kolkata, April 9 Winning the toss and electing to bat, the visitors lost opener Niranjan Godbole (18) early but an unfinished 241-run second wicket partnership between Kanitkar and Nilesh Modi (88 no) put the team in the driver’s seat by the end of the day at the Eden Gardens. Kanitkar began sedately but gradually opened up to execute some glorious shots on both sides of the wicket with none of the East bowlers able to trouble him on what looked a very good batting track. While Kanitkar led from the front and did the bulk of the scoring, his partner Modi seemed quite content to give support to his senior partner in the stand that threatened to take the game away from East on the first day itself. East had themselves to blame for allowing the partnership to flourish as they dropped both Kanitkar and Modi when they were in the 60s, lapses which proved very costly. Scoreboard West Zone (1st innings): Modi batting 88, Godbole c Zufri b P Das 18, Kanitkar batting 154. Extras: (b-4, lb-4, nb-6) 14 Total: (for 1 wkt, 90 0vers) 274 Fall of wicket: 1/33. Bowling: Ingty 10-3-39-0, Shukla 8-1-28-0, Chatterjee 25-9-72-0, P Das 7-1-18-1, Lahiri 21-5-58-0, Raul 19-1-51-0.
PTI |
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NATIONAL
FOOTBALL LEAGUE Bangalore, April 9 Zee Churchill, who began their 21st engagement as favourites scored the lone goal through Yusif Yakubu in the 30th minute and led 1-0 at half time. Yakub not only succeeded in intercepting a pass from HASC’s Rajendra Prasad, but also made no mistake in shooting into the net, bringing cheer to his team. Churchill went into the game in an aggressive mood. In the 8th minute captain Roque Barretto’s powerful shot landed in the hands of goalkeeper Gumpe Rime. Rime brought two superb saves off Churchill attempts in 16th minute and 20th minute when Ratan Singh and Yusif Yakubu tried to score. HASC seemed to have concentrated more on defence rather than attack in the first half. In the second, HASC made a herculean effort to find an equaliser, but the wary Churchill men and custodian Edward Anash did not oblige. HASC came near scoring in the 80th minute when Sunil failed to head a pass from Danair Abdyraimov. With this win, Churchill increased their points tally to 42 and HASC remained at 25. During the proceedings, certain decisions of referee Krishan Avtar were contested by HASC supporters. The wordy duel that ensued between supporters of the two teams, threatended to snowball into a clash, with HASC fans hurling chairs towards Churchill’s supporters. However, the police soon intervened and took a few of the Churchill fans out. MARGAO: Powered by the brilliance of Rui Wanderely Weis favourite Arlem sponsored Vasco Sports Club brightened their hopes for the title outplaying Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) Bangalore 3-0 in the penultimate round of the Tata National Football League match being played here at Nehru Stadium Fatorda today. Vasco, who put up a dazzling display scored all three goals in the first half. Apart from Rui Wanderely Weis’ brace in the 9th and 34th minute, Luciano Jose was the other scorer in the 38th minute. Vasco Sports Club thus avenged the defeat they suffered by 1-3 in the first leg clash. With this win Vasco Sports Club took their tally to 40 points, one less then table toppers Mohun Bagan registering 12 wins, six draws and five defeats and now they will play their last match against JCT on April 15 at Ludhiana. ITI remained on 30 points from an equal number of outings. Vasco, who have bettered their performance with every outing were outstanding. They toyed with the rival defence right from the word go and drew first blood as early as in the ninth minute of the contest through their ace striker Rui Wanderely Weis when Agnelo Gomes after receiving a ball at the top of the box unleashed a shot which ITI goalkeeper failed to grab properly and the ball rebounded towards Rui Wanderely, who was lurking inside the box, pounced on the opportunity and tapped it into the net 1-0. After some persistent raids once again Vasco tasted success in the 34th minute through Rui Wanderely. Rui’s volley found the net after he received a cross from the right flank from Marcos Pereira. Vasco consolidated their lead in the 38th minute through Luciano Jose, whose diving header from a free kick taken by Marcos Pereira deceived the rival goalkeeper N Balaji.
PTI, UNI |
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Schumacher
looks for revenge Stuttgart, April 9 “We’re all excited about the race since it’s our home race, and we hope for great support from the Tifosi fans”, Schumacher said on his personal website. “And we’ll need them because I except Williams to be very strong. But of course we want to make up for last year”. Schumacher was forced from the last April’s race with various technical problems after just 25 laps, allowing his younger brother Ralf to capture his first Grand Prix victory. Michael Schumacher leads the current drivers standings with 24 points after three races followed by Ralf (16 points) and his Williams teammate Juan Pabla Montoya (14). The elder Schumacher should be helped in Imola by teammate Rubens
Barrichello, who has failed to collect a point this season but will be allowed to drive in the new Ferrari F2000 for the first time in San Marino.
DPA |
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Cathy
Freeman pulls out Melbourne, April 9 The Sydney Olympic 400m gold medallist said the injury was a stress reaction brought on by her tough training regime following her return from a self-imposed break from athletics after her Sydney triumph. The national championships, which double as Commonwealth Games selection trials, begin in Brisbane later this week. By missing them, Freeman has placed her Commonwealth Games fate in the hands of the national selectors. She has run a qualifying time since returning to competition earlier this year.
AP |
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Duleep
Trophy
play
abandoned Jaipur, April 9 The two umpires C.K. Sathe (Pune) and Sameer Bhandekar (Mumbai) decided against having the day’s play after finding that a lot of water had accumulated in the area square of the wicket. The city experienced a thunder storm yesterday with the wind blowing at over 60-70 km per hour alongwith heavy downpour. It was found that water had seeped in on to the wickets despite the cover having been put up well in time. Though the city has a fine weather today it is unlikely that the match would start in time tomorrow. It would take some time in making the wickets playable with the help of rollers. It means, the game could be resumed some time after the lunch break. This tie is inconsequential as the two teams are already out of contention.
UNI |
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Big win for
Punjab Police
Bangalore, April 9 Playing in constrasting style, Punjab Police made mincemeat of Tamil Nadu at 4-1, while Indian Airlines, trailing 0-1, survived by the odd goal in three against Indian Hockey Federation XI. Last year’s runners-up Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited who were sitting pretty till the last 12 minutes with two early first half goals lost to a methodical Army XI who slammed three goals in a span of six minutes to register their second win in three matches. BPCL paled their chances for a semi-final berth. They were beaten by hosts Karnataka 3-4 in the opening encounter. UNI |
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Course for yoga teachers Chandigarh, April 9 Stating this here today, Mr Dharam Vir, President, Indian Yoga Federation, said yoga experts from prominent yoga research institutions would impart training to the teachers. Mr Dharam Vir said yoga teachers from several countries, prominent yoga institutions and universities of India would attend this course. The federation had also requested to Dr Hari Gautam, Chairman, University Grant Commission of India to direct all the departments of yoga of various universities to send their yoga teachers to participate in this special advance yoga training course. Yoga teachers would be given special training to promote physical yoga exercises as a sports activity among the school and college students. During the course, teachers would conduct special clinic of the rules of international and national level yoga competitions framed by Indian Yoga Federation. Besides, yoga teachers would also learn about the treatment of various diseases through yoga techniques based on modern scientific research. The spiritual discourses and practice of meditation would be the daily features of this training. The federation would simultaneously organise a yoga treatment camp for the practical training of the teachers. Various ailments like heart, blood pressure, back-pain, sondylitus, nasal allergies and problems related to digestive system would also be treated through simple yoga methods. A two-day yoga seminar on April 19 and April 20 would be a special feature of the yoga programme. |
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Isha Lakhani stuns Archana Nagpur, April 9 Lucky loser Rati Kumar also chalked out a
comfortable 6-1 6-2 win over qualifier Kanisha Mehta to progress into the second round. Top seed Hsieh Su Wei (Taipei) failed to report for her match as she did in the first leg at Mumbai. Meanwhile, the other seeded players who sailed smoothly into the next round included Mumbai leg winner Samrita Sekar who ousted Nagpur girl Lata Assudani 6-4 6-0 in about 45 minutes. Second seed Radhika Tulpule also had little difficulty in eliminating another qualifier Iciri Rai 6-1 6-2. Fifth seed Gautam Sheetal made shortwork of Sonal Sanap 6-1 6-1 while fourth seed Sonal Phadke prevailed over yet another qualifier Afreen Jahan 6-2 6-1. National grasscourt champion Sai Jayalakshmi routed Chirashanti Mohan Rajur 6-0 6-2 in half an hour.
PTI |
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Georgetown, April 9
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh
underwent MRI scan on his bothersome right shoulder in Trinidad
yesterday and, while the report was still awaited, expressed confidence
that he would be fit to play in the first Test against West Indies
starting here on Thursday.
Melbourne, April 9
Video
