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Sunday,
December 29, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Bangar set
to replace Das It’s now or never for India
Ball in ICC’s court, says Dalmiya England forced to follow on |
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Karnataka 269 for 6 against Haryana Inconsistent Indian sportspersons had a mixed year SGFI to blame: Rupa Saini CRPF, BSF in final Record double by Ajeetesh
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Bangar set to replace Das
Napier, December 28 There has been partial good news on both the injuries and the pitch front for the Indians who are desperately seeking their first win on this tour. Two of the three injured players — off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and all-rounder Sanjay Bangar — are fit and available for the match while the pitch here is reputed to be one of the better ones for the batsmen in New Zealand. However, with indications that Sachin Tendulkar once again would be missing out due to his ankle injury, the problems of the Indians are far from over. Tendulkar arrived with the team at the practice session this morning with a crepe bandage on his troublesome right ankle and limited his participation to offering advice to the younger players. Skipper Sourav Ganguly hoped his team’s nightmarish run on this tour would finally end tomorrow. “Its a matter of just one innings. Its a matter of spending time in the middle,” he said in his pre-match comments as the Indians put in extra hours at the net session. To the obvious question about the condition of the pitch, Ganguly said he had yet to examine it but had heard that it was good for the batsmen. “I have not seen the pitch though I saw a photo of it in a local newspaper yesterday. I realised wickets are making more news than the cricketers,” said the captain who had severely criticised the pitches for the two Test matches and the first one-dayer in Auckland, describing them as sub- standard for international matches. New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, who too had expressed his displeasure with the pitch in Auckland, felt that McLean Park was probably the best wicket in this series so far. “It would be the best wicket we have seen on this tour so far. As you go down the country, the wickets are pretty good. They will all improve with the sunlight and weather conditions improving,” he said. India are not likely to make more than one change in their squad, bringing in Bangar in place of Shiv Sunder Das who has already taken a flight home after playing the first game due to unavailability of three players due to injuries. Ganguly said the Indians sorely missed the services of a fourth seamer in Auckland where the match slipped away from them after having tied down the New Zealanders at 52 for six. Apart from being used as the fourth seamer, Bangar is also likely to partner Virender Sehwag at the top of the order with Ganguly once again demoting himself. Despite Sehwag’s woeful run in this country, Ganguly today gave him a big vote of confidence saying there was no need to change the batting slot of the dashing opener. “He has been successful in that position and everyone is struggling, so why change the order. After all he is the one who is going to open (in the World Cup) for us in South Africa,” Ganguly said. The skipper said every batsman was working very hard in the nets and having good hits but admitted that it was the performance in the match which counted. “A few balls hitting in the middle will give you more confidence than probably a week of nets. There would be coaches to tell you, ex-cricketers to guide you, but you have to go out there and do it in the centre,” he said. Tendulkar’s absence will provide V.V.S. Laxman with another opportunity to prove himself ahead of the selection of the World Cup squad on Monday. An integral part of the Test team, Laxman is a fringe player in the one-dayers and has not been doing well at all in this series. India are likely to go in with all the three seamers - Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra - who played in the first match, making it a four-pronged pace attack in combination with Bangar, almost a necessity in these conditions. Veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble is also all set to retain his place which means Harbhajan Singh would have to wait for his turn. Fleming was concerned about the form of his batsmen which he said was vital for continuing the team’s winning sequence. “Its too early to panic because we have not got runs. There is a lot more cricket to be played in this series, especially for the batsmen and hopefully for us it starts tomorrow,” Fleming said. “The bottomline is that we are crying out for some quality playing surfaces.” Timings (IST): 4:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. 8.40 p.m. to close of play. PTI |
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It’s now or never for India The Indian team is poised at a very critical turn. The Test series was utter humiliation and if the first one-dayer was any indication, the smaller version of the game also looks like a Herculean task. The Indians have to settle for nothing but a win in the second game at Napier tomorrow. I don’t know what the team composition will be like because it all will depend on how Sachin Tendulkar’s sprained ankle will respond, but I can tell you one thing. It is now or never for India. Batting continues to be India’s biggest headache ever since the tour began, and, I must confess, or batsmen haven’t learnt from their mistakes. They continue to hit shots from away from the wicket, without getting their body behind the bat, while none of them, barring Rahul Dravid, has been been able to come out of the fear of fast bowling. Admittedly the pitches have been very bowler friendly and even the best of batsmen will struggle on such pitches but till now, were we not under the illusion that the Indian batting is the best in the world in ODIs? I think Saurav Ganguly has to open the innings with Virender Sehwag because they have to capability of running away with the match. Both have been struggling against the seam bowlers but as leading players of the team, they have no option than to battle it out. Dravid must come in at number three and the innings has to be built around him. The batsmen must eschew risky shots and just aim for a total of 220-230, rather than 26-270. with a fickle New Zealand batting, our seamers can trouble the hosts within the total. They have bowled well in the Tests and the first ODI and I can expect similar results from them tomorrow. I would also favour India play Harbhajan Singh tomorrow because he has had a grip over the New Zealand batting and if he hits the jackpot, India have a chance to bounce back. I am keeping my fingers crossed. |
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Ball in ICC’s court, says Dalmiya Kolkata, December 28 Indian cricket control board had taken a strong exception to ICC’s threat of imposing hefty compensation on the board in case “India fails to send the best cricket team to the World Cup”. Dalmiya got his position strengthened following support by the Vajpayee government to him on the sponsorship issue. The Union Sports Minister, vikram Verma has assured Dalmiya of all protections against any threat of the ICC in this connection. BCCI chief said he had conveyed to Speed about their stand and now the ball was in the ICC’s court. “We will be waiting for further response from their end,” said BCCI chief, adding he would now hope some good sense would prevail on ICC. Dalmiya did not find any justification in ICC’s bindings. “Let ICC have its maximum mileage through sponsorship but the Indian players too should have their mileage, said Dalmiya. He wondered why the ICC was not softening its attitude towards the Indian players when the sponsorers themselves had shown their willingness to relax terms and conditions on sponsorship issue with the players. |
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England
forced to follow on
Melbourne, December 28 England finished the third day on 111 for two in their second essay with Michael Vaughan and skipper Nasser Hussain unbeaten on 55 and eight runs, respectively. The tourists still trail by 170 runs, and face an uphill task of avoiding the third innings defeat in a row. It lost in Adelaide by an innings and 51 runs and in Perth by an innings and 48 in conceding a 3-0 lead to Australia. White lifted England from another disappointing batting display when it slumped to 118 for six, having resumed the day on 97 for three. Australia had taken control of the Test with 551 for six declared following a career-best 250 by opener Justin Langer. Despite England being precariously placed, White provided entertainment by hitting three sixes and nine fours off 134 balls. He was helped by John Crawley (17), James Foster (19) and No. 10 Andy Caddick (17) as the last four wickets produced 152 runs. White played his best innings against Australia — where he grew up and played under-19 cricket — in his fifth Test. Gillespie was well supported by fast bowler Brett Lee, 2 for 70, and legspinner Stuart MacGill, 2 for 108. MacGill bowled 25 overs unchanged Saturday to take 2 for 72, before Gillespie armed with the second new ball ended the innings at tea. After England had lost three wickets for seven runs in 22 balls, White and Crawley counterattacked with a 54-run stand. A 55-run stand between White and Foster delayed the swift ending Australia anticipated by 90 minutes. Then skipper Steve Waugh took his 90th wicket and his first since October 1998 by trapping Foster leg before wicket to separate the eighth-wicket partnership. Scoreboard Australia (1st innings): 551 for 6 decl. England (1st innings): Trescothick c Gilchrist b Lee 37 Vaughan b McGrath 11 Butcher lbw b Gillespie 25 Hussain c Hayden b MacGill 24 Dawson c Love b MacGill 6 Key lbw b Lee 0 Crawley c Langer b Gillespie 17 White not out 85 Foster lbw b Waugh 19 Caddick b Gillespie 17 Harmison c Gilchrist b Gillespie 2 Extras:
(b-3, lb-10, nb-14) 27 Total: (all out 89.3 overs) 270 Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-73, 3-94, 4-111, 5-113, 6-118, 7-172, 8-227, 9-264 Bowling:
McGrath 16-5-41-1, Gillespie 16.3-7-25-4, MacGill 36-10-108-2, Lee 17-4-70-2, Waugh 4-0-13-1. England (2nd innings): Trescothick lbw b MacGill 37 Vaughan batting 55 Butcher c Love b Gillespie 6 Hussain batting 8 Extras:
(lb-2, nb-3) 5 Total: (for 2 wkts in 34 overs) 111 Fall of wickets:
1-67, 2-89. Bowling: McGrath 5-1-13-0, Gillespie 9-3-20-1, MacGill 13-3-37-1, Lee 7-0-39-0.
AP |
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Pak on verge of defeat
Durban, December 28 South Africa (Ist innings) 368 Pakistan (Ist innings) Umar c Smith b Hayward 39 Elahi c McKenzie b Ntini 39 Khan lbw b Pollock 1 Inzamamc and b Ntini 18 Youhana c Smith b Ntini 12 Iqbal run out 6 Razzaq c McKenzie Akmal c Pollock b Hayward 12 Mushtaq b Hayward 0 Younis b Hayward 28 Sami not out 0 Extras
(lb1, nb3, w1) 5 Total (all out in 48.4 overs) 161. Fall of wickets:
1-77, 2-83, 3-83, 4-107, 5-119, 6-120, 7-120, 8- 120, 9-145. Bowling: Pollock 14-5-23-1, Ntini 18-4-59-3, Hayward 10.4-1-56-5, Kallis 6-0-22-0. Pakistan (2nd innings): Umar lbw b Boje 39 Elahi c Smith b Ntini 18 Khan c Boucher b Kallis 30 Inzamam c Gibbs b Boje 13 Youhana c McKenzie Iqbal b Kallis 17 Razzaq c Boucher b Hayward 22 Akmal not out 21 Mushtaq c Boucher b Pollock 4 Younis not out 2 Extras
(lb-2 nb-7 w-1) 10 Total (eight wickets) 218 Fall of wickets:
1-50 2-64 3-88 4-132 5-156 6-184 7-199 8-216 Bowling : Ntini 17-4-48-1 (nb-4 w-1), Pollock 14-4-22-1 (nb-2), Kallis 17-5-30-2, Hayward 13-1-63-2 (nb-1),Boje 19-2-53-2.
AFP
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Karnataka 269 for 6 against Haryana Faridabad, December 28 Karanataka (1st Innings): Arun Kumar c Shafiq b Mishra 28, Barrington c Jitender b Mishra 32, Uthappa lbw b Vashisht 40, Bhardwaj b Joginder 53, Naidu c Narwal b Vashisht 30, Chougle batting 45, Akhil lbw b Joginder 4, Joshi batting 31. Extras (lb-5, nb-1) 6. Total (for 6 wkts, 94 overs) 269. Fall of wickets: 1-55, 2-72, 3-113, 4-171, 5-208, 6-224. Bowling: Joginder 18-6-39-2, Sumit Narwal 8-0-33-0, Amit Mishra 29-4-98-2, Pradeep Sohu 18-2-54-0, Gaurav Vashisht 21-4-40-2. Khurasia, Dholpure torment J & K Indore Aided by skipper Amay Khurasia and Sachin Dholpure’s chanceless tons, the Madhya Pradesh boys today piled up a whopping 350 runs for the loss of only 3 wickets as Jammu and Kashmir’s bowlers could hardly make a noticeable dent on the first day of a Ranji Trophy Group B league encounter here today. MP (first innings) S. Dholpure c G.P. Singh b S. Singh 131, N. Ojha b S. Singh 9, A. Khurasia b S. Khajuria 108, D. Bundela batting 75, A. Ali batting 0. Extras (nb 9, lb 3, b 10) 22. Penalty runs 5. Total in 90 overs for 3 wickets 350. Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-181, 3-339. Bowling: S. Singh 20-7-086-2, V. Sharma 10-3-032-0, S. Khajuria 31-4-114-1, A. Salam 9-1-046-0, J. Singh 20-5-054-0. Amit, Sharandeep jolt Rajasthan Jaipur: Deadly bowling by Amit Bhandari (5 for 52) and Sharandeep Singh (4 for 45) helped Delhi bundle out hosts Rajasthan for a paltry 145 on a good grassy wicket at the K.L. Saini Stadium on the first day of their four-day Elite Group-A Ranji Trophy cricket league match here today.
PTI, UNI |
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Inconsistent
Indian sportspersons had a mixed year
These headlines sum up performance of Indian sportsmen and women during 2002. There were some scintiliating as well as demoralising and dismal performances. Missing was the consistency . With a few exceptions, hardly any athlete or team gave a consistent performance throughout this eventful year which witnessed Commonwealth Games as well as Asian Games. Besides, there was World Cup Hockey for men. Unfortunately, the scintilliating performances got mired in controversies. It happened at Manchester during Commonwealth Games as well as at Pusan during the Asian Games. The only good news is that Indian athletics closes the year on a happy note as the middle and long distance runner, Sunita Rani, has been cleared of “doping” by the International Olympic Committee which found the tests conducted at Pusan “inconsistent” The best-ever performance for India in any international meet came during the 31st Commonwealth Games at Manchester where Indian shooters, lifters, athletes, women hockets and others reaped a rich harvest of medals, their highest ever, to the great jubiliation of sports lovers back home. Not only the sports enthusiasts, but even the Government was flabbergasted so much by the rich haul that all pending sanctions, including those of synthetic tracks and Astroturfs, got immediate clearance. Fecilitation function, too, was organised where one of the youngest medallist and a promising shooter, Abhinav Bindra, was given the lifetime achievement award, the highest an Indian player can hope to achieve. Besides Abhinav, the main cynosure of India eyes were shooter Anjali Bhagwat, Jaspal Rana besides women weightlifters — Kunjurani Devi, Sanamacha Chanu, Pratima Kumari and Shailaja Pujari. Though men lifters, too, did well but one of them Satish Rai tested positive for drugs and was stripped of the medals he had won besides leaving a bad taste in the mouth. Indian wrestlers — Ramesh Kumar, Krishan Kumar and Palwinder Cheema, too, turned out to be golden boys. Ali Md Qamar got the country its first-ever Commonwealth boxing gold. The Commonwealth Games also saw women athletes bagging their first-ever medals. Anju Bobby George (long jump) and Neelam Jaswant Singh (throws) got a bronze and a silver, respectively, to open the account. The women hockey team also won its first-ever internaional gold medal after the 1982 New Delhi Asiad with some superb performance, including two golden goal wins over South Africa (quarter-final) and hosts England in the final. It was followed with equally good performance by our track and field stars at Pusan Asian Games where the Indian flag was held high by none other Anju George, Bahadur Singh, Neelam Jaswant Singh, Sunita Rani, Binamol and her brother. Unfortunately, Sunita Rani’s bona fides were doubted as she “tested positive for drugs” in the tests conducted at the venue of the Games. A controversy followed and an enquiry was ordered back home which gave a clean chit to this young woman athlete from Sunam in Punjab. Subsequently, the IOC, too, cleared her of the charge and descided to restore gold and bronze medal won by her in the Games. In hockey, though India failed to defend its title won four years ago, by losing the final closely at 2-3 to the hosts South Korea, yet it had the satisfaction of beating Pakistan in the semi-finals. Though much was expected from the women hockey squad after its maiden gold medal triumph at manchester, it flopped, losing all four matches and finished fourth in a field of four. In men’s hockey, India did raise hopes of revival at Champions Trophy in Cologne but quickly faded away to lose the bronze medal match to Pakistan after beating them in the round robin league. Dhanraj Pillay was adjudged the best player of the Cologne tournament. In fact, Dhanraj was at his best throughout the year. In the World Cup held at Kuala Lumpur, early in the year, Indian team finished a poor tenth. In tennis, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi paired up at Pusan to give the country a tennis gold in men’s doubles. Otherwise, they stayed away from each other for most of the year. It was Mahesh who won the US men’s doubles in partnership with Miryani. Otherwise, neither Leander nor Mahesh could do that well as was expected of them in the international circuit. Without Mahesh, Australia whitewashed India in Davis Cup. The holding of National Games at Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam provided the silver lining to a year of considerable satisfactory sporting performances. The games, claim participants — both athletes and officials — were the best the country ever organised. Andhra Pradesh won the overall trophy while Punjab finished second with 57 gold medals. Back in Punjab, Parminder Singh Sr became the first active basketballer to get Arjuna award. Punjab Police also came out with an encyclopaedia of its sports with a 550-page illustrated volume released just on the eve of the National Games at Hyderabad. This year Punjab Police won the Nehru Cup Hockey Tournament while the crown in the junior tournament was taken by Punjab and Sind Academy. Two hockey players —Olympian Joginder Singh “Gindi”, one of the finest wingers the country ever produced, and Olympian Kuldip Singh, a forward, died during the year.Punjab also lost Bhupinder Singh Bodhi, a good coach , able sports administrator and a son of legendry hockey coach, Gurcharan Singh
Bodhi.
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SGFI to blame: Rupa Saini Chandigarh, December 28 In a signed statement, Dr (Mrs) Rupa Saini said problems were being created by the School Games Federation of India which was intentionally delaying issuing of communication to the Punjab Education Department. In case of the National School Games at Pune, the calendar was received only on December 12. Swimming coaches — Surjit Singh and Satpal Singh — refused to go to Pune on December 16 to take the camp as the players were mostly busy in the National Games at Hyderabad . The swimmers also wanted that the camp should be held at Pune as pools in Punjab were closed due to winter. Earlier, the NS NIS at Patiala had refused to organise the swimming event at Patiala because of non-availability of central heating of the pool. Subsequently, she said, efforts were made to obtain train reservation for the 85-member contingent to Pune. The entire contingent was on the waiting list. Since reservations could not be confirmed till December 23, it was decided to take the contingent to Pune by luxury coaches. Parents mostly agreed to send their wards by luxury coaches. The Punjab contingent reached Pune on the night of December 25 and took part in the opening ceremony on December 26 and even won a medal on the first day of the competition. Frequent changes in the venues and dates of the National School Games, she said, were one reason for the Department not being able to get confirmed rail reservations. The calendar was seldom followed. Now yoga, badminton and tennis championships which were to be held in Gujarat have been cancelled. Though the SGFI issued letter about withdrawal by Gujarat on December 17, it did not reach the Punjab Education Department till December 26 till someone went there and got the letter collected personally. The department had made train reservations to take its contingent to Gujarat for December 31 as the Games were to start on January 3. In such a case, she said, nothing could be done. She maintained that the best possible arrangements were made and other facilities provided to ensure Punjab contingent’s participation in the Pune National School Games. |
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CRPF, BSF in final Nabha, December 28 The encounter between Punjab Police and CRPF turned out to be an enthralling one and was made all the memorable by a peach of a goal scored in the last minute of the match by left in V. Hemrum. The star turn for CRPF was performed by V. Hemrum whose numerous solo runs down the middle kept the cop’s custodian Paramjit Singh busy. Towards the end of the first session, players of both Punjab Police and CRPF got physical with each other forcing the managers and coaches of both teams to run onto the field. The frayed tempers of the players were placated only when the umpires gave temporary marching orders to four players, two from each team. Just as it seemed that the match would end as a goalless draw, the speedy P. Hemrum slipped in dangerously in the striking circle. After hoodwinking his way past at least three defenders, he flummoxed the goaltender with a brilliantly executed reverse flick. This goal, scored in the last minute, was enough for CRPF to make it to the title clash.
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Record
double by Ajeetesh Chandigarh, December 28 A Class VIII student of St John’s High School, Ajeetesh made his mark in front of under-17 stalwarts like Amardip Malik of Meerut and Karan Vasudev of Delhi. He won the junior title by a margin of two strokes over Amardip Malik. Karan trailed the leader by six strokes. This Chandigarh golfer holds the top ranking in the under-13 and under-15 categories. But with his victory in the under-17 category, he has sent feelers in higher categories — watch out, “I am coming”. Ajeetesh won the under-15 title in the Eastern India Championship held in Kolkata on December 13. He had won the inaugural championship of the circuit at Noida and followed it up with the runner-up title at Bangalore. Ajeetesh’s best card in the fouir rounds at the Presidency Golf Club Course was a one-over 73 on the third day. The first two days he had identical cards of three-over 75. The final round card of 76 gave him an aggregate of 299. Amardip Malik and Karan Vasudev had cards of 301 and 305, respectively. Sagar Bhatia of Chandigarh and Jaskirat Dullet had identical scores of 306. Gaganjeet Bhullar of Kapurthala, another under-15 golfer, finished sixth in the under-17 category with a score of 308 The under-15 event was also won by Ajeetesh. Gaganjeet Bhullar finished second and Fatehbir Dhaliwal was third (318). Earlier this year, when he was just 13, Ajeetesh was a member of the four-member contingent that represented India at the Asia-Pacific Junior Golf Championship in Taiwan. |
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Melbourne, December 28
