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Sunday,
January 5, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Kiwis demolish India, clinch series
Indians short on confidence, game plan |
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India heading for whitewash Abject surrender an ominous sign?
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Pak face uphill task
Vaughan raises England hopes Kucera, Srichaphan enter final PSEB lose; East Bengal
win Manrit is Ladies Club
champion Punjab cops, IA in last four Madhya Pradesh beat Haryana
women East Zone enter semis
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Kiwis demolish India, clinch series Queenstown, January 4 Their batting nightmare continued as the visitors were shot out for 122, a target the New Zealanders overtook comfortably to win by seven wickets and go 4-0 up in the seven match series. The Indians had lost both the Test matches and now continue to remain winless on the tour. A substantial crowd and beautiful surrounding hills witnessed another embarassing display of mindless batting by the Indians who failed for the fourth successive time in the series to last their allocated 50 overs. Unlike the seamer-friendly wickets in the earlier matches, the strip here was good for batting. But the Indian players, who have become enormously rich selling soft drinks, TV sets and other goodies to cricket crazy millions at home, were unwilling to learn any lessons from their previous failures on this disastrous tour. They batted poorly to inflict another humiliating defeat on themselves. Unlike in the previous games, the Indians got off to a good start after being put in to bat by New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming. But a familiar middle-order collapse, triggered by irresponsible shot-making and some fine bowling and fielding performance from the hosts, saw the platform being wasted. India were shot out in 43.4 overs, the longest that they have lasted in this series. Medium-pacer Andre Adams celebrated his return to the New Zealand side with a career-best five-wicket haul. His 5-22 from 8.4 overs was also the best figures by a New Zealand bowler against
India. Once again not a single Indian batsman could reach even the 30s with Yuvraj Singh’s patient 25 being the top-score of the innings. Virender Sehwag (23) and Rahul Dravid (18) were the other useful scorers for the team that once again lacked the services of Sachin Tendulkar, missing the fourth consecutive match due to a sprained ankle. In contrast, New Zealand raced to their target in just 25.4 overs with Fleming signalling a return to form with a strokeful 47 which included five fours and one six. The dangerous Nathan Astle was out for 15 but Fleming and Matthew Sinclair, who remained unbeaten on 32, put on 73 runs for the second wicket to ensure that New Zealand’s road to victory was smooth. Srinath, who claimed all the three wickets, dismissed Fleming and out-of-form Craig McMillan (0) in quick succession but with just 20 more runs required, the hosts were hardly under any threat. Sinclair and Scott Styris, who remained not out on eight, knocked off the remaining runs without much problems. The Indians couldn’t have asked for a more idyllic setting or a better pitch to bounce back into the series. The visitors left out a struggling V.V.S. Laxman for Dinesh Mongia and even excluded Harbhajan Singh to
accommodate an extra batsman in wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel who made his one-day debut today. But it hardly made any difference to their fortunes. Ironically, the tourists had their best start of the series so far. Dravid, India’s most impressive batsman on this tour, was surprisingly sent to open the innings with Sehwag and the two gave a cautious start putting on 38 runs.
PTI Scoreboard India Sehwag c Astle b Adams 23 Dravid b Adams 18 Mongia c Vettori b Adams 12 Kaif c McMillan b Adams 0 Ganguly c Mills b Tuffey 2 Yuvraj c Tuffey b Styris 25 Patel b Mills 13 Agarkar run out 0 Zaheer c McCullum
b Tuffey 1 Srinath not out 10 Nehra c McCullum b Adams 0 Extras (lb-1, w-11, nb-6) 18 Total (all out, 43.4 overs) 122 FoW: 1-38, 2-55, 3-57, 4-67, 5-69, 6-94, 7-100, 8-107, 9-118. Bowling: Tuffey 10-1-36-2, Mills 10-2-28-1, Oram 10-1-28-0, Adams 8.4-1-22-5, Styris 3-1-5-0, Vettori 2-0-2-0. New Zealand: Fleming c Sehwag
b Srinath 47 Astle c Dravid b Srinath 15 Sinclair not out 32 McMillan b Srinath 0 Styris not out 8 Extras (b-1, lb-3, w-14, nb-3) 21 Total (for 3 wkts, 25.4 overs) 123. FoW:
1-28, 2-101, 3-103. Bowling: Srinath 9.4-1-35-3, Zaheer Khan 2-0-21-0, Nehra 10-1-37-0, Agarkar 4-0-26-0. |
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Not pitches, it’s in mind: Ganguly Unable to explain the humiliating defeats suffered by his team during the current tour of New Zealand, a bewildered Indian captain Saurav Ganguly said here today that he could only attribute it to the state of the mind of his players. “Its got to be in the mind. We can’t be out of form for so long,” a grim-faced Ganguly said after India lost their fourth consecutive one-day match to give New Zealand a winning 4-0 lead in the seven-match series. “It all boils down to personal accountability. None of us have managed to score any runs on this tour. “We have been pretty poor on this tour. We have tried everything and I am surprised at how badly we have played after having such a good year,” Ganguly, who has run out of excuses to explain India’s
appalling batting display in this country, said. For a change, Ganguly, who has been highly critical of the pitches in New Zealand, was happy with the track at the John Davies Oval here. “It was a fantastic surface. We loved playing here,” he said.
PTI |
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Indians short on confidence, game plan Another hopeless batting performance saw New Zealand clinch the one-day series. The defeat apart, it is the ease with which New Zealand have won four matches on the trot that will matter. The Indians have just not looked good enough, scoring less than 125 runs in three of the four games. That is a paltry score whatever the conditions, and projects a side that is short not only of confidence, but also any game plan. The batting fell like nine pins again, and this time the pitch wasn’t even dicey. New Zealand reached the target fairly comfortably, skipper Stephen Fleming giving himself an extended spell in the middle to find his touch. The Kiwis have their worries, with Fleming, McMillan and Astle all struggling for runs. But India’s performance has been so dismal, that they have been able to get away cheaply. I would recommend some serious soul searching by the Indian players in the next team meeting. Foremost on the agenda should be the aim to play out 50 overs. I still believe that the difference between the two sides is 40-50 runs. But those runs still have to be got. The batsmen have got to believe that only playing shots will not get them to that score; they have to stay at the wicket, come to terms with the conditions, and get the runs inch-by-inch. The series now decided, it would be worthwhile for some experimentation. The team for the World Cup has been announced, and players from that squad who have been sitting on the bench could be given a chance to get to find rhythm. Kumble and a few others should be given the opportunity. It might not be a bad idea for Ganguly to rest himself too. He has had a very busy and demanding year, and obviously this run of failures is playing on his mind. Getting away from it all for a few days and sorting out his game in the nets could work to his advantage as the build-up for the World Cup starts. If Tendulkar returns to the side, he could provide the muscle that this team has lacked right through the one-day series. But it would be foolish to depend only on him t deliver the goods. Right through the previous year, all the Indian players pulled their weight, which is what made India a fancied one-day side till the New Zealand tour happened. Some of that commitment and urge to win is now needed badly. For inspiration they could look to Steve Waugh who notched up a hundred just as the Australian selectors were looking to sign him off. Steve made his international debut against us in 1986, and I have not come across any cricketer with greater mental strength than him since then. There has perhaps been none in the game. He’s a tremendous role model, a fine batsman and a great captain. His never-say-die attitude is something that every cricketer — young or experienced — should seek to emulate.
(Gameplan) |
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India heading for whitewash In the end, the fourth one-dayer ran to the same script that we are becoming so used to in the series. The Indian batting was yet again pathetic and what can I say, no batsman has shown the willingness to learn. Having lost the series, I just fear this Indian team may be heading for a total whitewash. Sachin Tendulkar means a lot to this Indian team. His continued absence is affecting the performance and morale of the team and as I see the situation, it’s not a very encouraging sign. Till now, we had seen how the famed Indian batting line-up would tame even the best of bowling attacks, but against a disciplined-yet-unheralded New Zealand bowling, they have been clueless. When India began the series, they had an eye on the Word Cup, with only a couple of minor issues to settle. The bowling combination and a decision on whether Sachin Tendulkar should open or bat in the middle-order were the problems but now, it seems their woes have multiplied. In this series itself, they have had three different opening partnerships, and though Rahul Dravid is technically well-equipped, the decision to open with him had more to do with skipper Saurav Ganguly shielding in the middle-order. This way out batting combination hasn’t got a settled look. Today, India got a good start and it appeared as if this might be the turnaround the Indian fans had been hoping for. But after Virender Sehwag flirted once again with a delivery outside the off-stump, the Indian innings fell apart. Mohammad Kaif, who was promoted in the batting order and Dinesh Mongia, who was sent as a late reinforcement also couldn’t rise to the occasion. Ganguly was out to an irresponsible stroke, and I have a strong feeling that he is not in the right frame of mind to continue playing in this series. He would be better off with some rest before the World Cup. The New Zealanders showed a good game plan when their batsmen were off to a quick start. India’s best bowler once again was Javagal Srinath as he picked up three wickets but that wasn’t sufficient. |
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Abject surrender an ominous sign? Chandigarh, January 4 India might have lost to the West Indies by a slender 4-3 margin, but then they played good, competitive cricket in all the matches. But now the way they have abjectly surrendered to New Zealand in every department of the game raises a big question mark over their performance in the forthcoming World Cup, commencing in South Africa next month. Going by their current performance it is doubtful whether India can even qualify for the ‘‘super six’’ stage what to talk of winning the title as some advertisement jingles would like us to believe. But what is most galling is the fact that in all four one-day matches (and in the two Tests that India played prior to that) in New Zealand the Indians gave up without even a semblance of a fight from either the batsmen or the bowlers. In fact, India have not been able to last their full quota of 50 overs in any of the matches and the hosts wrapped up the games without even warming up properly. True, in the one-day matches the onus of winning the games rests on the batsmen but in India’s case neither the batsmen nor the bowlers were able to come good. The bowlers sent down too many loose deliveries even when they knew they had a very small totals to defend. And as far as the performance of the much-vaunted batting line-up is concerned the less said the better. They batted like novices and were reluctant to even follow the basics of batting which even a youngster who gets initiated in the game is told by his coach. And as far as the absence of Sachin Tendulkar — who has now missed eleven one-day games on the trot — is concerned it is no use crying over spilt milk because injury is part and parcel of the game. His presence might have helped India but then he cannot bat from both ends! Where does Indian cricket go from here. One would be tempted to say that the Indian cricketers must go back to the basics. Let the batsmen plan to stay at the crease for the full 50 overs because if wickets are there runs will come. At present the Indian batsmen are suffering from very low self-esteem and coach John Wright must instil in the cricketers the confidence that they can do the task assigned to them. At the current moment it seems that everything has been lost as far as Indian cricket is concerned. But they have it in them to bounce
back. They will have to bounce back not only for themselves but also for the millions of fans back home as also the advertisers who fuel the game not only in India but also worldwide as evidenced by the large number of ground hoardings even in New Zealand venues. The time has come to separate the chaff from the wheat! |
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Pak face uphill task Cape Town, January 4 The visitors suffered an astonishing collapse as they lost their last six wickets for just 12 runs on the third day, leaving them 169 runs short of the follow on target of 421. South African captain Shaun Pollock enforced the follow on and with two and a half days to play and a first innings deficit of 368 to work off, Pakistan face an uphill task to save the match. SA (Ist innings): 620-7 decl Pakistan (Ist innings): (overnight 141-1) Umar c Kallis b Ntini 135 Elahi c Smith b Pollock 10 Khan lbw Pollock 46 Haq c Dippenaar
b Hayward 32 Youhana c Boucher b Hayward 0 Iqbal b Ntini 24 Akmal lbw Pollock 0 Saqlain c Boucher b Ntini 1 Waqar c Kallis b Pollock 0 Sami not out 0 Zahid c Smith b Ntini 0 Extras (lb-1 nb-3) 4 Total (all out) 252 Fall of wickets:
1-36, 2-152, 3-208, 4-208, 5-240, 6-247, 7-251, 8-252, 9-252 Bowling: Pollock 23-6-45-4, Ntini 20.4-7-62-4, Kallis 12-2-35-0, Hayward 15-2-56-2, Boje 17-2-53-0. Pakistan (2nd innings): Umar not out 6 Elahi c Dippenaar b Ntini 0 Khan not out 2 Extras (nb-1) 1 Total (for one wicket) 9 Fall of wickets:
1-0 Bowling (to date): Pollock 4-2-5-0, Ntini 3-1-4-1. Reuters |
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Vaughan raises England hopes Sydney, January 4 Vaughan followed up his masterpiece centuries in Adelaide (177) and Melbourne (145) with another unbeaten hundred as the tourists revelled in the unfamiliar position of turning the screws on Steve Waugh’s team, bidding for only the second 5-0 Ashes clean sweep in history. At close of the third day, Vaughan was unconquered on 113 with skipper Nasser Hussain providing stout support not out 34 and England were having few problems at 218 for two — a lead of 217 runs with eight wickets intact and two days to play.
AFP Scoreboard England (1st innings): 362 Australia (1st innings): Langer c Hoggard b Caddick 25 Hayden lbw b Caddick 15 Ponting c Stewart b Caddick 7 Martyn c Caddick b Harmison 26 Waugh c Butcher b Hoggard 102 Love c Trescothick b Harmison 0 Gilchrist c Stewart b Harmison 133 Bichel c Crawley b Hoggard 4 Lee c Stewart b Hoggard 0 Gillespie not out 31 MacGill c Hussain b Hoggard 1 Extras 19 Total (all out, 80.3 overs) 363 FoW: 1-36, 2-45, 3-56, 4-146, 5-150, 6-241, 7-267, 8-267, 9-349 Bowling: Hoggard 21.3-4-92-4, Caddick 23-3-121-3 Harmison 20-4-70-3, Dawson 16-0-72-0. England 2nd innings Trescothick b Lee 22 Vaughan batting 113 Butcher c Hayden b MacGill 34 Hussain batting 34 Extras 15 Total (2 wkts, 58 overs) 218 FoW: 1-37, 2-124. Bowling: Gillespie 8-2-36-0, Lee 10-1-45-1, MacGill 23-2-76-1, Bichel 10-0-32-0, Martyn 3-1-14-0, Waugh 4-2-3-0. |
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Kucera, Srichaphan enter final Chennai, January 4 Kucera won 6-3, 7-5 in 90 minutes to meet Srichaphan, who extended his unbeaten run outplaying France’s Jean Rene Lisnard 6-2, 6-1. For Srichaphan, the runner-up to Argentine Guillermo Canas last year, it would be the second successive Tata open final. If Kucera had emerged the new superstar ousting the top seed in the quarterfinal yesterday, the irrepressible Thai, who was unlucky to lose final here last year, was already one from the opening day. Exhibiting his consistency once again, Srichaphan, who had the maximum number of victories on hardcourt in the tour last year with wins over celebrities like world No 1 Lleyton Hewitt and Agassi, outplayed Lisnard from the beginning, belting out his trademark forehand passing shot time and again and mixing it with a deft volley. The Thai broke Lisnard in the first and the third games of the first set. Lisnard, who was never in the match, managed to hold serve in the fifth and seventh games. Bhupathi-Woodbridge lose The last of the Indian presence ended with the top-seeded Indian Mahesh Bhupathi and Aussie Todd Woodbridge being upset by the fourth-seeded Czech duo of Frantisek Cermak and Leos Friedl 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinal on the center court. In a midnight match yesterday, second-seeded Leander Paes and Czech David Rikl was upset by Tomas Cibulec and Ota Fukarek also of the Czech Republic in a quarterfinal match that went to the wire in three sets, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-10). It was Bhupathi’s failure to hold serve that cost him and Woodbridge the first set, Bhupathi was broken ins the first and fifth games by Cermak and Friedl, who volleyed and served better. Up 5-1 they dropped the seventh game before Friedl held serve for a 6-2 win. In the second set, it was even worse for Bhupathi, with his family watching in disappointment. They were down 0-2 with Woodbridge being broken in the first game. Bhupathi held serve to make it 1-2. After Friedl held serve, the Czech pair led 3-1.
UNI
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PSEB lose; East Bengal
win New Delhi, January 4 PSEB, who had drawn their opening Group D match against Assam Regimental Centre, went out of reckoning for a semifinal berth, after this defeat. Salgaocar scored once in each half to keep alive their hopes. Salgaocar netted the opening goal in the 16th minute due to a gross defensive lapse by PSEB left back Ramesh Kumar, who failed to clear a cross into the box, and as the ball dipped in, Salgaocar striker Sunday Seah tapped in (1-0). After unproductive up-and-down sallies in the rest of the session, Salgaocar consolidated their lead in the 28th minute of second half when Ryan D’Souza found the mark, following a cross from the right by Bello Rasaq, which created a virtual scramble inside the PSEB box. The ball was then passed from Sunday Seah to Dharamjit Singh and the latter put Ryuan D’Souza in charge to apply the killer punch. With the exit of PSEB, only one Punjab team, JCT, Phagwara, remain in contention. JCT, who had beaten Tata Football Academy, need only a draw against Mohammedan Sporting tomorrow to qualify for the semifinal. East Bengal quelled the challenge of Air-India in the opening group B match with a three-goal blitz in nine minutes. This sudden turnaround crushed the spirits of Air-India, who rubbed salt into their wounds by slotting in a “self goal” to help East Bengal rompe home with a comfortable 4-0 margin. In the latter stages of the match, East Bengal could have added at least two more goals, but S Malsawmtlijanga made a hash of open chances. Mike Okoro put East Bengal in the lead when he flicked home in the 33rd minute following a pass from the right by Malsawmtlijanga. The second goal came five minutes later when striker Shasty Duley converted Chandan Das’ cross from the right. Just three minutes before the interval, Air-India defender Osbern D’Souza scored an “own” goal when custodian Rajat Guha rushed out in a bid to fend off a back pass from Okoro. Mike Okoro completed the tally with a top of the box volley, which crashed into the corner of the net, in the 60th minute. East Bengal’s hopes can be dashed only in the improbable scenario of BEG, Bangalore beating them with a five-goal margin. Air-India are definitely out of the title race, despite a 1-0 victory against BEG in their opening quarterfinal league match. |
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Manrit is Ladies Club
champion Chandigarh, January 4 Manrit, a first-year BA student of MCM DAV College, plays to a handicap of 3. Madhu Brar finished three strokes behind Manrit in the gross event, but won the nett prize with a comfortable margin of eight strokes over Binny Bath who won the runners-up prize in the nett event. Irina Brar, India’s No 1 golfer for three years and winner of the Sardar Wazir Singh Memorial Trophy for five years, is nursing an injured back and has been advised rest for three months. Mrs Wazir Singh presented the trophy to the new champion at the prize distribution function in the Golf Club. Scores: Gross: Manrit Kochhar 175 (89+87) Nett: Madhu Brar 145 (71+74), Binny Bath 153 (75+78). |
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Punjab cops, IA in last four New Delhi, January 4 In the semifinals to be played tomorrow, Punjab Police will meet Border
Security Force, who moved into the last four stage despite losing by a solitary goal against Indian Airlines in a league match at the Shivaji Stadium. The airmen will meet CRPF in the second semifinal. Jugraj Singh continued his good form in the tournament scoring two of his team’s four goals, while skipper Gaganajit Singh and Jagbir Singh sounded the board once each. Earlier, Air-India paid the price for failing to utilise even one of the 13 penalty corners they earned as they suffered a humiliating 1-4 drubbing against Tamil Nadu XI.
PTI |
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Madhya Pradesh beat Haryana
women Rohtak, January 4 West Bengal defeated Telangana by an innings and eight points while Andhra Pradesh beat Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh defeated Haryana by a margin of six points. The results: Women: (pre-quarterfinals): Karnataka b Manipur, AP b UP, MP b Kerala, Haryana b Madhya Bharat, WB b Delhi, Telangana b Chhattisgarh, Punjab b Chandigarh, Maharashtra b Vidharbha. Quarterfinals: WB b Telangana, AP b Karnataka, MP b Haryana. Men (pre-quarterfinals):
Maharashtra b Manipur, Haryana b Vidharbha, Telangana b Delhi, AP b Punjab, Madhya Bharat b Pondicherry, WB b TN, Kolhapur b Kerala and Karnataka b UP. |
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East Zone enter semis Rohtak, January 4 In the weather affected tie, East Zone managed to overtake South Zone’s first innings score of 193 by 36 runs due to the 79-run knock by Avik Choudhary. The opener carried the bat through the innings and remained the crease for 316 minutes, facing 211 balls. Saurav Sarkar made 25. Tamil Kumaran and Stuart Binny bagged three wickets each. In the ramaining time of 39 minutes, South Zone scored 54 for no loss. Stuart Binny and G. Shankar Rao were unbeaten on 31 and 16, repectively. East Zone now meet West Zone in the semifinal to be played here from January 6 to 10. |
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Chandigarh, January 4
