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Wednesday,
March 26, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Ganguly defends bowling decision
India blew up their chances in first hour Thousands welcome Aussie team home Australians were relaxed, Indians tense |
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Punjab Govt to honour athlete Neelam India aiming at
another gold Parnita takes big lead in Air-India Golf AG Punjab enter hockey final
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Ganguly
defends bowling decision
Mumbai, March 25 “There was dampness on the pitch and I knew there was something for the seam bowlers. We had one off-day which shattered our dreams of winning the World Cup,” he told reporters on his arrival from Johannesburg along with most of the other team members. Despite India’s loss in the final to Australia by 125 runs, Ganguly and his team received a warm reception from the fans who waited at the airport since early morning. The team won nine of its 11 matches in the tournament, with both the losses coming against Australia. Ganguly said the World Cup was now history and he was already looking forward to India’s next engagements. “Now we will have to leave the disappointment behind and concentrate on the triangular series in Bangladesh from April 10 as there is always a next time to win the Cup,” he said. India, who made it to the World Cup final after a gap of 20 years, were defeated by 125 runs by Australia after Ganguly had elected to field first on winning the toss. Ganguly replied in the negative when asked whether a specialist fifth bowler in the team could have altered the result of the final. “I don’t think we missed the fifth bowler. Dinesh Mongia, who was used as the fifth bowler, was the most economical bowler in the final. In fact, throughout the tournament our part-time bowlers kept the run rate in check which was quite good,” Ganguly said. Asked how he felt after regaining his own batting form, Ganguly shot back: “I have scored 9,000 plus runs in one-day cricket and I don’t have to keep proving myself as a batsman every now and then.” Ganguly emerged as the second highest scorer in the tournament, only behind Sachin Tendulkar, amassing 465 runs with three centuries, the maximum in one World Cup. The captain praised the three fast bowlers, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, despite their ordinary performance in the final. He was particularly happy with Srinath who came out of brief retirement and bowled superbly to finish with 16 wickets. “I wanted him to play in the World Cup as I knew he could contribute with his experience. He did not let me down,” he said. Ganguly said it was now up to Srinath to decide whether he wanted to continue in international cricket or retire. “I think it should be his decision. It is his career and his life and let him decide about it,” he said. Vice-captain Rahul Dravid, Srinath, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif did not come with the rest of the team and were expected to arrive in the evening. The team was earlier scheduled to arrive later tonight but last minute changes in the plan saw it board a chartered flight which got delayed by about two and a half hours. PTI
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India blew up their chances in first hour As a neutral observer, it was sad to witness a one-day World Cup final that was all over at the break itself. This is the second successive finals in which the Australian team has mowed down the opposition, and its time the world realises that this team is right up there with some of the best sides of all time. Saurav Ganguly was badly let down by his bowlers. We had seen the wicket in the morning and there was a lot in it for the opening bowlers. The occasion obviously got to Srinath and Zaheer and the turning point was when Hayden and Gilchrist got the side to go for no loss in 10 overs. It was as much a testimony to some great batting as it was to some horrendous bowling. From then onwards it was easy for the batsmen to maintain a six-runs per over momentum right through the innings. They would do this without breaking a sweat by merely milking the bowlers once the field was spread. Ricky Pointing played the greatest knock of his career in the most important game of his career and that is something that is rare and remarkable. That was the difference between the two sides — one side loved the big occasion, while the other were completely intimidated by it. If the Australians turned the match around in 10 overs, they had it in their firm grip in the 50th over. India had no chance of chasing 360 against an attack that boasted of Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Andy Bichel. There was nothing a batsman even of Tendulkar’s calibre could do against such odds. Those who are murmuring about his supposed failure on big occasions should be strung up from the highest tree. He is one of the main reasons India were in the finals and by the time he came into the equation India’s bowlers had already given the game away. The final analysis is the bowlers took the gas, lost their heads and blew it big time. It is pointless to expect this side to chase a 360 target against the best fielding and bowling unit in the world. Quite simply, India blew it in the first hour. As I said earlier, this Aussie unit is a very special one, and the world will now have to catch up with them. There are plenty of sides, most of whom rely on players who are 30 and under who can do it. In a couple of years Warne and McGrath will have to quit and that would take away a 1000 wickets immediately. Till that happens the Australians are the most charismatic side in world cricket and that’s something India and the rest of the world will have to accept for the moment.
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Thousands welcome Aussie team home
Perth, March 25 Under a sunny autumn sky, the 15 players were feted in Forrest Place, in the heart of the Western Australian capital, by a colourful crowd estimated by police at about 5,000. Thunderous cheering echoed across the city as Australian captain Ricky Ponting stepped forward on to a stage to raise the trophy aloft. Tired, but elated, the players waved back to the crowd in the only public appearance to be made by the team in Australia before they go into training for a four-Test tour of the West Indies. Western Australian Premier Geoff Gallop told the team they were the pride of Australia after glittering green and gold streamers rained down on the squad. There were joyous reunions with wives and families for the three Western Australian members of the side-vice-captain Adam Gilchrist, Damien Martyn and Brad Hogg. All three were in the eleven which overwhelmed India by 125 runs in the Sunday final in Johannesburg. The Australians were unbeaten in 11 matches in South Africa and Zimbabwe during the tournament. Earlier, when the side arrived at Perth international airport, Ponting made an indirect reference to Australia’s involvement in the war on Iraq. “We were aware of what was happening in the world around us — there is no doubt about that,” he said. “The thing that we tried to do the other day in the final was to win the game and bring a smile to a lot of Australian faces who are obviously doing it a lot tougher than we and a lot of others are at the moment.” “We didn’t actually sit down and talk about it as a group, but I am sure that, at the end of the day, we have made a lot of people happy and changed the way they have been thinking about things over the past couple of weeks.” Ponting said he believed Australia could win the World Cup for a record-breaking third time in a row in 2007. “There is no reason why we cannot win again in four years,” Ponting said. Sunday’s triumph followed an overwhelming victory over Pakistan in the final in England four years earlier. Australia’s other World Cup victory was against England in the 1987 final in Kolkata. “I would like to have this group of guys around for the next one, if that was possible,” said Ponting, who hit a memorable 140 not out against India in the showdown. “What we have seen in this tournament is that we have really had our depth tested.” “All-rounder Shane Watson went out with injury just before the tournament, fast bowler Jason Gillespie was injured during the tournament and then we lost Shane Warne.” Warne, the world’s greatest leg-spin bowler, flew back to Australia after testing positive to drugs and was later disqualified from playing for a year. “The guys who have stepped in have really played some great cricket, so there is no reason why we cannot keep producing these players and having them step in and play great cricket.” Ponting said it had not been hard to captain a side as good as the Australian squad. “I said that from the word go when I took over (from Test captain Steve Waugh a year earlier). With the talent we have in this side, that certainly makes my job a fair bit easier.” “We have played some great cricket during this campaign, in which we were undefeated.” “We were tested at certain times, but when we got into trouble one of the bunch put a hand up and made sure we got over the line.” “It wasn’t smooth sailing all the time, but the final was a very good ending for us.” Ponting said when the competition started he believed the side were good enough to survive the tournament undefeated. Australian coach John Buchanan said, while he had no doubt Australia’s side was the greatest at the moment, it was too difficult to answer whether it was the best of all time. Buchanan offered no comfort to countries hoping they may be able to topple Australia in the next World Cup in the West Indies in four years time. “I think we can still improve in every area,” he said. “There is time for us to do that now. Now we start on the next four years. Really, we can look across every aspect of our game.” “Every aspect can improve. If we couldn’t improve, we would just stagnate.” AFP
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Australians
were relaxed, Indians tense The bowlers were the supporting cast in Sunday’s win simply because I have never ever seen our batsmen bat as well as they did at the Wanderers. They rose to the occasion
magnificently and ensured that we won our second straight World Cup final. At the start of the tournament I had said that we could and should go through this World Cup undefeated. I never say something I don’t believe in, and even while some of my teammates said that it was a bit of big talk, I knew we had it in us. I’m not one for making empty statements but as we came into this World Cup, I knew we could go undefeated. This is quite unlike the statements made by Sourav Ganguly, which I read on the eve of the match. I don’t think even he believed what he said before taking us on. Coming back to the finals, I would have been pretty happy to bowl first on that pitch, but the team was planning to take first strike if we had won the toss. The Indian seamers had bowled really well coming into the finals, but on the big day Zaheer, Nehra and Srinath went for around 211 runs in 27 overs. Adam Gilchrist was responsible for causing panic among the already tense Indian bowlers, and once they lost the plot, Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn ran amok. Martyn had been injured during the Super Sixes and this was the first time he had broken a finger. He was nervous and ginger about playing with a hand injury, but he went to the nets, had a hit and took a few catches, he gained confidence and decided to play. Ponting was in great form after a shaky start, and since Zaheer and Nehra were down on pace, he started playing some of the most amazing shots. When the Indians came in to bat, we knew Sachin Tendulkar would come hard at us. When I bowled a wide ball, Sachin pulled rather than cut it. This was a sign that he was playing pre-meditated shots. The next ball was little quicker from me, and it got big on Sachin and he again played a pre-planned shot. When the ball went up, I was the only person under the ball because everyone knew that I wanted that wicket to be mine. After that, as I said, we just had too many runs for the Indians to worry us. I only felt that the Indians should have relied on their natural ability to play shots and score quickly rather than on manufactured shots. We were 80/0 after 10 overs while India were 66/2. That was the difference between the sides. Hayden and Gilchrist played natural shots while Sehwag, Ganguly and Tendulkar were aiming for the spectacular. Looking back at this tournament, I think the special player has been Brett Lee. This is a watershed moment for him, and he is going to get bigger and better over the next four years. Earlier he did not know whether his role was to bowl fast or keep the runs down, but now he is a poised, confident performer. This is a great performance from us and I have to admit that the semis was the match that worried us most since it was against Sri Lanka on a pitch that suited them. But out ‘intent’ and ‘intimidate’ mantra saw us through that challenge, and by the time we were in the finals, we were a calm, relaxed bunch. In the final analysis, if I had to make one distinction between the two finalists, it was the approach. We were calmly looking forward to it, while the Indians were wound up and tense. We knew we were the team to beat, and as I said at the start of the tournament, that was a tough ask for any team in the draw. Gameplan
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Punjab Govt to honour athlete Neelam Patiala, March 25 The Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, has asked officials of the Sports Department to prepare afresh the case of the thrower and has also personally assured the athlete that she would be honoured at a special function to be held at the CM’s office in Chandigarh at a date to be specified later. Neelam, who is at the NIS here to attend the ongoing senior national athletic camp, was overjoyed on receiving the news from the CM’s office. Earlier, at a function organised by the Sports Department at Chandigarh in November last year to honour medal winners of the Busan Asiad, the government had decided to withhold her award. The reason forwarded was that the thrower had already been awarded a similar amount for her Busan exploits by the Haryana Government. However, Neelam and her husband coach Jaswant Singh personally met the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, at Chandigarh a few days ago and put forward their view point that the state government had awarded huge cash incentives to several other sportspersons who had also been honoured by other states. She gave the examples of Jyotirmoy Sikdar, K.Malleswari, Madhuri A.Singh and Jyoti Sunita, who apart from being honoured by other states were also given awards by the Punjab Government. The athlete also told the CM that Haryana had given her the award since she was born in that state and she further clarified that ever since she started her career in 1987, she had been regularly turning out for Punjab in domestic meets. |
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India aiming at
another gold New Delhi, March 25 The fine performance of Rajyawardhan Singh Rathore, who struck the double trap gold yesterday, has given a shot in the arm to the Indian shooters, who trained hard on Tuesday, with their eyes firmly set on the gold. India’s challenge in the trap event will be spearheaded by Manavjit Singh Sandhu, who lifted the bronze medal in the World Cup at the same range last week, while Anwer Sultan, who had won the gold in the last Asian Clay Champiomship at Bangkok, and Mansher Singh, too, are strong contenders for medals. At Bangkok, Manavjit Singh had shot a bronze while India also accounted for the gold. |
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Parnita
takes big lead in Air-India Golf She goes into the second round with a comfortable lead of 12 strokes over young and upcoming junior Kanika Minocha, who returned a card of 89. The youngest player in the championship Shruti Reddy burnt the course with a nett 63 leading in the Air-India Challenge Trophy by seven strokes. Madhu Brar was the leader by one stroke in the Bawa Gill Trophy for the silver division while Dalbir Sahi led in the Rani Jagdish Kaur Cup. Neelu Chopra led the field in the bronze division for the Meters & Instruments Trophy and Shruti Reddy took the lead in the Ell Ess Trophy. The scores: Grewal Salver (best gross score):
Parnita Garewal 77, Kanika Minocha 89. Air-India Challenge (best nett):
Shruti Reddy 63, Vanita Malhotra 70. Bawa Gill Trophy (13-24 handicap) gross:
Madhu Brar 91, Dalbir Sahi 92. Rani Jagdish Kaur Cup (13-24 handicap) nett:
Dalbir Sahi 72, Madhu Brar 75. Meters & Instruments Trophy (25-36 handicap) gross:
Neelu Chopra 96, Shruti Reddy 99. Ell Ess Trophy (25-36 handicap) nett:
Shruti Reddy 63, Vanita Malhotra 70. Senior Trophy: Gross — Madhu Brar 91; Nett — Dalbir Sahi 72. Junior Cup: Gross — Kanika Minocha 89; Nett — Shruti Reddy 63.
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AG Punjab enter hockey final Chandigarh, March 25 AG Punjab, who was in attacking mood from the very beginning, tried their best to put the ball in the goal post but the defenders of AG Haryana stood like a rock and upset their moves. AG Punjab had to wait till the fag end of the second half to make the scoreboard moving. The good efforts bore fruit when left half Baldev Singh pushed the ball inside the “D” where centre-forward Ravinder Singh made no mistake. In the second semifinal, last year runners-up AG UP took the lead when centre-forward Gagan scored field goal. Trailing by a goal at the interval, AG Delhi bounced back in the second half when Amit scored two consecutive goals in the 42nd and 59th minutes and took the match away from AG, UP. Earlier, Mr V.K. Mehan, Senior Deputy Accountant General (Audit) inaugurated the semifinal while B.D. Ahuja, Welfare Officer, presided over the function.
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Chandigarh, March 25
