Besides this, the psychological advantage of having drubbed the Kiwis 4-1 at their backyard in Wellington last year, and a friendly draw, further embellish the favourites tag on the hosts who also have an enviable 7-2 win-loss record at the South Club lawns, the venue of the tie.

However, with the maximum temperature at around 35 degree celsius, and 93 per cent humidity, the conditions are diametrically opposite to what India encountered in Wellington, where a biting cold was accompanied by gusty winds.

But Davis Cup wizard Paes, who scripted India’s win in New Zealand, said that the weather would definitely be of advantage to the Indians.

“There the wind and cold was not to our liking. But the condition here suits us,” said Paes, who kickstarts India’s campaign against Mark Nielsen tomorrow, after the draw of lots today.

“This is the magic of the Davis Cup. When you host a tie, you always stand to gain from familiar surroundings,” he said.

Nielsen admitted that the heat would be a factor. But not wanting to give any mental leeway to the Indians, the Kiwi claimed that having practised for two days, he had a fair idea of the conditions.

The New Zealand number one, with an ATP ranking of 338, is the highest rated player among the two teams, and on paper, head and shoulders above Paes, whose ATP standing is a poor 1003.

But as leading lights like Goran Ivanisevic, Jeremy Bates and Henri Leconte have found out over the years, rankings are of little consequence when playing Paes in the Davis Cup.

The call of the country has always brought out the best from the local boy, who has been leading India’s charge in the Cup for long.

With a victory over Japan’s Gouchi Motomura in February, he has so far won 63 matches, surpassing Jaidip Mukherjea’s win-loss figure of 62-35.

He is now only behind the legendary Ramanathan Krishnan, who has the best Indian record of 69-28.

Paes, who turns 31 in June, looked rejuvenated in the practice courts, possibly a fallout of the recent successes in the doubles circuit with David Rikl after a tough last year.

“I am looking forward to playing Nielsen tomorrow,” he said.

Nielsen conceded that playing Paes in the lung-opener was always challenging.

“I’ll try to take the points quickly and finish off the match fast,” he said, perhaps keeping the heat in mind.

But Paes can hardly afford to be complacent against his opponent, who had stretched him to full five sets at Wellington. A close contest may be on the cards, provided the Kiwi can withstand the scorching sun and the energy-sapping humidity.

The draw, allowing Paes sufficient rest in between his three matches, the two singles and one doubles with Mahesh Bhupathi, has also brought smiles in the Indian camp.

“He will be playing the first, third and fifth matches. This will be of advantage to us,” non-playing captain Ramesh Krishnan said.

“Yes, this will give me sufficient time to recover from the stress of a particular match,” Paes agreed.

Upcoming talent Rohan Bopanna, who would play the second singles against Alistair Hunt tomorrow, sounded confident.

“I have never played Hunt before, though I have seen him in action. I shall go to the court and play my own game,” the 22 year old lanky youth from Coorg, Karnataka, said.

Making his debut in the Davis Cup against Aussie Scott Draper in Adelaide last year, Bopanna tasted his first Cup success against Japan in February when he ensured India’s victory by overwhelming Jun Kato in the first reverse singles. India won the tie 4-1, with Bopanna losing out to Motomura on the opening day.

Hunt, with an ATP ranking of 1336, far behind that of Bopanna (348), praised his Indian rival. “He is a very good player. He is highly talented”.

The lush green grass courts have also upped India’s prospects in the tie, as the hosts have traditionally been strong on the surface.

The New Zealanders, though not unacquainted with the surface, said they had not played a Davis Cup exchange on grass for the last three years.

But the country’s tennis afficionados would be eagerly waiting for Sunday, when the estranged ‘Indian Express’ Paes and Bhupathi briefly reunite for the doubles, where India start as run-away favourites.

Head-to-head, however, New Zealanders are ahead. Of the four meetings between the two sides, the Kiwis have won thrice, in 1975 (Lucknow), 1976 (Auckland) and 1978 (New Delhi). India’s sole victory came last year, at Wellington.

The winners of the tie would qualify for the World group play-off, a threshold India has failed to cross in the last three years to break into the big league.

Schedule: April 4 : Leander Paes vs Marc Nielsen — 10.00 am followed by Rohan Bopanna vs Alistair Hunt.

April 5 : Mahesh Bhupathi/ Leander Paes vs Marc Nielsen/Alistair Hunt 12 noon.

April 6 : Rohan Bopanna vs Marc Nielsen 10.00 am followed by Leander Paes vs Alistair Hunt.

Talking to UNI, club secretary I N Chaturvedi said: “We take great pride in holding this international event. But generating funds is kind of a problem for the regional centres. There are restrictions on local advertisers as they cannot be competing brands of the sponsors of the event worldwide.”

It does sound like cricket, but the sport being tennis the stakes are lesser. So as the fear of ambush marketing is limited and the scope of publicity even lesser, the matter has not taken any great proportion. But all the same its presence cannot be wished away.

This year’s Davis Cup is being supported by a host of international sponsors like BNP Paribus (financial services), Adecco (staffing services and personnel recruitment), Hugo Boss (men’s fashion), Ajilon (IT consulting management) and Kia Motors (automobile).

“Moreover, the local sponsors are limited to two. We could not approach companies like Maruti as the interests clash. However, we have roped in two sponsors in the form of Gujarat Ambuja and Hero Honda. We are happy,” he said.

This may be the beginning, but the major sponsors for cricket Hero Honda has made its entry into the tennis courts.

“Holding a tournament like this requires a funding of some Rs 30 lakhs. The sponsors give money to hold the event on the regional level. But 90 per cent of the money goes to AITA as part of its income generation and only some 10 per cent filters down to us,” Mr Chaturvedi continued.

“So we have to generate funds from souvenirs, panels, banners, gates, arches and stalls. The money from sale of tickets is very nominal. Moreover, we pay a royalty to the AITA from the event. You can understand the position,” he said.

“This is an international even and demands international standard and we keep an eye to that. We are proud to hold the event and manage to run the show in style. We receive cooperation from everyone concerned,” he added.

Currently the stands will have an accommodation of 3,000 people with tickets priced at Rs 100, Rs 200 and Rs 500. One of the stands would be for school children.

However, the club along with BTA, the co-organisers, are buoyed by the hopes of another Indian win.

The South Club has been a lucky Davis Cup venue for India with the immaculate record of giving India seven victories of the nine ties here. Some of them have been against the strongest teams like Australia, Italy, Brazil and Switzerland. So the club authorities feel that it would be no different the tenth time. The only times India lost here were in 1986 when Czechoslovakia defeated India 4-1 and in 1996 when a powerful Sweden whitewashed India five love.

In fact India has gone to the final round thrice from here. But the most memorable experience had been in 1966 Challenge round when the team of Ramanathan Krishnan, Jaidip Mukherjea, Premjit Lal, Shiv Mishra with non-playing captain Raj Khanna defeated Brazil 3-2 to meet Australia in the finals.

Razzaq cracked a scintillating unbeaten 76 off 53 balls with two fours and seven sixes while Khan weighed in with 67 off 84 balls with three fours and two sixes) as Pakistan rattled 96 runs in the last 10 overs.

The late flourish from the Pakistan batsmen came after they had been reduced to 101 for five by the 25th over.

Khan helped steady the innings with a sixth-wicket partnership of 58 with skipper Rashid Latif (34). He then put on another 44 with Razzaq before being caught by Sean Ervine off the bowling of Andy Blignaut.

But it was Razzaq, who together with Mohammad Sami (11) put on 75 runs in just 35 balls in an unbeaten eighth-wicket stand, who snatched the initiative away from Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe skipper Heath Streak struck two early blows when he removed both the openers — Taufeeq Umar (16) and debutant Mohammad Hafeez (12) — to put Pakistan on the backfoot. Inspired by their skipper, Blignaut and Ervine exploited the advantage to keep the Pakistan batsmen in check.

Two run outs — that of Shoaib Malik and Rashid Latif — added to the woes of a new-look Pakistan side, who struggled on a slow wicket in the absence of eight senior players who were dropped following a dismal showing at the World Cup.

But Razzaq’s storming late hitting leaves Zimbabwe facing a daunting total. Blignaut conceded 16 runs in one over while Ervine and Douglas Hondo went for 24 and 23, respectively to let Pakistan off the hook.

Scoreboard

Pakistan:

Umar b Streak 16

Hafeez c Taibu b Streak 12

N. Latif b Blignaut 3

Youhana c Taibu c Ervin 17

Y. Khan c Ervin b Blignaut 67

Malik run out 13

Latif run out 34

Razzaq not out 76

Sami not out 11

Extras (lb-4 nb-1 w-24) 29

Total (7 wkts. 50 overs) 278

Fall of wickets: 1-32, 2-38, 3-50, 4-69, 5-101, 6-159, 7-203.

The latest ratings were released yesterday by the ICC after taking into account the performance of the teams in the recently concluded World Cup.

India, which lost two matches in the Cup, both to Australia, has accrued 103 points. Australia (136 points), South Africa (123), Pakistan (110) and Sri Lanka (108) were ahead of India, according to the ICC.

The four-nation Sharjah Cup beginning today can catapult Sri Lanka to the third place if it wins the tournament to be held from April 3 to 10. Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Kenya are the other teams in the fray.

Although Sri Lanka reached the semi-final of the World Cup, defeats to India and Kenya — both lower ranked teams — and two defeats to leaders Australia caused their ranking to fall during the tournament by two points.

Pakistan, who had overtaken Sri Lanka in the rankings in November 2002, narrowly held on to the third spot in spite of a poor showing in the World Cup. Under the new captaincy of Rashid Latif, the team will be looking to consolidate its third spot.

Kenya was the biggest beneficiary from the World Cup, increasing its ratings by 10 places. Victories over Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe helped Steve Tikolo’s team close the gap to ninth place Zimbabwe from 46 points to 33 points.

Kenya’s present ranking of 30 is the highest they have achieved since the ICC one-day rankings were introduced in October 2002.

Zimbabwe’s World Cup defeat to Kenya was the main reason for their rating to fall by three from 66 to 63 during the tournament.

Elite B skipper M.S.K. Prasad was left regretting his decision to bat first after winning the toss, as the side’s batsmen, barring Wasim Jaffer (62) and Vinayak Mane (39), failed to click at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium.

Jaffer hit six fours in his 140-ball innings and put on 77 runs for the second wicket with Mane, after opener Amit Pagnis fell cheaply (11) having been adjudged leg before wicket to Pathan.

Elite B were at one stage comfortably placed at 98 for two but the middle order and the tail-enders let down the side. The last four wickets yielded just 38 runs as Elite A bowlers asserted their supremacy.

Pathan and Sarandeep returned with identical figures of three for 53, bringing an end to Elite B innings in 80.1 overs.

In reply, Reetinder Singh Sodhi-led Elite A, looking to salvage pride after unimpressive performance in their three league engagements, were 29 without loss off seven overs at stumps.

Opener Gautam Gambhir appeared in fine nick as he smashed three fours for his unbeaten 17, while Sanjay Bangar was batting on nine.

SCOREBOARD:

Elite B (1st innings): Pagnis lbw b Pathan 11, Jaffer run out 62, Mane b Pathan 39, Rayudu c Kanwat b Sarandeep 13, Yadav lbw b Bangar 4, Prasad run out 17, Pandey run out 19, Bahutule c Dasgupta b Pathan 16, Power b Sarandeep 14, Harvinder c Rao b Sarandeep 2, Salvi not out 0.

Extras: (b-9, lb-3, nb-9, w-1) 22

Total: (all out, 80.1 overs) 219

Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-98, 3-125, 4-131, 5-154, 6-181, 7-217, 8-219, 9-219.

Bowling: Irfan Pathan 16.1-3-53-3, Sanjay Bangar 13-2-44-1, Reetinder Singh Sodhi 12-2-31-0, Sarandeep Singh 26-6-53-3, Rahul Kanwat 7-1-14-0, S Sriram 6-1-12-0.

Elite A (1st innings): Gambhir batting 17,Bangar batting 9.

Extras: (nb-3) 3

Total: (for no loss, 7 overs) 29

McGrath, 33, left Steve Waugh’s team in London earlier this week and caught a flight back to Sydney to comfort his wife Jane, who has cancer.

“Jane McGrath has been diagnosed with a secondary cancer infection in her hip. All indications are that with treatment, she will have a full recovery,” the ACB said in a statement.

Jane McGrath has previously battled breast cancer.

The first Test starts on April 10 in Guyana.

The uncertainty over the leading fast bowler’s availability meant the ACB had to make a quick decision on a replacement player, chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said.

“It is an unfortunate situation confronting the McGrath family and it was important for Glenn to return home to be with his wife Jane,” Hohns said in the ACB statement.

“We will talk to Glenn over the weekend to ascertain his position and see how everything is progressing.”

“While we expect he will be able to return to the West Indies, we needed to make an urgent decision about a replacement player after consulting with team management,” Hohns added.

“With Damien Martyn joining the squad later in the tour and Jason Gillespie’s recent recovery from a heel problem, we felt it was necessary to call in another player to boost the bowling stocks.”

Australia’s frontline attack of McGrath, Gillespie, Brett Lee and leg-spinner Shane Warne could now be at one-quarter strength for at least the first of the four Tests.

Australia are already without their leading wicket-taker Warne, who received a 12-month doping suspension in February, and batsman Martyn who is receiving treatment in Perth for a broken finger. Gillespie only returned to bowling in the Adelaide nets last week.

McGrath, who has taken 422 wickets in 91 Tests, was expected to be Australia’s key weapon in dismissing West Indies captain Brian Lara cheaply.

Williams, 28, is a fiery quick from Western Australia who has played six one-day internationals and no Tests.

“This is a great honour. But it is not just a recognition of what I have done, it is rather a recognition to the game and all the players playing for the country,” he told PTI after receiving the award from President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

Mukesh Kumar, who has played in 327 internationals in a career spanning 13 years, said such awards would definitely boost the game, which unlike cricket and tennis, was “not a professional sport in this country”.

“More than anything else we only play for the country and this award will definitely go a long way in motivating the younger players come forward and take up the game.”

The 34-year old former captain, who has represented the country in three Olympics and two World Cups, said he was disappointed that India pulled out of the Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Malaysia.

“I am a bit disappointed. I had come back in to the side after a gap of one year and we all were charged up to do well in the tournament, particularly against Pakistan. But still it was the government’s decision and we should honour it.” India pulled out of the six-nation tournament at Ipoh protesting the ill-treatment meted out to its IT professionals in Malaysia last month.

All three elements had been in doubt before yesterday’s qualifier, while the commitment of their reserved Swedish coach had also been questioned by a sceptical press.

Saturday’s scrappy 2-0 win over Liechtenstein, the humiliating 1-3 friendly defeat by Australia and a dismal 2-2 draw with Macedonia had all helped to fuel a post-World Cup disillusionment with both Eriksson and his side.

But just when they needed to pull a great performance out of the hat — as in Germany in their World Cup qualifier and against Argentina at the finals — England delivered.

Tenacious tackling won England the 50-50 balls and a rare diamond-shaped midfield with an outstanding Nicky Butt at its base won the crucial battle in the middle of the park.

Not just a first-team performance, Wednesday was a victory for an entire squad that showed unity under fire and are now top of their group by one point from the Turks.

Darius Vassell came off the bench to drill home the breakthrough goal and fellow substitute Kieron Dyer won the penalty converted by skipper David Beckham in stoppage time.

Beckham, whose over-enthusiasm earned him an early yellow card that will keep him out of the game in June against Slovakia, will be sorely missed.

Along with Butt and a marauding Paul Scholes, the Manchester United trio were eventually able to tame Turkey’s midfield while Steven Gerrard slowly settled into his left-of-centre position.

Keeper David James steadied the ship with some important saves and central defender Sol Campbell provided authority at the back.

But the man, or boy, that had the Sunderland crowd on its feet for a standing ovation when he left the pitch was Rooney.

The teenager’s willingness to run at the Turkish defence, his skills on the ball and his remarkable maturity, both physical and mental, fully justified Eriksson’s unexpected gamble in giving him his first start.

Jaspreet said her rehabilitation will not only meet her requirements but also boost the morale of other kabaddi players.

She sought the help of the POA and Punjab Government to make her dream come true.

She praised the POA and the state government for providing her best medical aid.