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Gilchrist is the key man for
India Tendulkar set to conquer new
peaks I could not have thought of a better farewell Kumble best spinner to tour Australia
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TN 220 for 5
against Punjab Azlan Shah Hockey Mahindra hold JCT Verma hogs limelight 6 Punjab players
enter last eight
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Gilchrist is the key man for India Melbourne, January 7 Gilchrist was a key factor in Australia’s World Cup win and international series win in India in 2003. With both Australia and India entering the one-dayers against Zimbabwe with injury-depleted bowling attacks, batsmen could hold the key. “There are some key batsmen in the Australian team and especially Adam, he is a very attacking player and a very positive player, so it is important to get him early on,” Laxman said ahead of Friday’s opener against Australia. India has unfinished business after heavily losing two finals to Australia in 2003, including the World Cup. “Winning in a crunch situation is very important for us. It was unfortunate we lost the World Cup final but I felt the Australians played really well there,” Laxman said. He was coy on the use of a limited bowling attack in the series. Spinner Anil Kumble opened the bowling in the Sydney Test and, asked if he may do so in the limited-overs matches, Laxman said: “That is something that is the team will be working on.” “It is unfortunate that we are missing Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan due to injuries but the bowlers over here are looking forward to performing for the team.” Zimbabwe had the best preparation of the three countries for the upcoming series, having a succession of one-day tuneup games. But Laxman felt Australia and India’s disadvantage in terms of preparation was balanced by having played Tests against each other over the past month. “We are tuned up in the sense that when you play Test cricket, you play against a similar attack that is going to play in the one-day series,” Laxman said. “It was a great effort (in the drawn Test series) and we are looking forward to carrying that into the one-day series.” SYDNEY: Australian paceman Brad Williams will replace an injured Nathan Bracken in the opening match on Friday. Bracken, who was named in the one-day squad for the first four matches of the VB series, has been ruled out due to a hip injury, Cricket Australia (CA) said today. Bracken suffered a grade-one strain of the left hip muscle while fielding on the first morning of the Sydney Test, but continued to take part in the match.
— PTI, AP |
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After the gruelling four-Test series, India and Australia are scheduled to take on the grind of one-day tri-series, also featuring Zimbabwe, with barely a gap of two days. And Gilchrist, who has to take the double load of wicketkeeping and opening the batting in one-dayers, said cricket authorities should consider giving the overworked teams some respite. “It would be great for everyone if there was an opportunity to get away, have a spell and really freshen up because you always feel that you are not getting that chance. And that is just not me but everyone,” he said as the Aussies arrived here today from Sydney for the tri-series opener against India on Friday. Gilchrist admitted of being “a little weary” after the intensity of the four-Test series against India and said he would play the first four matches of the one-day series before assessing his availability for the remainder of the series. “Like everyone I am a little weary from the intensity of that Test series, we spent a lot of time in the field. “I will play this first four and we will
gauge it from there. But there is nothing physically wrong that would demand that I miss any games at the moment,” he said. The flamboyant batsman was hoping to rediscover his form in the tri-series after a string of poor scores in the Tests. —PTI |
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Tendulkar set to conquer new
peaks The debate whether India should have asked Australia to follow-on will linger. Fourth afternoon of the match, India had a chance to give Australia nearly five sessions to bat out the match. They chose not to do it. Were they defensive? Did they fear they would not be able to counter any target Australia might ask them to chase on the final day? Did they lose faith in the batsmen who had served so wonderfully in the series? Did they forget the maxim in order to win you should be prepared to lose? There are no easy answers. I can see for and against point of views. India might have been struggling with fresh bowlers. Kumble had bowled a lot many overs in the match and must have been tired. Australia could have quickly got about their second innings and set up the game. May be any hard-nosed captain would have done what Ganguly chose to do on the fourth day. But when you are chasing a dream, you need to be bold. The history of over half a century waited to be revised. Sachin Tendulkar gave a hard-nosed performance of a modern icon. There was an inevitability about his success in this game. We knew it was coming. He failed in first three Tests and he was not going to add another one to that list. To me this innings could be the defining moment of the rest of Tendulkar’s career. The bowlers have been warned the little master is willing to play within his limitations. In the past, he has been exuberant and victim of his own eagerness. Now he is willing to harness strike, bide his time and play only when the possibility of dismissal has been eliminated. He is set to conquer new peaks. Kumble to me was the key man. He has proven wrong a lot of detractors, those who believed he was no force on foreign soil. His confidence was amazing and his intensity immense. He is a born-again bowler and given himself a new lease of life. He now has good years ahead as a spin bowler. He has done it on wickets which were true and against a line-up which can reduce a bowler to nervous wreck with their attacking brand of batting. He has been derided as a bad wicket bowler. But not here in Australia this time. The conditions were awesome for batting. Yet he took 24 wickets, most of them top order. He relied on variations of pace and bounce and his leg-spinners and wrong’uns worked as well. With Kumble’s revival, India’s bowling can only look up in coming years. Zaheer Khan can be a force once he is fit. Irfan Pathan showed he has a fantastic future. He was outstanding for a 19-year-old. He took three big wickets in the match. Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik could not find his bearing but these are tough, unforgiving conditions. The Australian batsmen, once they know there is little turn from a bowler, like to really turn on the heat. Have the Australians declined? Well we have been hearing this talk for a while now. There have been people who are willing it to happen. But it is actually an over-reaching opinion held by some. Glenn McGrath was missed in the series and at various times, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie too played a staggered part. But there is some good young talent in Australia and McGrath and Shane Warne are going to be back in near future. They would kick on and the team should not find it difficult to maintain their reputation. I am also not worried on Lee. It is just a patch in his career where things have gone astray. He is a class performer. He is fantastic and a strike weapon. He just has had two bad games but he is coming back from injury. He would be required to serve Australian cricket, that’s for sure. Our fielding in this series was not up to our high standards. It is one of those areas where we didn’t do well. In the past, we did those little things really good which put together made a huge difference to team’s results. But this was one series when little things did not go our way. We certainly though are suffering in the slip cordon in the absence of Mark Waugh and Shane Warne. Matthew Hayden is not in the same league yet. This is a critical area for Australians’ success and must come right. But comments on our decline are premature. And then there was the final day. Completely enthralling as Australia seemed to go for a total which has not been supported by history or evidence and then all those emotions which got built up around Steve, doing his last hard stand in the middle. He was hitting through the gaps and sweep-slogging effectively. When he and Adam Gilchrist got out, there was a bit of a stir. But it was draw alright and then the fitting farewell to one of the legends of the game. —
PTI |
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I could not have thought of a better farewell The morning after a very emotionally charged day has been pretty relaxed. Today, as I look back on my decision, I think I have timed it well. This is the right time for me to move on simply because Ricky Ponting is ready to take over, the Australian team is the best in the game right now, and I could not have thought of a better farewell personally. As I handed over the mantle of captaincy to Ricky last evening, I told him to follow his instincts and do it his way. I know he is the man for the job, and the timing is right for him as well. I would be lying if I claimed that I did not want to win my last series as captain, but at the end of this edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, I felt no regrets about the way things shaped up. The Indians are a quality side, and man-to-man they can stand up against any team in the world right now, especially from the batting point of view. This is much the same batting line-up that came here in 1999, and one can see that the potential that was evident then has been realised now. Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman always formed a formidable middle order at home, but with this performance, they have proved that they are a force outside their territory as well. This series marks a major improvement for all of them as far as technique, approach and concentration while playing outside familiar conditions is concerned. The other crucial difference was the way the openers, Virender Sehwag and Akash Chopra, invariably provided a good start to the Indian innings so as to ensure that the quality middle order was not exposed too early. When there was an early breakthrough, Dravid, who was impeccable in his defence and technique ensured we could not get much further. All in all, the top six really acquitted themselves quite well, and it was their performance that ensured the Border-Gavaskar Trophy remained with the Indians. As far as our side is concerned, we were not with our full-strength bowling, and that did make a difference. However, we must resist the temptation of comparing the likes of Brad Williams and Nathan Bracken with Glenn McGrath. They need the breathing space to grow to full potential, and these comparisons will not help anybody. It also did not help that we dropped catches at crucial moments right through the series, and who knows, had we caught half of those, the scoreline of the series might have been very different. But then, India too missed a lot of chances, so they could legitimately make the same claim. A farewell series can be difficult for any individual, and I am no different. I was completely spoilt for the last couple of weeks, and the amount of newsprint devoted to me was quite embarrassing at times. The nice part however, was that it was all very complimentary and touching, and I must admit that I was surprised at the amount that was written about me right through this series. It goes to show that the Australian public really loves this game, and perhaps their kind words to me at every venue was just a manifestation of that love for the game. I am grateful for the support I got at every step, at every venue, and as I said earlier, I just could not have imagined a more memorable farewell. Coming back to the game, at the start of this Test I really wanted to play well in my last innings. I came in when the situation was potentially dangerous for us. I have always enjoyed a challenge, and playing to save a game in my last Test was a great challenge. I am proud of the way I scored those 80 runs, and while a century would have been even better, I walked back feeling proud that we had even managed to put some pressure back on the Indians in the last hour. The moment of my dismissal will always stay with me because it was a rare occasion on which I let the crowd sway my shot selection. Hitting Kumble out of the rough was always going to be a risk, and perhaps I would have been better off taking twos and waiting for the next over. But with 40,000 people chanting behind me, I went for the shot and Tendulkar took the catch. He may have become the hero of Sydney if he had dropped it, but a senior pro like him does not miss such chances. The series has once against raised the profile of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to another level. The encounters between these two sides have been special over the last couple of years and it was no surprise that they competed for the World Cup in the finals last year. I am sure the tradition of tough, entertaining cricket will be continued in the series in India later this year, and it remains to be seen whether Ricky Ponting and his men will realise my unfinished dream of beating India in India.
— Gameplan |
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Kumble best spinner to tour Australia in 25 years Melbourne, January 7 “It is one of the most cleverly orchestrated campaigns of leg-spin bowling in this country that I have ever seen,” O’ Keefe said on the Indian leg-spinner who was the most successful bowler in the four-Test series with 24 wickets. Kumble’s performance included three five-wicket hauls and came at a fine average of 29.58. O’ Keefe enjoys a unique reputation in Australia as an outstanding leg-spin coach whom Shane Warne speaks to a lot even though Terry Jenner is the spin wizard’s official mentor. He is a leg-spin coach with the Australian Cricket Academy. As a Test cricketer, he did not have much success though with only 53 wickets from 24 Tests. “When Kumble arrived, he claimed he had worked out a plan. Nobody knew what it was. It’s been inspirational, the long sustained spells and variation-based bowling,” he said. “Kumble has used that 101 to 102km slider, his two or three variations of googly which either opened the gate or had batsman hitting back catches,” he said referring to Kumble’s success on the batting tracks in Australia. O’ Keefe looks deep at Kumble’s methods against the Australian batsmen in this series and claims what has emerged is a very crafty bowler at the peak of his prowess. “When Brett Lee came in late on the third day, Kumble bowled him a 100km yorker and followed it up with a 78km wrong ‘un, wide. When everybody was thinking he would york him the last ball, he bowled a bleepy wrong ‘un,” he said. “When he got Ponting with that spearing stuff, he found the batsman looking to work him on the onside. He just kept slowing a couple up, setting it up, and then the 101km slider just got his man.” Ponting suffered a rare failure with the bat in the series in the first innings of the fourth and final Test at Sydney when Kumble trapped him leg before for 25. “The emotion he showed at Ponting’s dismissal means that is exactly what he wanted. He wanted him, he got him the way he had set out. “It was a triumph of thinking out a very fine player of spin.” O’ Keefe said he has noticed Kumble hates being cut yet he used this as a ploy to get to Steve Waugh. “When I see him slow up and loop a leg-spinner, prior to sending batsmen one that is a bit quick, he wants them to nick it to slips. Whenever he gets cut, he is hurt. Every-time he is cut, he kicks the ground. “Yet when Steve Waugh came in, he actually bowled short and gave him a few cuts. Waugh misses cuts so he actually bowled short and gave him a few cuts, with only a man at square point. He had worked that out.” “Steve Waugh sometimes gets out cutting spinners and he set him up for cuts. He was risking a boundary to get his man,” O’Keefe said. “Damien Martyn wants to hit you off the backfoot. He barely gets his front foot out of the popping crease. He works standing on his back foot and does not use his feet much. “Kumble kept making it slower and higher for Martyn. He thought if I could bowl the wrong ‘un and if he can’t get there, he would hit back. He gave him no width because he is such a good, wristy player. He didn’t give width, wanted him hitting and wanted to work the variations around him.” O’ Keefe said Kumble might have found it difficult to work around Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden who use sweep-slog as an effective weapon. But to his credit, he showed a body language which was positive and sowed seeds of doubts among Australian openers. “It must have been tough for him because they kept coming at him. But his body language was positive. He knew they would come at him with the sweep and he was prepared for it. He tried not to give any angle to them. In the end, they both tried to slog-sweep him. “Hayden broke Harbhajan Singh in the first Test of the previous series in India but Harbahjan came back to win the series for India. Australians tried to break him with sweeping. “You have to steel yourself for that sweep. But they could not break Kumble.” O’ Keefe said wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel’s repeated fumbling must have had a “negative effect” on Kumble’s bowling. “The effect of Patel on Kumble has to be negative. Because he knows if he does spear one down the legside, it could go for four byes. “Patel rises too early, his hands come up too early. Kumble wants things to stay down, so he wants his keeper standing down. “It will affect Kumble’s psyche because he gets batsmen running down the pitch, like he got (Simon) Katich. Even though he got him in the outfield, it would have been such a bonus if it was by the way of stumping.” The spin guru also praised the Indian bowler’s never-say-die attitude. “The good thing about Kumble was he was so positive. He did not drop his shoulder. He just got on with the next ball.” —PTI |
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Farhat, Youhana fashion Pak win Queenstown, January 7 Pakistan scored 236 for four with Youhana 88 not out. New Zealand Cumming lbw b Sami 0 Fleming c Sami b Shoaib Malik 43 Marshall c Youhana b Shabbir Ahmed 10 Styris c Youhana b Mahmood 10 McMillan c Khan b Malik 25 Cairns b Razzaq 9 Oram b Sami 54 McCullum not out 56 Vettori b Sami 9 Tuffey not out 3 Extras: (lb-2 w-13 nb-1) 16 Total: (8 wkts, 50 overs) 235 FoW: 1-1, 2-25, 3-53, 4-79, 5-104, 6-112, 7-203, 8-218. Bowling: Sami 10-0-52-3, Ahmed 10-1-43-1, Mahmood 10-0-69-1, Razzaq 10-1-24-1, Malik 10-0-45-2. Pakistan Hameed c Oram b Butler 2 Farhat c McMillan b Vettori 87 Elahi c McCullum b Oram 14 Youhana not out 88 Inzamam c McCullum b Tuffey 14 Malik not out 9 Extras: (lb-8, w-13, nb-1) 22 Total: (4 wkts, 47 overs) 236 FoW: 1-14, 2-52, 3-195, 4-224. Bowling:
Tuffey 10-3-28-1, Butler 10-0-49-1, Oram 9-0-37-1, Cairns 4-0-28-0 , Styris 3-0-16-0, Vettori 10-0-58-1, McMillan 1-0-12-0. —
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TN 220 for 5
against Punjab Cuttack, January 7 Winning the toss and electing to bat, Tamil Nadu were in deep trouble losing its first three wickets for only 57 runs. But a 78-run fourth wicket partnership between Vasudev Dass (batting 78) and R. Prasanna (39) in 130 minutes pulled the team out of the crisis. Dass added another 62 runs with E Suresh (26) for the fifth wicket. The number four batsman had batted for 267 minutes and hit eight boundaries so far. His 50 came in 108 minutes. Prasanna’s 39, which came at a crucial time, contained six hits to the ropes. For Punjab, spinners Sandeep Sawal and Rajesh Sharma were the most successful bowlers claiming two wickets each conceding 63 and 64 runs respectively. —
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AZLAN
Shah Hockey Kuala Lumpur, January 7 India, fielding a new look side in a bid to experiment with new combinations before the Olympics qualifiers, will face Germany in their opening match, the outcome of which will give enough indication of things in store for the inexperienced side in the prestigious 11-day tournament. Few will readily back India to win the event that also serves as a dress rehearsal for four of the teams — India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Spain — who would travel to Madrid in March for the Olympic qualifying competition. While the Indians have opted to bring a side consisting predominantly of junior players, the others —World Cup champions Germany, Asian Games gold medallists Korea, World Cup silver medallists Australia, Pakistan, Spain and Malaysia — will be at full strength. The Indians have obviously viewed the Azlan Shah Cup tournament, which they have won thrice (1985, ’91, ’95), as part of their preparations for the Madrid outing and from there on to the Athens Olympics in August. With the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) resting several key players, Indian hopes here will rest squarely on the experience of Dhanraj Pillay and Baljit Singh Dhillon whom the younger players will be looking up to for guidance and inspiration. Though the younger lot has had a taste of international competition, for most though it would be a debut at the highest level. In the event, they would be on a learning curve. When viewed in this light, India’s chances of figuring on the podium, much less winning the competition under coach Harendra Singh, are not bright. Harendra, standing in for chief coach Rajinder Singh who is here as an IHF observer, will have his task cut out, though he exuded optimism of a good outing. "We have a young side and I am hopeful of a strong showing in this tournament," said the coach. The guarded optimism is not misplaced considering the strength of the other teams. Germany, coached by Bernhard Peters, are on a high. They qualified for the Olympics by winning the European Cup and also are playing at the same venue where they annexed the World Cup in 2002, beating Australia in the final. In fact, Germany, led by sweeper-back Florian Kunz, have 14 players who were part of the 2002 World Cup squad. As such, they would not be lacking in experience or craft. Pakistan, the defending champions, are out in full force and under Roelant Oltmans, the celebrated Dutch coach who took charge last October, they are hoping to make up for a disastrous 2003 when they won only one title, the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. Tomorrow’s matches live on Ten Sports (all timings IST): Korea vs Pakistan (1.35 pm); India vs Germany (3.35 pm) and Malaysia vs Spain (5.35 pm). —
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Mahindra hold JCT Mumbai, January 7 Though both the teams came up with a few good moves they failed to finish well. Former internationals Jo Paul Anchery and I M Vijayan (both from JCT) looked in good nick but they again failed to convert good passes into goals. In the 20th minute Mahindra forward Raphael Patron Akakpo shot over a winger Felix Aboagye pass. Following a counter attack soon after, JCT winger Stephen Abarowei failed to trap a Vijayan pass in front of an open goal.
Salgaocar win MARGAO: Durand Cup champions Salgaocar edged past bottom-placed Chennai’s Indian Bank, 3-2 in their eighth round match of the 8th edition of the National Football League (NFL) being played at Nehru Stadium Fortada today. For Salgaocar, the goals came through Remos Gomes in the 10th minute, Felix Ibrebru in the 50th minute and Bello Rasaq in the 55th minute while Jaya Surya scored a brace for the bankers in the 76th and 80th minute.
— PTI, UNI |
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Verma hogs limelight Ludhiana, January 7 In the senior section, Dhruv fought valiantly against his father and former state champion, Achint Verma. The son proved his mettle in a gruelling game to overpower Achint by four frames to three. In the first three frames, Dhruv lost 53-64 and 44-65 and 53-82 but bounced back by winning the fourth game quite comfortably 62-28. Dhruv went on to wrap up the next three frames 61-32, 81-51 and 94-30. In the second semifinal league encounter, Ashish Dhanda beat Achint Verma 4-2 and then outplayed Sheetal Verma 4-1. In the junior section, Gaurav Joshi defeated Harvinder Singh 4-2; Dhruv Verma overwhelmed Harvinder Singh 4-0 and Amit Yadav beat Gaurav Joshi 4-2. |
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6 Punjab players
enter last eight Amritsar, January 7 The results:
Manav Dhawan (Pb) b Anand Vidur Puri (Chd) 6-3, 6-3, Harmanbir Singh (Pb) b Inderjot Singh (Pb) 6-0, 6-0, Sunil Kumar (Pb) b Bharat Bhardwaj (UP) 6-0, 6-2. Kushagra Mahajan (Pb) b Sushant Modgill (Pb) 6-1, 6-2. Satbir Singh (Pb) b Vijay Bhardwaj (UP) 6-0, 6-0. Keshav Mahajan (Pb) b Sahil Kapoor 6-2, 6-0. Simran Cheema (Chd) b Ketan Gupta (Pb) 6-1, 6-2. Shaolil Chandan (Delhi) b Romit Kapoor 6-1, 6-1. |
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Melbourne, January 7
In video: Children at Udayan express sadness over Waugh's retirement.
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Ludhiana, January 7
With the number of players joining the injury list increasing by the day, Australian vice-captain Adam Gilchrist today called for more rest between two series to allow players to “get away and freshen up”.
