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No to Peshawar and Karachi as Test venues BCCI team submits report to government No Indian security with team: Advani Fleming leads Kiwis to 5-wkt win
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Gandhi salvages draw for East
Jadhav slams 154 in drawn tie Jones wrecks Tamil Nadu Kapil not to coach team India, Singapore clash in soccer today Indian shuttlers drub Macau 5-0 Martina’s swan song Patiala lads in
Nehru hockey semifinals Malik elected HHA chief
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No to Peshawar and Karachi as Test venues
Lahore, February 17 The three-member BCCI team has made it clear to the PCB that they would not like to have Karachi and Peshawar as Test venues. Though the venues for the coming tour are yet to be finalised, the Indian officials told PCB Chairman in no uncertain terms that they would not play Tests at these two volatile venues and will prefer having one-dayers there. Incidentally, the Indians seem to follow what South African and New Zealanders did earlier by refusing to play at Karachi and Peshawar due to security reasons. However, according to sources, the PCB is trying hard to convince its Indian counterparts have a Test in Karachi and in lieu will agree to have one-dayer at Peshawar. “The Indians’ objection at playing a Test in Peshawar is basically that the stadium does not have proper facilities to host a match of longer duration. About Karachi, they don’t to stay there for a week due to security reasons,’’ the sources said. The PCB has planned to have the third Test in Karachi followed by the first one-day International which means that the Indians will have to stay in this port city for at least 10 days. The PCB has already shifted the three-day tour opener from Karachi to Multan. The first Test is also confirmed at Lahore. The sources, however, said a clear picture about the venues would emerge once the BCCI gave its approval. The BCCI will confirm the tour itinerary only on or after Friday after the return of its President Jagmohan Dalmiya from London. The main problem before the PCB is that if Karachi and Peshawar are dropped as Test venues, then choice would be limited to just Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi has limited facilities at the stadium while in Faisalabad, the quality accommodation is just inadequate to host the large contingent of people and media corps expected for the series. The stadium in Multan is excellent but again there is an accommodation problem there. Meanwhile, the BCCI inspection team has appreciated the excellent logistical and coordination work done by the cricket operations department of the PCB. BCCI joint secretary Ratnakar Shetty, who led the team, said he and two other members of his team were extremely happy with the cooperation extended to them by the cricket operations department of the Pakistan board. PCB cricket operations department head Zakir Khan and Asad Mustafa accompanied the Indian delegation throughout their tour of Pakistan, which included visits to Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Karachi, Multan and Faisalabad to inspect match venues and meet law enforcement officials. — UNI
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BCCI team submits report to government New Delhi, February 17 The three-member team, headed by BCCI joint-secretary Prof Ratnakar Shetty and comprising security expert Yashovardhan Azad and BCCI media co-ordinator Amrit Mathur, had returned home yesterday after a week-long tour all the proposed cricket venues, including Peshawar and Karachi, in Pakistan. A BCCI source said the board was yet to receive a copy of the report from the government. He said the BCCI, in any case, will deliberate on the report only after the return of board President Jagmohan Dalmia, who is away in London, on Saturday. The board source said whether to give green
singnal for holding matches at Peshawar and Karachi would be finalised only at the BCCI meeting. |
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No Indian security with team: Advani New Delhi, February 17 “I have seen reports in the media. No Indian security officials will travel with the Indian cricket team to Pakistan,” Mr Advani told newspersons here. Mr Advani asserted that it was the responsibility of the host country to make security arrangements for the visiting team. The Deputy Prime Minister said that Indian cricket team captain Saurav Ganguly and wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel had met him recently and he had wished them success for the forthcoming cricket tie between the two countries. Mr Advani was speaking to reporters at BJP President M. Venkaiah Naidu’s residence after former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Bihar Governor Govind Narayan Singh joined the party. A section of the media had reported that taking a cue from their South African counterparts, Indian cricket team could go to Pakistan with its own security personnel. The Pakistan Cricket Board had also not ruled out this possibility.
The government had already cleared the Indian cricket team’s tour to Pakistan and the Home Ministry had no role to play in the matter, he said. |
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Nod for Patiala match New Delhi, February 17 Minister of State for Sports Vijay Goel said here today that the External Affairs and the Home Ministries have already given their approval for the cricket match between the two Punjabs to mark the Patiala Heritage Festival. Mr Goel expressed the hope that the match would help in strengthening the relations between the two countries. He also expressed the confidence that the cricket tie at Patiala will generate a lot of enthusiasm for the ensuing cricket series between India and Pakistan. |
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Fleming leads Kiwis to 5-wkt win
Christchurch (New Zealand), February 17 Fleming’s 108 from 115 balls and his 102-run fifth-wicket partnership with Craig McMillan helped New Zealand overtake South Africa’s 253 for 8 and level the six-match series at 1-all. Earlier, South African captain Graeme Smith, hampered by a severe head and chest cold, made 80 to top score for the tourists. Smith batted for 42.3 of his team’s 50 overs and hit seven boundaries and a six. Fleming took up Smith’s challenge and, in a chanceless innings which included 12 boundaries, posted his sixth century in one-day internationals and the first New Zealander to surpass 6,000 runs in the shortened version of the game. He almost matched Smith’s longevity by batting for 41.2 overs, falling only 23 balls from the end of the New Zealand innings and calmly steering a difficult run chase. SCOREBOARD South Africa: Smith c Tuffey b Cairns 80 Gibbs lbw b Mills 0 Kallis b Tuffey 7 Dippenaar lbw b Vettori 36 Rudolph c Tuffey b Styris 42 Boucher c and b Cairns 40 Klusener c Cairns b Tuffey 8 Pollock not out 20 Boje lbw b Mills 2 Ntini not out 9 Extras: (1b, 2lb, 2w, 4nb) 9 Total:
(for eight wkts, Fall of wicket: 1-1, 2-28, 3-107, 4-161, 5-204, 6-218, Bowling: Daryl Tuffey 10-1-47-2, Kyle Mills 8-0-36-2, Jacob Oram 10-1-44-0, Chris Cairns 8-0-36-2, Daniel Vettori 8-0-42-1, Scott Styris 6-0-45-1. New Zealand: Papps c Pollock b Ntini 2 Fleming c Nel b Ntini 108 McCullum c Boucher b Ntini 2 Marshall c Rudolph b Styris c Gibbs b Kallis 24 McMillan not out 71 Cairns not out 10 Extras:
(b-1, lb-6, w-9, nb-4) 20 Total: (for 5 wkts Fall of wickets:
1-8, 2-19, 3-66, 4-124, 5-226. Bowling: Shaun Pollock 8-0-42-0, Makhaya Ntini 10-1-45-3, Lance Klusener 8-0-55-1, Andre Nel 7.1-1-45-0, Nicky Boje 7-0-41-0, Jacques Kallis 5-0-20-1.
— AFP
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Gandhi salvages draw for East Dharamsala, February 17 East by virtue of their 57-run first innings lead, bagged two points while South have yet to open their account. After being pegged on to the back foot for the past three days, South, on an eventful last day, bounced back in style and threatened to spoil East’s party by nearly running away with the match before Devang Gandhi played an innings of rare brilliance to stem the rot for his team. For South, things began happening in the first session itself when their tail wagged merrily and managed to narrow the lead to 57 runs. Then their bowlers bowled a nagging line and length to have East on the mat at 33 for 4 and with more than two sessions of play left South sensed a real victory. However, their bowlers were unfortunate to have run into an in-form Devang Gandhi who combined in a 76-run fifth-wicket partnership with Rohan Gavaskar which enabled South to breath a bit easily. This stand finally put paid to East’s hope of pulling off a dramatic outright win. Scoreboard East (1st innings) 388 South (1st innings) Overnight 304
for 8: P. Ram Kumar b U. Chatterjee 30, N.P Singh 39 n.o, Shiv Shant c R. Kumar b S. Lehri 00, Extras 33, Total 331. Bowling:
S.S. Paul 34-11-72-2, D. Mohanty 20-5-49-2, S. Lehri 35.2-11-70-3, U. Chatterjee 38-8-93-2, R.Gavaskar 7-1-24-0. East (2nd innings)
S.S Das c Sriram b Joshi 15, D.D Gupta lbw N.P Singh 0, Arindam Dass run out 2, Rajeev Kumar lbw Shiv Shant 6, D.Gandhi st MSK Prasad b P.Ram Kumar 87, R.Gavaskar c MSK Prasad b P.Ram Kumar 37, L.R Shukla c S.Ramesh b S.Joshi 22, S.Lehri c S. Badrinath b P.Ram Kumar 2, U.Chatterjee b Shiv Shant 16, D.Mohanty 06 n.o, S.S Paul 3 n.o. Extras 20.
Total (for 9 wickets): 216. F.O.W: 1-7, 2-15, 3-29, 4-33, 5-109, 6-146, 7-169, 8-196, 9-207.
Bowling: N.P Singh 8-4-11-1, Shree Shanth 17-4-47-2, P. Ram Kumar 20-4-68-2, S.Joshi 19-4-48-3, Venugopala Rao 8-1-31-1. South (2nd innings):
7 for no loss.
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Jadhav slams 154 in drawn tie Gurgaon, February 17 West reached 352 for four in reply to Central’s first innings score of 549. With the first innings remaining unfinished, the teams earned no points after four days of toil on a lifeless
track. Jadhav made 154 in a tortoise-like innings that lasted nine hours and 18 minutes, and consumed 445 balls but only nine times did the ball go past the boundary rope. Another patient knock came from Hrishikesh Kanitkar who was unlucky to fall four short of a century. His 96 came from six hours and 45 minutes, needed 285 balls and contained nine
fours. Kanitkar and Jadhav added 213 runs for the second wicket from 615 balls to grind the Central bowling to dust. Jacob Martin remained unbeaten on 50 but his inning was no less in length, spanning 219 minutes and 181 balls with six fours.
— PTI |
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Chennai, February 17 After a 0-3 whitewash at the hands of India-A in the three one-dayers, today’s win would serve as a morale-booster for the Englishmen, who would be leaving for North India to play in the Duleep Trophy. It was an abject surrender by Tamil Nadu as they lost nine wickets for addition of 99 runs in 37 overs. Simon Jones, bowling with a lot of fire, wrapped up the innings in a brilliant 6.5 over spell in the post-lunch session during which he claimed five wickets conceding just three runs. Barring Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan (27, 30 b 1x6, 5x4) and skipper S Suresh (38, 40 b, 7x4), none of the Tamil Nadu batsmen applied themselves to the task and caved in meekly. Once the duo, who added 45 runs for the second wicket in eight overs, were separated, the rest of the innings fell apart. Earlier, resuming at 251 for six, the visitors declared their innings after adding 44 runs in 8.4 overs. Simon Jones hit two fours and two sixers in his breezy 16-ball 25.
For Tamil Nadu, left arm spinner Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan finished with five wickets, while medium pacer M Vignesh grabbed two wickets. Brief Scores : England-A 368 and 295 for nine declared in 75.4 overs (Scott Newman 57, Kadir Ali 56, Michael Lumb 27, Mathew Prior 35, Bilal Shafayat 27, Kevin Peterson 31, Simon Jones 25 Vidyuth Sivaramakrishnan 5 for 74, M Vignesh 2 for 51) b Tamil Nadu 333 and 143 in 46.5 overs (Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan 27, S Suresh 38, Simon Jones 5 for 31, Simon Francis 2 for 30).
— UNI
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Ranchi, February 17 However, he was on personal level ready to give tips to the players who were gearing up for the historical Pakistan tour. It was the duty of the BCCI to work out how to use the experience of the former players for the youngsters, he said. Speaking about the team’s recent tour of Australia, the former captain lauded the Indian performance except the last three one dayers. India was defeated in the one dayers final by a superior Australia and this was part of the game and there should not be fuss over it, he said. He expressed confidence that the Indian team would play better in Pakistan tour. Commenting on the performance of fast bowler Irfan Pathan, Kapil stated that he was performing well during the Australian tour but he should take care about his fitness in future. — UNI
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India, Singapore clash in soccer today
Margao, February 17 Singapore coach Radojo Avramovie, who is from Yugoslavia, praised India, saying it was a fast improving side. “Playing before the home crowd would be an advantage (for India) but we are prepared for the challenge.” Constantine said: “We have picked India’s best team which is a well-knit unit and fit than ever before. Fitness had been benchmark while selecting the team.” He said East Bengal’s recent win in the prestigious AFC Cup match in Singapore boosted the chances of India. Though playing before the home crowd would be an advantage, there will be pressure on the team to perform well, he noted. Constantine said star striker Bhutia would be the key player for India. “He is one of the main players in the team. We are highly dependent on him,” he admitted. India: (from) Sangram Mukherejee, Nassem Akhtar, Deepak Kumar Mondal, Mahesh Gawali, Debjit Ghose, Muttath Suresh, Satish Kumar Bharti, Tomba Singh, Climax Lawrence, Jatin Singh Bhist, Renedy Singh, Sameer Naik, Shanmugam Venkatesh, Subhas Chakroborthy, Alvito D’ Cunha, Jo Paul Anchery, Baichung Bhutia, Ashim Biswas, Abhishek Yadav and Sheikh Sanjeev. Singapore: Mohd Rezal bin Hassan, Zulkarnaen bin Zainal, TanKim Leng, Mohd Nohalam Shah, Hasrin bin Jailani, Lewis Lionel, Baihakki bin Khazam, Syed Mohd Fadhil, Mohd bin Ishak, Mustaom Ahmed Khan, Ridhuabin Mohd, Md bin Jurani, Agu Casmie, Benett Daniel Mark, Aide Bin Sahak, S. Shanamugham, Indra Sahcan bin Daud, Ahmad Latif bin Kahmuddin, Sazali Salleh, Md Rafi Un Md Ali and Hassan Sunny. — UNI
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Indian shuttlers drub Macau 5-0
New Delhi, February 17 Aparna Popat was stretched a bit by Long Ying in the first game of the opening rubber but the top ranked Indian used all her experience to take the tie 13-12 11-3 in about 20 minutes and set the tempo for those to follow. B.R. Meenakshi then thrashed Lei Sao Chi 11-1 11-0 and Trupti Murgunde blanked Mak Ka LEi 11-0 11-0 to give India a match winning 3-0 lead, according to information received here. The two doubles matches, theoretically dead rubbers, were also one sided affairs with top Indian pair of Shruti Kurien and Jwala Gutta requiring just 15 minutes to pack off Long Ying and Pun Si 15-4 15-5. Experienced Manjusha Kanwar then teamed up with Fatima Nazneen to beat Pun Ut Wa and Cheong Lok Was 15-8 15-5 to complete the formalities. India have been placed in Group A along with strong contenders Japan, Hong Kong and Malaysia and need to beat at least two of them to entertain any chance of making it to the last four. Only top three teams would qualify for the Uber Cup finals to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia from May 16-22. — PTI
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Charleston, February 17 Her likely partner is Lisa Raymond, with whom she played in the Australian Open this year, Family Circle Cup spokeswoman Robin Reynolds said. The pair also are trying to make the US Olympic team. Navratilova will be 47 years, 5 months at tournament time - the oldest participant ever at the event. She has said this will be her last year of tournament play. — AP
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Patiala lads in Nehru hockey semifinals
New Delhi, February 17 In another match, G.N. Khalsa College, Yamunanagar suffered a 1-3 defeat at the hands of Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Aligarh but still managed to make it to the quarterfinals because of better goal difference. In a lackluster quarter-final, Khalsa College piped St Joseph, Bangalore 1-0.
The Patiala boys took the lead in the sixth minute through Jatin Kumar and then crowded their defence and successfully held on to the slender advantage for rest of the 64 minutes. Bangalore boys created few opening but could not captalise on them while the Patiala side also made few incisive moves which were frustrated by the rival defenders. Annamalai team overpowered NAS (P G) College, Meerut 4-3 after trailing 2-3 in the first half. It was a fast-paced match in which both sides attacked each other’s citadel frequently and exchanged leads. Annamalai were ahead 2-0 in first eleven minutes but Meerut boys staged a fine rally not only to whip out the deficit but also take the lead as they scored three goals in in a space of 14 minutes to go into the lemon break leading 3-2. S. Sudharsan put Annamalai ahead in the 7th minute and A. Ravi Kumar made it 2-0 in the 11th. Then came Meerut’s rally. Jatinder Sarda converted a penalty corner to make it 1-2 in the 18th minute. He scored his second goal converting a penalty stroke to draw parity for his side in the 30th minute and two minutes later Satish Kumar surprised the rivals by scoring a superb goal to make it 3-2. Eleven minutes into the second session S. Chandersekhar drew parity for Annamalai as he scored off a penalty corner (3-3). A. Ravi Kumar scored his second and team’s fourth goal in the 54th minute and that turned out to be the winner. Earlier Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Aligarh defeated G.N. Khalsa College, Yamunanagar 3-1 but could not make it to the quarters. Both the Khalsa and Aligarh teams finished with six points each but the former had better goal difference (10-5) compared to Aligarh(8-6). M. Nasir(2) and Danish Khan (one) scored for Aligarh while Manpreet Singh reduced the margin for Yamunanagar.
— UNI |
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Malik elected HHA chief Chandigarh, February 17 The other office-bearers are: working president — Mr S.S. Deswal, vice-presidents — Mr K.K. Mishra, Mr Rajpal, Mr Bijender Singh, Mr Manoj Singal, Mr Anil Yadav and Mr M.K. Kaushik; general secretary — Mr B.S. Nandal, organising secretary — Mr Phool Kanwat; joint secretaries — Mr Sanjiv Kumar, Mr U.S. Bhakar, Mr Kishan Saini and Mr Rajsh Dangi; treasurer — Mr Harbhajan Pandit, executive members — Mr Harjeet Pal, Sardar Manmohan Singh, Mr Manjit Singh, Mr Sunil Malik, Mr Ranvir Singh, Mr Rajesh Dangi, Mr Harphool Singh and Mr Devinder Sahani.
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