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Batsmen deserve a lot of credit: Kumble
Enforcing follow-on was
the right decision
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Umpire Taufel target of Pak media
Pak players almost boycotted series after fixing charges
England look to seal historic win Fleming ‘cricketer of the year’
Indian eves blank
Sri Lanka 3-0 Rehan Poncha earns a double Indian spikers
through to semis Anand maintains lead Oman
rout India 5-1 in qualifier Rushmi enters quarterfinals
Four Sangrur players in Minor Districts team
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Batsmen deserve a lot of credit: Kumble Multan, March 31 Kumble, who picked a record 10 wickets in the 1999 series against Pakistan, proved to be the nemesis for the arch-rivals, picking six wickets for 71 in the second innings to help bring India on the verge of their first win on Pakistan soil ever. But the leggie felt the contribution of the batsmen could not be ignored on the placid track. “It is still a placid track, whatever we have achieved is mainly because the batsmen put up a huge score on the board. It put enormous pressure on the opposition batsmen,” said Kumble. Leg-spinner Anil Kumble, who dispelled doubts about his shoulder claiming 6 for 71 in the second innings, said it was a ‘nice feeling’ to be on the brink of a historic victory. “Still one more wicket to go. It would have been better if we had been able to finish it off today,” he said. Kumble, who missed the tri-series finals against Australia and also did not play in the one-day series against Pakistan, said his shoulder was holding well. “It was a minor shoulder strain with a bit of history to it, it is holding well,” he said. He said the huge score the batsmen had put up helped the bowlers put pressure on Pakistan. “Initially the openers (Taufiq Umar and Imran Farhat) were playing their shots. I concentrated on bowling a good line and length and with runs on the board we were able to put pressure on them.” The fourth day bucked the domination of the bat and fetched 13 wickets for the bowlers at the cost of just 250 runs while the previous three days saw 1039 runs being scored for the return of 11 wickets. Kumble, however, said the Indians were not bothered about the flat nature of the Multan track. “We did not give much thought to the pitch. This team has worked hard and has belief in itself. “Whatever the nature of the track, we always put the best foot forward and be positive,” he said. He was praised the efforts of Irfan Pathan who grabbed career best four for 100 in Pakistan’s first innings.
— PTI |
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Zaheer doubtful for 2nd Test MULTAN: The bowling attack received a jolt as left arm speedster Zaheer Khan looks doubtful for the second Test against Pakistan to be played at Lahore from April 5. Zaheer strained his muscle in the right leg this morning and was ruled out for the rest of the ongoing Test. “Zaheer will not take any further part in the ongoing first cricket Test against Pakistan because of a muscle strain,” team manager Ratnakar Shetty announced here on Wednesday. He said the bowler had strained his muscle in the right leg and would not be able to play in the match. “A detailed report on his condition will be available later. At the moment, we are assessing his condition,” he said.
— Reuters |
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Enforcing follow-on was
the right decision It has been an eventful Test match so far. While the Indian domination continued like in the one-dayers, Sehwag’s historical feat made it a more memorable one. Enforcing the follow-on was a bold and right decision. India can now hope for a victory. But I am also concerned about Zaheer’s fitness. His absence can distort the very balance of Indian attack. Though one is not yet sure whether India will finally be able to convert their domination into their first Test win in Pakistan, this Test will always be etched in the memory for Veeru’s great achievement. One thing I know, that this triple hundred will take Veeru’s level of confidence to a new level. A six over mid-wicket to cross the 300-run mark only shows that records and cold statistics could never get the better of Sehwag’s actual cricketing attitude. Veeru’s rate of scoring also reveals one thing clearly – his first and foremost priority is the team’s aims and goals, not any of his personal milestones. To me, Sehwag’s innings once again reiterated the fact that: “Technique to score runs is more important than the technique to defend”. From my experience I can say that some of India’s greatest technicians of cricket have killed the game defending their personal reputation, while forgetting the importance of scoring runs to match the team’s objectives. If Sachin, Saurav, Rahul and Laxman are considered icons by the current generation of cricket lovers, then Virender Sehwag is all set to be the same for the next generation. The time of declaration has caused some confusion in the Indian camp. I know, some are waiting to grab this opportunity and will make all efforts to blow this issue out of proportion. True that Sachin expressed his disappointment for missing an important milestone. But he is too great a sport to keep anything in his heart and droll over it to make an issue. After all, he belongs to the same team that took the decision. The message is loud and clear – the team objective is the top most priority. I am puzzled why Pakistan management opted for such a placid track. A team, which boasts about their embarrassment of riches when it comes to fast bowlers, has certainly lost the initiatives. To add to the guilt of Pakistani bowlers bowling short or too full, their own fielders did not do any favour with their butter fingers. Sachin played another gem of a knock. Although it appeared that he was playing second fiddle to Sehwag, the maestro was chiefly responsible for Sehwag to create a new record. Sehwag, I thought, definitely required that support at the centre. Irfan Pathan has become a wonderful student of the game. He is growing leaps and bounds in every outing. The swing he achieved was far more superior and dangerous than his Pakistani counterparts, who were mostly operating at 90 miles speed. My concern is whether our bowlers will be able to sustain the energy to keep up the good job they have done so far. No doubt, Sachin is chipping in with a few good overs. His magic delivery to Moin Khan on Tuesday will even make Shane Warne envious. But on such tracks, it is always good to have the fifth regular bowler to fill in the overs. Basically the fifth bowler would bowl a few tight spells to give rest to the main bowlers, who then can come back with renewed vigour. On such wickets, the bowlers are bound to get tired. Rahul Dravid’s biggest responsibility now is to manage the bowlers in such a way that they don’t get tired by over-use. Physio Andrew and the trainer are surely spending sleepless nights. The recovery session for the players will be much longer than the usual ones. A good stretching in the pool for at least an hour after the game, followed by some good rub on the back, legs and the shoulder is what the recovery session is all about. There will be a beeline in the front of the physio room after the hard day’s work. The best bowler of the day gets the priority.
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Umpire Taufel target of Pak media Multan, March 31 “Dubious umpiring diminishes Pakistan hopes in first Test,” screamed a headline in local daily ‘The Nation’ in its lead story on the ongoing Test match. “Hiding behind umpiring is not ideal cricket but recurrence of the questionable decisions is to be seen as unfair to the sport, particularly if they undermine one particular team,” it said while commenting on Taufel’s decisions. It said benefit of doubt should have been given to the batsmen “as there was no evidence” to support the decisions. “While Virender Sehwag had benefited from the leg before shout, there was need for a closer look at Youhana’s dismissal as well,” the report said adding such decisions “were simply unpardonable specially in this era of technology.”
— PTI |
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Pak players almost boycotted series after fixing charges Multan, March 31 Inzamam, alongwith his deputy Yousuf Youhana and fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, took strong exception to the allegations of match-fixing made by former captain Rashid Latif, ‘The News’ reported today. Doubts were raised after India won the fourth match to level the five-match one-day series 2-2. India then won the fifth and final match to clinch the series 3-2. President General Pervez Musharraf soon ordered a ban on the telecast and the PCB threatened legal action against Latif. “When the story appeared after the match, three of the players were very upset and informed manager Haroon Rashid that they would not play in the Test series unless the PCB took some action against the people making the allegations without any evidence,” the newspaper quoted a PCB official as saying. “The players were already fed up with persistent allegations by former Pakistan bowler Sarfraz Nawaz before the series started and lost their cool after the Latif episode,” the report quoted the official as saying. The three players later spoke to PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan who had a long discussion with them. “Shaharyar made them see sense and how their reputations would suffer if they refused to play in the Tests against India and assured them that he would sort out the matter soon,” the report said. Shaharyar also assured that a permanent protocol would be put in place in the board’s legal system where anyone making any match-fixing allegations would be sued if he went to the press directly without any substantial or circumstantial evidence, the official added. “Shaharyar told them he would be speaking to Rashid on the subject and if the former captain didn’t retract his statement, disciplinary action would be taken against him,” he said. According to the newspaper, the PCB chief also described Rashid’s statement as “shameful” and “unpatriotic”.
— PTI |
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Notes from Pakistan Pakistani security staff is taking no chances with the security of the Indian players here with intelligence and police personnel guarding round the clock the road leading to the hotel and its every nook and corner, including the floor on which the cricketers are staying. If a person wants to visit a player, the Holiday Inn receptionist gives the guest a “visitor” token that he has to carry with him. When the visitor reaches the team floor, a few men from the intelligence department and a private security guard confront him. Sitting near the elevator and the staircase, they ask the visitor to show the token and only after that allow him to enter the room. “We are on 24-hour duty here,” one of the men from the intelligence department told IANS. “We do not sleep while on duty at night, though we work in shifts.” The police have barricaded the main road in front of the hotel — about 25 metres on both sides of the hotel — with only the official cardholders allowed to cross the barrier. Another group of men from intelligence are posted in the portico of the hotel, where they have a few chairs and tables to themselves. *
Delhi-based Prabhakar, who is attached to the Indian cricket team here, is not just a senior police officer. He has diversified interest in culture and literature and seems to have a penchant for studying the local history of the places he visits. The amiable additional deputy commissioner of Delhi Police, who arrived here on March 19 to take charge from the two top police officers who did duty during the five one-dayers against Pakistan, pointed out several similarities in the cultures of the two countries. Any conversation with Prabhakar is interesting and informative and he gives a lot of examples to support what he says, especially in the context of India and Pakistan. Having done international assignments, it seems natural that Prabhakar, who belongs to Bihar, has studied various cultures around the world and takes special interest in comparing them. The man with the trademark salt-and-pepper hair, however, finds the sub-continental society better than others. *
There is more proof of the systematic and organised manner of working of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The media corps travelling with the Indian and Pakistani teams have been given a compact ‘PCB Playing Handbook 2004’ that provides minute details from city and district cricket associations of Pakistan to various national boards around the world. The companion contains a brief history of then PCB, a list of its presidents/chairmen, secretaries and chief executives and telephone numbers of the PCB’s various committee members.
— IANS |
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England look to seal historic win
Bridgetown, March 31 No one, least of all Michael Vaughan and his side, expected England to be leading the four-Test series 2-0 with two matches remaining. But they have completely outplayed their opponents with disciplined cricket that has highlighted the deep cracks in the West Indies armour. There is even speculation that England could claim their first series whitewash in the Caribbean, although they should cast their minds back to Australia’s tour last year and South Africa’s three years ago when those two sides failed in similar bids. The home team have been rocked by the resignation of Ricky Skerritt, their manager for the last four years, but the West Indies Cricket Board has brought in Tony Howard, the former Test off-spin bowler and manager of the Barbados team that has dominated domestic West Indies cricket over the last two years in particular. West Indies are likely to make two changes to their line-up that lost the second Test at Port of Spain by seven wickets.
— AFP |
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Fleming ‘cricketer of the year’ Auckland, March 31 Fleming won the Walter Hadlee Trophy for one-day international batting and also collected the National Bank ‘player of the year’ award. His only miss came when he was beaten for first-class batting by New Zealand team-mate Scott Styris. The award period included the team’s tour of Sri Lanka last May when Fleming scored a career-best 274 not out in the heat of Colombo. He also scored 192 in the first test against Pakistan in Hamilton and added two match-winning one-day centuries, both in Christchurch against Pakistan and South Africa.
— AP |
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Indian eves blank Sri Lanka 3-0 Islamabad, March 31 India No. 1 and Olympian Poulami Ghatak provided a flying start to the team handing a straight-set drubbing to Herath Kalpani Jayapadma 11-8, 11-1, 11-1. Poulomi, who helped India reach the top group in the last World Table Tennis Championship, took some time to settle down, but once she found her rhythm, a flurry of powerful smashes and intelligent placings gave no chance to the Sri Lankan paddler. In the second match, India’s Mouma Das faced a stiff challenge from Subhasini Rodrigo. Mouma’s fine returns and services helped her prevail over the Sri Lankan 11-9, 17-15, 11-7. Former national champion Mantu Ghosh, however, had to wage a grim battle to overcome Madawala Dinili Nadisha. Mantu won the first game but lost the next two. She rallied strongly to take the final two games to take the match and help India take the tie 3-0. In their next outing, India will take on Nepal this evening. Nepal have lost their opening tie against hosts Pakistan 3-0. Indian coach Ibrahim Khan said he was confident of the team winning all the gold at stake in this event. Besides the team event for men and women, India were well on their course for winning the gold in both the men’s and women’s singles as well as doubles. India will have two
entries in each of these events. — UNI |
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Rehan Poncha earns a double Islamabad, March 31 Besides Poncha, who got a gold in 200m individual medley yesterday, T.A. Sujith and Akbar Ali Mir also got a double gold each. Apart from the 200m butterfly-which Rohan won clocking 2m 7.10 seconds bettering the earlier record of K. Suresh Kumar of India in 1995 at Chennai- and the 50m freestyle by Sujith, India today comfortably clinched the issue in 50m breast stroke and 4x200m free style relay. With these four, India collected all the eight golds so far.
— UNI |
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Indian spikers
through to semis Islamabad, March 31 In the Group A match, India defeated the islanders 25-8, 25-19, 25-9 in 53 minutes. India qualified for the semi-finals along with Bangladesh, who have also won both their matches and the two teams will clash in their final league encounter tomorrow. Afghanistan and Maldives who have lost both their matches will play their last league match. In group B, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have made it to the semi finals with a win each against Nepal. For the second day running, India played a lowly team in the group but seemed to continue to suffer from their weak double blocks.
— PTI |
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Anand maintains lead
Monaco, March 31 However, overall he is in sixth position, which can be improved considerably with good results in the last two rounds when he is up against Vassily Ivanchuk and Boris Gelfand. Anand was once again engaged in a double draw, this time against Shirov, with whom he generally has a very good one-to-one record. Anand is currently leading the rapid standings with six points and is followed by Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Leko and Evegeny Bareev, who are half a point behind. Both Kramnik and Morozevich have 12 points each and lead overall standings. They are followed by Ivanchuk and Peter Leko with 11.0 each and Evegney Bareev with 10.5. Anand and Peter Svidler have 10 points each. In the last two rounds, Anand has played all four draws and before that lost to Alexander Morozevich. Morozevich has exploded into full form with three successive 2-0 results that have catapulted him into joint lead with Vladimir Kramnik. In all, the temperamental Russian has scored such result, the first having been against Vassily Ivanchuk in first round. In the last three rounds, he has beaten Anand, Paco Vallejo and Veselin Topalov in both games. In the blindfold, Anand had white in a ruy lopez closed and the game lasted a mere 21 moves before the point was split. Anand failed to get anything out of the opening when he missed a clever rearrangement of the black pieces starting with 16.Ne7. |
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Oman rout India 5-1 in qualifier
Kochi, March 31 Oman drew first blood in the 12th minute through Amad Ali Suliman but India restored parity two minutes later through Rendey Singh after Baichung Bhutia won a penalty from the Malaysian referee. But that was all India could manage as Oman were propelled to a big win by four more goals from Ahmed Mubarak (26th, 52nd) and substitute Mohamed Mubarak (59th, 82nd). India, who had beaten Singapore in their first match, will now travel to Japan to take on the Asian champions in June. Oman, enjoying a clear upperhand, went for the attack right from the kick-off and scored goals seemingly at will toying with the Indian defence. The vistors could have won by a bigger margin had their strikers been on target. The day was certainly not India’s, as they fumbled with erratic exchanges down the midfield, failed to control the ball and were easily tackled by the tall Omanese players. Oman, ranked 69th to India’s 140 in the latest FIFA ranking list, got off to an aggressive start with forwards Fouzi Bashir Rajab and Ahmed Mubarak breathing down the rival area troubling the Indian defence with pace and superb ball control.
— PTI |
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Rushmi enters quarterfinals
Mumbai, March 31 However, another Indian and wild card Iciri Rai, who beat third seed Chin Bee Khoo of Malaysia in the first round yesterday, was ousted after she went down to Satomi Kinjo of Japan 2-6, 4-6. Rushmi, the highest-ranked Indian (357) in WTA rankings, played a controlled game and won the first set 6-0 by breaking her opponent’s service thrice. In the second set also, Rushmi broke Minori twice to take the set and match 6-1. In the matches played last night, Liza Periera and Krushmi Chheda of India were beaten by their opponents.
— PTI |
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Agassi loses; Serena
breezes into semis
Key Biscayne (Florida), March 31 Argentina’s Agustin Calleri hammered 47 winners in a 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) triumph yesterday at the $ 6.5 million WTA and ATP Masters Series hardcourt event, ending the 33-year-old American’s 19-match and three-title run here. “I wish somebody would tell me how he hit so well,” Agassi said. “I raised my standard to stay in there. I was lucky to win two games in the first set. The guy was just making me play great tennis and I wasn’t coming up with it.” Two-time defending women’s champion Williams breezed into the semifinals by routing 73rd-ranked fellow American Jill Craybas 6-0, 6-1. She faces Greece’s 35th-ranked Eleni Daniilidou tomorrow for a berth in Saturday’s title match. “You can tell she’s extremely confident,” Craybas said. “She just makes you feel she’s at a higher level... she does give off that aura. That’s part of the pressure she puts on you.” Six-time Grand Slam champion Williams underwent left knee surgery last August and had not played in an event since last July’s Wimbledon final victory over older sister Venus. But another all-Williams final is possible here.
— AFP |
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Four Sangrur players in Minor Districts team Sangrur, March 31 This information was given by Mr Gurinder Singh Dhillon, president Sangrur Cricket Association. Zone A comprises Sangrur, Mansa, Faridkot, Bathinda, Muktsar and Ferozepore. The selected players will attend a coaching camp from April 1 at Mohali.
The selected players are: Robin Bajaj, Gurpreet Singh, Raj Kamal, Imran Khan Sang) Arjun, Ashu, William, Deepak Joshi (Bathinda), Harman, Pushpinder, Gurbhej, Amandeep Singh (Muktsar), Anurag, Rakesh Kumar (Faridkot). Maninder of Bathinda will be the captain of the team. Standbies-Gurpreet, Puner Dhaliwal, Dhruve (Bathinda), Gurnoor, Sandeep (Muktsar) Jaideep (Faridkot). |
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U-16 football meet Chandigarh, March 31 Players born on or after January 1, 1989, are eligible to participate. Entries close on April 7, according to former international Parminder Singh, who is also vice-president, DFA , Ropar.
— TNS |
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Auckland, March 31
