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Yuvraj may open at Rawalpindi Neither side looked good under pressure Pak benefitted from Dravid’s largesse Miandad finds admirer in Dravid Nehra rues frequent injuries Sachin reminds me of Hanif, says Fazal |
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PCB chief lauds team’s win PCB condemned Moin, Razzaq ruled out
Notes from Pakistan
NIS flouts rules while sending dope samples Basketball trials
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Yuvraj may open at Rawalpindi Lahore, April 9 The team think tank is considering various options regarding who will partner Virender Sehwag — Yuvraj, Ganguly or wicket keeper Parthiv Patel, who made a defiant unbeaten 62 in the Lahore Test, which India lost by nine wickets to set the stage for an absorbing decider starting at Rawalpindi on Tuesday. While Ganguly has opened for a long time in one-dayers, he may not be all too keen to do this job in the Test matches in which case the choice would be between Yuvraj and Parthiv. While Parthiv has opened in one Test match against New Zealand, Yuvraj is not a regular opener even for his state Punjab for which he has opened a couple of times. While Yuvraj may not appear a convincing opener, the success of Sehwag has proved that technique is not everything. Yuvraj is quick to see the ball and is oozing with confidence having hit a century against Pakistan in the Lahore Test. Yuvraj struck a masterly maiden Test century in the Lahore match at a time when the side was in dire straits and the team management may find it difficult to leave him out for the crucial match. With the captain having joined his team-mates after sitting out of the first two Tests due to a lower back injury, the visitors will have to leave out a batsman from the final eleven. Yuvraj, who is regarded as a one-day specialist, has proved that he is not out of place in the longer version of the game, scoring his maiden century in only his third Test appearance. Chopra had a reasonably successful tour of Australia as he often did the job of blunting out the formidable Aussie pace attack comprising the likes of Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie though he could not convert the starts into big scores. He was dismissed in the 40s much too often but stayed at the crease for long enough to see off the new ball and tire out the Aussie paceman. Harsh as it may seem, the axe may fall on Chopra, who has scores of 42, 4, 5 in this series so far, in order to make way for the talented Yuvraj in the team. The omission of Chopra would mean that the Indians would go into the Test with a brand new opening pair. Although the team management has given no such indication yet, it is believed Yuvraj may be asked to open the innings alongwith Sehwag. Ganguly has evaded questions on the much-debated opening slot saying the team would be finalised only after taking into consideration the conditions and pitch in Rawalpindi. Although he praised Yuvraj, he left the field open by his comment that “a player cannot be judged on the basis of one or two performances”. His deputy, Rahul Dravid, rubbished suggestions that reports of Chopra being left out from the team had affected his performance in the second Test. “Such things are never discussed in the dressing room. That’s the charm of the game in our country, so much is being discussed in the living rooms. We have never been affected by these things,” said Dravid who led the team in Ganguly’s absence in the first two Tests. The opening comination has been a perennial problem for the Indian time for a long time. Openers have come and gone, middle order batsmen have been asked to open at times, but an ideal combination has eluded Indian cricket. But Sehwag, a middle-order batsman turned opener, and Chopra have showed signs of sorting out the opening blues with their contrasting batting styles and a fairly good partnership ratio.
— PTI |
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Neither side looked good under pressure The win at Lahore was a victory for positive thinking and playing to one’s strength. The hosts got conditions that favoured their strength, their pace bowling, in the form of a green wicket and this infused their bowlers and the rest of the team with the belief that they could win. Rahul Dravid took a very brave decision on the first morning by deciding to bat. While it will be considered a blunder now, it was a gamble that could so easily have gone India’s way. If the Indians had kept their wickets in the first session and built a couple of partnerships in the top order, it would have been hailed as a master move. As it happened the unknown quantity in the Pakistan side, Umer Gul, broke the back of the Indian batting by taking five wickets. Gul is still young, but he reminds me of the ever-accurate Glenn McGrath because of his high-arm action and the way he hits the seam. He has the ability to make the ball move both ways, and managed to trouble all the Indians. While Virender Sehwag did not exactly fail in either innings, he looked more uncomfortable against Gul’s seam movement than against the swing that he had been encountering from Shoaib and Sami. This might carry a hint for the thinktank as they get ready for the deciding Test. Gul was rightly adjudged man the match, ahead of the superb Inzamam-ul Haq because once he got the Indians out for less than 300, they were always struggling. Having said that, the Pakistan batting effort also deserves special mention. The Indian bowlers did not have ideal conditions to bowl in because by the second day the green look as well as the movement had all but disappeared. Inzamam was in a class of his own, but was ably supported first by Imran Farhat and later by Youhana. Once you have a lead of 200 under your belt, cricket becomes a very easy game. The bowlers came out like a pack of wolves and even though the Indians scored at a fair clip, the boundaries were not hurting the Pakistan bowlers, or hampering their aggression. Everything went right for the Pakistanis. The changes they made in the side looked like inspired selection, because all the four players who came in had a very good match. However, it was the burden of trailing by 200 runs that really made the Indians collapse. The Pakistanis did not look good under pressure at Multan, and the Indians did not look good when they were under the hammer in Lahore. This is why both sides are so evenly matched, but lag behind Australia, who know how to handle pressure and are therefore able to win from any situation - a quality they amply demonstrated recently in Sri Lanka. Almost every overseas win India has registered recently has come off the bat. However, to win consistently, they need penetrative bowlers capable of regularly taking 20 wickets. This is not the first time that India have won a Test before losing the next, and that is because their bowling does not have the teeth required at this level. It is unfair to expect the batsmen to win you games time after time, and till the Indians find real match-winning bowlers, they will find it difficult to win abroad consistently. It was the pressure of 675 runs that won India the Multan Test, and the Indian batsmen scored that mammoth total against a really good bowling attack. I would not crucify them for not firing in Lahore because Pakistan’s bowling is good enough to trouble the very best batsmen. As I said earlier, neither side looked good under pressure, and it will be the side that puts the opposition under the hammer early in the Test that will finally prevail at Rawalpindi.
— Gameplan |
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Pak benefitted from Dravid’s largesse Rahul Dravid gave Pakistan a gift in the mouth by electing to bat first on a greenish Lahore wicket. India were sitting on a 1-0 lead in the series and the next thing you notice is that Indians have allowed Pakistan to literally lift themselves up from the floor. If I was Dravid, I would have never allowed a down-and-out team to recover its poise and be in a position to sting us back. Pakistan were beneficiary of Dravid’s largesse. Dravid might have been influenced by the fact there was grass on the pitch and it meant it couldn’t have been rolled out well. It implied a pitch of variable bounce on the fourth and fifth day, given the hot conditions in Lahore. The Indians didn’t reckon the match was unlikely to last till the fifth day. The fourth innings was unlikely to be a factor in this game. Pakistan tried four new players and all of them left their mark. Umar Gul bowled a match-winning spell, Kamran Akmal showed what a difference a vibrant wicketkeeper can make to the team, Danish Kaneria left his mark in whatever little overs he was provided with and Asim Kamal clearly looked a better organized and technically sound batsman than anyone else in this game. These are difficult times for Kamal since his father is on dialysis and he confided in me before the Test he wasn’t sure he would be picked for the game. But fortune has started to smile on him. The icing on the cake was the return to form of Shoaib Akhtar. He put in a far improved show and he targeted batsmen with short-pitched deliveries rising to their chest. Pakistan seems to have sorted out their problems in the nick of time. India, on the other hand, must be left wondering if Pakistan have at last detected a weakness in the imposing Sachin Tendulkar. I wrote in my first column that Pakistan would try to bring the ball in sharply from a good length to Tendulkar since he doesn’t have a long stride and can leave a gap in his bat and pad. That’s exactly what happened in both the innings at Lahore. Tendulkar fell leg before to deliveries which cut in sharply to him. It’s a peculiar problem with players who have bottom-hand grip like Tendulkar, or for that matter Sehwag, has in Indian camp. A strong bottom-hand grip will restrict your reach but that’s not the case for batsmen who play with a strong top hand. They are also likely to leave a gap between bat and pad. The good thing for Pakistan was that they could pick Tendulkar before the little master had settled down. If he had taken roots at the wicket, such ploys might not have mattered. I have been a great fan of Yuvraj Singh and he only grew in stature in my view with his innings in this game. But I am surprised at the comments of Sourav Ganguly before he returned to Pakistan. He openly spoke in favour of Yuvraj for the Rawalpindi Test which must have put pressure on young Aakash Chopra ahead of the second innings. With the match so critically poised, Ganguly was better off in keeping his opinion to himself. It must not have been good for Chopra and certainly not for India. Indians are bound to come down hard on umpires and rightly so. In Multan, two batsmen who got the rough end of the decision were Inzamam-ul Haq and Yousuf Youhana. In Lahore, the two were the direct beneficiary. It doesn’t help the game when clear-cut catches or played leg before decisions are given. There is a need for increased involvement of third umpire and technology in this game. A close look at recent games show that quite a few of them have been ruined by poor umpiring. Most of the time such poor decisions are deciding the outcome of a match. Imran Farhaat played a brilliant innings and he reminds me so much of Saeed Anwar. Taufeeq Umar is a far better player than he has been in this series. He has been unusually defensive and it could be because of pressure. Let us not forget, there are so many young openers — Farhat, Yasir Hameed and Imran Nazir — in the present squad. Inzamam as ever looks a batsman in sublime form. I was disappointed with the form of Anil Kumble. He didn’t bowl as well as he did in Multan. He bowled too much on the leg stump to Inzamam and he wasn’t consistent with his length also. But two men who built on their Multan performance were Irfan Pathan and Virender Sehwag. Pathan looks a genuine article. I was just not happy with the way he bowled the new ball. Bowling four maiden overs is alright but he should have bowled at least a feet ahead than he did. He should have made batsmen come forward all the time. Then you have Sehwag who is said to have no technique. But he has the technique of mind and sometimes that’s an important ingredient. In his success, there is a message for the rest of the Indian batsmen.
— PTI |
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Miandad finds admirer in Dravid Lahore, April 9 The Indian was seen chatting with the Pakistani coach before the start of fourth day’s play here yesterday and Dravid asked Miandad for a one-to-one sitting after the final Test at Rawalpindi, reports The News. When asked what transpired
between them during the discussion yesterday, Miandad responded: “It was a cricketer-to-cricketer discussion on the game itself. No, we didn’t exchange any batting secrets.’’ He, however, revealed that the rival skipper was curious about the drills that the Pakistani side followed in the nets. “He wanted to know the drills that I do with our players because he watches us practising and was interested,’’ said Miandad. “He also wanted to know what preparations we made as batsmen before matches in our times. He said he wanted to have a talk with me after the series is over,’’ he added.
— UNI |
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New Delhi, April 9 Nehra was forced to return home after playing the first two one-dayers against Pakistan due to a webbing injury. But after missing the remainders of the one-day series and the first Test, he rejoined the squad in Pakistan in place of Zaheer Khan who himself was done in by a hamstring injury. “These days there is so much of international cricket. We play like 40 to 50 one-dayers and so many Test matches (in a year). So injuries have to happen. But I think with me it’s like... you can say I’m unfortunate,” Nehra told Karan Thapar on BBC’s “Face to Face” programme to be telecast tomorrow. “As a fast bowler you have to (live with injuries)... But those injuries, I have so many. Like, I am just 25, already had two ankle surgeries,” he said. Nehra said he was “frustrated” to get injured during the one-day series since he was looking to do well on the tour after an average outing in Australia. “I was looking forward to go to Pakistan and just do well. I did well in the first two one-dayers. I bowled really well. “In the next three one-dayers I didn’t play and it was like really frustrating for me, specially like the kind of freak injury which I never expected.” Despite missing matches on the Pakistan tour, Nehra still relishes his final over in the first one-dayer at Karachi, where India won the thrilling contest by five runs. “It was a very rare moment. I mean that kind of matches, you don’t play every day. It was a big job for me and I did it for my country,. So I was happy,” Nehra said. Pakistan needing nine runs from the final over found Nehra too hot to handle, managing just three runs. The seamer said Javed Miandad’s famous six off the final ball off Chetan Sharma in Sharjah in 1986 never came to his mind while he was getting ready to bowl the last ball to Moin Khan. “No, it never came to mind actually. My mind was in the game only.” He also said he was “95 per cent” right in bowling a full toss to Moin Khan when Pakistan were needing six runs off the last ball. “It didn’t go wrong. I was trying to bowl a low full toss and I was watching the batsman’s movement as well. It was not 100 per cent right but I’ll say 95 per cent. It was not easy to hit that kind of a full toss. It was not a slow ball, it was quick ball.” Nehra, a die-hard fan of Pakistani fast bowler Wasim Akram, gets regular phone calls from his idol, who is generous in offering tips to his protege. “Wasim was no doubt a world class bowler and when I was a child I used to watch him a lot. I used to follow him a lot. He gives so many tips which are really important to me,” said Nehra. — PTI
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Sachin reminds me of Hanif, says Fazal
Lahore, April 9 A few minutes after the shattering nine-wicket defeat in the second cricket Test at the Gaddafi Stadium, Pakistan’s former captain and fast bowler Fazal Mahmood had his day-long wait ended when he was finally able to meet Tendulkar in the Indian dressing room. It was a moment to be frozen for posterity. For it was a meeting between two players who have been towering figures of their own eras. The Indian would cherish it more since the great Pakistani had waited patiently for days for this moment. “Fazal had been very keen to meet Tendulkar in the last few days and as soon as the Test match ended, Tendulkar invited him to the Indian dressing room and had a chat with him,” an Indian team official said. Fazal, who played a big role in each of Pakistan’s maiden Test wins over teams like India, England, Australia, New Zealand and the West Indies, told Tendulkar that he reminded him of Pakistan’s own little master Hanif Mohammad and that he was one of the best batsmen he had seen in the last five decades. Tendulkar, on his part, enquired from Fazal about his first Test series against India. Fazal, who ended his Test career with 139 wickets from 34 Tests, also spoke to some of the other Indian players. — PTI
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PCB chief lauds team’s win LAHORE: Showering praise on the home side for its “special” win against India in the second Test here, Pakistan Cricket Board chief Shaharyar Khan has urged the players to give their best in the decider and emerge victorious in the three-match series. “Victory is always good and beating India is special and I am very happy with the performance of the players and wish them good luck,” Shaharyar was quoted as saying by the state-run APP news agency today. Pakistan beat India by nine wickets yesterday to level the series 1-1. The third and final Test starts at Rawalpindi on April 13. “I hope players will be giving their best in the coming game which is very important as the series is locked at 1-1 and outcome of it depends on that match,” he said. —
PTI
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PCB condemned LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board has come in for severe criticism after the disappointing crowd turnout during the first two Test matches against India at Multan and Lahore. Though both the Tests provided some outstanding cricket and produced results, the crowds kept away from the stands, contrary to expectation that the fact that the arch-rivals were battling on Pakistan soil after a gap of almost 15 years will generate huge interest. In a hard-hitting report, local daily “Dawn” blamed the poor turnout to “some unimaginative itinerary, chaos in ticket sales and poor marketing by the PCB”. “Reasons for the lack of interest are unimaginative itinerary especially the decision of playing the one-dayers first, chaos in sales of tickets, bowing to the
dictate of by BCCI and the abject failure of the PCB to market the series despite having the services of a highly-paid ‘honorary’ consultant,” the report said.
— PTI
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Moin, Razzaq ruled out LAHORE: Pakistan wicketkeeper Moin Khan and all-rounder Abdul Razzaq have been ruled out of next week’s third and final Test against India due to injury.
“Moin and Razzaq have not recovered and will not be able to play the final Test,” Samiul Hasan, media manager of the Pakistan team, said. “They have been released from the Pakistan squad and their replacements will be named tomorrow,” he added.
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Notes from Pakistan He has been Indian cricket team’s bugbear for quite some time now, but Steve Bucknor says that he is “pretty happy” with his performance.
The 57-year-old West Indian member of the so-called panel of Elite Umpires appears to be chasing the Indians wherever they go — South Africa, Australia and now Pakistan where he contributed to India’s misery in the second Test. Bucknor turned down an appeal against Pakistan’s top batsman and captain Inzamam-ul Haq in the first innings here when Irfan Pathan’s inswinger had hit the batsman in line. Inzamam was then on 65 and went on to make 118. In the same innings he ruled Umar Gul not out after he had left alone a ball from Anil Kumble that was hitting the middle stumps. In the Indian innings, Bucknor’s lbw decision against Aakash Chopra was debatable. These latest decisions against India come on top of his blunder in South Africa in 1992-93, the year when the third umpire was introduced, and his stunning verdict against Sachin Tendulkar in the recent series against Australia when he judged him lbw to a ball clearly missing the off-stump. Bucknor had ruled Jonty Rhodes not out despite the batsman being a yard short of his crease. This verdict by
Bucknor, who had refused to consult the third umpire, proved crucial in the final outcome of the match which ended in a draw. Bucknor admitted that umpiring had become difficult with increasing television coverage. *
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is planning to give a warm farewell to fast bowler Waqar Younis, who is to announce his retirement from international cricket during the third and final Test between India and Pakistan at Rawalpindi. The farewell would be given during the series-deciding Test match, starting at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Tuesday. “We have decided to bid him adieu on the second day of the final Test,” PCB chief executive Rameez Raja told reporters here. Raja said
Waqar, who was currently in New Delhi to provide expert comments to a television network on the Indo-Pak series, has reportedly informed the board of his plans to retire from cricket. Waqar, one of the leading fast bowlers in the world, lost the captaincy as well his place in the side after Pakistan’s disastrous performance in the last year’s World Cup in South Africa. *
Pakistan coach Javed Miandad lashed out at some of his country’s former cricketers saying “those who could not field properly in their days are criticising me”. “I am surprised that most of the cricketers, who could not stand properly in the field, are criticising me and the team,” he said. “It is high time they should also retire from commenting or writing,” he added. “It is very bad to hit a person when he is down. The hallmark of a great sportsperson is to encourage the player when he is not doing well, but in our country everybody wants to settle scores by running down the team,” he noted. Miandad said what pained him most was not the criticism but the tone and tenor of “those very cricketers who used to be a liability for the team during their time”. “Do these worthies remember their time before they run down the team?,” Miandad said.
— PTI, UNI
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Osaka, April 9 Motomura defeated Prakash Amritraj 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in the first match at Utsubo Tennis Center as Japan got off to winning start in the second round tie.
India bounced back in the second singles match when Paes defeated Takao Suzuki 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
Paes looked to be on his way to a straight sets victory before Suzuki took the third set 6-3. Chances for a Japanese comeback were dashed when Paes broke serve to go up 5-4 in the final set and then sealed the win with a brilliant crosscourt forehand. The doubles matches will be played tomorrow and the reverse singles matches on Sunday. The winner of the tie will advance to September’s playoff ties for the World Group. Motomura said: “I’ve played a lot of five-set matches recently. You can’t get too down on yourself if you lose the first set and I just told myself to battle back.” Motomura won the first game of the first set and then lost the next five before coming back. “It took me a while to adjust to the mood,” said Motomura. “I started to feel better midway though the first set.” Motomura broke Amritraj’s serve to go up 5-4 in the final set and then served out to win the match in 2 hours and 21 minutes. “To break his serve and go up 5-4 was huge,” said Motomura. “We really wanted to win this first match and start things off on the right foot.”
— AP
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NIS flouts rules while sending dope samples Patiala, April 9 Samples of grapplers attending the senior national wrestling camp, at present being held at the NIS, were collected on April 6. In complete violation of norms, an Accounts Officer, Mr R.C Trivedi, was asked to take the samples to the New Delhi based Sports Authority of India’s dope control centre at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium. Neither an attendant nor a technician accompanied Mr Trivedi to New Delhi. Normally, a laboratory technician or an attendant accompanies the samples till they reach the lab in New Delhi. Mr Trivedi’s lives in New Delhi and has joined the NIS as an accounts officer recently. Sources reveal that the accounts officer himself volunteered to take the sample to New Delhi just because he could avail the TA/DA. The NIS is hosting several national camps in preparation for the Athen’s Olympics and other international meets. Such a ‘blunder’, as termed by several national coaches, by the institute’s top brass has sent confusing signals among the players
who feel that their samples could be tampered with. |
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Basketball trials Ludhiana, April 9 According to Mr Rajdeep Singh Gill, President, PBA, boys and girls in two age groups (15-16 years) and (17-18 years) will be picked up at the trials. The selection criteria will be — age group 15-16 for boys minimum height 6’-2” with playing experience upto the state level while in the girls’ section, the minimum height must be 5’-8” with playing experience upto the district level. In the age group of 17-18 years for boys, the minimum height must be 6’-4” with playing experience upto the national level and for girls (5’-10”), the playing experience should be upto the state level tournaments. And, if the player is extraordinarily tall, then the playing experience condition might be ignored, Mr Gill informed. He said the selected players would be provided free boarding and lodging besides coaching. They would be admitted in the local schools and colleges, provided concessions by the educational institutions with which the PBA had made arrangements. Interested players should report to Mr Teja Singh Dhaliwal, secretary, PBA, or Dr S. Subramanian, coach in charge of the academy at 8.30 am on the above mentioned dates at the indoor basketball hall of the complex. |
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Lahore, April 9
Lahore, April 9
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