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Dravid, Laxman, Patel frustrate Pak
Century special only if India win: Dravid Injuries to Shoaib, Kamal add to Pak’s woes |
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No letter from India: ICC No funds: PCB
Vaughan leads England fightback India beat Malaysia Our strategy did not work: Bhupathi Beckham ‘lover’ to tell all in TV interview Power sector chess
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Dravid, Laxman, Patel frustrate Pak Rawalpindi, April 14 A first innings lead of 118 with six wickets intact has put India on the road to their first-ever Test series win against the arch-rivals on their home soil. Placed at 342 for four at close of play in reply to Pakistan’s 224, India would be looking to pile on a huge lead and then press for victory with the series standing one-all. Besides Dravid, the visitors owed their happy position to superb knocks by opener Parthiv Patel (69), VVS Laxman (71) and skipper Sourav Ganguly, batting on 53. Vice-captain Dravid, who came in to bat at the fall of Virender Sehwag to the first ball of the innings yesterday, played with characteristic determination through the day for his unbeaten 134, his first century against Pakistan and 17th overall in Tests. He anchored the Indian innings and saw it through periods of crisis. Bowling consistently over 150 kmph, “Rawalpindi Express” Shoaib Akhtar gave an exhibition of fast-bowling at its best in three spells including one in which he removed Tendulkar with a searing delivery. Earlier, India slumped to 130 for three from a comfortable 129 for one shortly after the lunch break with Patel and Tendulkar being dismissed in quick succession. But Dravid and Laxman built the innings again with a fine exhibition of strokeplay and caution. The duo, who have been involved in a couple of epic partnerships in the past, put on 131 runs for the fourth wicket before Shoaib sent Laxman’s middle stump flying with a lightning full toss. Ganguly, who joined the action after Laxman’s dismissal, seemed to be in superb touch as he accelerated the pace of scoring with a barrage of shots while Dravid was content in playing second fiddle. Resuming at the overnight score of 23 for one, both Patel and Dravid played sensibly in the morning session as they went about collecting the runs without taking any risk at all on a track which had eased out to a great extent after offering a lot of assistance to the pace bowlers on the opening day. Mohammed Sami and Shoaib began the bowling operations in the morning but barring a couple of balls which found the edge or rapped the batsmen on the pads, they could not provide the early breakthrough the home team desperately needed. The dependable Dravid, who had not managed a big score in the Test series till now, executed the first confident shot by elegantly flicking Akhtar to the fine leg fence. The diminutive Patel, who was sent to open the innings alongwith Virender Sehwag, also looked quite comfortable in the middle and unleashed some delightful shots on both sides of the wicket after getting his eye in, slamming Sami for two
consecutive boundaries to bring India’s 50 on the board in the 24th over. Pakistan skipper Inzamam introduced spinner Kaneria just before the drinks break. Although he bowled a tidy line and length, the two Indian overnight batsmen had little trouble in playing him. After the lunch break, the visitors lost the prized wicket of Tendulkar and Patel during the session. Patel, who was middling the ball quite well during his 203 minute vigil at the crease, edged an outside-the-off-stump delivery from Akbar to see Kamran Akmal take a superb diving catch behind the stumps. Patel faced 141 balls during his knock of 69 which contained ten boundaries. The Indians then suffered a huge jolt when batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar returned to the pavilion, falling to Shoaib’s very first ball after the lunch break. Shoaib
surprised the star batsman with a rising delivery which Tendulkar edged it Akmal behind the stumps, as India were reduced to 130 for three from a comfortable 129 for one. The fall of the two quick wickets did not seem to have any effect on the unflappable Dravid and Laxman who marked his return to Test form with some
exhilarating strokeplay. The touch artiste gave glimpses of his Australian form with some trademark wristy shots and was particularly aggressive after the tea break as he smashed one boundary after another to help his team overtake Pakistan’s first innings total without any further casualties.
SCOREBOARD
Pakistan (Ist innings): 224 India (Ist innings): Sehwag c Hameed b Shoaib 0 Patel c Akmal b Akbar 69 Dravid batting 134 Tendulkar c Akmal b Shoaib 1 Laxman b Shoaib 71 Ganguly batting 53 Extras:
(b-6, lb-7, w-1) 14 Total: (4 wkts, 105 overs) 342 Fall of wickets:
1-0, 2-129, 3-130, 4-261. Bowling: Shoaib 21.2-7-47-3, Akbar 26.4-2-114-1, Kaneria 32-2-86-0, Sami 22-6-72-0, Farhat 3-1-10-0.
— PTI |
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Century special only if India win: Dravid Rawalpindi, April 14 “It’s a nice feeling to score your first Test century against Pakistan, but it will become special only if we win the match. We have to carry on performing in this way to be able to do that,” Dravid, unbeaten on 134 at close of play on the second day, told reporters here. The Indians took a first innings lead of 118 runs against Pakistan after bundling out the home team for 224 on the opening day of the match, marking the golden jubilee Test between the two arch rivals. “The first session tomorrow will be very important, there is a still a lot of hard work to be done. If we can see the first session through, we can aim for a big first innings lead,” he said. Dravid said it was still too early to say what kind of a lead would be good enough for pressing a win. “We have not decided what lead would be good. We would definitely not like to bat again, that’s the whole idea, the basic goal.” The Indian vice-captain said the home team would be under tremendous pressure if India managed to take the lead as batting on the fourth and fifth days would not be an easy task. “It still looks a good wicket. There are some cracks and with the sun beating down, it could open up a little more. It would have something for the spinners on the fourth and fifth days and (Anil) Kumble could be a factor on those days. The shadow of Kumble looms on any batting side,” he said. On why Parthiv Patel was sent in as opener instead of Yuvraj Singh or captain Sourav Ganguly as indicated, Dravid said, “we felt that if Parthiv could see off the new ball, it would be good for the others. “Yuvraj and Ganguly are more comfortable in the middle order and we thought we should not take them out of that position. Yuvraj is in good form and so we did not want to disturb his position. It is hard on Parthiv, it’s something we have to assess in the future.”
— PTI |
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Dravid crosses another frontier RAWALPINDI: With his maiden century against Pakistan here on Wednesday, Indian vice-captain Rahul Dravid joined a select group of batsmen to have scored a century against all but one Test playing nation. The only country against whom Dravid has not scored a century is Bangladesh, against which he has played only one Test. Dravid’s 17th century, which came on the second day of the series-deciding Test, was his 11th hundred abroad, making the stylish batsman one of the few batsmen in world cricket to have better career average overseas than at home. The 31-year-old, who began his career in England in 1996, has so far played 78 Tests. He had 6585 runs at the start of this match at a superb average of 56.28. He began with a 95 against England at the Lord’s and scored his first century in his ninth Test against South Africa at Johannesburg in the 1996-97 season.
— PTI |
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Injuries to Shoaib, Kamal add to Pak’s woes Rawalpindi, April 14 Shoaib could not complete his 22nd over after he injured the wrist on his left hand while Kamal hurt his elbow. However, Shoaib is expected to bowl tomorrow, the injury being only external. Shoaib, the pick of the home side bowlers fell on the follow-through in his 22nd over, hurting the wrist in his left hand. Although he bowled one more over with a bandaged wrist, he left the field subsequently before returning 40 minutes later. However, umpire David Shepherd told the bowler he could not resume bowling straightaway as he was out of the ground for a long time and the day’s proceedings were coming to an end. Kamal, fielding at forward short leg, was hurt by a pull shot of Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly in the post-tea session. He had X-rays taken on his injured elbow later. |
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No letter from India: ICC London, April 14 “It is only ever an umpire or a referee that can file a report, not a team national board or the ICC. I would like to clarify that the ICC has not received a letter from the BCCI relating to Shoaib Akhtar’s bowling action,” ICC General Manager-Cricket Dave Richardson said.
— PTI |
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No funds: PCB RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan’s Cricket Board says it does not have the funds to introduce central contracts for its players. Pakistan vice-captain Yousuf Youhana had urged the board on Tuesday to introduce a contract system to stem a surge in injuries among top players. “Introducing a central contract system means a payment of approximately $ 320,000 per year to each player,” Ramiz Raja, chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Wednesday. “We’re not in a position to do that.” Pakistani players are currently paid per match according to a grading system based on seniority. Youhana said contracts would protect players from injuries sustained by playing abroad in the off-season. The PCB has made a huge profit from the current home series against India. “We’ve earned over $ 21 million from this series, which is twice the amount we have in our reserves,” Raja said.
— Reuters |
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Notes
from Pakistan A large number of Sikhs from Punjab, here to watch the ongoing third and final Test match of the India-Pakistan cricket series, visited the famous Panja Saheb shrine in Hasan Abdel, a few hours’ drive from here. The shrine is so named as it carries the imprint of the palm (panja) of Guru Nanak, the religion’s founder, when he had visited the gurdwara here in the 16th century. “I met several Sikhs who had come to collect the match tickets, bought on Internet, and each of them said that he was first going to Panja Saheb and then come for the match,” said a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official who is in charge of ticket sales. About 800 Indians have bought tickets for the third Test. * It was a rather unusual thing to see former Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas, who is always surrounded by friends and fans, walking into a hotel all alone for dinner Tuesday. Dressed elegantly, the one-time batting great went to Hotel Serena late Tuesday night for dinner in the company of no one but his cigar. Zaheer, who is giving expert comments on an Indian news television channel, was dressed impeccably in kurta-pajama as he entered the hotel lobby. Was he really all alone? “Yes, because wife has just returned from India, so she is resting. I’ve come to have dinner,” he said with a big smile as he went into the same hotel where Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had stayed during SAARC summit a little about three months ago. Zaheer said he was shuttling between New Delhi and Pakistan as the television channel keeps changing its plans, but he said this was not a problem for him. The man who was dubbed ‘Asian Bradman’ loves visiting India, one reason being that his wife Sameena belongs to Kanpur. Sameena is an interior designer and people say that she is doing well in her profession, which is in a way similar to Kapil Dev’s wife Romi who runs a shop, called ‘This ‘N That’ in New Delhi. * Legendary Pakistani squash coach Rahmat Khan also loves music and it became evident when he attended a big private function of PTV at a five-star hotel and returned completely enthralled by the live songs sung by some of the best-known artists of Pakistan. But there should not be any surprise that Rahmat, the coach of the legendary Jehangir Khan, loves music as his wife is none other than Salma Agha, who Indian film buffs would readily recall for several famous numbers that she sang for Hindi movies in the 1980s. She also acted in some of the movies she sang for. Rahmat, who is presently Pakistan’s national coach, is quite close to Indian squash players like current national men’s champion Ritwick Bhattacharya, multiple women’s national champion Bhuvaneshwari Kumar, her brother and coach Yogendra Singh and many others. * There seems to be any number of marriage bureaus in Pakistan. Many hoardings, big and small, were seen in Lahore, each one claiming to be the best in the business. Marriage bureaus seem to be in big demand in Islamabad also. And at least one bureau is using a unique way to spread the word around about its existence. While going to the Pindi Cricket Stadium in a cab, a small boy was seen throwing a paper the size of a visiting card in all the vehicles that had halted at an intersection. The card actually carried an advertisement for ‘Marriage Centre’ run by some Mrs. Khan, who holds M.A. and M.Ed. degrees, as it claimed. The centre’s promotion line read: “The name people trust — Educated and middle class community,” probably implying that the marriage bureau was ideal for such people.
— IANS |
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Vaughan leads England fightback St John’s (Antigua), April 14 Vaughan was unbeaten on 119 as England added 96 runs in the morning to trail the West Indies by 225 runs with nine second-innings wickets in hand. Mark Butcher was 13 not out. Trescothick fell for 88, the only wicket to fall at the Antigua Recreation Ground. Vaughan and Trescothick resumed at 145 without loss with both in sight of three figures. Vaughan continued from 61 while left-hander Trescothick was on 74. The Somerset man reeled off two boundaries as he closed in on a sixth Test hundred in his 47th match. But 12 runs short he scooped a slower ball from Fidel Edwards to short extra cover. West Indies (Ist innings): 751-5 declared England (Ist innings): Trescothick c Jacobs b Best 16 Vaughan c Jacobs b Collins 7 Butcher b Collins 52 Hussain b Best 3 Thorpe c Collins b Edwards 10 Flintoff not out 102 Jones b Edwards 38 Batty c Gayle b Collins 8 Hoggard c Jacobs b Collins 1 Jones lbw b Hinds 11 Harmison b Best 5 Extras: (b-1 lb-5 w-4 nb-22) 32 Total: (all out, 99 overs) 285 Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-45, 3-54, 4-98, 5-98, 6-182, 7-205, 8-229, 9-283. Bowling: Collins 26-4-76-4 (nb-14 w-3), Edwards 18-3-70-2 (nb-5 w-1), Collymore 19-5-45-0 (nb-1), Best 10.3-3-37-3 (nb-1), Hinds 17.3-7-29-1 (nb-1), Sarwan 7-0-18-0, Gayle 1-0-4-0. England (2nd Innings): Vaughan batting 119 Trescothick c Sarwan b Edwards 88 Butcher batting 13 Extras: (3lb, 3w, 15nb) 21 Total: (for 1, 76 overs) 241 Fall of wicket: 1-182. Bowling: Tino Best 11-1-37-0, Fidel Edwards 14-1-53-1, Corey Collymore 12-3-40-0, Ricardo Powell 3-0-17-0, Ryan Hinds 16-2-43-0, Chris Gayle 9-2-22-0, Ramnaresh Sarwan 4-2-3-0, Pedro Collins 7-2-23-0.
— AFP |
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India beat Malaysia Sydney, April 14 After Kuhan Shanmugathan gave Malaysia the lead in the fifth minute, India restored parity through Aiyappa in the 19th minute. Strikers Deepak Thakur (31st) and Prabhjot Singh (32nd) scored in quick succession as India consolidated their lead at half-time. Aiyappa scored his second goal in the 58th to put India 4-1 up. In another match, Australia beat South Africa 4-2.
— PTI |
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Our strategy did not work: Bhupathi Bangalore, April 14 “The team members had discussed the strategy to defeat Japan, but it did not work out,” Bhupathi said today. On Japan’s victory, he said, “They did the right things. They hired Bob Brett as their coach and he has been working on them for two years. We were up two-one and Suzuki played a great match against Prakash and probably Motomura played the best match of his life against Leander”. “They (Japan) put in the hard work and they deserved the victory. I am sure that if we put in the hard work over the next year or two we will be back in the world group,” he added. India has a bright chance to make it to the Davis Cup World Group within the next two years. “There is a lot of potential in the team especially with upcoming players like Prakash Amritraj, Rohan Bopanna and Harsh Mankad,” he said.
— UNI |
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Beckham ‘lover’ to tell all in TV interview
London, April 14 Rebecca Loos, 26, said she would tell the truth in a TV interview to be broadcast by British commercial broadcaster Sky One tomorrow evening. Beckham, 28, has dismissed Loos’ allegations and those of another woman, Sarah Marbeck, as “absurd” and has instructed lawyers in regard to the claims. The England football captain has, however, not issued an outright denial of the claims. “People are calling me a liar and calling me names and, you know, at the end of the day these are the facts. This is what happened, this is the truth. I should not be ashamed of this,” Loos told Sky News today. “I was wrong to have done what I did, I know that, but it happened. I’m not going to live a lie,” the daughter of a former Dutch diplomat based in Madrid said. Loos has claimed that during their affair she slept with Beckham in the same hotel bed that he shared with his wife Victoria, 29, following his move to Real Madrid from Manchester United last year. Marbeck, an Australian model said she decided to reveal details of her alleged relationship with Beckham because she spent two years waiting for him to ring her. The Sun newspaper reported today that Marbeck had worked as an upmarket prostitute in Australia and Singapore. The tabloid said she had registered with the exclusive Boardroom Escorts Agency in Sydney, six months after the second of her alleged romps with Beckham. She earned £ 400 pounds ($ 750) an hour for her services, according to the tabloid, a sister paper to the News of the World which has made the running in reporting Beckham’s alleged infidelities. The Sun further reported Marbeck, 29, had told agency boss Graeme Edwards she had worked as a prostitute in Singapore, where she claims her first encounter with Beckham took place four hours after they had met in July 2001. Edwards described her as “hot” and said she had rendered service to dozens of upmarket clients in hotel rooms under the name “Mia”. He also said she placed “too much value on money”. In comments published on the Sun’s website www.thesun.co.uk, Edwards cast doubt on whether Marbeck had an affair with Beckham. “She is obsessed by celebrity and wealth. She may well have been at the same party as David Beckham but I very much doubt she had an affair with him,” he said. In a statement justifying her decision to go public, Marbeck said she had really loved the Real Madrid midfielder and had put her life “on hold while I waited for him”. “He said he loved me and I slept with the phone by my bed waiting for it to ring,” she said. Beckham and his wife, the former Posh Spice, issued a statement calling Marbeck’s claims “absurd” before they flew together to Madrid Tuesday. He had earlier rejected Loos’ claims as “ludicrous”. Loos is reported to have earned well over half a million pounds by selling her story to the News of the World and by agreeing to a half-hour interview with Britain’s Sky TV, which will be broadcast tomorrow evening. The Beckham’s representatives today denied claims on the Internet that Victoria was expecting her third child. The midfielder travelled today to the Spanish resort of La Manga for a training break with his Real Madrid team-mates after rejoining the team in Madrid yesterday. His wife accompanied him in a well-publicised effort to show the couple was sticking together.
— DPA |
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Power sector chess Shimla, April 14 K. Ravindra Nath, R.K. Balamuragan, D.K. Gupta and P. Gujral of the central electricity authority, Manish Kumar and S.S. Velayuthman of power grid, Manohar Prasad, K. Sita Ram and Satish Joshi of Union Power Ministry, K.L. Sharma, J.C. Kohli, S.C. Notiyal and Ajit Kotia of rural electrification corporation, O.P. Bundal of Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam and B.S. Rawat of THDC made it to the second round. |
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Rawalpindi, April 14
