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India snatch sensational victory
Rahul Dravid completes
7,000 Test runs
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India didn’t fancy chances: Dravid
Lloyd match referee for Indo-Pak tie
Ian, Mudassir take J&K to victory
Leading cueists dominate on 5th day
Punjab Police, PSB to clash in final
Salgaocar meet Bagan in semis
Punjab boxers excel in jurnior nationals
Karnataka shine in school games
Kids go trotting at horse show
YPS win
interpublic school athletics
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India snatch sensational victory
Mumbai, November 5 After setting Australia a modest target of 107, the Indian spinners led by Harbhajan Singh exploited a viciously turning track at the Wankhede Stadium to bundle out the visitors for a paltry 93, their lowest-ever total in India. Harbhajan made amends for going wicketless in the first innings as he scalped five wickets to give India a face-saving victory and prevent the tourists from winning their third match in the series. The Aussies were tottering at 58 for seven at one stage before the tailenders very nearly took them to the winning target with some resolute batting on yet another dramatic day which saw as many as 20 wickets fall. The dismissal of last man Glenn McGrath by Harbhajan sent the vociferous home crowd into a frenzy as the low-scoring but thrilling Test ended in just about two days with only 11 overs being possible on a rain-ruined opening day. Earlier, the visitors found an unlikely bowling hero in Michael Clarke who produced a dream spell of 6.2-0-9-6 with his part-time left arm spin to skittle out India for 205 in their second innings. The visitors’ lowest-ever score in India coming into this final Test was 105 made at Kanpur in the 1959-60 series. That match was lost by Australia to provide India with their first-ever win over their rivals from the Antipodes. Australia, who led the home team in the low-scoring tie by 99 runs on the first innings, were bundled out in only 30.5 overs and in under two and a half hours. Kartik grabbed three for 32, including two in one over, to add to his four claimed in the first innings to make early inroads. Then Harbhajan cut through the middle and bottom order like a hot knife through butter to claim five for 29 on a minefield of a track on which the ball often exploded after pitching. Leg spinner Anil Kumble, who was brought on after the visitors had lost their top seven batsmen with only 58 on the board, picked up one wicket to add to his tally of five in the first innings. The first breakthrough, however, was provided by seamer Zaheer Khan who accounted for Aussie opener Justin Langer cheaply for the second time running in the Test. The three slow bowlers then spun a web and trapped the clueless Australian batsmen on the dusty track where each ball looked as if it was loaded with explosives. Australia were in danger of being bundled out for their worst-ever total in their Test history when their first seven batsmen had departed with only 58 on the board. But their seventh wicket pair of Jason Gillespie (9) and Nathan Huaritz (15) added 20 runs to bring them closer to avoiding that ignominy. Then the former, in the company of fellow fast bowler Michael Kasprowicz (7) not only made sure of crossing that total but also brought them agonisingly close to victory by adding 15 runs for the ninth wicket. Harbhajan brought the big crowd of 35,000 on its feet in the extended final session by having last man McGrath caught at slip by VVS Laxman to complete a sensational win for the hosts. Incidentally Australia’s lowest-ever Test score of 83 all out also came against India, at Melbourne during their 1981-82 series, which was drawn. Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar (55) and Laxman (69) strung together an invaluable stand of 91 runs to not only rescue India from a precarious 14 for 2 but also put them on the path to the fabulous victory. Tendulkar and Laxman rediscovered their form at a crucial time for India with the former cracking a blistering half century while the latter silenced his critics with a fifty of his own. Tendulkar fell for 55 to a running catch by Michael Clarke at backward square leg but not before the two had repaired the early damage done by the Aussie quicks with a 91-run partnership. The promotion to his favourite number three slot seemed to work wonders to the confidence of Laxman who was on the ball from the moment he arrived at the crease. McGrath was firing on all cylinders, having accounted for both Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, but Laxman responded with silken smooth drives on both sides of the wicket. Three fours in an over off McGrath, including a slash above the slips, marked Laxman at his rampaging best. Tendulkar at the other end showed no signs of the elbow trouble that had kept him away from the game for nearly three months before his return in Nagpur last week. After forcing McGrath and Gillespie out of the attack with his trademark wristy on-drives, the 31-year-old Tendulkar turned his attention to the debutant offspinner Nathan Hauritz. Hauritz, who had taken three wickets in the first innings, was welcomed with two fours and a six in the second over by Tendulkar. The champion batsman, however, fell to the same bowler six overs later when he swept him uppishly and Michael Clarke brought off a fine catch. Scoreboard India (1st innings) 104 Australia (1st innings) 203 India (2nd innings) Gambhir c Clarke b McGrath 1 Sehwag lbw McGrath 5 Laxman c and b Hauritz 69 Tendulkar c Clarke b Hauritz 55 Dravid c Gilchrist b Clarke 27 Kaif lbw Clarke 25 D. Karthik c Ponting b Clarke 4 Kumble not out 13 Harbhajan c Hayden b Clarke 0 M. Kartik b Clarke 2 Zaheer lbw Clarke 0 Extras
(b-4) 4 Total (all out, 68.2 overs) 205 Fall of wickets:
1-5, 2-14, 3-105, 4-153, 5-182, 6-188, 7-195, 8-195, 9-199. Bowling:
Gillespie 15-1-47-0, Hauritz 22-4-87-2, McGrath 12-6-29-2, Kasprowicz 13-5-29-0, Clarke 6.2-0-9-6. Australia (2nd innings) Langer c Karthik b Zaheer 0 Hayden b Harbhajan 24 Ponting c Laxman b Kartik 12 Martyn lbw Kartik 0 Katich c Dravid b Harbhajan 1 Clarke b Kartik 7 Gilchrist c Tendulkar Gillespie not out 9 Hauritz lbw Kumble 15 Kasprowicz c Dravid McGrath c Laxman b Harbhajan 0 Extras (b-8, lb-5) 13 Total
(all out, 30.5 overs) 93 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-24, 3-24, 4-33, 5-48, 6-48, 7-58, 8-78, 9-93. Bowling:
Zaheer 2-0-14-1, Harbhajan 10.5-2-29-5, Kartik 12-3-32-3, Kumble 6-3-5-1.
— PTI |
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Spinning of a horror story
A
sensational Indian Test win in defending the merest target of 107 does not hide the sin of preparing a pitch that was an insult to intelligence. Satisfying as the thrilling victory may have been for a team feeling so beleaguered at home that Nagpur grass seemed to have been imported from Down Under, the very Indian dust bowl of a pitch offered at the
Wankhede Stadium will do Indian cricket no favours in the long run.
The diabolical surface on which the occasional tweaker Michael Clarke took six wickets on the very day on which he claimed his first Test victim was certain to suit the Indian spinners more. Cleverly, they upped their speed of bowling to extract the bouncy turn that only pinging the ball into the surface could generate. Of course, they had the good example in front of them. Clarke is no great shakes as a left-arm spinner. In fact, he should consider himself very fortunate if he does take another bag of five wickets in the long career being predicted for him. Significantly, Clarke bowled at the speed that brought the worst devils out of the pitch. Even though this win may exaggerate the power of spin bowling, what it may help achieve is to give Indian cricket a minor shot in the arm. Coming as it does in its dankest hour in which the Border-Gavaskar trophy has been lost and its search for the world Test title seems an endless exercise in futility, it should be welcomed. What this should not lead to is the preparation of more such horrors by way of Test pitches. This one belonged to the era in which the only strengths Indian cricket had were spin bowlers and a couple of outstanding batsmen like Gavaskar and Viswanath. To go back to such a devious practice in terms of pitch preparation when the country has a few fast bowlers of calibre and match-winning batsmen, who may however be short of form, is to take many a step back. This is too retrograde. The Australians were trapped in a web of clever subterfuge which spin bowling becomes in conditions so favourable to the art. But they may not deserve too much sympathy because they were as nervous as schoolboys watching a scary movie — far too jumpy to conceive a clever way to play in such treacherous conditions. The fast bowlers did rather well at the batting crease which just goes to show that common sense is not all that common. The Indian spinners will seem larger than life for a while. But there can be no justification for doing the game a disservice by making a pitch such as this. In their own ways, Kartik and Harbhajan bowled beautifully and destructively with changes of pace adding mystery to the huge turn and bounce they were enjoying. The Aussies were unequal to the task of trying to win by occupation of the crease in an atmosphere of attrition. Having neither the hands-on experience nor the temperament for the kind of job that Indians are expected to carry out in first-class cricket, the specialists let the team down as the Aussies tumbled to their second lowest total ever. But it is not the dead rubber syndrome that got them this time. It was spin on the spot that put them in a spot.
— UNI |
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Rahul Dravid completes
7,000 Test runs
Mumabi, November 5 Playing in his 82nd match, the 31-year-old Bangalore stalwart needed five runs to reach the milestone when he replaced Sachin Tendulkar at the crease. He reached the record in style, glancing Glenn McGrath off the second ball after lunch (he was not out at 3 at the interval) for a four to stand just ahead of Sir Donald Bradman of Australia (6996 runs) in the Test run-getters’ list. Only two other Indians — Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar — have crossed the 7000-run mark in Tests. Earlier in the match, Dravid also became the leading catcher from the country other than a wicketkeeper. His tally, at the end of the Australian first innings, stood at 109, one better than Gavaskar’s previous record aggregate of 108 catches in 125 Dravid took two catches in the second innings to raise his tally to 111.
— PTI |
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India didn’t fancy chances: Dravid
Mumbai, November 5 “We did not think 100 odd runs would be enough, a target of some 150 would have been good but the way the guys bowled, fielded and took the catches, it was brilliant,” Dravid said after India snatched a 13-run win on the third day of the match. Rival skipper Ricky Ponting, on the other hand, had thought 107 was ‘definitely gettable’. “It was a disappointing end for all of us. After having such a fantastic series, it was really disappointing to end in this way,” Ponting said. “107 was definitely gettable. But full credit to the Indians, they batted and bowled well in tough conditions.” Dravid gave credit to VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar for putting on a crucial 91-run partnership in tough batting conditions. “It was a crucial partnership. They batted brilliantly in difficult conditions and set up the game for us.” Dravid praised man-of-the-match Murali Kartik saying he deserved the success. “He has worked very hard for it. He has always been in the shadows of Kumble and Harbhajan Singh so it’s good to see him have a bit of success,” he said adding that all the three spinners had combined and worked very well together to help achieve the win. Dravid also gave credit to Australia for winning the series 2-1. “Australia are deserving winners, they played some fantastic cricket. I congratulate them, they pretty much outplayed us.”
— PTI |
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Lloyd match referee for Indo-Pak tie
Thiruvananthapuram, November 5 Simon Taufel and K. Hariharan would be the umpires for the one-dayer while I. Sivaram and Rajan K. Seth would be the reserve umpires. Jeff Crowe will be the ICC match referee for the India versus South Africa Videocon Test series beginning at Kanpur on November 20, BCCI Secretary S.K. Nair said in a press note here today.
— PTI |
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Ian, Mudassir take J&K to victory
Rohtak, November 5 Batting first after winning the toss, Himachal Pradesh scored 214 for seven in the allotted 50 overs. Varun Sharma with 64 was the highest scorer. He added 92 runs for the fourth wicket with skipper Barun Sharma, who made 36. Kapoor Singh was another useful contributor with 34. Medium pacer Samir Ali captured three wickets for 33 runs in eight overs while Abid Nabi took two. Jammu and Kashmir batted well to win, losing just five. The foundation of their victory was laid by opener Ian Dev Singh (40 runs, 89 minutes, 57 balls, 7x4s) which was further cemented by a 62-run knock by No 3 Mudassir Rashid. He faced 75 balls and hit seven fours during his 93-minute stay at the crease. Ian Dev Singh and Mudassir were also associated in a 68-run partnership for the second wicket. After the dismissal of Ian Dev Singh, Abid Nabi gave Mudassir good company as the third wicket pair went on to add 55 runs. Abid scored a quickfire 33 at run a ball. He hit three fours and two sixes. Jammu and Kashmir reached the victory target in the 47th over at the loss of five wickets. It was their first victory in four matches of the tournament. Ashok Kumar, Vikram Thakur, Abhinish Sharma and Neeraj Chauhan took one wicket each. |
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Leading cueists dominate on 5th day
Ludhiana, November 5 In one-sided encounters, Asian gold medallist Rafath Habib of Tamil Nadu overwhelmed Chintan Shah of Gujarat 5-0, Punjab’s star Dharminder Lilly defeated Abhishek of Uttar Pradesh 5-0, and reigning national pool champion Manan Chandra of Delhi trounced Abdul Rehman of Uttar Pradesh 5-0. Current Asian snooker champion Alok Kumar of Punjab defeated Piyush Goel and Ajay Bhushan of Punjab 5-1 while Asian billiards champion Devendra Joshi of Maharashtra could sit back and relax as he got a walkover from Hasan of Uttar Pradesh. In three major upsets, Sameer Bhalla of Punjab defeated Chandigarh’s top player Sandeep Duggal 5-1. Lady luck did not favour Punjab’s Sandeep Jalota today either. After trailing 0-4 against Tamizh N. of Tamil Nadu, Jalota let loose a flurry of precision shots and levelled the score at 4-4 but Tamizh finally prevailed and won the match 5-4. Local cueist Dhruv Verma also could not get into his stride and lost 4-5 to Anish Kumar of Punjab. Fifth day’s results: Monty Dawar (Del) w/o from Hasan (UP), Imran Khan (UP) w/o from Shivam Reekha (Del), Aman Goel (Har) w/o from K. Zubari (UP), Naveen (Pb) w/o from Sunny Chaudhary (Del), Ajay Bhushan (Kar) b Ateek Abdul (TN) 5-1, Hiren Ramani (Guj) w/o from Samit Gill (Del), Abhishek (UP) b Amit Sharma (Del) 5-4, Sunny Chadha (Del) w/o from Danish Azim (UP), K. Lallwmkinga (Mz) b Hitesh Soni (Pb) 5-3, Manoj Tyagi b Sameer Singh (Del) 5-4, Sunil Rastogi (UP) w/o from Amit Bhalla (Pb), Ayush Kumar (Pb) w/o from Jasmeet Singh (Pb), M. Bhaskar (TN) b Nisath (UP) 5-2, Rahul Arora (UP) b Murli Krishna (TN) 5-2, Paramjit Singh (Del) b Farman Khan (UP) 5-0, Sanjay Jain (Pb) b Kennedy (TN) 5-4, Mohammad Maueen (TN) b Parveen Rathi (Har) 5-2, Amar Benipal (Har) b Aneesh R (Guj) 5-3, Tamizh N (TN) b S. Jalota (Pb) 5-4, Sandeep Gulati (Del) b S. Bhalla (Pb) 5-1, Kamaldeep Singh (Del) b Piyush Goel (Pb) 5-3, Rajeev Bhalla (Pb) b Pardeep Kingar (Har) 5-1, K.S. Naveen b R. Singhania (Pb) 5-1, Anand Sharma (Har) b Alpesh Waghela (Guj) 5-2, Gagandeep Singh (Chd) b Sunil Rastogi (UP) 5-3, Rafat Habib (TN) b Chintan Shah (Guj) 5-0, Sidharth Anand (Del) b Sunil Auluck (Pb) 5-2, Rahul Arora (UP) b Siddarth Parikh (Mah) 5-3. Manan Chandra (Del) b Abdul Rehman (UP) 5-0, Alok Kumar (Pb) b Piyush Goel (Pb) 5-1, Alok Kumar (Pb) b Ajay Bhushan 5-1, K. Ranjan (TN) b Rajeev Bhalla (Pb) 5-3, D. Lilly (Pb) b Mohammad Mueen (TN) 5-1, Kamal Chawla (MP) b Arpit Agarwal (UP) 5-3, Sheetal Verma (Pb) b Amar Benipal 5-2, Sandeep Samuel (TN) b Vinayak Agarwal (UP) 5-1, Saurav Kothari (WB) b A. Bhatia (Chd) 5-2, Anuj Uppal (Del) b Sameer Sharma (Chd) 5-2, Sumeet Talwar (Chd) b Rohit Sharma (UP) 5-1, John Kalvin (UP) b Achint Verma 5-3, Ankush Makker (Chd) w/o from Bhupinder Singh (Del), Jai Ganesh (TN) w/o from Manish Sehgal (UP), Manish Behl (UP) b Kush Khullar (Pb) 5-2, Harpreet Singh b Deepak Dhanda (Pb) 5-4, Vikas Chaudhry (Del) b Purvang Patel (Guj) 5-1. Amit Verma (Chd) b Arun Chabbra (Pb) 5-0, Kiran Chawla (Kar) b Amit Yadav (Pb) 5-4, D. Joshi (Mah) w/o from Hasan (UP), Siddarth Anand (Del) w/o from K. Zubari (UP), S. Bhalla (Pb) b Sandeep Duggal (Chd) 5-1, Siddarth Parikh (Mah) b Navneet (Pb) 5-1, Neeraj Kumar (Bh) b Nizam Lodhi (UP) 5-2, Arun Chabbra (Pb) b Shagir Ahmed (UP) 5-0, Punit Kaushik (Del) b Joy Mehra (Pb) 5-3, Anish Kumar (Pb) b Dhruv Verma (Pb) 5-4, Brijesh Damani (WB) b Sachin (Chd) 5-3, S. Siddiqui (UP) b D. Raj Kumar (Kar) 5-3, S.Singh (Del) b Gaurav Goyal (Pb), K.S. Naveen (Kar) b Lalbiaksnaga 5-2, Sandeep Samuel (TN) b Anand Sharma (Har) 5-1, Harsheel Thakral (Guj) b Gagandeep (Chd) 5-2, K. Ranjan (TN) b Hiren Ramani (Guj) 5-3, Dhafrminder Lilly (Pb) b Abhishek (UP) 5-0, Shaymal Sharma (Bh) b Arpit Seth (Chd) 5-2. |
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Punjab Police, PSB to clash in final
Jalandhar, November 5 Favourites Punjab Police stormed into the final defeating star-studded Indian Airlines 3-1 while bankers edged out spirited Namdhari XI 3-1 in the semifinals. Policemen have won the tournament five times while bankers have lifted the trophy six times. Both teams had faced each other in the 2000, when bankmen had emerged victorious. For Punjab Police Olympian Baljeet Dhillon, Gagan Ajit, Tejbir and Daljit Dhillon played superbly and put pressure on the rivals defence. The police team did not allowed Dhanraj Pillay and Samir Dad to score. In the 15th minute Sarbjit Singh scored the first goal from the right flank (1-0). In the 21st minute Brojen Singh of Indian Airlines scored the equaliser (1-1). At half time both team were 1-1. In the second half’s 45th minute Baljeet Singh converted a penalty corner for the policemen (2-1). After wasting three penalty corners in the 52nd, 63rd and 64th minutes policemen put pressure in the 66th minute and Tejbir scored from a calculated pass from Gagan Ajit (3-1). In second semifinal, Punjab and Sind Bank played a controlled game. They went ahead in the 15th minute through Baljeet Singh Chandi. Two minutes later, Jatinder Pal Singh converted a penalty corner to make it 2-0. The bankers led 2-0 at lemon break. In the second half’s 41st minute, Mandeep Singh successfully scored a field goal (3-0). In the 63rd minute, Didar Singh reduced the margin for Namdhari’s. Meanwhile, in the final of the girls section holders Northern Railway took revenge from Chandigarh XI as they had lost the league fixture to the Chandigarh XI on the opening day of the tournament. In the final, Northern Railway took the lead in the third when Sandeep Kaur struck via a penalty corner (1-0). Railway led 1-0 lemon break. In the 50th minute of the second half, Kamla, captain of Northern Railway completed the tally for her team of lift the trophy (2-0). |
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Salgaocar meet Bagan in semis
New Delhi, November 6 SBT, which fielded a host of players who won the Santosh Trophy for Kerala, including medio Abdul Naushad and striker S Ignatius, matched their fancied rivals in the first half but faded away in the second as Bagan asserted their superiority in style. The Bank team stunned Bagan in the 28th minute through striker Abdul Hakkeem and kept the Kolktans at bay till medio Noel Wilson equalised with a classy strike in the first half added time. Bagan went 2-1 up in the 58th minute through Mehtab Hussain, who had an excellent game, and settled the issue five minutes from full time when Brazilian defender Eduwardo Chacun outjumped his markers and headed in a corner kick. |
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Punjab boxers excel in jurnior nationals
Patiala, November 5 Sourav of Jalandhar won the silver medal in the lightweight section while Devinder Singh of Ludhiana won a bronze in the heavyweight category. Surinder Singh of SAI training centre, Mastuana, won the bronze in the light flyweight section while Parminder Singh (Jr) of Sangrur won the bronze in the light welterweight category. In the overall team championship, Punjab were third with 24 points. The title was won by Haryana with 32 points while Services with 29 points were second. |
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Karnataka shine in school games
Sirsa, November 5 In cricket, Chhattisgarh defeated Goa by six wickets. Goa scored 163 for seven wickets while the winners achieved the
target, losing four wickets. In another match, Punjab overpowered Maharashtra.
Punjab achieved the target of 103 runs in just 21 overs. In other matches New Delhi beat Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan defeated Andhra Pradesh and Kerala-outplayed Daman. |
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Kids go trotting at horse show
Chandigarh, November 5 The results (in order of merit): Children’s trotting race: Himanshu (SRPC), Chanpreet Singh (PPS, Nabha), Utsav (SRPC) and Mayank (SRPC). Children’s ball hitting race: Ishraj (CHRS), Anmol, Nilay and Himanshu (all three from SRPC). Children’s boot and hay race: Parveen & Ravi Kumar (MNSS, Rai), Ishraj & Jannat (CHRS), Faizal & Narayan Dev (Hillgrainge, Dehra Dun) and Vir Vikram & Marif (Wellhams, Dehra Dun). Children’s jumping (normal): Chanpreet Singh (PPS, Nabha), Parveen (MNSS, Rai), Vattanjeet Singh (PPS, Nabha) and Abhimanyu (SRPC). Novice dressage: Ris Gulab Singh (RTSD, Saharanpur), Lieut-Col R K Dahiya (RTSD, Hempur) and Maj Jagat Singh (HQ, NC). |
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YPS win
interpublic school athletics
Patiala, November 5 The headboy of the school, Gagandeep
Dhaliwal, led the march past and the Chief Guest, Mr L.S. Ranawat,
Regional Director, NIS, declared open the meet which has drawn students
of 13 public schools from all over the country. Results: Shot put
(boys): Sumeetinder Singh-1 (YPS, Patiala), Guriqbal Singh-2 (YPS,
Patiala), Rajan Saggu - 3 (PPS, Nabha). 1500m (boys): Gaurav Hridya-1
(RIMC, Dehra Dun), Vaibhav Bhardwaj -2 (RIMC, Dehra Dun), Anit-3 (MNSS,
Rai). Long jump (boys): Atish Nagi-1 (RIMC, Dehra Dun), Harshdeep Chahal
-2 (Modern school, New Delhi), Kushdeep Singh - 3 (YPS, Mohalli).
Javelin throw (girls): Kanika Bakshi -1 (Modern school, New Delhi),
Monica Saharan -2 (MNSS, Rai), Ritu-3 (MNSS, Rai).
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