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Yuvraj, Sriram in ODI squad against Pakistan
Aussie media lambasts Wankhede wicket
Gilchrist’s gift
Punjab take
on UP in Ranji opener |
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Punjab teams have mixed luck
East Bengal romp into Durand
Cup semifinal
Dhruv Verma pips Sandeep in a thriller
Kanika breaks meet record
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Yuvraj, Sriram in ODI squad against Pakistan
Mumbai, November 6 Announcing the team after a lengthy meeting that lasted more than three hours, convener Ratnakar Shetty said that Ganguly has written a letter to the cricket board (BCCI) that he will be fit for the match, but will be subjected to a fitness test prior to the match on November 10. Ganguly did not play in the last two Test matches of the four-Test series against Australia, which concluded here yesterday, because of a thigh strain. Young 'keeper Dinesh Kaarthick, who made his Test debut against Australia in the final Test here, also gained a berth, but the notable omission was left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, who got the Man of the Match award in the Test won here so sensationally by India by 13 runs inside three days. "The selectors felt that it was hard on Kartik but he had to be left out as only two spinners can be accommodated in the ODI squad and Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble are the top two spinners in the country," Shetty said. The selectors also chose the Board President's XI squad to take on South Africa in the three-day tour opener at Jaipur commencing on November 14. Left arm paceman Irfan Pathan, who missed the last two Tests against Australia like Ganguly because of a side strain, has regained full fitness and started bowling in the nets in his home town Baroda, Shetty said. "Pathan will also play a couple of local one-day matches before reaching Kolkata," Shetty added. Yuvraj expectedly regained his place in the team after being left out of the last Test squad due to his poor run in the series. Sriram, the Tamil Nadu left-hander, has taken the place of Rohan Gavaskar who was in the squad for the Champions Trophy in England, the last one-day tournament played by India, as a replacement for the tennis-elbow afflicted Sachin Tendulkar. The teams were read out to BCCI secretary, S K Nair, Shetty informed. Today's meeting was attended by Rahul Dravid, who has been named as the vice-captain and who led India in the last two Tests in Ganguly's absence, coach John Wright and Leipus. Ajit Agarkar, dropped from the 14 for the Mumbai Test after failing to taste success in the preceding Nagpur match against Australia, has regained his place in the one-day squad with a decent limited over past record to stand him in good stead. The squad:
Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid (vice-capt), Venkatasai Laxman, Sourav Ganguly (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Mohd Kaif, Sridharan Sriram, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar and Dinesh Kaarthick. Bahutule to lead Board
President's team
Mumbai all-rounder Sairaj Bahutule would lead a 14-member Indian Cricket Board President's XI in the three-day tour opener against the visiting South African team to be held at Jaipur from November 14 to 16. The national selection committee included Tamil Nadu opener Sadagopan Ramesh in the squad along with two openers who were in the Indian team for the fourth and final Test against Australia, Gautam Gambhir of Delhi and Dheeraj Jadhav of Maharashtra. The left-handed Ramesh, whose career has nose-dived after a good start against the visiting Pakistan team in the late 1990s, had been out of contention since returning from India's tour of Australia last season where he could not force his way into the playing eleven. The selectors have included five pace bowlers - Amit Bhandari, Suresh Raina, Avishkar Salvi, Joginder Singh Sharma and Shib Sunder Paul - in the squad. The wicket keeping duties have been given to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Team (from): Gautam Gambhir, Dheeraj Jadhav, Sadagopan Ramesh, Hemang Badani (vice-captain), Venugopal Rao, Dinesh Mongia, Sairaj Bahutule (captain), Ramesh Powar, Shib Sunder Paul, Amit Bhandari, M S Dhoni (wk), Suresh Raina, Avishkar Salvi and Joginder Singh Sharma.
— PTI |
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Aussie media lambasts Wankhede wicket
Sydney, November 6 The track was also scorned as ‘spiteful’, ‘sub-standard’, ‘dustbowl’ and ‘stinker’ in the leading dailies today but was not used as an excuse for Australia’s defeat. “Admittedly the pitch was a stinker but that does not excuse an appalling display by the world champions. Unwilling to defend and unable to attack with any semblance of reason, the Australians threw wickets away with a series of ill-advised strokes,” wrote Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald. “...the Australians made a complete hash of chasing a target that ought to have been reached for the loss of a few wickets,” he said. Australia failed to chase a paltry target of 107 as India snatched a narrow 13-run win in Mumbai yesterday. A report in the same daily said Australia’s dreams of a 3-0 series victory over India vanished in the dust of the Wankhede Stadium’s controversial pitch. “Madness followed madness. It was the collapse of defensive skills that cost the visitors dear. Ricky Ponting’s men batted without any hint of patience or soft hands. None of the batsmen put a high enough price on his wicket,” it said while writing how a “reluctant spinner” (Michael Clarke) had earlier destroyed a determined opponent. “Eye witnesses will simply shake their heads and confess that they watched every ball and still cannot explain it. But, then, the entire day defied credulity,” it said. A report in the Sun Herald said the under-prepared pitch would have created enormous controversy had this been the deciding match of the series. “Although Australia won the series 2-1 to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India retrieved a measure of pride in a dramatic turnabout in fortune late on the third day,” it said. “Australia’s frailty in fourth-innings run chases was exposed as India ripped through them in 30.5 overs.... None of the Australians was able to withstand the Indian onslaught on a dusty, spiteful wicket.” In a report headlined “Dust to Dust” in Daily Telegraph, Robert Craddock wrote that one of Australia’s most stunning bowling performances of all-time was blotted out by one of their most embarrassing losses in a Test match turned mad. “Australia lost a pulsating fourth Test against India and were reacquainted with their dead rubber syndrome after being bowled out for 93 in 30.5 overs chasing 107 for victory on a Mumbai dustbowl,” he wrote. “It was the worst botched chase in Australian cricket history. No Australian side had faltered in reaching such a modest ask...” “Australia took to the batting crease and tried to get the runs quickly before the dusty, sub-standard deck got them. Every Australian wicket produced progressively wilder crowd scenes with jubilant Indian bowlers dancing and gliding like aeroplanes in celebration as a Test match was reduced to a frenzied shootout,” wrote Craddock. “Stands which were half empty three hours before were suddenly full and shaking as Australia lost their patience and their nerve against India’s potent three-man spin attack of Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik and Anil Kumble in devilishly tough conditions.” Writing in The Australian Peter Lalor said the Mumbai Test turned into a chaotic freak show, with those reported dead springing back to life, Australia collapsing for 93 runs and India pulling off a remarkable dead rubber victory. “This was a nail-biting match with only 13 runs separating the two sides at the end, but one that was ruined by what many are calling the worst wicket they have ever seen. The dusty and heavily doctored track resulted in 38 wickets falling in two frenetic days of play. “The final frontier was not going to let the visitors leave without a final challenge as Australia wobbled terrifyingly and then crashed in the small run chase,” he said. “Before the game Ponting dismissed talk of dead rubber syndrome, but the Australians lost such Tests against the West Indies (May 2003), England (January 2003), South Africa (March 2002) and England again (August 2001).”
— PTI |
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Gilchrist’s gift
MUMBAI:
Adam Gilchrist enhanced his ‘good boy’ image on the field with a generous act off it, when he spontaneously gifted his Australian colours to a six-year-old slum boy.
Gilchrist, who had come to Taj Hotel here on Friday night originally to gift only a bicycle to Mangesh Ashok Rajput, was so overwhelmed by the occasion that he also decided to present the boy with his personal one-day dresskit. “This is the jersey and the cap I use while playing one-day matches. They are important to me and I am giving these to you as a special gift,” Gilchrist told the boy, according to a press statement from World Vision, whom the Australian vice-captain is endorsing. The programme was part of a World Vision Child Sponsorship scheme.
— PTI
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Punjab take
on UP in Ranji opener Chandigarh, November 7 Having been selected for the Board President's XI tour opener against South Africa, Mongia will be looking forward to a decent outing to bolster his claim for the national squad for the two-Test series against South Africa. Yuvraj Singh is also sailing in the same boat as he was dumped out of the Indian squad for the last Test against Australia due to indifferent form. His selection to the India squad for the lone one-dayer against Pakistan in Kolkata on November 13 shows that the swashbuckling batsman is very much in the reckoning. A good knock here will do a world of good to the confidence of the left-handed batsman and put him in the right frame of mind for the clash with the arch rivals. Punjab, under redoubtable Intikhab Alam as the new coach, should expect good show from Uttar Pradesh squad who late in the day were strengthened by the joining of Mohammed Kaif. Kaif is in fine nick having played a couple of crucial knocks during the just-concluded Test series against Australia. Besides Kaif, the visitors have so many trusted players like Gynendra Pandey, Jyoti Yadav, S Srivastava, R P Singh and Suresh Raina in their ranks. Punjab: Dinesh Mongia, Pankaj Dharmani, Reetinder Sodhi, Ravneet Ricky, Chandan Madan, Amit Uniyal, Sandeep Sawal, Navdeep Singh, Rajesh Sharma, Vineet Sharma, Gagandeep Singh, Ankur Kakkar, Yuvraj Singh, V R V Singh, Binwant Singh, Gaurav Gupta and Harbhajan Singh. UP: Mohammad Kaif, Gynendra Pandey, Ali Mahid, Aman Verma, S S Shukla, Rahat Elahi, Praveen Gupta, Amir Khan, Jyoti Yadav, Rohit Parkash, Suresh Raina, Ashish Winston Zaidi, Shalabh J Srivastava, Rajneesh Mishra, R P Singh, Parvinder Singh.
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She conquered Everest at 19
Parwanoo, November 6 “This was the ultimate reward for my will power. If you have it, you can move mountains, ” says Dolma, who was here today as the chief guest at the annual sports meet of Anand School. Surprisingly, she did not really feel on top of the world when she made it to the summit. “I was very worried about the descent. My main aim was to reach the base camp safely,” she recalls. “The ascent is much easier. You have your goal in front of you, virtually egging you on. But while coming down, survival is the key. Most of the tragedies occur during the descent.” Dolma herself was hit by snow blindness when she began her journey downhill and had to spend two days in a dark tunnel to regain her normal vision. She heaved a huge sigh of relief on reaching the base camp unscathed. It was only then that she came to know about the world record. It stood for 10 years, only to be broken last year by a 15-year-old Nepalese girl, Minky. Also a champion skier, Dolma is a skiing and mountaineering instructor at the Directorate of Mountaineering and Allied Sports in Manali. She finds it easy to divide her time between her two passions. “Summer is for mountaineering, winter for skiing,” she says, adding that while the former is about endurance and patience, the latter requires speed and concentration. It goes to her credit that she has excelled in both fields. Dolma laments that people in India have poor awareness about mountaineering and winter sports. “I have come across persons who don’t even know where Mount Everest is located. They think it is in Himachal Pradesh or Uttarkashi,” she says smilingly. She was bitten by the adventure bug during childhood. At the age of 12, she began playing in her village Palchan, near Manali, with home-made skis made from wooden planks with straps. She won a scholarship for the Basic Skiing Course, but her parents felt that she should concentrate on her studies. They were ultimately convinced by a senior skiing instructor at the Manali institute, thus opening the floodgates for Dolma. She is perhaps the only climber to have scaled Everest without completing an advanced course in mountaineering. She finally did it in 1994. In skiing, her favourite event is the giant slalom. She has been the winner in this event at the National Winter Games in 1991, 1996, 1998 and 2002. She was also the coach of the Indian team at the Junior Asian Games in Japan, 1995. She also took part in the Asian Winter Games in Korea, 1999. Incidentally, it was skiing which helped her meet the man who later became her husband, Vishal Kashyap. The two skiing lovers run a travel agency in Manali and have an infant daughter. Ironically, this Everest climber has yet to visit her ancestral house in Lahaul-Spiti, Himachal Pradesh. “I plan to go there next year,”she says, stating in the same breath that she would jump at the opportunity of scaling the legendary peak again.. |
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Army riders steal the show
Chandigarh, November 6 While teams from several police and paramilitary organisations took to the arena today, teams from different Army establishments made a clean sweep of the medals, with the Punjab Police Riding School being the exception. In junior and sub-junior events, Punjab Public School, Nabha, and the Western Command’s Shivalik Riding and Pony Club dominated the show. The horse show was formally inaugurated today. A dancing horse display and a sky diving display by six Special Forces paratroopers were other highlights of the day. Indian Oil Corporation’s General Manager (North), Mr V.J. Chhiber presided over the morning session, while the GOC-in-C, Western Command, Lieut-Gen J.J. Singh was the chief guest during the afternoon session. The results (in order of merit): Preliminary jumping fault and out: L/Nk P Basumatory (ASC, Bangalore), Lt Rohit Dagar (61 Cav), Swr Mahesh Singh (RVC Centre, Meerut) and Swr Jasbir Singh (RTSD, Saharanpur). Novice jumping fault and out: N/Ris Bhagirath (RTSD Hempur), Dfr Mal Chand (RVC Centre, Meerut), Ris Gulab Singh (RTSD, Saharanpur) and Dfr Ravinder Singh (IMA). Lipton open hacks: N/Ris Bhagirath (RTSD, Hempur), Swr Govind Ram (RTSD, Saharanpur), Hav Ramvator (HQNC), Mr Dev Lahri (Aspen, Dehra Dun). Successive relay junior and sub-junior jumping: Manmeet Singh & Simranjeet Singh (PPS, Nabha), Sumit Kundu & Ujjawal Bhandari (SRPC), SUO Nithin Dhand & JUO Dalpreet Singh (NCC, Ludhiana), Cdt Ravinder Singh & Seema (NCC, Ludhiana). Junior and sub-junior hacks: Anant Rajpurohit (SRPC), Udai SIngh (SRPC), Darshan Dhillon (CHRS) and Anmol Ratan (SRPC). Preliminary jumping top score: GC Danni Swittens (IMA), N/Ris Bhagirath (RTSD, Hempur), N/Ris Sunil Kumar (RVC Centre, Meerut) and Sep Ravinder Singh (ASC College) Novice jumping top score: Dfr Shivaji Poonia (RTSD, Saharanpur), Capt Ravi Rathore (61 Cav), N/Ris Sunil Kumar (RVC Centre, Meerut) GC AK Sinsinwar (IMA). Jumping have a gamble: Dfr Malchand (RVC Centre, Meerut), Dfr R L Mali (RVC Centre, Meerut), Nk Giridhari Lal (509 ASC Bn) and Ris Gulab Singh (RTSD, Saharanpur). Kharga open tent-pegging individual: L/Nk Harveer Singh (ASC College), Dfr S S Yadav (IMA), Hav Ajit SIngh (SRPC) and Prithvijit Singh (Punjab Police). |
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PSB lift Surjit hockey trophy
Jalandhar, November 6 Tejveer Singh of Punjab Police was adjudged the Best Player of the tournament while the Shadman Club, Lahore, bagged the award for being the Best Disciplined Team of the tournament. Earlier, in a high-voltage encounter, the players of Punjab and Sind Bank and Punjab Police displayed some good hockey technique while making hostile attempts to open account but to no avail. In the 11th minute of the first half, Daljeet Dhillon of Punjab Police passed the ball to Baljeet Dhillon from left flank, but latter failed to connect it properly. Bankmen too failed to score a possible goal in 20th minute, when Kulwinder Singh missed the target. But, the bankmen were finally able to open their account in 35th minute, when Ajitpal scored an impressive field goal (1-0). In the second half, star-studded Punjab Police team entered the field with full confidence and attacked rivals box on several occasions. The efforts borne fruit as Punjab Police scored an equaliser through a field goal by Olympian Gaganjit Singh in 40th minute (1-1). Parminder Singh of Punjab and Sink Bank successfully hit the target after getting a pass from Baljit Singh Chandi in 64th minute (2-1) enabling his team to lift the trophy. |
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Punjab teams have mixed luck
New Delhi, November 6 In an even battle, the Ludhiana School suffered an early reverse, and failed to recover from that blow, despite a tough fight put up by them in the rest of the match. In a sudden move, Union Academy pounced on the rival goal to earn a penalty corner in the third minute, which was neatly converted by Virender Singh (1-0). In the match between Faridkot and Sonepat, the former forged ahead, after wasting a number of chances, through Jaspreet Singh, who scored off a penalty corner in the 28th minute. Just before the half-time hooter, Sonepat pulled off the equaliser through Jai Bhagwan, who displayed lightening reflexes to sweep the ball in (1-1). But 15 minutes into the second half, Faridkot regained the lead through Gurjeet Singh and hung onto it like dear life to emerge winners. In a high-scoring match, Udai Pratap Inter-College, Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) opened the flood-gate in the second half to tame Young Pioneer’s English School, Imphal (Manipur) 9-1. The Varanasi School took the lead in the 15th minute when Shankar Yadav scored off a penalty corner. |
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East Bengal romp into Durand
Cup semifinal
New Delhi, November 6 The National Football League champions will now take on JCT Mills, Phagwara, who drew 1-1 with Dempo Sports Club, Goa. The Punjab team needed just a draw to top Group D and make the last four as they had a better goal difference. JCT were making the semifinals for the first time after 1999 when they lost to East Bengal. The five-time champions last won the prestigious trophy in 1996 beating Iraq’s Oil Club. East Bengal, who beat Army XI 3-1 in their first match, required just a draw to progress but ended up convincing winners with Jeremiah, on loan from Ever Ready club, making all the difference as he found the net in the 38th, 42nd and 76th minutes. Captain Chandan Das scored the team’s third goal in the 66th minute.
— PTI |
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Dhruv Verma pips Sandeep
in a thriller
Ludhiana, November 6 In a pulsating thriller, Dhruv Verma of Punjab annihilated Sandeep Duggal of Chandigarh 7-5. The encounter turned out to be a ding-dong battle in which local lad, Dhruv Verma came out the ultimate winner. Meanwhile, the reigning national pool champion Manan Chandra from Delhi scored a facile win over Rahul Arora of Uttar Pradesh 7-0. Manan was in his true element and did not allow any leverage to his opponent. K. Ranjan of Tamil Nadu defeated Purvang Patel of Gujarat by the skin of his teeth when he managed to wriggle out of a tight corner, winning the decisive 13th rack. Dharminder Lilly of Punjab scored a run away victory against D. Rajkumar of Karnataka by 7 racks to 1. Rajkumar could not withstand the onslaught of his celebrated opponent and caved in meekly. In another exciting match, Haryana’s Manish Srivastva knocked out Punjab’s Achint Verma 7-4. Asian Games gold medallist, Rafath Habib of Tamil Nadu showed his class as he white-washed Joes M of Punjab 7-0. Giant killer Imran Khan of Uttar Pradesh continued with his winning streak and won over Sanjeev Bhalla of Punjab 7-2. Kamaldeep Singh of Delhi accounted for another talented player from Punjab, Ashish Dhanda 7-4. Sixth day’s results: Manish Behl (UP) b Kush Khullar (Pb) 5-2, Harpreet Singh (HP) b Deepak Dhanda (Pb) 5-4, Divya Sharma (Har) b Amit Makker (UP) 5-1, Vikas Chaudhary (del) b Purvang Patel (Guj) 5-1, Amit Verma (Chd) b Arun Chabbra (Pb) 5-0, Sanjeev Vohra (Pb) b M.S.Sandeep (Kar) 5-2, Sameer Bhalla (Har) b Jagjit Singh (Pb) 5-4, Sandeep Jain (UP) b Deepak Sikri (Del) 5-2, Mohit Aggarwal (Del) b Harpreet Singh 5-3, Manish Behl (UP) w/o from Vanlalnghaka, Amit Makker (UP) b Neeraj Kumar (Bh) 5-1, Purvang Patel (Guj) b Sagheer Ahmed (UP) 5-0, Joy Mehra (Pb) b M.S.Sandeep (Kar) 5-4, Dhruv Verma (Pb) b Sandeep Jain (UP) 5-3, Sameer Sharma (Har) b Cheerag Thakker (Guj) 5-1, Kush Khullar (Pb)w/o from Deepak Dhanda (Pb), Vikas Chaudhry (Del) b Sunny Jr (Pb) 5-2, Najam Lodhi b Sanjay Bharti (Pb) 5-3, Saurav Sikri (UP) b Puneet Kaushik (Del) 5-2, Gagandeep Singh (Del) b Anish Kumar (Pb) 5-2, Jagjit Singh (Pb) b Shymal Sharma (Bh) 5-3, Manish Behl (UP) b Harvinder (Pb) 7-2, K.S.Naveen (Kar) b Monty Dawal (Del)7-2, Sandeep Samuel (TN) b Abuthahir (TN) 7-3, Divya Sharma (Har) b Amar Benipal (Har) Naveen (TN) b Vikas Chaudhary (Del) 7-4, Manan Chandra (Del) b Rahul Arora 7-0, Anuj Uppal (Del) b Sanjeev Vohra (Pb) 7-6, Kamal Chawla (MP) b Rajeev Bhalla (Pb) 7-1, Siddharth Anand (Del) b Karan Sharda (Mah) 7-1, Dhruv Verma (Pb) b Sandeep Duggal (Ch) 7-5, Dharminder Lilly (Pb) b D.Raj Kumar(Kar)7-1, Shyamal Sharma (Bh) b Pushpinder Singh (Del) 7-6, Vipin Sethi (Del) b Amit Yadav (Pb)7-2, Manish Srivastva (Har) b Achint Verma (Pb) 7-4, Kamaldeep Singh (Del) b Ashish Dhanda (Pb) 7-4, Rafath Habib (TN) b Joes M (Pb) 7-0, Joy Mehra (Pb) b S. Arora (Bh) 7-3, Imran Khan (UP) b Sanjeev Bhalla (Pb) 7-2. |
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Kanika breaks meet record Patiala, November 6 Kanika hurled the discus to a distance of 28.63 m bettering the previous record of 28.24 m. The Modern School athlete also excelled in the shot put event where she picked up a gold by throwing the iron ball to a distance of 9.06 m. There were some happy moments for the hosts when Sumeetinder Singh Sumu, who yesterday had triumphed in the shot put event, once again shone by coming second in the discus throw for boys. Other results: 1500m (girls): Monika Ghalayan (MNSS, Rai)-1, Sheetal (MNSS, Rai)-2 and Vedika Jhunjhunwala (Welham Girls, Dehra Dun)-3. Discus throw (boys): Guriqbal Singh (YPS, Patiala )-1, Sumeetinder Singh Sumu (YPS, Patiala)- 2 and Abhishek Kumar (RIMC, Dehra Dun) -3. 4 into 400m relay: YPS, Patiala -1, MNSS, Rai -2, RIMC, Dehra Dun -3. Discus throw (girls): Kanika Bakshi (Modern School, Delhi)- 1, Anureet Dhaliwal (YPS, Patiala)-2 and Anju Malik (Air Force School, Delhi)-3. Pole vault : Mahipal Dangi (RIMC)-1, Ankush Vashista (RIMC)- 2 and Gurpartap Singh (YPS, Patiala) -3. 110m hurdles (boys): Mahipal Negi (RIMC)-1, Atish Negi (RIMC)-2 and Jagdeep Singh (PPS, Nabha)-3. 100m (girls) : Aditi Awasthi (Modern School, Delhi)-1, Sonam Sood (Modern School, Delhi)-2 and Rekha (MNSS, Rai)-3. Shot put (girls): Kanika Bakshi (Modern School, Delhi)-1, Prerna Singh (Modern School, Delhi)- 2 and Sasha Dhaliwal (YPS, Patiala)- 3.
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