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Butt, Haq power Pakistan to victory
Legendary Indian, Pak skippers honoured
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Ganguly, Pathan
back in Test squad
South Africa kick off campaign today
Smith shrugs off underdogs tag
Vijay
Singh keen to stay on top
283-member Pak squad for Punjab Games
Jalandhar school clinch Nehru hockey title
16-year-old Ajeetesh gives scare to
top golfers
HP official named soccer
team manager
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Butt, Haq power Pakistan to victory
Kolkata, November 13 Chasing a target of 293, the 20-year-old Butt gave ample display of his class with a maiden unbeaten knock of 108 to steer his team to victory with six balls to spare and give Pakistan their fourth consecutive victory over their arch rivals since the Asia Cup in August. The left handed Butt showed a great deal of maturity as he defied cramps to play a stellar role in the Pakistan victory in the highly surcharged day-night encounter at the Eden Gardens. Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq (75) and Shoaib Malik (61) also chipped in with useful contributions as Pakistan maintained their remarkable record of not losing a match at the Eden Gardens. The capacity crowd was left in a daze as Butt hit the winning runs to signal the Pakistani victory in a match especially organised as part of the platinum jubilee celebrations of the BCCI. The Indians, who rattled up a challenging 292 for six after opting to bat first, seemed to be done in by the heavy evening dew which made it difficult for the bowlers to grip the ball properly. Earlier, Yuvraj Singh slammed a rollicking 78 to propel India to a challenging total, with Virender Sehwag (53), Sourav Ganguly (48) and VVS Laxman (43) being the other notable contributors. Inzamam, who appeared a trifle shaky in the initial stages of his innings, also played a big role in the win as he not only paced his knock well but also had a calming influence on the other batsmen. The Pakistan run chase began on a disastrous note as the visitors lost opener Younis Khan for the duck with left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan providing the early breakthrough. But the young Butt and Malik ensured that the team did not suffer any further setbacks as they played cautiously but were prompt to despatch the loose deliveries to the fence. Malik, who has flourished in the number three slot, was particularly severe on speedster Irfan Pathan as he struck him for three consecutive boundaries. The left-handed Butt also grew in confidence as the innings wore on and displayed some exquisite shots on both sides of the wicket. Butt got a reprieve when on 29 with Yuvraj Singh dropping a sharp chance at the point region off Pathan but the talented youngster was far more selective in his shots after the blemish. The second wicket pair took the Pakistan total past the 100 mark much to the frustration of the Indians who struggled to grip the ball properly because of the dew factor. Skipper Sourav Ganguly introduced his spin trump card Harbhajan Singh into the attack in the 15th over but the off-spinner could not break the partnership though he succeeded in containing the run rate to some extent. Malik took a single of Harbhajan to notch up his ninth one-day half century but fell soon after as he played an unusual stroke to a Sehwag delivery which spun and kept low. Malik could not control his shot and spooned a simple catch to Mohammad Kaif at the short cover region, bringing an end to his 55-ball 61 which was studded with five boundaries and two sixes. Scoreboard India Sehwag b Afridi 53 Tendulkar run out 16 Laxman c Akmal b Afridi 43 Ganguly c Akmal b Akhtar 48 Dravid c Afridi b Razzaq 16 Yuvraj c Younis b Hasan 78 Kaif not out 14 Pathan not out 0 Extras
(b-4, lb-6, nb-3, w-11) 24 Total (for 6 wkts, 50 overs) 292 Fall of wickets:
1-29, 2-111, 3-124, 4-163, 5-237, 6-290 Bowling: Akhtar 9-1-55-1, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan 9-1-67-1, Sami 6-0-51-0, Afridi 10-0-29-2, Malik 6-0-31-0, Razzaq 10-0-49-1. Pakistan Butt not out 108 Younis c Sehwag b Zaheer 0 Malik c Kaif b Sehwag 61 Haq c Sehwag b Nehra 75 Youhana c Dravid b Nehra 18 Razzaq not out 1 Extras
(lb-6, w-23, nb-2) 31 Total (4 wickets, 49 overs) 294 Fall of wickets:
1-15, 2-128, 3-186, 4-284. Bowling: Pathan 10-1-48-0, Zaheer 10-1-47-1, Nehra 10-0-65-2, Harbhajan 10-0-51-0, Sehwag 6-0-43-1, Tendulkar 1-0-15-0, Ganguly 1-0-9-0, Yuvraj 1-0-10-0.
— PTI |
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Legendary Indian, Pak skippers honoured
Kolkata, November 13 A packed stadium saw some legendary Indian and Pakistani skippers — Imtiaz Ahmed, Hanif Mohammed, Nari Contractor, Chandu Borde, Intikhab Alam, S. Venkataraghavan, Bishen Singh Bedi, Gundappa Viswanath, Ajit Wadekar, Zaheer Abbas, Imran Khan, Dilip Vengsarkar, Kapil Dev, Ramiz Raja, Ravi Shastri and Waqar Younis — being feted according to their seniority. The present skippers of India and Pakistan — Sourav Ganguly and Inzamamul Haq — besides Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, as also match referee Clive Lloyd, were also feted on the occasion. Among former Indian captains absent from the grand show were Sunil Gavaskar, away at an ICC meeting in Dubai, Kris Srikkanth and Mohammad Azharuddin, who was not invited. When Sports Minister Sunil Dutt handed over the platinum jubilee memento, embossed with the BCCI insignia on a silver salver, a tie and an exquisitely handcrafted Kashmiri shawl to the celebrities during the dinner break of the day-night encounter, a packed stadium broke into cheers. The BCCI came into being in 1931 and sent its squad to England the very next year with CK Nayudu as its captain. The BCCI, that took its fledgling steps with Delhi-based Antony D’Mellow as its first administrator, later had at its helm of affairs illustrious names like Pankaj Gupta, Maharaja of Gaekwad, MA Chidambaram, R. Sriram, Chinnaswamy, the Maharaja of Gwalior, Biswanath Dutta and Raj Singh Dungarpur, who was among the celebrity guests tonight. As a show of solidarity, Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Shaharyar Khan presented a trophy to the BCCI. The trophy was accepted by Mr Sunil Dutt on behalf of the board.
— PTI |
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Ganguly, Pathan
back in Test squad
Kolkata, November 13 Ganguly had pulled out of the third Test against Australia in Nagpur due to an upper thigh strain while Pathan had suffered a side strain during the second Test at Chennai. Dheeraj Jadhav and SS Paul, who were named in the 15-member squad for the final Test against Australia in Mumbai but were not part of the playing eleven, were dropped, the BCCI announced today. The squad: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh Karthick, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and Ashish Nehra.
— PTI
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South Africa kick off campaign today
Jaipur, November 13 Rarely has a sporting team carried an excess baggage of social transformation as do the South African cricketers who will play two Test matches on India soil — their first in the country after a gap of four years. The focus during the team’s tour would not only be on cricket but also on the controversial quota system that has seen five non-white players being included in the 14-member squad. The bonhomie and goodwill atmosphere of the 1991-92 series, when Clive Rice led the team in a three-match one-day series, has, however, been replaced with anxiety and frustration now. The reason for that is of course the team’s poor performance in recent times. Ever since their premature exit in the World Cup in 2003, South African cricket has witnessed a steady decline. There was the high point of Smith, who took over from Shaun Pollock as the youngest captain ever, hitting back-to-back double tons in England before the hosts managed to draw the Test series last year. But the show has generally been
lackluster otherwise. It hit rockbottom when it received a 5-1 thrashing in one-dayers in New Zealand followed by a 5-0 mauling in Sri Lanka earlier this year. The last nail in the coffin was of course the first round ouster in the Champions Trophy following which the team came down in ICC rankings in both one-dayers and Tests. Tomorrow’s match would provide the visitors the perfect opportunity to start the series on the right note before the start of the Test matches. However, taming the Board President XI, which consists of several fringe players, could prove to be a lot more difficult for the visitors, most of whom are too raw and have hardly any or no experience of playing at the highest level. Of the 14 players, only Pollock and Jacques Kallis have been to India before. Adrian Le Roux, the physical trainer who formerly worked with the Indians, might give some insight into the cricket and culture of the subcontinent. But the deciding factor could be how well the new coach Ray Jennings combines with the players and put into use all his experience in turning the struggling side to start in right earnest. Jennings, who was the country’s leading wicketkeeper but missed out on Test cricket due to the ban in the 70s and 80s, has the reputation of using innovative methods when it comes to motivating the players. The team has had five days or so during a pre-series camp in Pretoria to come to terms with ‘Jennings’ Ways’. With regard to the Board XI, the focus would be on the three openers, Gautam Gambhir, Dheeraj Jadhav and Sadagopan Ramesh while the middle order batsmen too could put pressure on the senior batsmen with some good performances. Gagandeep replaces Salvi
Barely 24 hours before the match against South Africa, Punjab medium-pace bowler Gagandeep Singh replaced injured Mumbai pacer Avishkar Salvi in the Board President’s XI team. However, both teams will announce their final eleven in the morning tomorrow. The Sairaj Bahutule-led 14-member Board President’s XI has five pacers — Amit Bhandari, Suresh Raina, Gagandeep Singh, Shiv Shankar Paul and Joginder Sharma, besides a spinner in Ramesh Powar. M.S. Dhoni will be seen behind the stumps. After practicing at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here this afternoon, Sairaj Bahutule said his team-mates had every reason to shine in the match. Young Delhi opener Gautam Gambhir also seemed bracing up for the challenge. He was inducted in place of Aakash Chopra in the fourth and final Test against Australia in Mumbai and though the southpaw could not shine in the match, he seemed in good nick and a scintillating ton against Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy further helped his cause.
— PTI, UNI |
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Smith shrugs off underdogs tag
Jaipur, November 13 "On paper we may not be the team to beat but every player coming into the squad has the ability to stand up to the challenges ahead of them," Smith said on the eve of the three-day warm-up cricket match against Board President's XI. "As a captain I trust the guys. When I walk out to the middle, I know I have the 100 percent backing from every individual," the 23-year old left-hander said. South Africa are without some of their established players. Vice captain Mark Boucher and Lance Klusener have been dropped due to bad form while opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs and spinner Nicky Boje pulled out to avoid questioning by Delhi police in the match-fixing case. In fact, only two players, Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock of the present team have been part of the team that visited India in 2000. Smith found voice of support from his coach Ray Jennings and Kallis. "We have 14 match winners, any one of them could turn up and produce a match winning performance on a given day," Kallis said. Jennings said the "unknown" factor could actually work in South Africa's favour. "You say inexperience in a problem but for me it is exciting. Indians don't know these guys and they could jump up and surprise the Indians," the 50-year old coach said. Smith said given that his team had only one specialist spinner in Robin Peterson, he was considering himself seriously as a spinner on the turning tracks of the subcontinent. "Yes, I would like to play my part as a bowler in India. And I would like to pick up wickets, not just be a part-time bowler," he said. He agreed the team had lost momentum in recent months but was expecting to pick up a few lessons from the Australians. "We got a bit soft recently. It is important to show the right body language and probably pick up from the intensity the Australians showed in recent months. We will once again be playing aggressive cricket, which does not necessarily mean swearing at the opposition," he said. Smith said though he was the youngest to captain a Test team, he did not take his role less seriously. "I
have come up very well, I can't see myself being a captain as an
experiment. I have always looked to playing an important role in South
African cricket and am looking forward to lead the young guys coming
into the side all the way," the South African captain said.
—PTI |
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Vijay Singh keen to stay on top
New Delhi, November 13 The 41-year-old golfer, who won nine PGA tour titles this year en route to the top spot, said there were a lot of good players on the circuit who could win on their day and it was essential for him to keep winning. “It is not just about Tiger. There are many other top golfers whom you have to compete with,” he said, when asked what his next aim was, now that he had dislodged the American from the top spot. Vijay Singh is here to play the Bilts Skins championship, the first edition of which he won in 2002. The Fijian had then said that his aim was to dethrone Woods from the top. The World No. 1 said one needed to focus on one tournament at a time and keep winning in order to stay at the top. When asked how he deals with situations when he is not playing well on a day, Vijay said he thought of how good he could play and always tried to stay positive. “When you are not playing well, there is a tendency to get into a negative mindset. But I always try to stay positive and that helps,” he said. British Open Champion Todd Hamilton of the USA, Daniel Chopra of Sweden and youngster Justin Rose of England would challenge Vijay Singh in the $ 100,000 prize money skins event at the DLF Country Golf Course tomorrow. Hamilton is returning to India after almost 11 years — he played in the Indian Open at Kolkata in 1992 — and is looking forward to show his skills here as well. On the other hand, Rose was very excited with the prospect of playing here as it would be his first Skins event ever. “The four-day event is a right judge of the best player over the week. But this format is very interesting and I am looking forward to it as I will be playing such an event for the first time,” he added. — PTI
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283-member Pak squad for Punjab Games
Chandigarh, November 13 Disclosing this, Mr Gurbir Singh Sandhu, Chairman, Games Technical Conduct
Committee (GTCC), who was here last evening, said an equal number of Punjab (India) players 283 will also take part in different disciplines. He said Pakistan’s Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parvez Elahi would be the guest of honour. The venues at various places were being spruced up as only three weeks are left for these historic games to begin. Gurbir also said at the IOA general body meeting held in Delhi, a Non-Resident Indian Olympic Support Committee was formed with him as its Chairman. This core committee under the aegis of the IOA would work on attracting foreign investment in sports from the NRIs. It would soon set up overseas centres starting with USA, Canada, UK, Germany and Australia. |
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Myskina upsets Davenport
Los Angeles, November 13 With the defeat in the round-robin Red Group, Davenport will almost certainly have to beat fellow American Serena Williams to secure a spot in the semifinals of the eight-woman season-ending event. Second seed Amelie Mauresmo and Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova both qualified for the semifinals out of the Black Group when the Frenchwoman knocked out US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-2 and the Russian out-punched Vera Zvonareva 6-4, 7-5. |
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Jalandhar school clinch Nehru hockey title
New Delhi, November 13 It was the third title victory in a row for the Jalandhar school, whose boys are trainees of the Surjit Hockey Academy. In an even-paced contest, Chandigarh Model School forged ahead in the fourth minute when Ranjodh Singh played a solo from just outside the ‘D’ before slotting home the ball from close (1-0). But the Chandigarh boys could not protect the lead for long as the Jalandhar team mounted a series of attacks on their citadel and pulled off the equaliser in the eighth minute when captain Deepak Sharma deflected in off a cross from Hardeep Singh. The ball travelled fast to and fro in the rest of the first half but both teams failed to give proper finish to their fine approach work. The Jalandhar school forged ahead five minutes into the second half when their effervescent forward Jaswinder Singh made a crisp finish of a move fashioned by Deepak Sharma, who showed his dribbling skills to take the ball into the circle before chipping into Jaswinder to flick high into the roof of the net (2-1). The Jalandhar school received a cash prize of Rs 96,000 while the Chandigarh boys gained Rs 64,000. SGPS Academy, Sri Bhaini Sahib, defeated Birsa Munda Vidyapitha, Rourkela, to take the third place, and a cash prize of Rs 32,000. Captain Harpreet Singh, Karamjeet Singh and Gurmail Singh were the scorers for the Sri Bhaini Sahib team while Rabindra Tigga and Suman Minz scored for Birsa Munda. Top teams for senior
tournament Top teams like Punjab Police, Indian Airlines, Border Security Force, Punjab and Sind Bank, Air India, Bharat Petroleum, Karnataka XI, Tamil Nadu XI and Afghan Club, Bahawalpur (Pakistan) have been directly seeded into the super league of the 41st Nehru Hockey Tournament starting at the Shivaji Stadium tomorrow. Twelve teams, divided into three groups, will battle it out in the qualifying rounds and the top team of each group will join the seeded teams in the super league. |
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16-year-old Ajeetesh gives scare to
top golfers
Chandigarh, November 13 Jasjeet Singh clinched the title with an overall all score of 279 followed by Simarjeet Singh with a score of 281. Just two strokes behind were Amardip Malik and Ajeetesh Sandhu . With this performance, Ajeetesh has given a display of his class to seasoned golfers. Here is a boy who is all set to create ripples in the golf circuit. His performances earlier have fetched him the junior and subjunior titles. Ajeetesh, who is in Delhi will be honoured with the National Child Award for
Exceptional Achievements at a function on universal children’s day tomorrow. |
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HP official named soccer
team manager
New Delhi, November 13 The teams will leave for Muscat on November 15. Sharma is the organising secretary of the Hot Weather Football Tournament at Mandi. |
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