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Mongia hammers unbeaten 135
BCCI awaiting ICC letter
Sourav Ganguly a victim
of Lloyd’s error
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Depleted Mumbai favourites
Kerala have edge on Himachal Pradesh
Punjab keen to beat Assam
Australia defends bowlers from Murali ‘chucking’
Serena to take on Sharapova in final
Mahesh-Mirnyi triumph
Sikh Regimental Centre
Santosh, Ashish best
Judokas excel in
Sahil, Tanuj move up
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Mongia hammers unbeaten 135
Jaipur, November 15 Dinesh Mongia led the President's batting with an unbeaten century while Mahendra Singh Dhoni brought the crowd to its feet with a cavalier innings of 39 with six fours and a six. At close, the hosts were 320 for five, a lead of 94, with Mongia batting on 135 and Hemang Badani on 49 not out. Except for the failure of Dheeraj Jadhav and Sadagopan Ramesh, other batsmen showed a positive spirit today as they put the South African bowling to the sword. Gautam Gambhir (26) was fluent on both sides of the wicket in the morning before Venugopala Rao (29) teased the spinners with his wristy flicks in the afternoon. For Graeme Smith, the day's proceedings portended tough days ahead in the subcontinent as his slow bowlers failed to make any kind of impact. Justin Ontong, a top order batsman who is also expected to be the frontline spinner in the series, toiled hard for figures of 19-1-100-1. His last four overs cost 32 runs as Mongia and Badani struck eight fours off him. Smith, who had said before the match that he considered his off spin to be good enough to take wickets, rolled his arm for six overs and went
wicketless. The visitors chose to leave out for the match Robin Peterson, the lone specialist spinner in the squad. Mongia, who has not played for India, since featuring in the World Cup squad last year, did himself a huge favour with his batting. He cut out the extravagant shots and focussed on playing shots to his strength. The Punjab left-hander was involved in three partnerships with Rao, Dhoni and Badani as the President's team piled runs at a brisk pace. After adding 56 runs with Rao for the fourth wicket that lifted the team from a precarious 61 for three, Mongia stitched a 91-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Dhoni before sharing an unbroken 112-run stand with Badani. Rao waged a brief battle with Ontong, lunging forward to drive him through the cover and flicking from outside the off in a fashion that reminded of VVS Laxman. The lazy elegance, however, brought the downfall of Andhra batsman after he had got his eye in. His 29 came off 67 balls with four fours. Dhoni was on the roll from the moment he came to the crease. A cut to the point boundary was his first four. When Smith brought himself on, he welcomed him with a towering six over the sightscreen. The wicketkeeper batsman, who was impressive on the India 'A' tour this season, too fell after being well set as he underedged Ontong to be caught behind. Dhoni's 39 came off 62 balls with six fours and a six. The unbroken century stand between Mongia, who had so far faced 246 minutes and struck 16 fours, and Badani literally had the South Africans on the mat. The latter, in fact, was faster in terms of scoring rate, his 49 coming off 78 balls with eight fours. Another worry for the tourists was Jacques Kallis returning to the dressing room after bowling only three overs. The all-rounder suffered a side strain during practice on the morning of the match and bowled from a shortened runup. Earlier in the day, South Africa produced a disciplined bowling performance to push the hosts on the defensive . Board President's XI (1st innings): Jadhav lbw b Ntini 12 Gambhir c Tsolekile b Pollock 26 Ramesh lbw b Hall 9 Mongia batting 135 Rao c Hall b de Bruyn 29 Dhoni c Tsolekile b Ontong 39 Badani batting 49 Extras
(b-2, lb-16, nb-3) 21 Total (5 wkts, in 93 overs) 320 Fall of wickets: 1-42, 2-55, 3-61, 4-117, 5-208. Bowling:
Shaun Pollock 11-6-12-1, Makhaya Ntini 15-3-48-1, Andrew Hall 17-4-54-1, Jacques Kallis 3-1-6-0, Justin Ontong 19-1-100-1, Zander de Bruyn 11-6-10-1, Graeme Smith 6-0-31-0, Hashim Amla 11-1-41-0.
— PTI |
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Selectors presence inspired me: Mongia
Jaipur, November 15 ''Their presence motivated me and I wanted to do well. I value this innings because there was an opportunity to grab,'' the Punjab southpaw said after the match. Talking about his innings, Mongia said, ''I wanted to hang around till I get my first 50 but I played my natural game throughout.'' Saying that his stint with Lanchashire helped him, he said the country experience helped him. ''Playing with players like Carl Hooper and Stuart Law gave me a fair idea about the game and I learnt how to overcome disappointment.'' Mongia admitted that he was desperate to do well after the failure in the last Ranji trophy match, but maintained that he never ran out of patience and kept himself motivated. ''My motivation level is always high and I never ignored my practice and fitness for anything.'' South African vice-captain Boeta Dippenaar said his team started well but Mongia played a great innings.
— UNI |
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BCCI awaiting ICC letter
Jaipur, November 15 Describing the Indian skipper's suspension as "harsh", the BCCI also said any decision to replace Ganguly for the Test series against South Africa would be taken only after the outcome of the appeal is known. "We have not received any official word from the ICC. Whatever has come to us is through media but there is no official communication. We will appeal against the decision as soon as the official letter from ICC comes to us," BCCI President Ranbir Singh Mahendra told reporters here today. The letter from ICC was expected any time, he said adding the appeal would be based on the content of the ICC letter. Ganguly was found guilty of breaching clause C1 of the ICC Code of Conduct for his team's slow over rate in Saturday's Platinum Jubilee match against Pakistan. Since this was Ganguly's second offence within a span of 12 months, the charge was automatically upgraded to a level three offence. Mr Mahendra said the BCCI would raise the incidents which caused the delay in its appeal. "These points will include Salman Butt's injury, his asking for runner, dew factor and wet outfield and also change of balls which took more time than it does usually." When asked whether it was worth appealing to the ICC against a level three offence, he said, "Why not, what happened in Mike Denness case? Everything is possible. Why are the courts for? We are just demanding justice from the ICC. We feel the decision is too harsh." Asked if a replacement for Ganguly for the Kanpur Test had been decided, the BCCI chief said it would be decided only after the outcome of the appeal is known. "The matter of Ganguly's replacement has not been discussed as yet," he said. Mr Mahendra, who is here for the three-day practice match between the visiting South Africans and the Board President's XI, also defended the decision to announce the team for the South Africa series in Kolkata instead of waiting for the tour opener to conclude. "All the selectors were present in Kolkata, so the team was announced there only," he said insisting the decision did not reduce the importance of the tour match. "The team for the second Test is yet to be announced and performance here will certainly count," he said. Asked about physiotherapist Andrew Leipus, who is reported to have expressed the desire to relinquish his job, Mr Mahendra said he would continue for a while. He also said that frequent injuries to players did not mean that Leipus was not doing his job properly. Mr Mahendra also took note of the ordinance in some states which requires Sports Federations to register themselves with the state government and amend their constitution on the guidelines provided in the ordinance. "We realise that this ordinance is coming hard at some of our units but as the matter is in court we cannot comment on it. But we are going to help units like that in Rajasthan which are feeling the heat the most. But how and when will have to be discussed at the Working Committee meeting of the BCCI," he said.
—PTI |
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Sourav Ganguly a victim
of Lloyd’s error
Chandigarh, November 15 The match ended nearly one hour later than the scheduled close as the Indians could not finish the overs in the stipulated time. Umpires Simon Taufel and K. Hariharan did give the Indian team 22 additional minutes to finish their quota of overs but that too was not enough. Sourav’s suspension means that he will be forced to miss the two Tests against South Africa. While admitting that the ICC had to go by the report submitted by match referee Clive Lloyd, there is no denying the fact the Lloyd has erred on more than one count. First he did not make an independent assessment of the conditions and instead went by the rule book of the ICC. Lloyd simply went by the report given by the match officials. Both umpires seemed to have overlooked why the Indians needed so much additional time to finish the overs. For one, the injuries, first to Pakistani opening batsman Salman Butt and then to Indian wicketkeeper Rahul Dravid, were something beyond the control of the Indian captain. Then the ball was not only changed thrice but also had to be cleaned and dried almost after every delivery due to the heavy dew on the ground. Also, time and again the Indian bowlers and the Pakistani batsmen had to clean their spikes to remove grass and mud which stuck to their shoes due to the wet conditions (again due to the dew). If they had not done so, there was every possibility of somebody getting seriously injured. As the ICC observer, it was Lloyd’s duty to study whether the Indian captain was deliberately slowing the proceedings or was the delay beyond the control of the fielding team. It should be apparent to anybody and especially to Lloyd, who has played international cricket under different weather conditions, that Ganguly or his team-mates were not responsible for the delay. But then why did not the former West Indies captain report truly to the ICC? Why did he not report that the delay on the field was not due to the Indian team (for which Ganguly can be held responsible) or the captain himself? There are reports that no former international player wants to speak against the ICC or the rules laid down by it. This is so because no former player on the panel of the ICC wants to lose the lucrative offer of sitting as match referee with all expenses paid. Never mind if some current player has to pay a very heavy penalty for no fault of his. In this case it has been Ganguly. |
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Depleted Mumbai favourites
Mumbai, November 15 The home team are without the services of captain Sairaj Bahutule and Ramesh
Powar, both very useful lower order batsmen and key spin bowlers, and injured medium-pacer Avishkar
Salvi. But the presence of Ajit Agarkar, who has been named the vice-captain, gives the Vinod
Kambli-led Mumbai the extra edge in pace bowling on a wicket that should help the medium pacers at least
initially. Agarkar, who was chosen in the 15-member Indian squad for the Platinum Jubilee tie against Pakistan at Kolkata but failed to make it to the playing eleven, is the man Mumbai would be hoping for to lead the attack from the front.
— PTI |
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Kerala have edge on Himachal Pradesh
Palakkad, November 15 Kerala, relegated to Plate Division due to their poor performance last year in the Elite group, are certain to go all out for a win. This will not only fetch them points, but also boost their morale for the next match against Orissa, to be played at the same venue from Nov 25 to 28. Kerala's bowling department, spearheaded by medium pacer Tinu Yohannan and veteran leg-spinner K N Ananthapadmanabhan, looks very strong. Experienced left-arm spinner M Suresh Kumar, all-rounder Sreekumaran Nair and medium pacer Sreeshant are there to lend adequate support to the duo. With former Test player Sujith Somasundar of Karnataka and Hemanth Kumar of Tamil Nadu, who had been playing for Kerala in the last couple of seasons, deciding to move to their states this season, the hosts' batting line-up has received a jolt. However, the team has some exciting players in Abhishek Hegde and Jagadeesh, who performed well in the junior level last season. On the other hand, Himachal Pradesh will be looking upto captain Sandip Sharma, Manvinder and Sangram Singh for a good total. The bowling will be in the hands of left-arm spinners Vishal Bhatia and Kuldeep. S Haridas, Secretary, Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) said the "sole aim of the team is to qualify to the Elite group". Teams (from): Kerala:
Sunil Oasis (Capt), Sreekumaran Nair, C M Deepak (WK), M P Sorab, Ajay Kuduva, K Chandrasekhara, S Sreeshanth, K N Ananthapadmanabhan, Tinu Yohannan, Prashanth Chandran, M Sureshkumar, Jagadeesh, Abhishek Hegde, Sebastian Antony, S Aneesh. Himachal Pradesh: Sandip Sharma (Capt), Ankur Bassik, Sangram Singh, Manvinder Bisla, Paras Dogra, Ajay Manu, Veerender sharma, Vishal Bhatia, Vidya Prakash, Vikram Mallik, Ashok Thakkur, Kuldeep, Manish, Rahul Panda, Ankit. Umpires:
R V Deshmukh (Baroda) and M R Singh (Mumbai). Match referee: Rajesh Verma. Tripura-Haryana
tie from today
Agartala: An interesting contest is on the cards when Tripura and Haryana clash in a four-day Ranji Trophy Plate division group league match here from Tuesday. Both the teams practiced this morning at the MBB Stadium and exuded confidence of winning the match. Tripura Skipper Timir Chanda told reporters that his team would employ four bowlers, including three spinners, as the track was likely to offer turn. "We will include seven batsmen," Chanda said.
— PTI |
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Punjab keen to beat Assam
Amritsar, November 15 Alam held a four-hour exercise session with the team in the afternoon. He said Yuvraj Singh would join the team in the evening. He said the Ranji Trophy was an important platform for the players to prepare for international tournaments. He claimed that Yuvraj’s performance in the Ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh had boosted his morale, which was demonstrated by his blistering knock of 78 in the platinum jubilee match against Pakistan. Alam said barring the omission of Dinesh Mongia, the rest of the team would be the same. He hinted that Ankur Kakkar might replace Mongia. The visitors’ coach, Dinesh Nanavaty, said it was a crucial match for Assam as they had lost their earlier match to Baroda. He said his team’s priority was to take first innings lead. He said his team did not have star players like Punjab, but it had prepared intensively for the match. Nanavaty said his team had some good batsmen like Parag Das, Parvez Aziz and Zakaria Zufri and experienced bowlers like Gautam Dutta and Javed Zaman. Both teams are playing their second match of the season. Three local players — Ravneet Ricky, Chandan Madan and Sandeep — are playing for Punjab. |
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Australia
defends bowlers from Murali
Melbourne, November 15 At present, spinners are permitted five degrees of bend, medium pacers 7.5 and fast bowlers 10. Muralitharan's "doosra" was initially measured at around 14 degrees. However last week an ICC bowling committee recommended that all bowlers be allowed to straighten their arms by up to 15 degrees, prompting Muralitharan to say he had been put under unfair scrutiny because of his haul of 532 test wickets. ''(Glenn) McGrath is bowling about 13 (degrees), (Jason) Gillespie about 12 and Brett Lee about 14 or 15,'' Muralitharan said on Monday in a Melbourne radio interview. ''So what about them then, the Australian players?'' added the second-leading test wicket-taker who has twice been called for ''throwing'' in Australia and refused to tour the country this year. However Cricket Australia (CA) said it was a ''gross distortion'' to label the trio as ''chuckers'' based on the ICC's report which found that the laws of nature meant all bowlers flex their arms to an extent upon delivery. ''It is unfair on individual players for their names to be used in emotional public debate which does not take account of the complex science behind what the ICC is examining,'' CA chief executive James Sutherland said in a statement. ''In standing behind the good name of current players such as McGrath, Gillespie and Lee, and former Australian players who have picked up newspapers to read their names in this current debate, CA calls on all observers to examine the detail of the ICC's draft findings. ''This includes the ICC's own comment that it is false to suggest its expert bowling panel's work has labelled a number of great bowlers as ''chuckers''.'' Sutherland said CA would study the ICC report before deciding on a position on the issue before the ICC Chief Executives Committee meeting in Melbourne in February at which the bowling recommendations will be considered. — Reuters
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Serena to take on Sharapova in final
Los Angeles, November 15 Williams booked her berth in the final of the $ 3 million event with a 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 victory over France’s Amelie Mauresmo yesterday, spoiling Mauresmo’s bid to claim the year-end number one ranking from American Lindsay Davenport. The former world number one will now get a shot at Sharapova, the 17-year-old who ended Williams’s two-year reign as Wimbledon champion. Sharapova defeated French Open champion and fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the final.
— AFP |
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Mahesh-Mirnyi triumph
New Delhi, November 15 The Indo-Belarus pair beat the Argentine duo of Gaston Etlis and Martin Rodriguez 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) in this season-ending showdown of the year’s top eight pairs, according to information received here today. In their previous match, Bhupathi and Mirnyi had lost to Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Todd Woodbridge of Australia 3-6, 2-6.
— PTI |
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Sikh Regimental Centre record facile win
New Delhi, November 15 After a barren first half, Sikh Regimental Centre took the lead through Harjit Singh, who scored off a penalty corner in the 44th minute. The next three goals came in nine minutes as Suman Kumar went on a scoring blitz with his hits. Anurag Raghuvanshi pulled off the consolation goal for ONGC. In other matches, Air Force defeated Indian Universities 12-11 via sudden death tie-breaker while CRPF XI routed Northern Railway 5-1. Air Force and Indian Universities were locked 2-2 at the end of regulation time, and the tie-breaker also resulted in a deadlock, resulting in sudden death. Pradeep Singh (5, no hat trick), Neeraj Sahu, Jerom Kujur (2), Balbir Singh (2) and Satvir Singh were the scorers for Air Force while Parveen (3), Harsimran Singh (2), Bhagwant (2), Ajeet Namdal (2), Parveen and Bhupendra (2) scored for Indian Universities. CRPF were on a roll against Northern Railway as they scored two goals in the first half and three in the second. Mukesh Kumar, Vincent Hemran, Jolen Topno (2) and Rajesh Kumar scored for the winners while Harpreet Singh reduced the margin for Northern Railway. |
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Santosh, Ashish best all-round gymnasts
Chandigarh, November 15 In the boys section, Ashish Kumar of Uttar Pradesh was the overall individual winner. These gymnasts were declared winners on the basis of their overall performance in floor exercise, pommel horse, roman rings, vaulting table, parallel bars and horizontal bar. Santosh secured 33.60 points while Ashish grabbed 53.70 points. In the girls section, the second and third positions went in favour of Uttar Pradesh gymnasts Shalu Mishra and Apoorva Srivastava. In the boys section also, the second and third spots also were taken by UP boys Devesh Kumar and Sarvesh Chander. Most of the UP gymnasts are from the Centre of Excellence in Allahabad. Meanwhile, Mr DS Bedi, Director and Principal of the host school, said the Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) had sanctioned a Centre of Excellence at the school. The new equipment will be in place by early next year, said Mr Bedi. He said the school had deposited money with the GFI for the purpose. Tomorrow, the finals of various events for both boys and girls will begin at 9.30 am. Today’s results: All-round championship: Individual (boys): Ashish Kumar (UP) 1, Devesh Kumar (UP) 2, Sarvesh Chander (UP) 3. All-round championship: Individual (girls):Santosh (Punjab) 1, Shalu Mishra (UP) 2, Apoorva Srivastava (UP) 3. |
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Judokas excel in Commonwealth
meet
New Delhi, November 15 Navjot Chana (below 60kg) and Angom Anita Chanu (below 52kg) lifted the gold medals. Archan, Nurupama Devi and Bittu accounted for the silver while Bhupinder Singh, Punkaj Sharma and Vinod Solanki collected the bronze medals. In the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games, Akram Shah had won a silver medal while Bhupinder Singh picked up a bronze. |
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Sahil, Tanuj move up
New Delhi, November 15 In other matches, Piyush Dwivedi beat Arnag Gupta 11-6, 11-7, 11-7; Raghav Sachdeva beat Chayan Suri 11-6, 11-5, 11-5; Kunal Kathuria beat Sameer Gupta 11-3, 11-3, 11-3; Sarthak Gandhi beat Kunal Gaba 11-2, 11-7, 11-5. |
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Dhanbad, November 15 |
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Jagbir outshines in athletics Patiala, November 15 Results: (all men), (u-20): 100m: Jagbir Singh-1, Bikramjit Singh -2, Arvind Pandey-3. 200: Jagbir Singh-1, Birkamjit Singh-2, Kuldeep Singh -3.400m: Jagbir Singh-1, Yadwinder Singh-2, Kuldeep Singh-3. 800m Pardeepinder Singh-1, Nirmal Singh -2, manwinder Singh-3. 10,000m: Sonu-1, Harpreet Singh-2, Gurdev Singh -3. Long jump: Arvind Pandey -1, Sukhchain Singh -2, Ajay Kumar -3. Javelin throw: Antarjot Singh-1, Kabal Singh-2. 100m. (Girls, u-16): Rajwinder Kaur-1, Gagandeep Kaur-2, Davinder Kaur-3. 400m, u-16): Rajwinder Kaur-1, Jasmeen Kaur -2, Rupinder Kaur-3. 800m, (u-16): Sandeep Kaur-1, Devinder Kaur-2, Satinder Kaur-3.
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Dutch eves hockey champs Rower found dead Patiala, Bathinda
enter semis U-15 cricket Parmar elected |
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