Dhaka, December 13
India completed the formalities, thrashing Bangladesh by an innings and 140 runs in a one-sided contest to take a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series here today.

It was a commanding performance by the Indians who notched up a huge first innings total of 526, built around a career-best unbeaten 248 by Sachin Tendulkar, and bundled out Bangladesh twice cheaply to romp home with almost two days to spare.

Resuming at 170 for eight and needing another 172 to make the visitors bat again, Bangladesh, who made 184 in the first innings, were bowled out for 202 in the sixth over of the morning session on the fourth day here at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.

This was Bangladesh’s 30th defeat in 33 Test matches.

The overnight pair of Manjural Islam and Tapash Baisya made a last-ditch attempt as they struck six boundaries between them today, extending their brave stand to 69 runs.

But their efforts proved too little, too late as left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan, declared man of the match for picking up 11 wickets, snared Baisya (29) with a short-pitched delivery for a simple catch to Sachin Tendulkar at midwicket.

Two balls later, Islam (69) tried to hook Zaheer Khan but ended up with a faint edge to wicketkeeper Dinesh Kaarthick.

For Bangladesh, it was a further plumbing of depths. It was their 19th loss by a margin of innings and runs, and the fourth such on the trot.

The two Bangladeshi innings by themselves would have made an interesting one-day contest, since they lasted just a little more than 110 overs put together on a flat track.

If anything, the wicket helped Pathan claim his first 10-wicket haul in a match as the 20-year-old left arm pacer sliced through the Bangladesh top order.

The dampness in the wicket at the start of opening day’s play did not help the cause of Habibul Bashar and his players.

To the captain’s bad luck, his counterpart Sourav Ganguly called the coin right for the first time in five matches this season.

The Indians then proceeded to make it a party of their own with Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble scaling the summit of their respective careers.

Tendulkar’s knock was not only his personal best but also was his 34th hundred, placing him on a par with former captain Sunil Gavaskar in the list of most Test centuries.

The knock also gave him a rare feat of scoring tons against all nine Test nations, achieved so far only by South Africa’s Gary Kirsten and Steve Waugh of Australia.

It was not an entirely unblemished innings, but it was clear that Tendulkar was determined to get a big score under his belt after coming out of a three-month’s injury layoff.

His 371-minute stay at the crease showed he had significantly recovered from the tennis elbow that forced him to miss three one-day competitions, including the ICC Champions Trophy, besides two Tests against Australia at home.

Kumble has nothing left to prove after claiming his 435th Test scalp and going past Kapil Dev to become India’s leading wicket-taker.

Kapil Dev had held that record for 17 years since 1986-87 when he overtook Bishen Singh Bedi’s tally of 266, and the throne has a worthy successor now.

Zaheer Khan’s whirlwind innings of 75, a world record for any number eleven batsman, and his Indian best partnership of 133 runs with the batting maestro rubbed salt into Bangladesh’s wounds.

But the hosts did not enhance their reputation when they reprieved Tendulkar at least three times, when he was yet to cross his 50.

The one positive feature of Bangladesh in the match was the performance of its seamers Tapash Baisya and Mashrafe Mortaza.

The right arm pacers, aged 22 and 21 respectively, gave some horrid time to the Indian batsmen. They were simply unplayable on the second morning when they bowled in helpful conditions.

Mortaza, coming back from an year-long injury layoff, was particularly impressive when he knocked Rahul Dravid’s off stump.

It has been a surprising development for Bangladesh who began with a score of 400 in their first innings in the inaugural Test against the same opposition at the same venue. Now, four years later, it is their bowling and not batting that seems to be their strong point.

Their batsmen, of course, have one more chance to redeem their image in the second Test beginning in Chittagong on Thursday.

Scoreboard

Bangladesh (1st innings) 184

India (1st innings) 526

Bangladesh (2nd innings)

Omar lbw Pathan 4

Iqbal lbw Kumble 54

Bashar c Zaheer b Pathan 12

Saleh lbw Pathan 0

Ashraful lbw Pathan 0

Mashud c Kaarthick b Pathan 5

Manjural c Kaarthick b Zaheer 69

Rahman c Dravid b Harbhajan 6

Rafique c Sehwag b Kumble 11

Baisya c Tendulkar b Pathan 29

Mortaza not out 0

Extras (lb-5, w-2, nb-5) 12

Total (all out in 53.2 overs) 202

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-24, 3-24, 4-24, 5-36, 6-100, 7-117, 8-133, 9-202.

Bowling: Pathan 15-5-51-6, Zaheer 13.2-2-60-1, Kumble 13-4-42-2, Harbhajan 12-3-44-1. — PTI

Dhaka, December 13
Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly credited his team’s huge win against Bangladesh here today to outstanding performances by Sachin Tendulkar and Irfan Pathan.

Ganguly said the left-arm seamer bowled very well in picking a match haul of 11 wickets while Tendulkar also played a big part in the win with his record knock of 248 not out.

“Pathan bowled pretty well,” Ganguly said while praising the track at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.

“It was a very good Test wicket. There was help for the seamers and some turn for the spinners as well. There was a bit for everybody, even the batsmen could score some runs if they put their heads down and focussed on the job at hand.”

Singling out Tendulkar for special praise, Ganguly said, “Sachin batted outstandingly well.”

On his knock of 71, the skipper said the big scores had been eluding him for some time but he was happy to put a partnership on the board when the team was struggling at 68 for three.

“I have got some good starts but I have not been able to convert these into big ones. But it was good to put a partnership when we were three down for 68,” said the captain, who could not come out to field yesterday as he was suffering from fever.

Bangladesh skipper Habibul Bashar said it was the top order which had been invariably letting the team down.

“The top order has not scored runs, this is one area where we really need to improve,” said the skipper.

Bangladesh were bundled out for 184 and 202 to suffer their 30th defeat in 33 Test matches.

Bashar also admitted that the two dropped catches of Tendulkar proved quite costly.

“If you drop catches like that, you will have to pay for those,” he said, adding that had the team taken those chances, it could have made a big difference.

He also praised Pathan, saying that the youngster posed a big threat to his batsmen throughout the match.

Pathan said he just concentrated on putting the ball in the right areas.

“We got a very good wicket on the first day, the wicket was a bit damp and I just focussed on putting the ball in the right areas,” said the Baroda bowler.

“In the second innings, the wicket had got a bit harder so I tried to bowl more bouncers to put the batsmen on the back foot. Then I resumed bowling normally,” he said.

Pathan also said he was expecting another flat wicket at Chittagong where he hoped to get more wickets in the second Test beginning on Thursday. — PTI

Chandigarh, December 13
The Dronacharya Sports Promoters Association, Chandigarh has decided to hold a convention and get together of legendary cricketers produced by the princely and historic town of Patiala.

Initiating the move, Mr Desh Prem Azad, President of the association, said the idea was to have a congregation of all those eminent cricketers who played at the national and international level in the decade1953-1963. This meeting cum function will be held on December 19 and 20 at the Baradari cricket ground recently named Dhruv Pandove Cricket Stadium, Patiala. The event is being sponsored by Mount Shivalik Breweries.

Mr Azad added that former captain of the Patiala Ranji trophy team and renowned players like Harcharan Singh, Group Captain RS Chohan, Dronacharya Gurcharan Singh, Captain Chaman Lal Malhotra, MP Pandove had confirmed their participation. Azad said the association would also honour Mr Somnath, the only surviving cricketer of the erstwhile Patiala Cricket Association who contributed greatly in the maintenance of the grounds and practice facilities under the supervision of late Lala Amarnath.

Mr Azad said they had requested Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to grace the occasion as his father, late Raja Yadavindra Singh of Patiala, was a keen cricketer. The veteran cricketers will also be visiting their respective old schools and colleges of Patiala where they played and studied.

New Delhi, December 13
Why do Indian sportspersons fail at the big stage? Why do they lose from winning positions? Why do they resort to the use of drugs to boost their performance? Why do they always spin sob stories after failing in the big matches? Why do they look so depressed and unsure of themselves in tough situations? Whey do they carry treatable injuries to the playing arena? And why do they act unsportingly on the field instead of playing the game in the spirit of the game?

Don’t panick. You are just a ‘mantra’ away from success. There is no side effect. A sportsperson needs to spent just a few minutes every day to chant this healing ‘mantra’ to get well and put the act together.

A Chandigarh-bred doctor has a sure-shot ‘mantra healing’ technique to cure the problems of the Indian sportspersons.

The US-based Dr Shivani Singh has been knocking at the doors of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) with her ‘mantra healing’ service free of cost, but the SAI mandarins want “scientific evidence” before accepting her claim and engaging her service. The vivacious Arizona-based doctor, schooled at Sanawar and college-educated at the Government College for Women in Chandigarh, says she was given the “mantra diksha” by her guru at Mandi near the Chamundeswari Temple in Himachal Pradesh.

She, however, did not put her “God’s gift” to good use till 1986 when she set up her home in the US after marriage.

After graduating from Chandigarh, Shivani Singh pursued Ayurveda at the Ambedkar University in Delhi to earn a doctorate. She says her mantra is very simple, which is intended to keep the mind free from “negative thoughts”.

She does not prescribe any medicine, but “works with the spinal chord and the brain” to activate the latent energy in the human body.

Her AIDS (Ancient Indian Diagnostics Solutions) forum spreads the message that the ancient mantras of India “have tremendous healing powers and cannot be dated”. Her credo is that if faith can move mountains, her “mantra healing” is capable of setting right the deficiencies in the human body.

Dr Shivani Singh claims to have successfully treated a former Prime Minister, a top politician and a number of well-known sports personalities and others of their debilitating physical and mental problems through ‘mantra healing’.

Dr Shivani Singh herself underwent tremendous childhood trauma as her mother passed away when she was six years old. She looked inward for answers to her predicament before meeting her guru and receiving the “guru mantra”.

She told the SAI bosses to allow her to interact with the top sportspersons, individually, just for five minutes every day for five days, but the SAI was not willing to listen to her proposal. But she has not given up hope. Many schools and other institutions have been making a beeline for her ‘counselling sessions’, and she is now planning to establish base in the country to spread her “mantra healing” message, particularly among sportspersons, though she has earned a name for herself in the US, after propagating her therapy for the past 20 years.

“I wanted to tell the SAI to change the mindset of the sportspersons to channel their energy on a positive, winning course and make them concentrate on their events and improve their energy level without the aid of any kind of drug”, explained Dr Shivani.

She said sportspersons were now under tremendous “peer pressure, and pressure from the near and dear ones to excel”, which adversely affects their performance. “The ‘mantra healing’ course can work wonders on such sports stars as the mantra will force the negative energy to go”, she asserts.

She says modestly that she does not perform any miracles, but “only brings back the energy into the human body which exists in the nature”.

She says her mantra will help sportspersons “how to project themselves as it’s nothing but imparting of the divine energy”. She says her therapy can work wonders for top sportspersons like cricket stars, hockey players, footballers and others who play under “high pressure” situations, and can avert the kind of tragedy that occurred on the field in the Federation Cup soccer final between Dempo and Mohun Bagan at Bangalore recently when Dempo’s Brazilian striker Junior collapsed and died after scoring the second goal with the Bagan goalie elbowing him in an off-the-ball charge.

Thousand Oaks (California), December 13
Tiger Woods turned in his most complete round of a difficult year when he closed with a 5-under 66 for a two-shot victory over Padraig Harrington in the Target World Challenge.

It was Woods’ second straight stroke-play title after going without one on the PGA Tour for the first time in his career.

Woods won the Dunlop Phoenix on the Japanese tour last month by eight shots. The Target World Challenge is the last of the silly-season events and doesn’t count as an official victory.

Still, Woods beat an elite 16-man field with a game that is starting to look vaguely familiar.

“Every shot I wanted to hit, I hit,” said Woods, who missed only two fairways and one green.

He finished at 16-under 268 and won $1.25 million, which he donated to his foundation.

Harrington, who held off Woods at Sherwood Country Club two years ago, got into contention with a 31 on the front nine, then kept pace until a couple of errant shots cost him on the final three holes.

The Irishman hit his approach into a hazard on the par-5 16th, but had a chance to play out toward the green. It went into a bush, he had to knock that out left-handed and wound up with a bogey.

After a clutch birdie on the 17th to get back within one shot, Harrington drove into rough so thick he had no chance to reach the 18th green.

He closed with a bogey for a 66, his only consolation a $ 750,000 check.

Colin Montgomerie, who had a two-shot lead and was trying to win his first stroke-play title in the USA, bogeyed the first hole and never caught up. The Scot shot 71 and finished at 13-under 271 with Jay Haas (69).

Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain had a 70 to finish another stroke behind.

Woods was coming off his worst season on the PGA Tour. His only victory was the Match Play Championship in late February, he failed to seriously contend on the back nine of any major and he lost his No. 1 ranking to Vijay Singh in September outside Boston.

But the swing changes he began in March appear to be taking hold, and the last month has been proof.

So was Sunday. Woods had full command of every shot, and there would not have been much drama if he could have made a putt. He missed six birdie chances inside 15 feet, and his longest putt for par was 8 feet.

That might have been the biggest, however. Playing in the group behind Harrington, Woods pulled his 2-iron into a tree next to the 16th green and had to punch into the thick rough guarding the green.

As he was starting his downswing on a flop shot, a man on the bridge yelled out, “C’mon Woods!”

Woods dropped the club in disgust as sheriff’s deputies took the man away. He backed off the par putt, and he and caddie Steve Williams pumped fists when it dropped to protect a two-shot margin. — AP

Kathmandu, December 13
India’s Shiv Kapur lifted the Surya Nepal Masters 2004 golf title after an exciting three-way play-off on the final day of the championship.

Kapur, who won the Asian Games gold as an amateur, sank a 35-foot birdie putt to win the thrilling play-off yesterday and pocket Rs 162,000 in the Amby Valley PGAI Tour event played at the Gokarna Forest Golf Resort.

In the play-off, Kapur took the honours on the par-3 10th, but left his nine-iron 35 feet short.

The 22-year-old then staged a brilliant recovery with birdies on the third, fourth, ninth and 12th, before dropping a shot on the 15th.

“I never gave-up and backed myself right through today’s round,” said Kapur.

“I know I’ve had three second- place finishes but that never bothered me. This win is special as I love Nepal and this golf course,” said the youngster, who also won the Amby Valley MGC-Open at Chennai earlier this year.

Gurbaaz Mann, who threw away a certain win after he three-putted from three feet to double bogey the 18th, finished tied second with fellow Chandigarh pro Amritinder Singh.

The three had tied at 11-under 277 which brought the play-off into the equation.

Ashok Kumar equalled the course record of eight-under 64, set by Shiv Kapur on Friday, to pole-vault to the tied fourth position at 281 along with Mohammad Rafique and Sanjay Kumar.

The cheques were handed over to the winners by Nepal Tourism Board chief TB Dangi. — PTI

Panaji, December 13
Goan football fans and Dempo players today bid a tearful farewell to their teammate Cristiano Junior, whose body would be flown to his hometown of Brasillia, Brazil.

It was a solemn moment as the entire Dempo Club team which gathered around the coffin for the last time even as a police band played on. Coach Armando Colaco and Dempo Group of Companies chairman Srinivas Dempo were present on the occasion.

The team members, clad in their jerseys, then wrapped the Dempo flag around his coffin and carried it to the hearse van.

“Let Junior be your inspiration to play hard. He lived and died for the game, let him be the reason for you all to play to win,” a Dempo official exhorted the team as they lifted the coffin.

Junior’s body will be flown to Mumbai this afternoon en route Brazil.

A CT scan was done on Junior’s body at a city hospital yesterday after Dempo Sports Club received instructions from FIFA that such a test was necessary in case of a player’s death.

When asked if he thought a second post-mortem would have been helpful, Srinivas Dempo said “it is difficult to say but it was Julianna’s wish that a second post-mortem be carried out and when the Goa government rejected her wish, she backed out of asking the Karnataka authorities. She wanted to take Junior home as soon as possible.”

The Brazilian striker met a tragic on-field death on December 5 after winning the Federation Cup for Dempo Sports Club by scoring two goals.

He collapsed and died seconds after scoring his team’s second goal in the dying minutes of the final.

According to the final post-mortem report, Junior died of cardiac arrest due to over-exertion and excitement. — PTI