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India will look for 250-plus lead: Sehwag
Turning Point
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Shoaib not handled well: Sohail
Ancestral town awaits Inzamam
Marshall gives NZ a strong start
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India will look for 250-plus lead: Sehwag
Mohali, March 10 This was his second three-figure knock after his 309 at Multan last year. “We are already 135 runs ahead. We will try to put enough runs on the board to bring the opposition under pressure,” he said. “It is all part of the game. I always try to play my natural game,” he said when asked how he felt having missed a double century, adding, “At the end of the day, I am satisfied with my performance.” “Sachin was very upset with himself,” he replied when asked how little master Sachin Tendulkar felt after losing his wicket when so close to a record-breaking century. Tendulkar suffered a sudden lapse in concentration. Playing a bit away from his body, he gave a catch at gully to be dismissed for 94, falling six runs short of a century. Had he completed the century, Tendulkar would have become the record holder for the maximum number of centuries in Test cricket. At present, Tendulkar is on level terms with Sunil Gavaskar, both having 34 centuries each in Test cricket. Asked if the master batsman was under any pressure while batting, he replied that there was no pressure on him. Maintaining that the wicket had eased considerably, Sehwag said the Indian bowlers would be required to pitch the ball in the right areas. About the slow batting rate of Indian batsman V.V.S. Laxman and others as the play drew to a close for the day, he replied that scoring was not brisk as the new ball was taken at that stage. Besides, the batsmen were keen to preserve their wickets so that they could start afresh tomorrow, he said. The wicket, he said, was still playing good and batting was not very difficult. Sehwag, who clobbered the Pakistani bowlers for 19 fours and two sixes, said the wicket unlikely to break by the end of the fourth day. "If it breaks it will be good for us, but our bowlers will also face difficulty in getting the opposition out as the wicket has eased. It is definitely favouring the batsmen," he said. "If we had only our tailenders to bat then maybe we would have given away the advantage. But as we have set batsmen to walk out tomorrow morning they should be able to give a better start," Sehwag said. Maintaining that a draw did not look possible as yet, the dashing batsman said it would be difficult to for the Pakistani batsmen to bat for almost two days. Sehwag defended the way India batted during the entire day after nearly half day’s play was not possible yesterday on account of bad weather. |
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When Dame Luck smiled
Abhijit Chatterjee
India’s luck must take the honours of day three of the first Test between India and Pakistan at the PCA Stadium at Mohali on Thursday. While admitting that every team needs a slice of luck to swing the game its way, Dame Luck seemed to have helped India a wee bit too much, at least so far in the match.
In the first hour of the day’s play, South African umpire Rudi Koertzen, a veteran who has so far has supervised in 59 Tests, misjudged a straightforward catch at silly point by Asim Kamal off Danish Kaneria and negated the appeal against Sachin Tendulkar. In hindsight and using the benefit of television replays, its showed the Mumbai batsman had edged the ball. Sachin then was on eight and the India total read 260 for two. The little master went on to score 94. This was the turning point of the day. Even on the first day of play, the same umpire had adjudged Pakistani batsman Younis Khan leg before to a Zaheer Khan delivery. In this case too, many thought that the benefit of doubt should have gone to the batsman. At this level of the game, two mistakes by an umpire on the International Cricket Council’s elite panel is difficult to understand, specially when the contest is so needle-sharp. After the gift from the umpire, Sachin made an effort to score his 35th Test century. He fell short by six runs, but his early dismissal might well have changed the course of the Test, given the fact that his early dismissal would have had an effect on the other Indian batsmen. If that was not enough, Mohammad Sami got Sourav Ganguly, then on 20, to edge one and Younis Khan took a blinder at first slip. But Sourav survived. Only this time Sami had overstepped the line and the umpire called for no-ball. The very next ball, Ganguly slashed hard and Taufiq Umar dropped him at gully. It was a straightforward chance, which should have been held. The bowler did not even react. Thankfully for Pakistan, Ganguly could not get a huge score and was out early for 21. After the tea session, Danish Kaneria had V.V.S. Laxman in a bind. The Hyderabadi, who loves to use his wrist to pummel the ball through covers or midwicket, played and missed to Kaneria. |
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Ground needed a giant effort
Mohali, March 10 “There was 6 inches of water on the ground at one stage when I reached the ground in the morning”, Mr I.S. Bindra, president of the Punjab Cricket Association, revealed. Mr Bindra, the former Board of Control for Cricket in India president, said it was distressing to see the ground. Not the one to let things remain as they were, Mr Bindra wasted no time in mobilising his staff and the groundsmen. “The ground staff was woken up at 5 a.m. and was engaged in flushing the water out of the ground to make it playable,” he said. Brig G.S. Sandhu said three super soppers were pressed into service. “Mr Bindra, besides supervising all works, was himself involved closely in the operation,” Brigadier Sandhu revealed. Urgency to make the ground fit for play was pressing all the more as play was slated to start half an hour earlier than the scheduled time of 10 a.m. to make up for the loss of half day’s play due to bad weather yesterday. The hectic efforts bore fruit as play started well in time. |
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Shoaib not handled well: Sohail
Sohail was in full agreement with the view that tearaway fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar was not handled properly by the Pakistan Cricket Board. He felt that Shoaib’s presence would have made a huge difference to the struggling Pakistan side. The fastest bowler in the world, Shoaib was known for being too outspoken, due to which he had not exactly endeared himself to the PCB officialdom. He was fined by the PCB and told to appear before a PCB-appointed medical commission to prove his fitness before the Indian tour. A palpably piqued Shoaib pulled out of the three-Test series, citing his hamstring injury as the reason. Blaming too much experimentation, the former Pakistan captain held it responsible for the recent poor show by the team. In favour of involving former fast bowler Waqar Younis in assisting the inexperienced and depleted Pakistan bowling attack, Sohail said that Waqar could have guided them (bowlers) what to do here. “Waqar is the number 1 bowler Pakistan has produced. When he was fully fit, he could have destroyed any batting line-up in the world,” Sohail stated. Asked about all the talk about seamer Rana Naved-ul Hasan doing so well in the recent tour of Australia, but failing to replicate his efforts here in India so far, Sohail remarked: “Naved bowled well in Australia as white ball is used in Australia. The white ball swings a lot in the initial 5 to 6 overs, which helps the bowler a lot. But here balls are different. Therefore, the dip in performance.” Perhaps not satisfied with the way cricket was being run in his country, the former left-handed batsman remarked: “Entire set-up needs to be revamped.” Sohail said there was no dearth of talent in Pakistan. The need of the hour was direction and proper training. “It needs proper moulding,” he observed. Sohail stated that better man management was the need of the hour to produce desired results. |
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Ancestral town awaits Inzamam
Hansi, March 10 Inzamam’s grandfather,
Zia-ul-Haq, was once the pir of the Chaar Qutab Dargaah and lived in a haveli located near the Gol Kothi here. The area surrounding the Gol Kothi was called Peer Mohalla as 14 families of the Pir and their relatives were settled in this area. A local teacher, Mr Jagdish Saini, who has written a book on the historical background of Hansi, said at the time of Partition, Inzamam’s father Intezam-ul-Haq moved to Pakistan and their haveli was allotted to a Bhutani family, which had migrated from Pakistan. As of now, several houses have been constructed on the premises of the old
haveli. The head of the Bhutani family, Mr Charanjit Bhutani, recalled that Intezam-ul-Haq visited the town in 1962 to attend an Urs at the
dargaah. “He came to see his old house and spent some time with us,” he says. The family members of Mr Prakash Singla, who are native residents of this place, were very close to the Haq family. Inzamam calls Mr Singla’s sister Pushpa ‘bua’ (father’s sister) and the families are in touch with each other even
now. Inzamam had invited Ms Pushpa to his wedding and she went all the way to Pakistan to attend the marriage ceremony. While Pushpa is settled in Delhi, Mr Prakash Singla is still in his old home near the haveli of the
Haqs. Mr Dinesh, a member of the Bhutani family, recently met Inzamam in Mohali and invited him to visit his ancestral town. He asserted that Inzamam was keen on visiting Hansi, provided the security concerns allowed him to do so. “He said he wished to come here to see his ancestral house and visit the dargaah of which his grandfather was the Pir, if he was allowed to do so in view of the security concerns,” said Dinesh. |
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Marshall gives NZ a strong start
Christchurch, March 10 New Zealand (first innings): Cumming c Gillespie Fleming lbw Warne 18 Marshall batting 103 Vincent lbw Clarke 27 Astle batting 29 Extras:
(b-4, lb-6, Total: (for 3 wkts, FoW: 1-56, 2-153, 3-199 Bowling: McGrath 25-7-59-0, Gillespie 21-5-56-0, Kasprowicz 18-4-64-1, Warne 25-6-60-1, Clarke 5-0-16-1.
— AP, AFP
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Nagpur, March 10 |
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Anand draws with Kasparov
Linares, March 10 |
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Nagpur ready to host one-dayer
Navratilova case Maradona leaves
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Mohali, March 10
