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Pakistan bounce back with emphatic
win
We were outplayed,
concedes Ganguly
Indian eves keen to make history
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Mumbai whip Orissa by 158 runs
UP beat Punjab by 36 runs to enter
semis
Pakistan veterans win 2-1
Mukesh Kumar wins with record
score
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Pakistan bounce back with emphatic
win
Jamshedpur, April 9 Salman Butt led the Pakistani renaissance with his second ODI century that propelled the visitors to a daunting 319 for nine after Inzamam-ul-Haq won his first toss of the series and elected to bat on a hard wicket that offered reliable bounce for strokeplay. The Indian batsmen, who had been in good form in the first two one-dayers, were found wanting in adjusting to a track that had relatively better bounce and fell like nine pins to be bundled out for 213 in 41.4 overs without offering a semblance of a fight. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan found the right line and length to pick up six wickets for 27, while Mohammad Sami grabbed two for 41 as the pace duo wrecked the Indian top order, reducing them to 82 for six in the 17th over. With this emphatic victory, Pakistan have now reduced the margin to 1-2 and both teams will now move to Ahmedabad for the fourth one-dayer to be played on April 12. Sachin Tendulkar was drawn to a ball in the corridor of uncertainity and Rahul Dravid was consumed by a real snorter of a delivery from Sami. The new whizkid from Ranchi, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, failed to repeat his Vizag exploits but more worrying for the team must be the continuing bad patch of pacer Irfan Pathan. Pathan, coming in place of Laxmipathy Balaji, went for 67 runs in 8.2 overs and suffered the ignominy of being taken off the attack for bowling two beamers in the 44th over of the Pakistan innings. Pathan made a consolatory 66 with the bat and his 61-run stand with Mohammad Kaif (32) brought down the margin of defeat that much. Butt, who had scored a fine hundred in the BCCI Platinum Jubilee one-dayer in Kolkata, slammed a well-paced 101 from 116 balls that formed the fulcrum of the visitors’ innings. Pakistan continued to try out different batting combinations and while Shahid Afridi flopped once again at the top, the promotion of allrounder Shoaib Malik paid dividends as the batsman struck a belligerent half century that seemed to leave the Indians in a daze. Malik made 75 from 79 balls with seven fours and two sixes, and added 145 runs with Butt in 25.4 overs for the second wicket. Skipper Haq (23) played a cameo that was even more entertaining but more substantial was Yousuf Youhana’s contribution of 43 that consumed only 31 balls and was studded with six fours. It was then the turn of the Indians to go on some leather hunt. Ashish Nehra could hold his head high with figures of 3-57 but Irfan Pathan, coming in for injured Balaji, had a nightmarish day. Pathan conceded 57 runs from 8.2 overs and was taken off the bowling after he bowled two beamers in the 44th over. Captain Sourav Ganguly had also the bother of slow over rate with the Indians needing nearly 30 minutes more to complete their quota. The Pakistani openers began with oodles of confidence against the Indian new-ballbowlers Pathan and Nehra with the flamboyant Afridi executing several wonderful strokes. Afridi (17), however, did not last long. He perished in the sixth over, trying to slash a rising delivery from Nehra outside the off-stump, and of the outside edge Rahul Dravid took the catch at first slip. This brought in the left-hand-right-hand combination of Butt and Malik who repaired the damage caused by Afridi’s cheap dismissal and laid a solid foundation for a good total. The Sialkot-born Malik, who played a fluent knock, brought up the 50 of the innings in the ninth over with a four off Pathan. The 100 of the innings came in 20 overs, and a little later Butt cut Harbhajan to third man and ran a single to complete his third half century in 15 ODIs. The milestone was reached in 60 balls, with six hits to the fence. The stand was worth a hundred in the 26th over when Butt pushed Harbhajan Singh to short cover for a single. Malik got to his 12th 50 in 96 matches in the next over and then decided to cut loose. Tendulkar came in for some punishment with Malik despatching him over the midwicket fence for the first six of the day. The over cost 12 runs, and Mali continued in the same vein taking another six off Virender Sehwag in the next over through the same region. But Sehwag took revenge in his very next over, when Malik went for a pull and ended up in the hand of Tendulkar near the deep midwicket boundary. Scoreboard Pakistan Butt run out 101 Afridi c Dravid b Nehra 17 Malik c Tendulkar b Sehwag 75 Haq c Pathan b Nehra 23 Youhana c Dravid b Harbhajan 43 Razzaq st Dhoni b Yuvraj 18 Akmal not out 14 Younis c Dravid b Zaheer 9 Sami run out 6 Rana Naved c sub b Nehra 0 Kaneria not out 0 Extras (lb-6, nb-2, w-5) 13 Total (9 wickets, 50 overs) 319 Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-176, 3-219, 4-239, 5-287, 6-291, 7-308, 8-316, 9-317. Bowling:
Pathan 8.2-0-67-0, Nehra 10-0-57-3, Zaheer 10-0-48-1, Harbhajan 10-0-57-1, Tendulkar 4-0-25-0, Sehwag 6-0-49-1, Yuvraj 1.4-0-10-1. India Sehwag c Afridi b Rana 2 Tendulkar c Younis b Sami 6 Dhoni c Akmal b Rana 28 Ganguly c Younis b Rana 4 Dravid c Younis b Sami 28 Yuvraj c Akmal b Rana 1 Kaif c Younis b Kaneria 32 Pathan c Akmal b Rana 64 Harbhajan b Malik 2 Zaheer not out 26 Nehra b Rana 2 Extras (lb-3, w-5, nb-8) 16 Total (all out, 41.4 overs) 213 Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-11, 3-20, 4-54, 5-66, 6-82, 7-143, 8-152, 9-204. Bowling: Sami 8-1-41-2, Rana Naved 8.4-1-27-6, Razzaq 6-0-35-0, Kaneria 10-0-45-1, Malik 7-0-42-1, Afridi 2-0-20-0. —
PTI |
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We were outplayed,
concedes Ganguly
Jamshedpur, April 9 “They outplayed us from the very first ball of the match. While chasing, we lost too many wickets and could never come back,” Ganguly said after Pakistan registered their first win in the series. Asserting that between 280 and 290 was a chaseable score on this pitch, Ganguly said once Pakistan crossed the 300-run mark, the pressure was on his team. Since they lost too many wickets in the first 15 overs, they had no chance whatsoever, he added. “A score of 320 is a stiff target on any surface. We did get Afridi out early, but they kept on scoring boundaries at regular intervals. On this wicket, 280 to 290 is a chaseable score, but you cannot afford to lose wickets early,” he said. The Indian captain said the last three matches in the series would be keenly contested and felt that whichever team kept its nerves would emerge victorious. “It is going to be very close. With such good pitches, the next three games will be keenly contested. Whoever holds the nerves is going to win,” he said. Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was elated with the performance of his players and said if they countinued to work hard and play as a team, they had a chance to claim the series. “The series is open. If we work hard and stay together, we have a chance to win the series,” he said. “We desperately needed this win. I am very happy that the boys played really well. We were missing the collective effort in the last two games, but this time it was a good team effort,” Inzamam said. Inzamam was all praise for Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Mohammad Sami and said the early wickets they claimed were very instrumental in the team’s dominance. —
PTI |
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Port-of-Spain April 9 Lara, back in the team and stripped of captaincy after a contract dispute kept him out of the first Test, lashed 20 boundaries off 236 deliveries as he guided the home team to a satisfying 281 for six at stumps. Lara delighted a first-day home crowd of 11,000 in notching his 27th hundred in 113 Tests, sending him past Sir Garfield Sobers as the most prolific century-maker for the West Indies. Fast bowler Makhaya Ntini led the South Africa attack with four for 59. There was a wicket apiece for fellow pacer Andre Nel and left-arm spinner Nicky Boje. South Africa gained the early initiative yesterday when West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul chose to bat first after winning the toss. Ntini struck twice in the opening 35 minutes to remove Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, who like Lara were returning to the team after being deemed ineligible for the drawn opener in Guyana. Gayle fell in the day’s sixth over as he top-edged a pull high in the air for a leg-side catch to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher. Sarwan fell to a similar stroke, his cross-batted pull sailing all the way to long leg where Nel ran in 10 meters to claim the catch. Scoreboard West Indies (1st Innings): W. Hinds c Smith b Ntini 32 Gayle c Boucher b Ntini 6 Sarwan c Nel b Ntini 5 Lara not out 159 Chanderpaul c & b Boje 35 Pagon b Ntini 0 Bravo b Nel 5 Browne not out 19 Extras: (b-4, lb-6, w-2, nb-3, pen-5) 20 Total: (6 wickets, 87 overs) 281 Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-13, 3-108, 4-203, 5-204, 6-225. Bowling: Nel 20-6-43-1, Ntini 19-2-59-4, Kallis 13-4-41-0, Zondeki 15-0-71-0, Boje 20-2-52-1. — AP
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Mumbai whip Orissa by 158 runs
Mumbai, April 9 Bahutule played a cameo worth an unbeaten 42 off only 27 balls after a firm foundation was laid by opener Wasim Jaffer and Amol Muzumdar, both of whom slammed half centuries, in Mumbai’s tall score of 289 for four after they were asked to bat first. The ambidextrous allrounder also put on an unfinished stand of 86 runs in the last 10 overs with Vinit Indulkar, who remained unconquered on 62 with four fours. Later, Bahutule spun a web around the middle and lower order batsmen of Orissa, after the top had been knocked off by the Mumbai medium pace trio of Avishkar Salvi, Usman Malvi and Wilkin Mota, to bowl them out for a meagre 131 in 33.1 overs. Malvi and Salvi accounted for Orissa openers BBCC Mahapatra and Shiv Sunder Das, who had starred in their team’s upset win over Karnataka yesterday but fell cheaply today. Then Mota struck twice to send back Rashmi Ranjan Parida (33) and Sanjay Raul (15) to lay open the middle and lower order for Bahutule’s picking. — PTI |
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UP beat Punjab by 36 runs to enter
semis
Mumbai, April 9 Uttar Pradesh, put in to bat by Punjab, were dismissed for 251 in 49.3 overs. Punjab lost their way after a promising start and were shot out for 215 in 47.1 overs. Twentyseven-year-old Yadav, who hit nine fours and a six in his 107-ball knock after coming in at 1 for one, and number five batsman Ravikant Shukla, who made a breezy 61 off 70 balls with four fours and three sixes, helped Uttar Pradesh pile up a healthy total. Yadav then combined forces nicely with left-arm spinner Praveen Gupta, who grabbed four wickets, including those of openers Ravneet Ricky and Reetinder Singh Sodhi after the duo put on 62 runs, to make deep inroads into the Punjab top order, from which they never recovered fully. They were supported by medium-pacer Praveen Kumar, who picked up three wickets coming in at first change, and off-spinner Suresh Raina, who took one wicket. Pankaj Dharmani topscored for Punjab with 41. Placed at 131 for 2 at one stage, Punjab lost wickets at regular intervals thereafter. Uttar Pradesh would meet champions and hosts Mumbai, who trounced Orissa by 158 runs in the other quarterfinal, in the semifinal on April 12. Scoreboard Uttar Pradesh Praveen c Unyal
b Gagandeep 34 Rohit Prakash c Ricky b Vineet 0 Jyoti Yadav run out 88 S.Raina st Dharmani
b SP Singh 6 Rizwan c Gagandeep b Vipul 13 R. Shukla c Sodhi b Unyal 61 A. Hameed c Dharmani
b Unyal 18 Amir Khan b Sodhi 1 RP Singh not out 14 R. Mishra c Dharmani
b Vineet 0 Praveen Gupta run out 0 Extras (lb-6, w-9, nb-1) 16 Total (all out, 49.3 overs) 251 Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-53, 3-83, 4-124, 5-168, 6-208, 7-220, 8-250, 9-250. Bowling: Gagandeep Singh 6-0-39-1, Vineet Sharma 9.3-0-40-2, SP Singh 9-0-38-1, Sodhi 10-0-41-1, Vipul Sharma 7-0-38-1, Unyal 8-0-49-2. Punjab R. Ricky c Shamsad
b Gupta 23 Reetinder Sodhi c Amir b Gupta 33 Munish Sharma c Gupta
b Jyoti Yadav 22 Dharmani c Hameed b Jyoti Yadav 41 Ankur Kakkar b Praveen 20 Gaurav Gupta lbw Praveen 20 Amit Unyal b Raina 19 SP Singh st Amir
b Gupta 4 Vipul Sharma c and b Praveen 9 Gagandeep not out 5 Vineet Sharma c Amir
b Gupta 1 Extras (w-12, nb-6) 18 Total (all out, 47.1 overs) 215 Fall of wickets: 1-62, 2-65, 3-131, 4-134, 5-176, 6-177, 7-182, 8-196, 9-214. Bowling: RP Singh 6-0-17-0, Mishra 5-0-32-0, Praveen Kumar 7-0-30-3, Gupta 9.1-1-40-4, Jyoti Yadav 10-0-54-2, Raina 10-0-42-1. —
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Pakistan veterans win
2-1 Jalandhar, April 9 The confident Pak veterans dominated the proceedings of the match while their Indian counterparts were seen defending their box most of the time. Pakistan opened their account in the 14th minute when Olympian Raheem Khan dodged the rivals’ defence circle from the left flank to hit the ball straight into the net. India lost the opportunity to score an equaliser in the 15th minute through a penalty corner. Pakistani veterans made some attempts to improve their tally, but the rivals technically thwarted their moves. Pakistan were awarded three penalty corners the 23rd, 24th and 27th minutes of the first half, but to no avail. The visitors were leading 1-0 till the lemon break. In the second half, Pakistani players entered the ground with full zeal to further consolidate the lead and displayed some good techniques to dominate the match. In the 38th minute, Raheem Khan moved the ball very close to the net, but goalkeeper Romeo was active enough to rebound the ball. Subsequently, Arif Bhopali of Pakistan took control of the ball and scored an impressive field goal to make it 2-0 even as the Indian camp was looking very helpless to control the onslaught. Raheem Khan again tried his luck in 40th minute, but star defender Pargat Singh acted swiftly to move the ball away from the box. In the 44th minute, Pakistan again failed to capitalise on a penalty corner opportunity by missing the target. The mismanagement on the part of the umpires and organisers led to stoppage of the match for a while, when in 50th minute, it was found that both teams were playing with 12 players each. The extra players were asked to leave the ground. Interestingly, the Indian team was again found playing 12 players and despite repeated signals from the umpire, the Indian team failed to heed to these. Later, one of the players walked out following objections from Pakistani players. India managed to reduce the lead in the 70th minute when Rajinder Singh successfully converted a penalty corner. Later, Choudhary Jagjit Singh, Punjab Local Bodies Minister, gave away prizes to the players. The next match of the series would be played at Bhopal on April 12. Wagah (Amritsar): A 32-member Pakistani delegation, including 24 veteran hockey players, arrived here via the joint checkpost on Saturday for the first Indo-Pak veteran hockey series. The series had been facing uncertainty and was postponed twice. Earlier, it was to be held on February 26 and later it was put off when the Pakistani team could not arrive on April 6. The Pakistan team is led by former stalwart Akhtar Rasool. Rasool had the distinction of playing in four World Cups, of which Pakistan won three. His record earned him a place in the Guinness Book of Records. The formidable centre half is now the Chairman of the Selection Committee of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF). He stated that the trip had been delayed due to visa clearance. He said they had applied for it 10 days ago but they were told that documents had not arrived from New Delhi. Rasool hoped that the series would give a rare chance to budding players and present stars to see former stars in action. Rasool, who is also the adviser to the Pakistan’s Punjab Government, said he would propose to make the series an annual feature. The oldest member of the visiting team is former player Jahangir Ahmed Butt, 62, who is here in an official capacity. He had played in two Olympics and an equal number of Asian Games. |
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Indian eves keen to make history
Durban, April 9 The side, which is in sublime form having lost just one match in the competition so far, will face an uphill task against four-time winners Australia at Supersport Park, Centurion, tomorrow. But if the form of their players in the tournament is any indication, India could very well rewrite history by surprising their formidable opponents for the coveted title. The team’s recent performance in a one-day series against Australia at home was highly commendable when they showed a lot of character despite losing the series 3-4. India’s only concern would be the fitness of their captain Mithali Raj, who is nursing a knee injury.
Mithali was instrumental in the win against New Zealand in the semifinals where she struck an unbeaten 91 to earn the player of the match award. The Indian captain, however, was confident of taking the field in the all-important tie. “I will definitely play the final. I cannot just leave my team now. I suffered the injury while playing the nationals before the World Cup, and it had almost healed, but I don’t need to worry about that,” she said. India have made some plans in a bid to conquer the Australians and that include seeing off the new ball while batting. “They just have one bowler who is very quick — Cathryn Fitzpatrick. In the first semis, England lost the game when Fitzpatrick took three wickets in her first spell, thus exposing the English middle order. We need to keep that in mind and survive the first spell,” Mithali said. Having come thus far in the tournament, India would be hoping that
Mithali, who has so far accumulated 193 runs for a tournament-best average of 65, and senior batswoman Anjum Chopra, who has 170 runs at 42.5, come out firing on all cylinders against a bowling attack led by seamers Karen Polton (10 wickets) and Fitzpatrick (8 wickets). Indian bowlers have so far displayed great discipline in the competition with Neetu David, Amita Sharma and Jhulan Goswami topping the bowling chart. Left-arm spinner David has 19 scalps to her credit at an outstanding average of 6.73. Sharma and Goswami have accounted for 13 and 12 wickets, respectively, with very impressive averages.
Nooshin Al Khader has also chipped in with her off-breaks claiming 11 wickets. The Australians, who will be playing in their seventh final, retained their unbeaten record in the tournament when they beat England by 5 wickets in the first semifinal on Tuesday. Captain Belinda Clark and Fitzgerald, who have played four World Cups each, would lend experience to the Australians who would be keen to erase the memory of the final loss to New Zealand in the last edition in 2000. Odds are also stacked heavily in favour of the Australians who have won 17 of the 21 encounters between the two teams. Their match against India in the league phase of this tournament had to be abandoned due to heavy rain. If Mithali and her girls manage to do the task that appears nearly impossible, they would achieve what Sourav Ganguly-led Indians could not in 2003. Ganguly’s men had lost to Ricky Ponting’s Australia in the World Cup final in Johannesburg. —
PTI |
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Pak hockey veterans
arrive
Wagah (Amritsar), April 9 The Pakistan team is led by former stalwart Akhtar Rasool. Rasool had the distinction of playing in four World Cups, of which Pakistan won three. His record earned him a place in the Guinness Book of Records. The formidable centre half is now the Chairman of the Selection Committee of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF). He stated that the trip had been delayed due to visa clearance. He said they had applied for it 10 days ago but they were told that documents had not arrived from New Delhi. Rasool hoped that the series would give a rare chance to budding players and present stars to see former stars in action. Rasool, who is also the adviser to the Pakistan’s Punjab Government, said he would propose to make the series an annual feature. The oldest member of the visiting team is former player Jahangir Ahmed Butt, 62, who is here in an official capacity. He had played in two Olympics and an equal number of Asian Games. |
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Tiger Jeet Singh to
set up academies
Patiala, April 9 The Canada-based wrestler said the state-of-the-art infrastructure would be installed in these academies, the first of which would be opened in Ludhiana and the second in Patiala. Tiger, who recounted his days as a youngster in alien lands, said he landed in the USA in the early seventies with "just six dollars in his pockets." Thereafter, he worked hard and after 30 years he now had earned a name for himself in North America and Canada".
Describing WWW fights as a "big drama", Tiger said such events attracted huge money in the USA and that was the reason why TV rights for such fights ran into millions of dollars.
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Williams sisters ousted
Amelia Island (Florida), April 9 Venus completed a weather-disrupted third-round match against Polish qualifier Marta Domachowska in the morning, but fell to Lindsay Davenport. Serena defeated Mary Pierce of France in a third-round match yesterday, but after winning the first set of her quarterfinal against Italian Silvia Farina Elia 7-5, she sprained an ankle and, after dropping the second set tiebreaker 9-7, withdrew from the match. —
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Mukesh Kumar wins with record
score
New Delhi, April 9 Mukesh’s effort, which included a Tour record-breaking round of 59 yesterday and culminated in a 63 today, saw him better the 26-under by Jeev Milkha Singh at the Phillip Morris Championship in 1996. Mukesh missed by a single stroke the record tournament aggregate on the US PGA Tour set by Ernie Els at the Mercedes Championship. With this win and the winner’s cheque of Rs 1,62,000, Mukesh took his season’s earnings tally to a staggering Rs 24,00,100, a record figure in the history of the Amby Valley PGAI Tour. Kolkata’s Yusuf Ali and Jaipur’s Vishal Singh, both of whom fired identical rounds of five-under 65 to finish at 24-under 256 for the week, shared the second place, pocketing Rs 87,500 each. Delhi’s Vinod Kumar was placed at the fourth spot as he returned with a card of 10-under 260, to tally 23-under 257. He fired the best round for the day. Kolkata’s Rafick Ali played better golf today as he returned with a card of five under 65 to tally 21-under 259, and was placed at the sixth position. —
PTI |
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Jamshedpur, April 9
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