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Utthappa powers India B into final
Dravid likely to lead India
Spinners relishing playing Super Test |
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ICC donates $500,000 for quake relief
Pak to host women’s cricket Asia Cup
Anand crushes Leko
Deepak’s exclusion defies logic
Sonali scores hat-trick
PSEB win basketball meet
Sukhjeet, Aditi win titles in roller skating
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Utthappa powers India B into final Mohali, October 12 Needing to overhaul a target of 261 runs in 47.3 overs set by India A to qualify for the final, India B, owing largely to the scintillating century by Utthappa, scored the required runs in just 38.5 overs losing three wickets to storm into the final. Winning with a bonus point on account of the runaway victory, India B unstaged India Seniors as the top team in the competition, relegating the latter to the second spot.
The defeat must be bitter for VVS Laxman-led India A as Laxman himself scored a superb century, while middle-order batsman Suresh Raina was equally impressive in scoring 97. But these were the only worthwhile knocks in India A innings which enabled India A to put a respectable 260 on the board. But unfortunately for Laxman, his high-quality innings was overshadowed by the Karnataka youngster, who played the type of innings which should be taken note by those at the helm. The 20-year-old Utthappa took time to find his bearings. Once he settled down, he played an authoritative innings. He looked comfortable in unleashing strokes all along the carpet as well as in clearing the in-field with his lofted strokes. When past the half-century mark, he treated the rival bowling attack with disdain. After reaching 62, Utthappa, barring a single, dealt only in boundaries and raced to century in the space of only 2.3 overs. He hit left-arm seamer RP Singh for four boundaries in his third over. In the next over, he clobbered Raina with three successive fours before lifting the next delivery for a six as the over cost the off-spinner 19 runs. A scorching straight drive which found the bowler’s hand on the way and ricocheted off it to hit the stumps resulted in the unfortunate run out of Shikhar Dhawan. The Delhi opener was looking good batting on 40. Undaunted at the dismissal, Utthappa hit a scorching four off the next delivery to complete his century. When on 107, he had to retire for a short while on account of cramps. He returned again and added nine runs to his total before being dismissed after 116 by local pace bowler VRV Singh, who opened the bowling for his team today. Utthappa faced 93 balls and hit 19 fours and 2 sixes during his 123-minute stay at the wicket. S Sriram and skipper Dinesh Mongia carried on the good work and scored 45 and 44 runs, respectively, as India B were home with plenty of overs to spare, which earned them a bonus point. RP Singh had a forgettable outing and conceded 67 runs in 7.5 overs. Earlier, Laxman notched up a superb 110, while Raina scored 97 as India A went past the 250-run mark. Laxman’s was an elegant knock and showed that he was a treat to watch on his day. He was at ease and played effortless strokes against seamers and pacers alike. The wristy Hyderabadi hit 12 effortless fours in his knock. Raina batted remarkably well and matched his skipper in scoring. He also played some bold strokes but was unfortunate to miss out on a deserving century. India B will clash with India Seniors in the final tomorrow.
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Mohali, October 12 The selectors, headed by Kiran More, are not left with much of a choice after Ganguly pulled out on the eve of the Challenger Series with what was diagnosed as "mild tennis elbow symptom", which the BCCI medical expert Dr Anant Joshi said would take at least 10 days to heal. A good showing under Dravid and the possibility of Ganguly remaining outside the team for a longer period could put his career at stake, especially against the backdrop of his spat with coach Greg Chappell, analysts feel. Ganguly's injury would be reassessed after the 10-day period but even if the doctors give him the go-ahead, the Bengal left-hander would have to prove his fitness in a domestic game before playing in an international match as per Cricket Board's directive and stress on "form and fitness". Although Ganguly can still play in the Duleep Trophy, starting on October 20, he will be missing out on the selectors' deadline of October 13 to players to prove their fitness. In such a scenario, the selectors would have to go for Dravid although they can include Ganguly provisionally in the squad subject to fitness. However, the selectors this time are not too keen on making captaincy changes midway through a tournament, sources said. The injury to Ganguly, India's most successful skipper ever, is certainly not helping his cause in the wake of the series of controversies in which he has been involved recently. After a run-in with the game's authorities which saw him miss part of the tri-series in Sri Lanka, Ganguly was embroiled in a bitter spat with coach Greg Chappell whose report on the Indian captain contained damaging references to his form, temperament and fitness. Ganguly, nevertheless managed to hit a face-saving hundred in the Zimbabwe series, to suppress somewhat the growing criticism about his prolonged poor form with the bat. Another factor that is working against Sourav is that both Chappell and the Cricket Board are keen to form a nucleus which would form the team for the 2007 World Cup. They are looking at fit, young and consistent performers who can fetch India World Cup glory. Although none of the selectors were willing to say what they had on mind, they have made it clear that form and fitness would be the topmost criteria for selection, according to sources. The Board, on its part, has denied that it has already given an instruction to the selection committee to pick Dravid ahead of Ganguly. "There has been no such directive, selecting the captain and the team is clearly the prerogative of the selectors," BCCI Secretary S K Nair said. — PTI
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Spinners relishing playing Super Test
Sydney, October 12 Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne said today he was relishing the prospect of seeing four of the world’s best spinners in action, including his great Sri Lankan rival Muttiah Muralitharan. “The more spinners the better,” Warne told a news conference. “One of the great things in the game is seeing a batsman prepared to use his feet to a spin bowler. Everybody likes seeing that. “It’s more fun bowling to those sort of players. It's good cricket to watch. That and watching a fast bowler trying to knock someone’s head off I think are the two most exciting things in cricket.” Stuart MacGill, also a leg spinner who did not play a single Test in the recent Ashes series after the Australian selectors used Warne as the lone spinner, is almost certain to get his chance this weekend. The pair are regular partners in Sydney with 94 wickets between them and MacGill is expecting more to come. “This is where spin bowling is revered more than any
other place in Australia,” he said. Muralitharan and New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori are also relishing the prospect of playing their first tests on one of the world’s great
spinning wickets. Muralitharan has not played a Test in Australia since 1995 after umpire Darrell Hair called him for throwing. The Sri Lankan vowed never to visit the country again after Australian Prime Minister John Howard called him a chucker but returned earlier this year to play in the tsunami benefit match. “I haven't played a Test match for 10 years in Australia, so it's a big challenge for me to do well here,” he said. “ I only played two previous matches and got 300 runs for three wickets...so I think hopefully my performance will be better than that.” Vettori has played one-day matches in Sydney but never a Test and said he could not wait for the match to begin. “ It’s pretty exciting, I think it's been a long time since the New Zealand team played a test match here, ” he said. “We normally get a couple of tests down in Hobart, maybe one in Perth, so Sydney's a bit of a marquee event for us.”
— Reuters |
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ICC donates $500,000 for quake relief
Dubai, October 12 At the venue, activities on the replay screen, the public address system and on-field activities will be used to help encourage people at the venue to make a
donation. ICC President Ehsan Mani, who hails from Rawalpindi, one of the areas affected by the earthquake, said: “All of us at the ICC are shocked and saddened by this tragedy and the impact it has had in my country and I send my prayers and condolences to all those affected by it. “The Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Sharayar Khan, and the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in Indian, Mr Ranbir Singh Mahendra, played a leading role in helping the Board to understand the impact of this tragedy and all countries were unanimous in their support of this initiative.” The measures and proposals were agreed at the ICC’s Board meeting in Sydney yesterday, to help alleviate suffering caused by the earthquake, with Pakistan and India among the worst affected countries.
— PTI |
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Pak to host women’s cricket Asia Cup
Lahore, October 12 Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and possibly Bangladesh will take part in the tournament, to be organised in Karachi. “It is a big honour for Pakistan to be the first host of the Asia Cup and the event will definitely raise the standard of cricket in Asia,” said Shamsa Hashmi, Secretary of the women’s section of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
— AFP |
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Anand crushes Leko
San Luis, October 12 The second victory on the trot also helped Anand move closer to championship leader Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria after the latter took a quick draw as white against Svidler. The other two games of the day also ended in draws with Michael Adams of England signing peace with Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekisan and Russian Alexander Morozevich failing to breach the solid defenses of Hungarian Judit Polgar. With only two rounds remaining after the final rest day today in the $ 1 million event, it appears that Topalov (9 points) has decided to take things easy. The Bulgarian is now just two draws away from the World championship title. Anand and Svidler are tied second at this stage with 7.5 points apiece and the race for the second spot is likely to heat up in the remaining rounds. A very distant fourth is Alexander Morozevich who is on 6 points and Leko and Kasimdzhanov hold the fifth spot together on 5 points apiece. Adams is next in line on 4.5 while Polgar is at the bottom of the list with 3.5 points. Theoretically, Anand can still catch up with Topalov but for that the Bulgarian must lose at least one of the last two games and draw the other while Anand will have to beat Morozevich and Svidler in the last two rounds. World champion this time or not, Anand was in top form against Leko. The Hungarian is in dire straits here and obviously wanted to use his white pieces for the good but as the event unfolded he was left completely dejected. Anand chose the Petroff defense, an opening known to give the black player a level position with deep preparation. Leko perhaps sensed that it was coming but his choice of complications led to disaster. Once into the middle game with Leko's King appearing weaker than Anand, the Indian ace concentrated his efforts on the queen side and swept a couple of pawns. Leko did not get any real counter play anywhere on the board and after the trading of queens it was a cakewalk. The Hungarian resisted for sometime but was forced to call it a day when checkmate became imminent. The game lasted 53 moves giving Anand his second victory as black in the event after he beat Polgar in round one with the slightly
unfavourable colour.
— PTI |
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Deepak’s exclusion defies logic Patiala, October 12 The exclusion of Thakur, this year's recipient of the Arjuna Award, defies logic as he was the livewire of the Indian team that took part in the Rabo Bank mini world cup held at Amsterdam in August this year. The official line being given by the IHF is that Thakur has been dropped since he did not take part in the Lal Bahadur Shastri tournament which concluded in New Delhi earlier this month. Either the IHF is missing a vital point here or it is suffering from selective amnesia. The Shastri memorial tourney began in New Delhi on October 1 and Deepak had faithfully sent his medical report, prepared by SAI doctors here at the NIS, to the IHF office at the National stadium, New Delhi, much before the tournament began. The report had clearly mentioned that the player was suffering from an ankle injury sustained on the right foot and the doctors had advised him rest, rehabilitation and physiotherapy. On October 7, after having recovered from his injury, Deepak personally handed over his fitness report to the IHF. This leaves no scope for the IHF to say that Thakur has been ‘dropped’ from the list of probables because he did not play in the Shastri memorial tournament. The IHF selection committee should have taken into cognisance the fact that Thakur was injured during the Shastri memorial and that he was not faking any injury whatsoever, as is now being made out to be. Injury or no injury, observers here feel that Deepak is too experienced a player to be left out from the team just because he did not play in the Shastri memorial tournament. As far as experience goes, Thakur, a product of the SAI sponsored Patiala based Centre of Excellence scheme, has already donned the India colours in two Olympics — Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004) and has also played in two editions of the Champions Trophy held in Cologne (2002) and Amstelveen (2003). Thakur has represented the country in more than 200 international matches and scored more than 125 goals. In fact, Thakur, along with Viren Rasquinha, was a strong contender for the Indian captaincy for the Rabo Bank meet. During the second phase of the camp held at Chandigarh, a particular lobby among the IHF was pushing his candidature for captaincy but finally the responsibility of leading the country went to Dilip Tirkey. Experts here believe that Deepak is such a versatile player that he can play at all positions in the forward line while at the same time he is regarded as one of the best ‘pushers’ of the ball in contemporary hockey during the execution of a penalty corner. Meanwhile, a senior IHF official has confirmed that star players like Dilip Tirkey, Gagan Ajit and Sandeep Singh will not be available for the first phase of the national camp slated to commence at Hyderabad from October 19 because of their engagements in the ongoing Dutch league.
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Sonali scores hat-trick
New Delhi, October 12 Sonali began her goal hunt after Vivenda Vincent put the Pune team in the lead with a third-minute field goal. Sonali struck in the 11th, 13th and 34th minutes to complete the hat-trick, which was the first in the tournament. Kirti Damodarrao and Vaishali Laxman scored after resumption to complete the drubbing. In another high-scoring match, Government Maharani Laxmibai Girls Senior Secondary School, Madhya Pradesh, defeated NCC Directorate, Andhra Pradesh, 4-1. Niharika Saxena, Sheeba Hashmi and Vineeta Raikwar (2) found the mark for the winners while Burra Kiranmayi scored the consolation goal for the losers. Cambridge English School, Imphal, got the better of Government Inter-College, Dehra Dun, 3-1. Rekha Negi put the Dehra Dun team ahead when she dodged past the defence to slot home in the fourth minute. The agile and well-built Imphal girls scored the equaliser when Kshetrimayum Sushma Devi converted a penalty corner in the ninth minute. Bramchari Mamtombi Devi put them in the lead with a field goal seven minutes later. After resumption, Ngangom Priya Chanu hit home the third goal to script a convincing victory. |
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PSEB win basketball meet
Phagwara, October 12 In men's section, PSEB, Patiala, defeated ONGC, Dehra Dun, 77-73 points. Both the teams were evenly locked at 36-36 points at half time. PSEB's Yadwinder Singh was adjudged the player of the tournament. In the women's section, Southern Railways, Chennai, defeated Central Railways, Mumbai, 73-41. Southern Railways defeated India Junior 73-53 in the junior category. In the veteran's category, Old is Gold defeated Super Star 41-29.
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Sukhjeet, Aditi win titles in roller skating Patiala, October 12 Results (all Rink Race-1): Boys (above 16 years) — Sukhjeet Pal Singh-1, Pardeep Singh-2, Navpreet Singh-3; girls (above 16 years) — Aditi Singla -1, Heena Bharti-2, Rupinder Kaur-3; boys, (14-16 years) — Varinder Singh-1, Taranbir Singh-2, Kamal Deep Singh-3; boys (12-14 years) — Tajeshwar Mahal-1, Satinder Singh-2, Charan Preet Singh-3; girls (12-14 years) — Gagan Preet Sharma-1, Liza Malhotra-2, Navjot Kaur-3; boys (10-12 years) — Sanjamjot Singh-1, Karan Gupta-2, Imaninder Singh-3; girls (10-12 years) — Kajal-1, Kushboo Batish-2, Aikjot Kaur-3; boys (8-10 years) — Karandeep Singh Cheema-1, Parampal Singh-2, Akshit Saini-3; girls (8-10 years) — Meenakshi Batish-1, Jashandeep Singh Cheema-2, Deepika-3; boys (6-8 years) — Sifat Jot Singh-1, Gungeet Singh-2, Jaskirat Singh-3; girls (6-8 years) — Amitoj Kaur-1, Anmoldeep Kaur-2, Harleen Kaur-3; boys (under 6 years) — Nitin Kanojia-1, Bhavesh Kashyap-2, Naman Gera-3; and girls (under 6 years) — Simran-1, Gurmehar Kaur-2.
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Cricket trials on Oct 15 Inter-school soccer Under-17 cricket Basketball meet Football tourney Under-15 cricket Railway hockey |
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Spin bowling could supply the key to the Super Test between Australia and the World XI starting on Friday on a Sydney Cricket Ground pitch with a long tradition of favouring slow bowlers.
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