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Kumble hits back after Murali’s deadly spell
Kiwis move up to 5th in ODI ranking
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ICC chief slams Akram’s outburst
Punjab on verge of huge win
Government to meet TV broadcasters today
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Kumble hits back after Murali’s deadly spell
New Delhi, December 11 In reply to India’s disappointing first-innings total of 290, the visitors were struggling at 198 for 6 off 70.3 overs when stumps were drawn. Kumble claimed the prized scalp of Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Atapattu off the third ball of the last over of the day for a haul of 4-54 off 21.3 overs. His fourth spell did all the damage as he returned figures of 11.3-4-18-4. Kumble also took a brilliant catch off Irfan Pathan to dismiss Kumar Sangakkara,. Kumble’s strikes were an apt response to Muthiah Muralitharan’s spell in the morning, when he sent the hosts crashing from 245 for three to 290 all out. India’s last five wickets fell for 17 runs in an anti-climax following Sachin Tendulkar’s record-breaking effort yesterday. Murali picked up 5 for 23 today to return figures of 7 for 100 in 38.4 overs, which was his 48th five-wicket haul in Tests. Muralitharan’s penetrative bowling shackled the Indian batsmen to such an extent that his figures at one stage read four wickets for two runs off 18 balls. He bowled with control and a lot of variation, enticing the Indian batsmen to their doom. However, a couple of dismissals seemed debatable, including that of Yuvraj Singh. But at the end of the day, Kumble almost overshadowed Muralitharan’s feat, and walked back to the pavilion sporting a contented smile. Sri Lanka were in a strong position at 2 for 175 when Kumble was brought in for his fourth spell. Though he kept the batsmen on a tight leash in his previous spells, conceding only 36 runs in 10 overs, he could not break through the defences of Atapattu and the in-form Mahela Jayawardene, as they had dug their feet deep into the wicket after Pathan got rid of Avishka Gunawardene and Kumar Sangakkara in successive overs to reduce the visitors to 2 for 62. Kumble struck instantly, off the third ball of the 59th over, when he trapped Mahela Jayawardene plumb in front. This was a much-needed wicket for India as Jayawardene and Atapattu were gaining ground after overcoming Pathan’s quick strikes. Kumble then pierced the defence of Thilan Samaraweera to rattle his middle stump off the second ball of the 61st over. With the next one he trapped Tilakaratne Dilshan lbw to put himself in line for a hat-trick on a ground where he captured 10 wickets in an innings against Pakistan. Jehan Mubarak, however, denied the leg-spinner a hat-trick. From 2 for 175, Lanka lost three wickets for the addition of just one run. But Atapattu and Mubarak bravely tried fending off the Indian bowlers till Kumble returned to remove a well-set Atapattu. The Lankan skipper gave a bat-pad catch to Gautam Gambhir at forward short leg. His knock of 88, which came off 203 balls, contained 11 well-timed and well-struck boundaries, most of them off Agarkar and Kumble. He was also associated with an 113-run partnership with Jayawardene. Scoreboard
India (1st innings) Gambhir lbw Vaas 2 Dravid c Mubarak b Muralitharan 24 Laxman c Sangakkara b Muralitharan 69 Tendulkar lbw Muralitharan 109 Ganguly lbw Muralitharan 40 Yuvraj lbw Bandara 0 Dhoni b Muralitharan 5 Pathan c Mubarak
b Muralitharan 0 Agarkar not out 14 Kumble b Bandara 8 Harbhajan b Muralitharan 7 Extras
(b-4, lb-8) 12 Total (all out, 96.4 overs) 290 Fall of wickets:
1-2, 2-56, 3-133, 4-254, 5-255, 6-255, 7-255, 8-260, 9-271. Bowling:
Vaas 22-5-77-1, Fernando 18-5-43-0, Muralitharan 38.4-8-100-7, Bandara 17-1-54-2, Dilshan 1-0-4-0. Sri Lanka (1st innings) Gunawardene lbw Pathan 25 Atapattu c Gambhir b Kumble 88 Sangakkara c Kumble b Pathan 3 Jayawardene lbw Kumble 60 Samaraweera b Kumble 1 Dilshan lbw Kumble 0 Mubarak not out 10 Extras
(b-4, lb-2, pen-5) 11 Total (six wickets, 70.3 overs) 198 Fall of wickets:
1-54, 2-62, 3-175, 4-179, 5-179, 6-198. Bowling: Pathan 16-7-20-2, Agarkar 16-4-40-0, Kumble 21.3-5-54-4, Harbhajan 15-0-67-0, Tendulkar 2-0-6-0. |
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Sehwag better, to play in third Test
New Delhi, December 11 “The infection is there and I am still under medication but I am feeling better now,” he said on the sidelines of the Ranji Trophy match between Delhi and Maharashtra at Jamia Milia University grounds. Sehwag, who spent almost the entire day with his state team, said he was missing the action in what would have been his home Test very much but was now looking forward to play the Ahmedabad match. “I am missing not playing here at home ground. Doctors have advised me rest for another two days and I would be fit to play the next Test.” The swashbuckling opener’s presence proved to be a huge motivation factor for the Delhi team as they piled up a huge first innings lead of 162 runs against Maharashtra.
— PTI
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Kiwis move up to 5th in ODI ranking
Dubai, December 11 The Black Caps 332-8 beat the previous record held by the Aussies, 330-7 against South Africa, in 2002 and also pushed them to the fifth spot in the table. They are tied on points (109) with India and Sri Lanka, who are ranked sixth and seventh respectively, but bagged the fifth spot only by decimal places. That upward movement is significant because if the Kiwis maintain the position than they will automatically qualify to the second stage of the ICC Champions Trophy to be held in India next year. The four sides below the sixth spot will have to take part in a preliminary round to qualify, except for the hosts who will participate in the second stage irrespective of their position in the table. Meanwhile, England have moved up in the championship table after they beat Pakistan in Lahore yesterday but the table remains incredibly congested as only two points separate England, now in fourth spot, and Sri Lanka in the seventh. Australia may have lost the last match of the Chappell-Hadlee series but they still have the consolation of not only the trophy thanks to their 2-1 success but also a 17-point lead at the top of the LG ICC ODI Championship table. The players ODI Rankings are also dominated by the players from down under for both batsmen and bowlers. Australia have four players in the top ten of the batting list with captain Ricky Ponting leading the list followed by his deputy Adam Gilchrist in the second spot. Andrew Symonds is on fifth with a career-best points tally and Michael Clarke in eighth, up 11 places during the series. Glenn McGrath remains tops the bowling list even though he was rested for the Chappell-Hadlee series while Brett Lee is in the second spot. New Zealand’s highest-placed batsman is Stephen Fleming in 26th spot while Scott Styris, whose 101 played a key role in the run-chase at Jade Stadium, has moved up two places to 36th. Another north bound Black Cap is the recalled all-rounder Chris Cairns, up four places to 37th in the batting list, while Daniel Vettori, who captained the side in the three-match series, is fifth in the bowling rankings with his highest-ever points tally. England’s win in Lahore has seen Andrew Flintoff climb four places to 10th in the batting list while Kevin Pietersen occupies 11th and Andrew Strauss 13th position. Marcus Trescothick, captaining England in the absence of the injured Michael Vaughan, is his side s leading player in the ODI Rankings for batsmen, in the seventh place. Pakistan has two players, Mohammad Yousuf (6th) and captain Inzamam-ul Haq (16th), in the top 20 batting slots but only one bowler, Naved-ul-Hasan, in the top 20 bowlers. He is in the sixth place and is close to his highest-ever points total.
— UNI |
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ICC chief slams Akram’s outburst
Dubai, December 11 Mani said Akram’s charge of the ICC being biased against Asians was not supported by facts and hurt all the more since the former captain hailed from the same country as he did. “As a Pakistani, I am honoured by the privilege given to me to lead the ICC in carrying out its responsibility to act without fear or favour to any nation,” Mani said. “It is a great disappointment to see this former great player, particularly as he is from my own homeland, make such ill-informed, offensive and inaccurate comments,” he said in a statement. Mani said Akram’s comments belied his ability to understand the way the ICC functioned. “In light of the reality of the modern ICC, these comments are a poor reflection on Wasim’s ability to play a constructive role in debating cricketing issues and bring into question his ability to research, understand and make judgments on the way in which the ICC carries out its mandate from all members.” Mani also said Akram’s comments would not do any good to the game and were offensive even to all those Asians who were involved with the ICC in one way or the other.
— PTI |
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Chennai, December 11
Sandeep Singh (61st, 66th minute) and Tushar Khandekar (60th minute) scored for India, while Mohammed Imran (53rd minute) and Tariq Aziz (57th minute) struck for Pakistan. Earlier, seven-time champions Australia recovered in time to defeat holders Spain 4-2 and register their second straight victory. The Olympic champions were trailing 1-2 at half time after a spirited effort by the Spaniards but managed to improve their game in the second half. Spain, who won their maiden Champions Trophy title last year in Lahore, did well to wipe out a fifth-minute goal deficit scored by Travis Brooks, with man-of-the-match Santi Frexia coming up with a brace of goals. But the experienced Australians, who beat Germany 4-1 in their opening tie yesterday, bounced back with captain Brent Livermore converting a penalty stroke in the 45th minute. Five minutes later, Luke Doerner put the team in the lead once again, while McCann increased the margin in the 66th minute through a field goal. After Spain’s third-minute penalty corner went in vain, Olympic champions Australia needed just two minutes to go in to the lead. The Aussies played to a pattern of crowding in the midfield and then spreading their wings to the sides with their star attacker, Jamie Dwyer, intercepting the ball from Ramon Alegre and then opening out in the middle. One such move resulted in goal. First Dwyer tested Spain goalkeeper Francisco Cortes, who offered his pads. Twice Dwyer and Michael McCann harried Cortes and the third rebound was pushed in by Travis Brooks. Action mainly remained in the middle for about six minutes and following an infringement on the right corner before the circle, Spain achieved a penalty corner and their full-back Santi Freixa made no mistake in sounding the board to level the score (1-1). Australia were in possession of the ball in turns for the next 15 minutes but the Spaniards were a shade better in scheming their way to the Australian circle. With Aussie goalkeeper Stephen Mowlam charging out of his fort and with three defenders tackling him, Freixa wriggled out backwards and then slammed the ball home to lead 2-1. Though the Olympic champions tried hard for the equaliser, the Spaniards defence stood out in thwarting at least three attempts by the rivals. The Spanish custodian also showed fast reflexes as he blocked at least a couple of shots, including one from Nathan Eglington (30th minute). The Aussies earned a penalty corner only towards the end of the first half and Mathew Wells took the shot but again Cortes ensured there was no danger as the teams took the break with Spain leading 2-1. However, the Aussies came back strongly after the break when play resumed under a steady drizzle. Increasing the tempo after Andrew Smith’s shot off a penalty corner was saved by Cortes, the Australians caught the Spain defence off guard with a sudden move in the 44th minute. Michael McCann, who was menacingly moving inside the circle, was obstructed by Xavier Ribas and umpire David Leiper signalled a penalty stroke. Australian captain Brent Livermore’s scoop sailed into the net. Bolstered by the goal, the Australians made another good move to force a penalty corner five minutes later and Luke Doerner’s shot beat the Spain goalkeeper to once again take the lead. Just as Spain were making a last-ditch effort to find an equaliser, McCann came up with a solo effort, capitalising on a defence lapse and beat Cortes. The defending champions made a couple of goal-bound moves in the dying minutes but Australian custodian Stephen Mowlam held his nerve. — PTI
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Kapur bags Volvo golf title
Bangkok, December 11 Defending champion Jyoti Randhawa came in second for a rare occasion when Indians finished one-two in a major championship. Kapur, who had a share of the lead on all four days, finished his final round with five-under 67 for a total of 20-under 268, two shots clear of Randhawa (270). Kapur had rounds of 66-67-68-67, while Randhawa had rounds of 70-64-67-69 for the week. Randhawa pocketed $ 69,000, which carried him past $ 329,835 and to the third place in the Order of Merit. Kapur’s winning cheque of $108,000 was the biggest of his career and propelled him to fourth on the Order of Merit. He also emerged as the “Rookie of the Year”, pipping Andrew Buckle of Australia. The win also gets him an entry into WGC-Bridgestone Invitational next year besides an invitation from Sony Open on the US Tour. Marcus Both (71) finished third with 16-under 272 and Chawalit Plaphol, playing with Kapur, shot a 69 and ended at 13-under 275 in fifth place. Among the other Indians, Gaurav Ghei (72) finished at one-under 287 and ended tied 25th. Jeev Milkha Singh carded his best for the week, a four-under 68 for a total of four-over 292 and ended tied 40th, while Harmeet Kahlon (71) ended at seven-over 295 in tied 44th place. It was the second year in running that an Indian had won the Volvo Masters of Asia. Last year when Randhawa was winning the Volvo Masters in Kota Permai, Kapur was on the Indian Tour and in same week won the Surya Nepal Masters in Kathmandu in a playoff.
— PTI |
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Punjab on verge of huge win
Mohali, December 11 Starting the day on the overnight score of 392 for 4, Punjab declared their innings at 550 for 7. Hyderabad conceded the lead of 350 runs as they were bundled out on 200 runs in the first innings. In reply, Hyderabad lost seven wickets for a paltry 168 in the second innings, still trailing by 182 runs. Earlier, Punjab’s overnight batsman Munish Sharma scored a superb unbeaten ton (126 n.o.) while Ricky (180) could add only eight runs to his 172 before being caught by Shinde off N.P. Singh. Both the batsmen shared a 175-run partnership. Munish hit 16 boundaries while Ricky hammered 23 fours during their innings. Kaushik Reddy snapped the wicket of debutant Udey Kaul (32). N.P. Singh claimed four
wickets. Hyderabad were in trouble from the start in the second innings. Punjab’s strike bowler Gagandeep struck in the last ball of the first over of the innings when he won a lbw decision against Abhinav Kumar (0). In the third over he took wicket of Anirudh Singh (1), who offered a catch
to Dharmani when the total was on 9. Hardevinder, who is playing his first match, took three key wickets of Danial (9), Arjun Yadav (0) and Alfred (19). Hardevinder also took three
wickets in the first innings. At one time Hyderabad were 11 for 4. Only Ibrahim Khalil managed to put
up a good batting display and was unbeaten on 101 at stumps. Scoreboard: Hyderabad (1st innings): 200; Punjab (1st innings): Ravneet Ricky c Shinde b NP Singh 180, Sunny Sohal c Khaleel b Alfred 1, Dinesh Mongia c Khaleel b NP Singh 6, Pankaj Dharmani lbw NP Singh 12, Gaurav Gupta lbw NP Singh 107, Muneesh Sharma not out 126, U Kaul c Pai b Ojha 32, Amit Unayal c Khaleel b Reddy 38, Gagandeep Singh not out 8; Extras: (b-12, lb-15, nb-11, w-2) 40; Total (seven wickets dec, 159 overs) 550; Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-17, 3-31, 4-244, 5-419, 6-479, 7-535; Bowling: NP Singh 34-8-108-4, Alfred Absolem 34-4-129-1, Kaushik Reddy 40-10-96-1, Daniel Manohar 5-0-17-0, Pragyan Ojha 31-3-114-1, A. Shinde 15-3-59-0; Hyderabad (2nd innings): Daniel Manohar lbw Hardevinder 9, Abhinav Kumar lbw Gagandeep 0,
Anirudh Singh c Dharmani b Gagandeep 1, AS Yadav b Hardevinder 0, SA Pai b Love Abhilash 11, I Khaleel not out 101, A Shinde b Love Abhilash 0, A Absolem c Ricky
bHardevinder 19, Kaushik Reddy not out 16; Extras (b-1, lb-4, w-5, nb-1) 11; Total (7 wickets, 42 overs) 168; Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-9 , 3-10 , 4-11, 5-64 ,
6-66 , 7-108; Bowling: Gagandeep Singh 12-0-45-2, Hardevinder 12-3-50-3, Love Abhilash 8-1-33-2, Amit Uniyal 9-0-34-0, Dinesh Mongia 1-0-1-0. |
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Government to meet TV broadcasters today
New Delhi, December 11 Representatives of ESPN-Star Sports and Zee Telefilms would discuss the issue with officials of the ministries of Information and Broadcasting and Youth Affairs and Sports in the meeting, which will also be attended by representatives of public sector broadcaster Prasar Bharti, sources said. They said the main agenda of the meeting is the broadcast of important sports events, international or national, which have to be shared with Prasar Bharti for terrestrial telecast through Doordarshan network by private channels as
per the uplinking and downlinking guidelines laid down by the Union Government recently. The private broadcasters had raised objections on certain provisions of the guidelines, notified by the government as they wanted “exclusive window” of broadcasting of the events for which they had got the contract. The main competition between the private broadcasters is getting “exclusive” telecast rights of cricket matches, which has emerged as the most lucrative business for sports channels with the immense popularity of the game in
India and prospects of huge ad revenue. The main focus of the private broadcasters, therefore, would remain the issue of cricket telecast rights attached with the clause of “exclusivity”,
sources said. |
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Korea win two gold medals
Doraha, December 11 In the first event — individual time trial (35 km) for men (elite section) — Youm Ung Hwan from South Korea clocked 44.08.85 seconds to win the gold medal. Askari Hossein of Iran won the silver with a timing of 45.42.06 sec, while Uzbekistan’s Vladimi Tuychiev (45.07.18 sec) won the bronze. Sixteen cyclists took part in the event and Harpreet Singh of India ( 48.51.09 sec) finished at the 11th spot. Harpreet is a student of BA I at Khalsa College, Patiala. In the women’s section (60 km), Korean cyclist You Jin A won the gold with a timing of 1.47.53.49 seconds, while Ni Fenghan of China (1.47.53.49) and Uyun Muzizah of Indonesia (1.47.53.59) won the silver and bronze, respectively. In the junior men’s 25 km individual time trial, Nateghi Hossein of Iran (31.57.96 sec) bagged the gold medal while the silver was won by Korea’s Lee Jin Woo (33.03.23 sec), Bin Took Mohammed of UAE won the bronze. Amandeep Singh of India (35.57.22 sec) finished ninth. Earlier, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, former Union Minister and President, Cycling Federation of India inaugurated the week-long championship. |
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Priyanka, Abhishek shine
Fatehabad, December 11 Boxers from various schools from all over the district participated in the competition. |
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