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Water bottle thrown at Sachin
Ganguly issue: Pawar not to interfere
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SC directs BCCI to select HP team
Anand wins fifth Corus title
Atwal finishes tied 4th
Arindam leads Bengal’s reply
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Pak gain edge over India
Karachi, January 30 But on a wicket that had eased considerably after offering assistance to bowlers on day one, Pakistan notched up 173 for two to take an overall lead of 180. Unless Pakistan lose quick wickets tomorrow, they will be firmly in the driver’s seat. Pakistan openers Imran Farhat (57) and Salman Butt (53) provided a flying start to the second innings before India dismissed them in quick succession. But stand-in captain Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf once again came to their team's rescue. At close, Younis was batting on 25 while Yousuf, who became only the fifth Pakistani to reach the 5,000-run milestone, was giving him company on 30. Unlike the first innings, the Indian bowlers toiled hard for wickets with the Pakistani batsmen negotiating them with ease and maintaining a brisk run rate of 4.4. The two Ys have been the scourge for India in the series, and the visitors would need to break their stand early tomorrow to entertain any hopes of winning the Test and the series. To make matters worse for India, Sachin Tendulkar collided with Yousuf while trying to run him out at the non-striker’s end and had to leave the ground for medical aid. He did not take the field again till stumps, Harbhajan Singh substituting for him. In the morning, India allowed Pakistan to fight their way back after the home team was frustrated by the overnight not out pair of Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh who added 62 runs in just 12 overs. The fifth wicket pair batted in a very determined fashion and weathered a stormy spell from Pakistan speed merchant Shoaib Akhtar, who tried to rattle the batsmen with his snorters. Ganguly, who made a determined and fighting 34 by taking blows from Akhtar on his body, looked in fine touch with his off-side caresses and glides. Ganguly's departure, after a stay of 94 minutes and 53 balls, started a slide which was only arrested by a late partnership of 56 between yesterday’s hat-trick man Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan. However, it did not prove enough to wrest a lead. The visitors lost three wickets for the addition of 95 runs in the pre-lunch session and then surrendered their remaining three first innings wickets after adding 69 runs. Mohammed Asif, playing only his third Test, was the most successful as well as impressive Pak bowler with four for 78. Razzaq bowled in the right areas in the second hour and reaped the rewards for his perseverance with a haul of 3 for 67. In their second innings, Butt and Farhat started on a rousing note. They raised 109 for the first wicket in only 24.1 overs before Ganguly effected the breakthrough in his second over. Ganguly trapped Butt leg before with a ball that pitched in line with stumps and then Pathan, immediately pressed back into the attack by Dravid, tempted Farhat with a short ball and had him pulling it to Sachin Tendulkar at mid on. This brought together Younis and Yousuf, both victims of Pathan's first innings hat-trick, and were threatening to take the match away totally with an unfinished stand of 51 before close. Yousuf, who had started the series with 4614 runs to his credit in 62 Tests, also crossed the 5000-run landmark during the course of his second knock in the match. Scoreboard Pakistan (1st innings) 245 India (1st innings) Laxman b Asif 19 Dravid c Akmal b Asif 3 Sehwag c Akmal b Shoaib 5 Tendulkar b Razzaq 23 Ganguly c Asif b Razzaq 34 Yuvraj lbw Asif 45 Dhoni c Akmal b Razzaq 13 Pathan c Yousuf b Afridi 40 Kumble lbw Shoaib 7 Zaheer c Akmal b Asif 21 R.P. Singh not out 0 Extras
(b-8, lb-3, nb-17) 28 Total (all out, 54.1 overs) 238 Fall of wickets:
1-9, 2-14, 3-56, 4-56, 5-137, 6-165, 7-165, 8-181, 9-237. Bowling:
Shoaib 16-3-70-2, Asif 19.1-1-78-4, Razzaq 16-3-67-3, Afridi 3-0-12-1. Pakistan (2nd innings) Butt lbw Ganguly 53 Farhat c Tendulkar b Pathan 57 Younis not out 25 Yousuf not out 30 Extras
(b-2, lb-3, nb-3) 8 Total (2 wickets, 39 overs) 173 Fall of wickets:
1-109, 2-122. Bowling: Pathan 10-1-39-1, Zaheer 10-1-44-0, R.P. Singh 8-0-38-0, .Kumble 5-0-25-0, Ganguly 6-0-22-1.
— PTI |
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Water bottle thrown at Sachin
Karachi, January 30 He was standing at the square leg fence near the Intikhab Alam enclosure when a water bottle was thrown at him and it made him draw the attention of umpires. It was the second over after the tea break and fast bowler R.P. Singh was bowling his first over of the last session. The two standing umpires promptly called Indian captain Rahul Dravid and asked him if he would like to have a say on the issue of security of his players. “Dravid said as long as the security was strengthened in that area he had no problem,” said umpire Darryl Harper. Even Tendulkar said he did not mind carrying on fielding at the same position as long as the security was alert. Security was strengthened thereafter and spectators were strictly stopped from carrying bottles inside the National Stadium. During a one-dayer at this venue in 1997, a stone thrown from the stands had made Tendulkar stage a walkout. On that occasion, Tendulkar had said he would not be compromising on the safety of his players. In 1989, the then captain K. Srikkanth had a scuffle with a spectator and his shirt was torn.
— PTI |
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Ganguly issue: Pawar not to interfere
Kolkata, January 30 “When the selection committee took the decision, they conveyed it to me. It was a unanimous decision.... I don’t want to interefere in the selection process,” Pawar told reporters here. Stating that the selection committee wanted to keep the winning combination of the ODI squad in tact after India’s impressive performances against Sri Lanka and South Africa, Pawar said it had nothing to do with any personal equation between Ganguly and others.
— PTI |
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SC directs BCCI to select HP team
New Delhi, January 30 “Having regard to facts and circumstances of the controversy, for the present we direct that a three-member selection committee set up by the BCCI to be headed by a former Test player, shall select the team,” a Bench of Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Mr Justice C.K. Thakker and Mr Justice R.V. Raveendran in a brief order said. The court said the selection committee so appointed by the BCCI “shall not include any one from Himachal Pradesh.” The court further directed that as interim measure, the BCCI would provide the finances for the cricket team of Himachal Pradesh and its association, which would prove its legal credential in the court of law, would compensate the board accordingly. The apex court referred the matter back to the HP High Court to decide it on merit, for which senior advocate Soli Sorabjee and Harish Salve, appearing for the factions headed by Rajinder Zar and Anurag Thakur, respectively, agreed. |
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Lions maul
Dynamos Chandigarh, January 30 The Lions, who had sneaked into the best-of-three final with a bit of luck, thoroughly outplayed their fancied rivals. Even the return of captain Rajpal Singh, who had missed a few matches after getting hurt in a mishap, failed to inspire the Dynamos. The match was much more one-sided than what the scoreline suggested. The encounter got off to a slow start as both sides failed to make any good moves. Just when it seemed that the first quarter would end goal-less, Pakistani import Rehan Butt charged down the left flank and caught Dynamos defenders napping to score with a reverse hit in the 16th minute. In the next minute, the Dynamos earned a penalty corner but Sandeep Singh’s hit
went wide. The second quarter saw the Lions tearing the Dynamos defence to shreds with one good move after the other. The Lions got their first penalty corner in the 20th minute, and Len Aiyappa put the ball into the top left corner of the net with his trademark drag-flick to make it 2-0. The Lions went 3-0 up when Tushar Khandekar latched on to a pass from Rehan Butt and beat the goalkeeper to score a field goal in the 26th minute. Off the Lions’ second penalty corner, Aiyappa did his job to turn the first final into an anticlimax. With this goal, the heavily built Aiyappa took his tally to eight in the tournament, going past Didar Singh (seven) of Hyderabad Sultans to become the top scorer in Tier I so far. Down by four goals, the Dynamos showed some urgency in the second half. They got both their goals in the fourth and final quarter to give their glum fans something to cheer about. Jugraj Singh converted a penalty corner with a drag-flick in the 55th minute, while Inderjit Chadha, who was shown a green card for bringing down Arjun Halappa, scored a field goal in the 68th minute. A goal by Deepak Thakur was disallowed by umpire Shakeel Qureshi as the Dynamos striker had raised his stick dangerously high before tapping it into the goal. Rehan Butt was aptly named the “lion of the day”. The two teams meet in the second final tomorrow, which the Dynamos have to win to remain in contention for the PHL title.
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Anand wins fifth Corus title
Wijk Aan Zee, January 30 After Topalov was held to a draw by defending champion Peter Leko of Hungary, Anand was under pressure to score a victory over Gelfand and the Indian ace did it in style for his record fifth triumph here yesterday. After the victory, Anand surpassed three other four-time champions, MaxEuwe of Holland who won it in 1940, 1942, 1952 and 1958, Hungary’s Lajos Portisch, who was a winner here in 1965, 1972, 1975 and 1978, and Switzerland’s Victor Korchnoi, who annexed the crown in 1968, 1971, 1984 and 1987. Apart from the highly satisfying victory, Anand had another reason to cheer as he will now cross the magical 2,800 ELO barrier for the first time in his career. The Indian ace stands to gain more than 10 ELO rating points from this tournament which will add to his present rating of 2792. After Russians Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik and Topalov, Anand will be the fourth player in the history of the game to achieve this peak. Anand did everything right in the event apart from an utterly forgettable loss against old rival Gata Kamsky of the USA earlier in the tournament. Overall, Anand won six games lost one and drew the remaining six. Topalov also achieved the same score with a lone loss against Michael Adams of England but his tie-break score fell shorter than Anand. Since the last Linares tournament in Spain that he won jointly with now-retired Garry Kasparov of Russia, the Bulgarian has been on a high and was also a runaway winner in last world championship match tournament at San Luis in Argentina. However, with this event, Topalov’s winning streak in the high-category events came to a halt. The third place in the category-19 event was jointly won by Michael Adams of England and Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, who both scored 7.5 points a piece. Of the two, the latter was impressive in the final encounter of the 14-player round-robin tournament as he defeated world’s youngest ever GM and compatriot Sergey Karjakin. In the ‘B’ group being organised simultaneously, Alexander Motylev of Russia was declared the winner on a superior tie-break than Norwegian boy-wonder Magnus Carlsen. It was a dramatic last round in this section as overnight leader Zoltan Almasi of Hungary was beaten by Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria that paved the way for Motylev and Carlsen to come up trumps. In the last round, Carlsen scored over tailender Kateryna Lahno of Ukraine, while Motylev had it easy against former world junior girls’ champion Koneru Humpy. Despite the loss in the last round, Humpy stands to gain a few important points from this event. Starting as the 13th seed in this 14-player tournament, Humpy finished tied 10th on six points. Anand was back to attacking against the Nazdorf in his pet English attack in the crucial game against Gelfand wherein the Israeli played black. Gelfand missed a tactical nuance in the middle game and was left defending a slightly worse position for a long time after Anand came up with an incredible exchange sacrifice and did not shy away from entering an endgame thereafter. To Gelfand’s credit, he defended mightily, but in the end was helpless against Anand’s continuous improvement of his position with deliberate pawn thrusts that left the Israeli defenseless. Gelfand threw in the towel on move 66. Topalov drew with Leko without much ado even though he secured a minor advantage in another Sicilian Nazdorf of the day. Playing black, Topalov faced the fianchetto variation by Leko and secured an edge with perfect planning. However, Leko defended accurately and steered the game to an endgame where neither side could make progress. Peace was signed after 40 moves.
— PTI |
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Irina returns as queen of the course again
Chandigarh, January 30 This is the fourth time that Irina has been crowned the golf queen. A beaming Irina said: “The lower back pain did not trouble me this time. But my wrist has been troubling me”
Irina beat Anjali Chopra of Delhi in the finals on the 30th hole—-8 up with 6 holes to play. She played one under par in the first 18 holes, which was a course record, to be 7-up in the first 18 holes. Earlier she won the Billoo Sethi Ladies Golf Championship, a two-day stroke-play competition, by a margin of six strokes returning scores of 70 and 71 on a 70-par golf course. She was declared the No 1 Lady Golfer for the fifth time. She finished with a total of 118 points, with second-ranked Shruti Khanna managing only 54 points. Soon after her victory in Mumbai, Irina got a telephone call from the DAV College Principal,Mr S.
Marriya, congratulating her on her triumph. A Sports Officer with Indian Oil Corporation, Irina is now getting down to her studies. But she will have to combine her studies with her practice session as the Queen Sirikit Cup Golf Championship will be played at Adelaide, Australia, from April 5 to 7. This will be barely one week before her final exams. She is all praise for coach Jesse Grewal. It was because of him that she struck form with a change in her swing. The modified swing took care of her injured wrist. With the golf queen title firmly in her grip, Irina is now planning to move into the Asian circuit. But that will be after the exams. |
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Atwal finishes tied 4th
San Diego, January 30 Atwal (71) missed a four-footer on the closing 18th and was shut out of the three-way playoff which was won by Tiger Woods, who himself birdied the 18th to get into extra time. Atwal, former Asian Tour No. 1, was among the few who shot under-par scores on all four days with 70, 67, 71 and 71for a total of nine-under 279, and just one shy of the trio, Woods, Nathan Green and Jose Maria Olazabal, who at 10-under 278, figured in the shootout for title. “It was very disappointing to come so close and not make it,” said Atwal, who last year lost a playoff to Phil Mickelson in the BellSouth Classic. Atwal, in his third season on the US PGA Tour, shared the fourth spot with the American trio of Jonathan Kaye, John Rollins and Lucas Glover. Daniel Chopra with a final round 76 was tied 56th after having been tied fifth after two rounds. For Woods, it was the fourth time in 10 years that he won in his first PGA Tour event of the year, and he became the first four-time winner at the Buick Invitational on a course he played regularly as a kid.
— PTI |
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