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India beat Pak, at last
News
Analysis Gavaskar urges Sourav not to quit
Sourav, selectors must sort out matter
Gautam Gambhir hits century
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Kuznetsova, Sharapova enter semis
Woolmer’s vacations irk Inzamam
India way behind Japan: Banerjee
Subcontinent to bid for World Cup
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India beat Pak, at last
Faisalabad, February 24 This was India’s first win after three consecutive defeats at home and a draw in Lahore and salvaged some pride for the Asia Cup winners. Pakistan already have an unassailable 3-1 lead in the six match series. Pakistan took the lead through Imran Warsi, India equalised through Rajpal Singh and then Kanwalpreet scored the winner. India, unlike in the last four matches, dominated the proceedings and forced nine penalty corners, once three consecutive, but each of them was a case of how never to take a penalty corner. The one that Kanwalpreet Singh scored the match-winner actually came of a rebound and the Indian full back had ample time and space to shoot in. India enjoyed territorial advantage, made most of the moves and had the midfield, for once, putting in a huge effort with Prabodh Tirkey giving outstanding display. Pakistan, on the other hand, seemed relaxed but the Indian defence played much better than what they have done in the series, closing the gaps and most importantly backing each other up. India had a penalty corner in the sixth minute but there was too much gap between the ball and the stick, the time allowing the Pakistan defence to keep out the flick. The Indian forwards, enjoying gaps in the Pakistan midfield, created the moves but the finishing was again poor. Vikram Pillay and Arjun Halappa cruised with the ball, their sharp through balls throwing the Pakistan defence in a tizzy. But, as has been the norm in the series, Pakistan took the lead in the 28th minute through a classic conversion by Imran Warsi (1-0). He twisted his torso to the right and as Chetri went for his left, threw the flick into the goalkeeper’s right hand corner. With two minutes left in the first half, Didar Singh had a wonderful chance but he didn’t do the elementary procedure that forwards do when facing the goalkeeper look up and shoot. Didar’s shot while looking at the ball, went wide off the target. India had another great move when Ignace Tirkey passed to Shivender whose onward cross dissected the defence but Tejbir after beating the goalkeeper Nasir Ahmed couldn’t control the shot. In the 36th minute, a minute after resumption, India earned three penalty corners consecutively but Sandeep Singh, let the ball travel too much, ensuring that the Pakistan defence came on and cleared. The worrying factor was not that India were missing the penalty corners but that the mistakes were so elementary that it exposed the thought behind each of these penalty corner conversions. In the 38th minute, India again earned a penalty corner but the indirect shot by Didar Singh was too weak. Tushar Khandekar conspicuous by his absence came on and the Indian attack saw some bite emerging. Pakistan, in the meanwhile, had also wasted three penalty corners. But the move or rather the goal of the series came in the 53rd minute. Rajpal Singh went on a counter-attack passing to Vinay who held till Rajpal had entered the striking circle. The Chandigarh Dynamos striker entered the circle with tremendous pace and flicked the ball on the run between two defenders and the goalkeeper Nasir Ahmed for a classic goal and the equalizer(1-1). India was pushing now and they earned two penalty corners in the 56th minute. After failing with the 7th, India took the lead with the 8th penalty corner conversion. Didar Singh trying an indirect weakly flicked towards goal and the ball came off a defenders stick. Kanwalpreet Singh standing right in the middle of the circle hammered it home to give the lead and the eventual match-winner for India. India could have increased the lead in the 66th minute but their 9th penalty corner was again wasted though this time Nasir Ahmed came off the line to effect a good save, his stick deflecting the ball away. Kanwalpreet was declared the man-of-the-match. The sixth and last Test is scheduled for February 26 at Rawalpindi.
— UNI |
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News Analysis Abhijit Chatterjee With Sourav Ganguly being dropped from the team for the first Test against England and Chairman of the national selection committee Kiran More indicating that he will not be considered for any of the three Tests against the touring team, it seems that for all practical purposes it is the end of the road for the former captain, the man who in his own way scripted a new era for Indian cricket. The writing was on the wall for quite some time but Ganguly was not willing to face reality. Even if one were to agree to the conspiracy theory that coach Greg Chappell wanted him out of the team after the infamous spat with him on the tour of Zimbabwe, the former Indian skipper has done nothing of note in the matches he has played since then. His painstaking century at Bulawayo against a club-level Zimbabwe bowling was his last major effort. Since then he has played in five Tests, one against Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe, two against Sri Lanka at home and two more during the recent tour of Pakistan where he was included in the team reportedly after the Board President personally intervened. Ganguly was first dropped from the Test team for the third Test against Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad but it raised so much of a hue and cry that nobody questioned his inclusion in the squad for the tour of Pakistan. Of course, in Pakistan he did try hard with knocks of 34 and 37 in the Karachi Test, which India lost, but failed to retain his place in the squad with players like Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman and skipper Rahul Dravid taking the middle-order berths. It is of no use naming a player of Ganguly’s stature in the team and then not including him in the playing eleven. In Pakistan he played in the Lahore and Karachi Tests at the cost of a specialist opener. A stop-gap opening pair worked fine on the placid strip at Lahore but it did not work on the lively pitch at the National Stadium in Karachi as India slumped to defeat. It was then that Dravid and Chappell had said that the team would not tinker with specialist batting slots, thereby ending whatever chances Ganguly had of finding a place in the team. The forced absence of Yuvraj Singh from the team for the Nagpur Test due to a hamstring injury during the tour of Pakistan had probably raised hopes among die-hard Ganguly fans that the Bengal southpaw would get yet another opportunity to play. But that did not happen. To offset the absence of Yuvraj, the selectors included 19-year-old Suresh Raina, whose batting in the Multan one-dayer against Pakistan came in for praise, as also Mohammad Kaif. Kaif had a miserable tour of Pakistan but he was earlier largely instrumental in taking Uttar Pradesh to the pinnacle in the National Cricket Championship for the Ranji Trophy. To be fair to him, the selectors should have had the good sense to tell Ganguly at some point of time that he would not be considered any more for international matches and should have been given the option of gracefully retiring from international cricket and should not have been shown the door in such a way.
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Gavaskar urges Sourav not to quit
Kolkata, February 24 “Today, Sourav Ganguly is insulted and humiliated, but I want to tell him that he should not quit at this age. He has to play and prove his worth. We are all with him,” said Bhattacharjee, who was sharing the dais with Ganguly at a function organised by a local Bengali daily here. Gavaskar, who was also one of the dignitaries on the dais, said “thirtythree is no age to quit. If 33 is the figure to quit, then I would have not gone on to score my 34th hundred”. Ganguly, who was invited as a speaker, refrained from saying anything on his dropping from the Indian team. Protest by fans
Protesting Sourav’s exclusion from the Indian Test squad against England, his fans today took out a silent procession in the city’s Kalighat area and decried selection committee’s ‘biased attitude’ against the former captain. “Who are the young blood? Dravid, Sachin or Kumble?” around 50 protesters asked carrying placards to express their resentment. They also carried placards alleging ‘dirty politics against Sourav’. The police did not allow the protesters to carry any effigy. Meanwhile, Sourav today decided to skip East Zone’s Deodhar Trophy opener to be played tomorrow. Cricket Association of Bengal Joint Secretary Sharadindu Pal told PTI that he had asked Ganguly to send him a written communication on this. “Ganguly called me up and told that he does not want to play East Zone’s tournament opener against South Zone. I told him to give it to me in black and white. He has promised to send me a fax by this afternoon,” Pal said. The CAB office-bearer said he did not press Ganguly to play the match “as he must be having personal reasons. Ganguly would, however, take part in the remaining matches of the tournament,” he said.
— PTI |
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Sourav, selectors must sort out matter
Former captain Sourav Ganguly must sort out his standing in the Indian team. The news of Ganguly being dropped is hitting the headlines too often. It does not do any good to his cricket as well to Indian cricket.
A senior player like him should meet the selectors and a few senior cricketers to get a good picture about his utility to the side. He cannot be treated like Gautam Gambhir, who could be dropped disdainfully and picked at the same time. If Ganguly should be mature enough and meet the people concerned, the decision makers should also come out saying how much cricket is left in Ganguly. The whole thing is leaving a bad taste in the mouth. We need to take a leaf out of Australian and English cricket to know how to handle such issues. The selection of the Indian team for the first Test against England did not throw up any surprises. Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan were obviously overlooked to accommodate youngsters like S. Sreesanth and VRV Singh. In my opinion, the only way for Zaheer to get back in the team is to bowl at an average speed of 135 kmph. Though Munaf Patel may consider himself a bit unlucky, VRV Singh could be the answer to Indian pace requirements. Six-and-a-half-foot tall, he possesses all the ingredients of a true fast bowler. Since spinners usually call the shots here, it would be interesting to see who partners Irfan Pathan with the new ball against England. England, despite suffering a humiliating defeat against Pakistan, continue to enjoy the status of heavyweights in the forthcoming series against India. They earned this status after winning the Ashes at home last summer. In the backdrop of that colossal win, which was a hard-earned and deserving one, the defeat in Pakistan could be construed as Englishmen’s irrational fear of many things on Pakistan soil. England, while analysing the Indian team, would consider India’s recent mixed results in Pakistan as well as their reasonable success in the previous tour of India. What perhaps worries England is not their batsmen struggling on Indian wickets but their bowlers’ inability to contain the home team batsmen from scoring lots of runs. The first casualties on the subcontinent wickets are always the fast bowlers. The hot and humid conditions along with lifeless tracks can make them feel negative and paranoid about things around them. Lack of success could sow the seeds of injuries, sickness, moaning and complaining. With all these things being a possibility, England’s preparations, particularly for this tour, are noteworthy. Troy Cooley, now the name behind the success of English bowlers, admitted that the tour of India would be his greatest challenge. In fact, he wants to finish his contract with the ECB after trying his skills and luck on this tour. Troy is not new to India. He has had a few stints under Dennis Lillee at the MRF Pace Foundation. Most of his belief comes from Lillee’s understanding of bowling sciences. Only last month, as a part of the preparation for the Indian tour, Troy did bring a few ECB-contracted bowlers to MRF to acclimatise them to the conditions and to make the bowlers practice under Lillee’s strict vigil. Among the bowlers were Simon Jones and Kabir Khan, a one-day specialist. There was also Sajid, who is not in the side but currently the fastest English bowler and a few other promising ones. These English boys had a good stint on the flat tracks and got the feel of the balls used in India. Troy feels that irrespective of the wickets in India, three fast bowlers (Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison and Simon Jones) bowling around 90 mph and in the right areas, the fielding team can always be in the game. After all it is the bowlers who win matches.
— PTI |
Vadodara, February 24 The home team, boosted by Gautam Gambhir’s 108, declared their first innings at 342 for eight for a lead of 104 runs. England were 10 for one in the second innings at stumps. Andrew Strauss was caught by Suresh Raina at second slip off seamer Munaf Patel for two. Skipper Marcus Trescothick (4) and nightwatchman Matthew Hoggard (4) were the not-out batsmen. Harmison grabbed two quick wickets with the second new ball in the final session after left-hander Suresh Raina was dismissed for a well-made 62 when he gave left-arm spinner Monty Panesar the charge to be caught by Ian Blackwell at long off. Harmison had skipper Venugopala Rao (25) caught by Flintoff at first slip driving away from his body and later had Test discard Dinesh Kaarthick (19) caught by Trescothick in a similar fashion. This was after Flintoff, generating fiery face with the second new ball taken in the 90th over on a placid pitch, had Subramaniam Badrinath playing on. England’s success came after having toiled hard in humid conditions in the first two sessions when Gambhir, who struck 15 boundaries in his 221-ball effort, put on 64 for the second wicket with Dheeraj Jadhav (20) and 86 for the third with Raina, after Board President’s XI resumed at 93-1. England managed to take only one wicket in each of the first two sessions as the home side reached 187-2 at lunch and 269 for three at tea. Harmison had Jadhav caught behind by Jones in the morning, and Flintoff induced Gambhir to drive away from his body to be caught by Strauss at backward point. Paceman Liam Plunkett did not bowl today due to a sore heel. England were dismissed for 238 in the first innings on the opening day, with the batting highlight provided by Kevin Pietersen, who retired due to a lower-back injury after making 47. Paceman Munaf Patel did most of the damage taking five for 59. Pietersen did not take the field today. England captain Michael Vaughan was rested from the only first-class tour match before the first Test in Nagpur from March 1 as a precautionary measure due to the recurrence of a knee problem. Scoreboard
England (1st innings) 238 Board President’s XI (1st innings) Jaffer lbw Blackwell 48 Gambhir c Strauss b Flintoff 108 Jadhav c Jones b Harmison 20 Raina c Blackwell b Panesar 62 Rao c Flintoff b Harmison 25 Badrinath b Flintoff 0 Kaarthick c Trescothick
b Harmison 19 Powar not out 23 VRV Singh b Flintoff 13 Extras
(b-20, lb-4) 24 Total (8 wkts dec) 342 Fall of wickets:
1-93, 2-157, 3-243, 4-274, 5-279, 6-306,
7-313, 8-342. Bowling: Hoggard 22-8-57-0, Harmison 22-5-72-3, Flintoff 21.4-2-74-3, Plunkett 2-0-8-0, Panesar 19-5-46-1, Blackwell 17-1-61-1. England (2nd innings) Trescothick batting 4 Strauss c Raina b Patel 2 Hoggard batting 4 Total
(one wkt, 8 overs) 10 Fall of wicket: 1-3. Bowling:
Patel 4-3-4-1, VRV Singh 2-0-3-0, Powar 2-0-
3-0. — Reuters, PTI |
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Kuznetsova, Sharapova enter semis
Dubai, February 24 The defeat ended a run of 16 successive victories that earned Mauresmo three titles this year, including the Australian Open. In other quarterfinal matches, Russian third seed Maria Sharapova gained revenge for her recent defeat by Martina Hingis in Tokyo, beating the Swiss 6-3, 6-4, while Justine Henin-Hardenne defeated Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-4, 7-6. American Lindsay Davenport came from a set down to beat unseeded Russian Maria Kirilenko 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Kuznetsova plays Henin-Hardenne in one semifinal, while Sharapova will meet Davenport in the other. The match resumed today after play had been suspended overnight with the Frenchwoman having broken to lead 3-2 in the tie-break. But Kuznetsova settled quickly, levelled at 4-4, and held off three set points before clinching the 22-minute tie-break 13-11 on her fifth set point. Top-seeded Mauresmo made the more positive start to the second set, holding off a break point before breaking to love to lead 2-0. She also held two break points for a 4-0 lead before Kuznetsova turned the match around, breaking in the fifth game when Mauresmo netted a weak backhand. Rallying powerfully from the baseline and also showing confidence at the net, Kuznetsova continued to stretch Mauresmo, who netted a forehand at 4-4 to leave the Russian to serve for the match. The quality of the clash between Sharapova and Hingis fluctuated, with a series of skilful rallies contrasting with a bunch of careless errors. After an early exchange of breaks in the first set, Sharapova broke again to lead 4-3. Hingis twice broke serve in the second set but she was unable to consolidate on both occasions. Sharapova, who incurred seven double-faults, broke again to lead 5-3, failed to serve out the match, but broke yet again to claim victory on her third match point. “I probably wasn’t as concentrated as last time, but she played well,” Hingis said. “Today I think it was just a lack of patience pretty much, and that’s why I came up short at the end. Sania-Maria reach second round
Sania Mirza and her new partner Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela stormed into the doubles second round of the $ 1 million Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open tennis tournament here yesterday. The Indo-Venezuelan duo got the better of Russian pair of Maria Kirilenko and Anastasia Myskina in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the WTA Tier II tournament. They will next play Kveta Peschke of Czech Republic and Francesca Schiavone of Italy for a semifinal berth.
— Reuters, PTI |
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Woolmer’s vacations irk Inzamam
Islamabad, February 24 Woolmer, team’s trainer Murray Stevenson and physiotherapist Darryn Lifsun have gone on another vacation after the home series against India and are slated to return to Lahore next month when the training camp for the Sri Lanka tour starts around March 6. According to a report in The News, Inzamam conveyed his surprise at the trainer and physio being allowed to go on leave when he was himself recovering from a back injury. “Inzamam is not happy because he has to follow certain exercises and training regimes which need to be monitored by specialists to regain full fitness and recover from his back problem before the tour of Sri Lanka next month,” a PCB source was quoted as saying. “Inzamam is also surprised at the absence of the three because there is little time before the Sri Lanka tour and after the one-day series defeat to India, he is keen to put the team back on track, sit down with them and analyse what went wrong in the series,” a PCB source said. Although under their contracts with the board, coach Bob Woolmer, Stevenson and Lifsun are only allowed 31 days of paid holidays in a year, but since their appointments in 2004 the three have been regularly going on short vacations between the series.
— PTI |
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India way behind Japan: Banerjee
New Delhi, February 23 “The difference in quality between the two teams is huge and we would need to work hard for a long period of time to reach that level,” Indian team’s manager P K Banerjee told PTI here. “There is no difference in playing top European teams, like Germany and the Netherlands, and Japan. The level of football they play is the same,” the former national captain said, adding “on the other hand, we are just in the second rung of Asian teams.” “They regularly play against the best teams from Europe and South America and it shows. We have not been exposed to that level of football,” he said.
— PTI |
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Subcontinent to bid for World Cup
New Delhi, February 24 Top officials of the four countries, who met here to discuss the bid, have sought more time from the International Cricket Council to finalise the bid document. “Since there are financial matters to be sorted out, we have asked the ICC to give us time till March 12 to send the bid,” BCCI President Sharad Pawar told reporters after the meeting.
— PTI |
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In video: Saurav Ganguly fans demonstrate in Kolkata. 
