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India favourites against depleted England
Don’t take England lightly, Dravid tells
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Tirkey to miss Commonwealth Games
Budget focuses on Commonwealth
Games
Eves lose again
2 meet records in Federation Cup
Shailaja tests positive for banned drug
AIFF defers AI-Fransa match
Surinder
excels in annual meet
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India favourites against depleted England
Nagpur, February 28 The hosts are on a roll following their convincing 4-1 rout of Pakistan in the one-day series less than 10 days ago and their confidence would be sky high especially in home conditions and with a near full-strength squad to choose from. England, on the other hand, would be relying on stand-in captain Andrew Flintoff to help them overcome the loss of key players, including skipper Michael Vaughan, and lead them to their first Test win on Indian soil in more than two decades. The tourists were dealt crippling blows with Vaughan, fast bowler Simon Jones and vice-captain Marcus Trescothick returning home due to various reasons. India, on the other hand, are buoyant after coming back strongly from the Test series loss to put it across Pakistan in the limited-overs series. The confidence factor of having bested Pakistan would rub off on most Indian players, including newcomers like leg spinner Piyush Chawla and paceman VRV Singh. The loss of Yuvraj Singh to a hamstring injury is certainly a blow but the hosts have the wherewithal to make up for the Punjab left-hander’s absence. The toss-up to fill Yuvraj’s slot would be between Mohammed Kaif and his Uttar Pradesh team-mate Suresh Raina. The former has experience on his side and the latter’s good display in Pakistan could tilt the balance in his favour. India would be reverting to specialist openers with a fit-again Virender Sehwag partnering Wasim Jaffer to launch the innings. The Indian batting would be up against an England pace attack that looks potentially good even in the absence of Jones — with the gangling Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard — and Flintoff to man it along with one from the duo of Liam Plunkett and James Anderson. It is in the slow bowling department that the absence of the injured Ashley Giles would be felt as neither Ian Blackwell nor Monty Panesar have the experience or the skills to trouble the home team batsmen even on a pitch that looks pretty dry and spin friendly. At the other end of the spectrum is the confrontation of the England batting line-up that includes opener Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Flintoff, against the twin threats of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. Harbhajan, wicketless in the Test series in Pakistan, would be especially eager to put behind his lack of success and end up with a bagful of wickets. England need to negotiate the Indian spin threat well to post a big total that alone can put pressure on the redoubtable Indian batting line-up consisting of Sehwag, Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman. The teams (from): England: Andrew Flintoff (captain), Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Shaun Udal, Geraint Jones (wk), Ian Blackwell, Monty Panesar, Matthew Hoggard, Steven Harmison, James Anderson, Liam Plunkett, Matthew Prior (wk) and Owais Shah. India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Mohd Kaif, Suresh Raina, M.S. Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Rudra Pratap Singh, S. Sreesanth, VRV Singh and Piyush Chawla. Hours of play: 10 a.m.-12 noon; 12.40-2.40 pm; 3-5 pm. — PTI |
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Don’t take England lightly, Dravid tells team-mates
Nagpur, February 28 Dravid said England might have lost a few key players including skipper Michael Vaughan but with several match-winning cricketers in the line up the visitors would still be a tough side to beat. “Any team that has (Steve) Harmison, Kevin Pietersen and (Andrew) Flintoff can’t be written off. England would be very competitive and very strong,” Dravid said on the eve of the first Test at the VCA stadium here. “They obviously have had a bit of bad luck and it was unfortunate for them to miss some key players. But England are still a very good side.” Having stood for Sourav Ganguly following the former captain’s withdrawal from the match against Australia, the last time India played a Test here, two years ago, Dravid was only too aware of the situation that confronted Flintoff, England’s stand-in captain. “There are two ways to look at it. It could get the best out of him or it could be challenge as a batsman and a bowler. He’s a fantastic cricketer. “What he has achieved over the last 24-36 months has been outstanding. I have been in this kind of situation myself when a captain gets injured. I wish him well, but not too well,” the Bangalore stalwart said. Dravid made it clear that the experimentation with him opening the innings, as was the case during the Test series against Pakistan would not be continued here. “Virender Sehwag and Wasim Jaffer would open. There are different options available to us, including fielding five bowlers. But we would decide on the final composition only at the toss,” he said. The Indian captain said that it was very good to see quite a few talented youngsters coming up the ladder and getting into the squad and singled out UP’s Suresh Raina and Piyush Chawla as the men to watch in future. “They are all talented and it’s good to see them coming up. We need to give them the opportunity to develop as cricketers. One or two of them would get a chance in this series. Piyush and Raina are two about whom you will hear a lot in future,” he said. Dravid, however, ruled out Chawla replacing either Anil Kumble or Harbhajan Singh, or coming on as third spinner for tomorrow’s tie. “Anil and Harbhajan are world class spinners who have won so many matches for us. It’s not easy to play three spinners. I don’t agree with the view that England are not good players of spin. “The last time they came here they played spin very well in the last two Tests at Ahmedabad and Bangalore and drew the matches,” he said. Asked whether there were any excess of pressure of expectations on the team, Dravid said it was always the case irrespective of which team is concerned. “Expectations are always there on every team. People want us to do well. We focus on playing good and fighting cricket without focusing on results,” he added.
— PTI |
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Ashraful shines on day one
Chittagong, February 28 The spinner ended with three for 85 and is just two wickets shy of 1,000 in international cricket. After winning the toss, the hosts opted to bat at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium and looked ill at ease from the start of the two-test series. Only one other batsman, opener Nafees Iqbal, scored more than 30. Pace bowler Lasith Malinga took three wickets and Malinga Bandara two. Scoreboard Bangladesh Omar c Samaraweera b Malinga 4 Iqbal b Bandara 34 Bashar lbw Bandara 29 Nafees b Maharoof 27 Ashraful c Tharanga Mashud lbw Muralitharan 6 Kapali c Tharanga Rafique b Malinga 17 Hossain not out 11 Rasel b Malinga 1 Haque Jr not out 1 Extras
(b-11, lb-4, nb-15, w-3) 33 Total (9 wickets, 90 overs) 315 Fall of wkts:
1-4, 2-76, 3-81, 4-146, 5-210, 6-248, 7-293, 8-308, 9-314. Bowling:
Malinga 16-3-55-3, Maharoof 11-3-37-1, D. Fernando 17-4-50-0, Muralitharan 31-8-85-3, Bandara 13-0-61-2, Dilshan 2-0-12-0.
— Reuters |
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Agassi makes winning return in Dubai
Dubai, February 28 It was also only Agassi’s fifth match in six months, but after some early discomforts yesterday he began to play as fluently as if he had been competing regularly on the ATP circuit. It raised hopes that the 35-year-old can still produce performances worthy of one of the Grand Slams, of which Wimbledon has become his main target for 2006. “I felt good about the way I made passing shots, but, more important, I was in a position to make the passes,” said Agassi, referring to the mobility problems which the injection had been designed to alleviate. Meanwhile, Andre Agassi said he would skip the entire ATP spring claycourt season, including the French Open he won in 1999, to lengthen his career. “It is not realistic for me to consider myself competitive on clay,” he said at the Dubai Open. “The wear and tear it puts on my body has set me back the last couple of years. And Wimbledon is something that I don’t want to miss this year.” Following a five-set loss in the first round of last year’s French Open, Agassi’s chronic back problem flared again, a sciatic nerve injury preventing him from playing for two months, forcing him to miss Wimbledon for a second straight year. He said he came to Dubai only to uphold the commitment he made to the organisers last year on debut. He has a relatively easy second-round match against either lucky loser Georgio Galimberti of Italy or Bjorn Phau of Germany.
— AFP, AP |
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Tirkey to miss Commonwealth
Games
New Delhi, February 28 In another significant development, the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) recalled striker Deepak Thakur, along with central midfielder Viren Rasquinha, who were “rested” for the Pakistan series. Tirkey, the 29-year-old dependable full back, who got married early this month, has cited a nagging injury problem for pulling out of the 10-nation tournament of the games, which commences in the Victorian capital from March 16. Star custodian Adrian D’Souza has been ruled out due to hamstring injury which he suffered during practice in the recently concluded Pakistan leg of the bilateral series. Adrian’s place has been taken by the Chandigarh Dynamos goalkeeper Baljit Singh. Meanwhile, four players, who were part of the 20-member squad for the six-match series against Pakistan, have been dropped. They are strikers Adam Sinclair, Hari Prasad, Shivinder Singh and drag flicker Raghunath. Team: Goalkeepers: Bharat Kumar, Baljit Singh; full backs: Kanwalpreet Singh, Harpal Singh, Sandeep Singh; midfielders: Vikram Pillay, Ignace Tirkey, Prabodh Tirkey, Viren Rasquinha; forwards: Rajpal Singh, Didar Singh, Sardar Singh, Tushar Khandekar, Tejbir Singh, Arjun Halappa and Deepak Thakur.
— UNI |
Budget focuses on Commonwealth
Games
New Delhi, February 28 Of the Rs 162.01 crore allocated in the 2006-07 for Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the Centre has committed to spend a huge chunk, Rs 150 crore, on the development of infrastructure for the 2010 games. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has put the total budget for the Ministry at Rs 669 crore, of which Rs 600 crore has been earmarked as planned expenditure while the rest Rs 69 has been specified as non-plan expenditure. The total increase in the budget outlay for the Ministry comes to around 32 per cent. In comparison to the last financial year, the hike in planned outlay is Rs 161.01 crore which comes to an increase of around 37 per cent. But there is a negligible increase for non-plan expenditure which witnessed just Rs 1 crore hike than what was allocated last year. Nearly 82 per cent of the budget allocated to the Ministry has been assigned for sports and youth services which come to Rs 551.02 crore, Rs 124.99 crore more than what was earmarked last year. Among other highlights, the Centre has provided Rs 3.89 crores more for the development of sporting facilities in North Eastern States. Last year, Rs 38.90 crore was assigned on this head whereas it is Rs 42.79 crore this year.
— PTI |
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Eves lose again
Sydney, February 28 Chasing a modest target of 129 for a win, skipper Karen Rolton (56) and Alex Blackwell (63 not out) scored half centuries to steer the hosts to an easy nine wicket victory and clean-sweep the series 3-0. Indian bowlers could not make any dent into the Aussie innings after claiming the wicket of opener Jodie Purves for three in the third over off the bowling of Jhulan Goswami. Brief scores: India 128 for seven (Malhotra 27 not out, Sharma 23, Chopra 22, Rolton 2-6); Australia 129 for one (A Blackwell 63 not out, Rolton 56 not out, Goswami one for 19).
— UNI |
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2 meet records in Federation Cup
New Delhi, February 28 The event, shorn of some of the big names of Indian athletics, who are under suspension, was given an interesting turn when Anishka Vijayan soared over 13.57 metres to erase the existing meet record, to pluck the gold in women’s triple jump. Manisha Dey of West Bengal and Tessymol Joseph of Kerala took the silver and bronze, respectively. V.S. Sureka, who had created a meet record in the first national circuit meet here two weeks ago, played an encore when she bested the women’s pole vault record. Sureka of Tamilnadu scaled 3.85 metres to overhaul the old record of 3.80 set by Chetna Solanki in June last year. Manpreet Kaur of Punjab hurled the iron ball to 14.49 metres to claim the women’s shot put gold while West Bengal’s Paul Chatali and Archana Mondal lifted the silver and bronze, respectively. Herash Choudhary of Delhi measured a distance of 63.51 metres to claim the hammer throw gold while Surya Kumar of TN and Satveer Singh of Punjab took the silver and bronze. In most other events, only the heats were held, but there were no surprising results, except the missing stars. |
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Shailaja tests positive for banned drug
New Delhi, February 28 In a major setback ahead of the mage-event, Shailaja was found to be positive following a random out-of-competition testing conducted by WADA officials in Patiala recently. Although the Indian Weightlifting Federation has not made an official announcement yet, a source confirmed that the 22-year-old lifter has tested positive for banned drug. “We are all shocked. She was way ahead of the second best prospect in the 75 kg category among all Commonwealth countries,” a source told PTI today. Shailaja, the Manchester Commonwealth gold medallist, had won the gold medal as well as the best lifter award in last year’s Commonwealth Championships held in Melbourne. This is the second instance that Shailaja has been under the scanner for doping. The lifter was banned by the national body for two years after she tested positive in a junior national competition in 2003.
— PTI |
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AIFF defers AI-Fransa match
New Delhi, February 28 AIFF did not announce any new date for the match. But, a release here said Fransa will play other Goa outfits Sporting Club and Salgaocar on March 5 and 8, respectively. The Federation has also decided to discuss the letter written by Air-India (AI), which asked the Federation to reply to their earlier letter wherein the Mumbai club had questioned the logic behind deciding a replay of the match instead of awarding it to them. The club in the latest letter had said they would not be able to play the March 2 match as most of their players are on leave in the belief that the NFL would restart on March 10.
— UNI |
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Surinder
excels in annual meet
Fatehgarh Sahib, February 28 Results: In 800m boys — Jaspal Singh first, Surinder Singh second; In 400m girls — Anita first, Kamaljit Kaur second; Discuss throw girls — Kuldeep Kaur first, Archna Sood second; Discuss throw Boys — Surinder Singh first, Dharamjit second; Long Jump Girls — Harpreet Kaur first, Baljinder Kaur second, In 200M boys — Surinder Singh first, Gurmeet Singh second; 200m Girls — Simranjit Kaur first, Anita Sood second; Javelin throw Boys — Dharamjit first, Jaspal Singh second; Long jump Boys — Surinder Singh first, Harpreet Singh second, In Javelin Girls — Baljinder Kaur first, Kanwaljit Kaur second; Shot put Boys —Harpreet Singh first, Surinder Singh second; Shot put Girls — Kuldeep Kaur first, Karamjit Kaur second; In 100m Boys — Surinder Singh first, Harpreet second; 100m Girls- Parwinder and Neelam remained first and second. Gaurav adjudged
all-rounder
The three-day annual sports meet of local Mata Gujri College concluded here today. Sukhjinder Singh was declared the best athlete among the boys, while Harpreet Kaur was declared the best athlete among the girls. Gaurav Bhardwaj was the allround sportsman. Results: Shot-put (girls) Balwinder Kaur first, Ishtpal kaur second; In 100 m (boys) Ravinder Singh first, Gurpreet Singh second; In 800 m (Boys) Gurpreet Singh first, Sukhjinder Singh second; In broad jump Ranpreet Singh first, Harinderpal Singh second; In fast cycling Hardavinder Singh first, Varinder Singh second; In slow cycling Narinder Singh first, Baljit Singh second.
OC
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