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Lack of resistance
was disappointing
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Eves on a gold rush,
sweep team title
Punjabi varsity bag two gold
Hockey team for Asiad
announced
Punjab storm into
final
Bengal fail to fire
Good putting on sunny
day
Jeev grabs lead on
day one
Mohun Bagan enter semis
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Dravid looks for ways
to tackle pace
Durban, November 23 Dravid asked his team-mates not to get disheartened by this defeat and take it up as a challenge for the rest of the series. “It
does not help to get disheartened. One has to come up with solutions
both as a team and individually. This is the bowling we would face right
through the summer. We need to try to find answers otherwise it’s
going to be tough,” Dravid said yesterday after India’s 157-run loss
against South Africa. Dravid played down the fact that how much the team relies on Sachin Tendulkar and himself under such conditions but said that the younger batsman need to apply themselves when the team wants them. “It
is not surprising that the team depends on key players. All the sides
rely on their key men. South Africa for instance relies a great deal on
Jacques Kallis and we saw it today how much he means to them,” he
said. “But when the experienced cricketers fail, it is for others to
stand up and be counted and give hope for their future careers. It would
then mark them out as international class batsmen.” When being asked
about team’s experimentation, Dravid said, “I do not think we are
experimenting; we are trying to win. If somebody is unfit and injured
and cannot play then we can’t do anything about it,” he said. Dravid said for long it has been felt that pitches in domestic tournaments should be made lively if India aspires to play consistently well abroad but that has not happened. “We
have said it before that if we want to be competitive consistently
abroad in such conditions, we have to prepare such wickets from junior
to Ranji Trophy levels. It’s not something that I am saying new, a lot
has been said and written on it. But how it can happen and whether it
can happen is to be seen,” he said. South African skipper Graeme Smith
said they intend to better their performance in the coming matches. “Our
bowling was alright but I thought our batting is still rusty. We could
have done with a total of 270 on this wicket. But we intend to get
better in the coming games. Smith also made a point that Indians were perhaps a bowler short in the game, a fact that also met the nod from man of the match Jacques Kallis. “Indians
looked to be a bowler short but overall they bowled very well. It was
not a free-scoring wicket so I am pleased with my knock,” On Andre Nel’s
explosive spell of four for 13, Smith said the right arm pacer deserved
all the praise. “He had an opportunity today. Normally Shaun Pollock
and Makhaya Ntini walk away with the glory but today it was his turn,”
he said. Man of the match Kallis, who scored 119 and captured three
wickets, said he wished he could have done even better with the bat. “I
think I could have scored 15 or 20 runs more. Probably it was not my
best knock,” he said.
— PTI
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Lack of resistance
was disappointing
India’s embarrassing capitulation to the South African pace attack
does bring into question if the one-day series is going to be totally
one-sided. Yes, the Indians are slow starters and do pick up after a few
games, but it may well be too late by then, at least as far as the
one-day series is concerned.
More than the defeat, it was the complete lack of resistance that was disappointing, and apart from Tendulkar and Dravid, all other batsmen looked completely out of their depth. The Indians have gone on record that they should have had more preparation for this tour, and so should have had a few more warm-up games. But why was it not done? Is there a lack of communication between the team, management and the officials of the BCCI? There’s
no doubt that the BCCI has gone out of its way to concede to almost
every wish of the team coach, and perhaps the officials
were never asked if the team could go early as well and have a few extra
practice games. There was no camp before the team left, which is what
happened when the team left for the West Indies, and where too, they
lost the one-day series. While camps by themselves are not the answer
since the pitches will be totally different than the ones at home, it’s
the fact that the players start thinking about the game than other
things that can help at these camps. They don’t have
to be physical conditioning camps, because in the middle of
the season, you need less of that than practicing and honing cricketing
skills, but surely the team getting together barely hours before they
leave for an important overseas tour is not the ideal way to prepare for
the tour. There was a silver lining of sorts in the return to form of Zaheer Khan, who was making a comeback to the Indian team and even when he was brought back for another spell, he was quickly into his stride and not stiff as he was prone to be in the past. He has certainly worked hard on his fitness and while it may be too late to add the incoming ball to his repertoire, he will be a more lethal bowler if he even manages to straighten it more often as he did to get Bosman out LBW. The
dropping of Pathan makes little sense, especially on pitches where the
seam bowlers are always going to get some more assistance than in India.
What is the point in playing a batsman at number seven when Irfan Pathan
can do the same job at the same number or above and get more runs? He
had batted well in the warm-up game and so was confident.
— PMG
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Ponting leads the way
Brisbane, November 23 Pace spearhead Steve Harmison’s
attempted bouncer, the first delivery of the series-opening match today,
skewed off the pitch to England skipper Andrew Flintoff at second slip. Australian
opener Justin Langer took two boundaries off Harmison in that over and
the lanky English quick was taken out of the attack after conceding 17
runs in his first two overs. Langer scored 82 and Mike Hussey contributed 63 to an unbroken 148-run fourth wicket stand with Ponting. Australia captain Ponting played a commanding innings, hitting 17 boundaries from 206 balls. He
now shares the Australian record with Steve Waugh for Test centuries and
is equal fourth on the all-time international list behind India’s
Sachin Tendulkar, who has 35. It was Ponting’s fourth hundred in
five innings in Australia and ninth in 13 Tests since losing the Ashes
series 2-1 last September in England. The pace attack that propelled England to that upset series win took a battering in front of a ground-record 39,288 people under cloudless spring skies at the Gabba, which gave some extra bounce but no hint of serious swing. Flintoff, who has restricted his bowling since returning from ankle surgery following the last England summer, had to shoulder the load of the fast bowling and netted 2-48 in 16 overs. Scoreboard
Australia (1st innings) Langer c Pietersen b Flintoff 82 Hayden c Collingwood b Flintoff 21 Ponting not out 137 Martin c Collingwood b Giles 29 Hussey not out 63 Extras
(lb-5, w-3, nb-6) 14 Total (3 wkts, 90 overs) 346 Fall
of wickets: 1-79, 2-141, 3-198. Bowling: Harmison
12-2-52-0, Hoggard 16-2-62-0, Anderson 18-4-88-0, Flintoff 16-2-48-2,
Giles 18-2-51-1, Bell 1-0-12-0, Pietersen 9-1-28-0. — AP
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Yousuf earns draw for
Pak
Multan, November 23 Yousuf (191) missed the opportunity to score a double century on the final day when the match was called off with Pakistan progressing in its second innings at 461-7 for an overall lead of 227 runs. Yousuf survived a couple of close lbw appeals and was dropped on 108 before settling down in the afternoon sessions and hit 21 boundaries in his 344-ball knock, spanning just over seven hours. Scoreboard
Pakistan (1st innings) 357 West Indies (1st innings) 591 Pakistan
(2nd innings) Hafeez b Taylor 18 Farhat run out 76 Younis
c Ramdin Yousuf c Chanderpaul Inzamam lbw Taylor 10 Malik b Powell 4 Razzaq
c Chanderpaul Akmal not out 2 Extras (b-8, lb-10, nb-3,
w-3) 24 Total (7 wkts, 147.4 overs) 461 Fall of wickets:
1-24, 2-124, 3-243, 4-284, 5-306, 6-458, 7-461. Bowling: Taylor
25-34-75-2, Collymore 28-9-66-0, Gayle 29-5-85-0 Powell 20-6-47-1, Bravo
13-3-40-0, Mohammed 27.4-4-101-3, Chanderpaul 2-0-9-0, Morton 3-0-20-0.
— AP
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Eves on a gold rush,
sweep team title
New Delhi, November 23 MC Mary Kom expectedly defended her 46kg gold, when she made mincemeat of Steluta Duta of Romania with a 22-7 points haul, but what surprised the Indian team management was the authoritative manner in which Jenny R L (63kg), Lekha K C (75kg) and Sarita Devi (52kg) swept the golds. Only Nagisetti Usha could not live up to expectation, and lost her 57kg final to settle for the silver. The
semifinal defeats of Aruna Mishra (75kg), Chhotu Loura (50kg) and Renu
(80kg) yesterday bolstered India’s medals tally as they were awarded
bronze medals. As per the latest rule, the semifinal losers are given
bronze medals without going through the rigmarole of fighting for the
bronze again. MC Mary Kom created a world record by winning her fourth gold, which stirred up a virtual hysteria in the packed hall. Silver medallist in the inaugural World Championship in the USA in 2001, Mary Com hit the gold in the second edition at Turkey in 2002, and retained her title at Norway in 2004 and Moscow in 2005. She
also won the Asian Championship gold in 2003 and 2005. What stood out in
Mary Kom’s fight against the former world No 2 in the 48kg Steluta
Duta of Romania was her relentless aggression and virtually flawless
defence, which helped her earn points at will. Mary Kom led 9-4 and 15-5
in the first two rounds before making a final assault to take her lead
to a staggering 22-7 to wrap up the gold. Before Mary Kom kept her date with the gold, 23-year-old police inspector from Mizoram, Jenny R Lalremliani, had won the second ever World Championship gold for India when she stopped Klaras Svensson of Sweden in the second round of the 63kg title bout.
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Patiala, November 23 After yesterday’s gold medal winning effort by Abhishek Rana in the 1-km time trial event, the hosts once again put up an impressive show by winning the gold in the 1500m team time trial event and the Olympic team sprint, with the hero of both races being Abhishek Rana. In the 1500 m team trial event, the Punjabi University quartet of Abhishek Rana, Manish Sahni, Sarpreet Singh and Gursharandeep Singh displayed good tactical acumen to win the gold by clocking 1.49:79 seconds. The hosts riders were followed by foursome of Panjab University, Chandigarh, of Amandeep Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Jovenjot Singh and Simranjit Singh who clocked 1.52:92 seconds to finish second. Bikaner University team, comprising Shishpal Jatt, Dyala Ram Jatt, Ramesh Narayan and Amit Ranga clocked a timing of 1.53:49 seconds to bring up the rear. In the Olympic team sprint event, Punjabi University team comprising Abhishek Rana, Manish Sahni and Sarpreet Singh banked on a brilliant change over to annex the gold with a timing of 1.11:45 seconds. The hosts piped to the post the challenge of Bikaner University who clocked 1.14:74 seconds to finish second. Osmania University troika of K. Dharam Teja, V.Shiranu Kumar and R.V Bhaskar Reddy took the wooden spoon by clocking a none to impressive timing of 1.15:10 seconds. — OSR
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Hyderabad, November 23 The 26 year-old Davis Cupper, Bopanna crushed his lowly ranked Chinese opponent Gong in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. Ranked 259 in the world, Bopanna broke his opponent’s serve in the fourth game of the first set and the third and the fifth games in the second set to clinch the match. Earlier, Sania Mirza beat Shuai Zhang 6-2, 6-2. — UNI
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Hockey team for Asiad
announced
New Delhi, November 23 Defender Harpal Singh’s inclusion in
place of Kanwalpreet Singh is the third change in the squad, which had a
lacklustre showing at the World Cup in Germany in September. India, placed in Pool B, will meet Bangladesh in their opening match on December 4. They will take on China (December 5), Oman (December 8) and Korea (December 10) in subsequent league matches. Team:
Goalkeepers: Bharat Kumar Chetri, Adrian D’Souza; Defenders: Dilip
Tirkey, Harpal Singh, V. Raghunath; Midfielders: Viren Rasquinha, Ajmer
Singh, Ignace Tirkey, V. S. Vinay; Forwards: Arjun Halappa, Tushar
Khandekar, Hari Prasad, Adam Sinclair, Rajpal Singh, Shivendra Singh,
Tejbir Singh.
— PTI
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Punjab storm into
final
Chandigarh, November 23 Having gone into arrears midway into the first half when Shailender Singh of Uttaranchal found the net with a superb header in the 19th minute, Punjab rallied to subdue the visitors, who though beaten, were certainly not disgraced. The
initial setback did not demoralise Punjab, who reorganised themselves
and restored parity in the 27th minute. A free kick was capitalised by
striker Dalbir Singh whose header gave the rival goalie absolutely no
chance (1-1). The hosts had to wait till the 85th minute for the match winner. A cross from the flanks was brilliantly headed home by Jagdish Singh sending a wave of joy in the Punjab camp (2-1). In the final to be played on November 26, Punjab will meet the winners of the UP-J&K semifinal to be played tomorrow.
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Bengal fail to fire
Mohali, November 23 Earlier,
Sourav Ganguly, who is looking for a big innings to have a chance of
making it back to the national team, disappointed with the bat scoring
just six runs. However, he managed to claim two wickets in Punjab’s
first innings. Brief scores: Bengal (1st innings): 156 all out in 53.1
overs (Deep Das Gupta 78, L. R. Shukla 30; Gagandeep Singh 4 for 36,
Loveabhilish 2 for 39). Punjab (1st innings): 75 for 3 in 29 overs
(Ravneet Ricky 33 n.o., Manish 31; Ganguly 2 for 12).
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Good putting on sunny
day
Chandigarh, November 23 Scores (after 54 holes):
Anirban Lahiri 71+70+69=210; Gaganjeet Bhullar 70+75+69=214; Simarjeet
Singh 71+75+71=217; Jasjeet Singh 72+73+74=219; Joseph Chakola
78+72+70=220; Saurabh Bahuguna 78+72+78=220; H.S. Kang 79+75+71=225;
Balpreet Singh Ghuman 72+74+79=225; Tarun Goghale 78+76+72=226; Karan
Vasudeva 78+74+74=226; Pawan Kumar 77+78+72=227; Raj Randhawa
77+76+74=227; Moin Malak 74+79+77=228.
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Jeev grabs lead on
day one
Kochi (Japan), November 23 Jeev shot a flawless six-under 66 to share
the lead with two other Japanese players, Azumo Yano and Tetsuya
Haraguchi, at the Kuroshio Country Club. The trio was one shot clear
of Hideki Kase, who shot a five-under 67. Defending champion Toru
Taniguchi (68) shared the fourth place with three others.
— PTI
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New Delhi, November 23 In a Group I quarterfinal match, Surajit connected a cross from the right by Dulal Biswas in the 90th minute to help the 16-time champions come out unscathed and collect full points. In the other match of the group, national league champions Mahindra United made a shock exit from the tournament, losing 0-1 to Sporting Clube of Goa. — UNI
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