One felt terribly sorry for the Indian supporters, who had mushroomed at Newlands on the last day of the final Test against South Africa, waving the Tricolour and expecting their team to pull it off. But the die was cast the moment India crashed to 169 all out in the second innings, not to mention the fact that they had also fallen short by about 100 runs in the first venture.

The downside of the defeat is the loss of momentum as Rahul Dravid and his side prepare for the World Cup. For a start, Virender Sehwag has all but forgotten how to bat at the top of the order, but one has to gamble with him.

Sachin Tendulkar is a shadow of his previously pristine self; and Yuvraj Singh may not be available. Indeed, the Punjab batsman’s well wishers say: he is young, he has a long future ahead of him, he shouldn’t jeopardise this by rushing back and aggravating his injury.

Luckily, Sourav Ganguly’s fine strokeplay last week came a huge relief to a beleaguered Greg Chappell, whose carefully laid plans of re-building Indian cricket with new blood, has backfired through a series of misfortunes. It remains to be seen whether the former captain is restored to his opening slot or sent in at number three - this is likely to be among several experiments undertaken by Chappell and Dravid in the upcoming series with the West Indies and Sri Lanka.

Tendulkar hasn’t exuded his erstwhile authority and confidence. In fact, he notably failed every time he faced Australia. If Ganguly succeeds in his original position - and he’s got to be tried out - then he provides a solution. Indeed, a left-hander-right-hander combination to begin with would be tactically shrewd.

Since the pace and bounce in the Caribbean is unlikely to be alarming and even the white ball (which swings more than the red one) may swing less than in other environments, Dhoni, Sehwag or Irfan Pathan (if he can get his act together as a bowler and, thereby, make himself worthy of selection) can to utilised as a pinch hitter at first drop to take advantage of the power plays. Who, apart from Dravid, should constitute the rest of batting line-up, is a vexed issue.

Mohammed Kaif has throughout his career been treated like a yo-yo, rarely given regular opportunities in the upper middle order. When extended some comfort in the West Indies in May, he produced three 50s in five one-day internationals (ODIs). Besides, he’s by far the country’s best fielder; and will balance the shortcomings of others.

Similarly, Dinesh Mongia stood out with a half-century versus Australia at KL, but was thereafter not treated with the importance he deserved. If this was due to a policy of exploring all options to arrive at a conclusion, then this is understandable; otherwise not.

Ultimately, Kaif, Mongia, V.V.S Laxman (who should be given a chance to prove himself, notwithstanding his poor running in the Indian second innings of the Test) and Gautam Gambhir could compete for the last two batting slots in the squad.

As for the bowling, Ajit Agarkar, Sreesanth, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh - the latter noticeably improving with the bat - have, doubtless, been pencilled in. But Munaf Patel’s economical spells will be sorely missed, if he doesn’t recover from his ankle ailment; though Zaheer Khan’s comeback is a considerable boost. 

Absolem's strike bundled out the visitors for 142 runs in their first innings after which the hosts made 145 for 4 to set the stage in their favour.

Barring opener Ravnit Ricky, who scored a patient 41, the strong Punjab batting line-up went for a toss with Absolem rattling the team with his teasing line and length.

It was a good toss for Hyderabad skipper VVS Laxman who elected to field. The early morning dew helped the home team as Absolem picked up seven wickets in a row to reduce Punjab to 106 for 7.

Openers Ricky and Karan Goel (21) gathered 51 runs without any damage. But the entry of Absolem spelled doom as Goel snicked into the hands of Ibrahim Khaleel.

The young bowler then accounted for Ricky, Dinesh Mongia (2), Pankaj Dharmani (13), Gaurav Gupta (1), Ritender Singh Sodhi (11), Uday Kaul (4) and Harbhajan Singh (0) in a space of 51 runs.

Vishal restricts Railways

Dharamsala: A fine spell of 5 for 52 by spinner Vishal Bhatia helped Himachal restrain Railways to 207 for 9 on the first day of the Ranji Trophy Plate semifinal match here today.

Electing to bat, Railways made a shaky start, losing their first wicket at 11 but Sanjay Bangar (30) and T P Singh (54) added 91 valuable runs for the second wicket.

But wickets fell like nine pins thereafter, the visitors losing five wickets for 41 runs to be reduced to 143 for 7. Vikramjit Mallik and Sarandeep Singh claimed two wickets each for 48 and 24 runs respectively. — PTI

Hobart, January 10
Continuing her winning spree, Sania Mirza tamed former world No. 8 and her doubles partner Alicia Molik in straight sets to sail into the semifinals of the $170,000 Hobart International here today.

Later, Sania and Molik crashed out in doubles event after losing their quarterfinal match to second seeds Maria Elena Camerin (Italy) and Gisela Dulko (Argentina) 6-7(5), 6-7 (1).

Earlier in a surprisingly one-sided match, Sania downed the Australian 6-4, 6-1 and the Indian would now meet winner of the quarterfinal match between top seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze and seventh seed Jie Zheng of China in the semifinal tomorrow.

Molik was ranked eighth in 2005 before an inner ear infection marred her career and though she is ranked 165th now, way behind Sania’s 66th, the bronze medallist at Athens Olympics was expected to match the Indian.

Sania, however, maintained her focus and grew in confidence with every game. Molik looked like giving a good fight in the first set but the Hyderabadi caught her on wrong foot on a number of occasions and Sania’s dazzling groundstrokes left Molik clueless.

Sania claimed the lone service break of the first set in the seventh game to go one up and in the second, the Indian rattled off six games in a row to win in little over an hour against the Australian.

The Australian clearly threw in the towel in the second set with a rampant Sania bulldozing her way. Such was Sania’s dominance that she dropped just one game on the way to seal the issue.

Ludhiana, January 10
Displaying complete domination, former champions JCT defeated Kolkata’s glamour outfit Mohun Bagan 2-0 in the second round of the 11th National Football League at Guru Nanak Stadium here today.

The hero of the mill men’s victory was diminutive striker Sunil Chhetri, who struck fatal blows in the first half to force the Federation Cup champions into submission. The short-statured forward, who incidentally played for Mohun Bagan some years back, was later adjudged man of the match.

In what was perceived to be a tough outing for the hosts, JCT played to a plan. While allowing little freedom to Mohun Bagan’s lethal strike force comprising Indian captain Baichung Bhutia and star Brazilian striker Jose Ramirez Barreto, JCT maintained constant pressure from the kick-off through well-orchestrated attacks. The mill men were also denied a penalty when an advancing Edeh Chidi was pulled down by a rival defender inside the box early on.

Mohun Bagan, who were reduced to 10 men midway into the second session when stopper back Sanjeev Maria was shown the red card, found the going tough in the absence of key players like defender Eduardo Coelho and Mehrajuddin Wadoo. The Kolkata outfit also missed the services of a regular coach although Brazilian Robson did try to strike an effective combination with the resources at his command.

JCT’s territorial superiority was seldom in doubt. Striker Edeh Chidi, formerly of Sporting Clube de Goa, looked threatening on many occasions even as international Rennedy Singh and Sunil Chhetri, just back from the Doha Asian Games, displayed perfect understanding.

The first goal, in fact, was the result of a combined effort by Rennedy and Chhetri. A flag kick earned by JCT in the eighth minute saw Rennedy’s shot curling dangerously into the goalmouth. The alert Chhetri, lurking in danger zone, headed the ball into the net with Mohun Bagan goalie Sangram Mukherjee looking on helplessly (1-0).

Mohun Bagan’s attack, spearheaded by Barreto and Bhutia, was effectively blunted by the JCT defenders who took absolutely no chance except on one occasion when stopper back Jaspal Singh’s faulty clearance nearly resulted in a self-goal.

JCT consolidated the lead in the 40th minute when Sunil Chhetri capitalised on a lob by Rennedy Singh from the left and headed the ball over Mohun Bagan defender Fabio Vidal’s shoulders. Goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee could do little as the ball landed in the net, sending a wave of joy in the JCT camp (2-0).

In the second half, JCT were again in full cry. A corner kick taken by Rennedy Singh saw Baldeep sending a back volley to Edeh Chidi but the Nigerian’s subsequent header narrowly missed the mark.

Both Mohun Bagan and JCT effected a couple of substitutions midway into the second session. While Gautam Debnath replaced Sushil Kumar Singh to bolster the Kolkata outfit’s attack, striker Sunil Chhetri made way for Parveen Kumar in JCT’s forward line. The moves failed to change the complexion of the game although Mohun Bagan’s Dulal Biswas did attempt a long ranger, but the ball sailed over.

In the dying minutes, JCT had a good chance when Adebayo Tokunbo aimed a powerful shot from the edge of the box but narrowly missed the corner of the goalpost. Baichung Bhutia’s feeble kick off a counter attack also failed to achieve the desired result with JCT custodian Karanjit Singh making a neat collection.

With today’s victory, JCT now have three points while Mohun Bagan have only one point.

New Delhi, January 10
Most of the top players of the country will be seen in action in the Rs 8,75,000 prize money 5th Parsvnath International Chess Tournament to be held at the Indira Gandhi indoor stadium in New Delhi from January 15.

Around 300 players, including Grandmasters and International Masters, will be seen in action in this top-grade championship with a prize money of Rs 2 lakh for the champion. There will be an interesting mix of 13 Grandmasters, 30 International Masters and four Woman Grandmasters in the fray, including top seed GM Alexey Dreev of Russia.

The total number of titled players would be around 50, giving excellent possibilities to the budding chess talents in the country to make IM and GM norms.

The Indian challengers include Grandmasters, national champion Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Dibyendu Barua, Neelotpal Das, Deepan Chakravarthy, Abhijit Kunte and Pravin Thipsay.