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Zaheer rocks, Team India rolls
Delayed Feed
Gavaskar writes
England pick Bopara, drop Loye
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Gayle takes top honours
Dynamos explode
Football: India pip Myanmar
JCT-East Bengal tie at Ludhiana
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Zaheer rocks, Team India rolls
Margao, February 14 Zaheer capped his dream comeback with a superb display to restrict the islanders to 230 for eight before captain Rahul Dravid (66) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (67 not out) put on a 133-run run fifth-wicket partnership which helped the hosts overhaul the target with 21 balls to spare. After the five-run defeat in Rajkot, the Indians looked far more convincing as they levelled the series 1-1 with a disciplined bowling and batting performance in front of a capacity crowd at the Nehru Stadium. The hosts were precariously placed at 35 for two at one stage with Virender Sehwag (12) failing yet again and Sachin Tendulkar (1) falling cheaply, but Dravid and Dhoni ensured that there were no further setbacks by taking the team very close to the target. Sourav Ganguly maintained his impressive sequence of scores with an useful 48. Russel Arnold was the top-scorer for the Sri Lankans with an unbeaten 66, while Marvan Atapattu (42), Tillakaratne Dilshan (42) and Mahela Jayawardene (30) were the other notable performers after the visitors elected to bat on a track which provided some assistance to the quick bowlers in the morning. The teams will now move to the port city of Visakhapatnam for the decider to be held on Saturday. Dravid, needing 22 runs at the start of his 286th innings, became the sixth player in the world and the third from India after Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly to reach the 10,000-run landmark. He hit four fours and a six in his 83-ball knock before he was unfortunately run out by backing up too far when Dhoni’s drive was deflected on to the stumps by leg-spinner Malinga Bandara with India needing just four runs for victory. Dhoni struck four fours while remaining unconquered after facing 74 balls and the winning hit came from Dinesh Karthik, a straight drive off Nuwan Kulasekara in the 47th over. The Indian skipper and Dhoni ensured that the mistakes made by the home team at Rajkot in the previous tie, when they lost by five runs from a winning position, were not repeated. The duo’s crucial partnership brought up in a calm and assured manner helped India recover from a wobbly 94 for four in the 22nd over and win in front of a very noisy crowd of 30,000. Earlier, Zaheer blasted out the Lankan top order in a sensational opening spell when he had 3-4 in his first three overs. He then returned in the closing stages to pick two more for his first-ever five-wicket haul. Harbhajan Singh chipped in with 2-37. The visitors, like in the previous match, had a disastrous start when they were reduced to 6-3 and then 91-5 before recovering through a stout performance from the middle order after opting to bat first. Arnold played a vital role in Sri Lanka’s fightback with an unbeaten 66 from 83 balls and shared a 89-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Tillekaratne Dilshan. Captain Jayawardene combined with his predecessor Atapattu to repair the early damage by adding 76 runs for the fourth wicket. Kumar Sangakkara, centurion at Rajkot, was out for a duck. In the afternoon, the Indian run chase commenced on a poor note when under-fire Sehwag, promoted to open the innings after flopping in the middle order at Rajkot in the previous tie, again flattered to deceive. After hitting three fours off the meat of the bat, the Delhi batsman, who Dravid feels is just one innings away from finding his touch, succumbed to a short ball from Fernando that climbed to his chest which he fended awkwardly and ballooned to Dilshan at point. Worse was to follow for the home team when Sachin Tendulkar, who has scored 100 not out and 54 in his two previous ODI innings, failed to prosper. He dragged a ball on to his stumps when trying to drive Kulasekara and India were reduced to 35 for two after five overs, 13 of which had come in the first over from Farveez Maharoof, who bowled four wides and was hit for two boundaries by Sehwag. Ganguly looked once again in good touch and was hitting the ball fluently as wickets fell at the other end. The Bengal stalwart off- and square-drove Maharoof for two successive fours in the bowler’s second over to banish him from the attack after a two-over spell. He also got involved in the revival of the innings with another left-hander, Yuvraj Singh, playing his first match of the series after recovering from back spasms, and the third-wicket duo added 48 runs during the power plays in 11.3 overs. Yuvraj started well, striking two fours off Fernando with a turn off his legs and an off-drive, but fell to the pace bowler when trying to flick the ball and only put up a tame catch to mid-on as the ball stopped on him a bit. He made 21 in 31 balls and hit four fours. When the power plays ended, India were 90 for three with Ganguly four short of his second successive fifty of the series — he made 62 at Rajkot — while Dravid was on four. The hosts needed 141 off the last 30 overs at the end of the field restrictions. The introduction of leg-spinner Bandara brought about the former captain’s downfall. He was trapped leg before on the sweep shot. Scoreboard Sri Lanka Tharanga lbw Zaheer 1 Jayasuriya c Ganguly b Zaheer 2 Jayawardene lbw Harbhajan 30 Sangakkara b Zaheer 0 Atapattu c Tendulkar b Patel 42 Dilshan c Dhoni b Harbhajan 42 Arnold not out 66 Maharoof c Agarkar b Zaheer 14 Bandara lbw Zaheer 2 Kulasekara not out 9 Extras (b-4, lb-3, nb-4, w-11) 22 Total (8 wkts, 50 overs) 230 Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-5, 3-6, 4-82, 5-91, 6-180, 7-196, 8-204. Bowling: Zaheer 10-0-42-5, Agarkar 10-2-40-0, Patel 10-2-41-1, Harbhajan 10-0-37-2, Tendulkar 4-0-33-0, Sehwag 6-0-30-0. India Ganguly lbw Bandara 48 Sehwag c Dilshan b Fernando 12 Tendulkar b Kulasekara 1 Yuvraj c Kulasekara b Fernando 21 Dravid run out 66 Dhoni not out 67 Karthik not out 4 Extras (lb-1, nb-3, w-10) 14 Total (5 wkts, 46.3 overs) 233 Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-35, 3-83, 4-94, 5-227. Bowling: Maharoof 8-0-47-0, Fernando 10-1-43-2, Kulasekara 8.3-0-46-1, Bandara 10-0-46-1, Jayasuriya 7-0-34-0, Dilshan 3-0-16-0. — PTI
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Delayed Feed
New Delhi, February 14 Violation of the Ordinance can invite a fine of up to Rs 1 crore and or even a ban on the channel. The Joint Secretary in the Ministry, Mr Baijendra Kumar, said the channel has been given time till tomorrow to reply. The notice has been served for delaying feeds of India-Sri Lanka Kolkata one-day international to Doordarshan last week when the Ordinance had come into force. Nimbus had also given delayed feeds of Sunday’s Rajkot ODI too. The action against Nimbus comes two days after the Delhi High Court refused to stay the operation of the ordinance, which had been challenged by the private broadcaster. Nimbus had delayed feeds of the Kolkata match against provisions of the Ordinance on the ground that the matter was sub judice and it was only following the last month’s interim High Court order allowing the Prasar Bharati to download feeds with seven minutes delay. The Prasar Bharati had warned it that its act of
delaying the feed was illegal, as the Ordinance had come into force before the start of the Kolkata match. Meanwhile, Nimbus had on the same day challenged the Ordinance, pleading for its stay, a plea rejected by the court on February 12. The matter had reached the court after Nimbus refused to share live feeds of the India-West Indies series with Prasar Bharati, but was directed by the government to do so in accordance with downlinking guidelines of 2005. These guidelines make it compulsory for sports telecast rights holding channels to share the live feed of important sporting events with Doordarshan and AIR by entering into a commercial agreement. The terms provide for revenue sharing of 75:25 in favour of the rights holders. Just a day before the cricket series was to begin on January 21, the talks between Prasar Bharati and Nimbus Sports on sharing live feeds broke down. The offer of Nimbus Sports to give the feed to the Prasar Bharati with 15 minutes delay was not acceptable to the public broadcaster. Nimbus also did not agree to DD showing the matches on its DTH platform DD Direct Plus. It had also said that if it shared the feed, the signals would have to be encrypted so that they reach houses only on the terrestrial network and not to those who get DD
signals through cable TV. All these conditions were not acceptable to Doordarshan. However, DD had to accept delayed feeds of the remaining matches of the India-West Indies series after Delhi High Court interim order. Not satisfied with the order, Prasar Bharati had challenged it in the court and had also in the meantime brought in the Ordinance.
— UNI
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Gavaskar writes
Kumara Sangakkara, the centurion at Rajkot, failed to open his account and joined Sanath Jayasuriya and Upal Tharanga in the pavilion with only six runs on the board. The Indian bowlers, led by Zaheer Khan, bowled superbly on a wicket that looked tailor-made for batting. The fielders backed them wonderfully, with veterans Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar ‘catching’ by example. The events that followed the fall of the fifth Sri Lankan wicket at the halfway mark with only 91 runs on the board, does make out a strong case for playing a fifth bowler. The Indians played four specialists at Goa, with Sachin Tendulkar and Virendra Sehwag sharing the fifth bowler’s duties. They could not make much of an impact, and the Sri Lankan middle-order, comprising Marvan Atapattu, skipper Mahela Jayawardene and Dilshan, were able to dig their side out of the hole. These batsmen were overshadowed by Russell Arnold, who essayed a workmanlike knock and kept the scoreboard ticking, despite the frequent and frustrating fall of wickets at precisely the wrong time. Arnold is one of those batsmen who gets runs without your realising it. He was largely responsible for Sri Lanka reaching a competitive total. The asking rate for the Indians was less than five, but the visitors would have fancied their chances of a successful defence after the Rajkot win. Ganguly and Yuvraj provided the thrust to the Indian innings. Their dismissals within a few runs of each other brought Dravid and Dhoni to the middle. It was at this stage that Sri Lanka could have been proactive. Both batsmen were relatively new to the crease, and the score was yet to reach triple figures. But the fielders were dropped back, ostensibly to cut out the boundaries. However, Sri Lanka needed wickets more than tight overs. Dravid then brought all his experience into play, while Dhoni was pragmatism personified. The Sri Lankans may have expected him to play his ‘natural’ game, but he chose to outsmart them by concentrating on the singles and twos and complementing his senior partner splendidly. How many times has a Dhoni fifty comprised only two boundaries? The duo demonstrated the virtues of the ‘basics’ by pushing the ball around and running brilliantly between the wickets. Once they had done so for a sustained length of time, one could see the fielders lose their focus. Overthrows and midfields followed. By the time the field was brought back in, it was too late. The stage is set for a humdinger at Vishakhapatnam. No prizes for guessing what all of India would be hoping for, besides victory of course: Match-winning knocks by Sehwag, Yuvraj and the little champion. — PMG
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England pick Bopara, drop Loye
London, February 14 Although Loye helped England rally from a disastrous Ashes defence to win a one-day series against Australia and New Zealand, England is confident that Vaughan will shake off a hamstring problem to captain the team in the Caribbean. Pietersen flew home from Australia with a fractured rib after playing only the first of the one-day games, but was the team’s best batsman in the 5-0 Ashes series reverse. Bopara, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff and Jamie Dalrymple are the allrounders, while James Anderson, Jon Lewis, Sajid Mahmood, Liam Plunkett and Monty Panesar are the specialist bowlers. Squad: Michael Vaughan (c), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Paul Collingwood, Jamie Dalrymple, Andrew Flintoff, Ed Joyce, Jon Lewis, Sajid Mahmood, Paul Nixon, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Liam Plunkett, Andrew Strauss. — AP
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Gayle takes top honours
Barbados, February 14 The year’s top one-day award went to Ramnaresh Sarwan while Jamaican fast bowler Jerome Taylor was named the Emerging Player of the Year. The 27-year-old Gayle was rewarded for his consistency over the last year in both forms of the game. West Indies legends Clive Lloyd and Sir Garfield Sobers, along with several other outstanding past players, attended the ceremony.
— UNI
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Dynamos explode Chandigarh, February 14 Deepak Thakur hoisted the lead in the fifth minute after being put in possession by Prabhjot Singh. Dynamos increased the lead in the 14th minute through a freak goal. Ravipal went on a solo on the left flank looking for team-mates, but with no one in sight, he cut into the circle and ran down the goal-line on the left and took a reluctant shot. However, the ball rose off defender Raghunath’s stick and found the net. The Veerans pulled one back within six minutes, earning their first short corner in the 20th minute. But Jugraj’s drag-flick took the score to 3-1 in the 24th minute. The Veerans came back with another goal through their Malaysian import Kuhan Shanmuganathan (2-3). Later, Dynamos struck two more goals to take the match away from the Veerans. Ravipal Singh of Chandigarh Dynamos was declared Lion of the Match.
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Haryana men claim volleyball gold
Guwahati, February 14 Haryana came from behind to beat Services in five sets in the men’s final. Services must have thought they were on the verge of claiming the yellow metal when they took the first two sets with an identical 25-19 scoreline. But the team from the north Indian state, led by Dinesh Kumar, came roaring back to claim the next three sets 25-18, 25-17, 25-19 and script a memorable win. In the women’s final, Kerala were too good for Tamil Nadu and ran away 25-20, 25-16, 25-14 winners. Kabaddi: HP girls in final
Services will meet Delhi while Himachal Pradesh will lock horns with Maharashtra in the finals of men’s and women’s kabaddi championship, respectively, here today. In the semifinal, Services trounced Rajasthan 40-29 while hosts Assam broke the heart of a packed crowd at the Kanaklata Indoor Stadium here to go down to Delhi 25-42. In the women’s
semifina, Himachal Pradesh scrapped through to the final beating a fighting Andhra Pradesh 27-25 while Maharashtra downed Karnataka 30-23. Delhi, Kerela in polo final
Kerala and Delhi entered the women’s finals in water polo here today. Kerala defeated Maharashtra by a margin of 9-7 to reach the final. B Praveena was the leading scorer for Kerala with three goals. In the second semifinal, Delhi beat Karnataka 10-6 with Biji Devi scoring four goals for the winners. For Karnataka, Malvika Gubbi scored five goals, while the other goal by Varshini V
Gubbi. — PTI, UNI
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Santangelo enters second round
Bangalore, February 14 Qualifier Yurika Sema of Japan, Obziler Tzipora of Israel and fourth seed Jelena Kostanic Tosic of Croatia entered the quarterfinals. The 25-year-old Mara, ranked 33 in the world, won quelling a late challenge from Shengan Sun of China 6-2, 7-6. Jelena, who had shown the door to wild card entrant Sophie Ferguson of Australia, had a cake walk against Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, who had defeated another wild card Tara Iyer of India in her first round match. Jelena defeated Dominika 6-4, 6-1. Sania-Mara win
India’s Sania Mirza and Mara Santenglo started on a winning note, defeating Akghul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan and Tatiana Poutchek of Bulgaria in straight sets 6-2, 7-6 to progress into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Sony Ericsson International here. This was the first time Sania paired with Santenglo. Last year, the Hyderabadi lass had won the doubles title partnering with Liezel Huber of Russia.
— UNI
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Sania advances Bangalore, February 14 In a match that lasted little more than two hours, Sania, ranked 46, was kept on her toes by the 26-year-old Sucha, who had advanced to her first quarterfinals of the year at Pattaya last week. “It’s difficult playing here in Bangalore at altitudes of 1000, 1200,” said the second seeded Sania after failing to muster enough confidence to hold her serve in the second set. Sania dropped four games in the second set as Sucha forced the match into the decider. In the third set, the unseeded Sucha was broken continuously by Sania in the third, fifth, seventh and ninth games as the discerning enjoyed each and every moment of the young Indian’s power play. “I’ve made lot of changes to my game and it has started working. I’ve matured as a person and as a tennis player,” Sania aptly summed up her game.
— PTI
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Kolkata, February 14 Paul made two brilliant stops in the tie-break to give India a well deserved win in the return match at Salt Lake Stadium. Paul was outstanding not only during tie-break, he also pulled off a number of saves during scheduled and extra time to keep India’s hopes alive. The match went into extra time with Indian forwards failing to capitalise several chances after the hosts went ahead in the 39th minute through a brilliant move of striker Manjit Singh. Myanmar restored parity during injury time through their defender Moewin. The game did not rise to spectacular heights during extra time with both sides adopting defensive tactics. For India Sunil Kumar, Debabrata Roy, N S Manju and Manjit Singh were on the target in the tie-breaker, while for the visitors only Kim Myang could score in the round (4-1). India will now play Iraq in the next round. Jordan has been chosen as neutral venue for the away match on February 28, considering the present situation in Iraq. — PTI
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JCT-East Bengal tie at Ludhiana
Chandigarh, February 14
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London, February 14
It was an encounter that started with the reminder that cricket was a great leveller, and ended with conclusive proof that adherence to the basics always pays.
