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India end on a high
Aggressive batting did the trick
Oram joins WC injured list
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Kapur moves to tied 5th
India has mixed day at Aeroflot Open
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India end on a high
Visakhapatnam, February 17 After restricting the visitors to 259 for seven built around Chamara Silva’s maiden century, the Indians relied on a record unbroken 145-run fourth-wicket partnership between Yuvraj and Sourav Ganguly (58 not out) to overhaul the target with six overs to spare. Yuvraj, who was laid low by a knee injury for nearly three months, proved his fitness and form beyond doubt by unleashing an array of breathtaking shots during his 83-ball knock while Sourav Ganguly maintained his sequence of impressive scores which helped the hosts surpass the Lankan total without much fuss on a good batting strip. The young Robin Uthappa set the tempo for the run chase by blazing his way to a 37-ball 52 and Virender Sehwag also showed signs of returning to form with 46 before he threw away his wicket with some casual running between the wickets. The series triumph will serve as a morale booster for the Indians before going into the March-April mega event in the Caribbean where they are clubbed with the Sri Lankans in the same group in the preliminary stage. Put into bat after a delayed start due to a wet outfield, the Sri Lankans recovered from a top order collapse to post a competitive 259 for seven in 47 overs with Silva doing the bulk of the scoring with a heroic unbeaten 107. The Indians had a solid start to their chase despite Ganguly retiring with cramps in the very first over of the innings. Sehwag seemed to finally rediscover his touch until he got himself run out in a criminal manner. Sehwag received some help from the Lankan bowlers who fed him with short-pitched stuff with enough width, and the Nawab of Najafgarh creamed them with shots all round the park. Uthappa at number three was at his belligerent best and played a crucial in laying the foundation for the side before falling to Farveez Maharoof. Dinesh Karthik, coming in for the injured Sachin Tendulkar, did not last long and that brought Ganguly back to the crease. Sehwag cut Lasith Malinga to third man and took a casual stroll half-way through his run. Worse still, he forgot the basic requirement of completing his run and started a mock batting practice at the non-striker’s end. Wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara was alert to spot Sehwag’s carelessness and had all the time in the world to take the glove off one hand and aim a direct hit at the stumps. Earlier, Sri Lanka rode on a maiden hundred by Silva to recover from another top order slump and post a challenging total. Twenty-seven-year old Silva justified his inclusion in place of Upul Tharanga by hitting a run-a-ball 107 not out that helped the tourists overcome a faltering batting performance on a benign track. Silva, playing in his 14th ODI, authored two vital partnerships, first a 68-run stand with Tillekaratne Dilshan (28) and then a 64-run association with Farveez Maharoof (28) after the Lankans were reduced to 56-4 and then 165-6. Scoreboard Sangakkara c Uthappa b Zaheer 1 Silva not out 107 Dilshan c Uthappa b Ganguly 28 Arnold c Sreesanth b Sehwag 22 Maharoof c Karthik b Zaheer 28 Bandara not out 5 Extras (b-1, lb-2, nb-3, w-14) 20 Total (7 wkts, 47 overs) 259 Fall of wickets: 1-42, 2-50, 3-52, 4-56, 5-124, 6-165, 7-229. Bowling: Zaheer 10-2-54-2, Agarkar 10-1-52-2, Sreesanth 8-1-46-1, Harbhajan 9-0-48-0, Ganguly 6-0-29-1, Sehwag 4-0-27-1. India
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Aggressive batting did the trick
Robin Uthappa started it all with a power-packed innings that brought forth appreciation from Virender Sehwag at the other end. What Uthappa’s aggression did was to ease the burden on Sehwag’s shoulders, so that he could take his time rather than look to attack as the target was a pretty big one. Sehwag needs more time in the middle and once he does that, the runs will automatically follow. His footwork was good and he looked to play straighter, which is always going to benefit a batsman who is out of form and touch. The big test was whether he was prepared to hang in there or not and he answered it by sticking it out, which is good news for Indian cricket. The carping critics might point to his score, but at this level, attitude and approach also indicate if the player has it in him or not, and Sehwag has shown in this game that he is prepared to fight his way back to form. Uthappa will be disappointed at throwing his wicket away once again. He must ask himself why he feels satisfied with just a half-century. If he wants to be recognized as a great player, he has to convert those attractive half centuries into centuries and more. Not only will centuries give him huge personal satisfaction and contribute more towards the team’s cause, but they will also ensure him a regular place in the team. The fact that he batted at number three shows that with opening batsmen playing, the flexibility in the team’s batting line-up is far greater than trying to push a pinch-hitter up the order. Ganguly returned to bat and in the company of Yuvraj Singh, took the game away from Sri Lanka. It was good to see Yuvraj strike the ball so fluently and, that again, is great news for India as it embarks shortly to try and win the World Cup. The Sri Lankan bowling left a lot to be desired with Malinga and Fernando not bowling to the field set by their captain. Their fielding though was quite superb. They have a problem at the start of their innings if Jayasuriya does not fire, and like in the previous games, the middle order has propped up the innings. With Sangakkara and Jayawardene both failing, the pressure would have been enormous on Silva, but he not only showed a calm and cool temperament, but a spectacular range of shots to get a century and take Sri Lanka to an imposing total. The Lankans might have got even more if Dilshan and Arnold had not thrown their wickets away to careless shots. India have come back well after the disaster in South Africa and this bodes well for the World Cup.
— PMG
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Wellington, February 17 Team officials are hopeful Oram can still go to the World Cup, starting in the West Indies next month, although he may have to miss some early matches. — Reuters
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Jakarta, February 17 Kapur, with an aggregate of four-under 209, is four behind leader Frankie Minoza, who had one more hole to play when storm forced a suspension. Kapur had birdies on first and fourth and looked set for a good day. But back to back bogeys on seventh and eight halted his run. On the back nine, he birdied 11th, 13th and 15th, but dropped a shot on 12th to finish at 69 and come up to fifth. There were about 12 groups yet to finish their second rounds and will return tomorrow to do so. The 25-year-old Indian was the clubhouse leader at four-under 209 as he had completed his third round while others ahead of him still had a few holes to play. It was not such a good day for Gaurav Ghei, who from overnight fifth dropped way behind to tied 50th. Chopra may miss cut
Palisades Pacific (USA): Daniel Chopra slipped down the leaderboard dramatically on the second day with four-over 75 and is now sure to miss the cut though a few players are yet to complete their second round at the Nissan Open golf tournament at the Riviera Country Club. A former Asian Tour regular, Chopra stumbled to a 75 in joint 80th position.
— PTI
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India has mixed day at Aeroflot Open
Moscow, February 17 In contrast, Krishnan Sasikiran, last year’s joint winner and second seed, found his winning ways by clinching a point against GM Vasilios Kotronias of Greece after a difficult game. Sasikiran had a rather indifferent start to the tournament with one draw and one loss in the first two rounds. Former World Junior champion P. Harikrishna, however, continued to look for his first victory in the event after he was held by Anton Shomoev of Russia. Women Grandmaster and International Master in waiting D. Harika continued with her excellent run in the event and drew with GM Wang Hao of China in her third round game.
— PTI
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Hockey: Golden hat-trick by Haryana eves
The team coached by Azad Malik thus successfully defended the title they had won in Ludhiana and Hyderabad in the previous two editions of the National Games. Jharkhand were looking to avenge their finals loss to Haryana last time around but it was a pale shadow of the team that performed brilliantly in the competition. Both the teams were filled with individuals who had represented India with distinction but their was a stark difference in the play of the sides. Haryana got off to a quick start and were two goals to the good within the first 10 minutes with Mamta Kharb and Jasjeet capitalising on some shoddy defending by the Jharkhand defence. In the second half, the two scored again and sandwiched between them was Jharkhand’s sole strike through Jyoti Sunita Kullu. Delhi sweep tennis singles Delhi continued its domination of the tennis court, with Divij Sharan lifting the men’s title and Parul Goswami bagging the women’s honours at the 33rd National Games here today. Divij rode on his trademark power-packed game to cruise to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Bengal’s Manoj Sewa after Parul prevailed over top seed Sonal Phadke of Maharashtra 7-6, 6-3 at the Chachal tennis complex. Divij and Ashutosh Singh won the men’s doubles title 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 beating Kamala Kannan and Vijay Sundar Prasad. Karnataka pair of Poojashree Venkatesh and Archana Venkatraman prevented Delhi’s clean sweep of the gold medals from the discipline by lifting the women’s doubles crown. They defeated the Maharashtra pair of Phadke and Krushmi Chheda 4-6, 6-0, 6-2. Having clinched both the men’s and women’s team championships on Thursday, Delhi finished with five gold, while Karnataka picked up the only remaining one. Orissa eves claim soccer gold Orissa created history upsetting holders Manipur 4-2 in a penalty shootout to claim the women’s soccer gold here today. In an exciting final watched by a capacity crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here, Orissa beat Manipur in the penalty shootout after both teams failed to open their account at the end of extra time. While the Orissa goal shooters did not miss the target, Manipur’s N. Naobi Chanu and Mandakini Devi fumbled in the penalty shootout, enabling their lesser-fancied opponent to walk away with glory. The final scoreline, however, did not reflect the real nature of play which saw Manipur in front for most of the time.
— PTI
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Bangalore, February 17 In a lop-sided semifinal, reigning champion Mara annihilated Olga, who was playing in her first semifinal on the WTA Tour 6-1, 6-0 to set up a summit clash against Yaroslava Shvedova of Russia. The unseeded Yaroslava overcame a tough challenge from Israel’s Tzipora Obziler to prevail 7-5, 6-2 in the second semifinal. Mara sports a tattoo, ‘jeet’ - which means victory in Hindi, on the back of her neck and “got it done back in Rome following her victory here last year”. The Italian displayed power tennis to the hilt. She broke Olga thrice each in the two sets to seal her berth in the final in 49 minutes. “I was serving tight, I was trying to be aggressive. I had planned to attack her forehand as her backhand was very strong,” said world No. 36. “I think this easy win is good for tomorrow,” she added. Other than Mara, the 33-year-old Israeli Obziler was the only remaining player here to have played a Tour singles semifinal previously, doing so at the Tier-III event in Guangzhou last October. The gorgeous Shvedova, ranked 153 and playing in her first ever Tour semifinal, managed to win the first set after her rival squandered a set point in the ninth game. In fact, Obziler broke Shvedova in the second and fourth games of the first set to move into a strong position before the Russian power came to the fore. Two early breaks in the second set, in the first and third games, and then in the seventh game ensured Shvedova a final berth. Serving for the set in the eighth game Shvedova was down 0-40. But the Russian kept her cool and closed out the contest with a big serve. Sania-Mara lose
in doubles The second seeded pair of Sania Mirza and Mara Santangelo was upset by fourth seeds Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei and Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 6-4, 3-6, 10-5 in their semifinal match at WTA Bangalore Open here today. The Sania-Mara duo did well to force the match to super tie-break after losing the first set tamely. In Sunday’s doubles final, Su-Wei Hseih and Alla Kudryavtseva, ranked 189 take on top seeds and 56th ranked Yung-Jan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang, both Chinese Taipei.
— PTI
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Warriors defuse Dynamos
Chandigarh, February 17 With the win, the Warriors reached at number three position on the points table with 14 points and are only behind Orissa Steelers and Sher-e-Jalandhar. The match between the Dynamos and the Warriors started on an even note as the forwards were challenging the defence line of rivals by making regular attacks. It was the Dynamos, which squandered two clear chances of netting goals in the first quarter. Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot missed the opportunities by hitting wide shorts. The second quarter also went barren as no team could get success in it. The cohesiveness of the Warriors bore fruit in the third quarter when a sliding Shivender Singh deflected a pass into the net off Ajmer Singh in the 39th minute. Two minutes later, following a sudden raid from the right, Jamie Dwyer darted into the circle and took a stinging shot at the goal. Rival goalie Baljit Singh stretched his stick but the deflection went to Hardeep Singh on the left, who slammed into the boards. Shivender Singh was adjudged as Lion of the Match. Veerans beat Sultans In the second match of the day, Chennai Veerans registered victory over Hyderabad Sultans by a solitary goal through Pramod Kumar. Chennai Veerans took time to settle down and played a defensive game in the first quarter while the Sultans preferred attacking strategy. The Sultans had a first look at the rival goal in the 9th minute and forced a penalty corner but goalkeeper Sreejesh smashed all their hopes. In the 25th minute, Chennai Veerans made a successful move through skipper Adam Sinclair, who received the ball on the right flank and without wasting time, he sent a swift back pass from the right goal line. An unmarked Raja slapped in from the near the spot. But it was Pramod Kumar, who tapped home from near the post to claim the goal to win the match.
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NFL: Sporting hold Mahindras
Barasat, February 17 With this draw, Mahindra’s point tally in the league table rose to eight after five outings, while Sporting was three points behind them after playing same number of matches. After an evenly poised fist half in the Barasat Stadium, Mahindra dominated the proceedings in the second half, but failed to earn full points as either their front liners were wide off the mark, or Sporting keeper Gopal Das foiled their attempts. Gopal was rightly chosen the man of the match for his fine performance. While Sporting defender Surajit Roy fed his forwards with fine passes, Sur Kumar Singh initiated many an attacks for his front liners without any success. The visitors got a chance to forge ahead as early as in the third minute but Medio Venkatesh’s shot went out narrowly. Mohmmedan also forced their chance to take the lead but medio Basudev Mondal’s free kick was headed over by Presten around midway through the first half.
— PTI
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Visakhapatnam, February 17
India
Guwahati, February 17