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Team lands ringed by men in black
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‘Samuels used mobile phone in Nagpur’
‘Indian captains of cricket’
Bhupathi-Stepanek enter final
Injured Sania out of action
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Team lands ringed by men in black
Montego Bay (Jamaica), March 2 The 15-member squad led by Rahul Dravid reached the picturesque sea resort on Thursday (early hours of Friday in India) accompanied by support staff and officials. After playing two warm-up matches, India kick-off their campaign with their opening Group B encounter against Bangladesh on March 17 at Port of Spain, Trinidad. India’s two practice matches would be against The Netherlands (March 6) and hosts West Indies (March 9) at the Trelawny stadium here. The league opener is slated to be held at India’s happy hunting Test ground, Queen’s Park Oval. India are scheduled to play their remaining two Group ties also at the same venue, on March 19 (v Bermuda) and March 23 (v Sri Lanka). The top two teams from each of the four preliminary groups advance to the Super Eight stage from March 27. India won the game’s biggest prize in 1983 under Kapil Dev in England. They reached the semifinals in 1987 and 1996, both in the sub continent, and were finalists in 2003 in South Africa. NSG cover for Men in Blue
New Delhi: For the first time, the Indian cricket team, some of whose members face threats from militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, will enjoy the cover of the elite National Security Guard (NSG) during the 48-day tour to West Indies for the World Cup. The 16-member NSG squad comprising mainly of bomb disposal experts is likely to leave for the Carribbean on Monday. Some players of the team have been facing threats from Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba, official sources said here today. This is also the first ever time that crack commandos of the NSG would be undertaking the exercise outside the country for such an event. Home Ministry officials, however, sought to down play the development saying the NSG commandos were being deputed following a request by organisers of the World Cup to assist them in providing security cover for the event. Meanwhile, The BCCI today said that the decision to provide NSG commandos for the security of the Indian team during the World Cup was the government’s move and the BCCI had not made any specific request in this regard. “Security issues are decided by the government taking into account the scenario at the venue. The BCCI had not made any specific request,” BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla told PTI here. Shukla said the Board had not received any information about the government’s decision to provide the NSG cover to the team. “Till now we have not received any intimation from the government. Past security issues in the West Indies could have prompted the government to ensure that the team is guarded well,” he said. Apparently, the government took a decision in this regard after West Indian officials conveyed through diplomatic channels about their inability to provide elaborate security to the 15-member team, sources said. The team led by Rahul Dravid, along with Coach Greg Chappell and BCCI officials, reached the West Indies on Thursday. This is for the first time that the NSG commandos would be sent for the security of Indian team anywhere outside the country.
— PTI
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COUNTDOWN
The
first three-figure knock that Brian Charles Lara scored at the international stage was 277 in 1993. Lara was playing only his fifth Test and the opponents were Australia. This was Lara’s way of announcing his arrival at the world stage — loud and clear. The knock promised a lot more from the maestro hailing from the land of Calypso.
Eleven Tests later, Lara was at his awesome best. “The Prince of Port of Spain” batted like a man possessed against England and notched up record-breaking 375, breaking Sir Garfield Sobers’ long-standing batting landmark of 365 as the highest score by an individual in Tests. Lara’s exploits are numerous and legendary. His batting has already ensured him a berth along side the very best in the business. When Australian Matthew Hayden blasted Zimbabwe and hammered 380 in 2004, Lara’s riposte was quick and sharp. Barely six months after he lost the coveted mark to Hayden, Lara chose Antigua Recreation Ground and ensured that record books are written again. As only he could do, the batting genius clobbered England bowlers to all parts of the ground. Hitting 43 fours and a couple of huge sixes, an unstoppable Lara climbed the batting Everest. Producing an out-of-the-world knock, Lara notched up an astonishing unbeaten 400 to put to rest all speculations as to who the most dangerous batsman of the generation was. When in touch, runs flow from the willow of the left-handed batsman thick and fast. He makes it look so simple, giving the impression that batting is probably the easiest job in cricket. Domineering at the crease, Lara likes to take early charge and unsettle line and length of a bowler by his typically powerful strokes. He has umpteen records under his belt, making him a perfect cricket icon. Lara’s first stint as captain was from 1997 to 2000. He was at the helm for the second time in 2003. West Indies won their maiden Champions Trophy in September 2004 under his captaincy. Temperamental and somewhat unpredictable, Lara had his share of spats and run-ins with those in power. Showing solidarity with his team-mates, Lara chose to decline selection in the first Test in the series against South Africa in 2005 due to clash between players’ sponsors with those of the team. Lara missed the first Test returned in the second, though not as captain. Shivnarine Chanderpaul was handed the responsibility to lead the side. After the team fared poorly under Chanderpaul, the mantle of leading the side was passed on to Lara again in April 2006. This was Lara’s third stint as captain. Since his re-appointment, he again looks in fine touch. The Windies tasted success when Lara guided West Indies to 4-1 series win over India in the home series. Unfortunately, the tenure of Lara has coincided with the period when the West Indies were going through a lean patch. Once invincible in 1970s and early 80s, the Caribbeans struggled to find players of ability. Sources were shuffled and reshuffled without tangible results. On his part, Lara has ruled like a colossal and saved West Indies cricket from plummeting to abysmal level. Giving him support are Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle. At 37, Lara’s appetite for runs remains intact. The World Cup has remained out of grasp of the 1975 and ‘79 champions. West Indies, though the hosts, are not among the favourites for the greatest cricketing event on the earth. This line of though is valid as long as the likes of Lara or Gayle do not go berserk!
— TNS
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Dubai, March 2 Srinath will be among the 16 officials, dubbed the “17th team” by the International Cricket Council (ICC), and the former India spearhead would officiate in two opening stage matches — the Group A game between Australia and Scotland at St Kitts and Nevis on March 14 and the Australia-Netherlands game at the same venue on March 18. Of the eight members on the Elite Panel of ICC match referees, seven have been selected to officiate with the only man missing being Clive Lloyd, who is the team manager for the hosts West Indies. The list of three reserve umpires include Indian Suresh Shastri, along with Nigel Llong (England) and Russell Tiffin (Zimbabwe). “The 16 people really are the 17th team in this year’s tournament and they will work just as hard as the players to ensure they perform to the highest possible standards,” said David Richardson, ICC’s General Manager, Cricket. Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka) will officiate in India’s first warm-up match against the Netherlands in Jamaica on March 6, while Brian Jerling (South Africa) and De Silva will stand in the game against the West Indies in Jamaica on March 9. Australian Alan Hurst will be the match referee in India’s Group B opener against Bangladesh on March 17 at Port-of-Spain, while Pakistan’s Aleem Dar and Steve Davis of Australia will be the on-field umpires. Hurst will remain match referee when India meets minnows Bermuda on March 19 at the same venue while Dar and South African Ian Howell would be the on-field umpires. Former New Zealand skipper Jeff Crowe will be match referee in the March 23 India-Sri Lanka tie at Port-of-Spain, with Dar and Harper being the on-field umpires. The appointments for the Super 8s stage of the tournament will be made later, the ICC said. Umpiring Team: Mark Benson, Brent Bowden, Steve Bucknor, Aleem Dar, Steve Davis, Billy Doctrove, Ian Gould, Daryl Harper, Tony Hill, Ian Howell, Brian Jerling, Rudi Koertzen, Peter Parker, Asad Rauf, Asoka de Silva, Simon Taufel. Match Referees’ Team: Chris Broad, Jeff Crowe, Alan Hurst, Ranjan Madugalle, Roshan Mahanama, Javagal Srinath, Mike Procter. — PTI
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‘Samuels used mobile phone in Nagpur’
Nagpur, March 2 Police sources revealed that the mobile phone, which Samuels used, was registered in the name of Vasu Gangwani, the liaison officer for the team during its visit to India. According to police sources, Samuels had procured a pre-paid SIM card (no-9970137717), belonging to a private cell phone operator company, and used it extensively with the talk-time valuing up to Rs 6,000. The latest development comes barely a day after the Nagpur police handed the taped conversations between Samuels and alleged bookie Kochar to the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit officials investigating the case. Samuels, who had been picked in the West Indies World Cup squad, found himself at the centre of a major controversy after police made public a taped conversation with Kochar in which he disclosed information about team composition. A two-member team of the ACU returned from Nagpur yesterday after receiving the taped conversations between Samuels and Kochar. — PTI
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Nobody gave us a chance in ’83
This
is a story about a most forgettable tournament when we won nothing and then a memorable event when we captured the world. In 1979, we surely disappointed our fans by losing all our three matches in a span of a week. I was not a member of the team, but I know how the players must have felt.
Five members of that team - Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohinder Amarnath and Yashpal Sharma - returned four years later to become part of a glorious chapter in Indian cricket history. None gave us a chance in 1983. It was understandable. West Indies was the best in the world and we had just beaten them once, at Berbice, on the tour to the Caribbean before the World Cup. That win in Berbice went a long way in convincing us that we had the potential, but honestly we never thought we could win the Cup. We were not rated by the critics at all. If memory serves me right even Ladbrokes placed us just above Zimbabwe. And then our campaign got off to a bumpy start when we lost our preparatory matches to Sri Lanka and a Combined Universities side. But we learnt some lessons and the most important was that each of us had a role to play, if we had to progress the effort had to be collective. We had six bowlers for the job, to make the most of the conditions. Seam and swing was the mantra and we had two among them who could bat as well. And the rest could swing the bat too, apart from the ball. Just imagine someone like Mohinder Amarnath. He was an immaculate batsman and a very intelligent bowler. He knew where to pitch the ball and the pitches in England suited us immensely. A lot of factors worked in our favour during that 1983 tournament. From the time we beat the West Indies in the opening match at Old Trafford, with Yashpal Sharma playing an outstanding innings and Roger Binny and Ravi Shastri coming up with tight spells, we worked on a simple plan. We took things match by match, and never looked back. Each win gave us hope and each win gave us strength too. We suffered two losses (to Australia and the West Indies) but came back strongly after that famous Kapil Dev versus Zimbabwe contest at Tunbridge Wells. It was the turning point for us. Once we qualified for the semifinals, we just backed ourselves. England was a strong opposition and had the crowd support and better understanding of the conditions. But we played better cricket that day at Old Trafford. Binny’s bowling that day was exceptionally brilliant and none can forget Yashpal running out Allan Lamb. It was a significant breakthrough. Mohinder’s bowling was in icing on the cake really. I got to bowl just five overs in that match because Mohinder bowled his full quota and Kirti Azad, who was expected to chip in with six overs, did such a good job that he too earned six more overs. Team spirit and collective strength was the key factor that day as we eliminated England with a convincing victory. Once again Yashpal batted brilliantly and Sandeep Patil finished the job in grand style. We were relaxed on the eve of the final. “Hope you win. It will be good for cricket,” some of the cricket supporters wished us. It helps if you happen to be the underdogs and here the pressure was on the West Indies. Our confidence had improved and we decided to give it our best shot. The sun shone when we batted but a total of 183 was not the kind of challenge that would put any pressure on a top team, leave aside the West Indies. It was a kind of target that you would defend maybe once or twice in ten occasions. It was to be our day as conditions helped us. It became cloudy at certain stages and the crowd cheered us. We played like a team and stunned the West Indies in that low scoring final. It was a result that gave a great boost to cricket in our country. The 1983 win has been well recorded and relived countless times.
— UNI
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‘Indian captains of cricket’
New Delhi, March 2 ‘Indian captains of cricket (1932-2006)’ provides interesting and informative reading as most of the information contained in the book is difficult-and in some cases non-existent-to obtain. The 457-page book, published by Siddharth Publications of Delhi, is Wadhwaney’s 13th book on cricket and 18th overall.
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PCA Stadium suffers abuse
Chandigarh, March 2 Its lush green playfields not only bore the brunt of steel barricads and unprecedented trampling even its pavilion building, the long room, dressing rooms and other parts of the stadium silently suffered the wrath of uncouth visitors to the ceremony. Many of them, who saw the world-class cricket centre for the first time, wreaked havoc leaving the huge glass panes shattered, doors smashed, railings broken and the fittings damaged. Fortunately, there was neither any stampede nor any untoward incident as the elite of Punjab was joined by unending stream of Akali and BJP workers. Though the state has the right to choose a venue for holding any function in larger public interest and in public view but not at a venue which the sporting fraternity holds, if not higher, at par with a place of worship. “We cannot approve of a stadium of the standard of the PCA to be misused for a political function,” says Teja Singh Dhaliwal, secretary of the Ludhiana Sportsmen Welfare Association, a society that had been taking up cudgels on behalf of the sports fraternity of the state for preventing misuse of stadium. They have parade ground and other open areas, including Rajendra Park, where such political functions could be organised, argue sports lovers and officials. “Why a well maintained facility be vandalised In 1979, the police took all active members of the Ludhiana Sportsmen Welfare Association in custody after it protested against holding of Dasehra inside Guru Nanak Stadium. The society had earlier got orders from the then PWD Minister Randhir Singh Cheema that no stadium should be used for activity other than sports. In spite of the orders of the minister, the district administration allowed holding of Dasehra inside the stadium. Sportsmen protested and decided to sit in dharna inside the stadium. The Administration relented and the celebrations were shifted out and held in Rakh Bagh area. Afterwards, no function other than Republic Day or Independence Day was held inside the stadium for many years. In early 90s, the district administration organised Sridevi nite inside the stadium because of which not only the lush Greenfield but also the synthetic surface of the stadium was substantially damaged. After Ludhiana, the nuance travelled to Mohali where the PCA Stadium has suffered silently. “The vandalisation of sports stadia should be stopped. Let the government come out with a policy banning holding of non-sporting functions inside any state, national or international level stadia,” suggests hockey international Sukhvir Singh Grewal, who is also vice-president of the Ludhiana Sportsmen Welfare Association.
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Doha, March 2 The Indo-Czech pair won the semi-final match in super tie breaker 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 against the Australia-Zimbabwe duo. They will meet in the title round the winner of the other semi-final between top seeds Mark Knowles/Daniel Nestor and third seeds Fabrice Santoro/Nenad Zimonjic in the 1.5 million dollar ATP event. — UNI
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Youzhny storms into Dubai final
Dubai, March 2 Federer has won the title in three of the last four years, while Haas is attempting to add the Dubai title to the one he claimed in Memphis last week. Both players lacked flair in the early stages, with Soderling saving a break point at 1-1 with an ace but then failing to win two break points of his own when leading 4-3. The unseeded Swede held off another break point at 4-4, but Youzhny, who put out Rafael Nadal in the previous round, finally earned the breakthrough when Soderling made a backhand error to lead 6-5. After serving out the first set to love, Youzhny broke again to lead 1-0 in the second, and Soderling was unable to rise to the challenge. Youzhny, cheered on by a sizeable crowd of Russian supporters, showed more variety and commitment and earned a further break for 5-2. “Of course I was tired after playing Rafa (Nadal), but there were a lot of Russians here and they gave me power,” Youzhny told reporters. “I slept maybe a little bit at the beginning of the match, but after I woke up. “After I broke him he started missing more. In the second set I didn’t start to play much better, but in the first game of the second set he made three or four mistakes. I didn’t do any unbelievable winners or anything.” Soderling, who has now lost in three semi-finals this year, admitted that he had lost to a better player on the day. “He played much better than me,” said Soderling. “He didn’t miss much, and from the end of the first set and in the second he was a lot better. I had some chances at 4-3 in the first set, but after that it was not really close.” — Reuters
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Hyderabad, March 2 The 20-year old Indian, who sustained a hyper-extension of the knee during her first round match in the Qatar Open in Doha earlier this week, had laxity of the ACL, the doctor treating her at a local hospital said. “The MRI scan of the knee joint indicates a possible ACL injury,” Dr. Hariprasad of Apollo Hospitals here said. — PTI
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Shers prevail upon Steelers
Chandigarh, March 2 Shers’ goalkeeper Kamaldeep Singh, who was adjudged the Lion of the Day, thwarted Birender Lakra’s feeble try to seal the victory and put his team 1-0 up in the best-of-three finals. The second final will be played on Sunday. With this win, the Shers avenged the penalty-shootout defeat in the round-robin match last week. The Steelers’ Pakistani goalie Salman Akbar, who was the star of that match, was not able to do an encore this time. For the Shers, Tejbir Singh converted two penalties, while Gagan Ajit Singh, Yudhvir Singh, Guruvinder Singh and Prabhdeep Singh beat the goalie once each. Gagan, Yudhvir, Guruvinder and Prabhdeep missed twice, while Tejbir was unsuccessful once. The biggest culprits for the Steelers were Birender Lakra and Munaf Patel lookalike Damandeep Singh, who both failed to convert any of their three tries each. Captain Dilip Tirkey and William Xalco scored two times each, while Prabodh Tirkey did it once. In all, of the 30 tries, only 11 were converted. Most of the failures were due to the players’ own ineptness rather than any brilliance on the part of the goalies. The two teams remained locked 1-1 at the end of regulation time as well as extra time. Gagan Ajit had put the Shers ahead in the 37th minute with an opportunistic goal. A long and fierce hit by captain Kanwalpreet Singh from the half-line was blocked by Salman, but Gagan latched on to the rebound to score his 13th goal of the tournament (he is the top scorer of PHL III so far, four ahead of Dilip Tirkey). Against the run of play, the Steelers equalised through an indirect penalty-corner conversion by Sunil Ekka in the 63rd minute. The match never rose to great heights, and it occasionally saw some rough play. Despite the presence of dynamic forwards Tejbir and Gagan Ajit, the Shers failed to earn any penalty corner during the entire match. The Steelers fared only marginally better, earning one and managing to convert it. Both teams missed their overseas imports — Spain’s Santi Freixa (Shers) and Argentina’s Mario Almada (Steelers). The Steelers, who have been the best among the seven teams in the two-month-long league, did not put up an inspiring show today. Their forwards Sunil Ekka, Roshan Minz and Damandeep Singh failed to capitalise on a number of chances. However, Dilip Tirkey was, as always, rock solid in the defence, and Salman Akbar guarded the citadel well against repeated attacks. Lack of coordination between Tejbir and the other forwards prevented the Shers from wresting the initiative. Tejbir’s fast moves down the left flank were not complemented by timely interceptions by his team-mates. On the whole, the Shers, egged on by the crowd, played marginally better hockey. They deserved to win, no matter if the margin was just wafer thin.
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COUNTDOWN
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