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India go Scot-free
South Africa omit Kallis, Boucher
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Yousuf, Razzaq ‘roped in’
7 Hyderabad players join ICL
Giant-killer Sridhar enters quarters
Indian football captain Bhaichung Bhutia (right) with coach Bob Houghton during a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday. The ONGC Nehru Cup begins on Friday. — Tribune photo by Mukesh Aggarwal
Anand moves into final
C’wealth medallist commits suicide
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India go Scot-free
Glasgow, August 16 Gambhir and Robin Uthappa (55) put on 104 runs for the first wicket. Yuvraj Singh, coming in at two-down, chipped in with 38. Earlier, Munaf Patel made a successful return as India dished out a tidy bowling performance to restrict Scotland to a modest total in the rain-curtailed Royal Stag Cup match. Patel, who missed the Ireland one-dayers and England Tests with an injury, picked up 2-37 with a changed action from a shortened run-up. RP Singh continued with his good form of the Test series to claim 2-26, while Ajit Agarkar and Piyush Chawla also grabbed two wickets each. Scotland failed to break the shackles thrown around them by the Indian bowlers who had them on the mat at 49-4 in 15 overs. The home team then owed their total to a fifth-wicket stand of 82 runs between Gavin Hamilton and Neil McCallum. Hamilton made 44 and McCallum 41. Two rain stoppages reduced the match to 46 overs a side. India rested Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan. — Agencies Scoreboard Scotland Watts c Dhoni b RP Singh 6 Poonia lbw Agarkar 1 Watson c Chawla b Patel 24 Haq c Chawla b RP Singh 11 Hamilton b Agarkar 44 McCallum c Dhoni b Chawla 41 Smith lbw Chawla 4 Wright run out 37 Blain c Chawla b Patel 4 Hoffmann not out 5 Nel not out 0 Extras (b-2, lb-2, w-20, nb-2) 26 Total (9 wkts, 46 overs) 204 FoW: 1-9, 2-22, 3-49, 4-49, 5-131, 6-146, 7-178, 8-198, 9-199. Bowling: Agarkar 9-0-54-2, RP Singh 9-0-26-2, Munaf Patel 9-0-37-2, Chawla 10-0-42-2, Powar 9-0-41-0. India Uthappa b Wright 55 Gambhir not out 85 Karthik c McCallum b Haq 14 Yuvraj b Blain 38 Dravid not out 10 Extras (lb-2, w-8) 10 Total (3 wkts, 39.5 overs) 212 FoW: 1-104, 2-137, 3-198. Bowling: Hoffmann 9-0-43-0, Blain 8.5-2-41-1, Nel 6-0-8-0, Wright 10-1-46-1, Haq 6-0-32-1.
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South Africa omit Kallis, Boucher
Durban, August 16 The squad which will play three one-day internationals in Zimbabwe next week differs slightly from that selected for the 20-over tournament. Fast bowler Dale Steyn has been picked in place of all-rounder Justin Kemp, whose wedding is imminent, and wicketkeeper Mark Boucher has been omitted. A Cricket South Africa statement quoted selection convenor Joubert Strydom as saying the squads were similar because South Africa wanted to use their matches against Zimbabwe to prepare for the Twenty20 tournament. Strydom said Kallis’ omission from the Twenty20 squad was due to his being rested. However, Kallis showed his disappointment by resigning as South Africa’s vice-captain and saying he was considering his options for the future. Boucher supported Kallis in media reports and comments attributed to the wicketkeeper have led to his being summoned to a disciplinary hearing tomorrow. Coach Mickey Arthur said Boucher's omission was not related to this week’s rumpus. The first one-day international will be played in Bulawayo on August 22. Squad: Graeme Smith (captain), Gulam Bodi, Loots Bosman, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Vernon Philander, Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn, Thandi Tshabalala, Johan
van der Wath. — Reuters
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Yousuf, Razzaq ‘roped in’
Karachi, August 16 To complicate matters, discarded opener Imran Farhat has joined former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and batsman Asim Kamal in confirming that he was seriously considering an ICL offer. Yousuf and Razzaq, who were dropped from the Pakistan squad for the Twenty20 World Cup, had not signed the central contracts offered to them by the PCB, which had an August 15 deadline. Meanwhile, lashing out at the national selectors and the PCB for ignoring merit and unfairly keeping him out of the team, Farhat today returned his central contract.
— PTI
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7 Hyderabad players join ICL
Hyderabad, August 16 This is the first time that Ranji players have cocked a snook at the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which has threatened to impose life ban on all those cricketers who join the rebel league. Apart from Rayudu, the others who signed contracts with Essel Group’s ICL are Ibrahim Khaleel, Vinay Kumar, Indra Sekhar Reddy, Shashank Nag, Kaushik Reddy and Anirudh Singh. The development is a major setback for the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA). “It is surprising and embarrassing. I do not know why they have chosen to leave the association which gave them so much encouragement and opportunities,” HCA president G. Vinod said. However, the HCA has identified the replacements and rushed them to Chennai for the Buchi Babu tournament. Vinod, who is also the state labour minister, said the HCA would wait for the BCCI to take a decision on the players at its special general body meeting on August 21. The seven players were reportedly offered around Rs 90 lakh each for a three-year contract. Rayudu, the most promising among them, has scored 2,715 runs in first-class cricket with seven centuries and 13 half-centuries. PTI adds: Although the organisers of the breakaway league did not disclose the financial details, it is learnt that the players would stand to gain Rs 90 lakh each for the contract, besides Rs 1 lakh as match fees. It is in stark contrast to Rs 60,000 that Ranji players earn for a match. The BCCI pays Rs 16,000 as match fee for a member of the playing XI and an additional Rs 44,000 as part of its profit-sharing arrangement with domestic players. In other words, if a Ranji player’s team went on to reach the final, he would roughly get Rs 5.4 lakh per year, a pittance to what the ICL is offering to an average player.
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Giant-killer Sridhar enters quarters
Kuala Lumpur, August 16 The Indian showed nerves of steel to come up trumps from a neck-and-neck thriller 21-19, 18-21, 21-15 and move into the last eight. Sridhar, who outclassed Olympic gold medallist Taufiq Hidayat yesterday, has a much tougher task now as he faces defending champion and world Number one Lin Dan in the next round. However, in the women’s singles, Saina Nehwal bowed out after losing to world number four Pi Hongyan of France in the third round. Saina put up a gallant show against the top-class opponent before going down 13-21, 17-21. Meanwhile, Malaysia’s pride and joy Lee Chong Wei, seeded second, was soundly beaten by ninth seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia 21-11, 21-9 in the third round. Third seed Chen Jin of China lost to Singapore’s Ronny Susilo 21-19, 21-14. It was left to top seed and defending champion Lin Dan of China to restore some order as he proceeded to the quarterfinals with a 21-18, 21-17 victory over Dutchman Dicky Palyama. Lin’s compatriots Bao Chunlai, seeded four, and Chen Yu (No. 6) also progressed to the last eight. The Danish duo of Peter Gade (No. 5) and Kenneth Jonassen (No. 7) also secured their appointed places. There was also a big shock in women’s singles in which champion Xie Xingfang, winner in 2005 and 2006, went down 21-10, 21-8 to Malaysia’s Wong Mew Choo. Wong’s victory was some consolation to the home contingent, still awaiting a first world title since the inaugural tournament in 1977 and hugely disappointed at Lee’s swift exit. — PTI, Reuters
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Nehru Cup: India face Cambodia today
New Delhi, August 16 India will take on Cambodia in the opening match tomorrow after President Pratibha Devisingh Patil inaugurates the tournament. Both Houghton and Bhutia felt that the competition would be tough, but their optimism stems from the fact that India are sandwiched between four teams, two of which are ranked above the hosts - Syria and Kyrgyzstan - while the other two are ranked below them - Cambodia and Bangladesh. The teams would be vying for the winners’ purse of around Rs 20 lakh out the total prize money of $40,000, sponsored by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. Though Bhutia was precise and pointed in his answers to media queries, Houghton got a bit too verbose, though in the end, he veered round to the view that the players presently at his command were the best India could assemble and he hoped to make the best use of the team in the Nehru Cup to ensure a podium finish for the hosts. The British coach once again harped on the “lack of height” fact as one of the major impediments of the Indian team, though he said he was determined to make talent at his command, particularly the strike force, comprising Bhutia and the top scorer among Indian players in last year’s National Football League, Sunil Chetri, to their full potential. The modest Chetri said he had a lot of catching up to do to be in the same league as Bhutia, adding that it was a privilege and pleasure to play along side Bhutia. Houghton preferred not to name the final squad, which, he said, would be named tomorrow only after a final training session, as he wanted to ensure that the fittest and the best players were selected to do duty for the country in the Nehru Cup, which will be a ranking tournament of FIFA (Federation Internationale Football Associations). Though Houghton insisted that he had not declared the final team, the team list circulated by the All-India Football Federation had the names of 24 players, omitting custodian Sandeep Nandi. Bhutia said it was a great feeling to play in the Nehru Cup, which was being revived after 10 years. The last edition of the tournament, which made its debut at the Eden Gardens (Kolkata) in 1982, was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Cochin (1997), where India lost to China 1-2 in the contest for the third place, with Bhutia, who was the babe of the team, scoring the lone goal. That was India’s best finish in the tournament. The 12 editions of the Cup were dominated by countries from the Socialist bloc, with the erstwhile Soviet Union winning the title four consecutive times, from 1985 (Cochin) to 1988 (Siliguri), after the first three editions had been won by Uruguay, Hungary and Poland, respectively. Hungary won the title for a second time at Margao in 1989, while Romania, North Korea, Iraq (twice) bagged the titles in the last four editions. Bhutia cautioned that it would be foolhardy to underestimate even Cambodia and Bangladesh as they were all capable of rising to the occasion and give India a tough fight. Though India have played against Bangladesh often, this time the fight would attain a different connotation as the Bangladesh squad are being coached by former Indian international and national coach Syed Nayeemuddin who, incidentally, was the Indian coach at Cochin, and he would be itching to take revenge on India for his summary sacking as the national coach before the World Cup last year. Houghton said more than winning or losing, the Nehru Cup would help India play at least 15 to 20 international matches this season, which is very important for the build up of the team ahead of the World Cup qualifying matches. India will meet Lebanon in their first encounter in October. Team: Bhaichung Bhutia, Rennedy Singh, Sanjeev Maria, Arindam Bhattacharya, Subrata Paul, Debabrata Roy, Bungo Singh, I. Surkumar Singh, Sunil Chetri, Gouramangi Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Climax Lawrence, N. P. Pradip, Ajayan K. Nair, Clifford Miranda, Sameer Naik, Mehrajuddin Waddoo, Manjeet Singh, Steven Dias, N. S. Manju, Deepak Kumar Mondal, Abhishek Yadav, Syed Rahim Nabi, Tarif Ahmed and Sandeep Nandi.
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Anand moves into final
Mainz (Germany), August 16 Anand, who started off with three draws on the opening day, defeated Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan and Etienne Bacrot of France in the return game before settling for a draw with Aronian to seal his place in the final. After a fine 2.5/3 start, Aronian was the worthy winner of the preliminaries after scoring a victory over Kasimdzhanov and drawing the remaining two games with Bacrot and Anand. The defending champion was quite clinical on his road to the final, where he starts as a slight favourite given his experience in this variant of the game. The final will be played over four games with 20 minutes on each clock with a five-second increment after every move. Anand, who is playing Chess 960 for the first time, accustomed himself much better on the second day and scored a fluent victory over
Kasimdzhanov. After winning the first game of the day, the Indian warded off complications in the return game against Bacrot in great style to emerge
winner. Kasimdzhanov, who started the second round of preliminaries as joint second with Anand on 1.5 points, was hardly given a chance by
Aronian. — PTI
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C’wealth medallist commits suicide
Thiruvallur (TN), August 16 Arun, a Railway employee, took the extreme step on Wednesday after an altercation with his wife Jayapriya (28) over spending the amount of about Rs 10 lakh he expected to receive from the Union Government. Arun had also won a bronze at the 1998 Commonwealth Games. He had also won many medals at the state level. — UNI
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