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Yuvraj (121) dazzles in defeat
Top order needs to fire: Dhoni
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Kartik replaces Powar
Aussie media manager taken to task
Inzamam quits Test cricket Inzamam-ul-Haq (L) speaks as PCB chairman Naseem Ashraf watches during a news conference in Karachi on Friday. — Reuters photo
SA record 160-run win
JK Tyre final leg races today
Ashutosh, Isha annex titles
WWF legends in action on Oct 26, 27
Jeev shoots eagle
Orissa eves record 42-0 win
Vinod, Karun script victory for team
Ambala gymnasts on top
Lawn Tennis
Six karatekas win medals
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Yuvraj (121) dazzles in defeat
Hyderabad, October 5 The formidable Australians rattled up 290 for seven and then bundled out the home team for 243 in 47.4 overs to take a 2-0 lead in the seven-match series, leaving the hosts with the herculean task of winning four matches in a row to win the rubber. It was another display of awesome cricket by the world champions, who never allowed the Indians to recover from a horrendous start of 13 for three, although the in-form Yuvraj's 115-ball knock injected some life in the match, which was refreshingly free of any on-field skirmishes. The Australian innings was largely built around Andrew Symonds blistering 83-ball 89, while opener Matthew Hayden (60) and Michael Clarke (59) chipped in with useful contributions. Barring Yuvraj, none of the other Indian batsmen could get going on a good batting strip at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium and fell well short of the target despite packing the team with seven specialist batsmen. Sachin Tendulkar (43) and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (33) got the starts but could not convert as the Aussies kept up the pressure by claiming wickets at regular intervals. Both the sides will now move to Chandigarh for the fourth match of the series. Chasing 291, India lost their top three batsmen inside five overs, with the score reading merely 13. Brett Lee trapped Gautam Gambhir (6) with a fuller one in the third over and Robin Uthappa perished the same way in the next over, without bothering the scorer and awarding Mitchell Johnson his first wicket. Crisis compounded in the fifth over when Rahul Dravid, rather uncharacteristically, poked at a Lee delivery to perish caught behind, leaving India in dire strait. Yuvraj and Tendulkar played with caution and raised the hope of a comeback but Brad Hogg had other ideas. Hogg once again proved a handful for the Indians and he silenced the stadium in the 25th over when Tendulkar went for a cut and missed the line to see the ball clip his off-stump. Captain Dhoni was not allowed any leeway for his free-flowing strokeplay and he was content nudging and pushing his way, while helping himself to the occasional boundaries. Ricky Ponting brought back Lee to break the stand and the pacer did not disappoint as he induced an edge to see Dhoni back. In the next over, Lee took a running catch to remove Rohit Sharma (1) off James Hopes. Yuvraj, however, refused to be bogged down by the series of setbacks as he brought his 50 in 61 balls and he eventually completed his century in 104 balls that had 11 fours and a six in it. Hogg, meanwhile, removed Irfan Pathan (3) and then Johnson struck the deadly blow in the 44th over to snuff the life out of India's fightback. Running out of partners, Yuvraj tried to work it on the on-side as the Johnson delivery upset his timberworks. It was a scintillating knock from the dashing batsman who hit 12 fours and three sixes on his way to 121. Earlier, Indian bowlers managed to keep the Australian total under 300, picking up four wickets in the last five overs. S Sreesanth took the prized wicket of Symonds by having him caught on the penultimate ball and then removed James Hopes on the last ball of the
innings. — PTI Scoreboard Australia: Gilchrist b Pathan 29 Hayden c Dhoni b Pathan 60 Ponting c Sreesanth b Yuvraj 25 Michael Clarke c Pathan
b Zaheer 59 Symonds c Uthappa b Sreesanth 89 Hodge b Zaheer 3 Hopes c Dravid b Sreesanth 11 Lee not out 0 Extras
(B-2, LB-3, W-9) 14 Total (For 7 wickets in 50 overs) 290 Fall of wickets:
1-76, 2-112, 3-135, 4-258, 5-263, 6-290, 7-290. Bowling: Zaheer 10-1-61-2, Sreesanth 9-0-58-2, Pathan 10-0-57-2, Harbhajan 10-1-38-0, Yuvraj 7-0-49-1, Tendulkar 4-0-22-0. India: Gambhir lbw b Lee 6 Tendulkar b Hogg 43 Uthappa lbw b Johnson 0 Dravid c Hayden b Lee 0 Yuvraj b Johnson 121 Dhoni c Gilchrist b Lee 33 Rohit c Lee b Hopes 1 Pathan lb b Hogg 3 Harbhajan not out 19 Zaheer c and b Hogg 3 Sreesanth b Clark 1 Extra
(b1, lb3, nb1, w8) 13 Total (all out in 47.4 overs) 243 Fall of wickets:
1-10, 2-11, 3-13, 4-108, 5-173, 6-176 7-83, 8-219, 9-226 Bowling:
Lee 8-1-37-3, Johnson 10-0-51(rpt 51)-2, Clark 8.4-1-44-1, Hopes 10-0-43-1, Hogg 9-0-46-3, Hodge 2-0-18-0.
— PTI
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Top order needs to fire: Dhoni
Hyderabad, October 5 "We have to improve from here. We need to bat better, we need good starts. It is important to deny their new-ball bowlers wickets, especially when you are chasing and chasing big totals," Dhoni said in the post match conference after India lost to Australia by 47-runs. "The key is to have wickets in hand because then, you can chase eights and tens in the last 10 to 15 overs. Otherwise, you are playing catch-up. The batsmen had a role to play in the defeat, but it wasn't just the batsmen. This is a team game, we must take collective responsibility," he said. The new skipper is still to taste success in the one-dayers and he said with 2-0 down in the series their job will be tougher now. "It was always tough from the start, it has got tougher now. But there still are four matches left," he said. Dhoni, however, said he was happy that their bowling in death overs have shown marked improvement in this game. "We have had problems with bowling at the death, but here in the last five overs today, we only conceded 30 runs or so. That is a big improvement. Asked about Yuvraj's century plus score going in vain, Dhoni said "Of course he is disappointed. He is the kind of guy who believes in winning, not in just scoring runs for himself." Ponting warns against complacency
Having taken a 2-0 lead in the ODI series against India, Australian captain Ricky Ponting today warned his teammates to guard against complacency and said it was important to keep the heat on the home team. Ponting said the lead taken by his team would be pretty handy and it was important to keep the momentum going in the remaining four matches. “We started the series the way we wanted to. It is pretty important that we do not sit back and rest on that, but we look into the future of the series,” Ponting told reporters after Australia defeated India by 47 runs. “The lead that we have taken will be pretty handy for us to prove ourselves in the remaining matches. I am happy at the way we have come so far and we have to take it from here,” he said. He said stitching big partnerships was the key to his team’s success and lavished praise on the hard-hitting Andrew Symonds for his rollicking knock of 89. “We came up with good partnerships with Symonds sticking on to the wicket. Mitchell Johnson has been consistent in wicket-taking abilities in the earlier matches.” “These are the indications to our success so far. We need to do some fine tuning in some areas but generally I am happy about the performances of my players,” he said. Asked whether he felt India could snatch a victory when Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh were batting, Ponting said, “Indian batsmen were generally behind the required run rate most of the day. What kept them down was that we took couple of wickets in the game.”
— PTI
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Kartik replaces Powar
Hyderabad, October 5 The selectors, who met here, decided to include the 31-year-old Kartik in place of burly spinner Ramesh Powar after the Railways bowler had an outstanding county stint early this year. Kartik was out of the Indian team for 19 months as he last played for the country against Pakistan in February 2006. He had lost his place in the team due to shoulder injury after which he went to play for the Middlesex English county and emerged as the highest wicket-taker in the last season. The next two ODIs of the seven-match series will be played on October 8 in Chandigarh and October 11 in Baroda. The team for Twenty20 match to be played between India and Australia at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai would be the same which won the World Cup in South Africa. However, Piyush Chawla, who is nursing an injury, has not been included in the squad, BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said. The surprise inclusion was obviously Murali Kartik who went out of India reckoning after the visit to Pakistan and also went out of action due to a shoulder injury subsequently. Kartik, who has played only 30 ODIs and eight Tests in his up and down career, was seen in the Neo Sports channel's studio along with retired Australian opener Michael Slater providing inputs on the matches during the ongoing ODI series. However, the selection of Twenty20 line-up was on expected
lines. — PTI ODI team: MS Dhoni (Captain), Yuvraj Singh (Vice Captain), Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Kartik, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uttappa, Irfan Pathan, R P Singh, Rohit Sharma, Murali Kartik, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth Harbhajan Singh. Twenty20 team: M S Dhoni (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Joginder Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Rudra Pratap Singh, S Sreesanth and Robin Uthappa.
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Aussie media manager taken to task
Hyderabad, October 5 After the match, when mediapersons gathered for the press conference, Pope protested with India's media manager Dr Bawa, saying it was the hosts' duty to ensure the presence of Australian scribes at the spot. Citing the absence of Australian journalists, both Ponting and Symonds declined to address the press meet which irked the Indian reporters. The mediamen took Pope to task for the behaviour of the Australian players alleging that the visiting team was insulting them. However, Bawa managed to contact the Aussie scribes and only after their arrival could the press conference be started. Later, Pope apologised to the Indian journalists for the players' behaviour. Yesterday, the mediapersons were unhappy with the fact that while Indian camp addressed the press conference at the venue, Ponting held it around the same time at the team hotel.
— PTI
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Inzamam quits Test cricket
Karachi, October 5 The second Test against South Africa beginning in Lahore on Monday will be his swansong Test for which he has been guaranteed a place in the playing eleven. The 37-year-old former captain told a news conference that he still had a couple of years' cricket left in him but after much thought and with a tinge of sadness he took the decision because he wanted to go "gracefully". "I thought about my future a lot and although I felt I can play for another one or two years, I think my presence in the dressing room might put pressure on the new captain and other players, so I have decided to retire now gracefully," Inzamam said. The burly batsman, the mainstay of Pakistan's batting line-up for years, scored 8813 runs in 119 Tests for an impressive average of 50.07. He needs another 20 runs to surpass Javed Miandad's record of 8,832 runs in 124 Tests. Inzamam had announced retirement from one day cricket following Pakistan's World Cup fiasco in March this year and his career had its share of controversies, including the Oval walkout against England. "I think this is the best time for me to move on and give the younger players a chance to cement their place. I have not taken this decision under any pressure from anyone," he added. Inzamam's decision to quit Test cricket also put to an end speculation on his future, particularly after the Pakistan Cricket Board appointed young Shoaib Malik as captain of the team. Inzamam said people needed to be patient with the new captain and team and he was confident they would go on to achieve things that he could not get as captain. "I have no regrets. I have had a fulfilling career for Pakistan although our poor performance in the 2007 World Cup would remain the lowest point of my career," Inzamam said. The PCB Chairman Nasim Ashraf said Inzamam had come to him with his own decision. "I am proud that he is setting a new trend in Pakistan cricket, which hopefully will become a tradition in our cricket and our players get a chance to retire gracefully and with honour," Ashraf said. Handpicked by the inspirational Imran Khan during his tenure, Inzamam made his Test debut against England at Birmingham in June 1992 and gradually became an integral part of the team.
— PTI
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SA record 160-run win
Karachi, October 5 Pakistan - needing a world record run chase of 424 to win - was bowled out for 263 just before tea on the final day, handing it a rare defeat at the National Stadium. No team in Test history had ever successfully chased such a large fourth-innings target. West Indies retain the record of the highest ever chase when it defeated Australia at Antigua in 2003 by scoring 418 runs. South Africa led by 159 runs after the first innings, and Jacques Kallis hit successive centuries in the second innings as the tourists declared at 264 for 7 for an overall lead of 423 runs. Scoreboard South Africa (1st innings): 450 Pakistan (1st innings):
291 South Africa (2nd innings- dec for 7 wickets): 264 Pakistan (2nd innings) (overnight 146-3) Hafeez b Steyn 1 Butt c Amla b Steyn 3 Younis Khan b Steyn 126 Iqbal c Kallis b Harris 44 Asif c Amla b Nel 6 Haq lbw b Nel 23 Malik c Nel b Ntinti 30 Akmal c Boucher b Harris 9 Rehman lbw b Steyn 0 Gul c Nel b Steyn 8 Kaneria not out 0 Extras:
(b8, lb4, nb1) 13 Total: all out in 84.5 overs) 263 Fall of wickets:
1-1, 2-20, 3-134, 4-161, 5-197, 6-230, 7-239, 8-249, 9-257. Bowling:
Ntini 12.5-4-34-1, Steyn 15-3-56-5, Nel 19-5-59-2, Harris 30-8-58-2, Smith 3-0-33-0, Kallis 4-3-4-0, Amla 1-0-7-0.
— AFP
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Chandigarh, October 5 After little master Ashwin Sundar’s exploits in the fifth round which landed him the championship titles in two classes -- Formula Hyundai and Formula Swift -- all attention will be on Aditya Patel and Rayomand Banajee in the premium class category -- Formula Rolon. In the Formula Hyundai category, Rayomand Banajee of Team Gemini Racing is well placed to take the runner-up slot. With just a few points separating Karthik Shankar (Team WSRF) - 52 pts, Aditya Patel(Team Gemini Racing) — 51 pts, Ajay Kini — 48 pts and Saran Vikram — 45 pts (both from Team WSRF), these promising youngsters will have to come up with spirited performances for the 2nd and 3rd places in the Formula Swift category. In the team championship points position, Team Prime Racing heads the table in the Formula Rolon class with 123 points. Team Rams Racing leads in the Formula Hyundai category with 138 points, while Team WSRF with Leela heads the table in the Formula Swift category with 128 points.
— TNS
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Ashutosh, Isha annex titles
New Delhi, October 5 The 25-year-old Delhi boy Ashutosh made full use of his experience to quell the challenge of a 16-year-old rising star from Chennai Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-4, 7-6, while Isha Lakhani disposed of former champion and her doubles partner Rushmi Chakravarthi of Chennai 6-3, 6-1. Isha recorded a hat trick of title wins in the DSCL Open, having been the defending singles champion for the past two years and earned a cash prize of Rs 80,000, while Ashutosh collected Rs 1 lakh. Both Ashutosh and Isha also made it a double each, winning the doubles titles as well. Prajesh, however, made amends later in the afternoon when he upset top seed Vijayant Malik of Chandigarh 6-3, 6-2 to lift the boys under-18 title. But Malik had the consolation of winning the doubles title, partnering Kaushik Das.
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WWF legends in action on Oct 26, 27
Ludhiana, October 5 The championship will be held at Guru Gobind Singh Stadium, Jalandhar, on October 26 and Guru Nanak Stadium, Ludhiana, on October 27. The event also features the Giant,
Yokozuna, Nikita and Jerry Lynn. M.P.Singh, president of the UWSI, said "We are bringing to Punjab some of the world's best wrestlers, including former superstars from the
WWE, the WCW, the ECW and the TNA", he added. — TNS
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Jeev shoots eagle
Chandigarh, October 5 Giving Jeev illustrious company at the tied sixth place were Ernie Els, Niclas Fasth and Luke Donald while Padraig Harrington marked the return to the scene of his Open Championship triumph with a two-under par 70 at Carnoustie. Teammate Jyoti Randhawa shot six birdies to finish tied 16th, one stroke behind Jeev returning a four-under card of 64.
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Orissa eves record 42-0 win
Gwalior, October 5 Sunkuri Barua scored 10 goals and Roselin Dungdung joined the goal mayhem to contribute 10 from her stick while Suluchana Kishan pumping in seven for the winners who led 21-0 at half time. Delhi joined the goal torrent in the day with a 28-0 runaway victory over Vidarbha with Monika scoring 10 times. In the other matches, Himachal Pradesh scored at will in their 27-0 decimation of Jammu and Kashmir and Tamil Nadu mauled Bhopal 22-0 while Haryana thrashed Chandigarh
15-2. — UNI
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Vinod, Karun script victory for team
Patiala, October 5 Six teams-Multi-purpose School, Atma Ram Kumar Sabha School, SDSE School, Guru Teg Bahadur School, Yadvindra Public School (YPS) and Budha Dal Public School-are taking part in the tourney. Brief scores Multi-purpose School: 218 for 9 (Vinod Kumar 60, Jatinder Kumar 37, Desh Deepak 2 for 35, Navneet Kumar 2 for 39). Atma Ram Kumar Sabha School: 63 all out (Sawan Kumar 24, Karun 5 for 6, Sagar Kumar 2 for 15).
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Ambala gymnasts on top
Ambala, October 5 Among the all-round winners, Narender of Bhiwani was first, Ritik of Ambala was second and Vikas of Kurukshetra was third. In the u-10 team championship, Ambala was first, Gurgaon was second and Rai was third. Yogeshwar of Ambala was first, Rahul of Ambala was second and Pritam of Gurgaon was third among the all-round winners. Meanwhile, in the u-12 team championship, Bhiwani was first while Gurgaon was second.
— TNS
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Lawn Tennis
Patiala, October 5 Earlier, the college had won the inter-college squash and judo championships. College principal Dr Satish Kumar Bhardwaj felicitated the team comprising Kuldeep Chugh and Gaurav Sharma during a function. Also present were chairman of Punjabi University selection committee Dr Parminder Singh Bawa. — OC
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Six karatekas win medals
Ambala, October 5 Sandeep Kaur and Harminder Kaur won gold while Diksha Verma and Ramanjit Kaur won bronze in the girls’ category while Mohit won gold and Sandeep Singh silver among the boys.
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Hyderabad, October 5
Former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, one of Pakistan's most prolific batsmen with a record 25 centuries to his credit, today announced his retirement from Test cricket, bringing the curtains down on an illustrious career spanning over 16 years.
