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India prevail over Oz in a cliffhanger
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Tendulkar, Dhoni score contrasting fifties; RP
Singh, Kartik strike crucial blows
Pitch Vision
Murali Kartik justifies inclusion
Badrinath to replace
Gambhir
Prince, Kallis prop up SA
Munaf puts Rest on top
Jeev finishes
tied 23rd
Asian
Women’s Football
MotoGP winner Abe dies in crash
Sharath Kamal gets Rs 40 lakh
Sundernagar, Kangra colleges emerge champions
Bob, Steffi win u-16 titles
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Sachin, Sourav won us match: Dhoni
Chandigarh, October 8 “Credit goes to Sachin and Sourav. Australian bowlers were bowling well. We could put up a formidable total of 291 runs due to the first-wicket stand,” he observed. Prodded about the focus being on seniors to perform after India’s unexpected victory in the Twenty20 World Cup, the maverick batsman was candid in his observation. “They have been excellent. The amount of talent they have is enormous. Though we have to more forwards and groom juniors simultaneously, there is no doubting the contribution or the talent of seniors.” Asked what was the turning point in the game, the Jharkhand player said the dismissals of Hayden and then Symonds were crucial. Besides, Harbhajan and Kartik bowled very well in the middle overs, he added. Declining to get carried away by the victory, which came after 11 losses on a trot to the world champions, and whether India were now eyeing a series win or at least levelling the series, the pragmatic Dhoni said the team was not thinking about the series at the moment. “We will be going match by match.” Defending his pace bowlers, who went for a lot of runs initially, Dhoni said it was not easy for the bowlers to stop the flow of runs in view of the field restrictions during the power plays. “On the whole, our seamers bowled well.” Asked whether sending Rahul Dravid ahead of hard-hitting Uthappa was a correct move, Dhoni said a look at Dravid’s statistics would reveal all. About the performance of spinners as it were they who checked the flow of runs and whether India would look at the option of laying greater stress on spinners in the remaining matches, Dhoni, in a lighter vein, replied: “If that be the case, we may play six spinners.” His counterpart Ricky Ponting said conceding so many extras was a matter of concern. Surprisingly, Australian bowlers, normally bang on target, conceded a whopping 31 wides which also helped India’s cause somewhat. “This is an area we will be looking into,” he said. Ponting concurred that the twin dismissals of Hayden and Symonds were the turning points in the match. While Hayden struck a run-a-ball 92, in-form Symonds responded with a superb 75. Besides, Ponting attributed the loss to the denial of early success when Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly were batting. “India won as they kept their wickets intact. We did not get early wickets. India responded well under pressure,” Ponting observed. “I don’t think we cracked under pressure. When you are chasing a big total, pressure is always there. Even when Indians were batting, Dhoni must have been facing pressure.” Ponting said the team was playing without key batsman Michael Hussey, who was always superb batting down the order. When asked if the Australian lower-order batsmen were good enough to handle pressure situation while chasing, he said, “It is not easy for tail-enders to bat in the conditions in the subcontinent.” “Brett was bowling superbly. The wicket was a little inconsistent but I think any batsman would have struggled against him today as he was generating impressive pace,” Ponting said. The tearaway Aussie quick was regularly touching the 150-kmph mark in his spell with the new ball.
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Pitch Vision
Chandigarh, October 8 In hindsight, the resolute resistance offered by Sachin Tendulkar to a fiery spell by Brett Lee in the morning was easily top-class batsmanship that laid the platform for other batsmen to follow. One shudders at the outcome of the Indian innings had some lesser batsman than Sachin Tendulkar been facing Lee, who moved the ball appreciably and at speeds in excess of 150 km per hour. For the uninitiated, it seemed that Tendulkar was batting slowly or was being scratchy, but that was possibly the best that one could offer. It took all of Tendulkar’s class, experience and temperament to counter Lee as the ball jagged back off the seam in either direction causing great trouble to the batsmen. Indian wickets are not known to offer such help and it is a rarity in one-day matches that there is an even contest between the bat and ball. Full marks to the curators on this account. The ring of green cover around the stadium and the freshness in the air on this ground makes the ball move more than expected. Despite the tinge of green on the wicket, Mahendra Singh Dhoni did the correct thing by opting to bat first after winning the toss. He was probably guided by two things. One, the report that the Sector 16 stadium pitch tends to get slower as the day progresses and two, his team had failed miserably while chasing in all previous encounters of this series against the Australians. The old form of Sourav Ganguly, who returned to the team after missing the previous encounters, and Sachin Tendulkar gave India a great start as the two put on 91 runs for the opening stand, the best effort by the hosts in the current series. The Bengal southpaw, who had to prove a point to the national selectors that he still has some cricket left in him even if his legs are not as swift as they were earlier, was his fluent best treating all Australian bowlers with disdain. His effort of 41 should stop the chairman of the national selection committee Dilip Vengsarkar from repeatedly saying that the board has to look around for younger talent as some of the players were getting old. Tendulkar would no way rate this 79 off 119 balls as his best. He also changed his bat twice to see if luck would go his way. He took 42 balls before he could hit his first four. Sachin did not take the field when India fielded but he had done his bit for the Indian victory. His next one-day match would be his 400th match and one eagerly waits for the occasion.
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Murali Kartik justifies inclusion
Chandigarh, October 8 India were in a must-win situation in the fourth one-day match of the Future Cup series here and the left-arm spinner responded to the challenge remarkably well. Kartik did not take long to settle into a nice line and length. His tantalising left-arm spin along with the off-spin of Harbhajan Singh choked the flow of runs in the middle overs. Kartik got the most crucial breakthrough when he sent back Matthew Hayden, the most profilic Australian batsman in the series. With the scores of 34, 75 and 60 in the earlier three matches, Hayden looked set to guide his team to victory until the crucial strike by the left-arm spinner jolted the Australians. After the match, Dhoni was effusive in his praise of the left-arm tweaker. “I am delighted with the performance of Kartik. He was brilliant today and played his part in the victory,” he said. Dhoni as well as Ricky Ponting agreed after the match that Hayden’s dismissal was the turning point in the game. The fact that Kartik bowling the crucial 48th over of the innings when the match was tantalisingly poised tells about the confidence the skipper had in the bowler. And Kartik did not disappoint his skipper. He was spot on target. His over rendered the target tougher for the Aussies. In the second match at Kochi, two off-spinners Harbhajan Singh and Ramesh Powar bowled in tandem and proved ineffective, while rival left-arm spinners Brad Hogg and part-time spinner Michael Clarke choked the flow of runs in the middle overs besides sharing five wickets among them, highlighting the utility of a left-arm spinner in the squad. Kartik being away from the radar for so long despite having done well whenever he got the opportunity to play for the country looked rather inexplicable. Kartik has had great success in the England county that he has been playing for the last two years. Due to his success, the same county recently signed Kartik for the season next year.
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Badrinath to replace Gambhir
Chandigarh, October 8 Gambhir sustained a groin injury and will be out of action for two weeks. “An MRI scan has not revealed a significant injury to the region, but from initial findings and clinical presentation, it appears that he will be unavailable for approximately two weeks,” said a BCCI release issued today. Badrinath had scored a double century for India ‘A’ in the recent series against South Africa ‘A’.
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Lahore, October 8 Prince (63) and AB de Villiers (45) were out in the final session to leave the match on an even keel after a slow but hard day on a pitch that had assistance for the bowlers. Mark Boucher was not out on nine and Andre Nel yet to score when bad light ended play seven overs before close of play. Prince was bowled by left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman, who beat him in the air and turned one in sharply, after a patient innings that spanned 132 balls and 180 minutes with five fours. He put on 83 for the fifth wicket with De Villiers. Kallis scored 59. — Agencies
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Rajkot, October 8 Munaf Patel was the most successful bowler for Rest of India as he picked up three wickets for 19 runs. Mumbai were all out for 453 in the first innings and in reply Rest of India made 472 runs. Rest of India went to lunch at 422 for eight and then overhauled the Mumbai score in the second session of the day. Manoj Tiwary made a scintillating 130 for Rest of India. — IANS Scoreboard Mumbai (1st innings) 453 Rest of India (1st innings) 472 Mumbai (2nd innings) Kukreja run out 14 Rahane c Chopra b Ishant 27 Jaffer not out 21 Muzumdar c Chopra b Bose 4 Naik lbw Munaf 13 Nayar c Chopra b Munaf 8 Powar b Munaf 7 Agarkar not out 7 Extras (lb-1, nb-3) 4 Total
(6 wkts, 31 overs) 98 Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-43, 3-50, 4-74, 5-82, 6-82. Bowling: Bose 11-1-42-1, Ishant 10-3-29-1, Mishra 4-2-7-0, Munaf 6-2-19-3.
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Jeev finishes tied 23rd
Chandigarh, October 8 Jeev and amateur John Tyson were tied at the eighth spot in the pro-am event with a 29-under par score of 259. The Chandigarh golf icon had started off well returning cards of five-under par 67 and four-under par 68 in the first two rounds played at Carnoustie and St Andrew's, respectively. Chiranjeev will now head for Delhi for the Hero Honda Indian Open starting on October 11. From there he will be back on the European Tour. England’s Nick Dougherty claimed his second title on the European Tour International Schedule with a two-stroke victory at St Andrews. The 25-year-old carded a closing one under par 71 over the Old Course for an 18 under par total of 270 which put him two ahead of fellow Englishman Justin Rose. Northern Ireland’s 18-year-old Rory McIlroy virtually guaranteed that he would become the youngest Affiliate Member in the history of the European Tour ever to earn a European Tour card by finishing third, a further stroke back, after a 68. The pro-am event was won by the Australian pair of European Tour professionals Scott Strange and 22-year-old university student from Sydney, Robert Coe, who finished with a 38 under par total of 250.
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Asian Women’s Football
Gurgaon, October 8 This was disclosed by parliamentary secretary and working president of the Football Association Rao Dan Singh while interacting with mediapersons here today. Rao Dan Singh said that all arrangements for the event have been finalised. He said that the National Junior Football Championship would be held at Gurgaon and Faridabad from November 12 in which 30 teams from all over India will participate. A state-level football championship for under-19 years will be organised from October 12 to 15 at Rewari. The top three teams will get a cash prize of Rs 21,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 11,000 respectively. A state-level football championship for women will be held in Mahendergarh from November 2 to 4.
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MotoGP winner Abe dies in crash
Tokyo, October 8 The 32-year-old ploughed into the truck while it was making the turn yesterday in the Tokyo suburb of Kawasaki, they said. Abe began riding motorbikes at the age of five and became the youngest-ever title winner when he won the 500cc class at the All- Japan Road Race Championship at the age of 18. He then joined the 500cc MotoGP, the world’s premier motorcycling championship. Abe won three titles, the Japanese Grand Prix in 1996 and 2000 and the Brazilian Grand Prix in 1999. — AFP
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New Delhi, October 8 The national champion was awarded Rs 40 lakh for winning the gold in men’s singles as well as in the men’s team event at the quadrennial sporting extravaganza, Table Tennis Federation of India said in a press note. — PTI
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Sundernagar, Kangra colleges emerge champions
Kangra, October 8 In the cricket final, Government polytechnic College, Sundernagar, defeated Kangra by 10 runs. Sundernagar scored 124 runs and Kangra could not chase the score and were out for 114 runs. Kangra was the runner up. In the basket ball final, GPC Sundernagar defeated GPC, Kangra, by 47:44 points and Kangra were the runner up. In the badminton (boys), GPC, Sundernagar, won the final and defeated GPC, Ambota,. Mohammad Raffique of Sundernagar defeated Laxmikant of GPC, Ambota, by 21:17 and 21:13.in the singles. In badminton (boys) in the doubles category Laxmikant and Tarkeshwar of Ambota defeated Mohammad Rafique and Amit of Sundernagar by 21-11 and 21:13 In reverse singles, Rajesh of Sundernagar defeated Akash of Ambota by 21:14, 14:21 and 21:14. In badminton (girls) singles Rajni of Hamirpur defeated Poonam of GPC, Kandhaghat, by 18-21, 21-16 and 21-17. In the doubles Meenakshi and Toko of Kandhaghat defeated Rajni and Kiran of Hamirpur by 15-21, 21-18 and 21-10. In the singles 3rd match Sheetal of Hamirpur defeated Meenakshi of Kandhaghat by 16-21, 21-19 and 21-1. The prizes were given to the winners by HP MLA and chairman of the OBC Financial and Development Corporation.
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Sangrur, October 8 In the final of u-16 boys doubles Anand and Bob beat Abhinav and Aman 21-11-, 21-6. In the u-13 boys singles final, Kamaldeep beat Rupinder while in the under-13 girls singles, Muskan from Sangrur beat Harlovleen. — TNS
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