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Dravid ‘rested’ for 2 ODIs vs Pak
India Blue to face Red in final
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Razzaq goes back on retirement
Jyoti stays tied 13th
Indoor Asiad
Manavjit bang on target
India eves lose to Iran
Rashid wins NCR Cup
Punjab School Games begin
Sub-jr hockey
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Dravid ‘rested’ for 2 ODIs vs Pak
Ahmedabad, October 27 The 34-year-old Dravid, who struggled for runs right through the recent ODI series against Australia, was left out of the team which has Uttar Pradesh paceman Praveen Kumar as the lone new face. Left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir, who missed the last four matches in the series against Australia because of an injury, expectedly made a comeback in place of S. Badrinath in the team announced by BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah after a meeting of the selection committee here. Apart from Dravid's exclusion, Sehwag's recall was also a surprise as the Delhi batsman has not scored too many runs to justify his place in the team. Chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar said Dravid was being given a break and should be back in the team soon. "We haven't spoken to him yet. We wanted to give him a break for a while. He is a great player and he will be back soon," Vengsarkar told mediapersons after the meeting which lasted close to two hours. Vengsarkar also said the selection committee had consulted captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni over the phone before finalising the squad for the first two matches to be held in Guwahati (Nov 5) and Mohali (Nov 8). Vengsarkar added "those who have not been picked definitely have a chance to make a comeback". On Sehwag, Vengsarkar said he had performed well in the current Challenger series and in the past against Pakistan. "Sehwag has played a fine innings today and he has also performed well in the past. He is an experienced player," Vengsarkar said referring to Sehwag's 57-ball 75 in the third match of the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy here. The chairman of selectors said pacer Praveen Kumar, who picked a five-wicket haul yesterday, gave options to the team. "Praveen has also done well for India A team and he give the team options," he said. Vengsarkar said "Badrinath's name was discussed" but they could pick only 15 fine players. "Badrinath is a fine player but we could pick only 15 fine players. We have picked a winning team. There is a role for everyone who does well," he said. Vengsarkar said the selectors didn’t discuss any name for Test captaincy in today's meeting. "We will discuss that in Mohali," he said. Shah said Lalchand Rajput would continue to be the interim cricket manager of the team during the series against Pakistan. Suresh Raina was among the prominent names to have missed the bus despite his impressive 92-run knock in the ongoing Challenger Trophy and added abilities as a top-class fielder inside the ring. Besides, wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik, Mohammad Kaif, spinner Ramesh Powar and pacemen Ajit Agarkar and Munaf Patel also failed to find a place in the squad. The selectors also decided not to implement a rotation policy and retained seniors like Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. Dravid, who has played 333 ODIs and scored 10,585 runs for an average of 39.49, has been out of form for quite some time now but his omission may appear to be a little too harsh considering his track record. It will seem all the more baffling since Sehwag was given a prolonged run to regain his form when he was going through a lean period under Dravid's captaincy. Dravid had a poor series against Australia with a string of low scores - 7, 0, 13, 0, 31 - in the five matches he batted before he was rested for the final ODI here on October 17. He had also struggled in the Natwest Series in England with poor scores of 0,4, 24 and 1 in the last four ties. Young Praveen Kumar was rewarded with a berth in the Indian team by virtue of his consistent performance in domestic matches as well as India A tours. The team: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Zaheer Khan, R.P. Singh, Irfan Pathan, S. Sreesanth and Praveen Kumar.
— PTI
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Praveen hopes to excel
Ahmedabad, October 27 "For the last two years, I have been playing well in the domestic circuit and the selectors might have noticed this," said the youngster hailing from Meerut. He was happy to have done well in the two matches of the ongoing Challenger Trophy. Playing for India Red, Praveen had picked up nine wickets in two matches.
— PTI
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Tendulkar set to be Test captain
New Delhi, October 27 Tendulkar has accepted the BCCI's request to take over the reins of the Test team after Rahul Dravid opted out of captaincy on returning from the England tour earlier this year, a top BCCI source said today. "It is the prerogative of the national selectors to announce the captain. Most probably Tendulkar's appointment would be announced only in Mohali on November 8 when the selectors meet again to choose the team for the remaining ODIs against Pakistan," the source said. The source also said selectors were pleased with Mahendra Singh Dhoni's performance as the ODI captain but did not want to put him under extra pressure by giving him the captaincy of the Test team for the high-pressure series against Pakistan, Australia and South Africa. They said Dhoni, while continuing to be the ODI captain, will be the vice-captain for the Test series. Tendulkar, who succeeded Mohammad Azharuddin in 1996 after the tour of England, had three stints as India captain during which he led the side in 25 Tests, winning four and losing nine. Tendulkar gave up the captaincy after the two-Test series against South Africa in 2000.
— PTI
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India Blue to face Red in final
Ahmedabad, October 27 India Blue rode on brilliant half-centuries by captain Virender Sehwag, Arjun Yadav, Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik to score 330 for eight in 50 overs before bowling out their rivals for 239 in 38.2 overs. Off-spinner Ramesh Powar and leggie Amit Mishra were most successful bowlers for India Blue, picking up three wickets each. India Blue topped the table with nine points, including a bonus point from today’s game, from two victories. After electing to bat, India Blue lost opener Swapnil Asnodkar (8) cheaply but Sehwag (75) exhibited his flamboyance to hit 14 fours and a big six in his 57-ball innings. The Delhi batsman was dismissed by Iqbal Abdulla but not before boosting his team to reach the 100-run mark. Arjun Yadav (65) and Suresh Raina (64) put on a 85-run partnership for the third wicket to take the Blue side closer to the 200-mark. As both fell in quick succession, wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik shouldered the responsibility and scored a useful 48-ball 65. He enabled India Blue to cross 300.
— PTI Scoreboard India Green
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Hong
Kong Sixes
Hong Kong, October 27 The Robin Singh-led Indian squad, which also includes Ajay Jadeja and Nikhil Chopra, beat New Zealand by four runs and then crashed to a three-wicket loss to England in the final match of the day. Reetinder Sodhi hit 35, while Jadeja got 31 as India made 88 without loss against New Zealand. In reply, the Kiwis were restricted to 84 for 1. India scored only 63 for 3 versus England. The latter reached the target for the loss of three wickets. India play Australia in another league game and in case they win, they get a chance to play another game in an attempt to try and find a berth in the semifinals. The most successful side of the day was the All Stars team, who had a bunch of retired stars, but all of them with enough ammunition to lay others flat. They did enough to win win all their three matches on the first day. Except for Anil Kumble, still a regular in Indian Test side, Shane Warne, Brian Lara, Glenn McGrath, Heath Streak and Craig McMillan have all retired from international cricket. Warne skippered the All Stars to wins over Australia, Bangladesh and South Africa. Former New Zealand international McMillan starred in all matches for All Stars as he scored 30 against Australia, 33 against Bangladesh and 21 against South Africa. All Stars also recorded the day’s highest score with 120 runs in five overs with McMillan getting 30 and Streak 36. Kumble hammered a quickfire 28. The only other team to have remained unbeaten on the first day was Sri Lanka, who beat Hong Kong by 23 runs and Pakistan by four wickets.
— UNI
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Razzaq goes back on retirement Lahore, October 27 “I have taken back my retirement decision on the advice of my club officials. I will resume playing domestic cricket from November 1,” he said. Razzaq, who has 46 Test caps and 231 appearances in ODIs, announced his retirement two months ago after being dropped for the Twenty20 World Cup and joined the unofficial Indian Cricket League. The 27-year-old said his commitment to the ICL remained in place. “When I signed the contract I knew what I was doing, so I remain committed to it,” he said, adding though that if the Pakistan Cricket Board wanted to talk to him he would be willing to review his ICL contract. — Reuters
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Mallorca (Spain), October 27 Randhawa, with a total of three-under 137, maintained his position after the second day of the competition yesterday. The Indian Open winner started the day on a disappointing note by dropping a shot on the first hole. He recovered by notching up birdies on the second and sixth, only to squander the advantage on the ninth hole, where he again had a bogey. Randhawa was more determined on the back nine as he achieved a birdie on the 11th. But he spoilt that gain by bogeying the 13th hole. Robert-Jan Derksen of the Netherlands and France’s Jean-Francois Lucquin share the lead.
— PTI
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Indoor Asiad
Macau, October 27 India team comprising Grandmasters K. Sasikiran, Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Koneru Humpy and Woman Grandmaster D. Harika topped the table with 12 points from six rounds in the team event. Indians defeated Pakistan, Philippines, Vietnam, China, Kazakhstan and Indonesia in the six rounds in that order. Sasikiran and Harika, who qualified for the men's and women's individual rapid event respectively by virtue of their best performance during the team event, also clinched a gold medal each. Sasikiran beat Ali Modhaki from Qatar while Harika defeated Farida from Iran. Seeded second behind China, the Indian quartet steamrolled lowly Pakistan 4-0 in the first match yesterday with all four winning their matches. India then beat Philippines 3-1 in the second match but after a minor hiccup, with Humpy unexpectedly losing to Perena Catherine. The third match against third seed Vietnam was tougher with Ganguly losing to Nguyen Truong Son and Harika drawing with Nguyen Thi Thanh, though India won 2.5-1.5. The upset win over China (2.5-1.5) in the fourth match yesterday took India nearer to the gold. Today, India defeated fourth seeds Kazakhstan 2.5-1.5 in the first match, with Sasikiran and Humpy scoring victories while Ganguly losing his match and Harika settling for a draw. India romped home with a 3.5-0.5 win over Indonesia. Ganguly drew with Wahjuwidajat Utut Adianto, while his three compatriots won their matches. India had also won the gold in the chess team event at Doha Asian Games in December last year. Sasikiran and Humpy had been part of that team also. India are fielding a 148-member contingent, including 118 athletes, in 13 of the 15 disciplines in the nine-day-long games which began yesterday.
— Agencies
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Surjit Hockey
Jalandhar, October 27 The first match of the day and the second one of the tournament was scheduled between Punjab National Bank and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd at 5.30 pm. The match began on time and Harisprasad of BPCL scored a field goal in the 8th minute. As the game proceeded for 15 minutes, the natural light reduced. The floodlights were switched on but they tripped and went off. This held up the match for almost 45 minutes. Later, it was declared that the remaining part of the match would be played tomorrow at 11 am. Another match between the Punjab and Sind Bank and the BSF teams that was scheduled late this evening has been postponed for Monday. Interestingly, it is for the first time that the tournament was being played under floodlights. The lights had functioned properly yesterday in the opening match. Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, who inaugurated the meet yesterday, had assured an amount of Rs 5 lakh annually to Surjit Hockey Society for organising the event. He also announced an amount of Rs 1 lakh to the winning team of the inaugural match. A declaration of Rs 10,000 to every player hitting the ball at the goal post in the opening match was also made by him. The opening match was played between Punjab National Bank, Delhi, and the Namdharis. The match ended with a 3-3 draw. Pramod Kumar of the PNB scored in the 4th minute. In the 9th and 11th minute, Paramjit Singh scored two goals for the Namdharis taking a tally to 2-1. In the second half, PNB’s Navdeep Singh converted a penalty corner to level the scores. Paramjit Singh of the Namdharis struck again in the 45th minute. The final goal was scored in the 57th minute by Jatinder Saroha.
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Manavjit bang on target
New Delhi, October 27 The ace Indian marksman pipped Almudahf Khaled of Kuwait in the tie-shoot after the two fired an identical score of 138 yesterday. Sandhu was joint second with 118 points after the qualifying rounds while Khaled was leading with 120 points. But Sandhu shot an excellent final round of 20, while his Kuwaiti opponent managed only 18, which resulted the match being stretched to a tie-shoot, in which Sandhu hit two birds to his opponent’s one. The Punjab shooter was joint second with compatriots Zorawar Singh Sandhu (118+19) and Anwer Sultan (118+17), who eventually finished fourth and fifth in the competition. Singapore’s Lee Wang Yew has to be content with the bronze despite being the highest scorer with 21 points in the final round as it was not enough to make up for his poor show in qualifying, where he managed only 116 points. In the women’s event a day before, India’s Shagun Chowdhry managed to get a place in the final six but finished last with a score of 75 (60+15). China’s Zhou Mei won the gold by scoring 86 (67+19).
— PTI
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New Delhi, October 27 Iran went through the second round on 5-4 aggregate, according to information received here. India
had won 3-1 in their home leg in Gurgaon on October 20. Iran had taken the lead
in the eighth minute through Fereshteh Karimi but goals from Oinam Bembem Devi
(14th), Bala Devi Ngangom (28th) and Lalvarmoi Hmar (78th) had sealed the match
in India’s favour. Iran had given the Indians a lot of trouble because of their strength and superior height. The
vociferous shouting and chanting by the Iranian Embassy staff and students of
Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia Islamia had made it seem a home
match for the Iranians.
— Agencies
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Rashid wins NCR Cup New Delhi, October 27 He booked a berth for the European Amateur Championship with his win at the Delhi Golf Club course here yesterday. Rashid sustained his form to have an overall seven-under 281 which gave him a five-shot lead over 20-year-old Aditya Singh, also from Delhi. The NCR Cup win helped him annex the Delhi state champion title as well.
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Punjab School Games begin
Tarn Taran, October 27 According to Piara Singh Talwar, district education office (secondary), 500 players from all over the state were participating in the games which will include handball and wrestling competitions. The inauguration function was presided over by the SSP Pawan Kumar Rai and MLA Harmit Singh Sandhu was the chief guest.
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Sub-jr hockey
New Delhi, October 27 Harwinder Singh and Ajay Singh struck as the Ladowali school beat GRM Senior Secondary School, Delhi, 2-1. Harjinder Singh scored a field goal in the 29th minute to help Harnam Dass school pip Baba Gurmukh Senior Secondary School, Khadoor Sahib, 1-0.
— PTI
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Ahmedabad, October 27
Hong
Kong Sixes
Surjit
Hockey
