The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Harbhajan, Kartik recalled
In-form Gambhir, Sehwag, Pathan left out

Mumbai, November 14
Spinners Harbhajan Singh and Murali Kartik were today recalled while the in-form Gautam Gambhir failed to find a place in the 14-member Indian squad for the first two cricket Tests against Pakistan.

Paceman Irfan Pathan and swashbuckling batsman Virender Sehwag, who managed to force their way into the Indian ODI team, were not included in the team announced by the Cricket Board here.

While the recall of Harbhajan and Kartik were very much on the cards, there were no surprises in the team to be captained by veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble with current ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni being made his deputy.

The two spinners were rewarded a place in the team for their good performances in the recent one-dayers against Australia and Pakistan.

The selectors' decision to go for an additional spinner in the home series meant that Gambhir could not be accommodated in the squad which has three specialist spinners and as many pacers.

The selectors also chose only two openers in Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Kaarthick, who had a successful combine in the series against England in July-August.

The 26-year-old Harbhajan was reinstated into the Test team for the first time since the tour of South Africa which ended in early January while left-arm spinner Kartik got inducted after a gap of almost three years.

The duo replaced Ramesh Powar, the stocky Mumbai off-spinner, and medium pacer Ishant Sharma who were both part of the Test squad that won the series in England in August.

Another member of that victorious 15-strong team, Bengal pacer Ranadeb Bose, also expectedly got the boot.

The recall of Harbhajan, with 238 wickets in 57 Tests under his belt, was on expected lines after his comeback to the one-day squad in place of Powar.

The Punjab bowler, who has also shown impressive form in the 50-over format at home in the last two series, last figured in a Test eleven in April-May 2006 against West Indies.

Harbhajan was not in the team for the tours of Bangladesh and England earlier this year after failing to make it to the playing eleven against South Africa though he was part of the squad.

Kartik's absence from the Test rankings has been even longer. The left arm spinner, who has played only eight Tests since his debut in 1999-2000, last played a Test against South Africa at Kanpur in 2004-05.

The first India-Pakistan Test is to be played at Delhi from Nov 22-26 while Kolkata will be the venue for the second match of the three-Test series from Nov 30-Dec 4.

The meeting was attended by all five members of the selection panel headed by Dilip Vengsarkar, and also present was newly appointed captain Kumble.

BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah convened the meeting and announced the list of team members but the BCCI decided to do away with their recent practice of asking Vengsarkar to interact with the media after the meeting.

Vengsarkar was recently asked by the BCCI to refrain from writing his syndicated newspaper columns too.

Shah told PTI that the team for the final Test at Bangalore (Dec 8-12) as well as for the following tour of Australia will be picked at the conclusion of the Kolkata Test match.

Kartik's improved display in the one-dayers since his recall out of the blue against Australia in the previous home series provided him with a chance to bounce back not only for the series against Pakistan but for the four-Test series Down Under too.

Test specialist Laxman and former captain Rahul Dravid, no longer figuring in the ODI squad, give meat to the experienced middle order which has Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Yuvraj Singh, besides wicket-keeper Dhoni to provide it with a rock solid look in home conditions.

The last middle order slot in the eleven could be a toss-up between Yuvraj, in great form in the shortened formats of the game, and the in-and-out Laxman.

The success of the middle order and the failure of Sehwag in his last Test series as opener in South Africa, seems to have swayed the selectors' mind from giving him another chance to relaunch his Test career.

But his place in the squad for Australia cannot be ruled out because of his superb run in the last visit down under.

The team: Anil Kumble (capt), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (vice-capt) Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Wasim Jaffer, R P Singh, S Sreesanth, Murali Kartik and Dinesh Kaarthick. — PTI

	Board gags Vengsarkar Mumbai, November 14 The Cricket Board has reverted to its old policy of gagging its selection panel chief from interacting with the media. “The decision not to allow the selection committee chairman to speak to the media after the meetings was taken at the office-bearers sitting (of the BCCI at Delhi) yesterday,” board’s secretary Niranjan Shah said. The selectors today chose the team for the first two Tests against Pakistan and the BCCI provided only a media release of the squad, instead of the normal media conference addressed by chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar. “From now on, there will only be media releases after a selection committee meeting and there won’t be any interaction (between chief selector and media),” said another board source. — PTI
	Upbeat India look to wrap up series Gwalior, November 14 Having taken a 2-1 lead after notching up a comprehensive win in the third game, a confident India would look to clinch the five-match series when they take on Pakistan in the fourth one-dayer here tomorrow. It is advantage India, psychologically, after Kanpur and the win has also ironed out some of the chinks in the bowling department though captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had said he would press for further improvement on this area and on the fielding which has been ordinary so far. On the other hand, Pakistan are in a must-win situation tomorrow though they could open the history books and see that when they toured India last time in 2005 they came back from 0-2 down to win the six-match series 4-2. India can also go back to pages of history and find that the Captain Roop Singh Stadium has been a happy a hunting ground for them, having won six of the eight games played which they have played so far here since 1988, the last time being the easy 37-run win against world champions Australia in the TVS Cup in October 2003. A win for India tomorrow will also erase the memories of the 2005 loss at home against the same opponents besides recording an ODI series victory after reverses in England and at home against Australia. At Kanpur, every Team India member contributed their bit and the bowlers did not disappoint the cricket fans after the batsmen, led by Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni, had set up the match. Traditionally, the venue has been a batting paradise and the Indian batting line-up looked formidable while their Pakistani counterparts looked shaky. Among the bowlers, RP Singh looked the best among Indian attack with five wickets from the series so far while Irfan Pathan did a good job at Kanpur to cut short dangerous Shahid Afridi though both of them conceded runs more than desired. But one man who would be looking to repeat his exploits would be the experienced hand Zaheer Khan who has not done anything spectacular so far. For Pakistan, tomorrow is a must-win situation but a crisis of sorts on the wicket-keeper's slot has come at a wrong time -- during a high-profile series. Kamran Akmal has been on the firing line for the last 18 months and he has aggravated his hand injury. Akmal has dropped catches regularly against England and South Africa, and in this series he has dropped four catches in the three matches so far including a reprieve to Ganguly off the first ball of the India innings off Shoaib Akhtar at Kanpur. It will be interesting to see what the Pakistan team management has to do with young Sarfraz Ahmed who was sent as a 'back-up' to Akmal. The team management though has said that if Akmal recovers in time, which will be known only after a fitness test, he would be in the playing XI tomorrow. Start of play: 2.30 pm. — UNI
	Akhtar ‘not ready’ for ODI series Gwalior, November 14 Despite his worthy performance in the previous three one-dayers against India, comeback man Shoaib Akhtar said he was not in the perfect shape to take on the arch-rivals in the on-going cricket series. Shoaib, who served 13-match ban before returning to the grinds of international cricket, is not bowling as quick as he bowled in his early days and insisted he needed to play more matches to be in perfect shape for the series. "I wasn't ready for the ODIs. I wanted to play three-four games before playing in the series," said Shoaib, who returned with the fifth and final ODI against South Africa at home. "I also needed to train more in the gym and get into the shape before the series," said the bowler, who so far has picked six wickets in the series. The 32-year-old speedster said although his pace had reduced he was bowling more sensibly than ever. "Bowling quick is thrilling and its very enjoyable. I am still bowling quick but I'm a bit more sensible now and also bowl dot balls in an over," he said during an interaction with the students of Scindia school on the Chirdren's day. Shoaib admitted that it was frustrating to get hit by a batsman despite bowling fast. "Yes, it is frustrating when you are bowling at the peak speed and you get hit by (Virender) Sehwag for a boundary through slips," he said. — PTI
	Malik must lead from the front Zaheer Abbas To win matches, a team must hold its catches. That unfortunately, Pakistan seem to have forgotten. From the very beginning I have been saying that both these teams are very poor fielding sides, but the way Pakistan have performed, they have actually managed to make India look a good fielding unit. Both Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Dhoni were dropped early at Kanpur and their 100-run partnership was the deciding factor in the Kanpur game. Until and unless Shoaib Malik and his boys get to grips with this and improve their standards in the field, they will always be a step behind their opponents. Another area of weakness that revealed itself particularly at Kanpur was the running between the wickets by Pakistan's batsmen. Salman Butt not only forgot to rotate strike in the middle overs when Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj and Murali Kartik were bowling, he was guilty of running out a few others. All this suggests to me that there is very little coordination in the Pakistan dressing room. Unless there is understanding of a high order, and a trust in your partner batsman, it is difficult to score runs in tight matches, and believe me, it does not get much tighter than an India-Pakistan game. Shoaib Malik is in trouble. I say this because he has had a very ordinary tour so far with both bat and ball and when that happens to a captain, it is bound to create problems. At the moment, the situation is such that if either Younis Khan or Mohammad Yousuf get runs, Pakistan have a chance. When they don't, the team just seems unable to perform as a unit. The Gwalior game is a make-or-break one for Pakistan., and they go into it under severe pressure. The opening combinations simply have not worked and both Kamran Akmal and Shahid Afridi have not emerged as the answer to Pakistan's problems. In fact, this is an area of weakness that has dogged the Pakistanis for the last seven-eight years now and I think it is time for Shoaib Malik to take up the challenge. He must lead from the front now if Pakistan are to survive in this series and get runs under the belt. Minus performance, a captain's position starts to get shaky and Shoaib is nearing that point. He is now in no position to ask anything of anyone on the basis of his captaincy alone. Like I said, until and unless Younis or Yousuf get big runs., Pakistan are in trouble. A pitch like the one we saw in Mohali is rare on the sub-continent and additionally, there has been no international cricket in Gwalior for close to four years. If the track is on the slower side, it will favour India simply because their spinners have done so well in the first three matches. Pakistan have just not been able to match them in this area. Above all, there is the matter of fielding. Pakistan's bowlers have not done so badly. It is the fielding that has made them look less than effective, and if that continues, I fear it will be very hard for them to come back and take the series to Jaipur with the scores level. — News Watch Asia
	Chappell seeks to downplay racist comment New Delhi, November 14 After terming a physical assault on him by an Indian fan as racist and accusing BCCI of being indifferent, former India coach Greg Chappell has sought to downplay his comments which were made at an "emotional time". Chappell had accused BCCI for attempting to cover up a serious issue of breach of security when he was attacked by a fan at the Bhubaneshwar airport. The former Australian captain made these accusations in a documentary - Guru Greg - which will be aired on ABC television next week. But Chappell later clarified that his remarks were old and he was going through an emotional phase at that time. "It's old news. It was a very emotional time when I made these remarks. It's a long way back and I'd like to talk about other things now. I am looking forward to being involved with the Rajasthan Cricket Academy for the next three years," he told CNN-IBN. The Indian Cricket Board has denied Chappell's allegations. "No way can it be called racist," BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said. "We treated the issue just like we would have treated it with any other Indian player. I remember calling him and finding out the issue. We also enhanced security and provided adequate protection. The local police also provided us with support," he said. Melbourne: Earlier, Chappell had claimed that the fan-assault on him in Orissa was a racist attack and the incident convinced him to not renew his contract with the BCCI. The former Australia captain has also accused Indian Cricket Board of covering up the incident. "There are plenty of Indian cricketers the guy could have attacked but he chose to attack me. I don't really buy the fact that he was talking about the lack of Orissa players in the Indian team. "If that was the case why didn't he accost the chairman of selectors or someone else who might have been involved in the selection process? Why would he attack one of the foreigners in the group - me as coach? There's a bit more to it than that," Chappell said. Chappell, who is now associated as coach of an academy in Rajasthan, said the assault convinced him not to renew his contract with the BCCI. "By that stage I had pretty much decided that the end of the contract was the end of the contract," Chappell said. — PTI
	Gilly ‘Greatest Aussie ODI Player’ Sydney, November 14 It came as a surprise gift for wicket-keeper batsman Adam Gilchrist on his birthday when he was voted as Australia's Greatest One-Day International Player today by the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA). The 36-year-old dashing left-hander received the honour from his peers, with all the 163 players who have represented Australia in ODIs were invited to vote, but in total, 110 players voted. Gilchrist overtook some of Australia's past and present cricketing greats with 38 per cent votes under his kitty. Skipper Ricky Ponting came second with 19 per cent, while former skipper Steve Waugh was on the third place with 14 per cent votes. ''To be given this enormous honour by my peers is unbelievably humbling and ranks highly amongst the accolades l have received over my career,'' Gilchrist was quoted as saying in a ACA statement. ''I have been very fortunate to have played in such a successful era and with such a great group of players. I feel very fortunate to be acknowledged in this way,'' he added. The swashbuckling wicket-keeper batsman has so far garnered more than 9,000 runs in 275 ODIs at an average of 35.98. He has scored 15 ODI centuries and 52 half-centuries with a strike rate of 96.66 and has also taken 400 catches and made 53 stumpings in his illustrious international career. — UNI
	Federer back on track Shanghai, November 14 World number one Roger Federer got his quest for a fourth Tennis Masters Cup title back on track with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Russian Nikolay Davydenko today. Following Federer on court, American Andy Roddick became the first player to book a semifinal spot at the season-ending event in Shanghai after crushing Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez 6-1, 6-4. Federer, stunned by Gonzalez in his round-robin opener on Monday, was again below his best but he was still good enough to eliminate Davydenko from the showcase eight-man tournament. “It was a different situation coming back from losing,” shrugged the Swiss, who had never lost a round-robin match at the Masters Cup before being ambushed by Gonzalez. Federer, who owns a 14-1 record against Roddick, must now beat the American on Friday to avoid an early exit from the $4.45 million event. With cow bells echoing around Qi Zhong stadium, Federer struggled to overcome an opponent he had beaten in all their previous 10 meetings. Federer, who is bidding to win a fourth title in the last five years at the tournament, did just enough to take a scrappy first set despite 22 unforced errors. He broke to lead 5-3, promptly dropped his own serve but restored normal service in the next game, breaking again to win the set when Davydenko blew an easy smash. Federer raised his game in the second, a forehand rocket giving him a 3-1 lead, and he quickly put Davydenko out of his misery to kick-start his title challenge. Gonzalez suffered a letdown after his upset over Federer with Roddick steam-rolling the Chilean in just 65 minutes to reach the semifinals for the third time in four appearances. — Reuters
	Paes-Damm duo sails into semis Shanghai, November 14 Veteran tennis ace Leander Paes' desire to win a third Masters Cup doubles title remained on course as he and his Czech partner Martin Damm stormed into the semi-finals of the Tennis Masters Cup here. The Indo-Czech pair prevailed over the Israeli duo of Jonathan Elrich and Andy Ram 6-4, 7-5 in a round-robin game yesterday and became the first pair to book a last four berth in the doubles competition. It was the 2006 US Open doubles champions third win in four outings over their Israeli counterpart, who came into the tournament as a late replacement for World number one combo of Bob and Mike Bryan of United States. Earlier, Paes-Damm pair, who came into the tournament after first round exits in the ATP Masters Series events in Paris and Madrid, defeated defending champions Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi 6-4, 6-1 in their opening doubles match of the season-ending tournament. — UNI
	Karun makes F1 debut in Barcelona Chennai, November 14 India’s Karun Chandhok made his Formula One debut in a Red Bull Racing car at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, yesterday. As the three-day official test session commenced, Karun, 23, from Chennai, did 39 laps around the 4.627 km circuit and was placed 18th on the time charts that Michael Schumacher topped — driving the Ferrari F2007 — followed by team mate and lead test driver Luca Badoer. Karun partnered David Coulthard, the 36-year old Scot with 229 race starts and 13 Grand Prix victories. Coulthard was eighth quickest in the course of his 55 laps. Karun’s job was primarily to test the new ECU (Electronic Control Unit) systems that will come into force for the 2008 season. His best lap was one minute, 24.896 seconds. Coulthard, who clocked 1:23.332, drove the RB3 with 2007 electronics but without the driver aids like traction control and engine braking that are outlawed for next year. His evaluations will help develop the 2008 machinery. — IANS
	Jalandhar boys win Nehru hockey title New Delhi, November 14 Government Model Senior Secondary School, Jalandhar, defeated Sat Guru Pratap Singh Academy, Sri Bahini Sahib, 4-2 to lift the ONGC Nehru Junior Boys' Hockey title here today. Lyallpur Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Jalandhar, beat Guru Harkishan Public School, Delhi, 2-1 to bag the third place. In the title clash, Sukhdeep Singh (30th minute) drew first blood for the Model school to help his side go into the lemon break with a 1-0 lead. Pratap Singh Academy dominated after the change of ends. Basant Singh (48th) and Saudagar Singh (50th) struck home in quick interval to snatch the lead from their opponents. However, Navnesh Kumar's brace (57th, 58th) through penalty corner conversions and Sukhdeep's second goal (68th) confirmed the Jalandhar boys' victory. — PTI
	ICL teams announced Tribune News Service Panchkula, November 14 The Indian Cricket League (ICL) today announced the names of players and coaches of the six teams for the upcoming ICL Twenty20 tournament scheduled to commence at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Sector 3, here from November 30. This most-awaited announcement came along with the announcement of third practice camp, starting November 16, in which each team will be practicing in their respective cities. The captains of the teams will be decided within a week. The teams: Chandigarh Lions Chris Cairns, Sarabjeet Singh, Imran Farhat (Pakistan), Dinesh Mongia, Hamish Marshall (New Zealand), T.P. Singh, Andrew Hall (South Africa), Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Rajesh Sharma, Ishan Malhotra, Daryl Tuffey (New Zealand), Sumit Kalia, Chetan Sharma, Manish Sharma, Love Ablish, Bipul Sharma, Karanveer Singh, Amit Uniyal, Gaurav Gupta and Harpreet Singh. Coach: Balwinder Sandhu Chennai Superstars Stuart Law, Ian Harvey (Australia), V. Devendran, R. Sathish, Hemang Badani, Chris Read (England), Tamil Kumaran, Hemant Kumar, R. Arnold (Sri Lanka), Sriram Sridharan, Syed Mohammed, Shabir Ahmed (Pakistan), Thiru Kumaran, J. Hareish, Vasanth Sarvanan, R. Jesuraj, Sanjeev Martin, G. Vignesh and P. Vivek. Coach: Michael Bevan Hyderabad Heroes Inzamam-ul-Haq, Anirudh Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Abdul Razzak (Pakistan), Azhar Mahmood (Pakistan), Syed Shahubuddin, Chris Harris (New Zealand), Nicky Boje (South Africa), Stuart Binny, Inder Shekhar Reddy, Vinay Kumar, Ibrahim Khaleel, Kaushik Reddy, Bheema Rao, Alfred Absolom, Shashank Nag, P.S. Niranjan, Baburao Yadav and Zakaria Zuffri. Coach: Moin Khan Kolkata Tigers Craig McMillan, Parviz Aziz, Darren Maddy (England), Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Lance Klusener (South Africa), Rohan Gavaskar, Upul Chandana, Deep Dasgupta, Abu Nechim, Shiv Sagar Singh, Boyd Rankin (Ireland), Mihir Diwakar, Rajiv Kumar, Sayed Akhlakh Ahmed, Subhomoy Das, Sujay Tarafdar, Pritam Das, Anshu Jain and Ali H. Zaidi. Coach: Darryl Cullinan Delhi Jets M. Attapattu, Niall O’Brien (Ireland), Mohnish Mishra, Tofeeq Umer (Pakistan), Abbas Ali, Paul Nixon (England), Dale Benkenstein (South Africa), J.P. Yadav, Ali Murtaza, T. Sudhindra, Abid Nabi Ahanger, Sachin Dholpure, Abhishek Tamrakar, Shalabh Srivastav, Abhishek Sharma, Dishant Yagnik, Dhruv Mahajan, Abhinav Bali and Raghav Sachdev. Coach: Madan Lal Mumbai Champs Brian Lara, Vikram Solanki (England), Robin Morris, Nathan Astle (New Zealand), Kiran Powar, Shreyas Khanolkar, J.Van der Wath (South Africa), Rakesh Patel, Avinash Yadav, Nantie Hayward (South Africa), Subhojit Paul, Dheeraj Jadhav, Anupam Sanklecha, Ranjeet Kirid, Pushkaraj Joshi, Suyash Burkul, Raviraj Patil, Nikhil Mandale and Sridher Iyer. Coach: Sandeep Patil.
	Gagandeep, VRV doubtful Tribune News Service Mohali, November 14 After losing some good players to Indian Cricket League, the Punjab team is likely to be further depleted as their two top pacers - Gagandeep Singh and VRV Singh - are doubtful in Ranji Test match against VVS Laxman-led Hyderabad, starting at the PCA stadium here tomorrow. Though the coach Gursharan Singh maintained that the final decision on both of these players would be taken after fitness test before the match, the sources confirmed that the chances of their playing were very dim. Experienced Gagandeep is suffering from hamstring injury while ankle injury may force VRV Singh to sit out. In their absence, rookie Bajinder Singh, another pacer, may make his debut. Punjab coach Gursharan Singh said, “We know, Laxman is class player but it needs only one good ball to get him out. The team will take on field with confidence. Every player is quite familiar with the nature of the pitch and conditions, which will be helpful during the match”. Skipper Pankaj Dharmani, Karan Goel, Uday Kaul and Ravneet Ricky strengthen the batting while left-arm spinner Ankur Kakkar and Sarabjeet Ladda will back the pacers. Test player VVS Laxman would be the most formidable player of the visiting team, which has also lost its nine players to the ICL. Besides their skipper, the team would rely on experienced all rounder Daniel Manohar, promising batsman Anoof Pai, upcoming Ashwin Yadav and of course Pragyan Ojha. “Both the teams have new players and do not know much about each other. We have a young side as a total of eight cricketers of the team were part of under 22 South Zone team this year. I have full faith in my players and will play the match with positive mind frame”, said Vivek Jaisimha, Hyderabad coach.
	Ropar eves in final Tribune News Service Sangrur, November 14 The Ropar district team defeated Sangrur district today to enter the final of the women’s section of the 51st Punjab Volleyball Championship for men and women at Badrukhan village, near here. In the men’s section, the Mansa team entered the semifinal by defeating Amritsar. Other results: Men: PSEB beat Patiala; Mohali beat Fatehgarh Sahib; Amritsar beat Faridkot; and Mansa beat Kapurthala. Women: Ropar beat Muktsar; Sangrur beat Barnala; Amritsar beat Moga; and Ludhiana beat Mohali.