S P O R T S

New Delhi, November 24 Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh struck crucial blows in the post-tea session on the third day today to leave the first Test evenly poised. Pakistan were 212 for 5 off 65.5 overs in the second innings.

It is anybody’s game now
The Test is at such a stage that both India and Pakistan must be nervous at this point in time. Each team has squandered the advantage once in the first innings with the bat and even now, there is no telling which way it could go. This first game of a three-Test series could not have been more evenly poised.

Security adequate: BCCI
New Delhi: The Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) on Saturday said that Indian and Pakistani cricketers had been provided with adequate security by the government.

Sampras stuns Federer
Macau, November 24
Pete Sampras shocked world number one Roger Federer 7-6, 6-4 today to pull back to 1-2 in their Asian exhibition series.

Dola strikes gold in archery World Cup New Delhi, November 24 Ace archer Dola Banerjee created history claiming the gold medal in the women’s individual recurve competition at the archery World Cup grand final in Dubai today. Dola Banerjee is the first Indian archer to claim the top honour. She beat Eun Young Choi in the final on Saturday.

Pollock sets up SA win
Johannesburg, November 24 Shaun Pollock took three wickets on his return to international cricket as South Africa beat New Zealand by three wickets in a Twenty20 international at the Wanderers Stadium.

Raina’s ton bolsters UP
Mohali, November 24
If yesterday was Uday Kaul’s day, today belonged to Suresh Raina. In reply to Punjab’s first innings score of 381 all out in 105 overs, UP put on 352 in just 66 overs losing seven wickets at stumps on the second day of the Group ‘B’ super league match at Punjab Cricket Association stadium here today.

Ranji Round-up
Mumbai fight back
Mumbai, November 24
Opener Sahil Kukreja slammed an unbeaten 89 as Mumbai fought back well against Delhi on the second day of their four-day Elite Division Group A Ranji Trophy tie here today.

FIDE arbiter title for Bhardwaj 
Chandigarh: World chess body FIDE (Federation International Des Echecs) awarded the title of FIDE arbiter to Dr Vipnesh Bhardwaj, lecturer, GGDSD College, Sector 32, Chandigarh, at the 78th FIDE Congress held in Antalya, Turkey, from November 10-17.

I-League
Dempo clinch opener
Margao, November 24
Riding on a brace by Nigerian Edeh Chidi, defending champions Dempo Sports Club began their campaign with a 3-0 victory over Salgaocar Sports Club in the inaugural AIFF Professional I-League match at Fatorda today.

BP, PSB enter final
New Delhi, November 24 
Punjab and Sind Bank (PSB) and Bharat Petroleum (BP) will face off in the final of the 44th Nehru Hockey Tournament here tomorrow.

Golf World Cup
Jyoti-Ghei improve to tied 19th
Dongguan, November 24 
Jyoti Randhawa and Gaurav Ghei forced their way back into the reckoning for a decent finish in the Omega Mission Hills World Cup with a brilliant seven-under 65 in the third-round fourballs to jump to the tied 19th spot here in China today.

Jeev slips to tied 51st
Chandigarh, November 24
Casio World Open defending champion Jeev Milkha Singh struck a very bad patch today as he tumbled to tied 51st spot on the penultimate day of the Japan Golf Tour even at the Kochi Kurashio Country Club in Japan today.

 Test poised on knife-edge
M.S. Unnikrishnan

Pakistan’s Salman Butt plays a shot on the third day of the Delhi Test. — AFP photo

New Delhi, November 24
Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh struck crucial blows in the post-tea session on the third day today to leave the first Test evenly poised.

Pakistan were 212 for 5 off 65.5 overs in the second innings, with Kamran Akmal batting on 21 and Misbah-ul-Haq unbeaten on 29, when play was called off a little early due to fading light at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground.

With India having taken a 45-run first innings lead, the visitors are ahead by 167 runs, with two dangerous batsmen holding fort.

It was a rather long and hard toil for the Indian bowlers in the first two sessions as openers Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed mixed caution with aggression to weather the spells of Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel. The partnership bloomed in a slow and steady manner and went much beyond lunch, but when Hameed spooned Kumble into the hands of VVS Laxman at silly point, hope returned to the Indian camp.

Kumble, who came on to bowl from the far end in the 24th over, replacing Sourav Ganguly, tasted success immediately with Hameed’s wicket.

But it was after a long while later that the second Pakistani wicket fell. In a dramatic turn, Kumble and Harbhajan shared two wickets each for 47 runs to reduce the visitors from 114 for 1 to 161 for 5.

Kumble, who took four wickets in the first innings, raised his tally to seven but could have added one more had Wasim Jaffer not dropped Misbah. Kumble enticed the batsman to pop one up when he had scored only one run, with the Pakistan total at 162 for 5.

Misbah celebrated the reprieve by clouting Harbhajan for two towering successive sixes.

If the visitors hoist a second innings lead of over 230 runs, India would find it difficult to chase the target on a turning track.

Kumble once again displayed his captaincy acumen with intelligent shuffling of the bowling.

In the morning, Laxman and Kumble carried India from 228 for 6 overnight to 262 for seven. Kumble made 24 with three boundaries off 69 balls, while Laxman remained not out on 72 with eight fours, staying at the wicket for 248 minutes.

Kumble, Harbhajan, Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel departed in the space of 14 runs as India were all out for 276 in 78.4 overs.

Scoreboard

Pakistan (1st innings) 231

India (1st innings)

Jaffer lbw Akhtar 32

Karthik c Akmal b Akhtar 9

Dravid b Tanvir 38

Tendulkar run out 1

Ganguly b Tanvir 8

Laxman not out 72

Dhoni c Akmal b Kaneria 57

Kumble c Younis b Kaneria 24

Harbhajan b Tanvir 1

Zaheer c Akhtar b Kaneria 9

Munaf lbw b Kaneria 0

Extras (b-11, lb-8, nb-5, w-1) 25

Total (all out, 78.4 overs) 276

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-71, 3-73, 4-88, 5-93, 6-208, 7-262, 8-263, 9-276.

Bowling: Akhtar 16-2-44-2, Tanvir 24-5-83-3, Sami 17-1-71-0, Kaneria 21.4-3-59-4.

Pakistan (2nd innings)

Butt c Dravid b Kumble 67

Hameed c Laxman b Kumble 36

Younis lbw Kumble 23

Yousuf c&b Harbhajan 18

Malik b Harbhajan 11

Akmal not out 21

Misbah not out 29

Extras (lb-6, nb-1) 7

Total (5 wkts, 65.5 overs) 212

Fall of wickets: 1-71, 2-114, 3-149, 4-155, 5-161.

Bowling: Zaheer 11-2-32-0, Patel 9-1-48-0, Kumble 20.5-7-55-3, Ganguly 8-2-16-0, Harbhajan 15-4-51-2, Tendulkar 2-0-4-0.  

 It is anybody’s game now
Zaheer Abbas

The Test is at such a stage that both India and Pakistan must be nervous at this point in time.
Each team has squandered the advantage once in the first innings with the bat and even now, there is no telling which way it could go. This first game of a three-Test series could not have been more evenly poised.

In a sense, we are back to the afternoon of the first day. Pakistan are 167 runs ahead with five wickets in hand. Early wickets will mean the pendulum will swing back India’s way.

But if first innings hero Misbah-ul-Haq can carry Kamran Akmal and the tail with him and see another 100-120 runs on the board, it will be a very different ball game altogether.

The Kotla wicket is still not doing all that much and if batsmen apply themselves, there is no reason why they cannot prosper and get runs on the board.

Both teams have not made full use of their opportunities. Pakistan should have batted India out of the match when they won the toss and to take first strike.

India, in turn, could have sealed the issue by now but did not find the batsmen to do the job. Now it is virtually all square again.

Having said that, I must compliment the Pakistan bowlers for the way they kept this strong Indian batting line-up in check and allowed a lead of only 45 runs.

That could have been a telling one had the Indians managed to take early wickets but in their second innings, Pakistan were showing much better application till the middle order collapsed.

The fact that not one of five wickets to fall in the Pakistan second innings is an indication of just how much this track has rolled out.

Add the three wickets Danish Kaneria picked up of the last four to fall this morning and you begin to understand why the faster bowlers are really having to bend their backs.

This leads me to believe that it could be the spinners who will have the greater say from now on.

My guess is that starting from tomorrow afternoon, we will see the pitch start to take more turn that it has so far, which is why it is important for Pakistan to bat as long as is possible.

Bowlers tend to operate with much more freedom when they have a substantial target to defend. A total that is inadequate — and even now, it is difficult to say with any accuracy what a substantial target is — in turn puts the bowlers under pressure.

It’s really close and I’m still hedging my bets. The first hour on Sunday could well have a defining influence on the this see-saw match. — News Watch Asia

Security adequate: BCCI

New Delhi: The Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) on Saturday said that Indian and Pakistani cricketers had been provided with adequate security by the government.

Board vice-president Rajiv Shukla said the teams were satisfied with the arrangements. “So far, I think adequate security arrangements have been made and proper cover has been provided to players as well as spectators.”

Shukla said this after it was reported that an e-mail threatening a series of explosions, including an attack on the Pakistani cricket team, had been received by a private TV channel.

He said the BCCI has spoken to the Home Ministry on the issue of security, adding that before every match, the board got in touch with the ministry and whenever any security arrangements were required, “it let them know.” — UNI 

Sampras stuns Federer

Tennis legend Pete Sampras celebrates after beating world number one Roger Federer during their exhibition game in Macau on Saturday. — AFP Photo

Macau, November 24
Pete Sampras shocked world number one Roger Federer 7-6, 6-4 today to pull back to 1-2 in their Asian exhibition series.

The former US world champion forced the 
first break of the match at 4-4 in the second set and served out for victory. He had earlier taken the first set in the tie-breaker 10-8 after a tight affair in which there were no breaks of serve.

Sampras started the match strongly with his trademark heavy serve firing, hitting two 
aces in the first game and never letting up. Both players hit 14 aces during the match.

Their clash at Macau’s Venetian resort was their third match in just five days.

Federer won the first match in Seoul on Tuesday 6-4, 6-3 in 61 minutes.

The second clash, in Kuala Lumpur, was a closer affair over 90 minutes, with the 26-year-old Federer running out as the winner after winning both sets in tie-breakers.

The two met only once on the ATP Tour, in the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2001, when Federer defeated the American in five sets.

That loss ended Sampras’ reign at the All England Club. Sampras, now 36, retired from professional tennis in 2002. — AFP

 Dola strikes gold in archery World Cup

New Delhi, November 24
Ace archer Dola Banerjee created history claiming the gold medal in the women’s individual recurve competition at the archery World Cup grand final in Dubai today.

Dola beat Eun Young Choi of Korea 110-109 in a closely fought summit clash to claim top honours.She had earlier beaten Russian Natalya Erdyniyeva 108-106 to advance to the title round.

Choi had beaten China’s Juan Juan Zhang 114-105 to enter the final of the event. The Russian archer defeated Zhang 106-103 to win the bronze medal.

This is the first occasion an Indian had claimed the coveted title and would be a great morale booster for her as well as the national archery contingent preparing for next year’s Beijing Olympics.

The World Cup final followed four legs of competition in Korea, Turkey, Italy and the UK. Dola was the lone Indian in the fray in the elite field.

Dola had come from behind in the fourth leg in Dover, England, to defeat Zhang in a nerve-wrecking match (111-110) and win the gold medal.

She gathered 37 points despite missing the third leg in Italy and was placed fourth among the finalists.In the final, all matches were 12-arrow contests, shot in four rounds of three arrows.

Earlier, India’s Jayanta Talukdar had reached the World Cup final in the men’s individual recurve competition last year and finished fourth. — PTI

Pollock sets up SA win

Johannesburg, November 24
Shaun Pollock took three wickets on his return to international cricket as South Africa beat New Zealand by three wickets in a Twenty20 international at the Wanderers Stadium.

Veteran all-rounder Pollock, who was not selected for the Test series against the Black Caps, yesterday took three for 28 as New Zealand struggled to reach 129 for seven in the allotted 20 overs.

AB de Villiers hit the only half-century of the match as South Africa made hard work of their reply before tailender Johan Botha hit a boundary off Kyle Mills to seal victory with one ball to spare.

De Villiers finished with 52 not out off 45 balls but South Africa got into a tangle against some accurate bowling by New Zealand spinners Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel towards the end of the match.

Pollock was quickly into the action after South Africa sent New Zealand in to bat. He took the first two wickets of Brendon McCullum and Jamie How and followed up by dismissing New Zealand captain Vettori in his second spell. — AFP 

Raina’s ton bolsters UP
Akash Ghai
Tribune News Service

Mohali, November 24
If yesterday was Uday Kaul’s day, today belonged to Suresh Raina. In reply to Punjab’s first innings score of 381 all out in 105 overs, UP put on 352 in just 66 overs losing seven wickets at stumps on the second day of the Group ‘B’ super league match at Punjab Cricket Association stadium here today. 

Raina scored 123 off 130 balls.

The hosts have been missing their key bowler Gagandeep Singh, who is out of action due to a hamstring injury. Though VRV completed a five-wicket-haul, the flow of runs could not be controlled. He finished with figures of 19-2-102-5.

Resuming from the overnight score of 324 for 7, Punjab batsmen could accumulate only 57 runs in their total.

Uday finished at 162, adding just 11 runs in his yesterday’s score. Debutant Charanjit Singh was bowled out by Piyush Chawla on 40 runs.

Raina, who took the field at the total on 91 for 3, steered the team to 244 for 4 in 48 overs with skipper Mohammad Kaif, who hit 66 in 87 balls. They stitched a 143-run partnership before Kaif become a victim of VRV.

Raina slammed 19 boundaries and two sixes during his innings, which was brought to an end by Birender Singh, who caught the batsmen off his own bowling.

This is the second ton of Raina in the season after he hit 203 against Orissa.

Earlier, Rohit Srivastav (40) and S.S. Shukla (25) provided a 61-run opening partnership to UP.

Scoreboard

Punjab (1st innings): Ravneet Ricky b Tyagi 3; Karan Goel c Amir Khan b Praveen 2; Sunny Sohal c Raina b Tyagi 8; Pankaj Dharmani lbw Praveen 46; Uday Kaul c Amir Khan b Abid Khan 162; Ravi Inder c Amir Khan b Praveen 45; Ankur Kakkar c Kaif b Chawla 3; Manpreet Gony lbw Praveen 8; Charanjit Singh c Kaif b Tyagi 40; Birinder Singh b Piyush Chawla 19; VRV Singh not out 11

Extras (b-22, lb-7, w-1, nb-4): 34

Total (all out, 105 overs) 381

FoW: 1-3, 2-11, 3-17, 4-103, 5-224, 6-229, 7-240, 8-343,9-347.

Bowling: Praveen Kumar 25.2-6-60-4; Shivakant Tyagi 30.4-5-107-3; M Abid Khan 26-4-96-1; Ravikant Shukla 2-0-5-0; Piyush Chawla 21-2-84-2.

Uttar Pradesh (1st innings): Rohit Prakash Srivastava c Kaul b VRV Singh 40; Shivakant Shukla c Dharmani b VRV Singh 25; Tanmay Srivastava c Goel b VRV Singh 4; Mohd Kaif lbw VRV Singh 66; Suresh Raina c & b Birinder 123; Ravikant Shukla c Dharmani b VRV Singh 1; Amir Khan c Kaul b Gony 16; Piyush Chawla batting 30; Praveen Kumar batting 20

Extras (b-11, lb-6, w-3, nb-7): 27

Total (for 7 wickets): 352

FoW: 1-61, 2-67, 3-91, 4-244, 5-256, 6-294, 7-324.

Bowling: VRV Singh 19-2-102-5; Birinder Singh 10-1-54-1; Manpreet Gony 14-2-65-1; Ankur Kakkar 3-0-29-0; Charanjit Singh 14-1-54-0; Karan Goel 6-0-31-0.

Ranji Round-up
Mumbai fight back

Mumbai, November 24
Opener Sahil Kukreja slammed an unbeaten 89 as Mumbai fought back well against Delhi on the second day of their four-day Elite Division Group A Ranji Trophy tie here today.

The hosts first dismissed Delhi for 251, thus restricting their first innings lead to 85, and then surged to 154 for two at close. At stumps, holders and 37-time champions Mumbai had an overall lead of 69.

Brief scores: Mumbai (1st innings): 166

Delhi (1st innings): 251 (Gautam Gambhir 89; Rajat Bhatia 49; Avishkar Salvi 3-44, Abhishek Nair 2-52, Ajit Agarkar 2-52)

Mumbai (2nd innings): 154 for 2 (Sahil Kukreja 89 n.o.)

Jharkhand on top

Jammu: Jharkhand batted well to reach 278 for 7 in the second innings on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Plate League match against Jammu and Kashmir here on Saturday. Jharkhand lead by 250 runs with three wickets remaining.

Brief scores: Jharkhand (1st innings): 105

J&K (1st innings): 133

Jharkhand (2nd innings): 278 for 7 (Manish Vardhan 79, Saurav Tiwary 64 n.o.; Sameer Ali 2-40, Sameer Khajuria 2-74).

Rlys take lead

Rohtak: Guided by captain Sanjay Bangar’s superb all-round show, Railways took a 79-run lead on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Plate League match against Haryana here on Saturday. In reply to the hosts’ first innings total of 193, Railways finished the day at 272 for 5.

Brief scores: Haryana (1st innings): 193 (Gaurav Vashisht 59, Sumeet Sharma 34; Sanjay Bangar 4-56, Sanjib Sanyal 2-22)

Railways (1st innings): 272 for 5 (Sanjay Bangar 64, Amit Pagnis 59; Sachin Rana 3-40)

HP face defeat

Dharamsala: Himachal Pradesh were on the brink of an innings defeat at close of play on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Super League match against Maharashtra here on Saturday. Forced to follow on after being shot out for 83, the hosts were 41 for 2 in the second innings.

Brief scores: Maharashtra (1st innings): 310 (Venugopal Rao 112, Sairaj Bahutule 74; Vikramjeet Malik 4-69, Ashok Thakur 3-86)

HP (1st innings): 83 (Maninder Bisla 23 n.o.; Sairaj Bahutule 5-29)

HP (2nd innings): 41 for 2 (Mukesh Sharma 25 n.o.; Samad Fallah 2-18). — Agencies 

FIDE arbiter title for Bhardwaj 
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh: World chess body FIDE (Federation International Des Echecs) awarded the title of FIDE arbiter to Dr Vipnesh Bhardwaj, lecturer, GGDSD College, Sector 32, Chandigarh, at the 78th FIDE Congress held in Antalya, Turkey, from November 10-17.

Dr Bhardwaj, joint secretary, All-India Chess Federation; And honorary secretary, Chandigarh Chess Association, is the first arbiter from North India to have been awarded the title of FIDE arbiter.

I-League
Dempo clinch opener

Margao, November 24
Riding on a brace by Nigerian Edeh Chidi, defending champions Dempo Sports Club began their campaign with a 3-0 victory over Salgaocar Sports Club in the inaugural AIFF Professional I-League match at Fatorda today.

Edeh Chidi in the 3rd and 24th minutes and Renti Martin in the 67th minute scored for Dempo.

Earlier, the championship was inaugurated by film star John Abraham in the presence of union minister for information and broadcasting Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, who is also the AIFF president, and Goa CM Digamber Kamat.— UNI 

 BP, PSB enter final

New Delhi, November 24
Punjab and Sind Bank (PSB) and Bharat Petroleum (BP) will face off in the final of the 44th Nehru Hockey Tournament here tomorrow.

While PSB defeated Namdhari XI 4-1 in the semifinal, BP got the better of Indian Airlines 3-2.

For PSB, the scorers were Vikramjit Singh (10th minute), Mandeep Singh (16th), Sarvanjit Singh (48th) and Gurvinder Chandi (52th).

Namdhari XI reduced the margin in the 34th minute through Harpal Singh.

In the second semifinal, Gurpreet Singh struck for BP in the 32nd and 47th minutes. Sandeep Michael and Sandeep Singh scored one goal each to draw level for IA but Sabu got the match-winner for BP in the 67th minute. — PTI 

Golf World Cup
Jyoti-Ghei improve to tied 19th

Dongguan, November 24
Jyoti Randhawa and Gaurav Ghei forced their way back into the reckoning for a decent finish in the Omega Mission Hills World Cup with a brilliant seven-under 65 in the third-round fourballs to jump to the tied 19th spot here in China today.

Ghei and Randhawa have a total of seven-under 205 and are determined to end with a flourish tomorrow but Ghei has admitted he was not in the best of form and has so far relied on Randhawa’s aggressive play.

At the top, overnight leaders Boo Weekley and Heath Slocum of the USA held on to their one-stroke lead after firing a 66 to take their total to 196.

The French pair of Rapahel Jacquelin and Gregory Havret and the Scottish duo of Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren were tied for the second spot after returning cards of 62 and 66, respectively. — PTI  

Jeev slips to tied 51st
Our Golf Correspondent

Chandigarh, November 24
Casio World Open defending champion Jeev Milkha Singh struck a very bad patch today as he tumbled to tied 51st spot on the penultimate day of the Japan Golf Tour even at the Kochi Kurashio Country Club in Japan today.

The Chandigarh golfer fumbled on the return nine after posting a good one-under-par 35 on the front nine. He had a hat-trick of bogeys on the 10th, 11th and 12th. A double bogey on the 16th followed by another bogey saw him reach six-over on the 17th. But then a birdie on the last hole saw him finish the day with a four-over card of 76 and an overall three-day tally of three-over-par 219.

Jeev, who had fired a four-under par 68 yesterday to climb to the tied 15th spot, was today placed tied 51st.

Shiv Kapur played a one-under-par 71 to climb to the 39th spot at two-over 218.

Chris Campbell from Australia fired an eight-under par 64 today to take the lead at nine-under 207. Tied at second spot were Toru Taniguchi and fellow Japanese IJ Chang at eight-under 208. 

BRIEFLY

Uttarakhand Cong to felicitate Dhoni
Dehra Dun: After the ruling BJP government declared that it had no intention to felicitate Indian one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee has announced that it would honour him instead. Uttarakhand Congress state chief Yashpal Arya on Saturday told mediapersons said that Dhoni was domicile of the state as his father belonged to Lavali village in Almora district and had shifted to Ranchi only in 1972. Dhoni’s uncle still resides in Lavali village. It was in 2003 that Dhoni had last visited his ancestral house. — UNI

RP, Sreesanth ruled out of second Test
New Delhi: The Indian pace duo of Rudra Pratap Singh and S Sreesanth were on Saturday ruled out of the second Test against Pakistan due to injuries. The two fast bowlers are also not playing in the first Test at Ferozeshah Kotla here. While RP Singh is nursing a thigh strain, Sreesanth has an injured shoulder. The second Test will be played at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, from November 30. — PTI

Punjab’s Manpreet sets shot put record
Vijayawada: A new meet record was created by Manpreet Kaur of Punjab in the shot put by registering a distance of 13.83m in the girls u-20 on the first day of the four-day 23rd Junior National Athletics Championship held at IGMC stadium here on Friday. Manpreet Kaur erased the old record in the name of Apalesh of Haryana who had managed 12.99m in Bangalore last year. Neelam (Haryana) and B. Anamica (Tamil Nadu) secured second and third places with 12.42m and 11.79m respectively. — PTI

Punjab are schools cricket champs
Mumbai: Punjab defeated Delhi by 14 runs to lift the 53rd National Schools Cricket Tournament for under-14 boys at the PJ Hindu Gymkhana ground here on Friday. Punjab rode on a half century (52 in 68 balls) from Gagandeep Singh to tally 155 for 8 in 35 overs and then shot out Delhi for 141 in 34.4 overs in the final. Man of the match Abhishek was the wrecker-in-chief with a five-wicket haul. — PTI