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Sachin ends ton drought Harbhajan Singh (L) is congratulated by Sachin Tendulkar on completing his fifty during the
third day of the second Test against Australia in Sydney on Friday. — AFP
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‘Chance for us to get even’
Symonds accuses Harbhajan of racial abuse
More records for Milestone Man
Kiwis on top
New Zealand’s Matthew Bell plays a shot on the first day of the first Test against Bangladesh on Friday. — AFP
photo
SA in control
Information and broadcasting minister and All-India Football Federation president Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi (R) and CMD Bharti Enterprises Sunil Mittal pose with children at a press conference in New Delhi on Friday.
— Tribune photo by Mukesh Aggarwal
Chennai Open
USA clinch Hopman Cup
Farhat, Umar move court
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Sachin ends ton drought
Sydney, January 4 While the home side had reduced the deficit by 13 without loss in their second venture when stumps were drawn, the adrenalin from overhauling Australia’s score of 463 was inestimable. Saturday should establish its value vis-a-vis the match. Tendulkar’s 38th Test ton was not the luminous century of 16 years ago or the dour double hundred of the last tour. It was a combination of impregnable defence interspersed with imperious strokeplay. And it injured the world champions, as Ganguly, all sparkle, posted a 78-ball 67 in a 108-run stand for the fourth wicket with Tendulkar; and Harbhajan produced a feisty, fighting 63 — his third Test 50. The Dadar dynamo swept Brad Hogg for four and slog-swept him for six. Then, his patent upper cut and cover drives tormented Lee as these galloped to the fence. Finally, a back-foot cover drive off Stuart Clark took him past the threshold of three figures. He has now amassed 455 runs since last losing his wicket at the SCG in 1999-00, boasting a bullish average of 326 in four appearances, in three of which he’s hit a hundred. Worshipping the skies, bat and helmet raised, Tendulkar looked visibly moved at reaching the milestone. He had broken the hoodoo of stumbling in the 90s — six times in one-day internationals and once in a Test – in the bygone year. “I didn’t look at the scoreboard (when approaching the landmark),” he admitted. Intriguingly, he refrained from farming the bowling. Perhaps, if only he had been slightly more aggressive in the company of the tail-enders, who realised 187 runs for the last three wickets with him, India’s surplus might have been more substantial. Brett Lee predicted: “The next two days promise to be two cracking days.” Other than Lee with the new ball — and he unsurprisingly finished with figures of five for 119 — the Australian bowling lacked penetration. If the wicket turns hereafter, India, with Anil Kumble and Harbhajan in their ranks, should be better equipped to utilise the older ball than Australia. India resumed on 216 for three. Ganguly, in his element — and he’s in the form of his life — lived up to his pet name “Maharaj”. A square drive and a cover drive — both regally executed for boundaries — welcomed Lee. Soon, he danced down the track to Hogg to loft him for four to long-on, then pulled a short one to the midwicket rails, before hoisting Michael Clarke, slow left-arm, to long-off for six. Hogg, though, went round the wicket to turn one into Ganguly from the “rough”, which beat the batsman in the air as well as off the pitch. The left-hander only chipped to mid-off via the outer face of the bat. His departure exposed Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to the second new ball; an examination they failed. The former, with a whip to square leg and an off drive — both racing to the ropes — was beginning to find his feet when he was trapped lbw; while the one-day skipper was defeated by the higher bounce of an Australian wicket to present Adam Gilchrist with his 400th Test victim. Both times, Lee, playing at home, was the one to strike. Tendulkar was barely past his half-century when Harbhajan joined him. But he continued unhurried, as the Sikh was off like a rocket, once pulling Lee, “Nataraj” style, for four to mid-wicket. His swashbuckling innings included a scorching on-drive off Mitchell Johnson among his eight fours to bring up his 50 and contributed significantly to a record eighth-wicket partnership for India of 129. Twice, he even staved off Lee’s viciously reverse swinging yorkers. He finally edged Johnson to short thirdman; but not before he had brilliantly put Australia to the sword. Scoreboard Australia (1st innings) 463 India (1st innings) Jaffer b Lee 3 Dravid c Hayden b Johnson 53 Laxman c Hussey b Hogg 109 Tendulkar not out 154 Ganguly c Hussey b Hogg 67 Yuvraj lbw Lee 12 Dhoni c Gilchrist b Lee 2 Kumble c Gilchrist b Lee 2 Harbhajan c Hussey b Johnson 63 RP Singh c Gilchrist b Clark 13 Ishant c&b Lee 23 Extras
(b-4, lb-13, w-6, nb-8) 31 Total (all out, 138.2 overs) 532 Fall of wickets:
1-8, 2-183, 3-185, 4-293, 5-321, 6-330, 7-345, 8-474, 9-501. Bowling:
Lee 32.2-5-119-5, Johnson 37-2-148-2, Stuart Clark 25-3-80-1, Symonds 7-1-19-0, Hogg 30-2-121-2, Michael Clarke 7-1-28-0. Australia (2nd innings) Jacques batting 8 Hayden batting 5 Total
(no loss, five overs) 13 Bowling: RP Singh 2-0-7-0, Ishant 1-0-4-0, Harbhajan 1-1-0-0, Kumble 1-0-2-0.
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Sydney, January 4 Tendulkar, who had not scored a hundred since May last year, falling in 90s several times, broke the jinx with an unbeaten 154 to add a third hundred at the SCG to his
credit.
"Australia are the best side in the world. It's good when you perform well against the top side in the world. It's a challenge to rise to the occasion and beat them. That's what the whole (cricket) world is trying to do," Tendulkar said after the third day's play. "It was a little different this time because in 2007, I missed a lot of hundreds and I didn't want that to continue." "I wanted to move on into 2008 and it was extremely important that it came at the right time so I am happy about that," he added. Tendulkar revealed that he had been fighting a face allergy ahead of the match which forced him to practice indoors and also required an appointment with the doctor. "I had this terrible allergy on my face. If you'd seen on the 30th and 31st (December), you wouldn't have recognised me," Tendulkar said. "It was all over my face. I had to go to the hospital to settle it down. I'm quite happy it's ended up OK." Despite piling up more than 11,000 runs in Tests, the right hander refuses comparisons with Australian great Don Bradman. "I don't think anyone can be compared to Sir Don," he said. Tendulkar said India had bounced back well after the Melbourne mauling. "We believe in our ability. We knew that one bad match doesn't mean we can't bounce back. We've got faith in the team. It's so important. It's a long tour, it's going to be a tough tour. We're prepared to be mentally tough," he said. He was particularly pleased that his effort put India in a good position with a first innings lead of 69 runs. "I kept fighting and tried to play according to the merit of the ball and waiting for the loose deliveries," On the state of the match, Tendulkar said spinners would have a major role to play in the remaining two days of the Test. "There is turn and bounce and the ball is also stopping on the pitch. Spinners will trouble batsmen more from here on as there is not much there for pace bowlers," he said.
— PTI
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Symonds accuses Harbhajan of racial abuse
Sydney, January 4 Umpires Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor have laid the charge against Harbhajan after consulting an agitated Australian captain Ricky Ponting at the end of the third day of the second Test. The Australians claim that Harbhajan hit Brett Lee on the bum while running between the wickets today. At that moment, Symonds confronted Harbhajan and asked him “what are you doing, mate?” Australians allege that Harbhajan in reply said something which apparently infuriated the hosts enough to lay a charge of racism. Harbhajan has been summoned to a hearing tomorrow by match referee Mike Procter. It is learnt that the Indian team has decided to contest the charge. Harbhajan has been reported for International Cricket Council’s Code of Conduct 3.3. It states: “Using language or gestures that offends, insults, humiliates, intimidates, threatens, disparages or vilifies another person on the basis of that person’s race, religion, gender, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin.” Sachin Tendulkar, who was batting with Harbhajan when the altercation took place, chose to play down the incident. “I don’t think it was an issue, a couple of lines exchanged here and there that keep happening virtually every day,” he said. “I don’t think it’s that big an issue as far as I am concerned. As long as the game moves on and the players don’t cross the limits, it’s fine. “It’s good for the spectators. It’s sometimes funny.” Asked if the comments were funny, Tendulkar said, “There were a couple of things. It was about friendship.” He claimed Harbhajan had said: “You seem to be very friendly with our bowlers. Are you trying to be friends with me now? I am a bowler as well. “It was just one of those things,” Tendulkar said. If found guilty, Harbhajan could face a ban of two to four Test matches or between four and eight one-dayers. During the ODI series in India in October, Symonds had claimed that he was subject to monkey chants, a racial abuse in his parlance. After the monkey chants were repeated in the last one-dayer in Mumbai, several fans were evicted from the stands and arrested.
— PTI
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Bhajji denies allegation
Sydney: Harbhajan Singh denied the allegation of racial abuse levelled against him by Andrew Symonds, saying that it was just a normal conversation. Harbhajan was quoted as saying by The Age, “I haven’t done anything; we were just talking. It wasn’t even sledging; it was just normal talk out on the cricket field. I was concentrating on my batting.”
“I did not say anything racist. I do not know what is going on. This is an important game for us and we have a chance to win — that’s what I’m focused on.” he said. Meanwhile, India’s media manager MV Sridhar said the spinner told the management he did not make any racial comments against Symonds.
— UNI
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More records for Milestone Man
New Delhi, January 4 With his eighth hundred against Australia, Tendulkar equalled the record of Sunil Gavaskar for scoring most centuries against the reigning world champions, and he is the eighth batsman to score eight or more hundreds against the Aussies. The hundred is his fifth in Australia, again equalling Gavaskar's record. Sachin has the best average at the SCG, 326, aggregating 652 in four Tests (6 innings). He is the second Indian after VVS Laxman to register three hundreds at the SCG — 148 not out in 1991-92, 241 not out in 2003-04 and 154 not out today. When he reached 64 today, Sachin became the first Indian to complete 2,000 runs against Australia — 2090 (56.48) — in 23 Tests.
— IANS
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Dunedin, January 4 With Bell unbeaten on 74, New Zealand were 156 for four at stumps after Chris Martin and Jacob Oram had spearheaded an attack which saw the youthful Bangladeshis dismissed in their first innings for 137 on an easy wicket. Celebrating his recall to the Test side after six years in the wilderness, Bell gathered runs with ease while the rest of the top order failed to fire in what has become a regular pattern for New Zealand in recent Tests. Fellow opener Craig Cumming was out for one, Peter Fulton and Stephen Fleming both made 14 and Mathew Sinclair 29. With the fall of Fleming, New Zealand were 58 for three before Sinclair came to the crease to join Bell in a 73-run partnership. All-rounder Oram, who was not out 17, partnered Bell through to the close. Bangladeshi left-arm bowler Sajidul Islam, making his Test debut at the age of 19, finished the day with two for 42. Brief scores: Bangladesh (1st innings): 137 (Tamim Iqbal 53; Chris Martin 4-64, Jacob Oram 3-23); New Zealand (1st innings): 156 for 4 (Mathew Bell 74 not out, Sajidul Islam 2-42).
— AFP
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Cape Town, January 4 At the close of the third day, West Indies were 96-4 in their second innings, a lead of just 18. Earlier, South Africa were dismissed for 321 in reply to West Indies’ first innings total of 243. Prince batted for five hours, faced 225 balls and hit 11 fours in his patient innings. Mark Boucher (59) and Prince steered the home side’s charge with a 129-run stand for the sixth wicket. Prince and Boucher resumed on 218-5, and they were separated when Boucher was bowled by medium pacer Dwayne Bravo. Daren Powell dismissed Paul Harris (4) and Andre Nel (5) with catches by Runako Morton and wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, respectively, as South Africa slipped to 284-8. Prince was out in the third over after lunch when he tried to take a second run from a delivery by Powell and was caught short by Jerome Taylor’s throw from third man to Ramdin. Dale Steyn (19) heaved a ball from leg-spinner Rawl Lewis down the throat of Morton to end the innings. Fidel Edwards did not bowl today after leaving the field with an injured hamstring yesterday. Ramdin opened West Indies’ second innings with Daren Ganga because Chris Gayle was receiving treatment for the hamstring injury he took into the match. Ramdin, who batted at number seven in the first innings, scored 32 in a stand of 59 before edging a delivery from Jacques Kallis to wicketkeeper Boucher. Brief scores:
West Indies (1st innings): 243 (Marlon Samuels 51, Shivnarine Chanderpaul 65 n.o.; Dale Steyn 4-60) South Africa (1st innings):
321 (Ashwell Prince 98, Mark Boucher 59; Dwayne Bravo 4-82) West Indies (2nd innings):
96 for 4 (Denesh Ramdin 32; Andre Nel 1-14).
— Reuters
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Bharti, AIFF join hands
New Delhi, January 4 Though venues in Goa and Haryana have been identified for the academy, Goa is expected to get the nod as the four leading clubs in the state — Dempo, Churchill Brothers, Salgaocar and Sporting Clube de Goa — have promised to pitch in with their might to facilitate the creation of the academy, expected to get off the mark on March 31. AIFF president Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi and Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and group CEO of Bharti Enterprises, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) here today, to bring big money into Indian soccer — the only sport in India outside cricket to attract such a sponsorship. Though Sunil Mittal did not specify the quantum of amount to be invested in the "most modern, world class football academy", which will have residential school facilities, he hinted that it will run into "hundreds of crores". "We will make a significant investment, a few hundred crore commitment on monetary terms, without having any commercial angle to it", he added. AIFF secretary Alberto Colaco said the Bharti-AIFF Academy will initially recruit around 100 players — 25 each in the age groups of 8-11, 11-13, 13-15 and 15-18 — after a "massive search across the nation through scientific methods" to create a pool of a "few hundred golden talent". The Bharati Foundation will also take care of the training of the Indian under-16 team, who have qualified for the final round to be held in Malaysia in September, and in due course will also support the I-League.
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Players should walk on their own: Speed
Sydney, January 4 “It would be great if they were to walk and there was universal acceptance on calling their own decisions. But it does not seem to be going that way,” said Speed. Umpires are currently allowed to refer only run-outs, stumping decisions, bump-ball catches and catches they could not see properly to the third umpire. There is now a clamour to allow all decisions - particularly lbw shouts and delicate edges behind - to be reviewed by television replays. Speed claimed that a new system could soon be in place which would allow teams three chances to appeal to the third umpire. It will be experimented upon at the Champions Trophy one-day tournament in Pakistan later this year. Speed had also tried to implement this system during the 2006 Champions Trophy in India but the majority support from the ICC’s units was not forthcoming. Similarly, umpires had been allowed to ask for television assistance during the 2002 and 2004 Champions Trophy tournaments for lbw and caught behind decisions, but the feedback was not overly positive. Neutral umpires to stay: Gavaskar The ICC will not go back to fielding home umpires during Tests. Sunil Gavaskar, chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee, said the neutral umpire system eliminated the suspicion of bias. “If a third-country umpire makes a (questionable) decision, it won’t be as acrimonious as if a home umpire made that decision,” Gavaskar said.
— PTI
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Chennai Open
Chennai, January 4 The 31-year-old Moya, former French Open champion ranked 17th in the world, wore down Serra in the first set under thickly overcast skies after rain had threatened to hold up action. He broke serve to go 3-1 up against the Frenchman, who staved off two sets points on his serve in the eighth game before Moya served out for the set. Moya again broke his rival in the first game of the second set before going on to produce an ace on his second match point. In a doubles quarterfinal, Indian-American, Rajeev Ram, ranked 65 in doubles in the world, partnered Herel Levy of Israel to set up a semifinal clash against Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) and Marc Gicquel (France), while in a late-night match yesterday, Pakistani number one Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Marin Cilic of Crotia scored an upset win over second seed Jaroslav (Czech) and Michal Mertinak (Slovakia) 6-1, 7-5 and the winners take on Thai cousins, Sanchai and Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana in the semifinals tomorrow. Ram and Levy got the better off Igor Kunitsyn (Russia) and Jim Thomas 3-6, 6-3, 10-6.
— Agencies
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Perth, January 4 The USA led 1-0 after Jelena Jankovic forfeited her singles against Serena Williams because of a leg injury. World number three Novak Djokovic shrugged off fatigue to pull Serbia level with a battling 6-2, 6-7, 7-6 victory over Mardy Fish. Jankovic returned for the mixed doubles but the USA hit back from 4-1 down in the first set to win it 7-6, 6-2 and clinch
their fifth Hopman Cup title. — Reuters
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KARACHI: Pakistani Test players Imran Farhat and Taufiq Umar have filed a petition against the Pakistan Cricket Board for banning them from playing domestic cricket matches.
The board banned Farhat and Umar last month after they returned from India after playing in the ICL. “We have filed the petition in the Lahore High Court and our plea would be heard on Monday,” players’ lawyer Imran Aziz told Reuters on Friday.
— Reuters
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Mercifully, the threat of rain did not materialise and this enabled another knowledgeable crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground
on the third day of the second Test to savour a fascinating, unbeaten 154 by Sachin Tendulkar, which — embellished by splendid half-centuries from Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh — propelled India to 532 and a first-innings lead of 69 runs over Australia.
Andrew Symonds today accused Harbhajan Singh of racial abuse, a serious development which could lead to more bad blood between the two
teams. Umpires Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor have laid the charge against Harbhajan after consulting an agitated Australian captain Ricky Ponting at the end of the third day of the second Test.
Dunedin, January 4
London: