The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Dhoni warns against complacency Adelaide, February 16 The Australians may have decided to rest their pace spearhead Brett Lee but Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today cautioned his batsmen against getting too complacent in their tri-series game. "(Brett) Lee, of course, has been a top performer for them and has been in top form but it depends on how the bowler who replaces him perform. We wouldn't be taking our sights off them," Dhoni told reporters at the pre-match press conference. Dhoni also stoutly defended the beleaguered Yuvraj Singh, saying he still had a lot of confidence in him and that he could play a key role in the middle order. "He (Yuvraj) has been a key performer for us and personally I would like to see him bat in the middle overs," Dhoni said. "A lot has been said about good starts and how the finish should be provided in the final overs but for me, the key is how you bat in the middle overs and set up the game between 20th and 39th over. "Middle overs are the key and only key batsmen should bat in this phase. Yuvraj is thus a key to guide the team in the middle overs," he said. Dhoni also backed his young side to reach the finals and said if so happened it would vindicate his views on matters of team selection. "It would be good if we were to reach the finals... a lot was said about this young team... the youngsters, from the first Twenty20 game, they have shown they are willing to learn and adapt and as long as they put in their best it doesn't matter whether you win or lose," he said. India have played four games and four matches are still to go through, raising the spectre of whether the team needs to also rest its' key bowlers. "Rotation of fast bowlers is very important and it would be done at the right moment," the indication being that perhaps in the game tomorrow, no new face is likely to be seen. Indian bowlers have hardly bowled in the one-day series, both Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth have sent down the maximum and it has not been more than 15 overs to either of them. Dhoni praised his bowlers for their good work but cautioned them to be consistent in the remaining matches. "They have bowled manfully this summer and made an impact but the key for them would be to be consistent." Dhoni also took the opportunity to pay his tribute to Sachin Tendulkar who would soon have a stamp issued by the government of India in his honour. "He's been the best and a model for any youngster to emulate, be it on or off the field. Once I made it to the international stage, the first few days were spent just watching him go about his business." Tendulkar was also in the high list of Mitchell Johnson, the left-arm paceman of Australia, who would now spearhead the attack in the absence of Lee. Johnson just did not want to worry about Tendulkar, or Sehwag, and was determined to pick up key Indian wickets. "When I am bowling, I wouldn't like to worry whether it's Tendulkar or Sehwag at the other end. I just want to go about my business and pick wickets," said Johnson. The left-arm paceman believed his eye-catching performance in the one-day series was a lot because of his changed approach of the last few weeks. "In Test matches, I was just trying to make the new ball swing a lot. Now I've gone back to my old ways of hitting the deck and letting it carry to Gilly (Adam Gilchrist). I'm not too worried whether it's swinging or not." — PTI
	IPL, CAB engaged in a war of words Kolkata, February 16 Uncertainty has cropped up over the Kolkata team’s participation in the BCCI’s multi-billion dollar Indian Premier League, with the IPL and the Cricket Association of Bengal engaging in a war of words on the rules and regulations of the competition. After it emerged that the IPL would cut the quota of tickets for the CAB by a drastic 80 per cent compared to what the Association keeps for itself during international matches at the Eden Gardens, CAB chief Prasun Mukherjee sent an e-mail to IPL chairman and match commissioner Lalit Modi raising certain points. According to Mukherjee, the clubs, various categories of members of CAB, and companies who have a contract with the Association for corporate boxes during all major matches at the venue would be affected by the IPL stand. “Clubs, who as members were entitled to a certain quotas of Club House tickets, complimentary tickets and priced tickets; the 31,000 associate members, honorary members and life members, who used to get complimentary tickets as per CAB rules; and companies, with whom CAB has contracts for boxes would be affected,” Mukherjee said in the mail. In reply, Modi said, “You will only get 20 per cent tickets against all categories.” Adopting a hardline approach, Modi indicated that Kolkata could be axed from the participants’ list as “we cannot and will not allow one city to derail the entire process”. “CAB is not organising the event. We are giving Eden on rent for the period of IPL when seven matches will be held spread over 45 days. The IPL has promised us Rs 10 crore from its profits for the first year which we can use for renovating Eden Gardens,” Mukherjee told PTI. Mukherjee said the clubs could be partially compensated with a grant of Rs 1 lakh each. He, however, said there was no crisis. “These mails are part of our internal communication which seems to have come into the open”. CAB sources said it was not clear who would be organising the matches, Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment (which owns the Kolkata team) or the IPL itself. “As per the CAB constitution, we can sublease Eden in national interest, for reasons of charity and for holding exhibition matches. But both IPL and RCE are profit-making bodies. And hence they cannot qualify for getting sub-lease,” they said. Faced with a tight situation, the CAB has convened an emergency working committee meeting on February 18, and a Special General Meeting on February 26. “It is now upto the members to decide. They should remember that they at least stand to gain something if IPL is held at the Eden. If IPL is not held here, then they do not get anything,” he said. The CAB bosses are likely to urge the members to accept an amendment to the CAB rules to make an exception to the rules for the IPL. But time seems to be running out for the CAB, with Modi saying “If you need to call an SGM, then do it right away”. — PTI
	Jayawardene urges smarter approach Perth, February 16 After a 63-run loss against Australia in the sixth CB series match here, Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene urged his team mates to adopt a smarter approach. ''We need to go hard, but the shot selection has to be a bit better,'' Jayawardene said after the loss. ''In world cricket a lot of guys do go hard up front, with the power plays and all that, but the guys have got to be a bit smarter.'' Sri Lanka were in with a great chance to register their first win over the world champions, but a poor batting performance put paid to their chances. Wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara played a lone hand with a masterly 80, before being bowled by Lee during the Sri Lankan run-chase but the rest of the batsmen gave it away with some poor strokeplay. ''The way we lost wickets was not good,'' he said. ''At crucial times, we keep losing wickets and you can't do that in a run chase.'' However, once again the tailenders failed to make an impression - the last five wickets put together only 14 - and Jayawardene wanted to see Chamara Silva, Farveez Maharoof, Chamara Kapugedera and Nuwan Kulasekera take up more responsibility with the bat. ''These guys can bat and they have scored runs and we need to get their confidence back,'' he said. After a poor start in the CB series, Sri Lanka revived their chances with a thumping eight-wicket win in a rain-affected match against India on February 12. But, Sri Lanka's batsmen are yet to fire against Australia - having collapsed against them on both occasions. Sri Lanka take on India in their next match in Adelaide on February 19. — UNI
	Ponting struggling with captaincy, says Gilchrist Sydney, February 16 Australia captain Ricky Ponting may be struggling to cope with the demands of a long summer in the spotlight and a hectic schedule, according to his deputy Adam Gilchrist. Ponting averages just over 10 with the bat in the current Tri-Series with India and Sri Lanka. ''I am sure he, like all of us, will have been worn down by a lot of the focus and a lot of the issues that have been around,'' Gilchrist told newspersons. ''We seem to have jumped from one thing to another, whether they be highly controversial or just issues that need to be dealt with,'' added Gilchrist, who made a century to lead Australia to victory over Sri Lanka in Perth yesterday. ''Things like the Pakistan tour hanging around, the IPL (Indian Premier League), the Indian Test series and all the issues there in the (Harbhajan Singh) hearing. ''He has had to take the brunt of it and I think we have got to acknowledge that he does that and stands up and wants to do it, that is his job.'' Gilchrist, who is retiring from international cricket after the tournament, is not concerned about Ponting's form in the long term. ''He is still running the team beautifully, captaining. Still very much Ricky Ponting,'' Gilchrist said. — Reuters
	Ganguly mulled quitting ODIs New Delhi, February 16 Surprisingly sidelined for the one-day cricket tri-series against Australia, Sourav Ganguly has confessed that he was anyway considering retirement from the limited overs version in the next 7-8 months. Ganguly said he had realised that he would not play in the 2011 World Cup, to be co-hosted by the Asian cricketing nations, but when selectors asked him he had expressed his wish to play in ODIs for a few more months as there were not many limited overs' games scheduled this year. "They (selectors) just asked me whether I wanted to continue one-day cricket. I said, yes definitely, at least for the next 7-8 months," Ganguly said. "There is not much of one-day cricket this year. This is Australia series then India goes to Sri Lanka for Test and one-day, so there is five one-days there and there is Champions Trophy in September and rest of the year is full of Test cricket. "So I wanted to play till September then probably take a call because at some stage you would not have gone out to play 2011 World Cup," he said. Ganguly said although he did not discuss the issue with anyone else he felt he was not dropped on the ground of his form. "I was a bit surprised because I didn't expect it... But, all I can say for sure is that it is not on the basis of form," Ganguly said. — PTI
	Sinimol sets 800m record Doha (Qatar), February 16 India reaped a rich harvest by winning three gold medals out of nine on offer on the final day of the third Asian Indoor Athletics Championships with Sinimol Paulose running away to glory. Sinimol set the track at the Aspire Sports Academy ablaze to win the women's 800m race with a championship record timing of 2:03.43s for her second gold of the championship. Compatriot Sushma Devi made it a one-two for India with a personal best time of 2:04.66s while Matsko Mragarita of Kazakhstan was third with 2:04.85s. Sinimol's effort was enough to qualify for the World Indoor Athletics Championship in Valencia next month as she crossed the 2:04.00s qualification standard. Asian Indoor Games champion P J Vinod then lived up to his reputation to pocket the men's heptathlon gold with 5,561 total points ahead of Sephrzad Hadi (5515) of Iran and Hiromasa Tanaka (5306) of Japan, to become the most enduring athlete of the championship. The Indian camp's most satisfying moment was, however, the gold-winning effort of women's 4x400m relay quartet of Mandeep Kaur, Manjeet Kaur, Sini Jose and Chitra Soman in championship record timing of 3:37.46s. India claimed the silver in the corresponding men's race with T Aboobacker, Vinay Chaudhary, Gurvinder Pal Singh Bhullar and Virender Kumar Pankaj coming home in 3:16.53s behind Saudi Arabia (3:14.25) and ahead of Qatar (3:17.93). India today won seven medals (three gold and four silver) to swell the medal tally to 15. Earlier, Surendra Singh and Om Prakash Singh added a silver each in men's 3000m and shot put respectively. — PTI
	East Zone make scrappy start Our Correspondent Amritsar, February 16 East Zone were bundled out for 183 in 70.4 overs in their first innings on the opening day of the Vizzy trophy cricket tournament at the Gandhi Grounds here today. In reply, North Zone were 57 without loss at stumps. For East Zone, Suman Lodh top scored with 45 runs while Sachin Parsad made 38. Gaurav Gambhir took five wickets for 56 and Rahul Sharma grabbed three wickets for 42 for North Zone. For North Zone, Manish Bhatia was batting on 32 with six fours while Nitin Shrivastva was not out on 22. In the second match, Bipal Waghela scored 109 runs for West Zone on the opening day of the three-day match between West Zone and South Zone at the Guru Nanak Dev University campus here. West Zone were 313 for 7 wickets in 90 overs at stumps. Other notable scorers for West Zone were Ashutosh Sawnar (58) and Deepindra Singh (61 no). South Zone’s Anwar Khan took 4 wickets for 79 runs.
	JCT hold Mohun Bagan Anil Datt Ludhiana, February 16 Last year's runners-up JCT came back from a goal down to hold Mohun Bagan to a 1-1 draw in the penultimate tie of the ongoing ONGC-I Football League played at Guru Nanak Stadium, here today. With this result, JCT (30) and Mohun Bagan (29) shared one point each and maintained their third and fourth position, respectively, on the points table. The encounter got off to a brisk start with both sides weaving good moves. JCT's experienced strikers Eduardo and Sunil Chhetri initiated assaults on their rivals' territory which, however, could not make any impact. Similarly, for Mohun Bagan, skipper Bhaichung Bhutia, Jose Bretto and Ishfaq Ahmed managed to sneak into JCT citadel repeatedly but success eluded them. Midway through the first session, Mohun Bagan went into the lead when Habibur Raham Mondal, after dodging past JCT defenders, stormed into the box and sent a powerful left footer which found the goalkeeper Karanjit Singh stranded. Four minutes before the half time, JCT could have scored the equalizer had Baljit Sahni collected a parallel pass from Baldeep Singh sr. at the goal mouth as with the Bagan custodian out of place. In the very next moment, Eduardo's attempt off a flag kick was palmed away by goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee. After changing ends, JCT played a better game and exhibited fine coordination. They scored the equaliser in the 56th minute when Eduardo took control of the ball at the half line, ran down the flank and passed it to Sunil Chhetri who hammered it home. JCT could have gained the lead when Baljit Sahni and then Marcos Pereira (58th minute) stormed their way into the box but found the rival custodian in their way. Sunil Chhetri was adjudged the man of the match.
	Kila Raipur sports mela mired in political controversy K. S. Chawla Ludhiana, February 16 Kila Raipur sports meet, also known as "Rural Olympics", have been mired in political controversy this year. The four-day annual sports mela of Kila Raipur, which concluded on February 10, has become the latest battleground between the Akali Dal and the Congress. Akali Dal boycotted the games despite the fact that Kila Raipur is a Akali-dominated Vidhan Sabha constituency. The Congress has won this seat for the first time in 2007. Inquiries by this reporter have revealed that the Akali boycott was due to the fact that the organisers failed to invite Jagdish Singh Garcha, who was elected MLA from this seat twice in 1997 and 2002 and lost this time to Congress MLA Jassi Khangura. The organisers alleged that Garcha was not invited because he had been opposing the games and in 1998 the sports mela had to be called off due to differences among the political rivals. Some people even went to court to get stay order against organising the sports meet. In 1999 too, the sports mela could not be organised because of the same reasons, the organisers alleged. According to Sukhbir Singh Grewal, chief organiser of the Kila Raipur sports mela, he had personally sent invitations to the Akali ministers namely Hira Singh Gabria, Captain Kanwaljit Singh and Gulzar Singh Ranike but none of them turned up. On the other hand, Jassi Khangura and his father Jagpal Singh, meanwhile, came on the scene and they dominated the meet for four days. Rajinder Kaur Bhathal, president, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, visited the sports meet along with the other senior leaders of the party. On the concluding day, Ashwani Kumar, Union Minister of State for Industries, presided over the prize distribution function. It is also worth mentioning here that Sumedh Singh Saini, state Vigilance Bureau chief, is the life time chairman of the Grewal Sports Association of Kila Raipur who as SSP, Ludhiana, had helped the organisers in making the meet a big success with corporate sponsorship. Surjit Singh Grewal, SP, vigilance, at Ludhiana, and belonging to Kila Raipur, is the president of the association. Both Saini and Grewal did not attend the sports mela this year. When contacted, Grewal said he had submitted his resignation as the president of the association. The resignation has not been accepted as yet. Grewal said Saini had also resigned from the chairmanship of the association. Jagdish Singh Garcha told this reporter that he was not invited for the sports mela and it was wrong to say that he had prevented anyone from participating in the meet. To reverse the influence of the Congress MLA, Garcha and others had invited Parkash Singh Badal to the rural games at Kalakh village on February 12. Kalakh also falls in Kila Raipur constituency. Garcha said there was a kabaddi tournament at the village where the chief minister had come to give away prizes. Garcha claimed that it was Badal who had got national games status for Kila Raipur Rural sports mela. Amarinder Singh also participated in the games during his tenure as chief minister.
	ONGC stun Punjab Police Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 16 Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) hit back to stun Punjab Police 2-1 in the All-India Lt. Governor's Cup DDA Football Tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium here today. Guriqbal Singh put the Punjab cops in the lead with a stiff grounder, off a pass from Gurbinder Singh, in the 27th minute. But Salau Nurudeen Olawale headed in to equalise 10 minutes into the second half. Five minutes later, he converted a penalty to give the Mumbai Oilmen the lead. Salau was adjudged the man of the match.
	Jeev tied 2nd Jakarta, February 16 Jeev Milkha Singh fired a superb five under 65 third round and with a total of 14 under 196 climbed to the tied second place, two strokes behind leader Chile's Felipe Aguilar in the $ 1,20,000 Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open Golf here today. Jeev is tied second along with China's Liang Wen-Chong. The Chinese, overnight joint 7th shot six under 64 for a total of 196 (65, 67, 64). — UNI
	Anand beats Shirov Morelia (Mexico), February 16 World Champion Viswanathan Anand scored an emphatic victory over Latvian-born Spaniard Alexei Shirov in the first round of the Morelia-Linares Chess tournament here. The victory with black pieces helped Anand jump in early joint lead on a full bloodied day in the Category-21 event being played between eight players in double round-robin format. — PTI