The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Indian batsmen come a cropper
After seamers had restricted Oz to 203, Indian innings folded at meagre 153
Ashis Ray

Adelaide, February 17
India crashed to their second consecutive defeat in the Commonwealth Bank one-day international (ODI) series. In their 5th of eight games in the round-robin with Australia and Sri Lanka before two of the sides qualify for the finals, the Indians lost to the former by 50 runs, principally because of a priceless knock of 79 by Michael Clarke.

Australia, with five points, including a bonus point, from Sunday’s victory, have now stolen a march over their sub-continental challengers with 17 points, while India have collected eight points to Sri Lanka’s six. The Sri Lankans, though, have only played four matches; and are India’s next opponents on Tuesday.

Australia elected to bat on a scorching afternoon. But India, boldly selecting five bowlers - four of them of the quicker variety - initially exploited the pace and bounce in the wicket to restrict the Australians to 203 for nine in their 50 overs.

This, though, was a considerable recovery from 73 for five and then 112 for six, thanks to Clarke’s contribution - the only half-century of the match - which was embroidered with cuts, drives and slog-sweeps before he pulled Irfan Pathan to square leg. Brad Hogg added 72 runs with him for the 7th wicket.

Thereafter, the home side’s bowlers, despite their spearhead, Brett Lee being rested, caused sufficient damage with the harder, new ball on the bouncy surface to have India reeling at 59 for four, from which the visitors never quite recovered.

Sachin Tendulkar, short of runs in the current tournament, was missed between wicket-keeper and 1st slip off Mitchell Johnson, but was trapped leg before wicket in the same over. To the naked eye, he looked palpably in front.

It was unfathomable why Pathan was promoted to number three. If this was to shield specialist batsmen, it was a horrible decision. Predictably, this left-hander - who was otherwise the highest wicket-taker in the match with figures of four for 41 - succumbed to the extra “carry” in the pitch - caught at around 4th slip, as did Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir. The latter’s penchant for the uppish cut was his undoing.

At 50 for four, Yuvraj Singh was joined by Mahendra Dhoni, who top-scored with 37. The ball had become softer by this stage. Though still not in the best of nick, the Chandigarh left-hander helped to realise 56 runs for the 5th wicket with his skipper before a rush of blood triggered his downfall.

Yuvraj’s tragic failure on this tour is increasingly a topic of animated discussion. He seems to be constantly anticipating bouncers, thereby not getting to the pitch of fuller deliveries. He pulled chinaman and googly bowler, Hogg to midwicket for six. But in attempting to repeat the stroke only connected with the bottom of the blade to hole out at long-on rather than clear midwicket.

The exit was compounded by Dhoni suffering cramps on his left foot, which necessitated Rohit being summoned as a runner. Co-ordination is the key in such situations; and risky singles inadvisable. Dhoni overlooked this as he called for a run, but the substitute failed to beat a direct hit from mid-off. His criticism of Rohit was, in fact, unjustified.

Stranded the tail, Robin Uthappa began to heave at every delivery. India’s only hope of winning was by batting out their 50 overs, which this Bangalore opener - who at number seven has been batting too low for his potential - could only have achieved by farming the bowling.

The lower order crumbled once he crazily danced down the track to steer Mitchell Johnson, who, with Nathan Bracken and James Hopes quite compensated for Lee’s absence.

Though Irfan Pathan swung the ball the most - and removed the intimidating Mathew Hayden as well as the hurdle of Mike Hussey, both caught at the wicket - Ishant Sharma was again the fastest and most dangerous, once clocking a dizzying 153 kph.

Indeed, it was sheer velocity that bowled the Adam Gilchrist off an inside edge. But this doughty cricketer responded with four catches and a stumping in a farewell to a capacity crowd of 21,000 at the Oval here, Australia’s most attractive cricketing arena. Ishant also cramped Andrew Symonds for space with a slower incoming ball, as the batsman merely patted the ball to gully.

Scoreboard

Australia:

Gilchrist b Ishant 15

Hayden c Dhoni b Pathan 13

Ponting c Rohit b Patel 10

M. Clarke c Ishant b Pathan 79

Symonds c Uthappa b Ishant 3

Hussey c Dhoni b Pathan 5

Hopes st Dhoni b Harbhajan 19

Hogg run out 32

Johnson not out 9

Bracken c Dhoni b Pathan 0

S. Clark not out 8

Extras (lb-2 w-6 nb-2): 10

Total (9 wickets, 50 overs): 203

Fall of wickets: 1-25 2-41 3-43 4-50 5-73 6-112 7-184 8-187
9-187

Bowling: Sreesanth 8-0-35-0, Ishant 9-1-32-2, Patel 9-1-31-1, Pathan 10-1-41-4, Harbhajan 10-0-40-1, Yuvraj Singh 4-0-22-0

India:

Gambhir c Ponting b Johnson 34

Tendulkar lbw b Bracken 5

Pathan c Hayden b Hopes 14

Rohit c Gilchrist b Hopes 1

Yuvraj c Clark b Hogg 26

Dhoni run out 37

Uthappa c Gilchrist b Johnson 18

Harbhajan c Gilchrist b Johnson 4

Sreesanth st Gilchrist b Hogg 1

Ishant not out 2

Patel c Gilchrist b Bracken 0

Extras (lb-2 w-8 nb-1): 11

Total (all out, 41.2 overs): 153

Fall of wickets: 1-20 2-55 3-59 4-59 5-115 6-134 7-141 8-150 9-152 10-153

Bowling: Bracken 7.2-1-21-2, Clark 8-1-33-0, Johnson 10-1-42-3, Hopes 6-3-16-2, Hogg 8-1-30-2, Symonds 2-0-9-0.

	Gavaskar lashes out at Munaf Adelaide, February 17 A livid Sunil Gavaskar today lashed out at Indian seamer Munaf Patel for his lackadaisical attitude on the field and suggested he should not have been included in the side that lost to Australia in the tri-series one-dayer here today. Furious with the pacer's sluggish fielding, the former captain said he had no problems with Munaf as a bowler but felt the pacer could neither really bat, nor did he give his best in the field. In such a situation, leg-spinner Piyush Chawla or all-rounder Praveen Kumar, who can bat a bit, would have been a better choice as the fourth bowler, Gavaskar said. "If he is among the three regular bowlers, it's okay but Munaf does not deserve a place as the fourth bowler. Because he cannot bat, he is useless as a fielder and in one-day cricket you need to do well in at least two aspects," Gavaskar said. "I do not have anything against him. He is a good bowler. But his attitude on the field is just not right," Gavaskar said. Fielding at mid-wicket, Munaf cut a sorry figure when Michael Clarke worked a Harbhajan Singh delivery and ran three before the pacer could get to the ball. Munaf could be blamed for squandering at least one run out chance as well. While bowling, Munaf was nowhere in the scene to receive the point fielder's throw with James Hopes well short of his ground. — PTI
	IPL: Moody named Mohali coach, Yuvraj icon player Gopal Sharma Tribune News Service Mohali, February 17 Yuvraj Singh as the icon player and Tom Moody as the coach were among the announcements made by the owners of the Mohali team for the forthcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 championship. Addressing mediapersons at the PCA Stadium here today, Ness Wadia, one of the owners of the team, said keeping in view his stature, local hero Yuvraj, vice-captain of the Indian ODI team, had been chosen as the icon player, while former Sri Lanka coach and a member of the two World Cup Aussie teams, Moody, will be the team coach. Wadia was present along with other franchisees Bollywood actress Preity Zinta, Mohit Barman (Dabur group), Karan Paul (Apeejay Group) and I. S. Bindra and M. P. Pandove, president and the secretary of the Punjab Cricket Association, respectively, at the media briefing. Wadia was tight-lipped about the other big star cricketers they were hunting for, saying that it was not appropriate at the moment to reveal anything about the players they were interested in or what amount would be paid to them. Speaking about the team composition, Bindra said the auction of players was slated for February 20. “It is only after the auction at Mumbai that a clear picture as to who will play for which team will emerge.” Each team will have four U-21 players, four junior players will be chosen from the catchment areas comprising Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir, four from the Ranji Trophy squads, while the rest will be those playing at the international level. “Mohali has emerged as the epicentre of world cricket and the team will have the best players. Given the talent we will have, we expect our players to go on to emerge champions. Hopefully, our team will then represent the country in the Twenty20 championship where the champion teams from other countries will compete,” he said. “Mohali was our first choice. I am thrilled to have won the bid and it feels great to come here,” Preity Zinta said. “Yuvraj is the best player in the world in this version of the game. He is our icon player. Irrespective of his current form, he will come good here,” she added. “Twenty20 is a very exciting format of the game. Cricket will be our first priority. Entertainment will come after that,” she said. Promoting cricket at the domestic level was the reason cited by Wadia for his foray into the most popular game in the country. “Cricket needs to be given a impetus at the grassroot as well as at the Ranji level. We had other choices as well but we chose Mohali because it probably has the best in terms of cricket infrastructure, the talent and the passion it generates in the region,” Wadia said. Moody, he said, was chosen as he was among the very best in the business. Moody is presently coaching Western Australia. Regarding the name of the team, Preity Zinta revealed that cricket enthusiasts were open to suggest the names of their choice to the organisers through SMS. The best among those suggested will be taken as the team name.
	IPL will test players’ loyalties: Symonds Melbourne, February 17 All-rounder Andrew Symonds has said the Australian baggy green cap is 'a jewel in the crown for the Kangaroos', admitting that the massive financial carrot being dangled by the Indian Premier League (IPL) could test the loyalties of top international players. ''The loyalty of Australian and other top international cricketers is definitely going to be tested over the next few years. Just last week we saw a couple of top Pakistanis join the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) and there's a stack of Australian players keen to have a crack at the IPL,'' Symonds wrote in his column in 'The Sunday Telegraph'. ''Loyalty versus money always makes for an interesting debate. Who wouldn't be tempted to take a job offering more money for less work?'' Saymonds said. ''The bottom line is the money on offer in India is not going away and it may even get more and more tempting,'' he said. Symonds suggested administrators should ensure that players do not cut short their international careers to play in the IPL or the rebel ICL. ''Looking ahead, a lot of countries must confront the serious threat that it's more financially viable for blokes to retire and play IPL or even ICL. So the administrators want to be careful that international cricket doesn't suffer. They need to find a way to be able to work with the IPL so everyone's available,'' he said. — UNI
	Skipperspeak Dhoni defends Yuvi’s selection Adelaide, February 17 Yuvraj Singh may have squandered yet another chance to impress but his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni insists he has not made any mistake by picking the out-of-form left-hander ahead of swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag. Going through a prolonged slump in form, Yuvraj today contributed 26 and looked in discomfort before Brad Hogg removed him. Talking to reporters after India lost the match against Australia by 50 runs, Dhoni said Sehwag had not fully recovered from a back strain and he also made it clear that Yuvraj, despite his woeful form, would play in the remaining matches as well. "Viru was not fully fit. As for Yuvraj, he would be part of the team and play in all the games," Dhoni asserted. Having declared Yuvraj to be his choice for the rest of the series, Dhoni proceeded to defend his dismissal as well. "The shot was on. He had to punish the bad ball. The execution perhaps might have been incorrect but the intention was true," he said of his deputy. Dhoni, however, questioned the batsmen's ability to take responsibility and their shot selection as well. "The batsmen needed to be more careful about their shot selection...lack of patience could be one factor. Our batsmen failed, they need to stick to their style and play responsibly," Dhoni said. "They have done it in bits and pieces but they need to get better," he added. India lost four wickets by the 15th over and Dhoni termed it a critical error on the part of his batters. "The first 10-12 overs with Kookaburra is important and without Brett Lee, it was important to keep wickets. "If we had wickets in hand, we would have won easily. It gets easier when the ball is getting old. Then if you have wickets, it gets easy," he said. One of Dhoni's decision, sending Irfan Pathan up the order at number three, did not quite impress but the captain was adamant on his choice. "Sending Irfan up the order, if he bats at number three or eight, does not make much of a difference. It's all about using the talent you have got. I was quite happy with the batting order." Dhoni termed his own run-out as crucial in terms of the game's context. "The turning point was my run-out...it just started a day after the Lanka game but fortunately it's not a tear." Dhoni applauded his bowlers and hoped his batters would complement them in days to come. "You don't expect anything more from the bowlers. They have been brilliant in the event so far. "It's the batsmen who have to be selective and successful. They have to learn from the mistakes they have made. They have done it on and off. Now it's a matter of being consistent," he said. — PTI
	U-19 World Cup India rout Papua New Guinea Kuala Lumpur, February 17 Tanmay Srivastava slammed a 76-ball 83 as India thumped Papua New Guinea by 195 runs to kick off their under-19 cricket World Cup campaign in style here today. Put in to bat, India cruised to 280 for five in 50 overs with opener Sreevats Goswami (58) and Taruwar Kohli (40) giving the side a 100-run stand before Tanmay and captain Viraat Kohli (40) capitalised on the start. In reply, Papua New Guinea were shot out for 85 in 28 overs. Iqbal Abdulla scalped three batsmen, while Pradeep Sangwan, Ajitesh Argal and Viraat Kohli claimed two each. India bagged two points from the win. The Indian colts feasted on a listless Papua New Guinea attack and both the openers sent the bowlers on a leatherhunt. Even after they returned, there was no respite for their opponents as both Tanmay and Viraat scored at a brisk pace. Tanmay eventually fell for 83 off 76 balls that included seven hits to the fence and three sixes. With a mountain to climb, Papua New Guinea lost opener Heini Siaka (0) in the fourth ball of the innings when Pradeep trapped the batsmen plumb in front. After that, it was an endless march back to the hut as Papua New Guinea players failed to put up any resistance in the face of some hostile bowling from the Indians. Only Alfred Amini (26), Tony Ura (15) and captain Colin Amini (11) reached double digits as the side collapsed in 28 overs. In preliminary league matches, Pakistan beat Malaysia by eight wickets in Johor and Australia defeated Namibia by 149 runs in Penang while England spanked Ireland by 10 wickets here. Brief scores: 280-5 in 50 overs (Tanmay Srivastava 83 not out, Shreevats Goswami 58, Taruwar Kohli 40, Virat Kohli 40); Papua New Guinea: 85 all out in 28 overs (Alfred Amini 26, Iqbal Abdullah 3-2, Pradeep Sangwan 2-18, Ajitesh Argal 2-5, Virat Kohli 2-4). — PTI
	Vizzy Trophy North Zone lead by 402 runs Ashok Sethi Amritsar, February 16 Gaurav Gambhir and Vipan Kumar of North Zone hit 192 and 130, respectively, on the second day of the Vizzy Trophy cricket meet at the local Gandhi ground here today. North Zone were all out for 585, getting a lead of 402 runs against the East Zone. Gambhir hit 20 fours and seven sixes in his knock, while Vipan hammered 18 fours and a six. Nitin Srivastva was the other top scorer for North with 57 runs. The sixth wicket partnership between Gambhir and Vipan yielded 204 runs. In the second match being played between South Zone and West Zone at the Guru Nanak Dev University Sports Complex, South Zone were 282 for 3. Earlier, West Zone were all out for 355.
	Jeev misses title by a whisker Jakarta, February 17 Luck deserted Jeev Milkha Singh at a crucial moment when the Indian hit a bogey on the 18th and that buried his title chances as Chilean Felipe Aguilar's two-under par 68 in the last round saw him clinch the Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open Golf in dramatic fashion here today. The play was heading into a sudden-death play-off but a costly bogey on the closing 18th by Jeev left the 32-year old Chilean victorious as he went on to win his first title of the year by one stroke, finishing on 18-under par 262 total. Jeev began the day trailing Aguilar by two shots but was quickly on the charge starting with the sixth hole where he sank in for an eagle. The Asian Tour 2006 Order of Merit winner went on to reel in his first birdie on the eighth hole, followed by another eagle at the 324-yard, par four 11th. But Jeev's title challenge collapsed after his wayward drives on the 16th and 18th resulted in two costly bogeys. ''It was Aguilar’s day and not mine today. It was disappointing for me but I guess that's golf,'' said Jeev who could have forced a play-off with Aguilar had his closing putt dropped in for a par. ''Aguilar deserves this win and I congratulate him.'' Aguilar, who held a two-shot lead going into the final round, got off to a nervous start when he bogeyed his second hole but shifted into top gear to reel off three consecutive birdies from the ninth. ''After Jeev made bogey on the 16th, I realised that I was still in the game. I knew I had to make a three on the 18th for a play-off. I was so sure that I was going to birdie.'' Aguilar took home the winner's cheque of $200,000 at the $1.2 million co-sanctioned event by the Asian Tour and European Tour. Another Indian in action Jyoti Randhawa fired the best round of the last day. He carded five under 62 with the help of nine birdies but it also included a bogey. Jyoti finished a creditable seventh, after being at 28th at the end of the third round. Jyoti's compatriot Arjun Atwal shot three under 67 and with a total of 13 under par 267 ended at tied tenth slot. He had five birdies and two bogeys in his last round. Delhi based Gaurav Ghei shot one under 69 and totalled six under 274 for 40th spot while Shiv Kapur with a par 70 round ended at 44th place with a total of five under 275. Thailand's Prom Meesawat returned with a 67 to share third place with South Africa's James Kamte while New Zealand's Mark Brown and Joost Luiten of the Netherlands are tied for fifth on 264. — UNI
	Aronian shocks Anand Morelia (Mexico), February 17 World champion Viswanathan Anand suffered a rare setback with white pieces and lost to Levon Aronian of Armenia in the second round of the Morelia-Linares chess tournament here. After a fine effort with black pieces in the first round that gave him a victory over Alexei Shirov of Spain, Anand miscalculated his chances in an intense middle game and went down after a fine attack by Aronian. The Indian star remained on one point after the debacle and was relegated to the joint third spot. Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and former World Champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria were in joint lead on 1.5 points each after the former scored an emphatic victory over Hungarian Peter Leko while Topalov played out a draw with Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan. The other game of the day between Shirov and young gun Magnus Carlsen of Norway also ended in a draw. With 12 rounds remaining in the unique double-round robin tournament that is played first in Mexico and later at Linares in Spain, Anand shares third spot with Carlsen, Aronian and Leko while Radjabov and Shirov are at the bottom of the table with half point apiece. Speaking about the strong field before the commencement of the tournament Anand had said, "There are eight players of the highest level (here) but if I have to pick someone I'd say Levon Aronian who just won in Wijk Aan Zee." In the last year's event won by Anand, his lone loss had come at the hands of Aronian but then the Armenian talent was playing white. — PTI
	Malhotra is AAI president Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 17 Prof Vijay Kumar Malhotra was unanimously re-elected president of the Archery Association of India (AAI) for a four-year term at the Annual General Council Meeting of the association here yesterday. The house then authorised Malhotra to reconstitute the executive committee. The meeting was attended by 75 delegates from 32 State associations/units and sports boards. After his election, Malhotra thanked the house for once again reposing faith in his leadership. The house put on record the time being devoted by Prof Malhotra for the development of archery in the country, despite his busy schedule as a top parliamentarian of the BJP, and the stride the AAI has made under his able stewardship. Prof Malhotra later said the various committees will be formed and chairpersons appointed with an eye on the all-round, improved functioning of the association. He said 2007 was a “very successful year” for Indian archers as Dola Banerjee won the World Cup final title in Dubai, bagged the gold in the 4th World Cup in the UK and helped the women team clinch the recurve bronze. The men’s recurve team won the gold in the Asian Championship in China after a gap of 12 years while the recurve women’s team, comprising Dola Banerjee, Chekrovolu Swuro and Bombayla Devi, earned berths for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, in the World Championship in Germany while Mangal Singh earned an individual Olympic berth. Prof Malhotra said in view of the large number of participants, the Senior National Championship will be held at two different venues for recurve and compound categories and Indian round. He said it was heartening to note that the sports promotion boards and the para-military forces were employing archers in a big way. Among those who attended the meeting were Indian Olympic Association senior vice-president and MP Tarlochan Singh, AAI secretary Anil Kamineni, Himachal Pradesh Archery Association president J. P. Nadda and chairman of the technical committee Paresh Mukerjee.
	East Bengal beat Viva Kerala Kozhikode, February 17 Averting danger of relegation from first division football, East Bengal defeated Viva Kerala 3-1 in the penultimate round of the ONGC I-League here today. With today's win, the Kolkata club, which enhanced its tally to 18 points from 17 encounters, confirmed a berth in the next premier league sealing the fate of Viva Kerala. Capitalising a free kick, captain Syed Rahim Nabi opened the account through a header for the guest in the 20th minute. Viva, which put up stiff resistance thereafter for some time, earned an equaliser through Ebin Rose connecting a right flank cross from K V Lalu in the 43rd minute. Utilising a centre circle pass from Capt Nabi, Alvito D' Cunha converted into goal in the 58th minute increasing East Bengal's score to 2-1. Final blow for the Viva came from Edmilson Marques when he brilliantly connected a pass from Capt Nabi just before the last whistle taking the final tally to 3-1. Nabi was declared man of the match for his outstanding performance. Viva Kerala will meet Dempo in the 18th and final round here on February 23. — UNI
	Punjab bag overall trophy Amarjit Thind Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 17 Punjab clinched the overall trophy at the National Sports Festival for Women which concluded at the Olympian Surjit Singh Stadium here this evening. Tamil Nadu were second and Delhi third. Punjab also won the overall championship in National Sports Festival for Women Group III with 15 points. West Bengal (WB) got the second place by getting six points while Haryana and Chhattisgarh with five points each were declared third. The hosts got two gold in gymnastics and kho-kho, one silver in hockey and one bronze in basketball. The tally for WB was two silvers in kho-kho and gymnastics while Haryana and Chhattisgarh got one gold each in hockey and basketball, respectively. Haryana won the first place in hockey defeating the hosts 6-0. The winning team dominated the match as they displayed excellent stick work and team co-ordination. The third place went to Chandigarh who defeated Uttar Pradesh 3-2. The deadly combination of Simar Kaur, Sukhwinder Kaur, Salma and Parminder took Punjab to the top of the tally as the hosts won the gold in kho-kho defeating WB 19-12. Karnataka got the bronze defeating Delhi 7-2 and one turn. In the basketball final, Chhattisgarh beat Delhi 57-47. The Chhattisgarh girls took the full advantage of their height and followed a faultless technique and strategy. Punjab clinched the third place defeating Maharashtra 45-22. Punjab made a clean sweep in gymnastics thanks to Meenakshi who won five gold medals. She also maintained her supremacy in the team events.