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Sachin, Kumble class acts: Lee
Zak is back with a bang
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Injured Clark skips practice
ICC re-schedules CT to Sep ’09
Counsel confident Asif will come clean
Commonwealth Youth Games
Sutil feels team can get on points table
Punjab to have sports
policy
Harris powers Heroes to win
Punjab cops win
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Sachin, Kumble class acts: Lee
Mohali, October 15 The Australian pace spearhead remarked that his team had no issues with Ganguly. “Everybody has a role to play in the side. We play the game our way. Maybe, Sourav does it differently. But there was some doubt about the light due to the cloud cover.” Lee refused to agree that Anil Kumble was ineffective in the first Test, saying that the ace leg-spinner could not be judged on the basis of his performance in just one Test. “He has got more that 600 Test wickets under his belt. He is a world class performer and we have a lot of respect for him.” About Sachin Tendulkar’s chances of getting 15 runs in Mohali, which will enable the legendary batsman to overtake Brian Lara as the highest run scorer in Test cricket, the fiery but genial Lee replied that he was keen to renew the battle with Tendulkar. “It would be nice if he does not get these runs here. But he is a class player and deserves to be the world No. 1 batsman. We have our own plans for him. During his knock of 46 runs in Bangalore, he played very well,” quipped Lee. He reiterated that the very fact that players like Kumble and Tendulkar had been around for so long and still performing proved that they were special. Though he said his team was disappointed not to win the Bangalore Test, Lee observed that there were reasons for them to be satisfied. “We went out to win the Test, but could not. But in hindsight, we can say that we should be satisfied because we created a couple of opportunities, which we failed to convert.” Once touted the fastest bowler in world, Lee said the first Test was played in the right spirit and did not attach much importance to the reported spat between Zaheer Khan and Brad Haddin. “When teams play at this level, there is a lot of aggression and passion on the field. If you take passion away from the team, the intensity will not be the same.” About the second Test, being played in Mohali, Lee said it was like homecoming for him, he having played for Kings XI Punjab in the IPL matches. “The wicket here will definitely have more carry than what it was in Bangalore and I am looking forward to take the field,” he said. Lee said that he was happy with his own bowling in Bangalore, reminiscing that during the previous Australian tour in 2004, he was 12th man and happy to carry drinks for his mates. Lee had failed to break into the mighty Australia squad as they already had a formidable pace attack having the likes of Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz.
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Zak is back with a bang
Mohali, October 15 A three-wicket burst in as many overs, all the key scalps of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Chamara Kapugedera, a couple of months ago in Dambulla meant that the match was as good as India’s. That was the series after the highly successful three-Test England sojourn last year where he along with R.P. Singh baffled the England batsmen with his well-disguised swinging deliveries. “Zak” to his friends, the left-arm seamer has proved in no uncertain terms that he is eager to make up for the time lost due to inconsistency and the recurring injuries during his chequered career. During the first Test against Australia in Bangalore, Zaheer was at his best, pegging the Aussies back with two top-order scalps on the first day. Showing remarkable poise and temperament, he came back after an extravagant morning spell to thwart the Aussies. Bowling a mesmeric spell, he got rid of Lee and Johnson before castling Michael Hussey in a jiffy to stop the mighty Australians from batting India out of the Test. “Bowling in tandem with Ishant is a pleasure. He has the pace, is tall and gets that bounce off the wicket. He was pretty impressive,” Zaheer said of the rookie Delhi fast bowler. In fact, a masterful Zaheer and an exuberant but lethal Ishant sharing the new ball has gave the India new ball attack quite an impressive look. Zaheer bubbling with confidence after bagging the Man of the Match after his first five-for on Indian soil could not stop himself from getting under the Australians’ skin. “They were very defensive. I mean I have never seen a Australian team play such defensive cricket.” This must not have pleased Ponting and Co. smarting as they might be after India escaped with a creditable draw in Bangalore. Surely, with Zaheer all charged up and ever-improving Ishant ready to bowl his heart out on a wicket known to assist quick bowlers, the stage is set for a cracker of a contest as the two sides take the field on the bouncy Mohali track on Friday!
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Injured Clark skips practice
Mohali, October 15 Rookie pace duo of Peter Siddle and Doug Bollinger had a prolonged session in the nets at the PCA Stadium ground, prompting speculation that either of the seamer is likely to get the Baggy Green on Friday. Asked about Clark's chances of playing the Mohali Test during the media briefing, Lee said, "I'm not going to make any prediction, it's best left to team physio Alex Kountouris. The seamer was in little discomfort and didn't practice today. But we expect him to get fit for the second Test." Team physio Alex Kountouris will assess him tomorrow to find out if he could be fit in time for the second Test. In some sort of discomfort, Clark was prevented from bowling his normal quota of overs in the Bangalore Test, where during the match, he threw from the boundary under hand. If Clark is ruled out of the Test, it could be a blow to the Austtralians’ aspirations of forging ahead in the four-Test series. In the Bangalore Test, the visitors enjoyed edge at certain moments but were done in by the resolute Indian batting as well as the bad light.
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ICC re-schedules CT to Sep ’09
Dubai, October 15 On the second and final day of a board meeting here, the ICC decided to slot the eight-team event, which was postponed owing to the security apprehensions in Pakistan, from September 24 to October 5. The board has decided that the tournament will be played out in just one city instead of being spread out in several venues. "It was further agreed that because the event was reduced in duration (12 days including a reserve day for the final instead of the 17 days set aside in 2008), it would be played in one city." "The ICC board will make a final decision on the location of the event following India's tour to Pakistan in the first part of 2009 so that it can provide certainty to teams, broadcasters, commercial partners and other stakeholders.” The ICC decision comes after CEO Haroon Lorgat presented a report on the event's organisation to the board. "The board received a presentation on the subject in the wake of work carried out by the chief executive Haroon Lorgat and ICC management, including inputs from ICC full members. The full schedule and the location for the matches will be announced in due course. — PTI
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Mendis to play for Rajasthan
Jaipur, October 15 The BCCI had recently allowed each state in the country to rope in one international player to improve the status of the Ranji championship. Also, the move aims to check the popularity of County Championship in England. Mendis was the thorn in the flesh of Indian team that lost the Test series in Sri Lanka recently. Narendera Joshi, media manager, RCA, said Mendis has been roped in but the details of the deal, especially the money to be paid to him, were known to Lalit Modi only. He said Mendis was awaiting clearance from the Sri Lankan army team, which he represents in the domestic cricket tournaments of his country.
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Counsel confident Asif will come clean
Karachi, October 15 Shahid Karim, who represented Asif at the first hearing of the IPL drugs inquiry tribunal in Mumbai last week, told PTI the bowler's defense team had taken objections to the League's jurisdictions and powers to conduct anti-doping control proceedings and there were serious objections. “There were certain things on which the IPL had gone wrong so the entire day was consumed in this in the hearing. We scored a few points and made it known to the tribunal that there were serious discrepancies that had crept in," he
added. Karim remained hopeful of his client being cleared. "I am very hopeful that he will come clear. He will come out clean because we have serious objections to this entire procedure. "But there are procedures that ought to have been followed but have not been followed and which have had adverse effect on the findings of the case," he
said. Asif was accompanied to the tribunal hearing by Karim and sports medicine specialist Dr Michael Graham and the trio have challenged the jurisdiction of the IPL tribunal to hear and decide on the case.
— PTI
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Shooters bag three gold
Pune, October 15 Deepika Patel earned India the first gold of the day, shooting a total of 470.2 in the 10m Air Rifle to emerge on top. Though she shot a poor 8.5 in the 10th and final round, her earlier scores ensured that she was ahead of her nearest opponent, Eunice Mei Kay Chong of Singapore by more than five points. Chong, who scored 10.9 in the final round, had to settle for a silver with a total of 464.3. Ismail Wahidah Binti of Malaysia bagged the bronze with 464.2. Delhi lad Lakshya Bansal also proved true to his name as he was bang on target, claiming a gold in the men's 25m pistol category with a total of 567. Canada's Matthew James Hendry and Australian Arron Wilson shot an identical 547 to finish tied second. But the Canadian pipped the Australian to settle for the silver in the tie-breaker. Asher Noria of Hyderabad kept the Indian flag fluttering in the double trap and shot a total of 180, maintaining an average lead of over two birds, to clinch the gold medal. South Africa's Philip Smith finished nine birds behind Asher for a silver, while Great Britain's Chester Cobb bagged the bronze with a total of 167. Khade wins gold Virdhawal Khade, the young Indian sensation, had mixed results in the pool on the fourth day at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports City, Balewadi, here today winning the 50m butterfly, while in the men's 200m freestyle he had to settle for the silver medal being pipped to the gold by Ryan Napoleon of Australia. Australia took early charge in the swimming events with Jade Neilson winning the women's 200m freestyle to give them the opening two golds in the swimming events here. All the first three races saw games records broken with Napolean, Jade and Khade creating new games records. Virdhawal, who had only yesterday stated that he was confident of winning his five individual events suffered a shock in the first final itself when after leading for the first 150m, he lost momentum to see Napolean come from behind to capture the gold in the 200 meters freestyle. Virdhawal came back strongly after the setback in the opening race to win the 50m butterfly stroke final in a new games record time of 24.25 to give India its first gold in swimming. He was followed by Daniel Scott of Scotland who won the silver in a time of 24.38 and the bronze went to Australia's Thomas Barrett. Poovamm bags silver Poovamm Machettra, who represented the country in the Beijing Olympics recently, however, could not affirm her form and had to rest content with a silver in the women's 400m race. The event was won by Zambia's Rachael Nachula who clocked 52.97 seconds and set a new games record in the process. Poovamm finished the race in a time of 55.17 seconds to be placed second for the silver medal, while Rachael's sister Rebecca Nachula claimed the bronze with a time of 55.20 seconds. — Agencies
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Sutil feels team can get on points table
Shanghai, October 15 The Chinese GP this weekend is the penultimate race of the season and Sutil said Force India was determined to finish it on a high. "It's a little bit different style of circuit, with long corners. You need quite a lot of downforce, but also there are long straights. It could be good for our car. Anyway, I want to try to get some good luck back," Sutil said after a disappointing weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix, where he could not finish due to a rear tyre failure. Last year Sutil scored his only point of the season in the Japanese GP, and even this year he looked set to challenge for another top eight finish after a great opening few laps. But he was stopped by the tyre failure. "It was exciting. I didn't have such a great start, so I was last at the first corner. I could see everybody was braking in so late, so I took it easy. I just went to the inside to avoid any crashes, and I took six places!" "I know at this particular corner it's very hard to measure the braking point on the first lap after the start. I learned from my mistakes earlier in the season, when I was trying to brake as late as possible! I took it a bit easier, and I gained lots of positions," Sutil said, describing how the race went for him. Later he gained another spot when Lewis Hamilton spun. He then overtook Jenson Button to claim the 11th spot, before gaining another position when Timo Glock slowed down. Sutil was behind eventual sixth place finisher Sebastian Vettel when the tyre exploded on the pit straight as he finished the eighth lap. Fortunately, he managed to bring the car to a safe stop. "I have no idea why it happened, but after three or four laps suddenly I had some oversteer in the car it was very strange. I didn't know what it was, exactly. It felt like a used tyre, like it had overheated or something. And then on the straight, suddenly I had a big puncture," he said. — PTI
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Punjab to have sports
policy
Jalandhar, October 15 Addressing the media after the function, Sukhbir said that the implementation of the sports policy would not only give a boost to sports in the state but also help in making a name at the international level. He said that apart from this the state government is seriously looking forward to introduce a comparative sports policy under which outstanding players would be given jobs in Punjab Police and other state-level departments. He said that in the future, the government would give handsome cash prizes to winners in Olympics, Asian and Commonwealth Games. He further stated that two Astroturfs would also be laid at Jalandhar and Talwandi Sabo in the coming days. Besides this, seven six-a-side Astroturfs would also be laid in different parts of the state. Sukhbir also promised that latest infrastructure would be installed shortly in all stadiums. He also inaugurated the Punjab Hockey League (PHL) for boys under 12, 14, 16, 19 and girls under and above 15. “We would soon launch a kabbadi league on the lines of PHL in Punjab. This will have as many as eight to nine teams from Punjab, one from Canada and another from England,” he said. On this occasion, the department honoured Gurbax Singh Sandhu, chief national coach boxing, N.I.S, Patiala, and Beijing Olympics bronze medallist Vijender Kumar with a cash prize of Rs 11 lakh. Jitender Kumar and Akhil Kumar were awarded Rs 5 lakh each. Meanwhile, the minister distributed sports kits to budding players who came from various districts of the state, which included Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Gurdaspur, Ludhiana, Muktsar, Mansa, Sangrur and Barnala. Punjab minister for sports and youth services Gulzar Singh Ranike said that the budget of the sports departments has been increased from Rs 9.5 crore to Rs 18.5 crore. “We have recruited 169 coaches and 76 supporting staff in various disciplines,” he added.
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Harris powers Heroes to win
Hyderabad, October 15 Requiring 13 runs in the last over to win, Harris hit a four, a six and again a four in three consecutive balls to guide his team to success. Chasing a competitive target of 169, the Hyderabad team faltered in its campaign as the top order batsmen failed. While openers James Maher and Abdul Razzaq were out for 21 and 27 respectively, Justin Kemp and Stuart Binny returned to the pavilion for 10 and 31. Local hero Ambati Rayudu, who had hit an impressive knock in the last match, disappointed today as he was dismissed for five runs. However, a determined Harris, in the company of Nicky Boje, got down to salvage the innings and went on to make 37, including the six in the last over and a total of five boundaries, in just 17 balls. Boje scored 31 runs in 32 balls.
— PTI
Scoreboard
Dhaka Warriors S Nafees c Kemp b A Razzaq 0 Nazimuddin b A Razzaq 4 A Ahmed c Boje b Binny 24 Kapali c A Razzaq b Reddy 100 M Karim st Khaleel b Boje 11 Habibul Bashar lbw Boje 1 D Ghosh st Khaleel b Boje 8 M Rafique b A Razzaq 10 Farhad Reza run out 0 M Hossain not out 2 M Sharif not out 1 Extras (lb-1, w-6) 7 Total (9 wkts, 20 overs) 168 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-6, 3-30, 4-49, 5-57, 6-134, 7-164, 8-165, 9-166 Bowling: A Razzaq 4-0-28-3, S Binny 4-0- 34-1, N Boje 4-0-20-3, Harris 3-0-32-0, Reddy 3-0-22-1, Niranjan 1-0-16-0, Sahabuddin 1-0-15-0. Hyderabad Heroes JP Maher c H Bashar b M Sharif 21 A Razzaq b Farhad Reza 27 Rayudu c S Nafees b M Rafique 5 Kemp lbw Mosharraf Hossain 10 Binny run out 30 Boje run out 31 Harris not out 37 Sahabuddin not out 4 Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-4) 6 Total (6 wkts, 19.4 overs) 171 Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-34, 3-67, 4-73, 5-115, 6-141 Bowling: M Sharif 4-0-44-1, M Rafique 4-0-26-1, F Reza 3.4-0-47-1, M Hossain 4-0-24-1, Kapali 4-0-28-0.
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Brett Lee refused to read too much into the reported news reports emanating from Down Under terming Sourav Ganguly as a “serial offender”.
The spring is back in his steps. So is the fierce determination. Measured steps, clinical approach to the bowling end, grim visage, steely resolve, a graceful jump and, finally, the release. Seeing Zaheer charge in to outsmart the batsman is exciting. Having discovered his rhythm, deadly in-dipper to the right-handed batsmen and his efficacy with the old ball to make it reverse have all combined to make the left-handed seamer a dangerous customer with the ball.
Mohali, October 15
A superb captains knock by Chris Harris brought holders Hyderabad Heroes back from jaws of defeat and powered them to a four-wicket win in their ICL T20 encounter against Dhaka Warriors at the Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium here tonight.
