New Delhi, November 1
Australia effectively neutralised the Indian bowling attack, despite Virender Sehwag's five-wicket haul, to end their first innings at 577 all out, which was 33 runs short of the Indian total, and then captured two Indian second innings wickets, at close of play on the penultimate day of the third cricket Test at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here today.

Though India lost the wickets of Virender Sehwag and Ishant Sharma at the fag end, the most probable outcome of the Test looks like a draw.

India were 43 for two, with Gautam Gambhir (21 not out) and Rahul Dravid (5 not out) holding fort.

Australia batted for 751 minutes and faced 179.3 overs to make 577, which included a chancy century by vice-captain Michael Clarke, to ensure that they will not lose the third Test, and could prolong the interest in the series till the decisive fourth Test in Nagpur, beginning on November 6.

In 13 overs of play, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag got off to a rollicking start, spanking Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson for boundaries.

But the visitors took their revenge by scalping Sehwag (16) and Ishant Sharma in the space of five deliveries and as many runs. India now have an overall lead of 76 runs.

India can blame only themselves for giving the visitors much leeway as the Australian innings would have folded up early, had the Indian fielders showed pairs of safe hands on the field.

They spilled easy chances, and Clarke was let off thrice, before he got to his three-figure mark. He was put down by Ishant Sharma at mid-on off Amit Mishra when he had scored only 21 yesterday, and got two more "lives" in his nineties.

VVS Laxman, running from mid-on to square leg, failed to hold a high catch when the batsman was on 91, and after adding four runs to his total, Clarke got yet another reprieve when Amit Mishra failed to hold a low catch at mid-wicket, off Sehwag.

Resuming at 338 for 4, with Clarke batting on 31 and Shane Watson on four, the pair added 61 runs before Sehwag bowled Watson with a ball that cut through the leg stump, for 36 (85m, 62b, 8x4). Sehwag bowled three maiden overs in the morning before scalping Watson while captain Anil Kumble, with a bandaged left-hand little finger, showed a gutsy bowling display, though twice he seemed to hurt his injured finger while attempting difficult catches.

Once even the bandage on the injured finger came off, but Kumble went on and on with the resolve of a man determined to succeed.

Though Clarke lived dangerously, he was effective in baulking the Indian bowlers. After Watson exited, wicket-keeper Brad Haddin (17: 32m, 35b, 1x6, 1x4) and spinner Cameroon White helped him put on crucial stands.

Haddin came out to drive Kumble only to see Mahender Dhoni knock off his bails while White was bowled neck and crop by Sehwag for his fourth-wicket (44: 123m, 95b, 5x4, 1x6).

Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson too pitched in with their bits before falling, though all the Australian batsmen displayed tremendous application to make full use of the placid pitch.

Sehwag seemed set for a big knock the way he shaped up in the second innings, after taking five wickets for his career-best haul, but Lee got one to swing in, to take Sehwag by surprise and bowl him all ends up for 16 (39m, 17 b, 2x4).

Ishant, who survived the next ball of Lee, however, fell to Clarke in the next over,going for a big shot, and ended up holing out a catch to Ricky Ponting at short point.

Scoreboard

India (1st Innings): dec for 7 613

Australia (1st Innings): (overnight 338 for 4)

Hayden lbw b Sehwag 83

Katich b Mishra 64

Ponting b Sehwag 87

Hussey b Sehwag 53

M Clarke c Zaheer b Mishra 112

Watson b Sehwag 36

Haddin st Dhoni b Kumble 17

White b Sehwag 44

Lee lbw b Kumble 8

Johnson c and b Kumble 15

S Clark not out 1

Extras (b-28, lb-17, wd-2, nb-10): 57

Total (all out in 179.3 overs): 577

Fall of wickets: 1-123, 2-202, 3-284, 4-326, 5-399, 6-426, 7-532, 8-555, 9-567.

Bowling: Zaheer 23-5-86-0, Ishant 25-5-84-0, Kumble 43.3-9-112-3, Mishra 47-12-144-2, Sehwag 40-9-104-5, Tendulkar 1-0-2-0.

India (2nd Innings):

Gambhir batting 21

Sehwag b Lee 16

Ishant c Ponting b S Clark 1

Dravid batting 5

Total (for 2 wickets in 13 overs): 43

Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-34.

Bowling: Lee 6-1-19-1, S Clark 5-2-19-1, M Clarke 1-0-3-0, S Katich 1-0-5-0. 

New Delhi, November 1
Dejected over his team’s dismal performance on the fourth day of the third Test, coach Gary Kirsten today lambasted the Indian fielders for missing several crucial opportunities on the field. The Indians put up a poor show on the field, dropping several catches while their bowlers, with the sole exception of Virender Sehwag, failed to make much headway on the flat wicket.

The greatest beneficiary of their largesse was Michael Clarke, who notched up his first century of the tour after being dropped thrice by VVS Laxman, Amit Mishra and Ishant Sharma, and Kirsten admitted the lax Indian fielding enabled the visitors to bat themselves into a safe position.

Speaking to mediapersons at the post-match conference here this evening, Kirsten said, “It was not a great day for us. We missed one or two opportunities. And definitely after missing those, we had to rely on only one opportunity. One really needs to create opportunities to win a Test match. If we wouldn’t have dropped few catches, it would had helped us to trail their score. The first catch was crucial for us, which we missed early this morning. But the second and third catch was missed at that time when the visitors were already able to take their score to past 500,” he added.

Stating his displeasure with the bowlers, Kirsten said, “We didn’t bowl well today, there was no pressure from the bowlers. The ball was not put in the right areas. There was also no consistency, which let the Australians go on with their excellent batting.”

On Indian captain Anil Kumble’s effort, Kirsten said, “He is an incredible part of the team. He has put in a lot of effort. Even after he had 11 stiches in his finger, he made a good comeback. I hope he will surely get up for the next Test match.” He added that Virender Sehwag had impressed him with his bowling and gave the bowling attack some much-needed bite in the absence of off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.

On sending night watchman Ishant Sharma to bat at the third place, he stated, “This was not different for us. We do it often in every single match, asking the third or fourth batsman whether he wants a night watchman. And very few batsman refuse to it.”

He, however, remained optimistic saying, “No one knows about the game, and what will be the result. We are leading by 79 runs now, and in the second innings we need to take ourselves to a strong position.” — UNI

New Delhi, November 1
The BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi has hit back at Sri Lanka Cricket chairman Arjuna Ranatunga for his "continuous blasting" of the Indian Premier League, saying his outbursts were totally uncalled for.

Modi, however, insisted that the Indian board has the "best of relationships" with the SLC and players.

Ranatunga had blamed the IPL for causing a loss of $ 3 million revenue to the SLC due to the postponement of Sri Lanka's England tour next year, and said it was unfair that national boards don't benefit financially from the cash-rich Twenty20 tournament.

"Ranatunga is totally unjustified in his continuous blasting of IPL," Modi said.

"At a meeting held in Bangkok a few weeks ago where BCCI officials met the Sri Lankan management - both board and government representatives - the BCCI secretary (N Srinivasan) had clearly pointed out that it had no idea why such hostility exists.

"We are looking for answers. We hope to find a solution which is beneficial to both boards at the earliest. The officials were also quite perturbed that the situation had escalated to where it is today and were also looking for answers," Modi told 
Cricinfo'.

Modi said the SLC alone was to be blamed for the clash of dates of the second season of IPL and Lanka's England tour next year as it knew the IPL schedule before fixing dates with ECB.

"We prepared our (IPL) schedule as per the FTP, which is prepared years in advance, and we signed the players for a certain term based on that. Both Sri Lanka board officials and players were in the knowledge of the schedule. The ECB invited Sri Lanka without knowing that the players had already received an NOC to play for the IPL from the Sri Lankan board.

"Besides, if you go by the FTP, there was an additional tri-series scheduled between India, Sri Lanka and South Africa (during that period), which was to be confirmed by all parties. Therefore Sri Lanka should not have signed the MoU with ECB without first taking into account the above two issues." — PTI 

Chandigarh, November 1
Abbas Ali cracked a scintillating half century as Delhi Giants won a thriller against Hyderabad Heroes in the ICL 20s Indian Championship match at Tau Devi Lal Stadium at Panchkula, near here, tonight.

Set a 145-run target by Delhi Giants, Heroes staged a superb rally by lower-order batsmen. No 8 batsman Anirudh Singh dealt some telling blows towards the end, while all rounder Chris Harris also supported him well. But the valiant efforts proved futile as the Heroes slipped at the doorstep of victory, losing the match by just one run.

Second wicket stand for 65 runs between Ambatti Rayudu and Abdul Razzak earlier kept Heroes in the hunt until suicidal tendencies got the better of the batsmen. Batting nicely, indiscretion got the better of Rayudu. Well set on 29, he was first to be run out. Razzak fell at the same total falling to Abid Nabi after scoring 41. Justin Kemp, Nicky Boje and Stuart Binny then ran themselves out within short intervals as Heroes, from a position of strength, suddenly slipped to 113 for 6. It was at this stage that Anirudh and Harris took charge and took their team close to win.

Earlier, Madhya Pradesh batsman Abbas Ali played a gem of an innings, notching up 39-ball 53. It was this innings which kept the Delhi Giants innings together.

Wicketkeeper batsman Paul Nixon provided thrust to the innings contributing 18-ball 28 which enabled the team to a modest total.

Nicky Boje, PIS Reddy and Harris were the successful bowlers claiming two wickets apiece. Ali was adjudged Man of the Match.

Brief Scores:

Delhi Giants: for 9 wickets in 20 overs 144 ( Abbas Ali 53, P Nixon 28, N Boje 2 for 25, P I S Reddy 2 for 24, C Harris 2 for 23)

Hyderabad Heroes: for 6 wickets in 20 overs 143 (Abdul Razzak 41, A Rayudu 29, Stuart Binny 21, Shane Bond 1 for 22, Abid Nabi 1 for 33). 

Chandigarh, November 1
People still remember him as the slightly-built sardar who made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe in 2000. He was an exceptional fielder during a time when Indians couldn’t find a good enough excuse to dive and stop the ball. But it has been almost eight years since and Reetinder Sodhi has moved on. Playing for the Ahmedabad Rockets team, in the ICL, Sodhi has had a sensational start to the 2008 T20 championship. Although the Rockets have struggled to find their feet, Sodhi has more than once waged lone battles.

Talking to The Tribune he says, “We have been really unlucky this season. Couple of the games have been really close finishes and could have gone either way, but such is the nature of T20 that you can never predict a winner till the very last ball.”

But his own form has been great and he has made the most of all the opportunities that have come his way. “I have always given my hundred per cent. It’s important to score runs but my first priority is always to ensure a win for the team. All the boys are really putting in a great amount of effort and with our coach John Emburey and seasoned players like Gillespie and Martyn in the ranks, I don’t think it will be long before we turn it around”.

In the opening game of the championship he set the stage on fire with a breathtaking 51 off just 25 balls against the Royal Bengal Tigers. He then followed it up with another quick-fire 23 against the Chennai Superstars. In the game against the Hyderabad Heroes on the 29th he again showed his mettle by scoring a blistering 41 of just 15 balls, but still could not manage to win it for the Rockets.

In the ongoing ICL season he has the third highest strike rate (181.69), bettered only by Ian Harvey (184.21). His batting average of 64.5 is bettered by only two more players, a testimony to the fabulous start he has made to the season. He has also picked up 4 wickets at an average of 24.25. All these have meant that he has reaffirmed his position and is rightly a prominent name in the list of the ICL’s most valuable players.

His confidence was evident from his extremely bold shot off the Kiwi speedster Shane Bond. Bond was steaming in when Sodhi going down on his knee, pedal-scooped him over fine leg for an extremely cheeky six. Just the way he lifted that hostile delivery from Bond, his team would be hoping he can help them lift their sagging season as well. 

Margao, November 1
Mahindra United scored a goal in each half to down Vasco 2-0 in the sixth round of ONGC I-League at Nehru Stadium here today. Mahindra, who led 1-0 at half time, scored through Chidi Edeh (40th) and Sushil Kumar Singh (51st).

Mahindra now have six points from six matches, while Vasco remained at the bottom with one point from six matches. Both the teams matched evenly in the first half as they had equal share of exchanges and scoring opportunities.

Mahindra, who badly needed a win to put them back on track, surged ahead in the 40th minute through a penalty after coming close to scoring on a couple of occasions.

Chidi, who was moving with the ball dangerously inside the opposition box, was brought down by Vasco defender Fulganco Cardozo and referee awarded a penalty which Chidi himself converted to give his team 1-0 up at half time.

Mahindra increased the lead after the change of ends when Sushil sent an angular low shot that beat the diving keeper to find the back of the net. — PTI 

Margao, November 1
Churchill Brothers would look to capitalise on home advantage as they take on JCT in an ONGC I-league match at Nehru Stadium here tomorrow. Churchill have remained unbeaten so far with three wins and a draw from four matches. They owe their success largely to their potent striker Odafe Okolie who had scored seven goals to remain the highest scorer.

JCT, who have eight points from five matches, will miss Baldeep (Sr) who in nursing an ankle injury, otherwise the team remains the same. “We played rather defensive against Dempo and managed to score both the opportunity that came our way to emerge triumphant. “It’s a new battle altogether against Churchill Brothers and we will play with some amount of caution,” JCT coach Sukhwinder said. — PTI 

Nabha, November 1
At the end of the second day of the 45 All-India Inter Public Schools (IPSC) athletic meet, in the boys section hosts PPS, Nabha, maintained their leading position by securing 68 points and MNSS, Rai, with 53 points were on seccond spot. In the girls’ section MNSS, Rai, held thier own with a whooping 120 points, to stretch a comfortable lead over other teams.

Welham Girls School, Dehradun, with 78 points were on second position where as Lawrence School, Lovedale, with 48 points were on the third position. Monica Rani of MNSS created a new record in 400 mtrs by clocking 1:01.9 secs.

Results:

Boys: Shot put: Akash Singh (Daily College Indore) 1, Pawandeep Singh (MS Delhi) 2, Rupinder Singh(PPS) 3, Broad jump: Yohaan Singh(Daily College) 1, Siddarth Gupta (MS Delhi) 2, Amit Shihag (MNSS) 3; 200m: Mohd. Wasim (YPS Mohalli) 1, Amandeep Singh (PPS) 2, Abhisekh Pandit (Daily College) 3; 110m hurdles: Manjeet (MNSS) 1, Amit Shihag (MNSS) 2, Amandeep Singh (PPS) 3; 400m: Sachin Nandal (MNSS) 1, Tarlochan Singh (SDA) 2, Soham Jethmalani (Daily College) 3.

Girls: High jump: Meenu Dabas (MNSS) 1, Ada Gupta (YPS Mohalli) 2, MG Lakshmi (Lawarence School) 3; 3000m: Renu (MNSS) 1, Surekha (MNSS) 2, Manpreet Kaur (YPS Patiala) 3; 200m: Monika Rani (MNSS) 1, Ashu (MNSS) 2, Sukanya (Lawrence School) 3; 100m hurdles: Surekha (MNSS) 1, Gyananjan (YPS Patiasla) 2, Medha Dutt (Welham Girls) 3; 400m: Monika Rani (MNSS) 1, Ashu (MNSS) 2, Enankshi (Welham Girls) 3; Triple jump: Kavita Rani (MNSS) 1, Heema sharma (MNSS) 2, Ranjit Kaur (YPS Patiala) 3.