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Gambhir ban makes it tough
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Vijay to replace Gambhir, says Dhoni
Sachin rested for three ODIs
Narang shoots to world record, wins gold
Mohammad Yousuf and ICL Chairman Kapil Dev during a press conference in New Delhi on Friday. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui
Man of the Match Monish Mishra played a brilliant knock of 81 which paved the way for Delhi Giants' victory over Chandigarh Lions via bowl-out in the ICL match at Panchkula on Wednesday. Tribune photo: Manoj Mahajan
Ranji Round-Up
Sangrur bag overall trophy
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Gambhir ban makes it tough
Nagpur, November 5 Gambhir's absence means that India will have a new opening partner for Virender Sehwag for the crucial match with 24-year-old Tamil Nadu opener M Vijay set to make his Test debut. In a highly controversial decision, the ICC Appeals Commissioner Justice Albie Sachs yesterday upheld a one-Test ban on Gambhir without even hearing him which the BCCI refused to accept, saying it violated principles of natural justice. Gambhir has been nightmare for the Australian bowlers in the series so far having scored 463 runs, inclusive of a double hundred and a century, for an average in excess of 77. And Justice Sachs' decision has dealt a huge blow to India's hopes of either winning or drawing the crucial Test on a virgin pitch at the newly constructed Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium at Jamtha. The Delhi batsman's form in the series has rattled the Australians so much so that their leading scorer in the series, Mike Hussey, said yesterday his team would be happy if Gambhir is unable to play. The focus will also be on Sourav Ganguly's who will play his last Test and the Indians should be careful not to get distracted by the ocassion. A largely unknown opener M Vijay has been pitch-forked straightaway into the thick of the hard-fought battle against Australia from domestic cricket by the selectors as replacement for Gambhir. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has indicated that Vijay will play the match, which means that the Indian think tank is not to keen to experiment with specialist positions. The other option for the team is to once again summon the services of Rahul Dravid to bail out the side by opening the innings. But Dravid, no longer the impenetrable "Wall" and with a very modest tally of 117 runs in five innings in the series, may not be in the right frame of mind to do the all-important job. The hosts were already a bit unsettled before the Gambhir blow by the retirement of their leading wicket-taker and skipper Anil Kumble at the end of the drawn Test in New Delhi. With the imminent retirement of another veteran campaigner and former captain Sourav Ganguly to follow after the conclusion of the last Test here, it would be a monumental task for the home team's players to maintain their concentration and focus after having taken a 1-0 lead in the series at Mohali. India have not done well in this city in the recent past having tasted defeat four years ago and with it the series loss against the same opponents on a green-top wicket at the old VCA stadium. On the plus side for the hosts is the fact that the bowling attack is largely undisturbed barring the absence of Kumble which gives chance for Amit Mishra to play his third Test on the trot, with the fit-again Harbhajan Singh who is one short of completing 300 Test wickets at the other end -- a combination that served the team well in whipping the visitors by a huge margin at Mohali. But the Australians have also moved on from that crushing defeat and the top-order batsmen, including India's past nemesis Matthew Hayden, have rediscovered their wonted touch. The rhythm and speed exhibited by their spearhead Brett Lee in the second innings at Ferozeshah Kotla, after struggling in the first two Tests, is also a big plus for the visitors who are mulling how to harness their bowling unit into taking 20 wickets and clinch the all-important Test here. There are indications that leg spinner Cameron White will make way for uncapped offie Jason Krejza to add some more bite to the tourists' less-than-average spin attack, but even the pace attack may see a change. The toss is expected to be of vital importance as the pitch and the ground conditions are new to both the teams. In the last two Tests in the Orange City the home team was defeated by Australia and had to fight hard to force a draw against England two years ago. Dhoni and Co. would be hoping a change of ground would bring in happy tidings this time around, despite the off-field happenings over the last few days. Hours of play: 9:30-11:30 am; 12:15-2:15 pm; 2:30 to 4:30 pm. — PTI |
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Vijay to replace Gambhir, says Dhoni
Nagpur, November 5 "I came to know that Gambhir won't play for sure this morning. We are going in with M Vijay right now and open with him tomorrow," said captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who had taken over the reins of the Test team following the retirement of Anil Kumble after the drawn third Test in New Delhi. Dhoni said the absence of Gambhir, India's leading run-getter in the series with a double hundred and a hundred, will be definitely felt by the side but it has to get on with the situation at hand. "It's a blow as he (Gambhir) is a man in form and a good start really matters. We can capitalize and get to a big score. It's unfortunate (ban on Gambhir) but M Vijay is there. It does not matter whether he makes his debut in this match or 10 matches later as the pressure of playing international cricket will be the same," he said. Asked about the choice of the 24-year-old Tamil Nadu youngster, who came here midway from a Ranji Trophy tie against Maharashtra at Nashik after scoring a double hundred, Dhoni insisted he cannot comment on selection matters. "I cannot comment on selection matters. I have seen him playing in Challenger Series. He's done well in domestic cricket (more than 600 runs each in first two seasons). For now he will open but there can be change of plans," he said. Struggling Rahul Dravid missed the training session today because of 'flu' but Dhoni said the former captain would be fit to play tomorrow. Dhoni said there was no extra pressure on the team ahead of the series-deciding tie with India leading 1-0. — PTI |
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Nagpur, November 5 Tendulkar has been rested as the master batsman himself requested not to be included in the team considering the hectic schedule ahead, besides the amount of cricket he has already played so far in the year. “Considering the hectic schedule ahead and the amount of cricket he has already played this season, Sachin Tendulkar requested that he be rested for the first three ODIs. The selectors accepted his request,” BCCI secretary N. Srinivasan said in a statement issued after the K Srikkanth-led selection committee met here today. The team is almost the same that did duty under Mahendra Singh Dhoni and won the last ODI series it played in Sri Lanka barring the inclusion of young Tamil Nadu opener Murali Vijay and Yusuf Pathan in place of his younger brother Irfan who has been ignored. Praveen Kumar has made way for Delhi pacer Ishant Sharma. Virender Sehwag made a return to the team as expected while Gautam Gambhir, banned from playing in the fourth and final Test against Australia commencing here tomorrow, has been included. The first three ties in the best-of-seven series against England, who are to arrive in Mumbai tomorrow, are to be held at Rajkot (November 14), Indore (November 17) and Kanpur (November 20). Team: M S Dhoni (Capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, R.P. Singh, Virat Kohli and M Vijay. — PTI
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Narang shoots to world record, wins gold
New Delhi, November 5 Narang scored a total of 703.5 -- a perfect 600 in the qualifying and 103.5 in the finals -- to break Austria's Farnik Thomas' record set in 2006 World Cup final in Granada, Spain, according to information received here. This victory came as a breath of fresh air for Narang who missed the final round at the Beijing Games by a whisker after losing out on a count-back. Moreover, the tournament had a strong field comprising of Beijing Games medallists Chinese Zhu Qinan and Henn Hakkinen of Finland. Matthew Emmons of the US, with a score of 702.5 (598+104.5) bagged the silver, while the bronze went to Beijing Olympics silver medallist Zhu who shot 702.3 (599+103.3). Says Obama was
inspiration
Newly crowned world champion in air rifle, Gagan Narang today said he drew inspiration from Barack Obama's win in the US Presidential election while shooting for glory and gold. ''This victory is special as Obama won in US after all the hard work and I drew inspiration from his accomplishment,'' Narang said after bettering the World record. Putting behind the Beijing Olympics' disappointment, the Hyderabad based marksman shot a perfect 600/600 to become only the third shooter to equal the world record and then claimed the title with new record at the World Cup finals in Bangkok, this morning. According to information received here by the NRAI, after Gagan fired the perfect score in the qualification round, he was in the lead all through the 10-shot final. His first shot was 10.9. The Indian held on to his nerves to retain his two-point lead and shot 10.3 to finish on top. Hungary's Sidi Peter, Athens Olympics gold and Beijing Olympics silver medallist Zhu Quinan (China) and Finland's Henry Hakkinen were just a point adrift of the Indian at 599. ''It's indeed a sweet victory after a heart break in Beijing. After the Beijing disappointment I have become more focused, dedicated and hungry for world title,'' said Gagan, who missed an Olympic medal by a whisker in Beijing, and dedicated the medal to national coach Sunny Thomas. — PTI/UNI |
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Yousuf re-joins ICL
New Delhi, November 5 Yousuf was present at a media briefing, addressed by Kapil Dev, here today. Kapil said Yousuf, on a three-year contract, would be inducted in the Lahore Badshah team, who will play against Dhaka Warriors in the ICL tournament on November 7 at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad. Yousuf said his breach of contract with the ICL last year was due to some "misunderstanding" created by some people. Business head of ICL Himanshu Modi said all the court cases with Yousuf "have been settled". Yousuf, who has played in 79 Tests for Pakistan, was adjuged the Wisden Cricketer of the Year-2007. He will also feature in the ICL 20s World Series, representing ICL-Pakistan, which will have four teams from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and World II. The World Series will be a week-long affair, to be played from November 22 to 29 in Ahmedabad. It will have a prize money corpus of Rs 2.74 crore, out of which Rs 1.25 crore will go to the winners and Rs 75 lakh to the runners-up. There will be a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh for every win at the league stage, and Rs 2 lakh will be given to the man of the match award winners. Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq will lead the ICL Pakistan team, Chris Harris the World XI, Habibul Bashar Bangladesh and R Sathish ICL India. |
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Giants prevail over Lions in bowl-out
Chandigarh, November 5
The tie had to be decided via bowl-out as both the teams ended on level terms - 200 each - after the normal quota of
overs.
Delhi Giants prevailed in the bowl-out in a match, which saw plenty of thrills and fireworks from both the sides. Chasing an imposing target of 201 for victory, Monish Mishra and Avishka Gunawardene provided Giants a rollicking start. Mishra was in devasting form. Clouting the bowlers all over the park, he kept the scoreboard moving. Flamboyant opener Gunawardene was no less dominating as 50 were there on the board in just 4.2
overs.
Seamers and spinners were treated with disregard as boundaries and sixes continued to flow. Runs came in a torrent as Mishra completed his half-century facing 24 balls. Off-spinner Rajesh Sharma restored sanity to the proceedings when Giants were cruising along nicely and 126 runs were on the board in 12 overs. He had dangerous Mishra stumped, when the rampaging batsman was looking good for a century. During the course of his scintillating 81, Mishra faced 44 balls and clobbered 10 fours and three sixes.
There were no alarms for Giants as Gunawardene and Abhinav Bali continued the good work and took the score to 167 when Bali was ensnared by T P Singh. Then a 11-ball 22 cameo by Abbas Ali took his team to the doorsteps of a victory.
With Giants needing nine runs for a victory in the last over, Lions skipper Andrew Hall castled burly Guwardene on the second delivery. Gunawardene scored 64.
T P Singh earlier was unstoppable slamming a 22-ball half-century while Sarabjit Singh was equally effective, scoring brisk 60. Graeme Hick added 18-ball 36. The rest of the batting just caved in. But the initial fireworks were enough for the Lions to put 200 on the board. Mishra won the Man of the Match award. With this second loss in as many matches, Lions chances of reaching the semifinals have taken a beating.
Brief scores:
Delhi Giants:200 for 4 in 20 overs (M Mishra 81, A Gunawardene 64, Andrew Hall 1 for 42, D Tuffey 1 for 33, Rajesh Sharma 1 for 31, T P Singh 1 for 17)
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Ranji Round-Up
New Delhi, November 5 Bhatia, during his 273-minute stay on the middle, spent 168 balls and struck Punjab bowlers out of the ground for four runs on fourteen occasions en route his 99, had to head back with a broken heart when left-arm spinner Sarabjit Ladda's delivery found his leg in front of the stumps. Earlier, starting with overnight score of 142 for none, both the openers Aakash Chopra and Shikhar Dhawan gave Delhi a solid start through a 155-run partnership, which came in 177 minutes. — PTI
Scoreboard A Chopra lbw b Gony 76 Dhawan c Dharmani b Gagandeep 72 Kohli c Yuvraj b S Kaul 6 Manhas lbw b S Kaul 58 Aditya c Dharmani b Gagandeep 1 R Bhatia lbw b Ladda 99 P Bisht c Inder Singh b Yuvraj 76 P Sangwan run out 27 C Nanda not out 0 A Nehra not out 0 Extras (b 8, lb 5, nb 6) 19 Total (8 wickets; 113
overs) 434 Fall of wickets: 1-155, 2-161, 3-171, 4-172, 5-245, 6-395, 7-434, 8-434. Bowling: Gagandeep 30-3-97-2, Gony 30-4-121-1, S Kaul 25-2-116-2, S Ladda 22-2-66-1, A Kakkar 1-0-7-0, Yuvraj 5-0-14-1.
Haryana crash to 103-run defeat
Chandigarh: Himachal Pradesh seamer Vikramjeet Malik wrecked havoc as Haryana crashed to 103 run defeat on the penultimate day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Plate League Group A match at Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium in Rohtak today.
Malik, who had taken six wickets in the Haryana first innings, fared even better this time. Bowling well on target, Malik claimed seven wickets in the second innings for a match haul of 13 wickets, as Haryana slumped to a big defeat. Chasing a 254-run victory target after Himachal were bowled out for 238 earlier in the day, opener Rahul Dewan stood firm among the ruins as wickets kept on tumbling at the other end. Dewan scored 66 runs. Scoreboard Haryana (1st innings): 98 Himachal (2nd innings): Gupta b Billa 15 Sangram lbw b Rana 4 Indulkar run out 25 B Thakkar c Sumit b Budhwar 43 Dogra b Dhruv 64 Mukesh b Rana 28 Mannu c Sumit b Dhruv 2 Malik c Dewan b Dhruv 3 Sarandeep c Sonkar b Billa 25 Bhatia c Lavasa b Rana 1 Thakur not out 3 Extras
(b 4, lb 14, w 2, nb 5): 25 Total (all out; 91.3 overs): 238 FoW: 1-28, 2-28, 3-69, 4-134, 5-188, 6-194, 7-205, 8-209, 9-210, 10-238 Bowling: JT Billa 22.3-7-66-2, S Rana 22-4-56-3, S Budhwar 16-6-33-1, Dhruv Singh 14-4-22-3, Sunny Singh 10-4-13-0, G Vashisht 5-0-26-0, AB Sonkar 2-0-4-0 Haryana (2nd innings): Dewan c Gupta b Malik 66 Saini c Gupta b Thakur 9 Sonkar c Dogra b Sarandeep 1 Sunny b Malik 1 Sumit lbw b Malik 3 Rana c Gupta b Malik 4 Dhruv c Gupta b Malik 14 Lavasa c Gupta b Malik 23 Vashisht lbw b Malik 0 Billa lbw b Thakur 6 Budhwar not out 4 Extras (b 7, lb 11, nb 1): 19 Total (all out; 70 overs): 150 FoW: 1-43, 2-52, 3-57, 4-67, 5-89, 6-92, 7-107, 8-107, 9-134, 10-150 Bowling: A Thakur 20-6-48-2, V Malik 18-7-29-7, Sangram 1-0-2-0, V Bhatia 14-4-21-0, B Thakkar 2-1-1-0, Sarandeep Singh 15-3-31-1. |
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Sangrur bag overall trophy
Moga, November 5 Supreet Kaur of Muktsar district was declared the fastest girl of the State who finished the 100m race in 12.83 seconds to fetch the gold medal. Ekamjit of Ludhiana district got silver medal by finishing in 13.17 seconds while Veerpal Kaur of Sangrur district won the bronze medal finishing the race in 13.24 seconds. In the 400m race Ramanjit Kaur of Sangrur district bagged the gold medal by finishing the race in 1:00:70 minutes. Ekamjeet Kaur of Ludhiana district won the silver medal and Pardeep Kaur of Hoshiarpur district got bronze medal by finishing the race in 1:01:80 minutes and 1:02:36 minutes, respectively. In 4x100m relay race Sangrur district won the gold medal by finishing with a timing of 53.50 seconds. The teams of Muktsar and Gurdaspur districts won the silver medal and bronze medal by finishing the race in 53.90 seconds and 54.01 seconds, respectively. Tarn Taran district bagged the gold medal in the final hockey match, outplaying Muktsar by 3 goals to nil, while hosts Moga managed to secure the third position by defeating the Gurdaspur district 4-0. Bathinda clinched the gold medal in kabaddi defeating Ferozepur 33-17, while Amritsar got the bronze defeating the Ludhiana district by 27-5 points. Moga won the gold medal in volleyball by defeating the Muktsar district in final match by 25-16, 25-15, 23-25, 25-18 points in a well fought match. |
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Chandigarh, November 5
