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Oz too defensive as India have a ball
India-Australia Test series |
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Punjabi varsity archers break national record
Pinegrove lift hockey title
Police Games
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Oz too defensive as India have a ball
Nagpur, November 8 Responding to India’s first innings total of 441, the Australians squandered the advantange of a solid start to lose wickets at periodic intervals after the lunch break and fold up for 355 just a few minutes before stumps on an absorbing third day. Opener Simon Katich scored his third century since returning to the national team and his fifth overall to lay the foundation for his team alongwith Michael Hussey but their dismissals in quick succession opened up the floodgates. The visitors, who were placed at a comfortable 255 for three at one stage, slipped to a precarious 266 for six before recovering to some extent mainly due to the efforts of Brad Haddin and Cameron White. India were yet to open their account in the second innings with Virender Sehwag safely negotiating Mitchell Johnson’s only over The Aussies were inexplicably defensive in their approach and allowed the hosts to create pressure by drying up the run flow on a track which has shown gradual signs of deterioration. The tourists could add just 166 runs to their overnight tally, an uncharacteristically slow run rate of less than 2.5 runs from the champion team which is desperate to win the Test and level the series 1-1. With two days left, the Indians will now look to score quickly in the second innings and have another crack at the Aussies on a last day pitch, which was expected to turn a lot more. Resuming at 189 for two, Australia made slow and steady progress against the pace duo of Zaheer and Ishant Sharma before losing Katich for 102 with half an hour left for lunch. Katich faced 189 balls and struck nine boundaries. The left-hander added 155 runs with fellow-Western Australian Michael Hussey for the third wicket. Zaheer, who bowled a long spell of nine overs for 15 runs from the end opposite to the pavilion, switched ends and struck in the second over by trapping Katich leg before with a ball that swung in late and hit the batsman’s boot. India should have sent back Katich soon after play began but Dravid at first slip grassed the thick edge despite getting both hands to the ball flying to his left. The surprisingly defensive tourists, trailing 0-1 in the series, lost the wickets of the well-set Hussey, vice-captain Michael Clarke and all rounder Shane Watson in the space of seven overs and for the addition of just 11 runs. It was the brilliance of fast bowler Ishant Sharma and debutant Murali Vijay that sent back Clarke and Hussey after the visitors resumed at the lunch time score of 231 for three. Sharma, who had bowled an impressive spell in the morning but saw Rahul Dravid drop centurion Simon Katich at slip on 94, came back for his new spell and dismissed Clarke with a superb ball that squared the batsman up. Sharma’s late swing, as he bowled from just wide of the crease, made the ball straighten after pitching and Clarke, drawn forward, edged it to wicket keeper and India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Then Vijay, playing his first Test after being pitch forked into international cricket from relative obscurity of Ranji Trophy, made a brilliant stop with his right hand at silly point to run out the sticky Hussey. Dhoni dislodged the bails even as the left-handed batsman was trying to scramble back after setting off for a single and failed narrowly. Hussey had batted for over five hours in his slow and methodical fashion -- eschewing risks -- and struck eight fours after facing 228 balls. A further setback followed as tourists lost Watson (2) who was bowled by Harbhajan Singh. The batsman failed to negotiate the spinning ball and it squeezed past his bat and struck the stump to disturb the off bail even as Watson looked on. Wicket-keeper Brad Haddin and White retrievd the situation for the visitors with a 52-run stand for the seventh wicket. But after Haddin was dismissed, the resistance did not last long and the Australian first innings folded up about ten minutes before close of play. Harbhajan Singh was the pick of the Indian bowlers with three for 94 while paceman Ishant Sharma (2/69) and leg spinner Amit Mishra (2/58) chipped in with two wickets apiece. Scoreboard India (second innings) |
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India-Australia Test series
Instead it was seam at both ends with a predominantly off side field that gave the Aussies little chance to score, but by bowling wide of the stumps the Indians did not give themselves a chance of taking wickets either. While it was
understandable once the partnership settled down to have such a field, to have it before the pair was set was hard to
comprehend. Having fielders around the bat at the start of the day’s play, before the batsmen have had the chance to settle down increases the chance of a wicket. There is certainly more footwork required to play spin on a pitch which gives some help to the spinners, than playing pace on any wicket. To play pace there are basically just two movements either forward or back, but to play spin a batsman needs to advance down the pitch to smother the turn, or go right back to cut or pull the ball. Spin was introduced just before lunch by which time the batsmen had settled down, although the score had not moved too much because of the field placing. India of course was entitled to think that since they are already one up in the series it is Australia who should do all the moves if they want to win the game and level the series. There are still two more days to go and a defensive frame of mind will not help against the Australians. India’s catching has been abysmal in this series. When two utterly reliable fielders like Dravid and Laxman drop sitters, then there is pretty little a captain or bowler can do. The first miss allowed Katich to get to a century, which he had missed here at the other ground in Nagpur on the previous trip in 2004, and the drop later by Laxman kept the Indians on the field a bit longer than they would have liked, and also reduced their lead to less than 100. Surprisingly India’s spinners didn't get the ball to turn as much as Jason Krejza had done. The Australian debutant was happy to toss the ball up and thus got turn and bounce too. Harbhajan on the other hand did not toss it up as high, and therefore did not get the same purchase from the pitch. It could well be that the pitch has eased up as the Delhi pitch seemed to have done over the days in last weeks Test, and that may have defeated the Indian spinners. No praise can be too high for the efforts of Zaheer and Ishant. To bowl that line just outside the off stump with just one fielder on the leg side is not easy. There were probably just a couple of deliveries that went down the leg side and that speaks of the accuracy and control. Then with the second new ball later in the day Ishant was incredible as he showed how much he has improved. He bowled with hostility and swung the ball both ways. Zaheer too continues to display how valuable he is to the team with a spell where he got rid of the centurion Katich with a late swinging Yorker. India has the upper hand alright, but any relaxing will give Australia just the opening that they are looking for to level the series.
— PMG |
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Changed strategy stopped run flow: Ishant
Nagpur, November 8 “We went for a few runs last evening and changed our strategy today. We stuck to a disciplined line and bowled in the right areas,” Ishant, who picked up two wickets by bowling unflaggingly right through the innings said after the third day’s play in the fourth and final Test here. Australia, chasing India’s first innings total of 441 and starting at their overnight score of 189 for two in 49 overs, got stumped by Indian bowlers’ tactics and lost their remaining wickets for only 166 runs in 85.4 overs at the new VCA stadium. However, the lanky Delhi pacer did not buy the theory that Indian bowlers bowled a negative line and said the idea was to stem the flow of runs by throwing new challenges to the tourists. “It was not a negative line that we bowled. The attempt was to stop the flow of runs and offer new challenges to them. We had certain plans for different players. To give away 150-160 runs and take eight wickets is very satisfactory. That’s what your side expects from you (bowlers),” he said. “We were given a role to do and stuck to it,” he added. Ishant, who got rid off dangerous Michael Clarke with a gem of a ball that took the edge of the Australian vice-captain’s bat, said both he and senior pace partner Zaheer Khan were in great rhythm which allowed the duo to bowl long spells this morning. “We both had good rhythm and that’s why we bowled 18 overs together,” he said. Ishant also did not agree to the view that skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni took the second new ball too late in the day, saying it was the old ball and reverse swing that helped the pacers do most of the damage. “All the wickets we took earlier were with reverse swing and not with the new ball,” he said about Dhoni’s move to summon the second new ball only after 125 overs when it was due 45 overs earlier. Ishant indicated that though the hosts were 1-0 ahead in the series and comfortably placed with a lead of 86 runs in the first innings here, they are eyeing to clinch a victory. “We always play to win. We want to win the series 2-0,” he said. — PTI
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Heroes hunt down Bengal Tigers
Ahmedabad, November 8 Earlier in the evening Chirs Harris won the toss and elected to field, taking the due factor into consideration. Sahabuddin struck early trapping the inform Deep Dasgupta lbw in the second over, with the scorecard reading 5 runs for the Bengal team. The Hyderabad seamers were making full use of the helpful conditions not allowing the formidable Bengal top order any leeway. The famed Hyderabad spin trio of Boje, Reddy & Harris proved a bit too much for the Bengal lower middle order who folded their innings at a partly 111 all out in 19.4 overs. The Hyderabad chase got off to a shaky start with Tarafdar striking in the 4th over, packing back the dangerous Razzaq for 7. But in the end it was a clinical batting display that saw the defending champions romp home to a nine-wicket victory in only the 16th over. Brief Scores: Royal Bengal Tigers: 111 (McMillan 31, Klusener 21; Sahabuddin 3 for 22, Reddy 3 for 22) Hyderabad Heroes: 112 (Khaleel 54, Rayudu 46; Tarafdar 1 for 21). — Agencies
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Punjabi varsity archers break national record
Patiala, November 8 Dr Rajkumar Sharma, director, sports, Punjabi University, and other coaches gave a warm reception to the team and coach Jiwanjot Singh Teja at the city railway station. Dr Rajkumar was overwhelmed with the performance of the archers. He said, “The players along with the coach have been working hard since four months for this championship and finally, the results are worth the effort.” Congratulating the coach, he said he was delighted with this record win and would further provide all facilities to the players so that they continue with this winning spree. Coach Jiwanjot Singh said the team won as many as 14 gold, nine silver and three bronze medals in the individual event. He said, “It was like a dream come true. It was certainly more than what I had expected but I am glad that the hardwork has paid off. The kids are extremely excited.” The team won both men and women overall championships by lifting three trophies, men recurve round, women recurve round, men compound round, and runners up in the women compound round. This is for the first time that any university has won 4 titles in a single tournament. In individual Recurve category, Kapil Kumar, an international archer of the university, won all six gold medals and created a new record in the meet. He is the first player ever to win all six medals. Even the team consisting Kapil, Jaspreet Singh and Parwinder Singh defeated Dr BA Marthwada University, Aurangabad, to lift team championship. On the other hand, Surinder Singh beat various international archers and last year’s university champion Abhishek from Delhi to win individual Olympic round and emerged champion in the compound men event. Amandeep Kamboj and Amarinder Singh from the university bagged second and third place, respectively. In the girls category, Nisha Tomor lifted the recurve title by defeating Vandana BM of Bangalore University. She also won one gold and two silvers in distance event. Mamta Nagi also won one gold, silver and bronze medal in the recurve round. In Compound women, Gagandeep Bawa won silver and a bronze and Sunita Rani won Olympic round silver medal. The team consisting both of them and Gagandeep also were runners up in the category.
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Pinegrove lift hockey title
Solan, November 8 The game caught momentum right from the beginning and it saw the Pinegrovian’s dominate all through. For Pinegrove the two goals came in the first half while one was scored in the concluding part of the game. Nikhil Verma opened the account for Pinegrove in the fifth minute while Deepak added one more goal in the seventh minute of the first half. Arjun scored the third goal for the host team in the seventeenth minute of second half. Earlier in the first semifinal, Pinegrove defeated Daly College, Indore, by 3-0. All the three goals were scored in the second half of the match. Nikhil, Nischay and Khushvikram were the goal scorers for Pinegrove. In the other semifinal, Sherwood College, Nanital outplayed Lawrence School, Sanawar by 4-1 in an action-packed match where Sherwood boys got into an attacking mode right from the very beginning scoring three goals in the first half itself. Sanawar team hit back with one goal. In the second half the Sherwoodians consolidated their lead by one more goal and won the match. Puru, Jujhar, Sidharth and Ayush scored one goal each for Sherwood while Lavya scored the only goal for Sanawar. Nabhdeep Singh of Pinegrove School was adjudged the Player of the Tournament while Sidharth Basnet of Sherwood College, Nanital was given the Highest Scorer award. Garvit Chaudhary of Pinegrove School was adjudged the Best Goalkeeper. The Best Defender award was given to Tururav Raghuvanshi of Sherwood College, Nanital. Tejeshwar Singh of Daly College, Indore was awarded the Best Upcoming Player.
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Police Games
Jalandhar, November 8 Punjab minister for finance Manpreet Singh Badal gave away prizes to the winners. Others present on the occasion included Punjab , Director General of Police (DGP), N.P.S. Aulakh, ADGP Rajan Gupta and many senior Police officers. Results: Basketball: Punjab (1), BSF (2) and CRPF (3), Best player award: ASI Jagdeep Singh (Punjab Police); Handball: Punjab (1), BSF (2) and J&K (3); Kabaddi: Punjab (1), BSF (2), and UP (3), CRPF were declared Hard line joint winners; Volleyball: Punjab (1), BSF (2) and Karnataka (3), Best player: Ct. Gurinder Singh, (Punjab Police). |
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day of attrition saw Australia being restricted from scoring at the speed that they prefer. India’s tactics at the start of the day’s play were baffling to say the least, since it was expected that they would look to confront the Australians with a combination of seam and spin.
