Nagpur, November 9
India recovered from a dramatic post-lunch collapse to set Australia a daunting target of 382 on a tricky fifth day track as the fourth and final cricket Test seemed headed for a nerve-wracking finish here today.

After securing a vital 86-run first innings lead, the hosts were cruising along comfortably at 116 for no loss with Virender Sehwag and debutant Murali Vijay giving a solid start before the top order batsmen fell in a heap to leave the team tottering at 166 for six at the tea interval.

But captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh brought the Indians back into the game with a gritty 108-run stand for the seventh wicket before the innings folded up for 295 about 15 minutes before close on the penultimate day.

Australia were 13 for no loss in the second innings before bad light forced play to be called off with four balls remaining to be bowled, which means they need 369 runs on the last day to win the match.

The stage is now set for a pulsating fifth day’s play with the balance slightly tilted in India’s favour as chasing such a stiff target on the last day could be daunting task for the visitors.

Only three teams have chased a target of more than 382 in the fourth innings in the history of Test cricket. West Indies has the record of successfully chasing down 418 against Australia at St Johns in 2002-03. Australia had scored 404 against England at Leeds in 1948 and India had successfully chased 403 against West Indies in Port of Spain in 1975-76.

Leading the four-match series 1-0, the Indians need only a draw to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy while the Aussies have no choice but to win the game to retain the coveted trophy.

The Indian first innings again got off to a rollicking start with Sehwag and Vijay remaining unseparated till the lunch break and managed to score at a brisk rate. Australia had used all their four frontline bowlers to try and unsettle the opening combination but to no avail till the break.

Sehwag cover-drove Johnson for the first boundary of the morning in the second over and then debutant Vijay, who looked composed, reached out and guided Brett Lee to the third man fence.

But the Indian innings got completely derailed in post lunch session as they lost six wickets in quick succession to allow the visitors to come back into the game.

In a repeat of the second day’s proceedings when India squandered away a good first session, the hosts were again put under severe pressure by Australia who broke the back of the innings, thanks to some superb bowling by Shane Watson and rookie off spinner Jason Krejza.

The batsmen to be dismissed through a combination of good bowling and poor play in this senseless collapse were Murali Vijay, Virender Sehwag, the out-of-form Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman and Sourav Ganguly, who was out for a duck in his farewell Test innings.

Watson picked up two wickets while debutant Jason Krejza grabbed two, to be on a hat-trick for the second time in the match, and Lee scalped one while Tendulkar was run out in the last over before tea.

Watson did the early damage by getting rid off Vijay, who batted for 129 minutes and faced 81 balls while hitting five fours, with a late inswinger and Dravid, with an out-swinger, to continue the miserable time in the series for the former India skipper whose tally stood at 120 after seven innings.

Lee, down with a stomach bug and dehydration yesterday, bowled with a lot of fire to send back the dangerous-looking Sehwag, by having the flashy opener caught down the leg-side when he was all set to notch up his 16th century.

Sehwag struck ten fours and a lofted six over long on off Krejza before glancing Lee’s short rising ball going down the leg-side to keeper Brad Haddin who brought off a fine leg side catch.

Scoreboard

India first Innings: 441

Australia first Innings: 355

India second Innings

(overnight: 0 for no loss)

Sehwag c Haddin b Lee 92

Vijay lbw Watson 41

Dravid c Haddin b Watson 3

Tendulkar run out 12

Laxman b Krejza 4

Ganguly c & b Krejza 0

Dhoni c Hussey b Krejza 55

Harbhajan b Watson 52

Zaheer c Haddin b Krejza 6

Mishra b Watson 7

Ishant not out 1

Extras: (b-6, lb-3, nb-2, w-6, pen-5) 22

Total: (all out in 82.4 overs) 295

FoWS: 1-116, 2-132, 3-142, 4-163, 5-163, 6-166, 7-274, 8-286, 9-288, 10-295.

Bowling: Johnson 14-4-22-0, Lee 10-3-27-1, Krejza 31-3-143-4, Watson 15.4-2-42-4, White 2-0-15-0, M Hussey 4-2-3-0, Clarke 6-1-29-0.

Australia second innings:

Hayden batting 5

Katich batting 8

Extras: 0

Total: (for no loss, in 1.3 overs) 13

Bowling: Zaheer 1-0-13-0, Ishant 0.3-0-0-0. — PTI 

Nagpur, November 9
Having set a target of 382 for the Australians to win the fourth and final Test here, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said a victory for the home team would hinge on how in-form pace duo of Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma provide the early breakthrough tomorrow.

“It’s not only about Harbhajan but also about Zaheer and Ishant who have bowled well throughout the series and the sort of start they give us tomorrow morning. We need to get a good start by the pace bowlers,” he said.

Dhoni said Australia’s task, though not impossible, was a formidable one on a fast deteriorating fifth-day track. “We lost some quick wickets but in the end we were happy with the amount of runs. Our plan from the beginning was to set them a target of around 360 to get in ninety overs,” said the swashbuckling wicketkeeper after India recovered from 166 for six at tea to finish with a second innings total of 295.

“Given the fact that we lost six wickets in a heap, chasing four runs per over on a fifth day track is not going to be easy. The ball would also go soft and there would be wear and tear on the wicket. It’s quite a difficult (task) but not impossible (to achieve),” he said.

The home team captain, who hit a half-century (55) and put on a century stand with Harbhajan Singh, who made 52, to rescue India from a difficult situation, was full of praise for the batting skills of the feisty off-spinner.

“It was a great effort. Harbhajan has scored consistently against Australia.” Dhoni said while planning was important, to execute the plans well was vital and sounded extremely satisfied that his teammates were able to do it.

“You go out there with some sort of plan, but it’s about executing those plans,” he pointed out. — PTI

Ahmedabad, November 9
The final league match of the ICL 20s Indian Championship featured the clash of the Chennai Superstars and Lahore Badshahs in a crucial encounter, having a major say in the final standings on points table and deciding factor for the semi final spots in the knock out stage. 

In the end a brilliant batting display from both sides, that witnessed more than 400 runs scored in only 40 overs, saw the Lahore side come out tops by a narrow margin of 13 runs and setting up a repeat match between the two sides in the much anticipated 1st semifinal tomorrow. Imran Farhat & Rana Naved were declared joint man of the match.

Earlier in the evening Stuart Law, won the toss and elected to field, taking the due factor into consideration. The mighty Lahore Badshahs opened with the world record holders Farhat & Nazir who showed their aggressive intent right away. In the end a clinical batting performance studded with 21 fours & 13 sixes; saw the mighty Lahore Badshahs post Chennai Superstars a formidable target of 212.

For the Superstars Sathish fought a lone battle scoring a brilliant fifty of only 30 balls. In the end powered by a brilliant unbeaten knock 76 from Sathish saw the courageous Chennai side fall short of the target by only 13 runs.

Brief Scores: Lahore Badshahs 211 (Farhat 67, Nazir 44; Jesuraj 2/37, Harvey 1/32).
Chennai Superstars: 198 (Sathish 76, Harvey 54, Naved 4/26, S Nazir 3/43). — Agencies 

Mumbai, November 9
Andrew Flintoff belted an unbeaten 85-ball 100 to help England win the opening match of their tour of India with an authoritative 122-run victory over the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) here today.

Riding on Flintoff’s unbeaten century, England reached 297 for four and then resricted the hosts 175 for eight their 50 overs. With the century, Flintoff also announced his return as the all-rounder has been beset by injuries and this was his first ton since the 2005 Trent Bridge Test in Ashes series against Australia.

But the all-rounder looks to have rediscovered his best form after a summer playing county cricket. England openers added 22 runs for the first wicket before Matt Prior was bowled for 13. His partner Ian Bell helped take the score to 100 before he was stumped off the bowling of off-spinner Vikrant Yeligeti for 58.

Owais Shah too made use of the tour game and scored 83 runs with the help of six fours and a six but missed his century by 17 runs after his 99-ball innings came to an end.

The dismissal of captain Kevin Pietersen for just six runs was perhaps the only disappointment for England in the day. However, his wicket brought Flintoff to the crease and he dominated the MCA attack. Flintoff and Owais Shah put on 132 runs to get England on to an imposing total. — UNI 

Scoreboard

England:

Bell st Shaikh b Yeligati 58

Prior b Sinha 13

Shah c Shetye b Valthaty 83

Pietersen c Shaikh b Kulkarni 6

Flintoff not out 100

Collingwood not out 22

Extras (lb 8, w 6, nb 1) 15

Total (4 wickets; 50 overs) 297

FoWs: 1-22, 2-100, 3-115, 4-248.

Bowling: Sinha 6.2-1-32-1, Bhoir 10-0-57-0, Valthaty 5-0-56-1, Yeligati 10- 0-41-1, Kulkarni 10-1-40-1, Salunkhe 8.4-0-63-0

MCA:

Bagade c Flintoff b Anderson 3

Marathe c Shah b Patel 36

Shetye c Prior b Anderson 50

Valthaty b Patel 25

Shashank run out 23

Shaikh c Pietersen b Anderson 2

Salunkhe c Swann b Collingwood 2

Poojary b Flintoff 15

Yeligati not out 2

Kulkarni not out 1

Extras (b 2, lb 7, w 7) 16

Total (8 wickets; 50 overs) 175

FoWs: 1-11, 2-71, 3-119, 4-138, 5-140, 6-143, 7-170, 8-171.

Bowling: Anderson 8-2-15-3, Broad 4-0-21-0, Flintoff 6-1-22-1, Harmison 7-1-24-0, Swann 10-0-37-0, Patel 10-0- 38-2, Pietersen 2-0-5-0, Collingwood 3- 1-4-1.

New Delhi, November 9
Olympian Deriba Merga of Ethiopia set the course ablaze, clocking 59.15 minutes to set a new meet record and emerge as the fastest half marathon runner of the year in the fourth Airtel Delhi Half Marathon here today.

Deriba eclipsed Rwandan last year’s champion Dieudonne Disi’s timing of 60.43 minutes to bag a prize money of $25,000 prize money. Kenyan Wilson Kipsang and Wilson Chebet finished second and third, clocking 59.16 and 59.34 minutes respectively, in the men’s category to take home $15,000 and $10,000, respectively.

In the women’s section, Ethiopian Aselefech Mergia emerged winner, registering her personal best timing of 68.17 minutes to pocket a prize money of $25,000. Mergia’s compatriot Genet Getenet (68.18) finished second and Kenyan Peninah Arusei (68.20) finished third.

Among the Indians, Sandeep Kumar clocked 64.53 eclipsing last year’s winner Ram Singh Yadav’s timing of 66.09 minutes to pocket a prize money of $4000. Kashinath and Deep Chand clocked 64.58 and 65 minutes, respectively, to finish second and third in the men’s section.

In the women’s section, defending Indian champion Kavitha Raut retained her title for the second time, registering a personal best timing of 77.12 minutes.

Meanwhile, Preethi L Rao (77. 20) and Sudha Singh (77.39) finished second and third to bag $3,000 and $2,000, respectively.

Winning the title, Deriba said he was happy and not at all surprised as he had his best preparation for the event. “I am very excited with the result. I had prepared well for the race so I am not surprised with my performance. It was good to run hard and win the race,” said Deriba, who bettered his earlier personal best of 59.16 recorded during the IAAF Road Race Championships in Udine, Italy in 2007. — PTI

Chandigarh, November 9
Top teams of the country will be seen in action in the fifth All-India Invitation Sunil Memorial Volleyball Tournament starting from November 28 to 30 at Amin (Kurukshetra).

National champions Haryana State Industrial Corporation (HSIDC), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (Dehradun), Punjab Police, Indian Railways, Border Security Force, Uttar Pradesh Police and Haryana Police will participate in the touranament being organised in memory of international volleyball player Sunil Kumar, who was a member of the Indian Junior team, who died in a car accident in 2000.

The winners will be given a cash prize of Rs one lakh and runners-up Rs 50,000. Mercurial hockey player Dhanraj Pillay, Beijing Olympics boxing bronze medalist Vijender Singh will be guest of honour at the closing ceremony, said the club’s vice president Gaurav Singh.

Amritsar, November 9
India defeated Pakistan in the second Kabaddi Match being played at Majitha here today. The Kabaddi matches being held to commemorate the tercentenary celebrations of Gurta Gaddi Divas would go a long way in strengthening the ties between the two neighbouring countries, felt information and broadcasting minister, Punjab, Bikram Singh Majithia.

The Indian Kabaddi team won the second match of the five match series. The match was held at the Gopalpur Stadium, Majitha. India beat Pakistan with 53 points against 38 secured by the Pakistani team levelling the series by 1-1. The first match was played at Nanded and was won by the Pakistani team. Both the teams were rewarded with Rs 1 lakh each.

Speaking on the occassion, Sikander Singh Malooka, president Punjab Kabaddi Association, said the final match of the series would be played at the Sports Stadium in Bathinda on November 14. Member of Parliament and president Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) Sukhbir Singh Badal would be the chief guest and would distribute cash prize of Rs 4 lakh to the winners of the series and Rs 3 lakh to the runners-up team.

Mumbai, November 9
Air India beat JCT 1-0 in the seventh round match of ONGC I-League match played at the Cooperage ground here today. With this win, Air India moved into second position in the table.

It was Uttam Singh’s throw-in that once again did the trick as Air India maintained their 100 per cent home win record.

The visitors started well and dominated the first half, especially Brazilian striker Eduardo Escobar, who was looking very dangerous and his long-range shot being a cause of concern for the Air India defence.

In the second half, both teams played positive football and had their chances. Air India coach Bimal Ghosh brought Samson Singh in place of Subash Singh in the 80th minute. Samson and Emmanual Oviegnara combined well.

In the 85th minute, Uttam Singh tried a long throw-in inside the box from right, which was anticipated by Samson and he made no mistake to score the winning goal with his right foot. 

Air India ought to have doubled the lead but Oviegnara missed an open net. Air India’s Chukwuma Udaofia and Soccor Velho were shown the yellow card in the 41st and 66th minutes, respectively. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Somdev loses in US Challenger final
NASHVILLE: India’s challenge at the ATP Challenger Series ended with a disappointment as Somdev Devvarman lost to fourth seed Robert Kendrick in the finals of the hard-court event here. The unseeded Indian Davis cupper, who has defeated the second and third seed in his run-up to the stage two, lost in straight sets 3-6, 5-7 to the American in the finals. Further disappointments came to India, when Ashutosh Singh and Harsh Mankad lost 4-6, 5-7 to the Australian-American pair of Carslen Ball and Travis Rettenmaier in the summit clash of the doubles competition. — UNI

Symonds’ desires for comeback to side
MELBOURNE: Declaring himself mentally fit to make a comeback in the Australian squad, allrounder Andrew Symonds expressed his desire to play cricket after weeks of introspection on the ‘gone-fishing’ saga. In his just-released book ‘Roy on the Rise: A Year of Living Dangerously’, Symonds has claimed that he lost the desire to play cricket on two occasions. First it was when Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was let off with just a fine during the acrimonous Sydney Test and second, when he was asked to leave after missing a crucial team meeting for a fishing trip in Darwin. — UNI

SLC tried to stop players from IPL: SLPA
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka Cricket’s bid to stop its players from participating in next year’s Indian Premier League is not a surprise for the players’ association here, which alleged SLC made a similar effort last year to put a spoke in the wheel of the IPL-bound cricketers. Sri Lankan Players Association’s (SLPA) Graeme Labrooy said SLC doing everything to stop the players from playing in next year’s IPL was not a one-off incident. “Unfortunately even this year, SLC tried its best to schedule a tournament in Pakistan during the IPL even after permission was given to the players to sign for IPL. So we don’t see it as one-off,” Labrooy said. — PTI

Aussie eves whitewash India 5-0
CANBERRA: With their batters putting up yet another dismal show, the Indian women’s cricket team could not avert a whitewash from their Australian counterparts who thrashed them by seven wickets in the fifth and final ODI here on Sunday. Chasing India’s 177, Alex Blackwell (65) and Shelley Nitschke (94) blasted an opening partnership of 140, a record for Australia against India, to guide the hosts to the target with 21 overs to spare. Without injured captain Jhulan Goswami, the Indian attack couldn't contain the Aussie batters. — PTI

Hamilton praises Alonso for Brazil gesture
LONDON: McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton has praised former team mate and rival Fernando Alonso for burying the hatchet and congratulating him on becoming Formula One's youngest champion. Hamilton told reporters at Mercedes' annual ‘Stars and Cars’ event in Stuttgart on Saturday that the Spaniard had visited him in the McLaren garage after last weekend’s title-deciding race in Brazil. Alonso, who had a spectacular falling out with McLaren management and Hamilton in 2007 and is now back at Renault, had said previously that he would prefer any team other than his former employers to win the title. — Reuters

Police warn Sreesanth after irked neighbours complain
BANGALORE: Cricketer S Sreesanth has been warned by the police following a complaint by his neighbours that his birthday bash here recently caused inconvenience to them. According to police, the Elgin Apartment Residents Association complained that there had been loud noise emanating from the rented apartment of the cricketer, disturbing peace of the residents living in the complex. “We have warned him and asked him to ensure that such an incident is not repeated again,” said DCP G Ramesh. — PTI 

Narain 10th in sprint and feature
CHENGDU: Driving the new Ferrari-powered car for the first time in race conditions, Team India opened their account with a point in the A1GP with Narain Karthikeyan finishing 10th in both the sprint and feature races in the second-leg of the competition here on Sunday. Karthikeyan had a best lap time of 1:17.282 in the sprint race which was won by A1 Team Ireland with 1:16.084. The other teams to take the podium finish were A1 Team Netherlands with 1:16.183 and A1 Team Great Britain with 1:16.712. A1 Team India though had the satisfaction of opening their account in the competition with one point after skipping the first leg at Zandvoort, — PTI