S P O R T S

Yuvraj demolishes England
Thanks to blazing century by the southpaw, India post 2nd-highest ODI total ever (387 for 5) and then bowl out England for 229
Rajkot, November 14
Yuvraj Singh marked his return to form with a swashbuckling unbeaten 138 as India recorded its biggest victory by runs against England by spanking the hapless visitors by 158 runs in the series-opening cricket one-dayer here today.

Yuvraj Singh celebrates his century at Rajkot. — PTI 

KP doffs his hat at Yuvraj
Rajkot, November 14
Delighted with the perfect start to the seven-match series against England, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said losing the toss was a blessing in disguise, for he too would have opted to field first in the first ODI against England.

Sunil Gavaskar writes
Yuvraj answered critics in best possible way
India-England ODI series
India drubbed England by one of the biggest margins possible, though of course it wasn’t England’s biggest ever loss. That was avoided in the batting power play taken by England when Ravi Bopara, who surprisingly came at number 8, hit some big sixes to take his team past that ignominy.

Virender Sehwag reacts after completing his half century during the first one-dayer in Rajkot on Friday. — PTI

Hayden remarks uncalled for: BCCI
New Delhi, November 14
The BCCI today lashed out at Matthew Hayden for his remarks in which he described India as a 'third world' country and the Board said the reaction was uncalled for from the Australian opener.

Lahore draw first blood
Ahmedabad, November 14
The first of a best of three finals for the ICL 20s Indian Championship featured defending champions Hyderabad Heroes take on the mighty Lahore Badshahs in front of an 83,000 spectators’ packed Sardar Patel stadium in Ahmedabad. It was a high octane encounter that saw some intense cricket from both sides and ultimatley saw the Lahore Badshahs draw first blood in the best of three finals by a margin of 4 wickets. Imran Farhat was declared man of the match for brilliant half century. — Agencies

Hooda opens state games
Rai (Sonepat), November 14
The 22nd edition of the Haryana State Games kicked off in style with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda inaugurating the competitions at the Moti Lal Nehru Sports School (MNSS), here today.

Paes-Dlouhy lose again
Shanghai: Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy ended their Masters Cup campaign without winning a single set, bowing out after a second successive straight-set defeat here on Friday. 

Prakash bows out
Champaign (US): Prakash Amritraj went down to Australia's Carsten Ballat in the second round of the $ 50,000 ATP challenger series here. Prakash fought well in the first set but Ballat proved better than his Indian rival and won the match 7-5, 6-3 win in the hard court event. 

BCCI to move Supreme Court
New Delhi, November 12 
The BCCI today decided to move the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court's directive to initiate criminal proceedings against six top officials for filing false affidavits in the Jagmohan Dalmiya expulsion case.

Yuvraj demolishes England
Thanks to blazing century by the southpaw, India post 2nd-highest ODI total ever (387 for 5) and then bowl out England for 229
S S Ramaswamy

Rajkot, November 14
Yuvraj Singh marked his return to form with a swashbuckling unbeaten 138 as India recorded its biggest victory by runs against England by spanking the hapless visitors by 158 runs in the series-opening cricket one-dayer here today.

After rattling up a record total of 387 for five at home, the hosts bundled out England for 229 in 37.4 overs in a lop-sided contest to take a 1-0 lead in the seven-match series.

India's previous best victory margin by runs against England was 86 at Sydney in 1985 and their biggest margin is 257 runs against Bermuda at Port of Spain in 2007.

Yuvraj's ninth ODI hundred spurred India to post its second-highest ODI total ever - well behind their 413-5 against Bermuda in the 2007 World Cup but ahead of its previous home record of 376-2 against New Zealand in 1999.

Clobbered by the in-form Indian batsmen, the English attack conceded more runs than ever in one-dayers, surpassing the 353-6 against Pakistan at Karachi in 2005. India's highest previous total against England was 329-7 at Bristol in August 2007.

Yuvraj defied a troublesome back to roar back into form in great style as he plundered runs at will, belting as many as 16 boundaries and six sixes during his 78-ball massacre.

The dashing Virender Sehwag (85), Gautam Gambhir (51), Suresh Raina (43) and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (39) were the other notable performers after England captain Kevin Pietersen put India in to bat on a belter of a track at the Madhavrao Scindia stadium.

England could never really recover from a disastrous start as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals with only Pietersen standing bravely amidst the ruins with a belligerent 63 and Ravi Bopara (54 not out) hitting some lusty shots.

But with the asking rate climbing steeply, the game gradually slipped out of England's reach even before the halfway stage of the game.

The two teams will now travel to Indore for the second match to be played on Monday.

Yuvraj, batting with a belt around his waist and with Gautam Gambhir as his runner for the major part of his dazzling knock, reached his hundred off just 64 balls with 11 fours and four sixes, narrowly missing out on overhauling Mohammed Azharuddin's 62-ball century record.

The 26-year-old batsman, struggling in Ranji Trophy after a poor run in the Challenger Series prior to this tie, got to his second fifty off only 22 balls with six fours and two sixes. His effort powered India to its best-ever score at this ground, overtaking New Zealand's 349 for nine made against hosts in November 1999.

But before his arrival to the crease the Indian innings was given a rapid-fire start by in-form openers Sehwag, who slammed 85 in 73 balls with 10 fours and three sixes, and Gautam Gambhir (51).

The power-hitting by Yuvraj, even when he was handicapped by his back problem, set the visitors a stiff asking rate of 7.7 to win the match.

Sehwag and Gambhir provided a flying start as they stitched together a partnership of 127 in less than 20 overs.

After their departure, Suresh Raina (43) and Yuvraj added 89 runs in only 12.5 overs.

Yuvraj and skipper Dhoni made mincemeat of the visiting team's largely one-dimensional attack to rattle up a stand of 105 runs in only 58 balls for the fifth wicket. The lone batsman to fail was Yousuf Pathan (0), who lasted only two balls.

A total of thirteen sixes were clobbered off the England bowlers by the hosts to leave the visitors shell-shocked and helped India to their highest-ever ODI total against a Test-playing nation.

England captain Pietersen rung in quick changes and called on experienced duo of Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison to stem the flow of runs from Sehwag and Gambhir.

But they also failed to apply the brake and Pietersen turned to left arm spinner Samit Patel, who could not make any impact. — PTI

KP doffs his hat at Yuvraj

Rajkot, November 14
Delighted with the perfect start to the seven-match series against England, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said losing the toss was a blessing in disguise, for he too would have opted to field first in the first ODI against England.

England captain Kevin Pietersen won the toss and inserted India, only to see the hosts pile up a mammoth 387 for five and in their chase, the visitors wilted for 229 within 38 overs.

Dhoni admitted he too would have opted to field first.

"Losing the toss was a blessing in disguise, we also wanted to field," an amused Dhoni said after India crushed England by a record 158 runs.

"We expected the pitch to help the seamers in the first 30-45 minutes but the pitch didn't do much," he observed.

Dhoni was effusive in his praise for Man of the Match Yuvraj Singh who braved a back pain to blast an unbeaten 138 off just 78 balls.

"After the fantastic start given by (Virender) Sehwag, (Gautam) Gambhir and (Suresh) Raina, Yuvraj was simply fantastic. On a day like this, the opposition cannot do much. That kind of innings just takes you through," he said.

His opposite number Kevin Pietersen also doffed his hat at Yuvraj and felt England indeed could do little against such a devastating batting by the Indians.

"At the end of the day when you stand up and watch innings like Yuvraj - Sehwag and Gambhir also played well - you just have to say 'well played guys'.

"It was an amazing batting pitch. Little touch and it went for four, you touch harder and it goes for a six. But when blokes played like that, you can only say 'well played'. They played superb cricket," Pietersen said.

The England captain, however, insisted that with six more matches to go, England would bounce back in the series.

"We have to regroup and sort things out. There are six games still left," he said.

Yuvraj, on his part, was elated after notching up yet another scintillating century, which he considered among his best knocks.

"It has been a hard couple of months. I didn't have a good last series and was not in the Test series. I sat down and thought about what I need to do to improve," said the left-hander.

"The rate at which I carried on, this is one of my best knocks in ODI. I didn't have to run, I just pressed the pedal. Guys around me like Raina helped and before Viru and Gambhir gave a good start. It was a great batting wicket," he said.

Asked about his back pain, Yuvraj looked confident of regaining full fitness before the second ODI.

"I pulled a muscle in the back, will try to get fit for the next game," he said. — PTI 

Sunil Gavaskar writes
Yuvraj answered critics in best possible way
India-England ODI series

India drubbed England by one of the biggest margins possible, though of course it wasn’t England’s biggest ever loss. That was avoided in the batting power play taken by England when Ravi Bopara, who surprisingly came at number 8, hit some big sixes to take his team past that ignominy.

Zaheer Khan celebrates after taking the wicket of Andrew Flintoff. — Reuters

England were thoroughly outplayed by India who came in the game with huge confidence after winning the Test series against Australia. Though the senior batsmen were not in this one-day team, the replacements are pretty experienced now and younger too, and certainly make up for the loss of experience with plenty of energy on the field. This was evident when India took the field and despite scoring a mammoth 387, the youngsters attacked the ball and made singles tough for the English batsmen.

One-day cricket is about big shots and huge sixes, and the pitch was ideal for that. The crowd thus got its money’s worth especially from the Indians, who went after the visitors bowling from the word go.

Sehwag and Gambhir continued their tremendous form against Australia, and were scoring at a run a ball. There was some bounce at the start of the game with the moisture and the early start, but apart from Flintoff, nobody bowled the line and length that could utilize that.

Gambhir got out after a fifty, which didn’t seem to please his partner, who too missed out another century. However, all that was put in the shade by Yuvraj, who played a blinder of an innings. He came in this game with loads of questions asked of him and he answered in the best possible way with his bat. He missed by just a couple of deliveries in being the fastest to a one-day ton by an Indian, but the momentum that his innings gave India was such that they came close to topping 400 runs, falling short by a mere 13 runs.

He had good support from just about everybody and hopefully the selectors will understand that Yusuf Pathan fell trying to keep the same tempo going. Far too often selectors go by scores rather than seeing the circumstances in which players have sacrificed their wickets and Yusuf did that for his team.

If the batsmen gave the ideal platform for those following them in to bat, the bowlers too did their bit by getting rid of the top order quickly and thus ruling out an English comeback. The skipper Pietersen tried his best but he knew it was too stiff a target . He was run out when Bopara called for a tight single, and then Bopara had to make up with a big innings, which he did.

The Indian spinners took some stick on this ground with a fast outfield but they could afford to give away some runs as the batsmen had put so many more in the bank.

England have a job to lift themselves up after such a big loss and if they do it, then we could be in for some thrilling cricket. — PMG

Hayden remarks uncalled for: BCCI

New Delhi, November 14
The BCCI today lashed out at Matthew Hayden for his remarks in which he described India as a 'third world' country and the Board said the reaction was uncalled for from the Australian opener.

Hayden said India was a third-world country and blamed his team's sluggish over-rate in the lost Test series on the host batsmen's reluctance to ''face up'' quickly enough.

However, the BCCI Finance Committee Chairman Rajiv Shukla reacted angrily at Hayden and said the Australians are finding reasons to overshadow their 0-2 defeat.

''His comments were totally uncalled for. A player of his stature should not have made the comment,'' Shukla said.

''If slow-over rate is your habit, why blame India for that and call India a third world country? We are a prestigious nation and it was not a nice comment by him,'' Shukla added.

Hayden pointed out a few reasons which he believed were responsible for Australia's slow over-rates against India.

''They (Indian batsmen) are very difficult to get to face up,'' Hayden was quoted as saying by 'The Australian' today.

Hayden said the constant adjustments with the sightscreen also resulted in delaying the proceedings.

''Often we find ourselves with hands on hips waiting for someone to either face up or someone in the sightboard to move away; all the little frustrations that happen in Third World countries and the heat as well,'' he added.

On the penultimate day of the last Test at Nagpur, Australia was found nine overs or 40 minutes behind the over-rate because of which captain Ricky Ponting had to bring in his part bowlers at an important stage of the match. — UNI 

Lahore draw first blood

Ahmedabad, November 14
The first of a best of three finals for the ICL 20s Indian Championship featured defending champions Hyderabad Heroes take on the mighty Lahore Badshahs in front of an 83,000 spectators’ packed Sardar Patel stadium in Ahmedabad. It was a high octane encounter that saw some intense cricket from both sides and ultimatley saw the Lahore Badshahs draw first blood in the best of three finals by a margin of 4 wickets. Imran Farhat was declared man of the match for brilliant half century. — Agencies

Scoreboard
Hyderabad Heroes

Maher st K Mahmood

b Saqlain 45

I Khaleel lbw b Naved 25

A Razzaq c I Nazir b Naved 69

Binny c K Mahmood b Naved 10

Rayudu run out 1

Kemp not out 3

Extras (b 4, lb 3, w 8, nb 2) 17

Total (5 wickets; 20 overs) 170

Fall of Wickets: 1-49, 2-138, 3-153, 4-155, 5-170.

Bowling: Sami 4-0-27-0, A Mahmood 4-0-37-0, Naved 4-0-25-3, Arshad 4-0-43-0, Saqlain 4-0-31-1.

Lahore Badshahs

I Nazir c Kemp b A Razzaq 26

I Farhat c Reddy b Anirudh 65

Naved c Reddy b Boje 18

M Yousuf run out 11

Inzamam b Harris 5

S Yousuf lbw b Reddy 5

A Mahmood not out 18

K Mahmood not out 10

Extras (b 8, lb 3, w 4, nb 1) 16

Total (6 wickets; 19.1 overs) 174

Fall of Wickets: 1-28, 2-82, 3-127, 4-136, 5-137, 6-142.

Bowling: A Razzaq 4-0-35-1, KS Sahabuddin 2-0-30-0, Reddy 4-0-28-1, Boje 4-0-20-1, Harris 3.1-0-25 1, Binny 1-0-10-0, Anirudh 1-0-15-1.

Hooda opens state games
Manish Sirhindi & B. S. Malik
Tribune News Service

Rai (Sonepat), November 14
The 22nd edition of the Haryana State Games kicked off in style with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda inaugurating the competitions at the Moti Lal Nehru Sports School (MNSS), here today.

The opening ceremony was marked by a colourful cultural event hosted by the Haryana Olympic Association. During the four-day event more than 6000 sportspersons who had converged here would be participating in the as many as 32 sports disciplines. The competitions would start from tomorrow at five different venues across the district.

While speaking on the occasion, Hooda said that holding of the state games was another step forward towards promoting sports culture amongst the youth of the state. He said that the state government was committed to providing world class facilities to the sportspersons so that they could compete in the international arenas and bring back laurels not only for the state but also for the country.

He said the Cabinet had doubled state's sports budget besides introducing various cash incentives and offering government jobs to the players who perform well at the international level.

The government had decided to upgrade the post of junior coaches in the sports department to the post of coaches with a gazetted status. He also stated that the government would be coming up with a world class sports stadium in Sonepat that would be spread over 30 acres of land.

The Chief Minister said the government was constructing 160 sports stadiums in the rural areas. He exhorted the participants to compete with utmost sincerity and to display sportsman spirit.

President of Haryana Olympic Association (HOA) and additional director-general of police, CID, Paramveer Rathi said that the HOA was working towards uplifting sports culture.

Congress MP from Kurukshetra Naveen Jindal, who was presiding over the ceremony, expressed hope that sportspersons from the state would excel in the coming 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi. He said that government would provide all logistic support to the sportspersons for achieving this. The inaugural ceremony concluded with dazzling fire workers.

Paes-Dlouhy lose again

Shanghai: Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy ended their Masters Cup campaign without winning a single set, bowing out after a second successive straight-set defeat here on Friday. 

Prakash bows out

Champaign (US): Prakash Amritraj went down to Australia's Carsten Ballat in the second round of the $ 50,000 ATP challenger series here. Prakash fought well in the first set but Ballat proved better than his Indian rival and won the match 7-5, 6-3 win in the hard court event.  

BCCI to move Supreme Court