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Full steam ahead ONE MAN ARMY: England celebrate the dismissal of Sehwag (R) on the fourth day of the first Test in Chennai on Sunday. — Reuters
Very satisfied with second ton: Strauss
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Need to bat full 90 overs to win: Sehwag
Viru has set the game for us: Gambhir
Ranji Round-up
India draw with Argentina, clinch series
Barcelona beat Real Madrid
Federation Cup
Liverpool held by Hull
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Full steam ahead
Chennai, December 14 Set a stiff target of 387 for victory, the dashing Sehwag launched a blistering assault to score a quickfire 83 off just 68 balls and steer India to a comfortable 131 for one at close on a pulsating fourth day’s play. Sehwag set the M A Chidambaram stadium ablaze with a display of stunning strokeplay to suddenly raise hopes of an Indian victory, which looked unlikely when England declared their second innings at 311 for nine shortly after the tea break. Gautam Gambhir (41) and Rahul Dravid (2) were at the crease at stumps on a day which saw fortune fluctuating from one team to the other till the very end. With a rollicking 117-run start provided by Sehwag and Gambhir, the other top order batsmen need to play positively to get the remaining 256 runs to win the Test, which seemed headed for a nail-biting finish. Earlier, Andrew Strauss became only the second Englishman to score a century in each innings against India as he crafted a patient 108 and was involved in a record 214-run fourth wicket partnership with Paul Collingwood (108). Collingwood notched up his seventh Test century and his second against India but after his departure, none of the other batsmen could hang around for long as wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals in the post-lunch session. Only three teams have successfully chased a target of over 387 in the fourth innings in Test history. While West Indies have the record of the highest run chase of 418/7 against Australia at St. Johns in 2003, India is second in the list for successfully chasing 406 against the West Indies at Port of Spain in 1976. The only other team to have scored more than 400 runs in the fourth innings is Australia who scored 404/3 against England at Leeds in 1948. Resuming at the overnight score of 172 for three, Strauss and Collingwood continued the good work as the duo frustrated the Indians to take the score to 244 without being separated. In the pre-lunch session, England added 72 runs in 26 overs stretching the lead from an achievable to a difficult task for the Indians. Strauss, who scored 123 in the first innings, not only became the tenth batsman to score a century in each innings but also brought about the highest-ever partnership for the fourth wicket in Test matches held in Chennai by a visiting team in the company of Collingwood. The duo bettered the earlier best of Dean Jones and Allan Border who had a partnership of 178 in the famous tied Test (second in the history of cricket) here in 1987. The post lunch session turned out to be more productive for the Indians as five wickets fell in the session with strike bowler Zaheer Khan doing the bulk of the damage. The visitors lost some of the momentum as they not only lost a few quick wickets but could manage to add just 57 runs in 22.5 overs in the session. Indian bowlers, who could not take a single wicket in the morning session, had to toil for 72 overs before Harbhajan Singh started the England collapse by removing the milestone man Strauss for 108. Zaheer then removed another England centurion Paul Collingwood (108), Steve Harmison (1) and Graeme Swann (7) while Ishant scalped the wicket of dangerous Andrew Flintoff (4). After the hard grind without success till lunch, Indian bowlers bowled in the right areas and the England batsmen too started going for shots. Strauss, Flintoff and Collingwood paid the penalty for their poor shot selection, and three England wickets fell in just 8.5 overs adding only 20 runs. Harbhajan started tossing the ball luring the batsmen to play forward and in one such occasion, Strauss came out to drive but seemed to have checked himself and offered a straight forward catch to VVS Laxman at short cover. But before that he became the second England batsman to score a century in each innings against India after Graham Gooch (333+123) at Lord’s in 1990 and tenth overall England player to achieve the feat against any team. Collingwood showed his tenacity of achieving his second hundred in his six matches against India and seventh overall since debut in 2003 against Sri Lanka in Galle. His hundred came in 324 minutes, from 227 balls and had nine fours. Ishant intimidated a temperamental Flintoff with two bouncers and then bowled a short pitched delivery on the off stump and the batsman, without any foot movement, stretched his bat and edged to Dhoni behind the wicket. A tired-looking Collingwood was then trapped plumb in front of the wicket to Zaheer missing the line of an incoming ball. He had stayed for 374 minutes at the crease facing 250 balls and had reached the fence on nine occasions. Graeme Swann did not survive long as he was clean bowled by Zaheer in the very next over. England declared their second innings at 311 for nine about 15 minutes after the tea break when Zaheer castled Steve Harmison.
— PTI Scoreboard England (First Innings) 316 India (first Innings) 241 England (second innings): Strauss c Laxman b Harbhajan 108 Cook c Dhoni b Ishant 9 Bell c Gambhir b Mishra 7 Pietersen lbw b Yuvraj 1 Colingwood lbw b Zaheer 108 Flintoff c Dhoni b Ishant 4 Prior c Sehwag b Ishant 33 Swann b Zaheer 7 Harmison b Zaheer 1 Anderson not out 1 Extras (b-10, lb-13, nb-7, w-2) 32 Total (decl., nine wickets, 105.5 overs) 311 Fall of wickets: 1/28, 2/42, 3/43, 4/257, 5/262, 6/277, 7/297, 8/301, 9/311. Bowling: Zaheer 27-7-40-3, Ishant 22.5-1-57-3, Mishra 17-1-66-1, Yuvraj 3-1-12-1, Harbhajan 30-3-91-1, Sehwag 6-0-22-0. India (Second Innings): Gambhir batting 41 Sehwag lbw Swann 83 Dravid batting 2 Extras (lb-5) 5 Total (one wkt, 29 overs) 131 Fall of wickets: 1-117. Bowling: Harmison 4-0-33-0, Anderson 2-0-15-0, Panesar 71-36--0, Flintoff 8115--0, Swann 8-0-27-1.
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Very satisfied with second ton: Strauss
Chennai, December 14 The hard-hitting opener took the England attack by the scruff of the neck and blasted a 68-ball 83 to throw the game wide open and Strauss could not help admiring the right-hander for his fearless batting. "Scoring was not easy on this track but Sehwag plays a different game to the most people in the world," said the England batsman. "I would also say that the new ball is the best time to attack because it comes nicely on to the bat. After 1-12 overs, it tends to sit on the wicket. But still, Sehwag was simply exceptional," gushed Strauss. The Chennai Test turned out to be a memorable outing for the England batsman who became the 10th from his country and 51st overall to hit a century in both innings of a Test. Sachin Tendulkar was seen shaking hands with the England batsman after he achieved the milestone and Strauss said he felt happy after being congratulated by the Indian master. "Any time Sachin Tendulkar comes and tells you 'well played', you will be pretty happy yourself," Strauss said. On the milestone, he said, “I was very satisfied with the second hundred. I have not done that before in first class cricket. Given the circumstances of the game, I'm pretty proud.” — PTI
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Need to bat full 90 overs to win: Sehwag
Chennai, December 14 “We are in good position to win this game. We will go for a win tomorrow and hopefully we will achieve it,” he said. "We need to bat for another 90 overs. If we bat 90 overs, we can score 250 or 260 runs. The wicket is still good to bat on. If you settle down, you can score runs," said the hard-hitting right-hander. India require 256 runs tomorrow with nine wickets in hand and a win here would put them 1-0 up in the two-match series. Sehwag, however, reckoned that scoring freely would not be easy in the wearing track and said, "If you are thinking that we should finish the game early, it is difficult." Asked whether he would like a change in the batting line-up on the final day, the India vice-captain said, "I cannot say but we have the abilities to score 260 runs in 90 overs. We have one full day tomorrow. "We always adjust to the conditions. We have talents in our team. We know the wickets in India. Our players will be more willing to take risks as compared to the England players," said the Indian. Sehwag felt the English batsmen were negative in their approach today even though it was not quite unnatural. "Their mindset was like that. It was not positive. I should also say that our bowlers were bowling really well and therefore they were playing like that," he said. — PTI
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Viru has set the game for us: Gambhir
Chennai, December 14 “A lot of credit goes to Virender Sehwag, the way he started the innings. He set the game for us and I think 256 tomorrow is a very chaseable total," said Gambhir, who would return tomorrow to do his bit to knock down the total. “It’s a pleasure watching him from the non-striker's end. When he plays like this, my job becomes very easy, because the bowlers become defensive," Gambhir said of his senior partner. The Delhi player admitted that the England spin twin Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar have done well so far in the match but insisted it might not be enough to avoid an Indian win. “They have been bowling well and there is a lot (in the pitch) for the spinners too. I think all three results are possible tomorrow but we are optimistic of chasing down the total," said the left-hander. “We won the one day series 5-0, we were high on confidence and we want to take that confidence in the Test series as well. We didn’t play well in the first innings but it's a very chaseable total here," Gambhir added. — PTI
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Kaul hits ton for Punjab
Hyderabad, December 14 It was mainly due to Kaul's 106 that Punjab managed to reach 291 in their first innings. At stumps, Hyderabad lost two quick wickets and reached 68 in their second innings with S Anoop Pai (31) and Anmol Shinde (16) at the crease. Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 150 for six, Punjab went on to add another 141 runs, but failed to overcome the home team's first innings score of 335. Kaul, who lead from the front with his impressive knock, scored 106 in 279 balls that included four boundaries before falling to Shiv Shanker, who picked up three wickets. He got good support from M Sidana, who scored 41. The duo, who got together with Punjab tottering at 150-6, added 91 runs for the seventh wicket. After the duo's dismissal, the visitor's innings folded quickly with tailender's M S Gony and Sarabjit Singh sent back for naught. Amanpreet remained unbeaten on 15. For Hyderabad, MP Arjun and Ashwin claimed three wickets each while Ahmed Quadri took one wicket. — PTI Scoreboard Hyderabad (first innings) 335 Punjab (first innings) (Overnight score 150/6) Sohal c Abhinav b MP Arjun 24 Goel c and b Ashwin Yadav 44 Inder Singh c Abhinav b Shanker 22 P Dharmani lbw Ashwin Yadav 1 U Kaul lbw Shanker 106 Kakkar lbw Shanker 27 V Khanna c A Shinde b Quadri 0 M Siddana c Abhinav b Arjun 41 Gony b Ashwin Yadav 0 Sarbajit c Abhinav b MP Arjun 0 Amanpreet not out 15 Extras (b 2, lb 3, nb 4, w 2) 11 Total (all out, 121 overs) 291 Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-78, 3-80, 4-101, 5-147, 6-148, 7-237, 8-239, 9-241, 10-291. Bowling: SM Shoaib 23-6-47-0, MP Arjun 26-4-54-3, Shanker 32-6-76-3, Ashwin Yadav 21-5-68-3, A Sindhe 9-1-14-0, DB Ravi Teja 4-0-10-0, Ahmed Quadri 4-0-11-1, T Suman 2-0-6-0. Hyderabad (second innings): T Suman c Kakkar b V Khanna 16 DB Ravi Teja run out 4 Anoop Pai batting 31 A Shinde batting 16 Extras: (nb-1) 1 Total: (for 2 wkts, in 32 overs) 68 Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-26. Bowling: Gony 10-4-27-0, Amarpreet 10-5-15-0, V Khanna 7-2-20-1, Sarabjit 5-2-6-0. Haryana 285 all out
Chandigarh: Jammu and Kashmir made a shaky start to their second innings as Haryana’s JT Billa struck twice to reduce them to 40 for 2 at the end of the third days play in their Ranji Trophy plate division macth being played at Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium, Rohtak, today. Brief Score: Jammu & Kashmir (1st innings):
314 Haryana (1st innings): 285 (Sumeet Sharma 49, Manav Sharma 98; S Beigh 6/89, P Mahajan 2 for 8). Jammu & Kashmir (2nd innings):
40 for 2 (Javed Ahmed 18, ID Singh 14*; JT Billa 2 for 25). Goa defeat HP
Goa defeated Himachal by six wickets in their Ranji Trophy plate division match played at Dharamshala on Sunday. Himachal put up little resistance as they were bundled out for a paltry 108 in their second innings. Asnodkar scored a brilliant 84 for Goa as they chased down the target. Himachal Pradesh (1st innings)
218 Goa (1st innings) 134 Himachal Pradesh (2nd innings):
108 (P Dogra 37, Sarandeep 27*; D'Souza 3 for 26, Gadekar 3 for 27) Goa (2nd innings):
196 for 4 (Asnodkar 84, A Ratra 30*; AK Thakur 1 for 49, Sarandeep 2 for 30).
— TNS |
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India draw with Argentina, clinch series
Buenos Aires, December 14 The visitors, who beat Holland on Friday, started briskly with good ball rotation and overlaps and the midfielders and forwards moving in tandem. Their fluency was, however, checked by Argentina goalkeeper Federico Bermejillo as he blocked the initial attempts of Jay Karan and Pramod Kumar. The visitors earned their first penalty corner in the seventh minute after an obstruction by Argentine defender Juan Manuel Pacheco. Diwakar Ram unleashed his trademark low drag-flick which was latched on to by Danish Mujtaba on the rebound. The nippy Allahabad striker drew first blood to the delight of the Indian supporters. Argentina immediately went into the offensive from their left flank and found the equaliser through a perfect deflection by Lucas Colombo in the 13th minute. The hosts mounted pressure as Indian defenders Diwakar and Innocent Kullu committed unforced errors. In another sortie from the left they took the lead when unmarked Juan Cruz Agulleiro fired a rasping reverse past goalkeeper Mrinal Chaubey in the 18th minute. India were unable to thwart the Argentina attacks and looked out of sorts as their rivals penetrated with regularity. Agulleriro was again on target 10 minutes later, this time diving to a measured centre past the hapless Chaubey as Argentina took a convincing 3-1 lead at the crossover. However, India showed a rare fightback in the second half as they not only wiped off the deficit but went into the lead. Their fluency and flair resurfaced as they accelerated, orchestrating sparkling maneuvers in the Argentine 23-meter area. India were awarded their second penalty corner after the ball struck the foot of Felipe
Oleastro. Diwakar made no mistake in the 39th minute to reduce the margin. India continued to dominate but the third goal eluded them as custodian Bermejillo foiled attempts of Mandip
Antil, Mujtaba and Jay Karan. The Indian captain again added his name to the scorers sheet in the 59th minute from a penalty corner to make it 3-3. As the match entered the final 10 minutes, both the teams threw caution to the winds and robust tackles held
centrestage. Argentina went on the offensive, but Belsajar Horo's interception resulted in a turnover which was executed by Jay Karan to perfection to give India a 4-3 lead in the 61st minute. India should have increased their tally shortly after that but Antil preferred to push to the goalkeeper's pads rather than pass to unmarked Jay Karan in the middle of the circle. Stung by this reversal Argentina looked for the equaliser and succeeded in getting a penalty corner hotly protested by India and also resulting with a yellow card for first rusher Manjeet Kullu. Argentina captain Martin Gebhardt converted it with seconds on the clock.
— PTI |
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Barcelona beat Real Madrid
Madrid, December 14 Barcelona striker Thierry Henry burst clear and picked out Messi on the left. The Argentina forward lifted the ball over Iker Casillas and Fabio Cannavaro's desperate lunge was too late to prevent the goal. Barcelona top the table with 38 points from 15 matches, eight ahead of Valencia who beat Espanyol 2-1 earlier yesterday. Villarreal, who play at fourth-placed Sevilla today, are third on 29 points with Real fifth on 26.
— Reuters
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Air India salvage a draw
Barasat, December 14 The team from Duliajan, Assam, who bowed out of the tournament following the draw, impressed with their spirited performance against Air India, lying fourth in the I-League. And had it not been for their inexperience, Oil India could have upset the airmen. After a barren first-half, Raju Konwar gave Oil India the lead in the 64th minute. The Assam team's foreign recruit Okwuelum Ezekiel's mishit landed in front of Konwar who surprised the Air India defence and goalkeeper Arup Debnath to send a rasping shot that bulged the net. Buoyed by the goal, the Subrata Bhattacharya-coached side piled on the pressure but Boro’s shot rebounded off the woodwork. Mohun
Bagan lose
Underdogs Vasco tonight scored the biggest upset through a classic goal from substitute Agnelo Colaco to beat favourites Mohun Bagan 1-0 and force group D’s fight wide open for a place in the last four. Colaco sent a right footer from 30-yards to curl into post and beat Sangram Mukherjee to end Bagan's victory march after seven games.
— Agencies |
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London, December 14 “If we want to stay top we have to take three points from these kinds of games,” Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez told Sky Sports yesterday. Manchester United, in the reigning champions' last match before heading to Japan for the Club World Cup, remained six points behind Liverpool after a goalless draw away to Tottenham Hotspur in the day's late kick-off. But it needed a superb, last minute, save from Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes to deny United all three points. — AFP
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Test between India and England wide open with the hosts needing 256 more runs on a tricky last day track to pull off a dramatic win.
Madrid, December 14
