Chennai, January 6
Mumbai appeared to be on course to their 38th Ranji Trophy title as Saurashtra failed to live up to their promise of making a match of their rivals and were trailing by 390 runs in their first innings on the third and penultimate day of their semifinal match here today.

Saurashtra were 247 for five wickets off 88 overs in reply to Mumbai's total of 637 for 6 declared.

Saurashtra batsmen, facing a real test after making the last four stage for the third time in a row, miserably faltered against pace attack comprising Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar, besides spinner Ramesh Powar. Zaheer claimed a brace of wickets conceding 40 runs while Agarkar, D Kulkarni and Powar took a wicket each.

At close, Jayesh Shah and K R Makwana were at the crease. With Mumbai declaring their innings at the overnight score, Saurashtra openers Chirag Pathak and Bhushan Chauhan started off on an aggressive note.

But their counterattack was short-lived against Zaheer Khan, who bowled at full pace to remove Pathak while the Saurashtra batsman tried to hook a bouncer and landed his shot to the safe hands of Kulkarni at deep square leg. Pathak made 30 in the seventh over of the innings.

Veteran Agarkar, who bowled well throughout the day, was looking to be getting the dividend any time. I Chauhan, who played second fiddle to hard hitting Pathak, was clean bowled in the 12th over. He made 14 and Saurashtra were 52 for two.

Cheteswar Pujara was looking good to revive innings and Saurashtra were on course to set up a solid total but Pujara paid the price for being in two minds to Powar.

Pujara tried for a late cut but ended up edging the ball to slip for a straight forward catch to Wasim Jaffer. He added 71 runs for the third wicket with Kotak off 115 balls. His 39 came came off 66 balls.

Mumbai bowlers continued their good work. Agarkar and Powar time and again troubled the batsmen while Zaheer was more penetrative with a steady line and length. R Jadeja, the top performer for Saurashtra with bat and ball this season, stayed at the wicket for 33 minutes before he was scalped by Zaheer.

Kotak survived reverse swings of Zaheer but Jadeja went in for a big drive away from his body and gave a leading edge to wicket keeper Samant.

Though beaten by both Zaheer and Agarkar, Kotak and captain Jayesh kept on adding crucial runs to the total.

Kotak shuffled across to a short-of-a-length delivery from Kulkarni and was out to a soft dismissal as he gave a simple catch to Rohit at leg gully.

Scoreboard

Mumbai (1st innings): (6 wickets dec): 637

Saurashtra (1st innings):

C Pathak c Kulkarni b Zaheer 30

B Chauhan b Agarkar 14

S Kotak c Sharma b Kulkarni 89

C Pujara c Jaffer b Powar 39

R Jadeja c Samant b Zaheer 10

J Shah not out 45

K Makvana not out 0

Extras (b 5, lb 1, w 1, nb 13): 20

Total (5 wickets; 88 overs): 247

FoWs: 1-41, 2-52, 3-123, 4-151, 5-245

Bowling: Zaheer 21-8-40-2, Agarkar 17-8-43-1, Kulkarni 16-5-51-1, Powar 22-1-76-1, Nayar 10-1-27-0, Rohit 1-0-2-0, Muzumdar 1-0-2-0. — PTI

Nagpur, January 6
An unbeaten 103 by opener Shivakant Shukla and middle-order batsman Parvinder Singh's 93 kept Uttar Pradesh in hunt for a berth in the Ranji Trophy final after Tamil Nadu had made early inroads on the penultimate day of the Super League semi-final here today.

Tottering at 63 for three at one stage, UP rode on an unbeaten 190-run partnership between Shukla and Parvinder for the fourth wicket to end the day at 253 for three in reply to Tamil Nadu's first innings score of 445.

The duo were also helped by three dropped catches at crucial junctures. Resuming their overnight score of 25 for one, UP batsman Suresh Raina hit Laxmipathy Balaji for four fours in an over.

However, Raina's joy was short-lived as Balaji had his revenge uprooting the batsman's stumps with an beautiful inswinger when the batsman was on 39 (74b, 7x4) and UP at 53.

UP received another jolt as skipper Mohammed Kaif played a Balaji delivery onto the stumps for a duck.

With the two mainstays gone, TN bowlers looked like taking the game away from UP. But Shukla and Singh had other ideas.

Scoreboard

Tamil Nadu (1st innings): 445

Uttar Pradesh (1st innings):

S Shukla not out 103

T Srivastava c Badrinath b Ganapathy 1

S Raina b Balaji 39

M Kaif b Balaji 0

Parvinder Singh not out 93

Extras (b 6, lb 9, w 2): 17

Total (3 wickets; 109 overs): 253

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-53, 3-63

Bowling: L Balaji 29-12-53-2, C Ganapathy 27-11-49-1, P Amarnath 24-7-54-0, C Suresh 11-2-41-0, R Ashwin 13-2-26-0, SS Kumar 5-0-15-0. — UNI

Sydney, January 6
South Africa will have to make another miraculous effort to take the number one spot in the ICC rankings as Australia set them a victory target of 376 runs and the visitors were 62 for one at close on the penultimate day of the third and final Test here today.

At stumps, stand-in captain Neil McKenzie (25) and inform batsman Hashim Amla (30) were at the crease and had reduced the deficit to 313 runs after Australia declared its second innings at 257 for four.

Debutant Doug Bollinger claimed his maiden wicket in Test cricket when he dismissed make-shift opener Morne Morkel for a duck to give his team its first breakthrough.

Even though the match is a dead rubber, a win for South Africa will give them the world number one ranking in the ICC Championship table, while Australia would certainly pitch in for its first win in the series to retain its top spot.

Earlier, first innings centurion Michael Clarke (41) and left-hander Michael Hussey (45 not out) accelerated the Australian run rate after tea to give the home team maximum opportunity to attack the South African top order before stumps.

Hussey, who has struggled for form in this series, brought up the 250-run mark with a huge six over long-on and the innings was declared when Clarke holed out to Amla at mid-wicket while trying to sweep spinner Paul Harris.

Both captain Ricky Ponting (53) and Simon Katich (61) made half-centuries as Australia strove to prevent a South African clean sweep of the series.

However, for Matthew Hayden (39) it turned out to be another missed chance with the Queenslander failing to capitalise on the start that he got even as he looked good for the time he spent at the crease before he dragged a delivery from Morkel on to his stumps.

He was given a standing ovation by the SCG crowd which must have sensed that it was the burly opener's last Test in Australia.

Next man in, Ponting almost repeated his first-ball duck in last innings when he made a late decision to leave the ball but it caught the inside edge of his bat and ricocheted across his stumps wide of wicketkeeper Mark Boucher, running down the leg side to the boundary for four.

However, Ponting raced to 50 just after lunch, but five balls later he dragged a full delivery from Morkel onto his stumps.

The consistent Katich made his half-century before shuffling across his stumps to Dale Steyn and being judged leg before for 61.

Proteas' skipper Graeme Smith has already been ruled out for rest of the tour due to a broken hand and it is most likely that tomorrow Australia will have to claim only eight of the nine wickets remaining in the South Africa innings.

Scoreboard

Australia (1st innings): 445

South Africa (1st innings): 327

Australia (2nd innings)

(Overnight 33 for no loss)

Hayden b Morkel 39

Katich lbw b Steyn 61

Ponting b Morkel 53

M Hussey not out 45

Clarke c Amla b Harris 41

Extras (b-8, lb-9, nb-1) 18

Total (decl., 4 wickets, 67.3 overs) 257

Fall of wickets: 1-62 2-134 3-181 4-257.

Bowling: Steyn 13-1-60-1; Ntini 12-1-66-0; Morkel 12-2-38-2; Kallis 10-5-13-0; Harris 20.3-1-63-1.

South Africa (2nd innings):

McKenzie batting 25

Morkel c Johnson b Bollinger 0

Amla batting 30

Extras (lb-5, w-2) 7

Total (For 1 wicket in 26 overs) 62

Fall of wicket: 1-2

Bowling: Siddle 6-1-16-0; Bollinger 4-1-11-1; Johnson 5-0-14-0; McDonald 5-3-8-0; Hauritz 5-2-8-0; Clarke 1-1-0-0. — UNI

Sydney, January 6
South Africa coach Micky Arthur doesn't rule out the possibility of an injured Graeme Smith coming out to bat tomorrow if situation so demands.

"I doubt Smith will come out. If there is one or two overs to see out a draw or a win, we will need a chain to chain him down in the dressing room," Arthur said.

Already battling an elbow injury, Smith sustained another blow when a Mitchell Johnson delivery hurt his finger, forcing the South African captain to retire hurt in the first innings.

His finger still in cast, Smith didn't take to the field today. Instead, Morne Morkel, who batted at number eight in the first innings, came out as a makeshift opener along with acting captain Neil McKenzie but the ploy fell flat on its face with Morkel perishing for a second-ball duck.

Chasing 376 runs, South Africa were 62 for one at stumps, still 314 runs away from a memorable victory.

"I'm not taking the possibility out of the equation but it is highly unlikely," Arthur added. The South African said he was surprised to see Ricky Ponting declaring and setting South Africa a sub-400 target. — PTI

Dilshan grabbed four for 10 as Sri Lanka wrapped up their biggest victory in terms of runs, surpassing the 315-run margin against Zimbabwe at Galle in January 2002.

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka (1st innings): 384

Bangladesh (1st innings): 208

Sri Lanka (2nd innings): 447

Bangladesh (2nd innings):

T Iqbal c P Jayawardene b Vaas 17

Kayes c M Jayawardene b Mendis 5

Siddique lbw b Mendis 4

R Hasan b Fernando 10

Ashraful c P Jayawardene b Mendis 7

M Rahim run out 43

S Hasan st P Jayawardene b Dilshan 46

M Hossain lbw b Dilshan 5

Mortaza c M Jayawardene b Dilshan 0

S Hossain b Dilshan 1

E Haque not out 0

Extras (lb 5, b 4, nb 11) 20

Total (all out, 49.2) 158

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-22, 3-32, 4-42, 5-52, 6-144, 7-154, 8-154, 9-156.

Bowling: Vaas 8-3-16-1, Fernando 12-4-36-1, Mendis 15-4-57-3, Muralitharan 10-0-30-0, Dilshan 4.2-1-10-4. — Reuters

Karachi, January 6
Getting tough with its contracted players and officials, Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to restrain the people on its payroll from making unnecessary and controversial statements or appearing on television.

The PCB will issue a circular in the next 24 hours to gag the players and officials and appoint a spokesperson in the wake of a spate of statements that have created chaos and confusion in the cricket circles.

"We have taken notice of this growing trend of players and officials giving statements on a daily basis on every issue and causing more confusion. In the circular, we will make it clear they can’t interact with the media without our clearance," Saleem Altaf, COO of the Board said.

Plenty of confusion has been caused in the cricket circles with everyone who is anyone in the Board or Pakistan team giving statements on every issue.

This has led to fears of a growing internal rift between the former players employed by the board in recent months.

It was noticed that PCB chairman Ejaz Butt, director general Javed Miandad, chief selector Abdul Qadir, Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam and captain Shoaib Malik have been differing statements on policy matters. — PTI

Chennai, January 6
As Rohan Bopanna went down, owing to a tame display, visions of the already lean Indian challenge were looking to disappear.

But wild card entrant Delhi boy Somdev Devvarman exhibited his growing prowess upsetting higher ranked American Kevin Kim 6-3, 6-3 to enter the second round of the ATP Tour Chennai Open here today.

The centre court offered Somdev, the Nick Bollitiery trainee seen as India's new talent on the tennis horizon by likes of Leander Paes, a lot of vociferous supporters.

Unleashing his accurate forehand winners and slamming down aces, he took the sting out of the Korea-born Kim’s intitial flourish.

He led 2-1 and as Kim levelled 2-2, Somdev egging himself on broke Kim in game 5 of the first set and levelled 3-3.

He broke Kim in game eight after holding serve. Kim had earlier broken Somdev in the fifth game for a 3-2 lead.

The Assam-born Somdev then wrapped up the set in style slamming down two aces in a row. Kim was clearly losing heart as the contest entered the second set.

But things went Somdev’s way again as Kim made too many unforced errors while Somdev minimised his.

Somdev broke Kim in the third game and led 3-1 after holding serve. He broke Kim again in the seventh levelling 30-30 wrapping up the now one sided contest with a fine forehand down the line.

Kim tried his best to play himself back into the match with a few flourishes but it was a case of too little too late. Somdev slammed down an ace in sixth game and another in the eighth game.

Earlier, as Somdev walked into the centre court holding India’s hopes to keep the challenge alive at least into the second round, Davis Cupper, qualifier, Rohan Bopanna failed to grab his chances in a close contest to go down 4-6, 6-7(3) to Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in a tie-break second set.

But it was a cake walk for top seeded Russian Nikolay Davidenko, the World No 5. He put it across Daniel Koellerer of Austria 6-2, 6-3 in straight sets for a place in the second round.

The German bandwagon rolled on with Andreas Beck defeating Croat Roko Karnusic in straight sets dropping just one game to win 6-1, 6-0. — UNI

BRIEFLY

Afridi hit himself with bat after T20 WC loss to India
Karachi: The 2007 Twenty20 World Cup final loss to India hurt him so badly that Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi hit himself with his own bat to vent out the frustration. Afridi said his biggest regrets in his life were seeing Pakistan lose the 1999 World Cup final to Australia and the Twenty20 World Cup final to India in 2007. “Believe me these two moments still haunt me. After the T20 final I hit myself on the foot with my bat so hard in utter frustration at the way I got out that I couldn’t walk properly for two days,” he said. Afridi said he wants to be a part of a Pakistan team that wins a World Cup. “People say I have two or three years of cricket left in me. I would love to be a member of a team that either wins the T20 World Cup or the 2011 World Cup,” Afridi said in TV interview. — PTI

Bhaichung nominated for Asian award
New Delhi: Indian football captain Bhaichung Bhutia has been nominated among 43 players for a top Asian award by a pan-Arab Abu Dhabi soccer weekly, 'Super'. The Arabian soccer weekly honours some of the top players in Asia, Africa and among Arabian nations and carries a cash award of $100,000 in each category. The list includes South Korean and Manchester United winger Park Ji Sung, Japan playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura, Thai striker Nantawat Thansopa, Saudi Arabia’s Yasser Al Qahtani and Iraq’s Nashaat Akram. After he came to know about his nomination, an ecstatic Bhaichung said, “It feels great to be nominated. It is always nice and wonderful to be noticed for your hard work,” he added. — UNI

Kapil turns 50, hopes to see Indian cricket scale new high
New Delhi: Legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev, who led India’s cricket team to it’s only ODI World Cup title in 1983, turned 50 on Tuesday. Kapil, who made his India debut against Pakistan in 1978, was given a surprise party by his friends last night but the former captain has no plans for celebrations and will spend the day at his home here. “Last night, my friends threw a surprise party for me and I enjoyed myself there. I will spend the day at home and the celebrations will happen on January 16, which is my daughter Amiya’s birthday,” Kapil told PTI. The all-rounde was inducted into the ICC’s Hall of Fame last week, said his birthday wish was to see the Indian cricket team touch new highs this year. — PTI

Indian duo enters main draw at Malaysian Super Series
Kuala Lumpur: Indian pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas registerd convincing wins in the qualifiers to advance to the main draw of the Malaysian Super Series here on Tuesday. The Indian duo of Kumar and Thomas first outclassed the local pair of Yao Han OW and Hong Kheng Yew 21-16, 21-14 in just 26 minutes. In their second match, they defeated Kah Ming Chooi and Zheng Lin Pang 22-20, 21-19 in 30 minutes. The Indians will now face third-seeded Taiwanese pair of Hung Ling Chen and Yu Lang Lin on Wednesday. — UNI

Dhoni and teammates may play in Tihar jail
New Delhi: After entertaining crowds in every part of the cricket globe, India’s cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and some of his teammates may turn up in Tihar jail next week for a Twenty20 tournament involving the inmates. According to a Tihar jail source, the jail authorities have approached Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Ajay Jadeja to turn up for the Twenty20 Tihar Winter Olympics Cricket Tournament’s final next week. Among them, Dhoni and Gambhir have expressed their interest to be part of the event, though they have still not confirmed their participation. — PTI

HPCA president in BCCI committee
Shimla: Anurag Thakur, president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) has been nominated as a member of a BCCI committee, which would set up cricket academies across the country. Thakur has been nominated to this committee keeping in view his contribution to promote cricket in the state in a big way, president of Himachal Pradesh Olympics Association and state forest minister J P Nadda told reporters here on Tuesday. — PTI