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India rout Lanka, seal series TWO MUCH: Yuvraj Singh (L) celebrates after scoring a century as Virender Sehwag looks on during the third ODI against Sri Lanka at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Tuesday. Yuvraj scored 117 while Sehwag made 116. — AFP |
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Kiwis call Haddin a ‘cheat’
Harender lashes out at Aslam
Indian hockey coach Harender Singh
India shock Germany 2-0
Prabhjot Singh celebrates scoring the second goal against Germany during the Punjab Gold Cup in Chandigarh on Tuesday.
Tribune photo: S Chandan
Holland maul Kiwis
Ban on Pak players hits Rajasthan Royals hard
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India rout Lanka, seal series
Colombo, February 3
Electing to bat first, India rode on a 221-run stand for the third wicket between Sehwag (116) and Yuvraj (117) to amass 363 for five, their highest score in Sri Lanka. Chasing the mammoth total, Sri Lanka folded for 216 in 41.4 overs, despite Kumar Sangakkara's defiant 83 off 82 balls. Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha did the maximum damage to Sri Lanka, claiming four for 38. India thus took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series and both the teams will square off again here on Thursday for the fourth match. The capacity crowd at the R Premadasa Stadium found the only solace when off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan removed Yuvraj to equal Wasim Akram's world record tally of 502 ODI scalps. This was India's highest total on Sri Lankan soil, eclipsing the previous best of 307 for 6 in 1998 at the same venue. Chasing such a huge total, Sri Lanka badly needed a big knock from Sanath Jayasuriya but the veteran opener let the side down today. Jayasuriya dragged the first ball he faced, from Praveen Kumar, onto his stumps and that was clearly a bad omen for the hosts. Earlier, Muttiah Muralitharan equalled the world record for one-day international wickets but was powerless to prevent India amassing a huge total of 363 for five. Centuries by Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh rescued the visitors after they had slumped to 24 for two. Yuvraj was eventually out when he cut Muralitharan to Chamara Kapugedera at point, giving the off-spinner his 502nd wicket and tying the record held by Pakistan paceman Wasim Akram. The 36-year-old Muralitharan, playing in his 327th ODI, also holds the world record for most Test wickets. Left-hander Yuvraj slammed 15 fours and one six as he made 117 off 95 deliveries. It was his 11th ODI hundred. Sehwag struck 17 fours as he reached his 10th ODI century, scoring 116 off 89 balls. The pair figured in a 221-run, third-wicket stand as they took full advantage of wayward bowling and poor fielding. It was India’s highest third-wicket partnership against Sri Lanka, bettering the 175 made by Navjot Sidhu and Mohammed Azharuddin in Sharjah in 1995, and Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar in Delhi a year later. Sehwag and Yuvraj produced a stirring fightback for the visitors after Tendulkar had fallen for seven and Gautam Gambhir for 10. Opener Sehwag, dropped off his own bowling by Sanath Jayasuriya on 72, was eventually run out by the same player after a direct hit from mid-off. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan then shared a breezy, unbroken stand of 85 in 64 balls for the sixth wicket. Pathan cracked a career-best 59 not out off 38 deliveries while Dhoni compiled an unbeaten 35. — PTI Scoreboard India: Sehwag run out 116 Tendulkar lbw b Fernando 7 Gambhir run out 10 Yuvraj c Kapugedera b Murali 117 Dhoni not out 35 Raina st Sangakkara b Mendis 9 Y. Pathan not out 59 Extras (nb-3 w-7) 10 Total (five wickets, 50 overs) 363 Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-24, 3-245, 4-265, 5-278. Bowling: Kulasekera 10-0-68-0, Fernando 8-0-63-1, Maharoof 7-0-68-0, Mendis 9-0-64-1, Murali 10-0-60-1, Jayasuriya 6-1-40-0. Sri Lanka Dilshan b Zaheer 31 Jayasuriya b Kumar 0 Sangakkara c Yuvraj b Ojha 83 Jayawardene c Sehwag b Praveen 30 Kandamby c Yuvraj b Sehwag 10 Kapugedera b Ojha 2 Maharoof c Gambhir b Ojha 22 Kulasekara c Tendulkar b Yuvraj 3 Muralitharan c Dhoni b Ojha 0 Mendis not out 8 Fernando run out 19 Extras (lb 3, w 5) 8 Total (all out; 41.4 overs) 216 Fall of wickets:1-7, 2-51, 3-118, 4-132, 5-139, 6-184, 7-189, 8-189, 9-189. Bowling: Zaheer 8-1-44-1, Praveen 7-0- 41-2, Ishant 5-0-35-0, Ojha 10-0-38- 4, Sehwag 7-0-30-1, Yuvraj 3.4-0-14-1, Tendulkar 1-0-11-0
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Kiwis call Haddin a ‘cheat’
Melbourne, February 3 New Zealand batsman Neil Broom was given out clean bowled although TV replays showed that Heading's gloves were in front of the wicket when the Michael Clarke delivery was judged to have crashed on to the stumps. Haddin's conduct drew flak from former Australian umpire Darrell Hair who said it was quite "clear-cut" that the Aussie wicketkeeper had breached the law. "It's quite clear-cut. His (Haddin's) gloves were in front of the stumps and the ball hadn't passed the line of stumps, so he's in breach of the law and it should have just been an automatic no-ball," said the former International Cricket Council elite panel umpire. "Of all the people on the ground, he would have been the one who was best positioned to know. I think he should have owned up to it. I saw that (Ricky) Ponting has gone into bat for him after the Kiwis called him (Haddin) a cheat, but I can understand why the Kiwis would be livid about it," he said. Hair, who is now an executive officer of the NSW Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association, also questioned square leg umpire Bruce Oxenford's role in the incident. "People think the square leg umpire is out there for a rest, but the most important thing the square leg umpire is out there to look for are the things that happen the least and that's hit wicket and the wicketkeeper encroaching," Hair was quoted as saying in the 'Sydney Morning Herald'. "It should have just been called a no-ball from the square leg umpire... You can't be stumped and you can't be bowled off a no-ball. But it's obvious that the ball missed the stump as well," Hair said. This is not the first time that Australian players' on-field conduct has raised eyebrows. When the Indian team toured the country last year, Aussie vice-captain Michael Clarke claimed a bumped catch during the infamous Sydney Test, marred by the racism row involving all-rounder Andrew Symonds and Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. Retired wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist appealed for a catch of Rahul Dravid during the same match but TV replays showed that the ball missed the Indian's bat by a considerable distance.
— PTI |
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Melbourne, February 3 "Cricket Australia (CA) has advised its National Selection Panel (NSP) that Andrew Symonds cannot be considered for national selection until he has completed further counselling and rehabilitation," CA said in a statement. "Symonds will be unavailable for consideration for selection for the South Africa Test tour this month and will need to satisfy formal rehabilitation criteria before again being made available for international selection," it added. CA CEO James Sutherland said the Board had re-assessed Symonds' progress with his rehabilitation after the all-rounder was fined 4000 dollars for his infamous radio diatribe against New Zealand player Brendon McCullum. "Our assessment is that he is making good progress but that his commitment needs testing against new, tougher criteria we will finalise after consultation with his counselors, the ACA and Queensland Cricket," he said. "We have a responsibility to Andrew and his welfare but we also have a responsibility to Australian cricket to ensure his commitment is as it needs to be before he can be considered for national selection," he added. Sutherland said the decision to leave Symonds out was reached after "feedback from the state, national players and Australian team management". Sutherland said Symonds has been told of CA's decision. Elaborating on the criteria on which CA will decide on Symonds' level of commitment in future, Sutherland said the progress reports of the tougher rehab would be overseen by the Board every fortnight. "The counselling program is increased in concentration and treated as a priority above Symonds CA and QC commitments Formal fortnightly rehabilitation progress reports are made to CA," he said. He said CA would review Symonds' progress at the end of the Sheffield Shield season, which is prior to the selection of its squad for the Australia-Pakistan ODI series to be played from April. — PTI
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Harender lashes out at Aslam
Chandigarh, February 3 “It is sheer nonsense on the part of national selector Aslam Sher Khan to question the senior players in between a tournament,” said Harender while lashing out at the selectors, specifically Aslam Sher Khan, adding that Khan could have aired these statements after the tournament or should have discussed in a meeting. Frustrated over the plight of the sport, he also advocated the need of a foreign coach and said, “Only a foreign hockey coach can tackle them as the national coaches are treated with no respect at all. They are ruining the sport.” He was in a reference to the yesterday’s article in which Aslam was quoted saying as, “We have given the seniors a fair chance. If they fail to prove their worth in the Gold Cup, it would be very difficult for us to accommodate them.” According to the report he questioned Deepak Thakur (who last played in the 2006 Commonwealth Games), Arjun Halappa (2006 Asian Games), Dilip Tirkey and Vikram Pillay. “Is he questioning Deepak Thakur, who was given a chance in the team after 33 months? Where was he (Aslam) earlier?” rued the coach. He also said, “How can you question Deepak who postponed his marriage just to play the tournament and this is not something that players do for money, rather it’s their love for the game.” The coach also added, “What has he (Aslam) done for the sport after playing the World Cup? This kind of statement would just break the team and the sport. I know how low the morale of the team was and how difficult was it for me to try and boost their morale,” rued the coach. “He is just doing it to make headlines as the Lok Sabha elections are round the corner,” he said over the selector who was earlier demoted from the post of chief selector. When contacted Khan said he could not comment anything on the coach’s views. He said his intentions were not wrong and it all depended on how one’s views were portrayed by media. Indian captain Sandeep Singh echoed the sentiments of his coach and said, “It was really hard to get the boys on the field today. They were hurt and were extremely demoralised due to the unfortunate statements.” |
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India shock Germany 2-0
Baljit was at his best during the second penalty corner, which the visitors got in the 14th minute. He palmed the ball away, outside the danger area when rival forwards made an early attempt to breach the Indian defence. Within seconds, Germany forwards manoeuvred a move again and unleashed a crisp stroke towards the goalpost, which an alert Bajlit showed enough agility, lunging to his right and clearing the ball. In a game, which never rose toconsiderable heights, both the teams failed to dish out any convincing fare. Though Germany dominated the exchanges most of the time, inadequate finish, mediocre at times, let them down. It was this shoddy finish, which saw them squander no less than five penalty corners in the first half and one towards the fag end of the game. Luckily for India, they got just two penalty corners, one in each half, and converted both - Dilip Tirkey and Prabhjot Singh being the scorers.
India struck as early as the fourth minute. Taking a pass from Rajpal Singh, Sandeep fumbled in the tackle as Tirkey emerged in a flash and sounded the board as the hosts gained an early lead. Immediately thereafter, Germany mounted a dangerous move and threatened the Indian goalpost. But Vikram Pillay, who had a good game effecting a couple of impressive saves, was quick to clear the ball. Germany got two penalty corners in the 20th and 22nd minutes of the game, which again were foiled by an unflappable Baljit. The fifth penalty corner, just before the first half, forced by the visitors went abegging as the player receiving the pass, failed to tap the ball. India earned their second penalty cormer immediately after the resumption of play after the half-time break. This time it was Prabhjot, who reverse-flicked the ball home from a rebound off Sandeep’s stick as India took their goal tally to 2-0. Prabhjot soon made a solo run towards the rival goalpost, but failed to provide the finishing touch. Desperate to score their first goal, the rival forwards threatened the Indian goalpost after weaving a well-coordinated move, but it was Baljit again, who padded the away to safety. Bajlit was adjudged Man of the Match. |
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Holland maul Kiwis
Going by the rule, underdog tales should end on a happy note. But it seems that in Netherlands there are no such tales and probably that’s why the Dutch hockey team thrashed a hapless New Zealand 4-1 in their match for the Punjab Gold Cup at the sector 42 stadium here today.
The European champions took the lead from a Bob Voogd De goal in the second minute. A simple move down the left flank, culminated into a goal as the Kiwi defence failed to mark Voogd De, who simply helped the ball into the goal on receiving a pass from outside the 16-yard box. Netherlands struck again in the 7th minute when Lucas Judge controlled the ball in front of the goal-mouth and shot past Kyle Pontifex to make it 2-0. It was too much action for the opening minutes, or so one thought, as in the 10th minute the Netherlands were awarded a penalty corner, which was converted by Wouter Jolie to make it 3-0. The Kiwis were lucky to go into the breather just three goals down. New Zealand finally found their feet in the second half. Their efforts, although a tad late, paid off as they scored a consolation goal through Nicholas Wilson. There was a minor scuffle in the Netherlands’ 16-yard box after some foul play resulted in an injury to Marcel Balkestein. But the Kiwis were ‘wounded’ once more as Floris Evers scored in the 59th minute and then Simon Child was yellow-carded. Voogd De was declared the Man of the match. |
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Ban on Pak players hits Rajasthan Royals hard
Jaipur, February 3 The three prominent players of the IPL champions team-Sohail Tanvir, Yunus Khan and Kamran Akmal wont be able to represent rajasthan royals this time. Rajasthan team sources in Jaipur said the biggest loss is of Sohail Tanvir who was the highest wicket taker in the first edition of IPL. The three pak players were vital cog in the planning of spin wizard and Capt Shane Warne in the first edition of IPL. Sources said the team owners would try to get best replacements possible in the Feb 6 auction of players in Goa.
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Colombo, February 3
sport has been hit by another setback as the national coach today lashed out at the national selectors for disrupting the team’s progress with irresponsible remarks. Harender Singh broke into tears, while reacting to a report published in a section of media questioning the place of the senior players in the team, during a press conference.
Man of the match Baljit Singh sparkles under the bar effecting nearly half a dozen saves
Aged 36, born April 17 1972, in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Made his Test debut in 1992 v Australia in Colombo.
Chandigarh, February 3