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India, Holland in title clash
Holland toy with Germany
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Duleep Trophy Final
An unbelievable feeling: KP, Freddie
IBF suspends dope-tainted boxer
Fed Cup: India relegated to Group II
India never played better in SL: Ranatunga
Kickboxing trials
JCT beaten
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India, Holland in title clash
Chandigarh, February 7 Victory notwithstanding, it turned out be a largely a forgettable outing for the hosts. Though New Zealand also failed to play an inspired game wasting as many as eight penalty corners, the display by India left much to be desired. A Sandeep-Prabhjot move early on saw Rajpal tap the ball in and give India an early lead (1-0). Eager to record their first victory in the tournament, New Zealand showed urgency and rattled the Indian defence, forcing penalty corners in 13th and 19th minutes, which they failed to convert. In the 25th minute, India wove a worthwhile move as Tushar came charging from the right flank. He entered the striking circle and gave a pass to Sunil, who, however, failed to connect. New Zealand earned successive penalty corners just before the first half, which were again wasted, as India led 1-0 at the half time. Immediately after the breather, the visitors forced their fifth penalty corner, which again went abegging. Minutes later, Nicholas Wilson found possession of the ball inside the striking circle to shoot home as New Zealand restored parity (1-1) in the 38th minute. Stung by the reverse India fabricated a rare well-coordinated move in the 41st minutes. The combined efforts of Prabhjot, Tirkey and Sunil culminated in Rajpal tapping the ball in as India surged ahead by 2-1. But Indian joy was short-lived as New Zealand forced their seventh penalty corner, which Richard Petherick converted to bring New Zealand on level terms (2-2) with India. India showed a distinct urgency and raided the rival goalpost. Ignace Tirkey brought jubilation to the Indian camp when he sounded the board off a reverse-flick as India forged ahead by 3-2. Another scare was in store for India as rivals earned their eighth penalty corner in the dying moments of the game, which fizzled out.
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Holland toy with Germany
Tribune News Service The Dutch opened the scoring in the 2nd minute when after winning a penalty corner Wouter Jolie put them in the lead. Within five minutes they doubled the advantage as Jeroen Hertzberger finished a brilliant move from the left flank with a crisp shot. The score at the breather stayed 2-0. The Dutch started the second half from where they had left and made it 3-0 in the 47th minute through Constantijn Jonker. The goal did more than just deflate the German morale as the next 15 minutes witnessed a carnage. Hertzberger got himself another one in the 50th minute and then Robbert Kemperman scored in the 55th. The Germans were in a dilemma, whether to breathe or defend. It seemed they did neither of the two properly as tired German defenders were left chasing shadows and Jolie got his second in the 60th minute. Lucas Judge made it 7-0 with a sublime finish in the 61st. Time was not passing soon enough for Germany, but in the 66th minute they got a consolation goal when Christopher Wesley beat Jenniskens to make it 7-1. This tournament, maybe, is not the appropriate place to judge the Olympic champs, who are without many of their stars, but such dismal performances will surely take some sheen off that Gold they won in Beijing.
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SZ slip despite Badri’s ton
Chennai, February 7 Having managed a 260-run first innings lead, the dominant West Zone, gunning for their 17th Duleep Trophy title, ended day three at 232 for four in their second innings with Abhishek Nayar (9) and Kedar Jadhav (4) at the crease. For West, Ajinkya Rahane, who had slammed 165 in the first innings, fell just two runs short of his second century of the match, while Parthiv Patel contributed 64 before cramps forced him to retire hurt. Earlier resuming on 106 for four, South Zone lost wickets at regular intervals as their batsmen lacked the application and the will to grind it out. With the West spin duo of Ramesh Powar (3/47) and Rajesh Pawar (3/73) running through the middle and lower order, Badrinath (100 not out) could only watch in exasperation as his partners kept changing. His unbeaten 163-ball 100 included 10 fours and three sixes. West Zone lost their captain Wasim Jaffer (15) to Sreesanth in the ninth over but Parthiv Patel and Ajinkya Rahane soon imposed them on the South Zone bowlers and scored at a brisk rate. Patel's progress, however, was halted as the left-hander developed cramps and had to retire hurt. Rahane was in a punishing mood today as the Mumbaikar blasted his way into 90s before falling to Badrinath. Rahane had stepped out to hit Badrinath for a huge six in the previous delivery and this time the ball came onto his pads. Rahane tried to glance it but managed a faint nick and stumper Dinesh Karthik took a well-judged catch to send him back. Rahane’s 110-ball 98 was studded with 10 fours and four sixes. — PTI Scoreboard West Zone 1st innings: 459 South Zone 1st innings: (Overnight 106 for four): Uthappa b Powar 32 Vijay c Patel b Pawar 10 Badrinath not out 100 Dravid c Jadhav b Pawar 5 Suresh run out 0 Karthik c Jaffer b Trivedi 18 Yadav c Jadhav b Powar 8 R Ashwin c Jadhav b Powar 0 Jakati c Thaker b Nayar 23 Sreesanth run out 2 Vinay Kumar c Jaffer b Pawar 0 Extras (NB-1) 1 Total (all out, 73.2 overs) 199 Fow: 1-28, 2-71, 3-92, 4-94, 5-133, 6-148, 7-148, 8-191, 9-195. Bowling: Kulkarni 15-6-35-0; Trivedi 15-5-28-1; Pawar 23.2-6-73-3; Powar 17-2-47-3; Nayar 3-0-16-1. West Zone 2nd innings: P Patel retired hurt 64 Jaffer lbw b Sreeshanth 15 Rahane c Karthik b Badrinath 98 Pujara c & b Suresh 14 Thaker c Dravid b Sreesanth 22 Nayar batting 9 Jadhav batting 4 Extras (B-5, LB-1) 6 Total (For 4 wickets, 54 overs) 232 Fow: 1-35, 2-182, 3-196, 4-228. Bowling: Sreesanth 10-1-46-2; Uthappa 3-0-12-0; Ashwin 14-2-50-0; Jakati 10-0-39-0; Suresh 12-1-59-1; Badrinath 5-1-20-1.
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India eye series
whitewash
Colombo, February 7 It has already turned out to be a dream series for Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who made it to the record books by becoming the first Indian captain to win nine ODIs on the trot and the flamboyant wicket-keeper batsman would like to keep the winning momentum going in the last game. The other thing which will be in Dhoni's mind when he takes the field is that every win from here on will bring his side one step closer to the world number one position, which is being currently occupied by South Africa (125) with a lead of just three points. And coach Gary Kirstein had no hesitation in admitting that his main aim this year is to take India to the top position. "Getting to number one is the obvious goal this year, but you just can't think you have won the series 4-0 and be complacent in the next game. "It doesn't happen with us. When you go onto the field you go to win and not just compete. Great teams are those that carry the momentum forward into every game," Kirsten said. The Indians have been phenomenal in all departments of the game in the series as compared to the hosts who were rather disappointing. While Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag provide aggression at the top of the order, the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yousuf Pathan and Dhoni have been rock steady at the middle. The bowlers, on the other hand, have been disciplined all through the series. Interestingly, the most heartening thing to see was the success of young spinner Pragyan Ojha and part-time bowlers in Yuvraj, Raina, Sehwag and Yousuf. Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar have been outstanding upfront. Irfan Pathan, who made a comeback in the last match, too joined the party, picking up three wickets. Faced with the prospect of an embarassing a 0-5 whitewash, a demoralised Sri Lanka will look to salvage some pride before the home crowd in the last match of the series. The hosts, who are playing non-stop cricket for five months, seemed to have forgotten their basics against the mighty Indians. The Lankans have floundered in every department of the game. If their batting and bowling has been below par, their fielding has been dreadful. Without veteran Chaminda Vaas, the Lankan pace attack looked clueless. Nuwan Kulasekera, Thilan Thushara and Dilhara Fernando lacked sting in their bowling. The biggest disappointment, however, has been the performance of spin duo of Muttiah Muralitharan and mystery man Ajantha Mendis.
— PTI |
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An unbelievable feeling: KP, Freddie
London, February 7 Now in the Caribbean for their Test series against the West Indies, the duo, who were bought for a whopping $ 1.55 million each, were taken by surprise by the huge "amount of money". Even though they will only play for three weeks in the Twenty20 tournament, giving $ 60,000 of their salary to their counties, they will still trouser around $ 7,38,748 for the jaunt. Pietersen, who was bought by Vijay Mallya-owned Bangalore Royal Challengers, said, "I'm really excited about it. It is an unbelievable amount of money and I can't wait to get out there. "It looked like an absolute blast last year and the England lads just want to be involved in what is such an amazing tournament," the 28-year-old, whose new team-mates in Bangalore would include Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Shiv Chanderpaul, was quoted as saying in the English media. Flintoff, bought by Chennai Super Kings, considers the IPL dollars a massive bonus and said, "It's worked well, hasn't it? We would not have had any problem with different prices, but I guess being the same might stop a few of the other lads taking the mick. "I'm very pleased. I went in at $ 950,000 so to get that much it's unbelievable really, it has not quite sunk in, I guess. I regard it as a massive bonus. "My team includes guys like my friend Murali, Matthew Hayden and MS Dhoni as captain. So it's a very exciting team." Flintoff's England colleague Collingwood, who will be joining the Delhi Daredevils for $ 275,000, was also delighted by his price tag. "I'm absolutely delighted at the price tag on my head. The reserve price was $ 250,000, so to get a bit more than that is a really nice feeling. To be honest, though, I'm just happy to be there because I think once you get your nose into the tournament, then anything can happen and the cricket will be something special," he said. — PTI
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IBF suspends dope-tainted boxer
New Delhi, February 7 Manjit, a bronze medallist in the 2007 Commonwealth Championship in Liverpool, tested positive for a banned steroid at a National camp in April last year and the Indian Boxing Federation has asked him to return the silver medal he won at the National Championship. “We have written to him asking him to return the medal,” an IBF official said, confirming his B sample has also tested positive.
— PTI |
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Fed Cup: India relegated to Group II
Perth, February 7 Indian team, which could not win even a single match in the whole tournament and goes back to Group II since making the Group I in 2004. Rushmi Chakravarthi lost the first match 2-6 5-7 to Hwang I-Hsuan and then Ankita Bhambri surrendered 5-7 1-6 to Chan Chin-Wei, erasing India's all hopes of staying in the Group I. In the dead doubles rubber, the Bhambri sisters went down 4-6 2-6 against Chan/Chuang Chia-Jung. India was forced to field a depleted side as Sania Mirza pulled out of event at the last minute, owing to an abdominal injury. Also two of the last year's players -- Sunitha Rao and Shikha Uberoi -- did not play as they were rendered ineligible under the government's new sports policy. "I am disappointed. This is is the level where we have to win. I really missed Sania. She leads the team from the front and going into doubles at 1-1 rather than 0-2 makes a lot of difference," team captain Enrico Piperno told PTI. "We have 15-16 months to go for Commonwealth Games and hopefully with lot of practice and hard work we will be able to prepare (a good team)," he added. There was not much hope going into the tie with trio of Ankita, Sanaa and Rushmi but returning without winning a single match speaks volume of state of Indian women tennis. — PTI
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India never played better in SL: Ranatunga
Highly impressed by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men's attacking brand of cricket, former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga said India has never played better here.
"They have never played better here," Ranatunga said paying tribute to what he termed the vision of the Indian cricket administrators. "Their planning is good and they have set goals in their mind," Ranatunga said. India have already taken a 4-0 lead in the five-match series against Sri Lanka and the final match is scheduled here on Sunday. Dismissing notions that he had problems with the Indian cricket board during his 11-month tenure as the chief of Sri Lanka Cricket, Ranatunga said, "I had excellent relations with (former BCCI President) Mr (Sharad) Pawar and (current BCCI President) Mr Shashank Manohar", Ranatunga said. Ranatunga said he remained unimpressed by Twenty20 and believed Indian stars like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid struggled in Sri Lanka last year because of too much of Twenty20. On Sri Lanka's poor form, Ranatunga said the administrators were also to be blamed for the debacles. Insisting that the administrators should have ensured that the players maintain their focus, Ranatunga said, "This is due to unwanted and unprofessional people entering cricket administration." Never a fan of the Indian Premier League, Ranatunga also questioned the Sri Lankan players' commitment to the nation.
— PTI |
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Kickboxing trials
Chandigarh, February 7 This information was given by Gursharan Singh,secretary (ADMN) of Indian Association of Kickboxing. Singh informed that the trials will be conducted in full contact and low kick categories. Weight categories for men in Full Contact are:-51kg,-60kg, 71kg, 75kg while for women only one category - 56 kg has been included. In low kick categories for men are: 57kg, 63.5kg, 71kg, 81kg and for women 52kg. The competition had been sanctioned by IOC and would be conducted by Olympic Council Of Asia. |
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Kingston, February 7 Earlier, England had slumped to 39 for seven. West Indian paceman Jerome Taylor taking five wickets. The tourists lost Alastair Cook and Ian Bell as they reached lunch at 11 for two. Earlier, Stuart Broad took his first five-wicket haul in Tests as West Indies were bowled out for 392. After lunch Taylor removed Pietersen with a classic delivery. Taylor produced late outswing to bowl Pietersen as he attempted to hit through mid-wicket. With the crowd anticipating a famous victory, on-fire Taylor then bowled Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior to leave England reeling. Taylor had figures of five for 11 from nine overs after also removing skipper Andrew Strauss. Slow left armer Benn chipped in by dismissing Bell and Broad. Earlier, England lost Alastair Cook and Bell cheaply. Cook was caught by Devon Smith off Jerome Taylor without scoring. — Reuters Scoreboard England: (1st innings) 318 West Indies: (1st innings) 392 England: (2nd innings) Strauss c Ramdin b Taylor 9 Cook c Smith b Taylor 0 Bell c Ramdin b Benn 4 Pietersen b Taylor 1 Collingwood b Taylor 1 Flintoff b Edwards 24 Prior b Taylor 0 Broad c Marshall b Benn 0 Sidebottom lbw b Benn 6 Harmison b Benn 0 Panesar not out 0 Extras (b 2, nb 4) 6 Total (all out; 33.2 overs) 51 Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-11, 3-12, 4-20, 5-23, 6-23, 7-26, 8-50, 9-51, 10-51. Bowling: Taylor 9-4-11-5, Powell 7-3- 5-0, Benn 14.2-2-31-4, Gayle 2-1-1-0, Edwards 1-0-1-1.
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Chandigarh, February 7
For the second day in running, India were largely lacklustre on the field.
