Chennai, February 13
Rookie Mumbai pacer Dhawal Kulkarni today earned a surprise call up to India's Test squad while fit-again speedster Lakshmipathy Balaji and his Tamil Nadu teammate Dinesh Kaarthick staged a comeback for the gruelling tour of New Zealand starting next week.

The 20-year-old Kulkarni, who first came into the limelight in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League, has been rewarded for his consistent show in the domestic circuit.

Apart from Kulkarni's inclusion, there were no major surprises in the teams - Test, ODI and Twenty20 - picked here after a meeting of the National selection Panel headed by former India captain Krish Srikkanth.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and paceman Munaf Patel, both of whom missed the recent ODI series against Sri Lanka, have returned to all the three squads.

Balaji, who returned to the one-day fold as a replacement for Munaf during the series against Sri lanka, forced his way back into the Test reckoning with a splendid performance as Tamil Nadu's pace spearhead in the domestic circuit.

The selectors opted to take two wicketkeepers for the 48-day tour, comprising three Tests, five one-dayers and two Twenty20 matches. Kaarthick pipped Gujarat captain Parthiv Patel to be Mahendra Singh Dhoni's backup.

The selectors have not tinkered much with the ODI and the Twenty20 squads, which by and large are the same that won the ODI series against Sri Lanka 4-1 and beat them in the one-off T20 game.

Opener Murali Vijay was retained in the Test squad which, however, has no place for left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, who figures in the ODI and Twenty20 squads.

Veterans Rahul Dravid and V V S Laxman have been picked only for the Test series, while Sachin Tendulkar will play the Test and ODIs but has opted out of the Twenty20 matches.

Considering the seaming conditions in New Zealand, the selectors opted for just two specialist spinners in Harbhajan and Amit Mishra for the Test matches, while picking a five-pronged pace attack.

The Test squad has three specialist openers, five middle-order batsmen and a reserve wicketkeeper in Kaarthick.

Zaheer Khan, who has been excellent form in recent times, will spearhead the pace attack which includes Ishant Sharma, Munaf, Balaji and Kulkarni.

The Indian team will leave for New Zealand on February 19 and will start the tour with a Twenty20 match at Christchurch on February 25.

The next Twenty20 game will played in Wellington on February 27. The ODI series starts on March 3, while the Test series will get underway from March 18.

Kulkarni, a right-arm medium pacer, came into spotlight after his performance for the Mumbai Under-17 team during the 2005-06 Vijay Merchant Trophy.

In the 13 first-class match he has played so far, Kulkarni has taken 49 wickets at an average of 22.02.

For Balaji, who had been laid low by a back injury, it is a comeback after almost four years, having played his last Test against Pakistan in Bangalore in March 2005.

Kaarthick had played his last Test against Sri Lanka at Galle in July-August last year. — PTI

New Delhi, February 13
Former captain Rahul Dravid admits that he is not the most gifted players around but makes it clear enough that through his sheer hard work, he has been able to maximise his talent to sustain the tough journey at the international level.

''If you look at pure stroke making ability, I am not the most talented or the most gifted player in literal sense,'' Rahul said.

''I worked on my game and made it work for me and succeeded over a period of time. I think I have maximised my talents to a large extent,'' Dravid told CNN-IBN in an interview.

The former Indian captain also added that without cricket his life will be nothing as he had always thought about the game and nothing else.

''Right from the time I can remember I have always had a bat or ball in my hand, and I knew that it was always going to be cricket for me,'' he disclosed.

Talking about his special debut against England in which he missed a century by just five runs Dravid said, ''It was a great honour and privilege to walk in wearing an Indian cap and t-shirt and play for your country and I would have happily taken the 95 after that.''

''Of course a 100 is special but I came back from the tour with a new self belief and confidence to play at international level and runs didn't matter anymore,'' he added.

Commenting on the post match-fixing era of Indian cricket, Dravid said he had went to England to play the county cricket and returned more refreshed and with a different perspective.

The 36-year-old right-hander, nicknamed 'The Wall', further added that after the match-fixing saga was over, he understood the international cricket in a better way later.

''I went away from home and stayed alone for about six months in England. Just enjoyed the feeling of being in another dressing room and another atmosphere.

''I came back refreshed and keen to look at international cricket with a completely different outlook and perspective. This was a critical time and phase for me & it helped me open my eyes to many different things in International cricket in a new way,'' he added.

Praising Dravid's playing style and solid defensive technique, former Indian pacer Javagal Srinath said he always knew that Dravid will make it big at the international arena.

''From the start Rahul was outstanding, the way he concentrated and prepared for his batting.

''His solid defence made you feel that this guy is ready for the next level. And I always knew this boy belongs to the big man's world,'' Srinath asserted.

Indian opener Virender Sehwag pointed out that Dravid had his defined goals which he sets on long-term basis. — UNI

Brisbane, February 13
Australia retained the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy after a heavy downpour came to their rescue with New Zealand marching ahead to break the 2-2 deadlock and the final match of the five-match ODI series ended without any result here today.

Chasing a revised target of 156 in 20 overs, New Zealand rode on a blistering unbeaten 64 off 34 balls from Martin Guptill and the visitors were 123 for six in 14 overs when a heavy downpur ended New Zealand's chances of winning the decider.

Guptill had five fours and three sixes in his unbeaten knock and was batting with debutant Brendon Diamanti when the heavens opened up.

New Zealand were well ahead by Duckworth-Lewis system and needed 33 runs off 36 balls.

The result left the series drawn 2-2 with Australia retaining the series after their win against the Black Caps in 2007-08.

Earlier asked to bat first, opener Brad Haddin continued his superb form striking a 65-ball 88 and was helped by Callum Ferguson (55 off 35 balls) as the two batsmen added 98 runs in 10.5 overs to take hosts to 168 for 4 in 22 overs.

Scoreboard

Australia (innings):

Hopes c Vettori b Mills 5

Haddin not out 88

Ponting c McCullum b Mills 2

D Hussey b O'Brien 6

M Hussey c Diamanti b Vettori 9

Ferguson not out 55

Extras (w 3): 3

Total (For 4 wickets, 22 overs): 168

Fall of wickets: 1/9, 2/20, 3/30, 4/70.

Bowling Kyle Mills 4-0-22-2, Tim Southee 5-0-49-0, Iain O'Brien 5-0-40-1, Brendon Diamanti 2-0-25-0, Daniel Vettori 4-0-24-1, Grant Elliott 2-0-8-0.

New Zealand (innings):

McCullum b Hilfenhaus 2

Guptill not out 64

Fulton c Ferguson b Bracken 22

Taylor c M Hussey b Johnson 4

Elliott c Haddin b Bracken 0

Broom run out 0

Mills c M Hussey b Siddle 1

Diamanti not out 26

Extras (lb 1, w 3): 4

Total ( For 6 wickets, 14 overs): 123

FoW: 1/2, 2/40, 3/56, 4/68, 5/68, 6/73

Bowling: Ben Hilfenhaus 3-0-28-1, Nathan Bracken 3-0-33-2, Mitchell Johnson 3-0-28-1, Peter Siddle 3-0-13-1, James Hopes 2-0-20-0. — UNI

Patiala, February 13
For the first time after he assumed charge as union sports minister eight months ago, M.S Gill visited the National Institute of Sports (NIS), the main academic centre of the SAI.

He inaugurated two hockey Astroturfs while at the same time promising to set up as many as 21 more such synthetic surfaces across the length and breadth of the country.

Gill, in the presence of senior SAI functionaries, which included the director general Sayan Chatterjee and the NIS director (academics) L.S Ranawat, and the Punjab director (sports) Pargat Singh, took off his over coat and symbolically pushed the ball in the goal mouth to formally inaugurate the turf on Wednesday.

Later, a stones throw away, Gill also inaugurated another turf, primarily meant for six a side hockey.

However, immediately after its inauguration apprehensions were being expressed over the two new turfs since the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), responsible for laying down the synthetic surfaces, has yet to formally hand over the turfs to the NIS.

The CPWD can hand over the turfs only after their fitness level has been approved by a team of International Hockey Federation (FIH) officials.

Senior SAI officials were unwilling to comment on the timing of the FIH team’s visit. Till the international hockey body gives proper accreditation to turfs, the authorities cannot even water them, leave alone let play commence on the surfaces.

The minister also inaugurated the “elite women’s hostel’ adjacent to the old women’s hostel and later addressed a gathering of sportsmen, administrators and students undergoing their diploma courses here at the NIS.

Gill also announced that 21 new synthetic surfaces for hockey would be set up at a cost of Rs 75 crore at the SAI’s high altitude centre at Shilaroo, Kurukshetra, Gandhinagar, Medikeri, Sundergarh, Sonepat, Imphal, Thenzual, Kolkata, Taran Tarn, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Dehradun, Bareilly, Aligarh, Tikamgrah, Rajnandgaon, Aurangabad and Kandivali.

Speaking about sponsorship for sports other than cricket, Gill said captains of Indian industry should come out in a big way to sponsor Olympic sports so that these games could flourish.

He cited the example of Microsoft boss Bill Gates whose innovative ideas have given a new dimension to sports sponsorship in USA.

Taking cognisance of the stagnation occurring in SAI, Gill said “Restructuring of SAI was being contemplated and a consultant for this exercise had also been identified”.

However the name of the consultancy firm or individual was being kept under wraps by the authorities.

Buoyed by a bronze medal winning performance by wrestler Sushil Kumar in the Beijing Olympics, Gill announced the setting up of a wrestling hub at Sonepat at a cost of Rs 6 crores.