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Weather, not rivals, India’s worry
Dhoni refuses to bask in past glory
Kiwis to target Sehwag, Gambhir
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Max to telecast India-NZ series
Fan adulation was enough reward for us: PK
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Weather, not rivals, India’s worry Given their streak of success in this format and the talent they have, India start as hot favourites in the two-match T20 series starting today Christchurch, February 24 The advent of autumn has seen the temperatures plummet and there have been sporadic spells of rain, which have offset India's preparation for the match. More than the Black Caps' resilience and home advantage, it will be this cold-windy factor which could ruffle Mahendra Singh Dhoni's all-conquering legion.
While New Zealand have two potential match-winners in Brendon McCullum and Jacob Oram, who was specifically included in the squad to provide thrust to the not-so-powerful batting, India have an array of explosive batsmen who can turn the match on its head. India have two explosive openers in Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, who will be backed by the king of Twenty20, Yuvraj Singh, who continues to flog the bowlers across the parks as if he were batting in the backyard of his Chandigarh home. Then there is Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan, who is imminently capable of clearing the grounds in New Zealand. Be it seam or spin, they have the knack and chutzpah to scatter the field and produce boundaries. If the Kiwis feel that the bounce in the wicket could give them the edge in the bowling aspect, they would have to deal with Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma, who are regarded as the best fast bowling pair in the world cricket. The pair had devastated Australia at home, a trauma from which Ricky Ponting is struggling to recover. India's Twenty20 record is encouraging, in that they have lost only two of their 11 matches played so far, losing to New Zealand in the World Cup at Johannesburg and Australia at Melbourne. But whatever be their might, India would be foolhardy to underestimate the inexperienced New Zealand outfit, which had given a good account of itself in the just-concluded series against Australia, wherein they drew the ODI series 2-2 and lost the Twenty international by one run. Coach Andy Molls has pinned his hopes on Daniel Vettori, arguably the best left-arm spinner in world cricket, McCullum, Oram, Martin Guptill, Grant Elliot and Neil Broom. But if the weather does not play spoilsport, India certainly have the spice and curry to bury the Kiwi challenge. Teams: India (from): Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt and wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma. New Zealand (from): Brendon McCullum (wk), Martin Guptill, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor/Neil Broom, Grant Elliott, Jacob Oram, Nathan McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Ian Butler, Tim Southee, Iain O'Brien. — PTI
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Dhoni refuses to bask in past glory
Christchurch, February 24 World champion in this slam-bang format, Dhoni's men have an edge over the hosts on paper but the Indian captain believes his teammates would have to start all over again. "I believe every game is a new game," Dhoni said on the eve of the tour opener, adding "You have to start from scratch." Dhoni put tomorrow's match in perspective saying it would not set the tone for the remainder of the series. "It is not like if you have won the first game it makes a huge difference for the entire tour. It is a 50-day tour and the team that will be victorious will be the one that plays good cricket for a consistent amount of time," Dhoni said. Dhoni's team does not lack match-winners but the Indian captain said he wanted complete team effort where each and every player would chip in. "We have the kind of players who can really win games on their own, but we are always looking for the whole team to perform. In theses conditions the batsmen could get out to a good ball and this is when you want the whole team to be at a level where each and everyone is performing. Whatever limited opportunity one gets, if he performs it helps the confidence of the whole team," said Dhoni. Dhoni rated New Zealand as a competitive side and said, "They have a good bunch of players. They believe in contributing. They take pride in their fielding which is important in one-day cricket. They are a competitive side."
— PTI |
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Kiwis to target Sehwag, Gambhir
Taming India's swashbuckling opening pair of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir will be crucial to New Zealand's success in the Twenty20 International tomorrow, home team captain Daniel Vettori said here today.
Hinting that the Kiwis would target the Delhi duo tomorrow, Vettori said, "Sehwag creates a momentum at the top of the order and is such an aggressive player that he can take the game away quite quickly. A lot of our emphasis is on him and probably Gambhir. If we can put some pressure on India early and contain Sehwag and Gambhir, it would be handy. "It is probably going to be crucial to our success. When these guys get away, it is always hard to get back in the game," said Vettori. Interestingly, the Kiwis aren't equally worried about Yuvraj who has a formidable reputation in this format. "We are not underestimating him as a player and how destructive he can be. We are just hoping that we get to him early by our plans for Gambhir and Sehwag. "If we can do that he will hopefully be more vulnerable than when he comes in with a bit of platform. But he still is a very good player and is in some very good form as well," said Vettori. The Kiwi captain reckoned former India coach John Wright's knowledge of the visiting cricketers would be an advantage for New Zealand. "He has been around the team a lot and we enjoy his experience. We are lucky enough to have someone who has knowledge about the Indian side. We have been picking his brain for a while, not just with individual aspects of the players but taking on the Indian team and what things he thought worked in the past when they were successful," Vettori said.
— PTI |
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Max to telecast India-NZ series
Chandigarh: With the India-New Zealand series set to begin from tomorrow, television channel MAX yesterday announced that it would be telecasting LIVE the much-awaited National Bank series this month. The series will feature India playing five One Day Internationals, two Twenty20 and three Test matches on their first tour of New Zealand in the past six years. Avid cricket fans can watch this series, which promises some thrilling matches, live on MAX from 25th February to 7th April.
Along with Charu Sharma as the presenter for the series, viewers can look forward to a panel of experts consisting of Murali Kartik, Javagal Srinath and Arun Lal amongst others who will present their analysis on the match happenings as part of the wrap around programming for this series. Simultaneously, Ravi Shastri , who will be based in New Zealand, will be commentating on the series LIVE, giving his expert opinion along with the others here.
— TNS |
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Younis plunders triple ton
Karachi, February 24 The Pakistan captain’s marathon innings has so far spanned 731 minutes, 545 balls and included 27 fours and four sixes. Younis and his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahela Jayawardene, who scored 240, also set a new benchmark as it was the first time rival captains had scored double hundreds in the same Test. Younis reached his triple ton after reverse sweeping Muttiah Muralitharan and running three runs. In an impressive display of endurance and concentration, Younis bowed his head after reaching the landmark while the small crowd gathered at the stadium gave him a standing ovation. The blistering knock by Younis, who also became the sixth Pakistani to reach 5,000 runs in test cricket, ended any hopes Sri Lanka had of winning the match.
— Reuters Scoreboard Sri Lanka (first innings): 644/7, decl Pakistan (first innings) (overnight 296-3) Manzoor c P. Jayawardene b Mendis 27 Butt c M. Jayawardene b Mural 23 Younis not out 306 Malik run out 56 Misbah lbw b Fernando 42 Iqbal lbw b M. Jayawardene 57 Akmal not out 27 Extras (b-4, lb-11, w-5, nb-16) 36 Total: (for 5 wickets; 202 overs) 574 Fall of wickets: 1-44 2-78 3-227 4-357 5-531 Bowling: Vaas 32-9-56-0, Fernando 34-2-107-1, Mendis 55-13-135-1, Muralitharan 60-12-165-1, Dilshan 9-2-42-0, Paranavitana 5-0-33-0, Sangakarra 4-0-15-0, M. Jayawardene 3-0-6-1.
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Fan adulation was enough reward for us: PK
New Delhi, February 24 Talking to UNI here, Bannerjee lamented the fact that the present generation of footballers seem to lack these qualities despite getting better facilities. ''Our coach Rahim used to say that when you are playing for the Indian team, you should be prepared to lay down your life for the country,'' an emotional Bannerjee recalled. ''India was a newly independent country at that time and we were conscious of the fact that we had to win back the lost pride and prestige of the country,'' he added. ''We used to play for the love and passion for the game. We never charged any money from our clubs. The adulation that we got from the fans was enough reward for us.'' Talking about India's performance at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, where the team reached the semifinals Bannerjee gave credit to Syed Abdul Rahim, perhaps the best coach ever produced by India. ''Rahim was an extremely stict taskmaster. We used to have five to six hours of hard practice everyday,'' he stated. The former striker, part of the legendary attacking trio along with Chunni Goswami and Tulsidas Balaram that terrorised rival defences in the 1950s and 1960s, said he was honoured to be named as the greatest Indian footballer of the 20th century by FIFA. ''When I was informed by (ex-AIFF president) Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, I felt extremely honoured.'' He asserted that there is a lot talent in the country and even quite a few among the present generation of players are exceptionally gifted.
— UNI |
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Under him, India has hardly put a foot wrong but skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni refuses to bask in past glory and insists it will be a fresh start against New Zealand in the first cricket Twenty20 International here tomorrow.
Given their streak of success in this format and the plethora of talent they have in their ranks, India start as hot favorites in the two-match Twenty20 series.
