S P O R T S

Kiwis have edge, India falling off
India reeling at 79 for 3, while Kiwis ride on Ryder’s maiden double ton and McCullum’s 115 to score 619 for 9 declared
Napier, March 27
India dug themselves into a hole by losing three quick wickets after an insipid bowling display allowed a spirited New Zealand to pile up a mammoth first innings total and take control of the second cricket Test here today.

New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum (R) celebrates the wicket of Virender Sehwag during the 2nd day of the second Test at McLean Park, Napier, on Friday. — AFP

IPL to open at Cape Town
Mumbai, March 27
Cape Town will host the opening match of the Indian Premier League while Johannesburg will be the venue for the final of the Twenty20 event, which was shifted to South Africa due to a clash of dates with the general elections in India.

• Complete schedule list

A Pakistani policeman escorts arrested former Pakistan batsman Ijaz Ahmed (C) in a wheelchair at a hospital in Lahore on Friday. Ijaz was to appear in court after being arrested on cheating charges. — AFP

‘Ganguly knew about captaincy plan’
Kolkata, March 27
The controversy surrounding the Kolkata Knight Riders team over coach John Buchanan's idea of rotating captaincy took another twist when the Australian claimed that he had discussed the matter with captain Sourav Ganguly before announcing it.

World Series not for faint-hearted: Akhil
Hyderabad, March 27
For all the good it would do for Indian boxing, Olympian pugilist Akhil Kumar says the AIBA World Series is not for the faint-hearted as amateurs will have to make major adjustments in the event which borrows heavily from professional boxing.

Indian Open
Saina loses, Hidayat in semis
Hyderabad, March 27
Indonesian favourite Taufik Hidayat and Malaysia's Muhammad Hafiz Hashim reached the Indian Open badminton semi-finals on Friday. Hidayat, former Olympic champion and world number seven, defeated Kuan Beng Hong of Malaysia 17-21 21-17 21-19 and former All-England champion Hashim, the 10th seed, ousted Indonesian fifth seed Andre Kurniawan Tedjono 21-18 14-21 21-16.

Kiwis have edge, India falling off
India reeling at 79 for 3, while Kiwis ride on Ryder’s maiden double ton and McCullum’s 115 to score 619 for 9 declared
Joseph Hoover

Napier, March 27
India dug themselves into a hole by losing three quick wickets after an insipid bowling display allowed a spirited New Zealand to pile up a mammoth first innings total and take control of the second cricket Test here today.

The Kiwis rode on Jesse Ryder’s (201) maiden double century and Brendon McCullum’s strokeful 115 to rattle up 619 for nine declared, their highest against India on home soil, on a placid track at the McLean Park.

The Indians, whose fielding left much to be desired and the bowling lacked the sting, were at a jittery 79 for three at close of the second day which was completely dominated by the Blackcaps.

Needing 341 runs to avoid the ignominy of follow on, the experienced duo of Rahul Dravid (21) and Sachin Tendulkar (0) will now have to bat out of their skin to save India the blushes.

VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Karthik are the other recognised batsmen and all of them have to come good if India hope to prevent the Kiwis from equalling the three-match series.

India’s ploy of sending Ishant Sharma (0) as the nightwatchman backfired as he fell in the penultimate over of the day, forcing Tendulkar to come out and face seven deliveries.

In the familiar company of his Delhi teammate Gambhir (16), Sehwag (34) began in his characteristic swashbuckling way, imposing himself on the Kiwi bowlers. New Zealand got a chance to remove him when Sehwag was on 21 but Martin Guptill's throw missed the stumps by a whisker with the opener nowhere in the frame.

Fortunately for them, the lapse didn't prove costly. Sehwag, having hit Daniel Vettori for a six in the previous delivery, went for a wild slog-sweep only to bottom edge it to Brendon McCullum behind the stumps and perish after a 25-ball 34. Jeetan Patel then removed Gambhir and Vettori trapped Ishant for a duck to compound India’s problem. Earlier, Jesse Ryder's 201, his second hundred against India in three innings, proved the fulcrum around which New Zealand recovered from a shaky 23 for three to stack up an intimidating first innings total.

The stocky left-hander batted with great resolve throughout his 490-minute tenure at the crease, inspiring three significant partnerships which drove India to despair. — PTI

Scoreboard

New Zealand (1st innings): (overnight 351 for 4)

McIntosh c Karthik b Ishant 12

Guptill c Sehwag b Zaheer 8

How b Zaheer 1

Taylor c Yuvraj b Harbhajan 151

Ryder b Zaheer 201

Franklin run out 52

McCullum c Tendulkar b Ishant 115

Vettori b Ishant 55

Patel c Ishant b Harbhajan 1

O'Brien not out 1

Extras (b-7, lb-8, nb-7) 22

Total (decl. for 9 wkts, 154.4 overs) 619

Fall of wickets: 1-21 2-22 3-23 4-294 5-415 6-477 7-605 8-618 9-619.

Bowling: Zaheer 34-6-129-3; Ishant 27-5-95-3; Munaf 28-3-128-0; Harbhajan 41.4-7-120-2; Sehwag 12-0-73-0; Yuvraj 12-0-59-0.

India (1st innings):

Gambhir c Vettori b Patel 16

Sehwag c McCullum b Vettori 34

Dravid batting 21

Ishant lbw b Vettori 0

Tendulkar batting 0

Extras (lb-7, nb-1) 8

Total (For 3 wickets, 23 overs) 79

Fall of wickets: 1-48 2-73 3-78.

Bowling: Martin 6-1-26-0; Franklin 5-1-15-0; Vettori 5-1-16-2; O'Brien 3-2-9-0; Patel 4-1-6-1.

IPL to open at Cape Town

Mumbai, March 27
Cape Town will host the opening match of the Indian Premier League while Johannesburg will be the venue for the final of the Twenty20 event, which was shifted to South Africa due to a clash of dates with the general elections in India.

In a double header on the first day, reigning champions Rajasthan Royals will take on Royal Challengers, Bangalore, while Mumbai Indians would clash with first edition's runners-up Chennai Super Kings at The Newlands stadium Cape Town.

The Wanderers in Johannesburg will host the summit clash on May 24. The semi-finals are to be held on May 22 and 23 in Pretoria and Johannesburg respectively, as per the full schedule of the T20 League.

In all, the 59 matches will be held in eight cities: Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Pretoria, East London, Kimberly, Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth.

Kingsmead in Durban, which has a large number of South Asians, has been alloted the lion’s share of 16 matches while the Centurion Park in Pretoria would host 12 ties. The Wanderers in Johannesburg and Newlands in Cape Town come next best with eight matches each, with the latter playing host to four of these on the first two days of the high-profile competition.

Seven matches are to be held in St George's Park in Port Elizabeth while Buffalo Park in East London has been allotted four matches. Two matches each have been handed over to Outsurance Oval in Bloemfontein and De Beers Oval in Kimberley. Matches would be held at 4 pm (12.30 pm local time) and 8 pm (4.30pm local time) IST. There are a total of ten double headers (two matches back to back at the same venue) with Durban hosting half of these. — PTI

‘Ganguly knew about captaincy plan’

Kolkata, March 27
The controversy surrounding the Kolkata Knight Riders team over coach John Buchanan's idea of rotating captaincy took another twist when the Australian claimed that he had discussed the matter with captain Sourav Ganguly before announcing it.

"I had discussed in detail with Sourav about his future role in the team after the last IPL season. It was not new to him at all," Buchanan was quoted as saying by a Bengali daily today. When it was brought to his notice that Ganguly had said he had not been consulted in the matter, Buchanan said, "At least I can say that we had discussed the necessity for creating new leadership".

Ganguly had earlier in a television interview said he had no idea about Buchanan's new concept on captaincy and came to know about it through the media. Asked whether Shah Rukh Khan, owner of Kolkata Knight Riders, had been consulted, the former Australian coach said, "SRK has given me complete freedom".

He said the whole controversy was a media creation. To a question as to who could be the KKR captain for the forthcoming championship in South Africa, Buchanan said besides Ganguly, the team had (Chris) Gayle and (Brendon) McCullum.

Meanwhile, the KKR camp continued at the Eden Gardens for the third day today with four other players, former India opener Akash Chopra, leg spinner Iqbal Abdullah, all rounder Shoaib Shaikh and off-spinner Mohnish Parmar joining the practice. — PTI

World Series not for faint-hearted: Akhil

Hyderabad, March 27
For all the good it would do for Indian boxing, Olympian pugilist Akhil Kumar says the AIBA World Series is not for the faint-hearted as amateurs will have to make major adjustments in the event which borrows heavily from professional boxing.

“Amateurs will need a lot of heart to fight in this series. It is not for the faint hearted. Boxing is a house of pain and if one is scared of getting injured and hurting himself, he should not come to boxing then. I know have that heart and I would play,” Akhil, who recently went up a division to feather weight, told PTI.

The World Series of Boxing, scheduled for September next year, will have competed in five rounds with boxers having to fight without there head-guards. The Series would comprise 12 franchisees of 10 boxers each, to be picked during the World Championship in Milan this August-September.

Akhil said if India gets to be one of the franchisees it would put the country on the world map. “It (World Series of Boxing) will highlight the boxers and put Indian boxers on top of the world,” Akhil said. — PTI

Indian Open
Saina loses, Hidayat in semis

Hyderabad, March 27
Indonesian favourite Taufik Hidayat and Malaysia's Muhammad Hafiz Hashim reached the Indian Open badminton semi-finals on Friday. Hidayat, former Olympic champion and world number seven, defeated Kuan Beng Hong of Malaysia 17-21 21-17 21-19 and former All-England champion Hashim, the 10th seed, ousted Indonesian fifth seed Andre Kurniawan Tedjono 21-18 14-21 21-16.

Hashim will face Chinese teenager Chen Long, shock first- round winner over Malaysian world number one Lee Chong Wei, in one of the semi-finals on Saturday. Indian women's world number nine Saina Nehwal was knocked out in the last eight when Malaysian fifth seed Julia Pei Xian Wong defeated the junior world champion and second seed 12-21 21-13 21-18. French top seed Pi Hongyan, the world number four, beat Xia Jingyun of China 22-10 18-21 21-14 to reach the last four. — Reuters