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Sehwag ruled out of World Cup
India has options in Viru’s absence
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Sparks fly as Dhoni faces
SA scrape past Kiwis
Pak crush Holland
Real get Kaka for $92 million
Mahilpur soccer begins
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The BCCI named Sehwag’s Delhi teammate Dinesh Karthik as his replacement in India’s 15-member squad. Karthik is expected to arrive in London ahead of India’s first Super Eights match against the West Indies at Lord’s on Friday. Sehwag had sustained the injury during the Indian Premier League and missed both the warm-up matches and the game against Bangladesh. In other words, the hard-hitting opener would return home without playing a single match in the tournament. “Viru is one of our main batsmen, so not having him around is a blow. We need to work around his absence,” said coach Gary Kirsten. Earlier in the day, Sehwag did come to the nets and batted for only 12 balls before retiring to the dressing room, complaining about his recurrent pain in the right shoulder to captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coach Gary Kirsten. Sehwag may need a surgery to his injured shoulder and will return home after consulting medical experts here, the BCCI said. Incidentally, Sehwag’s absence in the warm-up matches lead to media speculation about a possible rift between Sehwag and his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It prompted Dhoni to turn up at a press conference with the entire squad, including Sehwag, and read out a statement dismissing those reports. Even though Sehwag did not play, India did not really miss him so far in the tournament because Rohit Sharma did an excellent job in makeshift opener’s role. Rohit in fact went on to outshine his opening partner Gautam Gambhir in all three matches so far. Even though India lost the first practice match to New Zealand, Rohit scored a quickfire 36 off just 23 balls to make his mark. In the warm-up match against Pakistan, Rohit simply went ballistic and hammered a 53-ball 80 that took the game away from Younis Khan and his men. In India’s first match against Bangladesh too, Rohit scored a brisk 36, giving India the perfect start. India play their next match against Ireland here tomorrow. — PTI
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India has options in Viru’s absence
The proverbial cat is out of the bag! It has finally been revealed that Virender Sehwag will not recover from his ailment to partake in the present World Twenty20.
He will, in fact, fly back home after seeking specialist opinion here. A statement released by the Board of Control for Cricket in India confirmed: “Virender Sehwag has been ruled out of the ongoing ICC World T20 due to a shoulder injury.” It added: “He will return to India after consulting medical experts in England.” Mahendra Dhoni’s initial annoyance and subsequent damage control on the eve of the competition now falls into place. Whether Sehwag had concealed his injury or the Indian support staff not deciphered this, it was understandably an unsatisfactory situation for a captain to discover with only days to go before a prestigious tournament one of his trump cards was worryingly hors de combat. Indian cricket is replete with instances of cricketers hiding injuries, more so these days when loss of income from abstention is colossal.
To be fair, Sehwag may have hoped he will recover. But the onus was on the medical team to thoroughly assess all selected players and remove doubts before they boarded the flight to London, particularly those whose disability had been caused by the strenuous Indian Premier League, as was clearly the case with
Sehwag. To Dhoni and Gary Kirsten’s credit, they detected the prognosis of Sehwag’s unavailability early and acted immediately. They successfully experimented with Rohit Sharma as opener in both warm-up games, thereby not being caught napping. How much India will miss Sehwag, a proven all time great, will soon be uncovered. On his day, this Delhi opener is undoubtedly devastating and an unqualified match winner. Sharma, on current form, may, however, prove to be more consistent. |
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Sparks fly as Dhoni faces hostile media
Trent Bridge, June 9 Asked about Sehwag’s injury and why there was no update from the team management, he curtly said, “Whatever related to fitness, you will get it from the BCCI.” Asked why a captain should not provide the update, an irritated-looking Dhoni said, “I’m not going to say anything on that.” On whether he was aware of Sehwag’s injury, Dhoni’s cryptic reply was “yes, I am.” His comment ignited the fuse in a jam-packed room as the mediapersons strained to hear from official sources whether Sehwag was really out of the tournament. Dhoni completely lost his cool when it was implied that the news about Sehwag being ruled out was leaked. “You are blaming me for leaking the news... you have all gathered here. Then why doesn’t one of you stand up and...” he said. Just then he was cut short and a journalist tried to pacify him by saying “no we are not (blaming you)”. In between, Dhoni made some serious noise about the importance of tomorrow’s game against Ireland, a claim hardly borne out by the low turnout of his boys in a practice session at Lady Bay nets in the morning. “Hopefully we would not have more injuries in the tournanment. It’s a short tournament but the intensity level is quite high. It’s very demanding,” he said. The Indian skipper made it clear that his team will not take even a non-Test playing nation Ireland lightly on the way to their defence of title. “Ireland are obviously a good side and will be
confident after beating Bangladesh. From our point of view, we just want to concentrate on executing our plans.” “I admit the intensity will not be as much as it was in the game against Bangladesh, but we are very serious about winning going into the Super Eights. They have nothing to lose so they would be inclined to play more freely and aggressively,” Dhoni said.
— PTI |
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London, June 9 Captain Brendon McCullum scored a fine 57, but to no avail as the Kiwi pair of Oram and Styris ultimately fell short by one run in the last over. Earlier, some brilliant bowling and excellent fielding helped New Zealand restrict South Africa to 128 for seven. With both teams having already qualified for the Super Eight stage, this was more a clash of one-upmanship and New Zealand won the opening round after Brendon McCullum, who led the side in the absence of the injured Daniel Vettori, invited South Africa to bat after winning the toss. His decision was vindicated with the bowlers keeping the dangerous South African batsmen in check. They were aided in their cause by two brilliant piece of run outs that got rid of Jacques Kallis (24) and later the in-form AB Villiers (15). It was the first run out that changed the complexion of the match. South Africa openers Graeme Smith (33) and Kallis (24) were going about nicely with their job, scoring runs at a decent pace. Kallis took 10 runs off Kyle Mills' second over while Smith punished anything pitched wide outside off. The duo put on 49 in seven overs before a brilliant run out by the stand-in skipper cut short Kallis' 23-ball innings that included two boundaries and a six. The dismissal put the brakes on South Africa and they managed just 61 at the Scoreboard South Africa Kallis run out 24 (23) Smith b Butler 33 (35) Gibbs c & b Styris 3 (7) Merwe b N McCullum 0 (6) Duminy c Broom b Mills 29 (23) de Villiers run out 15 (8) Boucher c B McCullum b Butler 6 (6) A Morkel not out 10 (10) Botha not out 2 (2) Extras (lb 4, w 2) 6 Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 128 Fall of wickets: 1-49, 2-63, 3-63, 4-65, 5-85, 6-107, 7-121. Bowling: Mills 4-0-34-1, Oram 4-0-30-0, Butler 4-0-13-2, Diamanti 2-0-19-0, N McCullum 4-0-18-1, Styris 2-0-10-1. New Zealand B McCullum st Boucher b Merwe 57 (54) Guptill c Merwe b Steyn 6 (5) Broom c & b Kallis 1 (5) Taylor b Merwe 22 (31) Oram run out 24 (18) Styris not out 7 (7) Extras (b 4, lb 1, w 5) 10 Total (5 wickets; 20 overs) 127 Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-26, 3-82, 4-93, 5-127. Bowling: Steyn 4-0-22-1, Parnell 4-0-38-0, Kallis 3-0-17-1, Botha 3-0-17-0, A Morkel 2-0-14-0, Merwe 4-0-14-2. — PTI
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Pak crush Holland
In a reputation restoring performance, Pakistan thrashed Holland by 82 runs to enter the Super Eights of the World Twenty20. Runners-up to India in this competition two years, they bowled out the Dutch for 93 in 17.3 overs after posting 175 for five in their allotted 20. A combination of wrist and finger spin from Shahid Afridi – which fetched the veteran flattering figures of four for 11 – on an overcast afternoon destroyed the Netherlands middle order, after Kamran Akmal had shown the way with the willow. Pakistan join Ireland, Sri Lanka and New Zealand to constitute Group F in the Super Eights; while India, West Indies, England and South Africa comprise Group E. Holland batted the way you would expect an ICC associate member country to function against an established test playing nation. The composure Ireland exhibited against Bangladesh’s spinners was not forthcoming from the Netherlands. In a wholly nondescript display, the Dutch crumbled against Afridi, a better bowler these days than a batsman, after Saeed Ajmal started the rot by having Alexei Kervezee stumped by Akmal – his first of four such efforts in the innings. That second wicket fell at 42; Holland soon disintegrated to 74 for eight. It was a no-contest, as Afridi collected his last three scalps from just 10 balls. It was a meant to be a meeting to determine the final qualifier into the Super Eights; and to answer the nagging question whether Pakistan would be the next to nosedive in this part-festival of underdogs. Two months ago, not many had heard of 34-year-old Dirk Nannes outside Australian cricketing circles. He plays the saxophone, speaks Japanese, operates a ski travel business and made his cricketing debut for Victoria at the age of 29. Besides turning out for Delhi Daredevils in the last Indian Premier League, he was successful enough to restrict redoubtable Glenn McGrath to the bench. Holland’s, though, is otherwise a limited attack. Akmal, sent in as opener, posted 41 off 30 balls, which included a pull and a scoop to cover for sixes off Peter Borren and Ryan ten Doeschate respectively, before holing out at midwicket off Pieter Seelaar. Skipper Yunus Khan upped tempo with 36 from 20 balls and went one better in terms of maximums. He shifted his front foot to drill ten Doeschate through midwicket. Then in the 18 th over, he swept a Seelaar full toss over square leg and then danced down the track to classically loft this left-arm spinner over long off. But he fell to the same bowler caught at long on attempting another big hit. Scoreboard Pakistan Akmal c Schiferli b Seelaar 41 (30) Butt c Borren b Doeschate 18 (13) Malik c Seelaar b Borren 30 (28) Younus c de Grooth b Seelaar 36 (20) Misbah not out 31 (20) Afridi b Nannes 13 (7) Alam not out 3 (2) Extras (lb 1, w 2) 3 Total (5 wickets; 20 overs) 175 Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-81, 3-99, 4-152, 5-171. Bowling: Nannes 4-0-26-1, Schiferli 4-0-36-0, Doeschate 4-0-42-1, Seelaar 4-0-36-2, Borren 4-0-34-1. Netherlands Reekers c Tanvir b Aamer 13 (6) Kervezee st Akmal b Ajmal 21 (29) Zuiderent b Afridi 13 (15) Borren c Butt b Ajmal 2 (4) Doeschate st Akmal b Malik 1(4) de Grooth b Afridi 4 (7) van Bunge st Akmal b Afridi 0 (2) Schiferli c Ajmal b Afridi 2 (6) Smits not out 11 (17) Nannes st Akmal b Ajmal 6 (7) Seelaar b Gul 1 (2) Extras (lb 1, w 5) 6 Total (all out; 17.3 overs) 93 Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-42, 3-47, 4-49, 5-61, 6-61, 7-71, 8-74, 9-90. Bowling: Tanvir 3-0-13-0, Aamer 2-0-16-1, Gul 2.3-0-14-1, Ajmal 4-0-20-3, Afridi 4-0-11-4, Malik 2-0-18-1.
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Losing the thunder downunder
For over a decade, under three different captains and upto the summer of 2007 Australia were unbeatable in both Tests and limited overs cricket, which included achieving a hat-trick of victories in the World Cup.
Come September of the same year, in the inaugural World Twenty20, their unassailability received a rude shock, though they passed it off as not taking this format seriously. They lost to India in the semifinals; suddenly the aura of invincibility began to fade. India, meanwhile, stung by the embarrassment of an early exit from the 2007 World Cup began to play to their potential and South Africa, frustrated by their circumstances of being so near but yet so far, started to avoid the slip between the cup and the lip. In 2008, Australia, noticeably, lost a Test to India at the paceman’s paradise of Perth; and not unexpectedly surrendered a series on the slow wickets of India. More seriously, they were defeated by South Africa in home Test matches. The invulnerability was history. The fact is, Australia’s skill levels at their prime were such that they could adapt to any situation, not to mention handle pressure with ease.
Lee, for instance, looked menacing towards the end of the recent IPL, but could not repeat such performance against international opposition. At present, the Australians are neither endowed with experience across the board nor the expertise to handle shorter formats.
In fact, without a world-class spinner in their ranks, they are not wholly equipped for Test cricket, either. Indeed, for the first time since the 1992 World Cup - which they incidentally hosted - Australia will not figure in the semifinals of a global competition. They will not even feature in the middle stage - invented from the 1999 World Cup. The rise and fall of empires come in cycles. In cricket, Australia have enjoyed an extended period in the sun.
They are now in the twilight zone. The ensuing Ashes is bound to be revealing. That said, South Africa have not as yet asserted their authority uninterruptedly. India have a long way to go. Both have to become champions in Tests to earn the respect of those who genuinely understand the game. The rest may automatically follow.
— Ashis Ray |
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Winning French Open is special: Paes
Mumbai, June 9 “It’s my third French Open title and its special because of the surface (clay), having grown up playing on grass in Kolkata. I had to work hard for it and I’m very gratified after putting up a lot of hard work to win on that surface,” said Paes on his arrival here. “I have worked hard with a fitness trainer, how to balance and slide on clay. It’s all about staying healthy and fit,” said Paes, who now has won five men’s doubles Grand Slam titles and nine overall. Paes and Dlouhy, the third seeds, outsmarted their opponents Dick Norman of Belgium and Wesley Moodie of South Africa 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the final at the Roland Garros in Paris. The duo overcame Daniel Nestor (Canada) and Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia), the world’s number one pair, in the semifinals on their way to the title. — PTI
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Vijender in quarters
New Delhi, June 9 Nanao will face Mongolia’s N Tughtsogt in the semifinals. Meanwhile, Vijender stunned Abbos, a 2007 light heavy weight (81kg) world champion before shifting to middle weight (75kg) this year, 10-7. In the feather weight (57kg) category, Chhote Lal Yadav also beat Maxat Ospanov 15-1 to enter the quarterfinals. The lone disappointment was JS Belal (69kg) losing to Kazakh Serik Sapiyev.
— PTI |
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While Real Madrid did not disclose financial details of Kaka’s switch from AC Milan, reports say the figure is in the region of euro65 million ($ 92 million), eclipsing the largest previous transfer set by Zinedine Zidane when he joined Madrid from Juventus for USD 65 million in 2001. Kaka, 27, training with the national team in Brazil ahead of the next round of World Cup qualifiers, said the finalization of the six-year contract marked the end of a “soap opera” that will usher in a new phase of his career in Spain. “Now the soap opera is over,” Kaka told a media conference after a practice ahead of Wednesday’s Brazil-Paraguay qualifier in the northeastern coastal city of Recife. “The only leftover details were the medical exams, and I’ve done them. The negotiations are closed and I have sealed my transfer to Real Madrid.” Kaka passed a medical in Recife earlier yesterday. “Kaka is one of the players that every team would like to have and Madrid had the chance to get him,” Perez said just before the signing was announced. Kaka is the first player to join Madrid since Perez regained the club presidency unopposed last week. Future targets already discussed include Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich. Perez has said he intends to revive his “galactico” policy which, along with Zidane, attracted star players such as David Beckham, Brazilian striker Ronaldo and Portugal star Luis Figo to Madrid earlier in the decade. — AP
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Mahilpur soccer begins
Mahilpur, June 9 In the first game, Kaharpur beat Panjora 3-1. The footwork displayed by the former showed their class and the winners were on top from the start. They struck within the first five minutes and dazzled the audience by their deft legwork. In the second game, Paldi beat Possi 3-1. Paldi, a favourite with the crowd, also displayed their mastery over the game and scored twice in the first half. Possi did not put in the best but scored once in the first half. |
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Trent Bridge, June 9
Trent Bridge, June 9
Madrid, June 9