Karachi, November 12
Giving an insight into the turmoil in the Pakistan cricket team, captain Younus Khan today conceded that problems with some senior players was the reason why he opted out of the Test tour of New Zealand.

“I was already facing problems with some players and my poor form didn’t help as it is a fact that when the captain is not scoring runs it becomes difficult for him to turn things his way,” Younus said.

“No one ever came to me directly and told me his grievances. Otherwise I would have tried to resolve the issues,” he said. Younus, who has been replaced as captain by Mohammad Yousuf for the three Tests against New Zealand starting November 24, has taken a break from cricket after Pakistan’s one-day series loss to the Kiwis.

The senior batsman said though he wants to play for Pakistan, he had no idea where his career was heading. “Only time will tell what happens and where my career goes. But I have every intention of wanting to play for Pakistan again,” he said.

“The fact is that I was not enjoying my cricket at all for the last few months. I did my best to get the cricketers to play with consistency and focus but that didn’t happen. The sad truth is that as captain I failed to get the best out of my players,” Younus said.

Younus, who played with a broken finger in the Champions Trophy semifinal for a losing cause, also admitted that the team’s failure to reach the event’s final in South Africa put him under tremendous pressure.

“It is disappointing for me the way we lost the one-day series to New Zealand in Abu Dhabi. We should have easily won the series. But when people talk about my performance they should also look at what others did,” he said.

Mohali, November 12
Though he had gone through the emotion earlier, but this time the setting and circumstances made his century on debut even more special. Punjab’s Vishwas Bhalla scored a valiant 116 not out on the third day of their Ranji Trohy Super League “A” match against Hyderabad at the PCA stadium here.

The Chandigarh lad had also scored 108 against Himachal Pradesh at Dharamshala in his first one day match last year. He is only the 4th batsman from Punjab to achieve the feat in a Ranji match.

The marathon innings of close to five and half hours not only brought Punjab back into the game but also ensured that from here on they can attack and go for the kill tomorrow.

Bhalla was drafted into the team after Gaurav Gambhir, who had played a match saving knock in the last outing against Mumbai last week, was dropped.

At the end of the day, in their second essay, Punjab were comfortably placed at 307 with one wicket still in hand. They have an added cushion of 28 valuable runs from the first innings.

“Vishwas and Dharmani did what was required today. Now we will have to bowl in the right areas and strike early tomorrow. The first session will hold the key to the outcome,” said Punjab captain Ankur Kakkar after the match.

Nothing much went Hyderabad’s way today. Though the pitch played to the batsman’s liking for the most part, Laxman’s men had themselves to blame, for letting Punjab make it to the driver’s seat in a match of continuously fluctuating fortunes for the last six sessions. Arjun, Kadher and Absolom were not as effective as they were in the first innings. The sloppy fielding did not help matters either.

Though Hyderabad managed to strike early in the first session with Taruvar Kohli edging one to Abhinav, Punjab scored at a decent pace of more than three runs an over till lunch when the hosts were placed at 162 for 6.

Former Punjab captain Pankaj Dharmani played a matured hand and scored a half century and set the stage for Bhalla to launch himself. After Dharmani’s departure Bhalla carried on the good work and was ably supported by the lower order. First Rahul and then Love Ablish gave him enough time to reach the three figure mark. Sharing an unbeaten stand of 99 runs for the 10th wicket, Bhalla displayed rare composure and temperament to take his team to a safe spot.

Bhalla was on 52 when Ablish joined him with team’s score reading 209 for 9. Deservingly so, Bhalla lofted one over mid wicket to reach the milestone. Though the near empty stands were a bit of a let down, every one present was all applause for the young achiever. For the visitors Kadher took 5 wickets while conceding 101 runs in his 35 overs.

Brief Scores

Punjab (Ist Innings) 221; Ravi Inder 63, Arjun 6-47 , Hyderabad (Ist Innings) 193; Quadri 73 no, Ablish 4-70, Punjab (2nd Innings) 307 for 9 (Bhalla 116 no, Dharmani 50, Kadher 5-101).

Jalandhar, November 12
A star-studded Indian Oil entered the final of the 26th Indian Oil Servo Surjit Hockey Tournament by beating Border Security Force, Jalandhar, 5-4 via a tiebreaker at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium on Thursday.

Indian Oil displayed good cohesion and opened their account in the 15th minute with a penalty corner conversion by Deedar Singh to make it 1-0. Earlier, in the 4th quarter of the game Sharanjit Singh of BSF wasted a golden chance to score a goal. Again in the 25th minute BSF skipper Harbhajan Singh made a decent attempt on the Indian Oil goal but their custodian Devesh Chauhan made a good save. The Indian Oil men wasted a second penalty corner in the 30th minute and at half time Indian Oil was leading by 1-0.

In the second half of the match BSF mounted pressure on rivals Indian Oil and scored an equaliser from Sharanjit Singh’s pass from the right flank in the 45th minute of the game 1-1. Later Indian Oil wasted four penalty corners in 47th, 49th, 60th and 68th minutes of the game. Both teams leveled at 1-1 at the end of the stipulated time.

The match was decision was taken with a tie breaker. For Indian Oil Arjun Antil, Rupinder Pal Singh, Preetinder Singh and Gaurav Toki scored the goals steering the team towards victory whereas for BSF Varinderjit Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Sharanjit Singh took the lead. In the other match Air India beat Bharat Petroleum 2-0.

Patiala, November 12
With National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) confident of having as many as six world class shooting ranges operational in India by 2011 end, the Association has decided to bid for hosting the World Shooting Championship in India in 2014.

Making a disclosure in this regard, NRAI secretary general Baljit Singh Sethi said, “As and when we get six shooting ranges, we can stake our claim for the world championship.”

Interacting with The Tribune during the 53rd National Shooting Championship at the NMBGC Shooting Ranges, Patiala here, Sethi said that depending upon the progress of various shooting ranges in India, NRAI would make efforts to persuade union government to extend its help for India to bid for the 2014 world shooting championship.”

“If we really want shooting to come up as a major sport in India, we need to have shooting ranges at least in every state capital. And if we want to match China, we need 150 shooting ranges”, he added.

Talking about the context of the Commonwealth Shooting Championship, scheduled to get underway in New Delhi from February 17, 2010, Sethi said that NRAI would take up the issue pertaining to the inclusion of the women skeet event in the Commonwealth Games. He said that according to the guidelines, entries from six countries are required for a particular event to be included in the Games.

“Apart from India, Britain, Australia and Canada had already submitted their entry. If two more countries submit their entry by November 30, women skeet shooting event will be included and our women skeet shooters will not miss the opportunity to showcase their skills in the Commonwealth shooting championship,” he revealed.

Hockey India polls deferred, Aslam resigns
NEW DELHI: Election of Hockey India (HI) has been deferred as some state units raised doubts over the process of affiliation. The sports ministry has asked the HI to put off the election till the affiliation problems were sorted out. Stung by the government move, HI secretary general Aslam Khan has decided to put in his papers as he would not be in a position to put in place an elected HI before his term was over. — IANS

ICC introduces anti-racism code
DUBAI: The International Cricket Council on Thursday introduced anti-racism and anti-corruption codes in its revised Code of Conduct to maintain and promote “fair play and multiculturalism”. The new codes were put in place after a “comprehensive consultation and review process with all stakeholders,” the ICC said in a statement. — PTI

Baton passes through coal mine
CARDIFF: On its way to India, the Queen’s Baton spent about an hour in a coal mine, 300 feet below ground, in Blaenafon, Wales. The baton reached the ‘Big Pit’, which houses national coal museum of Wales, on Wednesday. Later, the baton reached the Treganna School where students holding the Indian flags welcomed it. — PTI

Bhupathi, Paes crash out
PARIS: Indian challenge in the ATP Paris Masters tennis tournament ended after Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, along with their respective partners, crashed out of the doubles event. The third seeded pair of Bhupathi and Bahamian Mark Knowles lost 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-10 to Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley. — PTI

Wawrinka for Chennai Open
NEW DELHI: Swiss tennis star Stanislas Wawrinka has become the latest high profile player to have confirmed his participation in the Chennai Open, India’s only ATP event, scheduled for January 4-10. Wawrinka joins defending champion Marin Cilic and Robin Soderling in the field. — PTI

JCT’s Baljit, Sunil injured
MARGAO: JCT has suffered a body blow ahead of their I-League match against Salgaocar on Saturday as two of their players met with an accident in Margao. “Baljit Sahni and Sunil Kumar had gone out for a ride after dinner last night. It was raining and the road was wet when their motor cycle skidded off,” club officials said. — PTI

Mike Tyson arrested
LOS ANGELES: Former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport, police confirmed after he was reported to have punched a photographer. Police said the troubled 43-year-old had been detained following an altercation at the airport’s terminal seven on Wednesday. — AFP

Gavaskar, Viswanath felicitated
MUMBAI: It was an evening of nostalgia and a walk down memory lane as four legends - Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath, Sachin Tendulkar and Amitabh Bachchan - shared the dais at a felicitation function here on Thursday. The occasion was to felicitate Gavaskar and Viswanath as Tendulkar and Bachchan felicitated the duo, who happen to be brothers-in-law in real life. — PTI