Mumbai, December 6
India today became the number one team in Test rankings after they spanked Sri Lanka by an innings and 24 runs in the third and final cricket Test to clinch the three-match series by a 2-0 margin.

Needing just four wickets to record an emphatic victory, the hosts took just about 40 minutes to polish off the visiting team’s tail to record their second consecutive innings victory.

Resuming at 274 for six, the Sri Lankans lost their heroic captain Kumar Sangakkara in the very first over and were bundled out for 309 with Zaheer, the pick of the bowlers, with figures of 5 for 72.

The Sunday crowd at the Brabourne Stadium, hosting a Test match after a gap of 36 years, witnessed a historic moment as Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men crowned themselves the number one team. The crowd erupted into a frenzy as Muttiah Muralitharan edged a flighted delivery from Harbhajan to Dhoni to bring down the curtains on the Lankan innings.

The Indian players hugged each other and a beaming coach Gary Kirsten greeted them as they returned to the pavillion. The victory has given India three points in the ICC rankings, taking their overall tally to 124 and leaving them ahead of South Africa in the ICC table. 

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka (1st innings ) 393

India (1st innings) 726 for 9 decl

Sri Lanka (2nd innings)

(Overnight 274 for 6)

Sangakkara c Dhoni b Zaheer 137

Kulasekara c Laxman b Zaheer 19

Herath c Ojha b Zaheer 3

Murali c Dhoni b Harbhajan 14

Welegedara not out 0

Extras (b 12, lb 1, w 1, nb 3) 17

Total (all out; 100.4 overs) 309

Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-119, 3-135, 4-137, 5-144, 6-208, 7-278, 8-282, 9-307.

Bowling: Harbhajan 34.4-5-80-2, Ojha 23-4-84-2, Zaheer 21-5-72-5, Sreesanth 13-4-36-1, Sehwag 9-2-24-0.

Highlights of the last two years: Sachin at Chennai to Gautam at napier 

A disappointed Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara today said his side was completely outplayed in the Test series and blamed the 0-2 loss on his bowlers’ inability to either contain or dismiss India’s formidable batting line-up.

Sri Lanka went down by an innings and 24 runs to the home team in the third and final Test today, their second successive innings defeat. “We were out-batted and out bowled, mostly out-bowled. We created chances right along but catching at crucial times let us down. We were never able to continuously put pressure on the Indian batsmen,” he said.

“Our bowling lacks penetration. In the second Test, we bowled only five maiden overs in the entire (Indian) innings. That just goes to show that it’s always tough. If you can’t tie a batsman down for more than an over from one side it becomes very difficult to exert continuous pressure,” he added.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India today announced Rs 25 lakh for each member of the Indian cricket team after Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men became the world number one Test side beating Sri Lanka here.Board president Shashank Manohar announced at the BCCI awards function here that each support staff and selection committee members will get Rs 10 lakh.

“We have decided to give each Indian cricket team member Rs 25 lakh for becoming the number one in ICC Test rankings. Each of the support staff and selection committee members will be given Rs 10 lakh,” Manohar said. 

Barcelona, December 6
Spain won its fourth Davis Cup title when Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez took the doubles to give the team an unassailable 3-0 lead over the Czech Republic.Spain also becomes the first country since Sweden in 1998 to retain the Davis Cup, after triumphing last year in Argentina.

 “It was an incredible moment to return as captain after winning here nine years ago,” said Spanish captain Albert Costa, who helped Spain to its first ever Davis Cup title in 2000, beating Australia at the same Palau Sant Jordi Arena in Barcelona.

Spain won again in 2004, defeating the USA. Yesterday, Verdasco and Lopez crushed an exhausted Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych, who had lost both Friday’s opening singles 7-6 (9-7), 7-5, 6-2, in what was the Czech pair’s first ever Davis Cup defeat in six matches.

In Friday’s opening singles, world number two Rafael Nadal, who had limped out of last week’s ATP World Tour finals in London without a single win, cruised past Berdych 7-5, 6-0, 6-2.

Then David Ferrer, ranked 18, came back from two sets down to beat Stepanek 1-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 8-6 in an epic match that lasted four hours and 17 minutes.

After the win, the crowd, along with the Spanish players, chanted “David, David” in tribute to Ferrer’s gutsy performance. “We have won today, but yesterday we won two important points,” said Lopez.

“I would like to highlight the match that David played yesterday. The final is his.” Czech captain Jaroslav Navratil fielded Stepanek and Berdych, ranked 12th and 20th in the world, for the crucial doubles match over his initial choice of Jan Hajek and Lukas Dlouhy, 102 and 465 respectively, in a desperate bid to snatch the cup from the defending champions.

The most decisive point in the match was in the first set, which came down to the first tiebreak of the tie. The Czechs earned a set point at 7-6 before Verdasco and Lopez went to win 9-7 in a long final rally.

Lopez and Verdasco broke the Czechs in the 11th game of the second set after being 0-40 down after Berdych missed consecutive volleys at the net. An early break for the Spaniards in the final set left the Czechs with too much to do.

Spain beat Serbia 4-1, Germany 3-2 and Israel 4-1 en route to the final. The Czechs won their only title as Czechoslovakia with Ivan Lendl in their squad in 1980. — AFP 

Jaipur, December 6
The battle lines are drawn for the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) elections with IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi ready to take on Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj CP Joshi in a direct contest tomorrow.

Though Modi seemed to have an upper hand till yesterday, the scenario changed minutes before the deadline for withdrawal of nominations expired today.

Shiv Charan Mali, a loyalist of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, pulled out of the contest in support of Joshi. Mali had filed his nomination for the post of president as well as vice-president. He withdrew both his nominations.

He has been reportedly offered the post of Rajasthan State Sports Council president in lieu of his move. With this the support of 10 district associations rallying behind Mali has fallen into Joshi’s lap.

The Union Minister himself enjoys the support of 10 district associations, taking his tally to 20, while he needs 17 votes for a clear majority. However, there have been reports that the faction led by Rajendra Singh Rathore, which has got the support of 7 district associations, may switch loyalty and vote for Modi.

The stakes are very high for Joshi as apart from being a Union Minister he is also the state Congress chief. He is leaving no stone unturned to garner the support required for his victory.

Even CM Ashok Gehlot has thrown his weight behind him and persuaded his key aide Mali to withdraw from the contest. At the moment, Joshi seems to have an edge over Modi, but things can change any time in these keenly contested elections.

With Mali withdrawing his papers, the RCA elections have once again turned into Gehlot-Vasundhara Raje affair (Modi is known for his proximity with former CM Vasundhara Raje) and both the sides will pull out all stops to see that its candidate wins.

The two heavyweights were busy mustering support in the Pink City today. While Joshi had been holding talks with key players at the PCC office, Modi too had been camping at a five-star hotel, holding parleys with his supporters.

Meanwhile, Joshi has made it clear that he will play a “limited role” in the RCA. “I will act as a catalyst in the RCA. I only want to create conducive environment for cricket in the state. I will play a limited role in the RCA. There was a deadlock in the RCA so I decided to step in to set the things right in the state’s cricketing body,” he averred.

On the other hand, Modi said, “Everybody knows what I have done for cricket in Rajasthan. People also know what the other side has done. So, let the polls decide.” 

Dehradun, December 6
The Punjab Police team clinched the 58th BN Mullick All-India Police Football Championship trophy here yesterday. The result of the match was decided only in the tiebreaker, in which Punjab Police defeated the CRPF by 5-3. While in the match for the third position Assam Rifles team defeated Sikkim by 5-0 to be placed at the third sport.

Both teams failed to score any goal in the scheduled time. Punjab Police failed to give a power pack performance as was expected of it, although they began their match on an aggressive note to create a sharp chance in the 15th minute of the match. But after this attack CRPF created some good moves in the match.

The CRPF team dominated the midfield and pressed hard on the Punjab Police defence, through its forward line failed to give a good finishing touch to it moves. Their forward Saravjeet came close on scoring a goal in the 25th minute of the match as he made a solo run from 20 yards, but failed to take a first time kick at the goalpost to let go the opportunity. At the end of the first half both the teams were locked at 0-0.

Meanwhile, in the second half Punjab Police played attacking football. They created a strong move from the right at the CRPF team, but the shot made by Rohit missed the top bar by inches. CRPF created a good move in the 70th minute of the match through Wasim, but the move failed to earn a goal. After 90 minutes both teams were 0-0.

The 30 minutes extra saw Punjab Police team players getting golden scoring opportunities but they could not made use of opportunities. In the tiebreaker Siraj, Sumit, Mandeep, Naresh and Harjander scored for Punjab, whereas Jaswant, Wasim and Manindar scored for CRPF. 

Pune, December 6
In a thrilling encounter China beat Japan 99-86 to win title on the concluding day of the inaugural edition of FIBA Asia under-16 women championship being played here at Balewadi Sports Complex.

The match was so close that the outcome was decided in the last four minutes of the game, with both the teams fighting tooth and nail for each and every point.

Four minutes from the whistle, China was leading by 89-78, and Japan toiled hard to narrow the gap, but eventual winner denied them scoring chances and walked away with the day’s honour.

The architect of today’s victory was none other than Li Meng who was awarded the top scorer of the meet. Today she netted 26 points. In the tournament she had scored 126 points. She was supported by Dong Yu, who scored 22. Yu was declared most valuable player of the competition.

For Japan its skipper Rina Hill played a stellar role in the final match but her 28 points came to a notch as the team had to be satisfied with second place.

China was quick to take lead. But Japan soon caught up. The score line of 45-45, at the break, indicates the way the Japanese girls fought back strongly.

However, Japanese trailed by one point at the end of the third quarter (70-71). Perhaps from that point of time, the match slowly slipped away from their hands, as China made fewer mistake under the ring.

In a playoff match, Chinese Taipei fought back strongly to beat Korea 66-63, to win third position. India finished sixth in the tournament after losing to Thailand 64-79. Hosts are themselves to blame for the defeat.

Had India not missed couple of baskets in the opening minutes, the complexion of the game would have been different. Home team opened up a small gap, but failed to sustain efforts in the later part of the contest, allowing space to the rival team to regain the lost ground.

After trailing in the initially stages of the contest, Thai girls first levelled the score 10-10, and then wear down Indian girls to the extent that home team wasn’t able to sustain same efforts in the second session.

Tiring Indian girls were more error prone than the first half, paving way for Thai victory. Both the teams were 32-32 at the break. However, in the second session, Thai girls kept on adding points to its kitty and widened the gap 48-38. It was 68-54 at the end of the third quarter.

India’s Shireen Limaye got the prize for top rebounder of the meet, while China’s Li Meng walked away with two awards - top three pointer (13) and top scorer (126 points) of the tournament. 

BRIEFLY

Jwala-Diju lose final
JOHOR BAHRU: Indian mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju suffered a straight-game defeat at the hands of top seeded Danish duo of Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen in the summit clash of the World Super Series Masters Finals here on Sunday. Seventh seeded Jwala and Diju lost 14-21, 18-21 in just 37 minutes. — PTI

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi holds the 2009 Ballon d’Or trophy in Paris on Sunday. Messi was awarded the 2009 Ballon d’Or by French magazine France Football. — Reuters

Jeev finishes 6th
TOKYO: Jeev Milkha Singh’s title defence did not come to fruition as he signed off with an even-par 70 to finish sixth in the Golf Nippon Series JT Cup here on Sunday. Jeev needed something special to defend the title but all he managed was a level-par 70 that left him five-under 275 at sixth place. — PTI

Pakistan beat NZ
WELLINGTON: Pakistan has beaten New Zealand by 141 runs in the second Test on day four at the Basin Reserve on Sunday to level their three-match series one all. Needing 405 for victory, New Zealand were dismissed for 263. Ross Taylor top scored with 97, while Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif took five for 67. — ANI

WFI conduct trials
PATIALA: Wrestling Federation of India conducted trials on Sunday at NIS, Patiala, to select the Indian women squad that will take part in the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship to be held at PAP, Jalandhar, from December 17 to 20. Probable in India (A Team) are N Devi (48kg), Babita (51kg), Geeta (55kg), Alka (59kg), Navjot (63 kg), S Kundu (67kg) and Anmol (72kg). India B team, the probables are N Rathi (48kg), Rachna (51kg), Nirmala (55kg), Rajni (59kg), Anita (63kg), Babita (67kg) and Gursharanpreet (72kg). — TNS