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India tour of
Bangladesh
‘I want to break into top 100’
T20 has helped Test cricket: Afridi
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BSF, EME in final
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Team missing bowling and fielding coaches: Dhoni
Mumbai, January 1 “To some extent, it does (affect the team). You need specialist coach to get the best out of the players. Gary looks after so many things. He has all those team meetings, talking to batsmen, bowlers and then working out strategies. He has a lot on his plate,” Dhoni said. “It does help to have specialist bowling and fielding coaches for the bowlers and fielders. But that's the way it and it's now an administrative issue,” he said. Both the posts are lying vacant since BCCI sacked bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad and fielding coach Robin Singh in October after the team fared badly in the Twenty20 World Cup in England and the Champions Trophy in South Africa. Even though BCCI roped in Australian Mike Young for a short stint during the recent Twenty20 and ODI series against Sri Lanka, the team is now again without a fielding coach. “Mike is not available for this tour. He came with the basic techniques and went slow as he did not want the players to get injured. He won't be around but with the help of other support staff it’s important to go ahead with that. Fielding is one aspect of the game that is important whatever be the format of the game,” Dhoni said. Accepting the need to lift the team’s fielding standard, Dhoni said, “We dropped quite a few catches in the last series. We will try to rectify that. Whatever good fielders we have we will try to make them the best in the world because it really helps, especially in the middle overs, with four good fielders inside the circle who can save the singles,” he said. Dhoni was also candid enough to admit that the bowlers were grappling with issues like bowling at death and slow over-rate, which incurred the India captain a two-match ban during the ODI series against the Lankans. “We struggled early in the series but improved a lot in the later matches. We have struggled a bit in the death overs but if we can do something in patches, we can do it consistently as well. We can restrict any good side to a decent total. It’s slightly improving but I think we can manage it,” Dhoni said. “Regarding over-rate, we have a lot of part-timers, who are mostly spinners and they can save us time. We have (Virender) Sehwag, Yuvraj (Singh), (Suresh) Raina and Rohit Sharma as well. So if we can save time up front, it is not going to be an issue,” Dhoni explained. — PTI
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‘I want to break into top 100’
New Delhi, January 1 Acknowledging the shortcomings and then working on them is the best way to progress and Somdev has chosen the same. “In 2009 I had flashes of really good play and then I also had a lot of slumps. I know now that I have the ability to play at quite a high level. I'm going to focus on doing that on a more consistent basis,” Somdev said as he begins the season at the Chennai Open, starting January 4. “I know that’s what I need to improve my ranking and become a better player. It’s the consistency day in and day out that's going to make the difference. I need to stay very focused and give it my best shot. I am definitely aiming at breaking the top-100 soon,” he added. Somdev exceeded expectations last year by notching up some big wins en route to his runners-up finish in the Chennai Open. Asked if he feels any difference coming to Chennai this year as he will now be the cynosure of all eyes, he said, “Not really.” “I’ve been preparing the same way and I’m still trying to give myself the best shot at succeeding. My coach and trainer are here and we’re really focussing on doing what’s best for me to get ready for the first round,” Somdev said. Last year the Assamese lad had stunned top players like Carlos Moya and Ivo Karlovic and Somdev has issued a warning to all the participants declaring that he is ready for the show. “I am having a hit twice everyday so far with a couple of short workouts a couple of days too. I’ll tone it down once we get closer to the tournament. Physically I'm feeling really good. I'm focussed on playing the right way and getting better,” he said. Somdev has been given a wild card for both singles and doubles for the Chennai event. He will partner another rising star Sanam Singh and reckons that playing the doubles would help his singles performance. “Most of my focus is still going to be on singles. Doubles does help out my singles game a lot too but it’s a question of whether or not I can get into a lot of the tournaments. Hopefully I’ll be able to do a lot of doubles this season,” he said. —
PTI |
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T20 has helped Test cricket: Afridi
Karachi, January 1 “I don’t think that will happen because Test and ODIs both have their own charm. Infact I would say T20 cricket has introduced a more positive attitude in players and led to Tests also being played more aggressively and being more result oriented,” Afridi said. “What we need to do is strike the right balance in our teams for all three formats of the sport,” he added. Afridi advocated the need to develop the national teams according to the abilities of the players. “Already we have certain players who are Test specialists including Yousuf himself, then they are players who are specialists for the limited overs cricket and in the third category they are players who are adjust in all three forms of the sport. It would not be a bad idea if we can build our Test, ODI and T20 teams according to this policy. We need to groom and develop our players accordingly,” Afridi said. Afridi, who was dropped for the Test series against Australia, said he was always available for his country and if the team management or selectors asked him to join the team for the Tests he would not hesitate to join. “I would be willing to sacrifice my contract with South Australia if the team needed my services in the Test matches,” said Afridi who had announced that he wants to concentrate on ODIs and T20 cricket until the 2011 World Cup. — PTI |
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BSF, EME in final
Nabha (Patiala), January 1 In sport there is an adage that good teams become better beams if the players trust each other enough to surrender the ‘me’ for ‘we’. That is precisely what BSF did today as they dished out a cohesive play, which remained consistent throughout the match. The robust looking BSF were quick to be off the block and earned a penalty stroke in the very first minute. After trapping the ball S Kujur made his way in the striking circle before he was dangerously elbowed by an onrushing defender. The umpire showed no hesitation in awarding the stroke which, however, was vociferously disputed by the rivals. Slowly the protests and the haggling died down and Dominic scooped the ball which hit the horizontal before falling an inch behind the goal line. In a fast counter attack Signals equalised when G Dass ran down the middle showing admirable control and hit the ball towards the goal. The shot however found the foot of a defender and off the resultant penalty corner S.K Minz scored off an indirect hit to make it 1-1. BSF upped the ante and went for the kill in an attempt to take the lead. Peter Tirkey and Dominic juggled their positions and immediately there was a punch in the forward line which carried the security men to their second goal. Peter Tirkey deftly managed to squeeze the ball into the goal after centre half S Kujur had done all the hard work. Now it was Kujur’s turn to turn the spotlight on himself as he scored a brace. In the other semifinal, Punjab Police took the lead, failed to maintain it, sending the contest into the tie breaker where EME prevailed 6-4. |
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Punjab enter semifinal
Ludhiana, January 1 Services dominated the second and third quarters with 43-37 and 65-52, but lost momentum in the last and missed opportunities to score. On the other hand, Tamil Nadu’s Hareesh Kumar had a dream run as he scored 24 points, to help his team enter semis. Tamil Nadu was trailing by one point with the match was tied at 74- 75 and only two minutes were left in the game. In the last match, Punjab cagers registered a comprehensive won over Chattisgarh by 77- 50 point to secure a berth in semis. At half time the hosts were leading with 44-19. Earlier in the day, Uttarakhand beat Andhra Pradesh 71-50. Indian Railways also scored 87-40 win over Karnataka to enter the last four. In the women's section Delhi beat Kerala 67-51, while Karnataka outplayed Tamil Nadu 65-48. As expected title holders Railways scored a thumping win over Punjab 119-57, to enter the semis. In other quarterfinal match, Chattisgarh beat Maharashtra 63-55. Quarterfinals Women: Chattisgarh 63 beat Maharashtra 55, Karnataka 65 beat Tamil Nadu 48, Indian Railways 119 beat Punjab 57, Delhi 67 beat Kerala 51. Uttarakhand will take on Railways at 4:30 pm in the first semifinal on Saturday, while Punjab face Tamil Nadu in the second at 7 pm. |
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Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today said the team is missing bowling and fielding coaches, resulting in an increased workload for
Gary Kirsten.
New Delhi, January 1
Karachi, January 1
