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Ana Ivanovic sent packing
India in B’desh
1st Test: Day 5
Sunil Gavaskar Writes...
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Cheque De
Jalandhar Gullies off to winning start
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Ana Ivanovic sent packing
Melbourne, January 21 Defending champion Serena showed she was still the woman to beat, barely breaking a sweat as she crushed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-1. Much of the talk this year has been about the return of Belgian pair Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, but Williams made clear that anyone who wants to lift the trophy will have a fight on their hands. Sister Venus, a seven-time Grand Slam champion but yet to win in Melbourne, was more workmanlike, grinding down Austrian Sybille Bammer 6-2, 7-5. Men’s third seed Novak Djokovic overcame some first set wobbles to ease past Marco Chiudinelli 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 and set up a third round with Denis Istomin. More impressive was Russian sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko, who is shaping as a serious title contender after extending his win streak to 11 matches. The 28-year-old has yet to win a Grand Slam and has never been in a final but his 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 disposal of Illya Marchenko. For Ivanovic, it looks like her time has past. The former finalist and world number one put in an error-riddled performance to crash out to Gisela Dulko 6-7 (6/8), 7-5, 6-4. She has slipped down the rankings to be outside the top 20 for the first time in five years, and Thursday’s flop was the sixth time in her past seven tournaments where she had failed to go beyond the second round. “I just need to keep my head up and improve,” said Ivanovic. Fellow Serb Djokovic was off his game in the opening set, conceding two service breaks and hitting a series of unforced errors. But he took control of the match to ease through. Davydenko stayed on track for a quarterfinal with Federer. In other matches, Danish fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki breezed past Julia Goerges 6-3, 6-1 while ninth-seeded Vera Zvonereva had an easy 6-0, 6-3 win over Iveta Benesova. Former finalist Marcos Baghdatis advanced past David Ferrer 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-1 and will next face Lleyton Hewitt who defeated Young 7-6 6-4 6-1. Ninth seed Fernando Verdasco and 10th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also progressed, while Fernando Verdasco beat Ivan Sergeyev 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. Bhupathi out of doubles
Mahesh Bhupathi’s reunion with Max Mirnyi began on a disappointing note as the fourth seeded duo made a stunning first round exit as Leander Paes and Sania Mirza notched up facile wins with their respective partners here today. Paes and his Lukas Dlouhy were the first to take the court and the third seeds didn’t have much trouble in sailing past Czechs Leos Friedl and David Skoch 6-3, 6-1 in the first round of the men’s doubles event. But the newly-formed combination of Bhupathi and Belarusian Mirnyi disappointed with a 4-6, 4-6 loss to the unseeded pair of Michael Kohlmann and Jarkko Nieminen. However, 10th seeds Sania and her Spanish partner Virginia Ruano Pascual ensured that India ended the day on a high with a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 triumph over the unseeded Indonesian-Japanese duo of Yayuk Basuki and Kimiko Date Krumm. Sania and Pascual will face Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland and Tathiana Garbin of Italy in their second-round match. — Agencies |
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India in B’desh
1st Test: Day 5
Chittagong, January 21 Chasing an improbable 415-run victory target, the hosts resumed on 67 for two and rode on Rahim's gutsy 101 and Tamim Iqbal's gritty 52 before folding for 301 in 75.2 overs. Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, and Zaheer Khan struck at regular intervals to bowl out the hosts at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. The baby-faced Rahim threw his bat at everything hurled at him but that was merely a desperate attempt by a number seven batsman to delay the inevitable. The diminutive stumper-batsman took 112 balls to hit his maiden Test ton - also the fastest by a Bangladeshi batsman - and was the last man out. — PTI Scoreboard India (Ist Innings) 243, Bangladesh (Ist Innings) 242, India (2nd innings) 413 for 8 dec, Bangladesh (2nd innings) overnight 67 for 2, Tamim c Dravid b Sehwag 52, Ashraful c Dravid b Sharma 2, Raqibul lbw b Sharma 13, Shakib c Sehwag b Mishra 17, Mushfiqur c sub b Mishra 101, Mahmudullah c Karthik b Khan 20, Shahadat b Mishra 24, Islam c & b Mishra 8, Rubel not out 4. Extras (b 4, lb 3, nb 6) 13. Total (all out; 75.2 overs) 301. Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-47, 3-79, 4-97, 5-135, 6-145, 7-170, 8-230, 9-258. Bowling: Zaheer: 20-5-90-2, Sreesanth 12.2-0-53-0, Ishant 15-4-48-3, Mishra 22.2-3-92-4, Sehwag 4-1-7-1, Yuvraj 1.4-1-4-0.
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Sunil Gavaskar Writes...
Mushfiqur Rahim’s terrific century lightened up what was a pretty dull day for Bangladesh cricket. Over the years the one noticeable aspect of their cricket is the absence of determination when the odds are stacked against them. Mushfiqur’s fine century and the manner in which he defied everything the Indian bowlers had to bowl at him showed that there is at least one cricketer who was not going to go down without a fight.
In the first innings too he along with Mahmudullah, another fine cricketer in the making, showed admirable temperament to build a century plus partnership and took Bangladesh just one run short of India’s first innings. Bangladesh needs more such players. Their skipper Shakib is also a very good all-rounder and it is these three who have to show the way to the others. The vastly experienced Shahriar Nafees, Mohammad Ashraful were disappointing not because they didn’t score but the manner of their dismissals in the second innings. Even if Bangladesh did not hold hopes of winning the match they should have shown the application to try and save it. Once again the game began late on the final day and with the light fading fast every evening it was really a matter of having one big partnership that would have thwarted India. The pitch still looked good and there was no help for the bowlers and if the Bangladeshi batsmen have an honest appraisal of their dismissals they would see that it was more their fault than anything special from the bowlers. Yes Zaheer and Ishant Sharma were at them all the time and did not give them any leeway but then that’s what Test cricket is about. It is about biding your time as a batsman waiting for the bowler to tire out and then get the runs. The exception was Mushfiqur. He showed great determination and was also looking for the chance to keep the score moving along. He used his feet very well to go either forward or back and it looked as if he was resolving to make up for his poor dismissal in the first innings. He was the shining light in the Bangladesh team though the bowlers also did their bit in the first innings. Before the Test there were some comments that certainly stirred up the Bangladeshi bowlers and they dismissed a strong Indian line-up for only 243 runs. It is a pity that the batsmen let them down and Bangladesh lost in the manner that they did without a real fight bar the one from the little wicketkeeper batsman. They will need to alter their approach and attitude if they are to stretch India in the next Test. — PMG |
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Cheque De
New Delhi/Bhopal, January 21 Hockey India decided to immediately reward Rs 50,000 to each player in the ongoing national camp in Bhopal after the eves resorted to a silent protest against the non-payment of their dues by wearing black armbands during the training session. But national captain Mamta Kharb said they were not happy with the “step-motherly” treatment meted out to them by the national federation as their pending financial dues amounts to more than Rs three lakh per player. “We are not satisfied with what has been promised to us, so we will not accept the money offered by Hockey India. We want equal to what the men's team have been promised,” Kharb said from Bhopal. “We have written to Hockey India listing our demands and conveyed to them that we will not accept the Rs 50,000 amount offered to each player. Our pending incentives amounts to Rs 3 lakh per player and we want that money,” she added. Kharb also said that her colleagues want a gradation system just like the one promised to the men’s team in order to secure the future of the women players, who come from a relatively poor background. “We also want a gradation system to be put in place. For years now, there is no salary or match fee for players in women’s hockey. We even don’t get daily allowance during camps. So, we want all these to be put in place ortherwise in future no parents will encourage their daughter to play hockey,” Kharb said. The Indian skipper, however, made it clear that they won’t resort to any pressure tactics by going on strike unlike their male counterparts and would carry on practice under protest. “We won’t stop training come what may. But we are hopeful that Hockey India will consider our justified demands and solve our problem as soon as possible. We also don’t like to do all these things but we were compelled to take the step keeping in mind our future,” Kharab said. Sensing the gravity of the situation, HI interim president Vidya Stokes earlier in the day told reporters that the national body has decided to give away an immediate reward of Rs 50,000 each to all the 19 national campers in Bhopal. She also said that apart from the Rs 50,000, HI has requested the government to give each player Rs one lakh for their silver medal winning performance in last year’s Asia Cup in Bangkok. “We have requested the Sports Ministry to give each player Rs one lakh as reward for their silver medal in Asia Cup,” Stokes said. “But as of now, we (HI) are immediately giving Rs 50,000 each all the 19 players of the camp for their outstanding performance last year,” she added. — PTI Madhya Pradesh offers support
Appalled over the poor condition of women’s hockey team, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today announced to bear entire expenses of the team like their men counterparts. “I have offered to bear the entire expenses of the women’s hockey team like their men counterparts,” Singh told reporters when his attention was drawn towards the reports of pathetic condition of the women’s hockey team practising for the upcoming Commonwealth Games at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre |
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Jalandhar Gullies off to winning start
Sirsa, January 21 Helped by the power packed 49 runs off 10 balls by Mohinder Singh, the Jalandhar Gullies scored 93 runs for the loss of just one wicket to surpass Amritsar Gullies’ score of 92 for 4. Under the rules of T-10 Gully Cricket, all runs scored during the “Power Over” are doubled - a six becomes twelve and a four is counted as eight runs. Earlier, batting for Amritsar Gullies, Rahul Mattu scored 62 off 37 balls. Gurjit Singh (32 off 11) led Jalandhar Gullies victory over Ludhiana Gullies in the second match of the night. Ludhiana team scored 74 runs for the loss of 8 wickets, but the Jalandhar Gullies surpassed their total with two wickets to spare. Karan Puri and Varun Verma took two wickets apiece for the Janadhar Gullies. In the third match of the night, Amritsar Gullies scored 69 for 7 wicket in their match against Panchkula Gullies. Harpreet Singh of Panchkula Gullies took 3 wickets for 13 runs. However, Panchkula team won the match by six wickets. Helped by 41 off 24 balls by Shahanawaz Mirza, the Panchkula Gullies scored 73 runs with six wickets to spare. |
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Roger Federer and the Williams sisters stamped 
their authority on the Australian Open Thursday, but former world number one Ana Ivanovic was sent packing. 
India clinched the first cricket Test against Bangladesh with an emphatic 113-run victory to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series here today, despite a rollicking century by wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim that delayed the inevitable. The Indians, who needed to pick up eight wickets on the last day, took just about two sessions to wrap up the game and make amends for their disappointing batting show in the first innings.
Mushfiqur Rahim’s terrific century lightened up what was a pretty dull day for Bangladesh cricket. Over the years the one noticeable aspect of their cricket is the absence of determination when the odds are stacked against them. Mushfiqur’s fine century and the manner in which he defied everything the Indian bowlers had to bowl at him showed that there is at least one cricketer who was not going to go down without a fight.
