S P O R T S

Dale’s spin
India bundled out for 233
Stutter while following on, placed at 66 for 2 in    second innings
Dale Steyn picks up 7 for 51
Nagpur, February 8
Dale Steyn produced a sensational exhibition of seam bowling to rip apart India's fragile middle order and leave the hosts staring at an embarrassing defeat in the first cricket Test against South Africa here today.
Dale Steyn makes an unsuccessful appeal in Nagpur on Monday. — AFP

Sunil Gavaskar Writes...
Steyn justified top ranking
India are looking down the barrel in the first Test after being bundled out for 233 in the first innings and losing both the openers including the first innings centu r y maker Virender Sehwag in the second innings. Unless two or three batsmen play the innings of their lives it looks tough to save this Test match. It has been done in the past most notably at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata in 2001 but the two who did it then are on the injured list and not there to save the team this time around.

Rajpal Singh to stay as captain
New Delhi, February 8
Versatile forward Rajpal Singh will stay put as captain of the Indian team for the Hero Honda World Cup Hockey Championship to be held at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium, Delhi, from February 28 to March 13, despite demand from a section of the players to replace him with Prabhjot Singh.

Haryana Women’s Hockey body sends legal notice to HI, HOA
Chandigarh, February 8
The Haryana Women’s Hockey Association has sent a legal notice to Hockey India and Haryana Olympic Association for granting afflitation to Hockey Haryana headed by M.L. Tayal, former Principal secretary to CM Bhupinder Hooda, as the process of forming Hockey Haryana was illegal and no merger between the state men and women’s hockey association ever took place.

SAG gold-medallist returns
Bilaspur, February 8
Pooja Thakur, a member of the Indian women’s Kabaddi team, which bagged gold at the recently-held South Asian Games at Dhaka after defeating hosts Bangladesh by 24- 20 points in the final, received a warm and enthusiastic welcome as she boarded down from her bus at the main bus stand here last evening.

Sirsa to host Vijay Hazare Trophy
Sirsa, February 8
The Shah Satnam Singh Cricket Academy Stadium, Sirsa, will host five league matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy limited over cricket tournament of the BCCI from February 10 to February 18. The local stadium is one of the three venues for the league matches - the other two being Chaudhary Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium, Lahli (Bhiwani) and Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) Cricket Grounds, Gurgaon.

Bollywood stars to adorn city sports horizon
Chandigarh, February 8
Come February 20, and the city will host a number of Bollywood, television and hockey stars who will play a series of four short exhibition matches at the Sector 42 hockey stadium. Called the Pride of India Cup, the event is being organised by the AMR Foundation to showcase hockey as the national sport and motivate Indian hockey stars for the Hockey World Cup slated to be held in New Delhi from February 28 to March 13.

Clash for the Top
1st test: day 3
Dale’s spin

• India bundled out for 233

• Stutter while following on, placed at 66 for 2 in second innings

• Dale Steyn picks up 7 for 51

Resuming at 25 for no loss, the Indians lost Gautam Gambhir (12), Murali Vijay (4) and Sachin Tendulkar (7) in the pre-lunch session but Sehwag and Badrinath steadied the ship to some extent.

We can save Test: Sehwag

India may be facing the prospect of an innings defeat inside four days but dashing opener Virender Sehwag today sounded confident that the hosts would pull a rabbit out of the hat and save the opening Test against South Africa. "Against Australia (in 2001) we had followed on and won.

Anything can happen in this game. Sachin Tendulkar is still batting and he's a very experienced hand. Murali Vijay is also batting well. We will fight it out," said the flamboyant opener who scored his 18th hundred in India's first innings. — PTI 

Sunil Gavaskar Writes...
Steyn justified top ranking

India are looking down the barrel in the first Test after being bundled out for 233 in the first innings and losing both the openers including the first innings centu r y maker Virender Sehwag in the second innings. Unless two or three batsmen play the innings of their lives it looks tough to save this Test match. It has been done in the past most notably at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata in 2001 but the two who did it then are on the injured list and not there to save the team this time around.

The South Africans bowled well especially Dale Steyn who with this effort has fully justified his ranking as the number one bowler in Test cricket. He had good support from the others who made sure that they didn’t leak runs from the other end and so kept a tight lid on things. India’s display was a timid one.

When batsman get out offering no shots and are bowled it is an indication that they aren’t confident of what shot to play and that is a sign of timidity. Yes, there was cracking century from Virender Sehwag and a gritty debut performance from Badrinath but these two and Gambhir were the only ones to reach double figures.

The Indian team management was hamstrung by the squad they were given and they had no room for flexibility. How can a wicketkeeper replace a batsman? Sure Saha may well get a century in the second innings but that will still not make the composition of the squad right.

When a squad is chosen especially in India the selectors know what the batting line-up is going to be. The dilemma is mainly whether to play three seamers or go with two spinners. So one can understand a spinner and a seamer being in the reserves but to have two seamers in the reserves and that too on Indian pitches was asking for trouble in case things went wrong on the morning of the match as they eventually did.

Even if Laxman was going to be fit, the squad would have had three bowlers sitting out and the reserve wicketkeeper too. Now if India do go to lose this Test by a big margin, it will be interesting to see the footwork of the selectors.

They have generally done a good job and that’s why it was a surprise to see the combo they had come up with for such an important series like this one which has been dubbed the World Championship of Test cricket. — PMG

Rajpal Singh to stay as captain
MS Unnikrishnan
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 8
Versatile forward Rajpal Singh will stay put as captain of the Indian team for the Hero Honda World Cup Hockey Championship to be held at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium, Delhi, from February 28 to March 13, despite demand from a section of the players to replace him with Prabhjot Singh.

"Rajpal Singh was appointed the Indian team captain by the national selectors and the government observers after due selection process, and there was no question of his replacement", said a Hockey India source here today.

An 18-member team, with Rajpal Singh as captain, was named by the Hockey India on February 6, after selection trials were held at the National Stadium. The trials were attended by selectors BP Govinda, Madhu Yadav, Sita Mehta and government nominees Ajit Pal Singh and Zafar Iqbal, chief coach Jose Brasa and national coach Harendra Singh.

Surprisingly, Jose Brasa was reportedly behind the move to replace Rajpal with Prabhjot Singh, though the source said it was just not possible to change the captain as the team list had already been forwarded to the International Hockey Federation (FIH).

"Ever heard of a captain being changed on the cusp of a World Cup," the HI source wondered. He asserted that the "Captaincy issue was a closed chapter and there was no debate on it".

Rajpal Singh was named the captain for the Champions Challenge in Argentina, following Sandeep Singh’s injury. And Rajpal delivered result with a podium finish at Argentian. "Now on what basis a change in captaincy is sought, that too by bringing in Prabhjot Singh who had never captained the country during the past nine years, when he was a member of the Indian team," noted the HI official.

He said the rotation of captaincy was tried out at the behest of Brasa during the European tour and then the seven-match series in Canada to find out the best man for the job.

Forwards Sandeep Singh, Tushar Khandear and defender Dhananjay Mahadik were among those tried out to arrive at "a captain who would fit the bill". Mahadik was not even a regular of the senior team after being part of the Junior World Cup in 2005.

The Hockey India source said the selectors had a job to do, and they did it by retaining Rajpal Singh as they wanted continuity. "The selectors are not ornamental. We cannot overrule their decision", the source added.

Meanwhile, Hockey India adviser Anupam Gulati announced that a committee had been formed to look into the gradation of players for both senior and junior national teams for men and women. The committee members are: Ajit Pal Singh, MP Ganesh, Zafar Iqbal and Dhanraj Pillai. HI director (planning) Jagbir Singh is the convener of the committee.

Gulati said the captains and national coaches of both the men's and women's teams will also be members of the committee, while the president and secretary-general of Hockey India will be the special invitees.

Haryana Women’s Hockey body sends legal notice to HI, HOA
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 8
The Haryana Women’s Hockey Association has sent a legal notice to Hockey India and Haryana Olympic Association for granting afflitation to Hockey Haryana headed by M.L. Tayal, former Principal secretary to CM Bhupinder Hooda, as the process of forming Hockey Haryana was illegal and no merger between the state men and women’s hockey association ever took place. As per the Hockey India guidelines there should be a proper merger between the state’s men and women’s association, and only then the unified Hockey unit of that particular state or UT can be granted affiliation.

The president of the Haryana State Women’s Hockey Association, Krishana Sampat Singh, has demanded the cancellation of the affiliation of Hockey Haryana with in the period of 15 days, failing which they will knock the doors of the courts.

SAG gold-medallist returns
Our Correspondent

Bilaspur, February 8
Pooja Thakur, a member of the Indian women’s Kabaddi team, which bagged gold at the recently-held South Asian Games at Dhaka after defeating hosts Bangladesh by 24- 20 points in the final, received a warm and enthusiastic welcome as she boarded down from her bus at the main bus stand here last evening.

Among the first to greet her were her parents, mother Indira Devi and father Sat Pal Thakur.

Pooja had bagged three golds in kabaddi in international events, two as captain of the Indian Junior Kabaddi team, and one as member of the senior Indian Kabaddi team.

She has 13 medals to her credit in national and 3 golds in international Kabaddi events up till now. She said that she would not rest till she is thought capable of the Arjuna award by the government.

Sirsa to host Vijay Hazare Trophy
Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service

Sirsa, February 8
The Shah Satnam Singh Cricket Academy Stadium, Sirsa, will host five league matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy limited over cricket tournament of the BCCI from February 10 to February 18. The local stadium is one of the three venues for the league matches - the other two being Chaudhary Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium, Lahli (Bhiwani) and Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) Cricket Grounds, Gurgaon.

Jasmeet Singh Insan, president of the academy said here today that the league matches between Delhi and J&K (February 10), Delhi and Punjab (February 12), Delhi and Himachal Pradesh (February 14), J&K and Himachal Pradesh (February 16) and Punjab and Himachal Pradesh (February 18) would be played in Sirsa.

Cricketers like Virat Kohli, Ashish Nehra and Manpreet Goni are expected to play for their respective states in the tournament.

He said the local stadium was equipped with all facilities required at the international level and matches for the Ranji Trophy and Indo-Pakistan veterans’ series had already been held here. 

Bollywood stars to adorn city sports horizon
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 8
Come February 20, and the city will host a number of Bollywood, television and hockey stars who will play a series of four short exhibition matches at the Sector 42 hockey stadium. Called the Pride of India Cup, the event is being organised by the AMR Foundation to showcase hockey as the national sport and motivate Indian hockey stars for the Hockey World Cup slated to be held in New Delhi from February 28 to March 13.

Sunil Shetty, the brand ambassador for hockey in India, will be there with his team of movie stars, whereas Shabbir Ahluwalia, captain of the Boxy Boys, will lead his team of televisions artistes. Apart from these, there will be the entire Indian World Cup hockey team and current and yesteryears stars from the field of cricket, badminton, tennis, athletics, football, boxing, wrestling, etc.