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800 all out
Murali tougher to face than Warne: Ganguly
Sehwag stays top in Test rankings
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Pak chase 180 to win
Santosh Trophy
HI panel submits report
Ready, steady...no!
IBF recommends Jitender for Arjuna Award
Parimarjan opens account with a draw
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800 all out
So much for the death of Test cricket. Muttiah Muralitharan, one of the game’s modern titans, played his final remarkable hand yesterday, taking Sri Lanka towards victory over India. At Headingley, meanwhile, Australia battled to stay in a tight contest against Pakistan, having been bowled out for 88 in their first innings on Wednesday.
Imran Khan, the great Pakistan all-rounder, was the latest to foresee Test cricket's demise this week, warning that the financial lure of Twenty20 will lead to more and more players choosing to avoid the five-day game. There has never been a Twenty20 game, though, that could offer the sort of drama that Murali created with his last-ever ball in Test cricket, when he induced an edge from the Indian tail-ender Pragyan Ojha which was taken expertly by Mahela Jayawardene at slip. Murali has rarely been off centre stage during a career that has embraced glory and controversy but this was a special way to go even by his standards. The Sri Lankan, nonetheless, played down his unique achievement afterwards. “Eight hundred is only a number. We wanted to get the wickets quickly. You never know in Galle with the weather, winning the match was the important thing,” he said. “I wouldn’t have minded if it [the record] didn’t come. My only scare was when paceman Lasith Malinga had to go off the field.” The 38-year-old, whose final wicket was greeted with fireworks, refused to indulge in the moment. “I am not emotional ... frankly I am happy I have done it [retired],” he said. “I have trained really hard, even last week I trained hard to play in this Test match and took it very seriously. I chose to finish my career at the end of the first Test because I know my knees are not going to last to bowl 50-60 overs (in a match any more).” — By arrangement with The Independent |
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Murali tougher to face than Warne: Ganguly
Kolkata, July 23 “I don't want to get into comparison but I would prefer Warne. Murali is more accurate and has more variations so tougher to face,” Ganguly said. Ganguly termed Muralitharan's Test retirement after his final five-day game against India at Galle as end of an era. “Warne, Kumble had already retired and now Muralitharan... It is an end of an era,” Ganguly said. “Murali's record will be very hard to beat, he has been a great chapter in Sri Lankan cricket, having reigned supreme for more than 15 years. He is hard to be compared with anybody,” he added. Ganguly felt like other great cricketers of the past, Muralitharan chose to retire when he was at the peak of his career. “All great players leave when they are at peak. It's really a nice way to bid goodbye to Test cricket after taking 800 wickets in Tests. Gavaskar, Warne and Glenn, all gave up at peak of their respective career. I am sure when Sachin Tendulkar decides to leave, he too will go on a high,” said Ganguly.
— PTI |
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Sehwag stays top in Test rankings
Dubai, July 23 Sehwag, who scored 109 and 31 in the Test which India lost by 10 wickets, has opened up a 14-point gap over second-placed Kumar Sangakkara. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's iconic off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who spent a record 214 Tests and 1,711 days in the number-one spot, retired from Test cricket at the third spot in the bowling chart. The 38-year-old, who finished with 800 wickets from 133 Tests, bowed out in third position behind Dale Steyn of South Africa and Pakistan's Mohammad Asif after climbing two spots in the latest rankings following figures of 5-63 and 3-128 which set-up a 10-wicket victory for Sri Lanka in the first Test of the three-match series in Galle. The bowlers dropping in the latest rankings include off-colour Indian pacer Ishant Sharma, who was down one spot to 22nd, Rangana Herath (31st, down six places) and Pragyan Ojha (58th, down by nine places). In the rankings for Test batsmen, Indian opener Gautam Gambhir, middle-order batsmen Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni have failed to retain their places. Gambhir has slipped six places to 10th position, Laxman has fallen two places to 15th position, Dravid has dropped one place to 18th place while Dhoni has fallen four places to the 40th spot. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has swapped places with his predecessor Mahela Jayawardena. — PTI
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Leeds, July 23 He began slowly but eventually smashed nine fours and two sixes, including two in succession off leg-spinner Danish Kaneria with the latter finding the roof of the rugby ground stand. Smith was the last man out, bowled by Umar Gul. Australia lost key wickets throughout the day in pleasant batting conditions but managed to eke out enough runs to set up what is likely to be a nervous chase for Pakistan, who have not beaten Australia in a test for 15 years and must win to draw this two-match series. Australia's battling effort, after they were dismissed for a 26-year low 88 in the first innings, has given genuine hope of an eighth straight test win. Mohammad Aamer, the 18-year-old left-arm pace bowler, claimed all three wickets of the morning session and he finished with four for 86 as Australia's last five wickets raised 185 valuable runs. Michael Clarke scored a gritty 77 before he edged Mohammad Asif on the seventh ball after lunch to the wicketkeeper, while Tim Paine added 33. Skipper Ricky Ponting was out for 66 in the third over of the day when he chased a wide Aamer ball. — Reuters Scoreboard Australia (1st innings) 88
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Santosh Trophy
Kolkata, July 23 In another match of the same cluster, Madhya Pradesh defeated Arunachal Pradesh 3-1 at Howrah Stadium to score their first win. In a Cluster VI match, Chhattisgarh rode on a Wasim Raza strike in the 31st minute to beat Sikkim at Mohun Bagan ground here. Both Delhi and UP had wins against their respective opponents in their first matches and they began on a watchful note and the first half remained goalless. Tuishim Mashangva gave Delhi the lead in the 60th minute while Bhuvan Joshi converted a penalty in the 78th minute to shatter UP's hopes. Javed Manihar struck twice in the 82nd and 90th minutes while Neelesh Pilai scored the first goal in the 61st minute to help Madhya Pradesh record their first win. Rallo Raj Kumar reduced the margin for Arunachal Pradesh with a 85th minute goal. — PTI
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HI panel submits report
New Delhi, July 23 The Hockey India panel, headed by Rajiv Mehta, and comprising Ajit Pal Singh, Zafar Iqbal, Dr Sudarshan Pathak and Anupam Gulati, has not apparently made any inference from their inquiry, but given only a factual account of what had transpired in front of them. Rajiv Mehta said the inquiry panel based its report from the testimonies of the coach and the player/players, and not on any other evidence. “We had lots of testimonies from both the parties, some players and manager Madhu Yadav, and we didn't need any other evidence before concluding our report”, Rajiv Mehta added. Hockey India will submit the report to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) tomorrow for further action, as coach Kaushik and video grapher Basvaraj were engaged by it. Hockey India secretary-general Narinder Batra said in the afternoon that the body had received the panel report “which we will study and discuss thoroughly before submitting the report to SAI”. But it was unlikely that Hockey India too may come to any definite conclusions based on the report. M.K.Kaushik resigned as chief coach following the sexual harassment charges against him, professing his innocence, and Hockey India president Vidya Stokes had accepted it. The videographer was sacked earlier when evidence surfaced about his compromising positions with prostitutes during the team's tour of Canda and China. Hockey India wants to get rid of the controversy without tying itsef in knotts ahead of the Hockey India elections on July 28, and it's playing its card clerverly, neither overtly supporting the coach, nor fully negating the stance of the girls.
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Ready, steady...no!
New Delhi, July 23 The officially inaugurated SPM swimming complex is all set to hold test events for the games from July 27 without underwater electronic machinery called “touch pad”. The Organising Committee (OC) has not been able to import the equipment so far. The stadium has been renovated at the whooping cost of Rs 400 crore and was inaugurated on 18 July. The equipment, which is fitted under the swimming pool, records the exact time of the reach of each swimmer and displays it on the board. “The results of the test events will be based on manual observation which would undoubtedly include errors,” he said. The absence of the equipment will deny Indian swimmers the advantage of knowing the exact status of their performance during tests. With only 72 days left, the CWG stadiums are getting inaugurated every second day. But what has left everybody wondering is the quality of the work delivered in the hustle-bustle of the run-up for the games. The authorities undertaking the completion of the CWG venues are now just smartening up things on the surface. The Delhi Swimming Association, which held a meeting today to review the stadium’s work, found the work “not upto the mark”. “What is the point of holding test events when you have not installed the mandatory equipments. Test events are organised for the purpose of testing machinery and technology to ensure 100 per cent efficiency during the final event. It is not a practice session for athletes or the players,” said a member on the condition of anonymity. Over 300 participants are due to take part in 38 events during the test event The members also said the stadium would further require atleast more than one month to get complete. “There is no way that can complete the stadium before a month or two,” said sources. Not only this, the changing rooms in the complex have been reduced to half in both size and numbers. However, the Secretary of the Association, Raj Kumar, said the OC has managed to get the equipments from Pune on temporary basis but they are yet to be installed. “The touch pads used in the Youth Commonwealth Events in Pune have been brought here for the trial events but they are yet to be installed,” said Raj Kumar. The sources said it required around eight days to install and test the equipment but given only four, it is nowhere possible that it would be installed. He also confirmed that the main machinery to be used during the games had been not yet imported. The stadium was built before the ’82 Asiad.
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Affiliation: Hockey Chandigarh goes to court
Chandigarh, July 23 The local body, which was earlier named as the Chandigarh Hockey Association (affiliated with the Indian Hockey Federation), filed the case through its president Chander Shekhar, IPS and senior vice-president of the Indian Hockey Federation and Secretary General Yash Pal Vohra. Notably, the HI approved the affiliation of Hockey Chandigarh along with 11 other states without any issue during its November 30, 2009 meeting. The HI also called on two representatives (one male and one female) from the HC to attend their first annual general meeting scheduled for February 7, 2010. But later in the end of May, the local body was disaffiliated, asking them to send their application through the Chandigarh Olympic Association. But somehow the body could not get the required recommendation. Later the name of Chandigarh body was not found mentioned in the electoral college of the body. Along with the government, the Indian Olympic Association also backs the Hockey India. Seven other state units, including Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have also filed the cases to attend the July 28 elections.
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IBF recommends Jitender for Arjuna Award
New Delhi, July 23 While Lekha clinched the middle weight gold in the 2006 edition of the World Championship held here, Usha has been a two-time silver medallist in the same event. “All three of them have performed well in the past three years and we thought they are the best contenders from boxing for the Arjuna Award,” Indian Boxing Federation Director AS Dagar said. Both Lekha and Usha had been recommended last year as well but Jitender 's name has been nominated for the first time. “It is a huge honour for me to be recommended for this award. I hope I get it,” said Jitender, a two-time Asian Championship bronze medallist, who created quite a flutter at the 2008 Beijing Olympics by fighting his quarterfinal bout with 10 stitches on his chin. The 22-year-old Harayana boxer was also a bronze medallist in the 2008 World Cup held just a few months after the Olympics. He was recently signed up by the World Series of Boxing's Indian Franchise Videocon for the professional-style tourney starting November 19. Jitender first came into limelight by winning the bronze medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. He competed in the flyweight 51kg division at that time but has now jumped to the bantamweight 56 kg division. The IBF also recommended three coaches — S Singh, G Manoharan and I.V. Rao - for Dronacharya awards. — PTI
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Parimarjan opens account with a draw
Biel (Switzerland), July 23 Having lost the first three games, it was important for Parimarjan to stage a recovery of sorts and with five rounds still to come in the category-17 tournament the Indian can look up to an improved finish. Meanwhile, Wesley remained on top of the tables inching himself up to three points out of a possible four on a day that produced just one decisive result.
— PTI |
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So much for the death of Test cricket. Muttiah Muralitharan, one of the game’s modern titans, played his final remarkable hand yesterday, taking Sri Lanka towards victory over India. At Headingley, meanwhile, Australia battled to stay in a tight contest against Pakistan, having been bowled out for 88 in their first innings on Wednesday.
Imran Khan, the great Pakistan all-rounder, was the latest to foresee Test cricket's demise this week, warning that the financial lure of Twenty20 will lead to more and more players choosing to avoid the five-day game.
Kolkata, July 23
Dubai, July 23
Leeds, July 23
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