 |
|
|
India-Lanka-NZ Tri-Series
Sehwag remains 2nd in Test ranking
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Saina to take on the best at World C’ship
Chelsea hit Wigan for a six!
Despite BAI claims, Ministry bears expenditure of shuttlers
Indian media boycott MSD’s press conference
|
|
India-Lanka-NZ Tri-Series
The 21-year-old Perera (5/28) ripped through the Indian middle order with a fine exhibition of swing bowling to skittle out the visitors for a paltry 103 in just 33.4 overs, their third lowest total against the Sri Lankans, in what turned out to be a totally lop-sided contest.
Paceman Ishant Sharma dismissed both the openers Dilshan and Jayawardene in two consecutive deliveries but it came too late in the day as the islanders overhauled the target with 209 balls to spare. India's biggest defeat in terms of balls remaining was 174 against Australia. It was an abject surrender by the lacklustre Indians who were outplayed in all departments of the game. The hosts completed their league engagements with 11 points and India will have to now win their last match against New Zealand on Wednesday to secure a berth in the final. New Zealand have seven points and India five points. Pacemen Lasith Malinga (2/21) and Nuwan Kulasekara (2/31) also chipped in with wickets to compound India's misery on a day when nothing seemed to go right for Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men. Only Yuvraj Singh provided a semblance of resistance with a gritty 38 as the the Indian batsmen succumbed tamely on what appeared to be a spongy two-paced track at the Rangiri Dambulla International
stadium. Yuvraj was a victim of a dubious leg before decision and there were a couple of dodgy decisions during the Indian innings but that was no excuse for the pathetic display. — PTI
|
|
Sehwag remains 2nd in Test ranking
Dubai, August 22 For England, off-spinner Graeme Swann has moved up one place to regain his second position on the bowling chart. Swann, who had match figures of 7-118, had first climbed to second position in March this year after the first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong. In the rankings for batsmen, Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf, Umar Akmal and Azhar Ali, and England's Alastair Cook and Matt Prior all rose up the rankings. Yousuf, who scored 56 and 33, has climbed two places to 14th position with India's Gautam Gambhir firmly within his sights. Umar has jumped six places to share 41st position with Australia's Phillip Hughes and Azhar has vaulted 28 places to 55th spot. There is no change in the top five of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player rankings for Test all-rounders with Jacques Kallis of South Africa leading the field. Meanwhile, England's four-wicket defeat has ended its chances of moving ahead of fourth-placed Australia in the ICC Test Championship. — PTI |
|
Now Powell too set to withdraw from CWG
London, August 22 His agent Paul Doyle said fitness issues coupled with the timing of the Commonwealth Games almost certainly rules out Powell defending his 100m gold in Delhi. "A final decision is imminent, but it's looking extremely unlikely at best that Asafa will be in India," Doyle was quoted as saying by the 'Daily Mail'. Other stars who have already announced their non-participation are Paula Radcliffe, world and European heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis, athletes Jenny Meadows and Natasha Danvers. Powell suffered back and hamstring injuries earlier this year and pulled out of a sprint showdown with Tyson Gay and Bolt in Stockholm. "The timing couldn't be much worse for Asafa," said Doyle. "For him, just as for Usain, the next two-year cycle means everything and he doesn't want anything, such as his pre-season being put back, or his injuries flaring up again, to affect this," he added. Powell's withdrawl comes as another blow to the Delhi Games organisers, who are already battling allegations of financial irregularities.
— PTI
|
|
Saina to take on the best at World C’ship
Paris, August 22 In the men's singles, Chetan Anand, who just recovered from a knee injury, and P Kashyap will carry India's flag. While the 14th seed Chetan will face Ong Zhao Ashton Chen of Singapore, Kashyap will be up against Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand in the first round tomorrow. "Overall it is a very good draw for India. Aditi and Kashyap have got challenging draws but rest of the players such as Saina, Chetan and the mixed doubles pair of Jwala and Diju have got decent draws," National coach Gopichand said. "Kashyap has been playing well. But the last two tournaments, he didn't do that well but there is nothing to worry about as of now because in both the tournaments he was leading. "Chetan has not played that much in the last month and it would be a good opportunity to get started in the tournament. Jwala and Diju have played against all these players who are there in their half so they should do well," he added. Asked about Saina, who has to battle past three Wangs from China – Wang Shixin, Wang Xin and top seed Yihan Wang to win the title, Gopichand said the Hyderabadi is in best shape and hopefully do well. "Saina is in the second half and some of the players she has not played before are also there but she is in her best form and shape and so she should do well. Moreover draw is just a part of the whole game, she still has to perform at the court to win this tournament," Gopichand said. — PTI
|
Wigan, August 22 Anelka, who was banned this week from representing France for 18 internationals in the wake of his behaviour at the World Cup, showed no signs of sulking as he struck twice in four second half minutes to kill-off the home side's stubborn resistance and help Chelsea continue their remarkable run of form. Florent Malouda broke the stalemate in the 34th minute before Anelka added his brace, with substitute Kalou adding two and Benayoun one more to take Chelsea's tally of goals to 29 in their last four league matches. They have also failed to concede one in almost 500 minutes of play. Wigan manager Roberto Martinez had responded to his side's opening day humbling by Blackpool by recalling Charles N'Zogbia to his starting line-up. The French international had been overlooked last weekend in the wake of a training ground dispute between him and Martinez amid suggestions he wanted to leave the club. There was also a league debut for Dutch defender Ronnie Stam, while Chelsea recalled Branislav Ivanovic at the expense of Paulo Ferreira.
— AFP
|
|
Despite BAI claims, Ministry bears expenditure of shuttlers
Patiala, August 22 The Sports Ministry and the BAI are entangled in a tug of war ever since the BAI held its General Body Meeting in Chennai in June where government guidelines pertaining to the fixing of tenures for officials of National Sports Federations (NSFs) were flouted. Ever since then the BAI has been asserting that it would send its teams to international tournaments on its own and would not take any financial help from the sports ministry. However, the cash starved BAI found itself in an embarrassing situation what with the world cup just around the corner. Sensing that the situation could snowball into a major controversy the sports ministry agreed to fund the trip of all the nine shuttlers, including Saina Nehwal ranked No 2, in the championship. The bone of contention between the warring factions is the June 13 election of BAI held at Chennai. The BAI had flouted the government guidelines with its President V.K Verma getting a fourth four year tenure which was in clear violation of the ministry guidelines.
|
|
Indian media boycott MSD’s press conference
Dambulla, August 22 Despite sending repeated reminders, he did not turn up to address the waiting media, which angered the Indian print journalists who then decided to boycott the press briefing. Normally, captains have the responsibility to address post-match press conference though at times other players, who did well in the match, turn up to face the journalists. But today, neither Dhoni nor any other Indian player came to address the press conference. Sangakkara won't blame umpires
Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara was today in no mood to implicate the umpires for the dodgy decisions they handed to Indian batsmen in the tri-series match here and said India should have agreed to the use Decision Review System to have a level playing field. India were at the receiving end of at least four dodgy decisions with Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh being the unlucky batsmen though they lost comprehensively by eight wickets. Three dodgy decisions came from local umpire Kumar Dharmasena while one — that of Yuvraj — was from Pakistani Asad Rauf. "Even before the Test series we have been for DRS and the only reason I believe why we did not have referral system throughout the Test series and through this series was because India did not want DRS," Sangakkara said at the post-match press conference when asked about the bad decisions. — PTI |
|||||
Butt remains in tricky situation Moshin hints at Yousuf's ODI return Jung still upbeat about CWG Hill is India's snooker coach
Ronaldo cheating on
Shayk? Adebayor up for EPL challenge Fish, Federer in final
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Dambulla, August 22
Saina Nehwal will carry a billion hopes when she takes the court in the World badminton Championship but the ace India shuttler remains quietly confident about her chances in the event which gets underway here tomorrow.
Saina, at a career-best world ranking of No 2, has got a bye in the first round and will take on Hsiao Huan Chen.
Wigan, August 22
Dambulla, August 22
The fired-up Sri Lankans rattled up the required runs of 104 in just 15.1 overs to gain a bonus point and become the first team to move into the final. Tillakaratne Dishan (35) and Mahela Jayawardene (33) virtually toyed with the Indian bowlers as they plundered runs at will to set up the chase brilliantly.
In the bowling list, Pakistan's fast bowler Mohammad Amir has rocketed to a career-best 17th after playing a leading role in his side's four-wicket victory over England in The Oval Test which concluded on Saturday. Man of the match Amir took 1-49 and 5-52 in the Test and was awarded with a jump of 14 places in the rankings, which puts him just behind Paul Harris of South Africa and makes him the third Pakistan fast bowler in the top 20.
Lahore:
London: