Chennai, February 15
After creating a flutter by claiming that India were not "mentally prepared" for the pre-World Cup warm-up matches, cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today said his comments were misconstrued and he did not imply that the team was battling fatigue.

"It was not fatigue at all. It is the mental preparation level...to be in the same scenario...to be 100 per cent for a (warm-up) game," Dhoni clarified ahead of the second warm-up match against New Zealand tomorrow.

"We are more used to prepare for a game 100 per cent and all of a sudden you have to prepare for a warm-up game which I have not played many, right from the start of my career from school cricket or district," he explained.

"It was a different scenario and you have to prepare differently. That was the only difference and it had nothing to do with fatigue," he added.

Dhoni, after the 31-run win over Australia in the first warm-up, had raised quite a few eyebrows by saying, "the mindset was not really there. Mentally we were not ready, that's one of the reasons we couldn't bat well."

But today Dhoni said even in a practice match, the competitive streak takes over once the players hit the ground. "The heart rate goes up a bit in the practice game. You want to score runs irrespective of the fact that it is a practice game," he said. — PTI

Chennai, February 15
New Zealand coach John Wright is not yet ready to label India as the firm favourites to win the World Cup and said that coping with the huge pressure of playing in front of the home crowd would be crucial for Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men to lift the coveted trophy.

Wright confessed that he still follows Indian cricket even after leaving the coaching job six years ago but said it was not his job to tell the world that Dhoni and his men are the top dogs to win the trophy.

"Pressure of playing at home is certainly something that India will have to deal with it. There can be a huge advantage with it when it is going well. But if they are not, you know, it could be a factor. It is something one understands with reality and deal with it. It is as simple as that," Wright said at a press conference ahead of his side's warm-up game against India here tomorrow.

"As for maturity in them, let us see. They are playing very good cricket. We will know in two months," said Wright who was India coach from 2000 to 2005. "I still watch and follow them. To be honest, it is good to be here and play against them tomorrow. I would not be doing my job and it is tough for me to provide predictions about. They look after themselves and I have got enough to do with my players," said the former Kiwi opening batsman.

Wright talked about the negative reactions he had garnered from Indian fans whenever the team played badly during his tenure.

"It is a fact that you have to deal with it. It is part of your life when you play in your own country. It goes as far as family and friends and expectations are there even when you walk through the airports. It is something that the Indian team will have to deal with it," he said.

Wright also made it clear that his plate is full currently and he is not thinking of coming back to India to take over the coaching job once Gary Kristen leaves after the World Cup. "I think as a coach it is not good to look too far ahead. I am not even thinking of anything other than this tournament. You know coaching is tough and you make this team or that team you are sometimes judged by the results. This is a tough assignment. I am really thinking hard about New Zealand team in the World Cup. None of those things really crossing in my mind and you cannot afford to," he said.

Wright also felt that India's new ball bowler Zaheer Khan has improved by leaps and bounds from the time he had left the coaching assignment.

"He has done really well. I had him with me right at the start of his career. He had learnt the importance of fitness and bowling well from just hard work. His injuries are fact of life. He always had huge talent and now he looks to me a lot stronger. He is now very clever with what he could do with his swings. I imagine Zaheer and his teammates take an enormous amount of satisfaction from where he started and where he is now. It is credit to him, to be honest." — PTI

New Delhi, February 15
Legendary Pakistani fast bowler Imran Khan today refused to compare Sachin Tendulkar with Don Bradman but said the Indian maestro was the "most accomplished player in the World Cup".

Imran declined to compare Tendulkar with Bradman as he had not seen the Australian playing.

"Sachin is the most accomplished player in the World Cup. He should open Indian innings and with Virender Sehwag. They can give solid start to the team which will be difficult for other teams to match," Imran said.

He said Mahendra Singh Dhoni's squad is the best ever Indian World Cup side and it has the most formidable batting line-up among the teams participating in this edition starting in the sub-continent on Saturday.

"I played the first World Cup in 1975 and have been following it since then. According to me this is the best ever Indian side playing in a World Cup," said Pakistan's 1992 World Cup-winning captain.

“This is the best batting line-up in the world. You have Sachin, Sehwag, MS Dhoni, Yusuf Pathan and the batting depth will play a crucial role," he said'.

He predicted that Harbhajan Singh will be the key bowler for India given the conditions, and if he were the captain he would have asked the off-spinner to play the attacking bowler's role.

Asked about the Indian pace battery, the former all-rounder said, "When I saw Ishant Sharma bowling initially, I felt that at last India has got a genuine pace bowler who can run through any batting order. But two years since then when I saw him, I could see flaw in his bowling action." — PTI

Mirpur, February 15
Opener Ahmed Shehzad and Test skipper Misbah-ul-Haq struck fluent centuries as Pakistan romped to a 89-run win in their World Cup warm-up match against co-hosts Bangladesh here today.

Shahid Afridi decided to bat first after winning the toss, and the teenage Shehzad (103 off 122 balls) and Misbah (100 off 100 balls) vindicated their skipper's faith by guiding the team to a solid 285 for nine in the alloted 50 overs, a total which proved sufficient as Bangladesh were bowled out for 196 in 41.4 overs.

Chasing a stiff target, Bangladesh started on a positive note despite losing Tamim Iqbal for naught. But the hosts failed to continue the good work for a prolonged period due to an impressive spell of medium pace bowling by Abdul Razzaq. — PTI

Ranchi, February 15
Swimming sensation Virdhawal Khade rewrote his earlier record in the heats and went on to improve it in the final to emerge the fastest swimmer of the Games. Promising Karnataka youngster A P Gagan and statemate Rohit Havaldar smashed the remaining two records of the day.

Battling a stomach upset, Richa clocked 05.09:47s to improve her own nine-year-old record of 05.09:91 in the 400m individual medley where Karnataka bagged the silver and bronze through Pooja Alva (05.25:03) and Sushaka Pratap (05.30:21) respectively.

Richa smashed her four year old record (02.29:34) in the 200m backstroke when she swam with a timing of 02.26:82. In the first 50m lap, Richa trailed Ananya Panigrahi of Maharashtra but the ace swimmer slowly went ahead and stretched the lead before eclipsing her previous best.

Ananya had to settle for silver with a timing of 02.29:22 while her statemate Aarti Ghorpade bagged the bronze clocking 02.32:04.

Richa's hopes of making a hat-trick today was, however, dashed in the 50m freestyle as Talasha lived up to her reputation in the sprint to claim the gold with 27:95. Richa clocked 28:22 for the silver, while A V Jayaveena of Tamil Nadu took the bronze with 28:66.

Asian Games bronze medalist Khade had no problem in winning the 50m freestyle as the Kolhapur boy clocked 23:08 en route to his third gold. In the morning session heats, the 19-year-old had bettered his four year old record (23:92) with a timing of 23:81.

Arjun J P of Karnataka bagged the silver stopping the clock at 24:65, while Anshul Kothari (24:96) took home the bronze. Showing a lot of promise, 19-year-old Karnataka youngster Gagan smashed Rehan Poncha's four year old record (04.44:32) with a superb timing of 04.40:08 in the 400m individual medley to start the proceedings in swimming.

Delhi bagged the silver through Merwyn Chen who clocked 04.46:56, while national record holder Sandeep Sejwal, representing Madhya Pradesh, bagged the bronze with a timing of 04.51:89.

Havaldar, who trains with Khade in Bangalore, clocked 02.08:29 to improve the four year old record of 02.11:65 which was incidentally held by him and Rohit Havaldar as both of whom had a dead heat in Guwahati. Karnataka had the top two finishers in the event as Ashwin Menon bagged the silver with a timing of 02.12:06, while Madhu PS of SSCB won the bronze clocking 02.15:91. — PTI

London, February 15
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti conceded defeat in the Premier League title race after his side played out a goalless draw at Craven Cottage. His goalkeeper Petr Cech saved a Clint Dempsey penalty in the last minute of last night's game with precious few chances.

But the draw means Chelsea are now 12 points behind leaders Manchester United with as many games to play. And Ancelotti admits the FA Cup and the Champions League are Chelsea's only hopes of trophies this season. He said: "Now (12 points adrift) is too much. Our aim is to play every game like we played tonight: use the spirit and the attitude.

"Obviously it's very difficult to come back to fight for the title, but we have a very important aim to reach until the end with the FA Cup. "We want to come back quickly into the top four, and the Champions League returns next week. "The most important thing is to finish in the top four. I think we will be able to do this if we play like we did tonight.

"I'm an optimist and there's good reason to have confidence. I try to be objective every time. The football we showed tonight was good, and we have to continue it."

Chelsea striker Fernando Torres had another disappointing display after he was chosen to start ahead of Didier Drogba. But Ancelotti believes his 50million pound striker he bought on transfer deadline day will prove to be worth the outlay. — AFP

New Delhi, February 15
Leveraging on the growing popularity of motorsports in India, the country's largest automobile company, Tata Motors, today announced its foray into the world of racing by launching the 'Tata Motors Full Throttle'.

As part of this new initiative, which works as a platform for steering the company's participation in motorsports and allied activities, the Tata Motors will field a team of two Tata Safaris and two Xenon XT cars to participate in the forthcoming 'Desert Storm Rally', beginning on February 22 from Ahmedabad.

The team from Tata group will later on participate in other motorsports events in India such as the 'Raid De Himalayas' in their quest to become a regular on the racing circuit. "With best in class technologies in our product range, we will now be able to showcase these technologies through Tata Motors' 'Full Throttle'.

The platform will help the company in organising and synergising all efforts and activities in the area of motorsports including development and testing," said R Ramakrishnan, vice president, Commercial Passenger Car Business Unit, Tata Motors.

"The participants from Tata Motors in the Desert Storm Rally are all experienced drivers with enough experience of racing in India behind them. We are confident of a good show in the rally as well as other racing events to be organised later," Ramakrishnan added.

Tata Motors had earlier participated in several non-competitive international rallies such as the London Capetown rally in 1998, ASEAN rally in 2005 and the SAARC rally in 2007 with the Safari sports utility vehicle. Both the Safari and Xenon cars, a 4x4 lifestyle pickup, have also been driven in various rallies in the past by independent participants. — PTI

Los Angeles, February 15
English football star David Beckham's 25 million-dollar libel and slander lawsuit against In Touch magazine was dismissed by a US District Court judge. A story in the celebrity-orientated magazine alleged that the Los Angeles Galaxy star midfielder, a global football icon, cheated on wife Victoria, with a prostitute.

Judge Manuel Real yesterday ruled that Beckham is a public figure and allegations of infidelity would be of public interest and that there was no evidence the story was published with malice. — AFP

BRIEFLY

‘Aussies can lift 4th World Cup’
Melbourne: Australian paceman Shaun Tait insists that his team has regained its lost aura and is poised to win a record fourth World Cup title despite predictions to the contrary. Australia have not made a very good start to the campaign though, losing by 31 runs to India in a practice match on Sunday. But Tait feels there are hardly any weaknesses in the team. "We had the wood over England in the one day series, we're the No.1 ranked team in the world in one day cricket, so to be fair, it's hard to find weaknesses," Tait told the World Cup edition of the 'Wisden Cricketer' magazine. — PTI

Morgan puts ECB in a tizzy
London: In what could turn out to be a possible embarrassment for the English Cricket Board (ECB) ahead of their World Cup campaign, Eion Morgan has revealed that the injury which forced him out of the mega-event was not as serious as first thought of. The middle-order batsman with an average of slightly over 38, used 'Twitter' to express his joy over a possible early come back to the top level cricket after being ruled out with a broken finger during the recently concluded one-day series against Australia. Morgan wrote, "Some good news this morning. No need for an op on my finger. Pretty much healed. Will be back sooner than expected." — PTI

Injury scare for captain Borren
Colombo: The Netherlands captain Peter Borren missed another World Cup warm-up game with an abdominal injury today, giving his team serious worries just a week before their first match in the tournament. The injury is causing the 27-year-old pain while bowling, and he struggled in nets yesterday ahead of his team's second and last warm-up match against Kenya in Colombo. He also missed his side's first warm-up match against Sri Lanka on Saturday, which the hosts won by 156 runs. Team manager Ed van Nierop said no final decision had been made on Borren and only the medical team would be able to say whether he will be fit for the team's World Cup opener against England in Nagpur on February 22. — AFP

Amul to sponsor Netherlands
Ahmedabad: Gujarat-based dairy giant Amul have become the official sponsors of the Netherlands cricket team for the soon-to-start World Cup. The Royal Netherlands Cricket Board (RNCB) signed the sponsorship deal with Amul yesterday. Netherlands are a leading dairy-food producer country. Logo of Amul Butter, the brand marketed by Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) which boasts of turnover of Rs 8,000-crore plus, will appear on the sleeve of saffron jersrys of players as well as on the training kits throughout the World Cup. "We were looking to associate with the game of cricket for long....World cup came as a good opportunity and it clicked," GCMMF Managing Director R S Sodhi said. — PTI

‘India, Sri Lanka favourites’
Melbourne: Former Australian players foresee tough times for Ricky Ponting's men in the upcoming World Cup despite being the number one ODI side as they feel co-hosts India and Sri Lanka are better-equipped to exploit the conditions. "They (Australia) are certainly up against it," former wicket-keeper Ian Healy said of the team, which is chasing a record fourth World Cup trophy. "It's not our favoured venue for a World Cup victory, but it's a frontier that needs to be crossed again from '87. There's some hot competition from Sri Lanka and India, and I'm envisaging a real battle for the other two semi spots," Healy was quoted as saying by the 'Daily Telegraph'. — PTI

ICC bans use of twitter
Melbourne: In a bid to ensure a corruption-free World Cup following the spot-fixing scandal, the International Cricket Council has banned players and team officials from tweeting during matches. The decision, an initiative of ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, was intended to restrain the players and officials from any possible approach by people with links to illegal betting during World Cup matches. The move from the ICC came in response to Australian team manager Steve Bernard's tweets which attracted more than 1,100 followers to his @stevebernard37 account in the past six months. — PTI