Saturday’s game between Australia and Sri Lanka is the showpiece contest for Group A since it pretty much decides who will enter the quarter-finals as group leaders. Sri Lanka would have been excellently placed for pole position had they won against Pakistan. Unfortunately, their batting lost their way and they ended up second-best last weekend.

It would be interesting to see how Sri Lanka plan for Saturday. I have been saying that their batting order is top heavy with the experienced batsmen forming the top four. The think tank argues that this gives their best batsmen maximum overs, which is a fair argument. However, it also leaves you a little vulnerable if two of the top three get out early. In the last game, that is exactly what happened and the middle-order was not able to absorb the pressure.

Australia too will be coming into the game with some issues. The spectre of Lasith Malinga looms large. The slingy Sri Lankan often misses games due to injury, but when he is in full form, he can be a handful for right-handed batsmen. In the absence of Michael Hussey, the entire Australian top-order is right-handed, and it will require a lot of skill for them to handle him. I am surprised nobody has requested the umpires to take off their hats as yet because a white hat would make sighting the white ball rather difficult. Lasith is a different bowler and one needs to think differently when one takes him on.

My only concern with Lasith is his fitness, which is why it is important to keep options and replacements match-ready. It would be terrible if he pulls up at a crucial stage of the tournament and the replacement is thrown into the deep end without any preparation.

Bowling is in sharp focus at the moment with no total assuring a side complete safety. India would hopefully have had a rethink on their bowling after the tie against England. It was a wake-up call for everybody who thought India’s formidable batting would help gloss over the bowling shortcomings. In such batsmen-friendly conditions, a run saved is worth its weight in gold which is why I can see that the Indians are working hard at that aspect.

However, a strong bowling attack and possibly five bowlers instead of four might be the way out for India. They would not be taking Ireland lightly after the latter surprised England. However, it might be a good chance for the Indians to experiment with the batting-bowling combination before their games against South Africa and West Indies. — Gameplan

Scoreboard
Bangladesh
Tamim c Sammy b Roach 0
Kayes c Thomas b Sammy 5
Siddique lbw b Roach 25
Rahim c Sarwan b Sammy 0
Shakib b Benn 8
Raqibul c Pollard b Sammy 4
Ashraful c Thomas b Roach 11
Naeem c Thomas b Benn 1
Shafiul c Pollard b Benn 0
Razzak not out 2
Rubel b Benn 0
Extras (w-1, nb-1) 2
Total 58 (18.5 overs)
Bowling: Roach 6-0-19-3, S Benn 5.5-2-18-4, Sammy 7-0-21-3.

West Indies
Smith b Naeem 6
Gayle not out 37
Bravo not out 9
Extras (b-2, w-5) 7
Total 59/1 (12.2 ovrs)
Bowling: Shafiul 2-0-11-0, Naeem 6-1-14-1, Rubel 1-0-12-0, Razzak 1-0-8-0, Ashraful 2-0-11-0, Shakib 0.2-0-1-0.

Ahmedabad, March 4
New Zealand displayed a clinically efficient all round performance to thump Zimbabwe by 10 wickets with more than 16 overs to spare in their crucial group league encounter of the World Cup at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, today.

The Kiwis first bundled out Elton Chigumbura and Co. for a paltry 162 in 46. 2 overs on a good batting strip. It was a disciplined bowling effort by the Kiwis as Tim Southee (3/29), Kyle Mills (2/29) and skipper Daniel Vettori (2/25) shared the spoils.

New Zealand openers Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum didn't have any difficulty in chasing down the target as they accomplished the job in only 33.3 overs. Guptill struck seven fours and two sixes in his unbeaten knock of 86 off 108 deliveries while McCullum slammed two sixes and six fours as he stayed undefeated on 76 from 95 balls. Guptill set the tone of the Black Caps chase hitting Tinashe Panyangara,for couple of boundaries and a straight six in the first over in which 14 runs came.

Runs came comfortably for the opening duo against the spin-heavy Zimbabwe attack which didn't have enough ability to defend a modest target.

Guptill raced to his half century in 68 deliveries with the help of three fours and two sixes before his senior partner followed suit to complete his half century. — PTI

Scoreboard
Zimbabwe
Taylor lbw b Styris 44
Coventry run out 0
Taibu lbw b Southee 8
Ervine c Ryder b Mills 11
Chigumbura lbw b Vettori 1
Chakabva c Taylor b Vettori 0
Lamb run out 18
Utseya b Southee 36
Cremer c Brendon b Mills 22
Price lbw b Southee 11
Panyangara not out 4
Extras: (lb-4, w-3) 7
Total 162 (46.2 overs)
Bowling: Mills 10-0-29-2, Southee 9.2-3-29-3, Bennett 8-0-37-0, Vettori 10-3-25-2, Styris 4-0-13-1, Nathan 3-0-15-0, Ryder 2-0-10-0.

New Zealand:
Guptill not out 86
Brendon not out 76
Extras: (lb-1, w-1, nb-2) 4
Total 166/0 (33.3 ovrs)
Bowling: Panyangara 5.3-0-42-0, Price 7-0-23-0, Utseya 6-0-23-0, Lamb 5-0-18-0, Cremer 7-0-38-0, Chigumbura 3-0-21-0.

Bangalore, March 4
With issue related to injuries more or less sorted out, the Indian cricket team today gave the nets at the National Cricket Academy a miss, but the daily dose of recreational activities continued unabashed inside the Chinnaswami Stadium ground here.

To start with, Gary Kirsten's wards played football and that was followed by an hour of volleyball, as they seemed relaxed ahead of Sunday's group B World Cup clash against giant-killers Ireland.

The likes of Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Yusuf Pathan and Yuvraj Singh then rolled their arms over on the practice wicket for some time, while Ashish Nehra and S Sreesanth indulged in stretching exercises.

Part of the session was devoted to slip catching and but there were no throw-downs.

But, unlike yesterday's innovation, when Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men, on either side of a football game, underwent two unique drills, things were pretty much back to the bsics today. Divided into two groups of six each, the players yesterday lobbed tennis balls into three buckets placed at a distance of 10 feet each.

Within the group, four threw while two relayed back the rebounds. Surprisingly, the focus today was not just on Nehra, who is said to have recovered from a back spasm, and is certain to play on Sunday.

Though the lanky seamer didn't bowl, there are enough indications that he would be played against the high-flying Irish. Thought to be an easy outing for the hosts, the Ireland match gained significance after the associate nation rode on Kevin O'Brien's qucikest Cup ton to stun England. But the mood within the India camp was relaxed.

Harbhajan and Yuvraj found the net a couple of times even as Sreesanth and Suresh Raina fluffed a few chances when playing football. Ireland had a net session in the morning and some of them were also seen practicing the pull shot near the NCA nets. — PTI

Colombo, March 4
Sri Lanka are contemplating going with a heavy spin attack to end Australia's 31-match unbeaten streak in World Cup when the two meet in their crucial Group A tie here at R Premadasa Stadium tomorrow.

"There's a possibility of us going with three spin bowlers. We'll have a chat with the selectors later in the day and see whether that is the best way to go forward," said Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara ahead of the team's training session today. Sri Lanka are expected to play all three spinners — Muttiah Muralitharan, Rangana Herath and Ajantha Mendis — in tomorrow's game, with all-rounder Angelo Mathews sharing the new ball with Lasith Malinga.

The hosts will also look up to Malinga for a similar performance like the one he came up with against the Kenyans on Tuesday when he picked up six wickets including a hat-trick. Sri Lanka could also make a change in their batting line-up by bringing in Chamara Kapugedara in place of Thilan Samaraweera.

On the other hand, Australia's spin stocks have not been the greatest in recent times. And after Nathan Hauritz got injured in the lead up to the World Cup, there is little for the Aussies to boost about in the spin department. Australia would be looking at off-spinner Jason Krejza, who was brought in as Hauritz's replacement, and all-rounder Steve Smith, who bowls leg-spin to bail them out in tomorrow's game.

"The wickets looks a slow one," Australian captain Ricky Ponting observed. "It's not an issue for us. We have an excellent record in the sub-continent and we look forward to maintaining that," he added.

Meanwhile, Australia's unbeaten run that stretches to four World Cups is not the only thing that Sri Lanka would be looking to break tomorrow. Aussies also have an excellent record against the hosts in World Cup matches as they have won all but one of the seven games between the two teams. Sri Lanka's only win against the Australians in World Cups so far came in the final of the 1996 tournament, which the islanders won by seven wickets.

"They simply have had very good sides," said Sangakkara, who was a part of the last four defeats to Australia. "I don't think we had the belief in the last couple of tournaments.” — PTI

Jalandhar, March 4
Punjab Director of Sports Pargat Singh has taken serious note of the ‘outsiders’ issue in the hockey tournament at the Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Punjab Games and said today that he would ensure that such mistakes does not occur again

Admitting that there was lapse on the part of the Technical Committee in resolving the issue, Pargat said: “Next time, we will take care that such mistakes do not take place. We would definitely place a mechanism to check birth certificates, educational details and work profiles of players before conducting a tournament of this repute.”

He clarified that the issue was resolved amicably and all the three matches were conducted smoothly. “This confusion was cleared when we clarified that players from Railways and Services were allowed to play in the tournament,” he said, adding that the issue arose as they could not check the documents of those players who were away for the National Games in Jharkhand.

Pargat was present at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium here.

However, he maintained that the Technical Committee, headed by Chairman Sukhbir Grewal, had failed to resolve the issue and take a decision. “I fail to understand why the Technical Committee was reluctant in resolving the matter yesterday,” Pargat Singh said.

Answering a query about action against Grewal, Pargat said, “Post the Punjab Games, we will probe this issue threadbare.”

He stated that Gurdaspur had withdrawn their protest against rivals Ludhiana in writing after a meeting yesterday, following which the match was held today. The other two contentious matches were also held.

However, contrary to this, the Gurdaspur players maintained that they had played the match under protest as the five outsiders from Ludhiana were not dropped.

While the Mohali team went back following disciplinary action against Indian hockey skipper, Rajpal Singh, the girls’ match between Kapurthala and Muktsar was held after Deepika Thakur, a Railways player, was dropped from the Kapurthala team. Later in the evening, Deepika re-inducted for semi-finals.

Patiala, March 4
Boxers from Patiala ended the Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Punjab Games with an impressive seven gold, one silver and two bronze medals as the four-day event concluded here today.

The bout of the day was between Patiala’s Kuldeep Singh and Sukhdeep Singh of Moga in the middleweight class. Kuldeep Singh played the ‘brawler’ to near perfection. In a bout between two equals, the Patiala boy emerged on top.

Patiala could well have ended with eight gold had Kanwarpreet Singh not committed a folly in the fourth round against Guangzhou Asian Games silver medalist Manpreet Singh in the heavyweight category. Towards the end of the crucial round, his coach urged him to go in for the kill. However, instead of being more aggressive Kanwarpreet became too cautious and lost the bout to his fancied opponent.

Patiala, March 4
Extreme hard work is the only way of success for the wrestlers and despite limited Government help, wrestling is one sport that continues to survive on private akharas (where wrestlers dwell and practice). But despite Punjab housing more than 1,000 akharas, the desired results are yet awaited.

The routine for an average wrestler here starts at as early as 3.30 a.m. when they prepare for their practice sessions. At 4 a.m., they are all slugging it out in the akhara. After the session, they cook their food and then sleep for a few hours before getting ready for their evening session.

A common scene at any of the akharas in Punjab, which rue lack of Government support and thus very few wrestlers reach the top. “There is no mat in our akhara and we practice on mud,” claimed a wrestler participating at the Shaheed-e-Azam Punjab Games in Patiala. “Despite repeated reminders, the Sports Department has paid no heed to our requests. These Games are just one seasonal offer, but the Government must seriously think of lifting the standard of preparedness of wrestlers by extending help.”

Usually, ahead of international competitions, grapplers have to prepare themselves for mat wrestling. Many believe this is one of the major reasons why many wrestlers do not succeed. "Though international wrestlers are required to play their matches on mats, it is the dug pits that are usually preferred as they are cheap and require less space and no Government help", echoed wrestlers gathered in Patiala.

Indian wrestling, which dates back to 5th Century B.C, has its roots in the Indian style of wrestling, which means mud bouts. Numerous akharas in the country have given some great wrestlers in the past, but due to the Government apathy, these akharas are slowly going dry and have come to the point of extinction.

Punjab wrestlers are generally known to play local matches on dug earthen pits and they have been doing the same from the past many decades. "Almost all wrestlers in the country who have represented the country are products of some akhara," said Sandeep Singh, who runs two such akharas.

“Our life is very strict as we are not allowed to go out alone and have to stay away from girls, liquor, tobacco, cigarettes, pickle and social life,” claimed another wrestler Prem Bir from Samrala. “These Games are just an eyewash and another competition to win cash prize. However the Government must do something to sustain wrestlers at a young age when they join this sport,” he told TNS.

Meanwhile a Sports Department official claimed that all possible help is being extended to the akharas.