Melbourne, April 14
Former India cricket coach and Australia's national selector Greg Chappell has said that his country does not have the liberty to waste talents like India, which has a rich reserve pool.

Fresh from his return to Boston Red Sox and the University of Texas football program to tap into their expertise in identifying talented players, Chappell said, "We're not like India, we can't waste talent."

"They can have a few fall over and there will be someone there backing them up, but we don't have the talent pool they have, so we have to be a lot more efficient," he added.

Chappell also pointed out that Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey and Simon Katich are well aware of their role in the Australian team, which is going through a transformation phase.

"I don't think we have to send any message to them. They are mature cricketers, they know what the landscape is and they can't play forever. "As long as they can bring something to the table, not only the runs or wickets, but the input they can have with the group, they are viable, but at some stage they won't be, that is just a fact of life," Chappell told the Age.

Emphasising upon the importance of regeneration, Chappell said the concept is important but it can come about in different ways. He, however, added that there was no need to make wholesale changes.

"We've got a new captain. Change isn't just about personnel, it's about attitude and intent and about tactics, and I'm sure Michael (Clarke) will bring different thought processes to the captaincy, and I think that is a positive thing," Chappell said.

Pointing out at Shane Watson's recent run with the bat, Chappell said, "We need players who are going to help us win games, and Shane Watson opening the batting can help us win games." "(His bowling) also gives the flexibility to play an extra spinner in Sri Lanka or an extra pace bowler in South Africa," he added.

Meanwhile, senior batsman Micheal Hussey has expressed his desire to be a part of the transition. — PTI 

Hyderabad, April 14
Fine bowling by Dale Steyn and Manpreet Gony helped Deccan Chargers Hyderabad defeat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 33 runs here tonight. Both Steyn and Punjab’s Gony took three wickets each as the Bangalore team was dismissed for 142, chasing a target of 176.

Virat Kohli 71 and Cheteshwar Pujara 25 were the only two Bangalore batsmen who got going as the rest of them found the pace of Steyn and Gony too hot to handle.

Earlier, Bharat Chipli smashed a blistering unbeaten half century as Deccan Chargers produced a solid batting display to post 175 for five. Deccan produced their best batting show so far with Chipli coming up with a strokeful 35-ball unbeaten 61 with the help of five fours and three sixes after his side were put into bat at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal. Captain Kumar Sangakkara and opener Sunny Sohal chipped in with 36 and 38 respectively. For RCB, Zaheer Khan was the most successful bowler with three for 32 runs.

The home side, who lost both their first two matches, made a decent start, reaching their 50 in the seventh over and 73 for two at the halfway mark before exploding in the last five overs with 61 runs for two wickets on a batting pitch. Shikhar Dhawan (11) could not contribute much, falling in the third over to India pace spearhead Zaheer Khan as he mistimed a shot to hole out to RCB captain Daniel Vettori at mid-on. The other opener Sohal and Sangakkara took the fight to the opposition bowlers by stitching 50 runs for the second wicket from 6.1 overs before the former fell in the ninth over to a Ryan Ninan delivery to leave Deccan at 70 for two.

Next man in Chipli delighted the home crowd with a flurry of big shots including a huge six off Tillakaratne Dilshan. Sangakkara joined in a brief run fest with a six off his Sri Lankan team-mate before he was out in the 15th over.

Chipli and Sangakkara shared 43 runs in 5.4 overs to take Deccan to 114 for three at the end of 15 overs. Deccan took 16 runs from the 16th over bowled by Ninan with Chipli hitting two sixes. — PTI

Scoreboard

Deccan Chargers

Sohal c Tiwary b Ninan 38

Dhawan c Vettori b Zaheer 11

S’kara c Villiers b Wath 36

Chipli not out 61

Duminy c Kohli b Zaheer 22

Christian lbw b Zaheer 0

Extras: (lb 2, w 3, nb 2) 7

Total: (5 wkts; 20 overs) 175

Bowling: Zaheer 4-0-32-3, Wath 4-0-30-1, Aravind 3-0-26-0, Vettori 4-0-29-0, Ninan 3-0-34-1, Dilshan 2-0-22-0.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Agarwal c Mishra b Gony 16

Dilshan c S’kara b Sharma 7

Zaheer b Steyn 0

Kohli b Gony 71

Villiers c S’kara b Gony 0

Tiwary c S’kara b Mishra 7

Pujara c Christian b Steyn 25

Wath c S’kara b Steyn 0

Vettori not out 3

Ninan c S’kara b Christian 3

Aravind not out 2

Extras: (lb 3, w 2, nb 3) 8

Total: (9 wkts; 20 overs) 142

Bowling: Steyn 4-0-24-3, Sharma 4-0-21-1, Gony 4-0-31-3, Christian 4-0-22-1, Mishra 4-0-41-1.

Jaipur, April 14
On a roll with consecutive wins under its belt, a confident Rajasthan Royals would be bolstered by the return of in-form Australian all-rounder Shane Watson when they take on an unpredictable Kolkata Knight Riders in an Indian Premier League match, here tomorrow.

Under wily Shane Warne, the Royals have started their IPL IV campaign in great style, comfortably defating Deccan Chargers and Delhi Dare Daredevils by eight and four wickets respectively, in their first two games. And Watson, who was in destructive form against Bangladesh in the just-concluded three-match ODI series, will further strengthen Rajasthan's batting as well as bowling departments.

Watson scored a mammoth 294 runs against Bangladesh, which included a whirlwind 185 not out in the second ODI including a world record of 15 sixes. Rajasthan's batting has been the cornerstone of their victories in the opening two matches with South African Johan Botha playing the lead role with unbeaten knocks of 67 and 39.

Watson, in all probability, will replace Shaun Tait and open the batting along with ever-dependable Rahul Dravid. Warne is spoilt for choice as far as his foreign quota is concerned. Apart from himself, he has Tait, Watson, Johan Botha and Ross taylor to choose from.

However, with only four foreigners allowed to feature in the playing XI, Warne has few problems up his sleeves as he himself, Botha and Taylor are certain to play tomorrow.

In that scenario, tearaway pacer Shaun Tait, who touched the 157 kmph mark against Daredevils (fastest on Indian soil), and Jacob Oram will have to sit out.

Rajasthan's bowling attack also looked impressive in the tournament so far with the likes of Amit Singh, Siddharth Trivedi and Tait, all returning among wickets. Inspirational Rajsathan skipper Warne might have retired from international cricket four years ago, but the magic is still there in his fingers as he returned with economical figures of 2/21 and 2/17 in both the matches.

Apart from his bowling, Warne is a shrewd tactician and leads his team by example. The Knight Riders, on the other hand, have so far had a mixed bag tournament with one win (by nine runs against Deccan Chargers) and a loss (by two runs against Chennai Super Kings). — PTI

Mumbai, April 14
Paul Valthaty who smashed his way into national consciousness with an unbeaten 120 for his team Kings XI Punjab at Mohali on Wednesday is seen as a promising batsman without lady luck on his side.

Though he started in the game much early, 16 years ago at the Vengsarkar Academy, Valthaty has just one first class match to his credit. The only outing he had with the big boys was the encounter between Mumbai and Baroda in 2006. Since then, he has been waiting on the sidelines for the right opportunity.

Among those who cannot help heaping praise on Valthaty is none other than Dilip Vengsarkar who kept an eye on him right from the time he was a 11-year old. Vengsarkar told reporters that Valthaty enrolled in his academy as a medium pacer but later on got noticed for his batting skills.

Later on, Valthaty went on to get selected for the Under-19 World Cup. But unfortunately just when his career was set to take off, Valthaty suffered an eye injury on the field that kept him off cricket for nearly two years. Getting back into the groove proved difficult and Valthaty was reduced to sitting on the sidelines.

Along the way he managed impressive performances for his employer, Air India. According to Valthaty's boss, Dilip Pinge, the airline's DGM (sports), the batsman was always a big hitter with his shots flying out of the stadium.

Like many cricketers struggling for their big break, the IPL 20-20 matches proved to be a major break for Paul Valthaty. After making his debut with Rajathan Royals, he was picked up for Punjab Kings XI where he proved his worth on Wednesday.

Valthaty had made his debut in IPL in 2009 for Rajasthan Royals but had failed to make an impact. Even in the first match of this season against Pune Warriors, Valthaty had fallen cheaply.

But on Wednesday he was promoted to open the batting and he grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

Ropar, April 14
RCF Kapurthala defeated PSEB Patiala (3-2) on the second day today of the Silver Jubilee Dasmesh Hawks All-India Hockey Festival being held here.

The first goal for PSEB Patiala was scored by Raju in the 9th minute of first half. Gurpreet Singh equalised in 13th minute. RCF earned their first penalty corner in 15th minute but failed to convert.

PSEB also earned a penalty corner in the 31st minute but too failed to score. The scoreboard read 1-1 at the end of the first half.

In the second half, RCF scored two field goals through Paramjit Singh and Gurpreet Singh. While Paramjit hit the target in the 52nd minute, Gurpreet converted a penalty corner in 55th minute. PSEB scored one more goal through Kulvinder Singh in 62nd minute through a penalty corner.

Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Delhi and Baba Farid Club Faridkot played the second match of the day. In the opening minute Farid Club scored through Gurjit Singh to. CISF team equalised two minutes later through Harish Sharma and went into the lead through C Lakra to lead 2-1 in the first half.

In the second half Baba Farid equalised through Parveen Kumar in 39th minute to make it 2-2. CISF then secured third, a field goal in 48th minute by Cyril Ekka and won 3-2.