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Royal Challenge ahead for Mumbai Indians
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Did Gautam Gambhir shoulder trouble?
Kolkata Knight Riders’ skipper took shots of banned substance New Delhi, May 26 The statement of Andrew Leipus, the Kolkata Knight Riders and former Indian team physio, on KKR captain Gautam Gambir’s injury has come as a real shock. It also shows the callous manner in which injuries to top sportspersons are dealt with.
Country-club issue up to individuals: Vettori
Clijsters humbled by Rus
Sutil finishes 8th fastest
Mukund in fray for Tests
National Hockey at Bhopal
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Royal Challenge ahead for Mumbai Indians
Chennai, May 26 The stories of Mumbai Indians and RCB have a similar shade. They have looked unbeatable but in patches, having fallen flat just when the aura of invincibility is growing. For RCB, it has been a ‘one-man-show’. The arrival of Chris Gayle made them contenders, so much so that they finished the league stage on top of the points table. But their reliance on the West Indian has seen them fall short at times. During the first qualifier against Chennai, they had the perfect chance to secure a place in the final. Despite Virat Kohli’s heroics, they failed to defend a score in excess of 175. Gayle had missed out in that game and so did RCB’s self-belief. Their batting will once again be tested to the core and with Kohli in fine form, a back-in-groove Gayle is just what they need. The bowling too has some meat in it, although they got a fair bit of stick against Chennai, mainly from Suresh Raina. But the likes of Zaheer Khan, Sreenath Arvind and Daniel Vettori can always be considered wicket-taking options. There too they have Gayle, who can roll his arm over pretty effectively. For Mumbai, who started the IPL as probably the strongest side, the last few games have been too close for comfort. Ambati Rayudu played a blinder against Kolkata Knight Riders earlier in the league stage, and then the eliminator saw Mumbai of the old rise and shine. Adrian Blizzard finally made a telling contribution, Tendulkar stayed around just long enough and then James Franklin and Harbhajan Singh wrapped up proceedings. The batting is overflowing with talent and with Kieron Pollard not having made the kind of impact he is capable of, the time might just have come for him. Rohit Sharma is also another ready-to-explode option that Tendulkar will have at hand. The bowling, although looking slightly off-colour during the final stages, is actually Mumbai’s strength. With Lasith Malinga, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan, Dhawal Kulkarni and Pollard in the ranks, Tendulkar knows where to get his overs from. Patel has definitely been special with his handling of the death overs. He has picked wickets and also been economical. Add to that Harbhajan’s guile and the deadly accuracy of Malinga’s yorkers and Mumbai look every bit the dream bowling machine. But can this machine handle the ‘Gayle Storm’ remains to be seen. The weather in Chennai is already playing games, but as often is the case here. It changes on an hourly basis. But that should be the least of Vettori or Tendulkar’s worries as they look to find one more trump card and set up a final date with Chennai. |
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Did Gautam Gambhir shoulder trouble?
Leipus has said that Gambhir had been carrying an injury in his left shoulder for a couple of years and his outings in the World Cup and the IPL have aggravated it. Gambhir had reportedly taken repeated “corticosteroid injections” on his shoulder during this period. Leipus also revealed that Gambhir has been carrying another complex injury to his groin, “Ostitis Pubis”, which is also a nagging injury for sportspersons. Dr P.S.M. Chandran, former Director of Sports Medicine, Sports Authority of India, wondered whether the KKR franchise owners were aware of Gambhir’s injuries when he was snapped up for an exorbitant amount of Rs 11 crore in the IPL auctions. “Did the BCCI make sure that all the cricketers who were put up for auction were physically and medically fit to play in the IPL?” asked Chandran. Leipus had also stated that as the KKR physio, he had been carrying out the management/rehabilitation of Gambhir’s injury throughout the current IPL season. Delhi boy Gambhir had played for Delhi Daredevils in the previous editions of the IPL and even led the team last year when Virender Sehwag stood down. This year, Daredevils did not bid for him and KKR bought him for a huge sum. “Was it the injury factor which prompted Daredevils to discard him this year?” wondered Chandran. He said Leipus had also revealed that Gambhir was “under distress” during the current IPL with intermittent “painful and pain-free days”. He had “tendinosis” and “visible” wasting of muscle of the affected shoulder. “Did Leipus report this to the franchise owners and advise them not to risk playing Gambhir in the IPL, especially when he is an important member of the Indian cricket team? Was the BCCI aware of Gambhir’s injury when they selected him captain of the Indian team for the coming tour to the West Indies?” questioned Chandran. He said Gambhir’s injury was a sad commentary on the way sportspersons hid their injuries and also the manner in which sports injuries were managed by physiotherapists and doctors. “Very often, team physiotherapists shy away from showing the injured athlete to competent sports medicine doctors. Instead, they try to manage it all by themselves. Physiotherapists are mainly physical therapists and not clinicians like doctors. When these physios style themselves as doctors, athletes become the victims of improper and inadequate management of injuries”, Chandran explained. He said if Leipus was to be believed, even a routine and mandatory investigation like an MRI has been carried out as lately as the penultimate day of the current IPL season though Gambhir has been suffering from the injury for last couple of years. “It is not clear who is maintaining Gambhir’s the medical records and whether the BCCI, Daredevils and KKR had any access to those records”, Chandran, who is also the president of the Indian Association of Sports Medicine, said. He said it was “frightening” to know from Leipus that Gambhir had multiple injections of corticosteroid in his right shoulder during the past two years. “Sports doctors are normally cautious in giving steroid injections into joints, wary of the consequences. These injections give temporary relief, but when the athlete starts taking heavy training load subsequently, the injected area fails to cope up, the pain resurfaces and it turns out to be a chronic injury. This is probably what must have happened in Gambhir’s case. “Corticosteroid injection is a doping drug which comes under the banned list of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Did Gambhir take the necessary Therapeutic Usage Exemption Certificate from WADA, NADA (National Anti-Doping Agency) or BCCI for using the drug? Failing that, he could be sanctioned for a positive dope test.” elaborated Chandran. |
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Our team can beat India: Trott
Dubai, May 26 While the Indian team enjoys the numero uno status in the five-day format, Andrew Strauss' England are currently ranked third in the world.
Trott, who has played in 18 Tests and 25 ODIs for England, played a key role in the team's triumphant Ashes campaign Down Under last winter. "The current team is trying to get better and better and that's the drive and mentality that Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss have created," Trott said on ICC Cricket World Radio Show.
Trott, alongwith Kevin Pietersen, will be England’s main batsman for the series.
— PTI |
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Country-club issue up to individuals: Vettori
"I think it is each man for himself and you can’t generalise these things. You have to remember that there are also players who skipped the IPL because of injury. So you can’t say it’s becoming a trend." Speaking about their second chance of making it to the final, the second qualifier against Mumbai Indians, Vettori said, "We are pretty upbeat about the game and hopefully we will be able to put our last defeat behind us. The boys are set to take this big chance, and I see us going into the match with pretty much the same side." Meanwhile Mumbai Indians' fielding coach Robin Singh played down comparisons between Purple Cap holder Lasith Malinga and Orange Cap holder Chris Gayle. "We don’t think there is any point in trying to run comparisons. We just have to try and play our game. We can’t ignore the fact that Gayle has been phenomenal. But there is more to the match and we are focussed on just that." |
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Clijsters humbled by Rus
Paris, May 26 After a confident first-round victory on Tuesday and a great first set against Dutch neighbour Arantxa Rus, Clijsters lost a match point and her game suddenly fell apart to give the world number 114 a famous 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over one of her heroes. The U.S. Open and Australian Open champion was the second seed in Paris and had rushed back from hurting herself at her cousin's wedding to try to better her two runners-up finishes on the Roland Garros clay. "I started doubting a little bit," Clijsters told a news conference. "I think that, on clay, is something that for me is definitely the wrong attitude to have. My ankle feels fine, so that has absolutely nothing to do with it." A massive 53 unforced errors and nine double-faults cost Clijsters dear but she did not regret battling back to fitness for the year's second grand slam having dominated a lacklustre women's game in the last nine months. "I made the best with the situation that I was in, and I tried to go for it," the 27-year-old said with a resigned smile. "If I felt like I wasn't ready as much as I would have liked to be, I wouldn't have come here."
— Reuters |
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Sania crashes out of French Open
Paris, May 26 The Indian lost 2-6, 4-6 to 12th-seeded Radwanska in a one hour and 16 minute contest at the Roland Garros here. It was always going to be tough for World No. 72 Sania as she committed 42 unforced errors as compared to her opponent's 18. Sania though hit more winners than Radwanska. The Polish player completely dominated the proceeding to run away with the first set 6-2. In the second set, Sania, who does not like clay court surface, lifted herself but Radwanska proved to be too strong for her. Sania has not been able to cross the second round hurdle in the Grand Slams since 2009 and the fourth round appearance in the US Open in 2005 remains her best performance. Lee-Hesh enter second round in doubles Indian duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi shrugged off a rusty start and rallied from a set down to register a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over German pair of Tommy Haas and Philipp Petzschner in the doubles first round of the French Open. Aiming to win their third French Open title together, it took the "Indian Express" duo an hour and 36 minutes to send their opponents packing at the Roland Garros. The third-seed Indians were completely off-colour in the first set as they could get just 33 percent of their second serve right as compared to German pair's 60 per cent. — PTI
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india lose to china 1-3
Qingdao, May 26 Saina Nehwal pulled one back for India, beating World No.3 Xin Wang 21-15, 21-11. Parupalli Kashyap gave a good account of himself and stretched World No.3 and Olympic champion Lin Dan before losing 14-21, 14-21 in 33 minutes. Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa were no match for World No.1 Xiaoli Wang and Yang Yu and went down 8-21, 13-21. India's Saina Nehwal played brilliantlyto beat China's world number three Wang Xin. Nehwal, the world-ranked four and darling of Indian badminton, made a fantastic start, racing her way to a 5-0 and then 16-11 lead -- to the shock of a sell-out crowd in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao. She sealed the game 21-15, sending a hushed silence around the partisan arena. The 21-year-old Nehwal was just as emphatic at the start of the second game, surging ahead 4-1 and then 13-4. Wang made a half-hearted comeback but Nehwal hung on for a big point for India. "It's very good that I beat a Chinese player in China," said Saina.
— Agencies |
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Sutil finishes 8th fastest
Monte Carlo, May 26 Sutil's team-mate Paul di Resta, however, ended the session at a disappointing 21st (1:21.548s) at the 3.6 km street circuit. Force India drivers had compromised on the qualifying session at Barcelona Grand Prix for the sake of tyres. The Silverstone-based outfit has not earned a point in the last three races and are looking to make the most of the Saturday's qualifying session. Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso staged a great fight for fastest time in the closing minutes. Vettel finally finished ahead of Alonso by 0.113s just when it seemed that the Ferrari driver had things in the bag. The session was interrupted for 10 minutes after water leaked on to the track, and saw Hispania's Tonio Liuzzi spin his HRT under braking for entry to the chicane, removing its front wing. Liuzzi's teammate and Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan recorded the slowest time with 1:23.885s. The Circuit de Monaco, which has narrow streets and tight corners, hardly gives opportunity to overtake and hence position on the grid becomes almost decisive.
— PTI |
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Man-U to stick with winning combination
London, May 26 According to The Sun, the Lucky XI are Edwin van der Sar, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs, Antonio Valencia, Fabio, Michael Carrick, Wayne Rooney, Patrice Evra, Ji-Sung Park and Javier Hernandez. Top scorer Dimitar Berbatov and Nani, who was voted players' Player of the Year, will warm the bench.
— ANI |
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Mukund in fray for Tests
Chennai, May 26 With Virender Sehwag already out of the side recuperating from a shoulder surgery, Gambhir's injury concerns have made it tough for the selectors to choose specialists who can negotiate the new ball. While horribly out-of-form Murali Vijay will get a look in as there aren't too many altenatives, Mukund who had scored 1211 runs this season from 12 first-class matches with five centuries is likely to make the cut. Mukund was kept as a cover during a Test match against Australia in Bangalore last year. While captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, senior pros Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman and Zaheer Khan are expected to be back, the No 6 slot is still up for grabs. Cheteshwar Pujara played in South Africa but he is nursing a knee injury. Yuvraj Singh in all likelihood will be rewarded for his good form in World Cup. However Virat Kohli and S Badrinath will also be fighting for that particular slot. The battle for the second wicketkeeper will also be an intense one as Parthiv Patel is favourite with his ability to play the new ball. Likely Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Murali Vijay, Gautam Gambhir/Abhinav Mukund, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh/Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel/Wriddhiman Saha (second wk), Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, S Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Badrinath/Virat Kohli.
— PTI |
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National Hockey at Bhopal
New Delhi, May 26 The matches will be played simultaneously on four artificial pitches at Aish Bagh Stadium, Mayur Park and the Sports Authority of India turfs. Matches will be held under floodlights at the Aish Bagh Stadium and the SAI
centre. Hosts Madhya Pradesh will take on Jammu & Kashmir in the opening match on June 10 at the Aish Bagh Stadium. The teams have been divided into eight pools as under: Pool A: Punjab, Tamil
Nadu, Gujarat, Uttarakhand; Pool B: Chandigarh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Assam; Pool C: Delhi, Bihar, Andhra
Pradesh, Bengal; Pool D: Air-India, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Chhattisgarh; Pool E: Services,
Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur; Pool F: Haryana, Maharashtra, Goa,
Meghalaya; Pool G: Railways, Combined Universities, Puducherry, Tripura; Pool H:
Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Andaman & Nicobar. During the championship, the Hockey India selectors will select the probables for the next coaching camps for preparation of the Indian team for various international competitions in 2011 and 2012. The Indian men's team is slated to compete in the Asian Champions Trophy at
Ordos, China, in early September, followed by a Test series and four-nation tournament in Australia in October. India will then play in the 33rd FIH Men’s Champions Trophy in Delhi in December and also host the 1st Olympic qualifier in Delhi for the London Games, from February 15-26, 2012. |
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