|
|
|
|
|
India’s approach has been disappointing
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
Cook dominated the day’s proceedings and was unlucky to miss out on a triple hundred when he was caught six runs short in the deep off the bowling of Ishant Sharma. But by that time he had taken the game out of India’s reach. Eoin Morgan was the other batsman to prosper today as he duly completed his century and Tim Bresnan carried on his good form by remaining unbeaten with 53. When India came out to bat in the second innings, Sehwag was on a king pair and he fell to the first ball he faced once again, edging Anderson into the slips where captain Strauss completed a regulation catch. Earlier, Alastair Cook made mince meat of the pedestrian Indian bowling attack as England reached 646 for six at tea. Eoin Morgan also completed his century and was dismissed after making 104. For the Indians, Amit Mishra was the most successful bowler with three wickets. — Agencies Scoreboard India 2nd innings
|
|
India’s approach has been disappointing
The team has got a great blend of keen young players and some experienced guys and the self-belief is incredible. No other team in the world has the depth in batting that England has, and it is this aspect that has helped them get out of jail in the first two Test matches and become jailers themselves. The bowling which at the beginning of the series did not look too threatening has ripped open the Indian batting line-up, and thrown it away like waste paper. Anderson with his swing and late movement has been at the batsmen all the time. Broad has bowled a lot fuller and has got prize wickets every time and Bresnan, who looked a pretty innocuous bowler in the World Cup has obviously worked out, filled up in the right muscle areas and is getting the ball to bounce and move late disconcertingly. The experienced Indian batting has not been able to find the answer apart from Rahul Dravid of course. They have not reached 300, and have also not looked like getting there in any of the innings so far. Without a platform from the openers it is tough in such seaming conditions for the batsmen down the order to do much, and so the batting has been strangled neatly. What has been disappointing is the lackadaisical approach of some of the players who have given the impression that they would be better off being somewhere else than in this Test match. This sort of an approach does not behove the number one ranked team and it’s the lack of fight or resistance that has been depressing. Hopefully the weather will come to India’s rescue and they can then go to The Oval for the last Test with hopes of keeping their ranking intact if they win that Test. The problem of course is that the bowlers who have bowled their hearts out have just not been able to worry the English batsmen. Alastair Cook who was averaging single digits made up for that with a double ton of the highest class, but even he will agree that after a certain stage the runs were there for the taking just like the looters found the goods in the shops they broke were there according to their sizes. The other noticeable aspect was the complete absence of any tactics or strategy. The field placings were hard to understand and the slow movers in the field meant that even when there was no run the batsmen were still able to get them. India have been outplayed and unless the batting comes good in a huge way there is no comeback possible. — PMG
|
|
Isha Lakhani courts a new career
New Delhi, August 12 Yet, there is a rare breed of sportspersons who like such challenges, despite facing many odds and roadblocks, to give back something to the game. Isha Lakhani-Chatterjee ruled the Indian tennis scene for so long as the No. 1 (as Sania Mirza rarely played the domestic circuit) that at 26 she feels like a ‘veteran’. Though she has some more years left as an active player, she has already chalked out a path on the coaching track, while she’s still good at the game. The Aspire Tennis Academy, in association with Baseline Tennis and the Venkateshwara College here is a dream coaching facility where Isha plans to provide the kind of coaching and backup to players she rarely received when growing as a tennis player. Though Isha says that she “has played enough tennis” on the circuit, she has not called it quits as yet. She says her husband, a qualified coach, has been a big anchor as he wants her to pursue her playing career, while establishing her coaching facility. “I took to coaching as I have played at a very high level and thought that I would be able to share the best my practical knowledge with the players to make them better. Whatever I have learnt or experienced, is completely in a practical way. My plans are to try and develop players to their maximum skills, to make them better than their expectations, on court and off court,” explained Isha, in an exclusive chat with The Tribune. She said much planning had gone into the setting up of the Aspire academy and she hopes to create a benchmark in tennis training in the Capital. She has already received overwhelming response for the coaching clinic she would be holding on Sunday “The thrust in our coaching programme is our efforts and quality tennis, along with our sincerity to the fullest. We will be running our programme only for the advanced players. I guess I have played enough tennis so I feel I would coach and help players reach to their best levels, getting them to achieve their maximum potential,” she added. Isha, known for her mental toughness, often fought back from difficult situations to upstage her opponents. “My strongest point as a player was my mind, my sharpness of anticipation and my agility. Whatever I have achieved is because of my mental strength. I used to like being alone and with my own thoughts before a match. I wouldn’t talk to even my mother 30 minutes before a match. I liked my silence and space. I was an aggressive player, so I had to be ready from the first point,” Isha said. No wonder, she got to the ranking of 26 in singles in ITF juniors and 22 in doubles. She was ranked 291 on the Women’s Tennis Association roster, which was a remarkable achievement for a player who got little backing and financial support from any quarter, other than her parents. “I feel I have achieved more than I could, because I lacked financial support. If I had financial support, I would have been in another league today. “Tennis has changed me as a person. I have grown up with the game, got to see the world, went through very difficult and happy situations at a very young age, got extremely disciplined with life, and have learnt things which can be verbally explained. It’s a journey worth experiencing…,” reminisced the talented player. She said women players faced a major handicap in India. Even if a player managed to get sponsorship, at the age of 21 or 22, the sponsors would back out with the assumption that she would not get any further. “I feel the mentality in India is not fair. If a man can play up to the age of 35-38, a woman can play at least till she is 33 or 34,” Isha asserted. She also felt that there was much wrong in the prevalent coaching methods. “I have seen some players who like their net game, but I have seen coaches prepare them for the baseline game! When a player is strong at the net, why push him/her to the baseline? It’s better to work on the players’ strength than putting him/her on a different course. My mental strength was my strong point. Hence my coach worked on making me stronger mentally which gave me better results in my performances,” she stressed. She said parental support and unstinted backing was essential for a player to reach the peak. “What we are lacking in comparison with other countries is that most schools in India don’t support players at all, which forces them to concentrate on academics. Studies are important, but sport is equally important for it to be taken as a career. In other countries, it is an honour to be a sportsperson and every second child is into one or the other sport. In India too, they should have sports as a subject, for students to seriously consider a viable career option,” maintained Isha.
|
|
World
Badminton Championship Ponnappa-Gutta become India’s first women’s pair to enter semifinals
London, August 12 World number six Saina, who reached the quarterfinals in the last two editions of the event, had to be contend with yet another last-eight finish as she lost 15-21, 10-21 to world number three Wang Xin of China in a lop-sided women's singles match. But the day belonged to Jwala and Ashiwni as the Commonwealth Games gold medallist pair registered a gritty 17-21, 21-10, 21-17 upset victory over 12th seeds Vita Marissa and Nadya Melati of Indonesia in a 47-minute duel. The world number 21 pair will next face fifth seeds Qing Tian and Yunlei Zhao of China, who beat fourth seeds Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiiwa of Japan 21-16, 21-10 in another quarterfinal match. Earlier, Saina was not in her elements today as she struggled with her strokes and also committed too many unforced errors to hand over the match to the former world number one Chinese. Playing with the breeze in the first game, Saina kept her shuttle up during her serves and took a 4-2 lead, but Xin caught the Indian off-guard at the cross court to draw parity before breaking off at 9-9. Saina faltered with her baseline strokes and also failed to negotiate the sharp shots of the Chinese as Xin registered five straight points to move to 14-9, before holding her fort to grab the first game. The second game started off with long rallies but Xin soon started attacking as Saina panicked and ended up giving a 4-10 lead to the Chinese. Even though coach Pullela Gopichand tried to motivate Saina, the gulf could not be bridged as Xin controlled the game while anticipating the shots from the Indian. Two unforced errors from Xin helped Saina to gain a couple of odd points but the Indian allowed her Chinese opponent to seal the issue rather comfortably in the end. — PTI
|
Montreal, August 12 Federer came into the third round encounter seeking revenge on the Frenchman, who had dashed his bid for a seventh Wimbledon crown five weeks ago by storming back from two sets down to steal a shock last-eight win. The venue may have changed but the result was the same, as Tsonga again proved stronger in the closing stages than the world number three, winning an entertaining contest packed with dazzling rallies that delighted a packed centre court crowd. "He beat me at Wimbledon, so I don't know how much of a surprise it is," Federer, a two-time winner in Canada told reporters. "He's playing well. I thought if he was going to play well again and me not at my best, he could do it again." — Reuters
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Birmingham, August 12
Alastair Cook slammed a career-best 294 as England gained total control on the third day of third Test here today. The home team declared their first innings at a mammoth 710 for 7 and then got the crucial wicket of Virender Sehwag to have the Indians on the mat. At close of play, the visitors had reached 35 for 1, still 451 runs behind.
India will be hoping that the weather which interrupted play on the third day will play a role in helping them escape in the third Test match. England once again have totally dominated this Test with a display that marks them out to be the number one team in the World. They beat Australia down under to retain the Ashes, and now the manner in which they have beaten India shows clearly that this team is likely to dominate World cricket over the next few years at the Test level.
Hardwork paid off: Misbah
MELBOURNE: