New Delhi, November 7
Darren Sammy isn’t the greatest cricketer in the world. He is an ironic case of a mediocre player who is in the West Indies team simply because he is captain, as his oratory skills and smile overshoot his cricketing abilities my a mile. But he had promised to plat “fearless cricket” in India, and did just that on the second day of the first Test at the Ferozshah Kotla here.

India, once threatening to tear the very modest West Indies attack asunder, were dismissed for 209 in 52.5 overs in less than four hours of batting. In a bizarre turn of events, the day saw the end of two innings and the beginning of the third. The West Indies, with an unexpected 95-run lead in the bank, were teasingly placed at 21 for two at stumps, a lead of 116 runs.

The West Indies, who had begun at 256 for five this morning, folded up for 304 in a slew of correct and debatable lbw decisions as Pragyan Ojha ended with six for 72, his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket. Shivnarine Chanderpaul scored a fine 118 before being given out leg-before, rather harshly.

Sammy, with ample help from wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh and leggie Devendra Bishoo, led from the front as the visitors made everyone sit up and take notice.

The Indian batting began like they had a train to catch. Fidel Edwards’ pace, by far the fastest bowler here, made even edges and miscues fly to the fence. At other times he bowled poor line as Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag clattered boundaries like they were going out of fashion.

Sehwag decided to hammer home the advantage after his stumps were shattered off an Edwards no-ball. He hit everything but then cracked one straight back at Sammy. The ball kissed the bowler’s hand and hit the stumps at the other end, leaving the equally aggressive Gambhir stranded.

No alarms still, as the batting boasted one name after the other. But then Sammy brought in Bishoo and Baugh conjured up a superb stumping to remove Sehwag, who fell to a combination of a casual approach and loss of balance.

Then the fun began. Kotla roared as Sachin Tendulkar came in, and then went silent as he left, his much-awaited century of centuries again consigned to the future.

VVS Laxman didn’t stay long either as he gave Bishoo and Baugh their second victim. After that, Sammy found his purple patch. Yuvraj Singh drove uppishly to covers and then Mahendra Singh Dhoni played the wrong line and the ball bounced off his pad and bat to uproot the off stump. This was Sammy’s fifth over, the 33rd of the innings. His next over saw Baugh accepting a sharp leg-side catch off Ravichandran Ashwin.

India had been reduced to 154 for seven off 35 overs after being 89 for no loss midway through just the 12th over of the innings.

Sammy was on cloud nine. He was off on a victory lap after dismissing Dhoni. The timid man, invariably defensive about his captaincy and abilities, had bared his teeth. He kept pumping his fist and exhorting his cricketers to play fearless cricket.

Rahul Dravid looked on as the batsmen peers came and went. For him, there was very little of alarm in the track - which was indeed the case. He then got down to doing what he does best - take on the attack and score some vital runs for India. He found an ally in Ishant Sharma and the duo began eating into what was beginning to look like a fairly big lead for the visitors.

But he lost concentration for just one Ravi Rampaul delivery towards the end and holed out to square-leg. The innings folded up in the same over.

Scoreboard
West Indies 1st innings 304
India 1st innings
Gambhir run out 41
Sehwag st Baugh b Bishoo 55
Dravid c Sammy b Rampaul 54
Tendulkar lbw b F Edwards 7
Laxman c Baugh b Bishoo 1
Yuvraj c K Edwards b Sammy 23
Dhoni b Sammy 0
Ashwin c Baugh b Sammy 0
Ishant c Baugh b Samuels 17
Ojha not out 3
Yadav b Rampaul 0
Extras (b 5, w 1, nb 2) 8
Total (all out) 209
Bowling: F Edwards 11-1-57-1, Rampaul 14.5-2-44-2, Sammy 8-1-35-3, Bishoo 14-0-55-2, Samuels 5-0-13-1.

West Indies 2nd innings
Brathwaite lbw b Ojha 2
Powell c Gambhir b Ashwin 0
K Edwards batting 15
F Edwards batting 0
Extras (lb 4) 4
Total (2 wkts; 14 ovrs) 21
Bowling: Ojha 7-4-7-1, Ashwin 6-3-8-1, Yuvraj 1-0-2-0.

Sharjah, November 7
Pakistan clinched the three-Test series against Sri Lanka 1-0 after the third and final cricket match ended in a draw at Sharjah stadium here today.

Persistent rain wiped out play in the pre-lunch session — a two hours and 35 minutes delay — which left Sri Lanka with little time to enforce a win despite declaring their second innings at 181-6, setting Pakistan a target of 255 in a possible of 61 overs.

By tea, Sri Lanka had taken three early wickets and were pressing for a win. Pakistan lost a further fourth wicket when opener Taufiq Umar fell for 39, before they finished at 87-4 when umpires called off the match four overs earlier due to bad light.

Skipper Misbah-ul Haq (nine) and Asad Shafiq (seven) survived some anxious moments to salvage a draw. Pakistan won the second Test in Dubai by nine wickets after the first in Abu Dhabi ended in a draw.

The result kept Pakistan on the sixth ranking, as they needed a 2-0 victory to jump one place up and replace Sri Lanka on fifth. Pakistan started positively before losing Mohammad Hafeez (13), Azhar Ali (seven) and Younis Khan (11) in the space of 37 runs.

Hafeez had struck a boundary in the first over by Chanaka Welegedara but fell in an unwise manner, run out after taking a sharp single as he failed to beat a direct throw from mid-wicket by substitute Lahiru Thirimanne. — AFP

London, November 7
They turned on each other during the spot-fixing trial and now convicted Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif have been forced to share a cell at the Wandsworth prison where they are serving their term.

The two tried to lay the blame on each other during the trial, which concluded with Butt being jailed for two and a half years while Asif getting a one-year sentence.

"There is a certain gallows humour about the situation. They had no choice, it's the prison authorities who make the call. The batsman and the bowler remain together but with no room for a run-up let alone room to overstep the mark," a prison source was quoted as saying by The Daily Mail.

In the witness stand during the trial, Asif had accused Butt of abusing him before he bowled the second of the three pre-determined no balls in conspiracy with convicted bookie Mazhar Majeed, who has been sentenced to 32 months in prison.

At that time, Butt's lawyer Ali Bajwa QC had suggested that Asif was fabricating his story to justify the no-ball. Bajwa had also accused Asif of "untruthfully downplaying" his relationship with the Majeed brothers. — PTI

Tarn Taran, November 7
Pakistan beat Italy 50-37 in a pulsating contest today when three matches were played in the second edition of the Kabaddi World Cup at the Khalsa College here. Pakistan, which came second in the Asia Kabaddi Cup held in Iran last month, overcame tough resistance from its opponents.

Even as Pakistan established lead in the first half as it was ahead by 27-16 but Italy tried hard to chase the score in the second half. Pakistan’s raiders Abaidula Lala and Aamir Ismail earned 10 and 8 points, respectively. Its stopper Hamid Ismail pocketed four points.

In another contest, Spain routed Sri Lanka 70-26 in the first match of the day in which greenhorns Sri Lankan players displayed some resistance in front of their physically superior and technically sound opponents.

Spanish players, majority of them being of Punjabi origin, were of stout physique. Sukhjinder Singh came out as the best player for his team as he scored 11 points.

In another match, the USA clobbered Argentina 71-17, to register its third staright win. It was an easy run for the US as its raiders could not be caught even once by Argentine defenders.

Patiala, November 7
Controversy hit the second Kabaddi World Cup underway in Punjab with as many as three more foreign players tested positive for banned substances Nandrolone and Glucosteroid today.

Giving information in this regard, the National Anti-Doping Agency Director-General, Rahul Bhatnagar, said the results of the A samples of four players were declared today out of which three foreign players have tested positive.

"These include one player each from Spain, USA and Argentina. With this, the total number of players found positive during this World Cup goes to seven. The results of 26 more samples are pending and we would declare them at the earliest," he added.

Expressing delight that none of the Indian players has yet been found positive, Bhatnagar said after 20 out of 51 Indian players failed tests conducted by NADA on October 5 at Ludhiana, the situation had become really disappointing but Punjab Government took a great step by banning all of them from the tournament.

"It's the department that should be given the credit for saving India from future embarrassment during the tournament," he added.

Meanwhile, the World Cup organising committee has temporarily suspended all seven players.

Director Sports of Punjab Government, Pargat Singh, who is the organising secretary of the tournament, said that these players have been suspended and barred from playing future matches. He reiterated that the committee was committed to ensure a dope-free World Cup.

New Delhi, November 7
The Indo-Pakistan tennis duo of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi has booked a berth in the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals to be held from November 20 to 27 at London's O2 arena.

The ‘Indo-Pak Express’, who have got a bye in the opening round of the ongoing BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, will be making their team debut at the season finale, which will feature the top eight doubles teams.

Bopanna and Qureshi have been rewarded for their consistent show this year. They pocketed two ATP Tour Titles - at the Gerry Weber Open and the Stockholm Open - and made the quarterfinals and semifinals of more than five ATP 1000 Masters events.

The US Open semifinalists, ranked seventh in the world, became the seventh team to join the elite list which will battle it out at the Tour Finals.

"It’s been a great year for us and we are very excited to be playing against the best of the world," Bopanna said. — PTI

Madrid, November 7
Lionel Messi saved Barcelona's blushes with an injury-time equaliser in a 2-2 draw away at Athletic Bilbao. In the rain-hit Basque country, Ander Herrera opened the scoring for Athletic only for Cesc Fabregas to pull Barca level on 24 minutes.

When Barca defender Gerard Pique put the ball into his own net with 10 minutes remaining, Athletic looked all set to hand the European champions their first league defeat of the season.

In a frantic finish to the match, however, Messi made the most of a defensive mistake to pounce on a loose ball and score his 14th in the league and first away from the Nou Camp this season.

Despite dropping points, Barca coach Pep Guardiola was quick to hail Athletic's efforts. — AFP

BRIEFLY

Force India not taking it easy
Abu Dhabi: With just two races to go in the season, Sahara Force India has a 10-point cushion against close rivals Sauber and Toro Rosso but the team is not taking the sixth-place finish for granted. Team Principal Vijay Mallya promised to be as competitive as they have been in the season. "We've also made a bit of a step with the upgrades we brought to India. But at the end of the day you never know until the last race is over. We found that out painfully last year when Williams pipped us by one point, but now I think we’re comfortably in sixth position, ahead of Toro Rosso as well as Sauber. But it's never done until it's done," Mallya said. — PTI

Shastri women’s hockey
New Delhi: The Lal Bahadur Shastri under-21 four-nation women’s hockey tournament will be held at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium here from tomorrow. The tournament will feature Germany, New Zealand, Australia and hosts India. The final will be held on November 12. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit will inaugurate the tournament. Australia will take on Germany in the opening match while India will meet New Zealand in the second tie. The tournament will be played on a round-robin league and the top two teams will contest for the title. Chairman of the organizing committee, Sqn. Ldr. Kamal Chaudhary, said the initiative to organise the women’s tournament was to give a push to the game among girls. — TNS

Woods back in form
MELBOURNE: Former world number one Tiger Woods on Monday said he was starting to enjoy golf again after a spate of injuries, with a strict training regime helping him regain his speed and distance. "I've had a broken leg, a torn Achilles and strained ligaments over the last five years. But now I'm starting to get going, I'm starting to do all my explosive training again. I'm hitting faster, more explosive, my speed's come back. I'm hitting the ball distances, I know I can hit the golf ball again, it's getting fun,” said Woods. — AFP

Rooney out of squad
London: England manager Fabio Capello has not named striker Wayne Rooney in the 25-man squad to play friendlies against Spain and Sweden. Capello said that he want to play some youngsters as Rooney is currently facing a three-match ban from UEFA, which will force him to miss the Euro 2012 group matches. “I spoke to him and told him he would not be selected for this game and he understood this,” Xinhua quoted Capello, as saying. — ANI

Federer wins Basel title
Basel: Roger Federer returned to winning mode ten months after his last title as the home tennis hero schooled Japanese wild card Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-3 to win a fifth Swiss Indoors title. The third seed lost just one point in a dominating first set that lasted 28 minutes. "It's great to win at home again," said Federer. "Kei put up a good fight,. I've known ever since I hit with him as a teenager that he could have a good future. He's had some injuries but he's playing well now. It was a good match and I'm very happy for the win." — PTI