Kolkata, November 14
All the runs scored notwithstanding, Day One of the second Test between India and the West Indies at the Eden Gardens here can be best described as lazy. India reached a score of 346 for five like a leisurely walk in the park. The run-rate was always high, but the complete lack of penetration in the bowling made matters look easy, none easier than the classic Rahul Dravid century. But for a little flurry of wickets towards the end of the day, it would have been a near-perfect day for the hosts. VVS Laxman lived to battle on, with a score of 73, while play was called off after 87.3 overs due to bad light, even before Yuvraj Singh could reach the crease.

Dravid is not one to ever let go of an opportunity like this. He gauged the pitch and conditions as quickly as ever and once he got into the business of scoring, it wasn’t stoppable, or even mildly hinderable. Nothing fazed him, no bowler got under his skin or through his defence, barring an odd delivery from Devendra Bishoo. He wasn’t in any tearing rush to score, but a couple of sixes off the spinners attested to his domination, equally to the pedestrian nature of the bowling. Till one moment of broken concentration towards the end of the day against Kraigg Brathwaite, a part-timer, even in this attack.

Dravid and Laxman have put Eden in the cricketing folklore earlier, and today too they were in supreme command. Laxman can score practically on any track and this one, or the attack, was no challenge for him at all.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni called correctly in the morning and India went in with the same side that had won the first Test in New Delhi. The West Indies brought Adrian Barath to replace Kieran Powell and Kemar Roach came in ahead of an unfit Ravi Rampaul.

The Indian batting began at its usual high, with Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag carting the bowling around from the first over. Never a dull moment when Sehwag plays and the sparse Eden crowd was treated to his usual fireworks, though Fidel Edwards did manage to rap him on the back of the head, forcing the physio to come in.

But otherwise it was one-way traffic. Whatever wickets India left were thanks to some injudicious shots, and maybe just a tad of sloth in the track.

Sehwag isn’t a stickler for customs and form, so he went in his typical irreverent way, driving straight into Barath’s hands at short mid-wicket of the first ball from Sammy after the first drinks break.

There was a century available to practically any batsman, but three poor shots made sure that only Dravid ended up with one at the end of the day. Gambhir compiled a fine half-century before playing a square-cut, and Barath again claimed the catch, this time off Edwards.

One of the stories nowadays is Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th international century, or the lack of it. Once more, everyone waited as he whittled down the runs, never looking too convincing, even on this dead track. He survived an lbw appeal off Bishoo, a decision that should have gone the other way, and then played onto his pads for the ball to balloon up and land between the onrushing wicketkeeper and bowler Sammy.

The cross-batted shot has been his bane in this series. An attempted pull off Bishoo had done him in Delhi and here too, the lbw appeal came off an attempted sweep. But not enough lessons were learnt as he tried another pull and this time managed to find the on-side fielder, again off Bishoo. He left for 38. The wait for his landmark is fast becoming agonising rather than anticipated.

India 1st innings:
Gambhir c Barath b Fidel 65
Sehwag c Barath b Sammy 38
Dravid b Brathwaite 119
Tendulkar c Samuels b Bishoo 38
Laxman batting 73
Ishant c Baugh b Roach 0
Extras (lb-5, w-2, nb-6) 13
Total (5 wkts, 87.3 ovrs) 346
Bowling: Fidel 13-0-45-1, Sammy 14-0-78-1, Roach 15.3-1-57-1, Samuels 16-0-65-0, Bishoo 27-1-87-1, Brathwaite 2-0-9-1. 

Hoshiarpur, November 14
‘Welcome to the city of Saints’ read a banner as one drove into this historic town where the sport of an ancient civilisation in the form of the Pearls World Kabaddi Cup made an appearance much to the delight of thousands of locals who thronged the multi-purpose outdoor stadium here today.

As far as the smooth proceedings in the first match between USA and Sri-Lanka suggested, everything was saintly about the match as the former, playing in a friendly manner at just half the capability and ability they displayed in earlier encounters, trampled the latter 76-10 in one of the most lop- sided encounters.

The technically sound Americans never had to strain a sinew as they made mincemeat of their Lankan mates. Once the winners notched up a half time lead of 36-7, the Lankans had already run out of both steam and ideas.

The winners, having quality players like Baljit Singh, Dalbir Singh and Meeka Seatlewalla, in their ranks had no reason to jump the queue by using forceful tactics as they along with Pakistan have virtually qualified for the last four stage from Pool B.

The Americans played carefully as four of their players have already been suspended for doping offences and a couple of injuries today would have put them in a spot of bother in the medal round. For the winners Balwinder Singh Billa displayed quicksilver footwork and coupled with his tremendous agility he showed why he was the master of all he surveyed in the circle.

Egged on by the vociferous spectators, Sunny Kandola doused many a raid with his smart stopping technique and earned a big applause from the delirious crowd once the match ended.

In other matches, Spain beat Argentina 70-15, Italy downed Norway 49-33 while in the women’s tournament, USA beat Turkmenistan 44-21.

Panchkula, November 14
While the seventh-leg in Chandigarh saw Bangalore’s Sharmila Nicollet triumph in style, the eighth-leg of Hero Women’s Professional Tour began today at the more challenging Panchkula Golf Course in Sector-3 here.

Sharmila began the par-4 opening hole with a bogey, but then announced her arrival with two birdies on the 2nd and 3rd hole. Both Sharmila and Chandigarh’s Saaniya Sharma ended the day at a level-par score of 73.

Par-4 10th hole proved to be extremely challenging for Sharmila, as her tee-shot landed left of the fairway and into the bushes. She tried hard to retrieve the situation from the hazard but ended up making a triple-bogey on that hole to spoil her card.

Saaniya, on the other hand, hit a remarkable shot on the par-4 16th to make an eagle. The pin at this hole was comparatively easy at a distance of 260 yards and Sharmila also made a birdie here. But on the par-4 18th hole, where the green is across a narrow road leading into a nearby village, Saaniya failed to maintain her lead and ended with a double-bogey.

Seasoned golfer Smriti Mehra, looked somewhat out of sorts today as she made several bogies to end the day at a score of 80. It was only on the back nine that she started showing more consistency in her swing and became confident with her shots.

The fairway of the par-3 13th is quite wide but golfers have to remain straight here to avoid missing the bunkers on both sides. There was a lot of whistling here that came from unseen birds who seemed to be having a rollicking time somewhere in the bushes. These invisible birds were the only audience at today’s quiet round of golf. Unpeturbed by this noise from the birds, Smriti focused hard on her putting to save her par at this hole. She then followed with a birdie and two bogies.

In all, 12 women golfers are participating in this leg, out of which Vandana Agarwal withdrew after today’s round. She finished with a score of 80 but her back injury flared up and she won’t be playing on the next two days.

Nalini Siwach and Neha Tripathi are third and fourth after the opening round with scores of 75 and 76 respectively. Neha was the only one to score a birdie on the par-3 13th hole today but her double-bogies on one and third kept her back on the leader board.

Patiala, November 14
Continuing their dominance in the All India Inter-University (AIIU) Archery Championship fourth time in a row, Punjabi University, Patiala, emerged overall winner in the AIIU that concluded here today. GND University, Amritsar, bagged second place whereas VVS Purvanchal and SS University, Varanasi, shared third spot.

Punjabi University, Patiala, won 33 medals in total. They bagged 11 gold medals which included 9 individual medals and 2 team medals. There total silver medals were 14, including 12 individual medals and 2 team medals, and 8 bronze medals which include 7 individual medals and 1 bronze medal.

On the other hand, GND University bagged 23 medals in all. It included 9 gold medals (6 individual and 3 team), 5 silver medals (4 individual and 1 team) and 9 bronze medals (8 individual and 1 team medal).

Meanwhile, both VVS Purvanchal and Varanasi University won four gold medals each. PWD (B&R) Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa was the chief guest on the closing ceremony and gave away prizes to the winners.

Expressing delight over the performance of Punjab University, Director Sports Dr Rajkumar Sharma said the students and their coach Jiwanjot Singh had not left any stone unturned to sustain their position and he was glad that they have achieved their target.

BRIEFLY

Mumbai Fighters in Perm
Chandigarh: The Indian team in the World Series Boxing, Mumbai Fighters, have left for Perm to play their first away match with Moscow Dynamo. The five-member team, which left late last night, is as follows: Jitender Kumar (Bantam), Sidharth Verma (Light), Mandeep Jangra (Middle), Marko Calic (Light Heavy), Trent Rawlings (Heavy). The Indian franchise of the event, will play their first home game in Mumbai on December 9. — TNS

A bodybuilder flexes his muscles during the Mr Kashmir Bodybuilding Championship in Srinagar on Monday. Tribune photo: Mohd Amin War

Nikhil wins TT C’ship
Chandigarh: Nikhil Saini of Patiala and Yashi of Ropar clinched the Cadet Boys and Girls Single Titles on the second day of the ongoing C & C 52nd Punjab State Table Tennis Championship. Cadet Boys Singles Event: Final Nikhil Saini (Patiala) bt. Sarthak( Amritsar); Cadet Girls: Final Yashi (Ropar) bt. Kashish (Asr); Team Events Sub-Junior Boys Team Events Ludhiana (1st), Patiala (2nd), Amritsar (3rd), Jalandhar (4th). — TNS

Ghosh seals semis spot
New Delhi: Soumyajit Ghosh turned out to be a hero with a win in the deciding fifth rubber as India upset fourth seed South Korea 3-2 to reach the semifinals of the World Junior Table Tennis Championships in Bahrain today. However, India have a daunting task ahead as they face top seeded China in the semifinals tomorrow. Seeded fifth, India began with Harmeet Desai who defeated Chan-Hyeok Park 13-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5 and then Ghosh doubled the lead by downing Dong Hyun Kim 11-8, 11-9, 11-9. — PTI

Saina looks for title
New Delhi: A year ago, Saina Nehwal had capped a hat-trick of Super Series titles with a win here, but the Indian ace now faces the task of overcoming a recent dip in form to defend the crown at the Hong Kong Open, which starts with the qualifiers tomorrow. Saina had won three Super Series title -- Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong -- besides winning the Commonwealth Games and India Open Grand Prix gold last year but this year, a Super Series title has eluded the Indian. — PTI

Procter regrets Monkeygate
Durban: Former ICC match referee Mike Procter, who had imposed a three-match ban on Harbhajan Singh following the Monkeygate scandal in the 2008 Sydeny Test between India and Australia, regrets what had happened then but insists he would not have handled it any differently. Procter was match referee of the infamous Test, in which Harbhajan was reportedly found guilty of making a racist comment to Andrew Symonds. — PTI

Too much cricket: Kapil
Durban: Former India captain Kapil Dev feels that "too much cricket" is the reason that there were dismal response from the cricket loving public during the recent ODI series between India and England and the ongoing Test series vs West Indies. "You cannot have so much cricket that people stop coming even for the ODIs. It was sad thing to see matches against England, we didn't even see 20,000 people turning up. That's what you get when you have too much of cricket," Kapil told PTI here today ahead of their six-a-side exhibition match organised by Beyond the Boundaries. — PTI

Paris win good: Bopanna
Paris: Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi prepared for their debut in season-ending finale by capturing the ATP Paris Masters and the Indian said the win is a confidence booster ahead of the elite event in London. The Indo-Pak Express outplayed French pair of Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut 6-4 6-2. "This win gives us a lot of confidence, it is our biggest title by far. All the hard work over the years has paid off," Bopanna said after collecting his third ATP doubles title of the season with Qureshi. — PTI

Maken gives away awards
New Delhi: Sports Minister Ajay Maken gave away cash awards totaling over Rs 8 crore to athletes and coaches who brought laurels to the country in various international competitions in 2010-2011, including the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. The Ministry aptly chose November 14, the birth anniversary of Pandit Jawarhal Nehru, who had coined the famous slogan, “Play the game in the spirit of the game”, for rewarding the athletes and coaches. — TNS