Mumbai, November 26
What do spinners do? They turn it around. And what do two spinners do? The turn it around on its head! This was evident at the Wankhede Stadium on the final day of the third Test as a match which had looked dead for almost four days, sprang to life and how! The West Indies finally saved a game, India won the series 2-0 and the crowd got their money’s worth as the two teams played out a nail-biting draw.

Chasing 243 for a win on the last day, India reached 242 for nine and only for the second time in the history of the sport, a Test was drawn with scores level.

This was a day of too many stories. It started with the heroics of two Indian spinners. Pragyan Ojha and Ravichandran Ashwin picked all ten West Indian wickets as the visitors were shot out for 134 in their second innings. Ojha was definitely the star of the innings as he took six wickets in total and his series tally to 20 wickets. Ashwin, who had scored a century in the first innings, also picked up four wickets, taking his series tally to 22.

Ojha made the ball turn and also made life extremely difficult for the West Indies batsmen. He and Ashwin wrapped up the West Indies second innings before lunch and India were looking at a really appetizing chase ahead of them.

Needing 243 to win in the 64 overs left in the day, India were odds-on favourites to get the target. But the openers were rattled when Gautam Gambhir was dismissed by Fidel Edwards. Virender Sehwag was then joined by Rahul Dravid and the Delhi dasher was in for one of his luckier days as he was dropped thrice in quick succession and reached his half-century.

But then, he himself returned the favour to the bowling side. Attempting to reverse sweep Devendra Bishoo towards third man, he got a leading edge and the ball looped towards Darren Sammy at short fine-leg for an easy catch.

Sehwag was replaced by Sachin Tendulkar and he didn’t last too long. He mistimed an on drive off Samuels and the ball went in the air towards mid-wicket. Kirk Edwards used the most of his strapping frame, diving forward and taking a nice catch.

Dravid now had VVS Laxman for company but followed soon and it was in the same area as Tendulkar. The ball flew off the leading edge and substitute Denesh Ramdin timed his jump well to send Dravid back.

From there on ensued a short period of repair, as Laxman and Virat Kohli started the rebuilding process. But then Laxman mistimed a pull and the ball went straight to mid-on for a simple catch.

Captain Dhoni soon fell to Ravi Rampaul and out came the eventual Man of the Match and the Man of the Series, Ashwin. After a short partnership, continuing the Indian trend of terrible shot making, Kohli was caught off Bishoo’s bowling.

Ashwin and Ishant Sharma, who started with a sublime boundary off Bishoo, tried keeping India on track but Sharma was cleaned up by Rampaul.

Three runs were required off the last over and Varun Aaron was beaten on the first three by Fidel Edwards. He got a single off the fourth and Ashwin had it all in his hands. But even with so much going for him, it seemed Ashwin missed a trick as he blocked the penultimate delivery and then hit the last ball down to long-on and never really ran as if he wanted two.

He was run out and the West Indies broke into a celebratory dance. India knew they could have won it and the stunned crowd also thought that they should have won it.

West Indies 1st innings 590

India 1st innings 482

West Indies 2nd innings

Barath c Laxman b Ojha 3

Brathwaite c Tendulkar b Ojha 35

Edwards st Dhoni b Ojha 17

Bravo c & b Ojha 48

Powell lbw b Ashwin 11

Samuels st Dhoni b Ojha 0

Baugh b Ashwin 1

Sammy c Dhoni b Ashwin 10

Rampaul c Tendulkar b Ojha 0

Fidel not out 2

Bishoo lbw b Ashwin 0

Extras (b 3, lb 4) 7

Total (all out; 57.2 ovrs) 134

Fall of wkts: 1-6, 2-30, 3-91, 4-112, 5-112, 6-117, 7-120, 8-129, 9-134.

Bowling: Ojha 27-5-47-6, Ishant 8-2-15-0, Aaron 4-0-23-0, Ashwin 15.2-0-34-4, Sehwag 2-0-3-0, Tendulkar 1-0-5-0.

India 2nd innings

Gambhir c Sammy b Fidel 12

Sehwag c Sammy b Bishoo 60

Dravid c sub b Samuels 33

Tendulkar c Edwards b Samuels 3

Laxman c Barath b Rampaul 31

Kohli c Sammy b Bishoo 63

Dhoni c Edwards b Rampaul 13

Ashwin run out 14

Ishant b Rampaul 10

Aaron not out 2

Extras (nb 1) 1

Total (9 wkts; 64 ovrs) 242

Fall of wkts: 1-19, 2-101, 3-106, 4-113, 5-165, 6-189, 7-224, 8-239, 9-242.

Bowling: Fidel 7-0-28-1, Rampaul 16-1-56-3, Samuels 25-0-93-2, Bishoo 16-0-65-2.

Mumbai, November 26
Out of form off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was on Saturday ignored while pacer Praveen Kumar and Rohit Sharma were recalled in India's 17-member Test squad for next month's gruelling tour of Australia. Pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, who missed most part of the England tour and ongoing series against the West Indies because of hamstring and ankle injury, has been provisionally named in the squad subject to passing the fitness test.

Young leg-spinner Rahul Sharma, who featured in India's squad for the ongoing series against West Indies, has been excluded from the team, to be captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni with Virender Sehwag as his deputy.

The selectors more or less retained the core of the team that has been doing duty in the ongoing series against the West Indies which meant that Harbhajan continued to be in the wilderness.

Though Harbhajan has a good track record against the Australians, the selectors reposed faith in the new spin combination of Pragyan Ojha and R Ashwin, who have done exceedingly well in the ongoing series against the West Indies.

"Unfortunately, we cannot help it as the team selects itself. In Australia, you cannot have more than two spinners. Pragyan Ojha and Ashwin are doing an excellent job. Sometimes it becomes bad luck and sometimes people miss out. I'm sure everyone has their own time and space to come back," chief selector Kris Srikkanth told reporters after the meeting.

Srikkanth said Zaheer will have to prove his match fitness before he gets the clearance to travel to Australia. "Zaheer will play in a couple of Ranji Trophy matches. And once he is fully match-fit and everything is fine, he will join the side. He may also go with the team as by the time (the team leaves) he would have played a couple of matches by that time," said Srikkanth. — PTI

Mumbai, November 26
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not one to take things to heart and despite drawing a game that almost everyone expected India to win, he had a big smile splashed across his face. When asked about Ravichandran Ashwin’s inability to get the two required runs off the last two balls, he simply said, “What can we do? He tried, he ran, and he didn’t make it. That happens. We really can’t be mad at him about it.”

Dhoni also admitted that he and the entire team had not expected so much drama on the final day. “Honestly, and I am not trying to be funny, but there was just too much drama on the last day. No one had expected so much to happen. Wickets fell and we almost had a result. I just don’t know what happened to the wicket overnight. It was flat, rather dead, yesterday and today morning, all of a sudden it started turning.”

He also emphasised on the fact that the team had decided to try and push for a result today and due to some really tight bowling by his spinners - Pragyan Ojha and Ashwin - they almost succeeded. “Ashwin and Ojha had a real good game. I liked the fact that the wicket turned so much. But this should not happen on the last day, rather the wickets should be like this from Day 1.”

He also said that he was happy with the team selection for the Australia tour and that he would not like to pressurise the youngsters by comparing them to senior players who had not made the cut. “Guys like Ashwin have done well and it is a learning phase for them. I don’t want to add any pressure on them, especially not in terms of a comparison with someone like Harbhajan, or by saying that the team will now expect runs from him every time he bats.”

New Delhi, November 26
Arjun Halappa and Sardar Singh, who are currently in the Indian team playing in the FIH Champions Challenge Trophy at Johannesburg, have been named captains of the Bengaluru and Bhopal teams respectively for the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF)-organized World Series Hockey, to be held from December 17 to January 22.

The WSH, featuring 61 matches, will be held at nine venues across the country, and a pool of 200 players, including many India players, will be distributed among eight teams.

According to the list of captains and coaches selected at a franchise workshop held today, another India player, Prabhjot Singh, who had been excluded from the team for the Champions Challenge, has been named to lead Punjab while Adrian D’Souza will captain Mumbai. There are many well-known names among the coaches, who include former Indian captain and coach Vasudevan Bhaskaran, who has the distinction of leading India to their last Olympic hockey gold in the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, former Indian captain Jude Felix, former India chief coach Jose Brasa of Spain and world’s leading coach Roelant Oltmans (Holland).

Following is the complete list of teams, captains and coaches (in that order): Bengaluru: Arjun Halappa (capt), Jude Felix (coach); Bhopal: Sardar Singh, V Bhaskaran; Chandigarh: Rehan Butt, Harendra Singh; Chennai: Brent Livermore, Jose Brasa; Delhi: Lucas Vila, Roelant Oltmans; Mumbai: Adrian D’Souza, Andrew Meredith; Pune: Rodrigo Garza, Gundeep Singh; Punjab: Prabhjot Singh, Rajinder Singh.

The players for the eight teams will be finalised on November 28, based on the “draft” system. The draft mode will consist of 24 rounds, where a team will pick a player in each round. Each team will have a minimum of 22 and a maximum of 25 players, including the captain, and a maximum of six foreign players, a minimum of four local players from the team’s territory and a minimum of four Indian youth players.

Sports Authority of India (SAI) had announced recently that on the recommendation of chief coach Michael Nobbs, the players selected to attend the National camps for the Olympic qualifiers will not be released for the WSH, though SAI did not object to the release of the National Stadium for the opening ceremony and conduct of the WSH matches, albeit at commercial rates.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) had also warned the Sports Ministry and Hockey India that they should not act as facilitators for hosting the WSH. But Sports Minister Ajay Maken said recently that he did not have any objection for the hosting of the WSH.

Panchkula, November 26
Away from the world of Blackberry and Apple, came the corporate horde to spend some sunlight hours at the exotic Panchkula Golf Course that today was the host of TAKE Solutions World Corporate Golf Tournament.

Around 90 administrative and entrepreneur golfers had a tee time from 8 am when the tournament began in a short gun format and all of them began to vie for the four spots at the Delhi Qualifiers to be held at Golden Greens Golf Club on December 11. Top four teams from Delhi will then compete at the National Final to be held in April next year at Bangkok, Thailand.

Team represented by Vaibhav Mehan and Tarun Lehal with a team score of 77 Nett Points took top honours while the runner up team consisting Vikram Bhagwan and Anurag Chopra scored 76 Nett Points. They will now have the honours of joining the other teams in Delhi to win a spot in the National Finals.

Also, there were some individual winners declared after the tournament. Vivek Krishnan with 33 gross points was the winner and Mohanjit Singh Pooni (32) was the runner up. Ballantine’s long drive challenge was won by Aaditya Gupta hitting 288 yards. Indian Terrain straightest drive winner was MP Singh at 17 inches while Shriram Venture closest to pin award was won by Tarun Lehal at 5.7 feet.

Bhupathi and Paes in semis LONDON: Indian doubles duo Mahesh Bhupathi (top) and Leander Paes booked their place in the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals with a shock 6-4, 6-2 win over top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan. Bhupathi and Paes, who are ending their partnership after this tournament, knew only a victory over the world's top doubles pairing would be enough to guarantee their last four spot and they rose to the occasion in impressive fashion at London's O2 Arena. Bhupathi and Paes are competing together in this prestigious end-of-season event for the first time in 10 years after renewing their successful partnership, which brought them a host of titles in the 1990s. — AFP Mahesh Bhupathi (top) and Leander Paes

Ganguly to lead Bengal
Kolkata: Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly will lead Bengal against Haryana in their away Ranji Trophy match from November 29 in absence of regular captain Manoj Tiwary. Tiwary will do the national duty in the one-day series against West Indies. "Ganguly will lead the side as Wriddhiman (Saha) wants to prepare for the Tests against Australia, concentrating more on batting and wicketkeeping for the big series," he said. It will be after a long time that the retired India left-hander, who represents Pune in IPL Twenty20, will be seen leading his state. — PTI

Michael Schumacher of Mercedes-Benz in action during the practice session for the Brazilian Formula One GP in Brazil on Saturday. — AFP

Mayookha to train in Germany
New Delhi: As part of the long-term foreign tours, the Sports Ministry has sent Asian triple jump champion Mayookha Johny, who has already qualified for London Olympics, to Berlin for specialised training along with her coach Shyam Kumar. Apart from Mayookha, Asian Games medallists Preeja Sreedharan, Kavita Raut, Sudha Singh and former Asian Indoor champion O P Jaisha are also getting the government's support in their quest for glory at next year's London Olympics. — PTI

ONGC win in Shastri hockey
NEW DELHI: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) sneaked past Punjab National Bank (PNB) in the opening match of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hockey Tournament played at the National Stadium here today. Akash scored in the 11th minute to put ONGC in the lead, which was neutralized by Arjun, two minutes in to the second half. But ONGC quickly regained the lead and Pramod consolidated the score before Gagan pulled one back for PNB to narrow the margin. Sunday’s matches: Namdhari vs IOC (12.45 p.m.); BPCL vs Air Force (2.30 p.m.). — TNS

Hans down BB Stars
NEW DELHI: Hans brightened their chances of gaining a berth in the Super Six when they downed Buddhist Blue Stars 2-0 in a Group II match of the Delhi Soccer Association B Division League played at the Jasola ground here today. Mohammed Atiq and Tankshit Bhandari scored in the second half. Earlier, New Friends and Delhi Students played a barren draw in Group II. Sunday’s fixtures: Royal vs Golden Star (1 p.m.); Gulabi Bagh vs Delhi Tigers (2.30 p.m.); Union vs Young Boys Association (3.45 p.m.). — TNS

NBA season to begin
NEW YORK: The National Basketball Association (NBA) and its players have reached a tentative deal on a new collective bargaining agreement which paves the way for a 66-game season starting on Christmas Day. NBA Commissioner David Stern said, “We're very pleased that we've come this far. There's still a lot of work to be done in a lot of places, with a lot of committees and player groups and the like. But we're optimistic that it will hold and we'll have ourselves an NBA season." — Reuters