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No rift in Indian team: Dravid
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (R) talks to coach Duncan Fletcher during a training session at the WACA in Perth on Wednesday. — AP/PTI
‘Hope this tour doesn’t go the England way’
‘Not bothered about Zaheer’s comments’
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Ganguly fears India’s lost ability to win abroad
Ranji: Chance for Haryana to enter final
Azarenka overcomes Bartoli
Sharmila, Smriti a step away from Euro qualifiers
Saina enters second round
RS Chohan passes away
Bryant scorches Suns
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No rift in Indian team: Dravid
Perth, January 11 Dravid said reports that opener Virender Sehwag is at loggerheads with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and that some players in the team are backing the former to take over captaincy are untrue. "When you do badly, suddenly everything is seen as wrong with the team. There is no truth (in Sehwag vs Dhoni reports) to those matters. As I said, the spirit of the team is really good," Dravid told reporters here today. There's been criticism all around with the go-karting session of Indians drawing extreme response from Indian media and Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has added his bit by stating that the Indians are mentally the most fragile team in international circuit. "One of the good things about travelling abroad is you are in a bit of a cacoon. You don't gauge what's happening back home. There's a sense of disappoint with the results so far, we would certainly like to do better but the spirit of the team is very good," he said. "We haven't bothered (with Haddin comments) really. There are five days of important cricket to worry about and there is no time about anything else to be honest. You don't need anyone's comment to motivate yourself. We are not even bothered" he added. — PTI |
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‘Hope this tour doesn’t go the England way’
Perth: The team morale hit by back-to-back defeats, senior Indian batsman Rahul Dravid is anxious that the ongoing tour of Australia doesn't turn out to be a repeat of England last year when his team lost all the four Tests and also drew a blank in the one-day series.
With talks in media centering about his bowled dismissals; the growing pause on Sachin Tendulkar's 100th international century and calls for VVS Laxman's head by past cricketers, India's revival at the moment, being 0-2 down, doesn't seem too easy a task. "I am definitely working on a few things. When you get out bowled three times you do think about it. I've worked on a few things but it isn't anything major. There isn't anything drastic that I have changed over the last year when I was very successful. I have seen the videos (of England) and I can't see anything different. I hope it's just a coincidence. "I don't think the talk (of Laxman's removal) has affected him much. I haven't read and Lax is not bothered either. It's part and parcel of our job. You have got to accept it while you continue to play. That's the way it goes. He is a pretty relaxed character and I'm sure he would come good in one of these Tests," he said. "As for Sachin's 100th century, it's not spoken about much. He's been pretty relaxed about it. He's been batting so well. He got a 90 in Mumbai and 70 and 80 in the last two games. He is batting well enough to complete it. It's great if he can do it here. But he wouldn't be worried as he has been batting beautifully over the last two or three games," he added. The Indian batting hasn't been allowed to get into any sort of rhythm by the Australian bowlers in this series which has led to the debate whether attacking them is the only way to neutralise them. "Each to his own and each has to plan his own strategy. One (plan) doesn't fit everyone. You need to know what your game plan is, what you have done throughout your career and what's got you success. You need to know what didn't get you success. You need to do what you know best. You can't say there is one way. I can't bat like Viru (Virender Sehwag) and he can't bat like me. Each one is different. "Each one of us have our own game plan and it's important how we execute it. It's difficult to do and maintain it when there's so much pressure. I think the key for us is to keep Australians in the field for as long as possible." The situation can be daunting for young Indian batsmen but Dravid said there hasn't been a formal kind of discussion with them. "There's no formal talk as such. In the course of spending time in dressing room, in team dinner or go-karting for that matter, conversations can happen which are useful. It's not like a powerpoint presentation, that's not how teams work," he said. "We speak to each other, juniors to seniors and seniors to juniors, and it's always a healthy conversation." Australians have kept harping they have been able to keep Indian batting quiet by bowling a lot of dot balls and stringing together maiden overs. Dravid tended to go along with this opinion. — PTI |
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‘Not bothered about Zaheer’s comments’
Perth, January 11 "What Zaheer has said, the same thing could be said about Sachin, (Jacques) Kallis or Dravid who have been consistent run-scorers. I've worked hard at my game in the last few months and made progress last year and got good scores on the board," Ponting said. Zaheer had stated that Ponting doesn't look his old self anymore and even called the former Australian captain a "grinder". "I'm not worried about Zaheer or anyone else. I know what I need to do and leave an impact I want to for Australia," Ponting said at the press conference on Wednesday. The war of words has escalated between the two teams in the last few days with Brad Haddin terming Indians a fragile team which elicited a sharp response from Zaheer on Tuesday. Ponting clarified that Haddin's comments meant that "we create a lot of pressure with the way we bowl." "As a fast bowling group, right through the series, we have been able to build pressure from both ends. It's like any opposition team you plan. You need to bowl well and dictate and put pressure to take wickets," he said. "I haven't seen what's written or said over the last few months. There's a lot of distractions going around. Our clear focus is on our skills and putting it in practice. "I try to be in my own zone, try to focus on next ball. I don't think any one of us is worried about what Indians are doing. It's all about we trying to improve our cricket and win every contest by way of Test," he added. "We are happy with what we are at the moment but we are not yet there. Our focus is to make sure how best we can be for this Test and keep India under pressure a little longer." — PTI |
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Ganguly fears India’s lost ability to win abroad
New Delhi, January 11 India trail 2-0 in its four-Test series against Australia after losing the opening Test in Melbourne by 122 runs and then falling by an innings and 68 runs in Sydney. India were also beaten 4-0 in a Test series in England last year, conceding the top world ranking to the opposition in the process. The third Test against Australia starts Friday in Perth. The final Test will be in Adelaide from January 24-28. Ganguly, who is credited with helping India shed its reputation as a poor away team after taking over as skipper in 2000, said the recent losses were due to poor batting and bowling performances, as well as a failure to seize key moments. "Winning cricket matches is about seizing the moment and that did not happen. Indian batting has been rated very highly for the last 10 years, but somewhere in the last few Tests, they have found themselves in difficult positions," the 39-year-old Ganguly wrote. He also said the opening pair of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir had failed to deliver in Tests overseas. Ganguly's comments follow criticism by other cricket greats over the past week. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar said the India team was not practicing enough on tour. "Have they gone there for sightseeing or (to) play cricket?" Gavaskar said. "The first Test ended on the fourth day and the next day was a free day," he added. "But did the Indian team practice? The attitude has to be there. You have to go out there and practice cricket." — AP |
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Ranji: Chance for Haryana to enter final
Rohtak, January 11
Rajasthan batsmen gave a better account of themselves in the second innings scoring 192, after Haryana's first innings folded at 97 providing the hosts a slender lead of eight runs. The hosts were precariously placed at 15 for two at stumps chasing 185, with in-form opener Rahul Dewan (0) and experienced No 3 Sunny Singh (1) both back in the hut. A target of 185 is certainly achievable but what makes the total look competitive has been the lack of technique to battle it out on a seaming track. The manner in which Dewan and Sunny poked at away-going deliveries without any feet movement, it showed that hosts were batting with a defensive mindset. Promoting Harshal Patel as night-watchman was another indication. Probably Haryana can do themselves world of good if they can take a leaf out of veteran Rajasthan opener Vineet Saxena's (58, 119 balls, 10x4) book. Balaji puts TN on top against Mumbai
Mumbai: Unheralded Ramaswamy Prasanna scored his first century in five years before skipper Laxmipathy Balaji bowled a fiery opening spell to rip apart the Mumbai top-order as Tamil Nadu look firm favourites to enter the Ranji Trophy final. At stumps on second day, Mumbai were tottering at 121 for 6 in reply to Tamil Nadu's healthy first innings score of 359 with only one specialist batsman left in Hiken Shah. Dhawal Kulkarni is other not-out batsman. The left-handed Shah was unbeaten on 21 after a stay of 83 minutes while Kulkarni was not out on 5 as the 39-time national champions Mumbai still need 89 runs more to avoid follow-on. When Mumbai began their reply, India discard Balaji blasted out openers Kaustubh Pawar (1), Onkar Gurav (2). Rival captain Wasim Jaffer (0) was out due to a dubious decision - in the space of six balls to reduce the home team to 14 for 3. Balaji's superb first spell figures read 7-4-11-3. The hosts recovered partially through their men in-form Abhishek Nayar (17) and highest scorer Suryakumar Yadav (52,57 balls, 8x4) before losing both of them as well as last match's centurion Ankit Chavan (10) before crossing the 100-run-mark. Tomorrow Shah, will have the big responsibility to lift the hosts from the brink. — PTI |
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Sydney, January 11
Ignoring a power failure that forced the chair umpire to shout scores to the crowd, the 22-year-old from Belarus gave a timely reminder of her title credentials ahead of the season's first grand slam, starting in Melbourne on Monday. With so much attention on world number one Caroline Wozniacki and number two Petra Kvitova, the third-ranked Azarenka remains focused on taking each match as they come and not concerned with improving her position in the standings. "You know, it's just numbers," Azarenka said after rallying from a 5-2 deficit in the first set to overcome the eighth seed. "You have to go far in the tournament and get those ranking points to become number one, number two. You just have to win matches. For me, I'm really focusing on winning matches and improving my game. With that, the results come, right? "So we'll see. If the other girls get that attention, I'm happy for them." The second set against Bartoli was played in a surreal atmosphere when the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre lost power. The scoreboard on Ken Rosewall Arena went blank and stayed that way. The video referral system was shut down because replays were not available and the umpire had to raise her voice. "It makes it fun," Azarenka laughed. "If it was perfect it would be too boring. No lights, lots of wind... I mean, it's exciting. It was a distraction but I think it was for both of us. I was just trying to take it as the conditions that I have to deal with. "I was really trying to focus and find my game, adjust my game to the conditions, because it's not up to me to change them. Marion played some incredible tennis. We always have tough matches, so I was expecting to have another tough battle. She really made me dig deep today and lift my game, which I'm glad I could at the important moments. "It was a great test and a good match. I'm glad to have won that kind of fight." Earlier, China's Li Na reached the semi-finals with a 6-2, 7-6 victory over the Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova before facing another barrage of questions about the input of her husband and coach, Jiang Shan. "As a coach, sometimes I was feeling he was doing good but sometimes I feel like he does stupid things," Li said. "But if I win the match, I have to listen to what he says. I just say 'yeah, yeah, yeah' but deep inside I was thinking 'come on, I was playing out on the court, not you. You can only talk'." The blackout affected the entire neighbourhood surrounding the venue and threatened to disrupt the night session completely before power was restored 30 minutes after play was scheduled to start, allowing both Wozniacki and Kvitova to take to the
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Sharmila, Smriti a step away from Euro qualifiers
La Manga, January 11 The lanky India no. 1, Sharmila shot one of the best rounds in the field, carding two-under 69 and was eight-over for 54 holes to move to tied 27th in Group A after the third round of the pre-qualifiers at the La Manga Golf Resort here. Smriti, meanwhile, was lying tied 38th, despite a third round 77 after first two rounds of 75 and 78. She was 11-over for three rounds. The top 35 and ties from both groups advance to the final stage, from where top-30 will earn the Ladies European Tour card. Rhea Nair, who was the best placed Indian at the midway stage, carded 82 in third round and dropped to tied 50th at 14-over in Group B. Nalini Singh Siwach shot 76 and at 17-over, she was tied 59th. Neha Tripathi (77) was 34-over and way down in tied 93rd place. Sharmila, India's numero uno women golfer for the past two years, started the day at 10-over. She began brilliantly with two birdies on first two holes, and had a bogey on fourth. She then birdied fifth and eighth and bogeyed the ninth. Turning in two-under, Sharmila parred all the nine holes on the back nine for a 69 that gave her a superb chance of qualifying for the final stage. Smriti may well have been in the top-20, but for a disastrous five-over eight on the par-3 12th. She ended with a 77 with four birdies and four bogeys. At tied 38th, Smriti will need to get into top-35 to make the final stage. The pre-qualifying round have been split into Group A and B with top 35 and ties in both groups going through to the 90-hole final stage, where there will be a cut for leading 50 and ties after 72 holes. After the final round the top 30 players will be eligible for Membership to the main LET Tour. All players play at both North and South courses. A total of 211 players from 44 countries have entered LET Qualifying School, to be played over two stages with the pre-qualifying from January 8-11, followed by final qualifying from January 15-19. — PTI
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Saina enters second round
New Delhi, January 11 Fourth seed Saina managed to prevail over her Singaporean opponent 19-21, 21-14, 21-15 in a 56-minute battle in women's singles event. The Indian will next take on Shao Chieh Cheng of Chinese Taipei, who she had recently defeated in Korea Open Super Series in the second round. In the mixed doubles competition, V Diju and Jwala Gutta also faced some stiff challenge before getting the better of the combo of Chayut Triyachart and Lei Yao of Singapore 21-13 19-21 21-16 in 40 minutes. Jwala and Diju will now face the Malaysian pair of Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh in the second round. However, Indian men's doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas could not overcome the first round hurdle as they proved no match to fourth seeds Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong of Malaysia, going down 14-21 13-21 in a match that lasted just 27 minutes. In the men's singles competition, world championship quarterfinalist Ajay Jayaram conceded the first game advantage to go down to Simon Santoso of Indonesia 21-9 18-21 16-21 in little less than an hour. The Indian completely outplayed his seventh seed opponent in the opening game, winning it comfortably 21-9. But he failed to maintain his rhythm and lost the next two games to bow out of the men's singles competition. — PTI
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RS Chohan passes away
New Delhi, January 11 Chouhan, who was the national coach as well as the Railway coach for several years, was among the first, along with Joginder Singh Saini, to secure a coaching diploma from the National Institute of Sports, Patiala. He had also secured a diploma for advanced training from the erstwhile East Germany. Chohan was a national-level shot putter, though it was in coaching that he had excelled. Former Olympian G. S. Randhawa expressed his shock and sorrow at the demise of Chohan, on behalf o the Olympian Association of India, Arjuna Awardees’ Association and the Athletics’ Federation of India. “Chohan’s death is an irreparable loss to Indian athletics, as he was a coach with Midas’ touch. He had shaped the careers of many national and international athletes over the years”, Randhawa said in a message.
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Bryant scorches Suns
California, January 11
Mixing an array of jump shots and athletic dunks, Bryant put together the highest scoring game in the NBA this season to give the Lakers their third consecutive win. "I'm just in spots where I'm extremely comfortable and I'm knocking down my jump shot," Bryant told reporters after recording his first 40-point game since March. "Not bad for an old fella." The 33-year-old knocked in 18 of his 31 shots from the field and scored nearly half of his team's points. — Reuters
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Senior Indian batsman Rahul Dravid today rubbished Australian media reports that successive losses in the ongoing Test series has led to disharmony in the visiting side's dressing room, saying the team is not bothered about such speculation.
"It's important we don't go down the same route. Hope we can fight back and play better cricket. We had our moment in Melbourne...we need to take heart from it. It's important for us we don't go down the route of England," Dravid told media persons.
"It's not the loss but the manner in which they have been outplayed that will be of concern," Ganguly wrote in his column in the newspaper on Wednesday. "Indian cricket has taken a lot of pride in its performance overseas in the last 10 years, but the fear I have now is, have we taken a huge step backward?"
Sharmila Nicollet and Smriti Mehra moved within one round of making the final stage of this year's Ladies European Tour Qualifying Golf School today.
Venus out of Aus Open