Scoreboard

India 1st innings

Gambhir c Haddin

b Hilfenhaus 31

Sehwag c Ponting b Hilfenhaus 0

Dravid b Siddle 9

Tendulkar lbw b Harris 15

Laxman c Clarke b Siddle 31

Kohli c Warner b Siddle 44

Dhoni c Ponting

b Hilfenhaus 12

Vinay lbw b Starc 5

Zaheer c Clarke b Hilfenhaus 2

Ishant c Haddin b Starc 3

Yadav not out 4

Extras (b 2, lb 2, w 1) 5

Total (all out; 60.2 ovrs) 161

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-32, 3-59, 4-63, 5-131, 6-138, 7-152, 8-152, 9-157.

Bowling: Harris 18-6-33-1, Hilfenhaus 18-5-43-4, Starc 12.2-3-39-2, Siddle 12-3-42-3.

Australia 1st innings

Cowan batting 40

Warner batting 104

Extras (lb 3, w 2) 5

Total (0 wkts; 23 ovrs) 149

Bowling: Zaheer 7-1-44-0, Yadav 6-1-42-0, Vinay 4-0-31-0, Ishant 5-0-28-0, Sehwag 1-0-1-0.

Perth, January 13
David Warner surprised even himself with his scoring rate as he smashed the quickest ever century by a test opener in a match against India on Friday. The 25-year-old from Sydney took just 69 balls to hit his second century in his first five tests.

"When I was on 80-odd I had only faced 40-odd balls and I was actually shocked," the confident lefthander told a news conference after the joint fourth fastest century by any test batsman. "I was looking at my strike-rate and I said this ain't test cricket, this is something different.

"But it's just how I approach the game. I showed intent and it paid off today but I've got to start off all over again tomorrow."

Warner has long been an impressive, and quick scoring, batsmen in the shorter forms of the game but some critics doubted whether he would be able to make the transition to the test arena.

He put paid to those doubts when he carried his bat for 123 after a brilliant innings in a losing cause against New Zealand on a green pitch in Hobart last month.

Having helped Australia to get within 12 runs of India's first innings tally without loss on the first day of the third test, though, Warner ranked Friday's innings the higher.

"If we'd won down in Hobart, it would probably be Hobart," he said. "But this is a special achievement for me because I had doubts in my mind ... and I turned it around and now I'm on a hundred.

"We're 2-0 up in the series, so hopefully we can put four or 500 runs on the board, bowl them out again and win the series that way."

Warner's innings, which included three sixes and 13 fours, was almost brought to an early end when he took a Umesh Yadav bouncer in the head.

"You don't really ever want to go off for anything ... but I was fine, just a bit shaken up," he said. "I've got a nice golf ball on the back of my ear but that's fine." — Reuters

New Delhi, January 13
Dashing middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh is likely to sit out of the forthcoming tri-series in Australia as he has not fully recovered from his lung ailment.

Yuvraj Singh, who was Player of the Tournament in 2011 World Cup, is recovering from lung tumour and has not played an ODI match since the World Cup triumph.

According to reports, Yuvraj's tumour has not healed and will continue to keep him out of action.

India are also scheduled to play two T20 internationals against Australia before the triangular one-day series. Sri Lanka will be the third team in tri-series, starting in February at Melbourne.

However, Yuvraj had earlier claimed that he is fully fit to participate in the tri-series.

"I have completely recovered and have been training for the last two weeks. There is absolutely no problem with my fitness," Yuvraj Singh had said.

The Indian team for two T20 internationals and tri-series will be picked in Chennai on Sunday. — PTI

Mumbai, January 13
Tamil Nadu entered the Ranji Trophy final for the eleventh time by virtue of having taken the first-innings lead over Mumbai in the semi-final that ended in a draw at the Wankhede Stadium here today.

The visitors, who led the home team by 202 runs in the first innings, piled on the agony on their long-time nemesis by notching up 331 for eight before declaring the second innings in the pre-lunch session.

Left with the improbable victory target of 534 in 44 overs, 39-time winners Mumbai made 88 for three in 29 overs before the match was called off by mutual consent.

With this, Tamil Nadu, who recorded their third straight success over Mumbai in as many seasons, advanced to the five-day final against defending champions Rajasthan (who had ousted them in the semis in 2010-11), to be held in Chennai from January 19.

Tamil Nadu have won the crown twice and finished runners-up on eight occasions while Rajasthan, who defeated Haryana in the other semi-final, grabbed the title for the first time when they beat Baroda in the final last season.

The last day's proceedings were bereft of any competitive interest after Tamil Nadu had bowled out Mumbai, who had got the better of them on 18 out of 22 previous clashes, for a meagre 157 yesterday in reply to their own first-innings tally of 359.

They then made 220 for four in the second innings by stumps to lead by 422 runs. The visitors continued to grind Mumbai bowlers this morning after Murali Vijay, 103 overnight, and first-innings centurion Ramaswamy Prasanna, who was declared the man of the match, resumed.

Vijay departed for 142, caught in the slip cordon off medium pacer Balwinder Sandhu who went on to claim five wickets in the innings for a memorable match haul of 10 for 162.

The TN opener batted for over six hours while facing 250 balls and struck 21 fours and two sixes. TN batted on and lost three more wickets before skipper Laxmipathy Balaji declared the innings when he was caught and bowled by Sandhu to give the youngster, playing in only his third Ranji tie, his first ten-wicket haul.

Sandhu had taken five for 88 in TN's first innings and five for 72 in the second. — PTI

Madrid, January 13
A second-string Barcelona set up a King's Cup quarterfinal clash against holders and great rivals Real Madrid when they came back from a goal down to beat Osasuna 2-1 on Thursday for a 6-1 aggregate victory.

Serbian forward Dejan Lekic put the home side ahead just before halftime at a foggy Reyno de Navarra stadium but any hopes of an unlikely comeback were snuffed out by Barca's Chile international Alexis Sanchez when he nodded the equaliser four minutes into the second half.

Teenage B-team midfielder Sergi Roberto grabbed the winner 18 minutes from time when he ran on to a pass from substitute Lionel Messi and crashed a superb angled shot past goalkeeper Asier Riesgo.

Barca, who lost 1-0 to Real in last year's final, travel to the Spanish capital for the first leg on Wednesday, with the return leg at the Nou Camp a week later.

The winners of the tie will meet city rivals Valencia or Levante in the semifinals.

On the other side of the draw, Athletic Bilbao hammered third-tier Albacete 4-0 at the San Mames to secure a last-eight tie against La Liga rivals Real Mallorca, who overturned a 2-0 first-leg deficit by thrashing Real Sociedad 6-1 on Tuesday. — Reuters

Doha, January 13
Abhinav Bindra shrugged off a bout of flu to clinch the gold medal in 10-meter air rifle event of the Asian Shooting Championships, which got underway here today.

The Beijing Olympics gold medallist came through after a nerve-wracking final to pip another Olympic champion and reigning Asian games gold medallist Zhu Qinan of China. Bindra, who had never won a gold in this tournament, started the qualification with a perfect series of 100.

That was followed by series' of 99 100 98 100 and 100 to finish with 597/600, just one point behind joint leaders Qinan and world champion Wang Tao of China. He could have ended with the lead but for an 8 in the 4th series. However, he recovered well to end on a high. At times he was struggling with his health and was coughing and he even had to step back from the firing point to regroup on a couple of occasions.

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee Gagan Narang recovered from a disastrous start to also make the final with a qualifying score of 595. Narang started with a 97 in his first series and a 99 in his second. He then reeled of 3 perfect series' of 100 each before shooting 99 in the last series.

The third Indian in the fray, Satyendra Singh had an off day, shooting a below par score of 582/600. The combined total of the 3 shooters gave India the silver medal in the team event behind the Chinese team that created a new world and Asian record with a total of 1793/1800.

Bindra started the 10 shot final with 10.7 to put the pressure on the Chinese shooters. His second scoring shot was a 10.8 which was matched by both Narang and Qinan. — PTI 

Sydney, January 13
Victoria Azarenka emerged as a big noise for the Australian Open by winning the Sydney International title on Friday while beaten opponent Li Na asked her supporters to stop shouting during matches.

"Maybe they think I'm stupid so they coach me," defending champion Li said after her 6-2 1-6 6-3 loss to Belarus's world number three at the Ken Rosewall Arena. "But I would like to say I'm not stupid. I can play very good tennis. I think if they come to see more tennis they will know not to shout. It is something I couldn't change. I don't have to listen to what they say. I have to focus on my tennis."

Any hopes Azarenka had of sneaking quietly into the Australian Open with a low profile and the focus on Denmark's world number one Caroline Wozniacki, Czech Republic's number two Petra Kvitova, French Open champion Li and serial headline act Serena Williams, disappeared.

The 22-year-old, who has a reputation for grunting on court, will be seen as a serious title threat when the first major championship of the year begins at Melbourne Park on Monday.

After ripping through the first set, she faded in the second before breaking her opponent at 4-3 and then serving for the match.

Azarenka had started the week revelling in the attention focused on the battle for the top ranking between Wozniacki and Kvitova, sneaking through the draw and receiving the bare minimum of publicity.

With nine of the top 10 women in the world playing in Sydney in a virtual dress rehearsal for Melbourne, Azarenka's win will have made her rivals sit up and take notice.

"It brings a lot of confidence," she said. "But it's going to be a new week in Melbourne, a new tournament, so for me it's going to be starting from zero. I'm glad the way I played here through those battles that I went through, so I've really tested myself before a big event. — Reuters

Melbourne, January 13
Sania Mirza on Friday drew a tough first round opponent in Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova for the women's singles event of the Australian Open, season's first Grand Slam tournament.

Sania, who is placed 105 in the ranking charts, has not crossed the first round hurdle in the singles at the Australian Open since 2009 while Pironkova, ranked 48, had made the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2011.

It will be the first meeting between the two players and Sania has just played one tournament in the new season after recovering from a knee injury. — PTI

Gurdaspur, January 13
Three gymnasts of the local Pandit Mohan Lal College for Women, who were part of the Guru Nanak Dev University team that won the All-India Inter University gymnastics championship which concluded at Amritsar recently, were felicitated at a function held on the college premises today.

The three gymnasts — Sarabjit, Gulvinder Kaur and Kanika Sharma — alongwith their coach Samita Sharma, a former International gymnast, were honoured by the college principal Neelam Sethi in the presence of students and staff members.

All three are products of Prabodh Chander Memorial Gymnatic Hall which over the last decade has produced nearly 100 national level and a dozen international level gymnasts, the most prominent among them being Samita Sharma, who is seen as the face of the sport in Punjab.