Sydney, February 1
The change of format and infusion of young blood failed to bring about a turnaround for India as Australia thrashed the lacklustre visitors by 31 runs in the first T20 International here today.

Australia rode on wicketkeeper-batsman Mathew Wade's blistering 43-ball 72 to score an imposing 171 for four and then bowled well to restrict India to 140 for six in what turned out to be a lop-sided contest.

After the 0-4 drubbing in the Test series, the induction of the limited overs specialists didn't bring about any change in the script as neither the batsmen nor the bowlers could create any sort of impact. The game was as good as over when India lost their first four wickets for 53 runs in the first eight overs.

Virender Sehwag (4), Gautam Gambhir (20), Virat Kohli (22) and Rohit Sharma (0) were cooling their heels in the pavilion within a blink, giving the hosts the advantage. It only got worse when Suresh Raina (14), after a hit or two, was clean bowled by the highly regarded Daniel Christian.

Only skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni held his ground and struck 48 off 43 balls with a boundary and three sixes. His late flourish was eye-catching but it was too late by then.

There was a brief sparkle when Gambhir and Kohli put on 41 runs off 30 balls but the disaster was round the corner. Kohli holed out in the deep off Brad Hogg's bowling. Gambhir lofted a catch inside the ring as he failed to read the off-break from David Hussey.

Kohli, a redeeming feature of Test series, was claimed by 40-year-old chinaman bowler Hogg off the fourth ball of his first over. Hussey was the surprise packet for Australia, who claimed two wickets for only four runs in his first two overs.

Hussey claimed Gambhir and Rohit Sharma with his part-time off-spin. For Sharma, who had waited all this summer for his first representative game, it was a dismal start as he was bowled off the first ball he faced.

Sehwag was the first one to begin it all in a rather characteristic dismissal this summer—looking to play on the onside, closing the face of his bat too early and edging a catch, off the side of his bat to lone slip Hussey.

Besides his catch and wickets, Hussey played a smart innings of 42 off 30 balls when Australia batted first in the evening. Hussey shared a 56-run third wicket stand with Matthew Wade whose 72 off 43 balls with five fours and three sixes was the talking point of the evening.

Wade, playing his third Twenty20 international, after two unsuccessful ones against South Africa last year, struck cleanly and powerfully to flatten up the largely spin-oriented Indian bowling.

Left-handed opener David Warner (25) led an early charge and then Wade took over as India were once again made to look inadequate in the middle.

Indians opted to field first and sensing a slow wicket, relied almost exclusively on its spinners but still found the home batsmen come out strongly at them.

Ravichandran Ashwin was brought in first up at the sight of Warner, knowing the off-spinner had scalped him twice in the final Test in Adelaide last month.

Ashwin was allowed to get away in his first over but in the next, Warner slammed 6,4 and 6 off successive balls to break the spell over him. The first of this hit for the maximum took everyone's breath away as it was a switch hit and still carried the ball beyond ropes at widish long on. — PTI

Scoreboard
Australia
Warner c Raina b Vinay 25
Wade b Raina 72
Birt c Raina b Ashwin 17
Hussey b Rahul 42
Bailey not out 12
Mitchell not out 0
Extras (lb 1, w 2) 3
Total (4 wkts; 20 ovrs) 171
Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-79, 3-135, 4-170.
Bowling: Ashwin 4-0-34-1, Praveen 3-0-34-0, Vinay 4-0-28-1, Raina 3-0-22-1, Rahul 3.4-0-27, Rohit 0.2-0-2-0, Jadeja 2-0-23-0.

India
Gambhir c Marsh b Hussey 20
Sehwag c Hussey b Lee 4
Kohli c Warner b Hogg 22
Raina b Christian 14
Rahul b Hussey 0
Dhoni not out 48
Jadeja c Warner b Christian 7
Ashwin not out 15
Extras (lb 3, w 6, nb 1) 10
Total (6 wkts; 20 ovrs) 140
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-47, 3-53, 4-53, 5-72, 6-81.
Bowling: Lee 4-0-36-1, Doherty 4-0-23-0, Faulkner 2-0-18-0, Christian 4-0-35-2, Hussey 2-0-4-2, Hogg 4-0-21-1.

India’s losing streak continued with a defeat in the first of the two T20 games that are slotted in the schedule. The Australians surprised by naming a new skipper for this format of the game and also brought back Brad Hogg, who had retired from Test cricket four years ago.

Hogg is 40 years old and Brett Lee is no spring chicken either, but they look sprightly and showed their energy levels on the field not only with the ball, but also while diving and striving to stop every run. The Indian team certainly looked more athletic on the field than in the Tests but the batting and bowling did not have the spark that was anticipated.

What the Australian selection has showed is that horses for courses is their policy. The T20 World Cup is later in the year in Sri Lanka and the Australians obviously want to win that as that is the one format that they have not won a World Cup. That is the reason perhaps why the selection of older experienced players like Hogg and Lee.

Be that as it may, the Australians simply carried too many guns for the Indians and once a team is chasing at more than 8 runs an over, it needs not only a brisk start, but also partnerships which did not quite happen for the Indians. Even in the Tests there was hardly a partnership excepting perhaps the one between Kohli and Saha. The rapid loss of wickets braked India's progress and despite valiant efforts from Raina and skipper Dhoni, it was a mountain too high to climb. Ashwin also batted well but he has to work on his athleticism for in this format every run matters.

India play much more domestic T20 cricket than anywhere else, but despite all that experience they have come a cropper in this form of the game at the international level. It is pretty much like England, who too had more limited overs competitions in their domestic cricket than anywhere else, but just not able to use all that match playing experience into wins on the world stage. India’s T20 win in the ICC World Cup came when they hardly played any T20 cricket. You would expect the greater the match practice the better the performance would be, but that is not how it has panned out.

This format is what brought David Warner to the fore and he showed just why by clubbing some extraordinary hits out of the ground. Although outscored at the start by Warner, Wade showed why he was preferred to Brad Haddin with a polished display of batting and in doing so Australia have found an alternative if Haddin’s form slips up. The Australian fielding was top class and their bowlers bowled to a plan. Still they will be looking to have some younger bowlers coming through to take over from Lee and Hogg. This is an unfriendly format for any bowler and what this does is toughen them up mentally. That then can stand in good stead for the longer format of the game.

India have stumbled and it looks like an action replay of what happened in England not too long ago where they lost every game in whichever format it was played. Perhaps, the participation of their southern neighbours Sri Lanka in the limited overs tri-series gives them some hope of having a win against their name. Time will tell. — PMG

Sydney, February 1
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today put up a brave face after his side slumped to yet another defeat with a 31-run thrashing in the Twenty20 International in what is turning out to be a disastrous tour of Australia, saying "there is always a tomorrow".

After being whitewashed in the four-match Test series, India lost the first Twenty20 International against Australia at the ANZ stadium today, and Dhoni said batting once again let the visitors down in the tour.

"There is always a tomorrow. We started well (with the bat) but could not capitalise. But (Mathew) Wade batted really well (for Australia)," he said after the match.

Dhoni conceded that his decision to bowl first after winning the toss backfired. "I feel so, especially the way the wicket behaved in the second innings. It was worst to bat in the second innings," he said when asked whether he erred in letting Australia bat first. But at the end of the day, it is a sport and the team which plays well will win."

Dhoni's counterpart George Bailey, who played his first match for Australia today, and that too as captain, credited the entire team for the emphatic win. "It was all-round performance from the boys. I am very excited to win the game. Everyone contributed. Our fielding and bowling was outstanding," he said.

"There's a great feeling around Australian cricket at the moment. We hope to continue the same performance in Melbourne."

Wicket-keeper Matthew Wade, who was declared the man-of-the-match for his whirlwind 43-ball 72-run knock, said today's effort was one of the best performances of his short career.

"That's probably the best I have played for quite a while," he said. "(Coach) Mickey Arthur told me yesterday that I would be opening. But no point competing with (David) Warner, he's the best hitter in the game." He also lauded Australia spin trio of Xavier Doherty, David Hussey and veteran Brad Hogg for making life difficult for the Indians during their run chase. — PTI

Patiala, February 1
Archery in Punjab got a major boost with women archers from the State emerging champions (Recurve round) at the 32nd Senior National Archery Championship that concluded in Jharkhand recently. This is the first time in 32 years that Punjab women have won this title.

The Punjab team, comprising of Priyanka, Amandeep Kaur, Satbir Kaur and Komalpreet Kaur defeated a star-studded Tata Archery Academy team, that included Deepika Kumari and Samita, by six points in the final match to win the title.

While Priyanka and Amandeep are from Punjabi University, Patiala, Komalpreet is from GND University, Amritsar. In the women’s compound event, Parveena of Punjabi University, Patiala, won overall bronze medal and stood fourth at two distances. In the men’s section, Sandeep Kamboj of Punjab bagged fourth place.

Giving information in this regard, coach Surinder Singh and Phulbagh Kaur, who accompanied the team, informed that though the journey to the top was very difficult for these relatively young archers, as they had to defeat Railways in the semifinal match, which had all three international players — Pratima Boro, Bombayla Devi and Rimil but the girls did not loose their cool. “They were totally composed and showed spectacular skills to defeat such senior and experienced players,” they added.

Dharamsala, February 1
With Indian cricket team's inadequacy to handle bounce and swing been exposed by the two consecutive overseas drubbings, the BCCI is mulling to train the young cricketers at the picturesque Dharmsala, that has conditions akin to the England and Australia.

In a recently concluded National Cricket Academy (NCA) meeting at the board headquarters, it was decided that the players picked for different BCCI academies will have to undergo a two-week training camp at Dharmsala in Himachal Pradesh. The move comes in view of the bowling friendly conditions that prevail at the venue, which will give cricketers a fair idea of how to handle swing.

It has been learnt that the governing body is contemplating to build a seamer-friendly track at the venue apart from an academy, where players can prepare before touring places like England, Australia or New Zealand. A proposal to this effect is already under consideration and the board could take a final decision in this regard during its AGM in September.

Confirming the proposal, the BCCI joint-secretary Anurag Thakur said high-altitude training and learning to play on green tops are basic requirements and the board wants the youngsters to hone their skills in these challenging conditions. "In the past, some BCCI members have suggested Dharamsala as a much suited training place before touring countries like South Africa and Australia," he said. — PTI

Manchester, February 1
Javier Hernandez and Dimitar Berbatov each claimed a penalty as Manchester United's 2-0 victory over Stoke drew them level with Manchester City at the top of the Premier League. With injury and illness to Anders Lindegaard and David de Gea, respectively, forcing United to hand a league debut to 21-year-old deputy Ben Amos, the penalty decisions ensured the defending Premier League champions enjoyed a comfortable evening.

United took the lead after 38 minutes when Jermaine Pennant was judged to have tripped United's South Korean international midfielder Park Ji-Sung in the area. In the absence of regular penalty taker Wayne Rooney, who has failed on four of his last eight attempts, Hernandez strode up and calmly beat Thomas Sorensen with a shot into the bottom left-hand corner.

Seven minutes into the second half, Antonio Valencia surged into the area with Jon Walters tugging at him from behind, a move which referee Mike Jones instantly deemed worthy of a penalty. This time, surprisingly given Hernandez's earlier success, Berbatov strode up to the mark and scored just as convincingly as his team mate had, low into the bottom right.

The opening goal was inevitable in a game in which Stoke's primary aim appeared to be to test United's rookie goalkeeper with long-range shots. Walters chanced his arm from 25 yards and Kenwyne Jones volleyed wide from outside the box inside the opening 10 minutes.

But the bulk of the first period was spent with United patiently trying to break down Stoke's dogged resistance. Paul Scholes teed up Michael Carrick for a promising early shot which was charged down by Ryan Shawcross and another Carrick strike won a 21st minute corner. — AFP

Chandigarh, February 1
J. K. Forest Club cruised to a comfortable victory by beating JCT Football Academy Phagwara 3-1 on the second day of the All India Principal Harbhajan Singh Football Tournament in Mahilpur.

Right from the beginning, JK Forest Club were in control of the game, which bore fruit in the 17th minute when having got a through pass from his team mate, Sameer shot a goal against the opponents. The first half saw another goal from Vaseem Javed in the 39th minute.

In the second half, JCT got back into the game, Amandeep Singh scoring for his team in the 78th minute. But JK again sped up, this time Vaseem Yusuf striking in the 89th minute thus concluding the match 3-1.

The second match played in the Club Category saw Punjab Power Corporation striving against Sant Hari Singh Football Club. Numerous fascinating moves, power-packed shots, astonishing saves were put to no avail as no team achieved success during the alloted time.

At last, Sant Hari Singh Club grabbed the match with 4-3 win in the penalty shoot-out. The single match played in the College Category during the day was between Khalsa College Garhshankar and F. A. Rurka. Manjit Singh of FA Rurka scored the winning goal in the 69th minute.

The third day of the tournament will see the following contests: Khalsa College Mahilpur Vs DAV Jalandhar, SNC Banga Vs Army Jr. , Tata Academy Vs CRPF Jalandhar.