New Delhi, March 5
It has taken less than a year for the Indian cricket team to be reduced from the top-ranked Test side and one-day world champion to a bruised and battered outfit with fissures within.

Eight consecutive Test defeats abroad and an unimpressive display in one-dayers has forced critics to question the attitude of players who have failed to turn things around.

The slide began when India lost the top Test ranking to England with a 4-0 whitewash in July-August last year, and it was then humbled by the same scoreline in Australia to hit a new low in Tests overseas.

Though it has done well in one-dayers at home, the failure to win a single limited-overs match in England and the inability to make the finals of the triseries, now being played between Australia and Sri Lanka, has made Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team look a shadow of the one that lifted the World Cup at the Wankhede stadium on April 2.

Gautam Gambhir's remark on Dhoni completing wins too late in one-dayers, and Dhoni's jibe at Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar about being slow in the field during the triseries point to dissent amid a colourless display brightened only by Virat Kohli's 133 not out in India's last triseries match against Sri Lanka.

India's other World Cup winning captain, Kapil Dev, has criticized Dhoni for appearing aloof and not doing enough to get the team together in England and Australia.

"The team did not appear to be one unit," Kapil Dev wrote in a column. "Dhoni the captain was listless and uninspiring. And his comments against the seniors in a press conference were not in the right spirit."

Former Australia captain Steve Waugh also feels the Indian team is not playing as a unit. "There will be the predictable blame game and media scrutiny, but I hope some serious attention is paid to the attitude of this Indian team," Waugh wrote in Sunday's The Times of India.

"There were too many rumours of camps being formed in the change rooms and not all of them could be untrue. Clearly it was a divided house and some of the tensions were visible on the field as well." —PTI

Port of Spain, March 5
West Indies cricketer Runako Morton was killed in a road accident on Sunday night when he lost control of his car and hit a pole. Morton, who was 33, died on the spot, it has been reported.

Morton played 15 Test matches, 56 One-day internationals and seven Twenty20s for the West Indies since making his international debut in 2002.

He scored 573 runs in Tests at an average of 22.03 and 1519 in ODIs with an average of 33.75.

He last played in February 2010 in a Twenty20 against Australia in Sydney.

Morton had represented Trinidad and Tobago, Leeward Islands and Nevis. He scored 5980 runs at an average of 39.60 in a first class career that spanned over 17 years.

Several international cricketers have mourned the death of the Caribbean cricketer.

West Indies batsman Chris Gayle, tweeted, "We lost a True Warrior W.I Cricketer Runako Morton-May is soul rest in peace! Our memories together Live On!-My Condolences to his Family." West Indies player Carlos Brathwaite also condoled Morton's death on his twitter page.

"RIP Runacko Morton. Gone but not forgotten," he tweeted.

England batting star Kevin Pietersen also expressed his shock on Twitter.

"My thoughts go out to Runako Morton's family this morning... Such sad news!! What a lovely guy & fierce competitor!! RIP bossman!!!" he said.

Morton's former IPL team Rajasthan Royals also tweeted, "Sad to learn about the news of West Indian cricketer Runako Morton passing away in a car accident...RIP!" —PTI 

Mumbai, March 5
India are set to take on South Africa in a one-off Twenty20 International on March 30 in Johannesburg to commemorate the 150 years of settlement of Indians in that country, it has been learnt.

"The same squad (Asia Cup squad), with a few changes, will leave for South Africa on the 28th of March to play a one-off T20 International on March 30 to celebrate 150 years of Indian settlement. The invitation from the SA board has been accepted by BCCI," sources said here today.

Senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who does not play T20 Internationals, is unlikely to be part of the squad and in his place Karnataka's Robin Uthappa is expected to get the nod. The Asia Cup is scheduled between March 11 and 22 and the one-off T20 International in South Africa at the Wanderers ground will be preceding the Indian Premier League T20 competition commencing on April 4. — PTI

Karachi, March 5
Pakistan hope new cricket coach, Australia's Dav Whatmore, can find a magic formula to transform the country's talented players into a team that enjoys sustained, match-winning success.

The team's peaks and troughs are infamous. Last month's Test whitewash of England was followed by a flop in the limited overs series, losing 4-0 in the one-day games and 2-1 in the Twenty20s.

Frequent changes in the Pakistan Cricket Board and sackings of captains and coaches have halted progress.

But Sunday's appointment of Whatmore -- who guided Sri Lanka to World Cup victory in 1996 -- could change all that.

Former captain and ex-coach Intikhab Alam is pinning his hopes on Whatmore.

"I think the missing 'more' in Pakistan cricket will be achieved through Whatmore," Alam said. "With his perfect record in the past I hope he will enhance the team's performance, though it will take some time."

The 57-year-old, who played seven Tests and one limited over international for Australia, also guided Bangladesh to the second round of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean where they beat giants India.

Alam said a lot will depend on the players, some of whom resisted Whatmore's appointment in 2007 when an inexperienced Geoff Lawson was chosen instead.

"It is the coach's responsibility to bring more consistency, which is missing, but at the end of the day it is important players also do their best and listen to the coach," said Alam.

Pakistan has also signed Julian Fountain as fielding coach, which Alam believes will help in their weakest area.

"Fountain comes with rich experience and has served England, the West Indies and Bangladesh so I hope with him around, much-needed improvement in fielding will also come about," said Alam, coach of Pakistan's World Cup-winning team in 1992.

Another former captain, Aamir Sohail, also believes Whatmore can help the team overcome recent mistakes, even if the challenge is huge.

"I wish him the best of luck in his endeavours and hope that he will take notice of our recent mistakes in one-day cricket," said Sohail.

"When you take responsibility in international cricket you are bound to face pressure but you need to be objective and I hope everyone rallies behind him in support to achieve the targets," he said.

Whatmore himself on Sunday acknowledged the enormity of the task ahead.

"We want to be consistent. We don't want peaks and troughs," Whatmore said.

"We want the team to be at a good level for a long period. When we're brilliant there will be peaks, but we want to still perform and win games when we're not brilliant.

"We want to eliminate the bad performances. But you can't do that by focusing on the result. You have to focus on the process." —PTI

Los Angeles, March 5
Wearing a protective mask to shield his fractured nose, Kobe Bryant has carried the look of a movie villain but has performed like a hero since returning from the All Star Game.

Bryant scored 33 points in a win over the Miami Heat on Sunday for his third straight 30-point effort since Dwyane Wade broke his nose and left him concussed in a nasty foul during last weekend's game.

No stranger to injuries, the 14-times All Star seems to be playing with a renewed chip on his shoulder.

"He's (ticked) off about his nose and wants to go hard," team mate Andrew Bynum said.

Bryant's rage has seen the Lakers enjoy a 3-0 run to climb to third in the Western conference, with their leading shooter scoring an efficient 54 percent from the field.

"He's playing exceptional right now, I'm really happy to see him play at that level," said Lakers big man Pau Gasol.

"He's so focused at this point. I don't know if it's the concussion, or the nose, or the mask. I'm not sure."

Bryant said he was relishing the chance to hit back after absorbing last week's blow to the face.

"The biggest thing for me is the challenge of people expecting me to be knocked out. Or not to be able to play, or play well," he said.

"That's the biggest motivation for me." —AFP

Florida, March 5
Rory McIlroy won the US PGA Tour's Honda Classic on Sunday, holding off a hard-charging Tiger Woods to claim golf's world number one ranking.

Northern Ireland's McIlroy carded a one-under par 69 for 12-under 268, keeping his nerve after Woods - who started the day nine adrift - surged to the clubhouse lead with an eight-under par 62 that eventually left the 14-time major champion tied for second place with Tom Gillis on 10-under 270.

Woods, the former world number one who hasn't won a tour level event in more than two years, delivered the lowest final round of his career, firing two eagles and four birdies without a bogey to put the heat on McIlroy.

His birdie-eagle finish briefly moved him within one shot of McIlroy, who promptly responded with the second of his two birdies by sinking an eight-footer at the 13th hole.

McIlroy made a series of clutch par saves, and with a two-shot lead at the 18th tee laid up for a textbook par at the par-five finishing hole.

The victory that will see him supplant England's Luke Donald at the top when the new rankings are announced.

At 22 years old, McIlroy became the second-youngest player, behind Woods, to claim the number one ranking. Woods was 21 when he first reached number one, after the 1997 US Open.

"It was tough today, especially seeing Tiger make a charge," McIlroy said. "I knew par golf would probably be good enough today, that's what I was trying to do... I was just able to get the job done."

Woods was in sole possession of second place until Gillis, a journeyman who began the round tied for second two shots back, birdied the final hole to join him on 270.

McIlroy earned the fifth official victory of his career. Three of those are US PGA Tour victories, including his record-setting US Open triumph at Congressional last year. Two others came on the European Tour.

Since the PGA Championship last August McIlroy has finished outside the top five just once, when he was ill at the Dubai World Championship in December.

He had to call on all his reserves this time.

At the 14th, McIlroy fired a wedge out of deep rough to leave himself a four-footer for par. —Agencies

Patiala, March 5
After a successful outing in the 20th Asian Table Tennis Championship that was held at Macau from February 23 to March 1, the Indian players have returned to NIS, Patiala, and are training hard for their Asian Continental Olympic Qualifying Tournament that will be held at Hong Kong from April 19 to 22.

Talking to The Tribune, chief coach of Indian Table Tennis team Bhawani Mukherjee said it is a very crucial event and we are hoping that at least one player gets qualified from both men and women category. “Only three men and three women players will take part in the qualifying tournament and we have already finalized the list of players. While Commonwealth Games silver medalist Poulami Ghattak, Ankita Das and K Shamini will take part in women’s section, Arjuna Awardee Sharath Kamal, Amar Raj and Soumyaljit Ghosh will take part in men’s category. We have high hopes riding on these players because they have been playing terrific games in past.”