Bangalore, March 10
Now that Rahul Dravid has hung his boots from international cricket, the uppermost concern dogging the cricket-crazy country is who is next Dravid in the making! The frontrunner among the youngsters who could fill in Dravid's big shoes are Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane.

23-year-old Kohli, who was elevated to vice-captaincy for the ODI format, has shown that he has the talent and temperament to occupy that crucial number three slot in Test cricket for the Indian team.

He has proved that he belonged at the highest levels in the longest format in India's disastrous Test tour of Australia. On a tour in which India's senior batsmen struggled throughout, Kohli stood out, scoring India's only Test hundred — a mature, composed innings in Adelaide. In the eight Tests he has played so far, he has scored 491 runs at an average of 32.73.

Another candidate is the Mumbai top-order batsman Rohit Sharma. He has the talent and technique but lacks in fitness and consistency and is yet to play long innings consistently in the longer format after the 2008-09 Ranji season. 24-year-old Rohit has a very good ODI record with 1889 runs from 77 matches at an average of 33.14 but is yet to test his temperament at the Test level.

Another Mumbai batsman Rahane has shown that he can bat for long hours and grind for runs. He has scored heavily for Mumbai at number three and four in Ranji Trophy in the last few years. The 23-year-old right-handed batsman has continued to churn out the runs in domestic cricket, hitting three hundreds each in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons of the Ranji Trophy.

Two centuries in the Emerging Players Tournament in Australia brought him a place in the India ODI squad for the tour of England in 2011 but he is yet to make his Test debut.

Another claimant to the pivotal number three Test spot is 24-year-old Saurashtra batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, known for his solid techniques.

His technique is tailor-made for Test cricket. It may be too early to draw comparison with 'The Wall', but looking at his first class batting record, one gets the feeling that Pujara is the rightly being called the next Dravid. Scoring tons of runs in first class cricket at an average of 53.50 over the years, Pujara made the opportunity count by scoring an excellent 72 in a tricky fourth-innings run-chase in 2010 Bangalore Test against Australia. In the process, he became only the fifth Indian to score 50 or more in the fourth innings on debut.

Pujara, who had three triple centuries in domestic cricket prior to 2009, was sent up the order at number three in place of Dravid in a tactical change by captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni which turned out to be a masterstroke as India went on to win the Test by seven wickets.

In the three Tests he has played so far, Pujara scored 107 runs at an average of 21.40.

Pujara, who is out of the game since 2011 IPL due to a knee injury, keeps his game simple and plays within his limitations. His technique is in classical mould - upright at the crease and play with a midas touch on both sides of the field.

Pujara was a prodigy at age-level cricket, finishing the 2006 U-19 World Cup as the highest scrorer with 349 runs. He has already displayed his hunger for big scores with a triple-century against Baroda at Under-14 level, a double against England Under-19, and 145 for Saurashtra in his second first-class match. — PTI

Mirpur, March 10
The 11th edition of the Asia Cup cricket tournament begins here tomorrow with defending champions India hoping to redeem their pride and restore their reputation after the debacle in Australia. Hosts Bangladesh will take on Pakistan in the opening fixture of the four-nation tournament which will conclude on March 22.

Bangladesh have not won a single ODI series in the four they played last year, even losing 2-3 to Zimbabwe in a five-match rubber when they visited the African country. They lost by identical 0-3 to Australia and Pakistan and 1-2 to West Indies, all at home.

The hosts were also mired in controversies in the run-up to the tournament with young wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim in the dock after voicing his concerns about player payments in the Bangladesh Premier League and had a 24-hour wait before he was made captain.

Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal was dropped by the Board chief, then asked to prove his fitness -- despite being passed fit by the team doctor two days earlier -- and then picked again.

In the middle of it all, chief selector Akram Khan, who happens to be Tamim's uncle, quit over claims of interference.

The young side, however, cannot be taken lightly as Bangladesh can be giant-killers on their day and the other three established sides of world cricket can hardly afford to be complacent.

The unpredictable Pakistan, on the other hand, would want to begin their campaign with a win with a new coach Dav Whatmore taking charge. It will be Whatmore's first assignment with the team and he will be hoping to make an impression straightaway.

Pakistan has been a mixed bag last year having beaten West Indies (3-2), Zimbabwe and Bangladesh (3-0) and Sri Lanka (4-1) before slumping to a 0-4 drubbing by England last month in UAE. When they toured Bangladesh last December, they had beaten the home side comfortably in all the three matches, including two at the Sher-E-Bangla Stadium.

India, who kick off their campaign against Sri Lanka on March 13, would get a chance to make amends for their dismal performance in the triangular series in Australia where they won just three matches out of eight. India are coming into the tournament with just a few changes in the squad that played in Australia with hard-hitting batsman Yusuf Pathan and pacer Ashok Dinda drafted into team while Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav have been 'rested' due to injuries. — PTI 

March 11: Ban vs Pak

March 13: India vs Lanka

March 15: Pak vs Lanka

March 16: Ban vs India

March 18: India vs Pak

March 20: Ban vs Lanka

March 22: Final

Dubai, March 10
Senior India batsman Sachin Tendulkar would eye his 100th international century and also improve his position in the ICC ranking for the ODI batsmen when Asia Cup begins in Mirpur from tomorrow.

Tendulkar has scored 51 Test and 48 ODI centuries in an illustrious 23-year career but the 100th century has been eluding him since last year's ICC Cricket World Cup.

In addition to this, Tendulkar's current ranking of 29th is his lowest since December 1991, when he had slipped to 31st position. The 38 year-old's highest career ranking is at the top of the listings, a mark he first achieved in February 1996.

Other India batsmen, middle-order mainstay Virat Kohli and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, currently positioned at third and fifth respectively in the batting chart, would also look to improve their standings in the ODI Players list during the Asia Cup.

Sri Lankan batting trio of Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Dinesh Chandimal would be aiming to carry their recent good form in Australia into the Asia Cup.

Sangakkara has jumped five places to fourth position after finishing as the fourth leading run-getter with 420 runs, Dilshan has moved up four places to 10th place after ending as the leading scorer with 513 runs, while Chandimal has broken into the top 20 for the first time and lies in 18th spot after scoring 419 runs, success that saw him rise 18 places. — PTI 

Chandigarh, March 10
Ahmedabad emerged surprise winners of the inaugural city-based Louis Philippe golf tournament played at the KGA in Bangalore. In the final on Saturday, Ahmedabad made a clean sweep of all the matches against home favourites Bangalore to clinch the trophy 3-0.

Going into the tournament, Ahmedabad were the underdogs with no star players in their line-up but Ahmedabad’s trio of pro golfers Vinod Kumar, Mithun Perera and Vikrant Chopra turned the tables on their more fancied opponents to romp home in style.

Bangalore had in their ranks local hero Anirban Lahiri, Manav Jaini and Abhiskek Jha but in the end the Ahmedabad players were simply too good for them.

The tournament had all the star Indian golfers - including the likes of Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa - playing for one team or another but ultimately the unheralded Ahmedabad team showed that steady and consistent golf was the key to winning in this matchplay format.

In the match for the third place, Chennai defeated Chandigarh also by a margin of 3-0. Chandigarh’s players - Harendra Gupta, Sujjan Singh and Gagan Bhullar - could not stop the freeflowing players of the Chennai outfit and Anura Rohana in particular was quite impressive.

Besides Rohana, Chennai had in their team veteran Gaurav Ghei and the ever-consistent SSP Chowrasia.

The winning team Ahmedabad won the top prize of Rs 36 lakhs while the second placed team Bangalore got Rs 24 lakhs. The event was the brainchild of Rishi Narain Golf Management (RNGM) and for an inaugural venture it turned out to be a pretty successful one.

All top golfers were full of praise for this new tournament and it now looks that this one will become an annual feature on the PGTI calendar.

“This concept is really great and all the players enjoyed playing this format thoroughly. It is very rare for all the top pro golfers to come together at one place but this one was conducted very well by RGNM,” said seasoned pro SSP Chowrasia.

New Delhi, March 10
Federation International Football Association (FIFA) president Joseph Sepp Blatter gave a “positive” response to India’s desire to host the 2017 Under-17 World Cup and the 2015 World Club Cup, without committing himself. He said FIFA had a democratic system, and he was not the sole deciding authority, as there were 24 Executive Committee members who would have the final say about such bids.

But Blatter, who has been serving the FIFA for the past 38 years, including as the president for the past 14 years, said he wanted to see India among the best football-playing countries, before demitting office in 2015. He said though India did not stand a chance of hosting the World Cup proper till 2030, he could not visualise world football “without India”, as India was not a sub-continent, but a virtual continent, and such a vast country with a tremendous interest in the game, should be up there with the best, playing the game at the elite level.

“India is almost a continent, and should be given due importance, both for youth development and club football”, Blatter observed.

But he noted that presently, India needed to buck up their act, to make strides forward, both in creating a talent pool and for the creation of infrastructure. Blatter first visited Delhi in 2007 when Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi headed the All India Football Federation (AIFF), and found India a “sleeping giant”. But now, he thinks that India is no more a sleeping giant, but “waking up”, though he added in good measure, that “to wake up a sleeping giant, you need more than one alarm clock. We have put different alarms clocks here!”.

In his preamble, before Blatter addressed the media here, AIFF president Praful Patel said India would be bidding for the 2017 Under-17 World Cup and the 2015 World Club Cup, though he had conceded that the country needed to work hard on the development of talent and infrastructure, to lay a solid foundation for the growth of the game. “We in India are committed to improve the fundamentals to make Indian football strong. We have lots of challenges, we have lots of limitations, but we will overcome them, because football is the second most watched sport in the country, after cricket”, Patel said.

“We will make a strong bid to host the Under-17 World Cup”, he emphasised. “For that, we will start working with the Under-12 team, and when the Under-17 World Cup comes around, we would have a very strong youth team”, Patel elaborated.

Before the FIFA president interacted with the media, he had audiences with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil. “The Prime Minister was enthusiastic and forthcoming to see India as a premier football-playing nation, and the FIFA chief was very encouraging”, Patel added.

Blatter said FIFA had a membership of 209 countries - more than the United Nations - and over 300 million people are directly involved in the game the world over - as players, coaches, managers, administrators et al.

He said he was looking forward to consolidating the football development work initiated in India in 2002, to make a solid base for the game at the grass-root level. He felt India’s move to bid for the Under-17 World Cup was a “very positive initiative”, and he shot back “why not?” when asked whether India could host the World Club Cup, which is another prestigious tournament in the FIFA calendar. Blatter said the Under-17 World Cup, which was last held in Mexico, was a prestigious championship as around “100 thousand players play in the game”.

He said the World Club Cup will be a new avatar of the Inter-Continental Cup as the cycle of the latter will end in Japan next year, and the 2014 World Club Cup will be held in Morocco (Africa). The FIFA chief said it was his dream to see that India is firmly established in football, which is the “game of the world”, before he steps down as president.

“Football connects people; football is a school of life; it’s a team sport, and you are not alone”, Blatter said, adding that “society, Government should help football. India is a world power in economics, politics. And like China, you should be a world power in football too”, Blatter signed off.

Under the aegis of FIFA, four regional academies will be set up in India - in Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi - in May. And by 2013, an elite academy will be established, as the world body looks ahead to have a total of nine academies in the country. 

New Delhi, March 10
Wriddhiman Saha anchored his innings to perfection as Bengal defeated Punjab by three wickets to make it to the final of the National One Day Championship for the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

It is Bengal's fourth ODI final appearance in the last five years having lost on all three previous occasions. They will play Mumbai in the final scheduled on Monday. Punjab scored a modest 205 for eight on a difficult track at the Services ground in Palam, Saha coming in at No 5 batted with lot of maturity on a track which had variable bounce.

The left-arm spin duo of debutant Vinay Chaudhary (2/53) and Rajwinder Golu (3/19) troubled the batsmen with turn and deliveries that kept low. Eevn skipper Harbhajan Singh (1/28) kept things tight making scoring difficult.

Wriddhiman, who has now scored his sixth consecutive half-century remained unbeaten on 53 off 71 deliveries with three fours. But it was his running between the wickets that made the difference as he pushed his partners to convert ones into twos and twos into threes.

His partnership of 51 runs for the sixth wicket with Debabrata Das (23) proved to be crucial in the context of the match as Bengal had then slumped to 111 for five.

Credit should also be given to Mohammed Shami (22 not out, 7 balls, 3x4, 1x6) whose cameo made things much easier in the end than it looked. He hit Vinay for a four and then a big six into sight-screen to finish off the match in style. Among the top-order batsmen, skipper Sourav Ganguly (24, 29 balls, 2x4, 1x6) looked in his element as he lofted Manpreet Gony over long-on for a six and then another lofted shot off the bowler got him a boundary.

However, seeing debutant left-arm spinner Vinay being introduced into the attack, Ganguly couldn't resist the temptation of stepping out only to inside edge the delivery onto his stumps. — PTI

Kathmandu, March 10
Indian football Coach Savio Medeira is hoping that his boys will not repeat the past mistakes when they open their AFC Challenge Cup campaign against Philippines here tomorrow.

Philippines are expected to come hard against India having lost their first match to Korea. "At times you don’t get the results which you strive for. But that won’t deter us to be committed for our future success. We will keep trying and give our 100 percent to get the result we all are striving for.

"We had a spirited performance against Tajikistan. But we squandered some good chances to score in the first half. Hope things will improve in our next match," said the Coach ahead of Group B clash.

"We need to believe in ourselves and keep on playing good football, the result will come," continued Savio. — PTI