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Few to cheer home team
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Critical for us to win T20 World Cup: Ashwin
Kapil feels it‘s difficult...
Clarke backs ‘bottom ranked’ Australia
Stars pick IPL teams over home teams in CLT20
Jayawardene preplaces Sehwag as DD captain
BCCI to take final call on Deccan Chargers
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Yuki you can!
Chandigarh, September 14 The first match witnessed a wonderful comeback by Bhambri in a contest that lasted three hours and 15 minutes. With the clouds providing a comforting shade on the court, Turner started on an ominous note and demolished his Indian opponent without being troubled. He won the first set 6-3 and made things more gloomy for Bhambri when he routed the Indian 6-0 in the second. But as the day proceeded, and the humidity became stronger, the New Zealand No. 2 started losing his grip over the match. Even switching 10 different jerseys, consuming seven bottles of liquid supplements, four bananas and extra supplement diet did not help him. His left calf muscle started troubling him and diverted his mind from the court. Taking full advantage of the situation, Bhambri started playing his natural game and made a comeback. After losing the initial two games of the third set, he bagged the set by 6-2. Later, after getting into the flow, he made his opponent to run all over his court and levelled the match with a 6-4 win in the fourth set. With the small but vocal crowd started cheering him on, Bhambri started off the deciding set on a good note. He won the first two games but Turner made it 1-2 with strong serving. Yuki won the third game and continued in the winning vein, taking the set 6-2. Vardhan leads Due to bad light on the court, the match between Vishnu Vardhan and Jose Statham was postponed to Saturday. Vishnu led two sets to won when the match was called off for the day. It would be completed tomorrow before the doubles clash. Vardhan registered a comfortable 6-2 win in the first set while Statham came through a neck-to-neck tie-breaker game (7-5) to take the second set. Vardhan bounced back and bagged the final set 6-4. In the closely contested match, Vishnu kept his calm and relied on his groundstrokes to win the third set. Sanam or Yuki may pair Divij in the doubles According to non-playing captain SP Misra, in case Vardhan’s singles match lasts long on Saturday, either Sanam Singh or Bhambri will play with Divij Sharan in the doubles contest. “Now that the match is postponed, we will have the option of replacing Vishnu in the doubles category. It totally depends upon the nature of the game and Vishnu’s will. Our priority is to hold Vishnu in both the categories. Rest, it all depends upon tomorrow’s singles clash. Either Sanam or Yuki will pair Divij for the doubles clash. The players are ready to give their best.” |
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Few to cheer home team
Chandigarh, September 14 But it was left to Yuki mother, sister Ankita — once a top tennis player — and a few near and dear ones to cheer the Davis Cup first-timer from the stands. "Come on Yuki, come on, chal chal… You can do it," Ankita kept goading her little brother. Down two sets, he did bounce back to win the match. "My team had a big role in guiding me when I was trailing two sets. That was the time when they lifted me up,” Yuki said later. The term “crowd support” did not appear in his account of the match — it didn’t exist. Yuki had to make do without a large crowd waving flags, the distinctive feature of the Davis Cup ties. The CLTA complex, with a spectator capacity of 4,800, was not even partially filled. Early morning showers, a midweek schedule did not help, but CLTA could have done more, too. It's clear that either the tickets have not been sold or the people are just not interested in watching the second string players. CLTA spokesperson Jagjit Puri said, "Two-three schools approached us for tickets, we provided them. I don’t know what happened after that." CLTA official Gajendra Singh said, "Rains played a spoilsport and it did not help that it was a working day.” |
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Critical for us to win T20 World Cup: Ashwin
Colombo, September 14 "We won the 2007 [Twenty20] World Cup and then this format has eluded us. We didn't do well in the last two World Cups. Now to put in faith and win this World Cup is critical for the team in the sense that we have done a good job, but over the last one year, we had tough time in Australia and England. To resurrect that and actually to do a good job here is important to everybody," Ashwin Ashwin, who will turn 26 on Monday, said that winning the tournament would be a long process. He added that the team is trying to acclimatise to the conditions and is focussed to draw maximum number of positives during its stay in the island nation. India start their campaign against Afghanistan on September 19. "Winning this World Cup is a long process. It is a 20-day long tournament and it is going to be another five-six days before the tournament begins. We actually get into the tournament with a couple of practice games and drawing as many positives as possible is very crucial for the team... So from there we will take it on. Definitely at the back of mind everybody knows that it is a very crucial tournament for us," he said. The Chennai lad, who returned with a rich haul of 18 wickets from the just concluded two-match Test rubber against New Zealand at home, said it will be a test for the bowlers to switch from the longer format of the game to the shorter one. "We have started [preparing] for the World Cup three-four days back. We have been playing Test cricket and now we have to switch over to this tournament. The good thing is that we have got a week's time in Sri Lanka to prepare for the World Cup. "It is a mind switch-over and physical switch-over for the bowlers in terms of lengths, lines and the amount of variations they have to bring into the game. This preparation would be ideal for us," Ashwin said. — PTI
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Sindhu stuns Olympic gold medallist Xuerui
New Delhi, September 14 World number 24 Sindhu, who is the lone Indian woman in the fray in the absence of star compatriot Saina Nehwal, won 21-19 9-21 21-16 in a tense 45-minute contest against the second seeded and world number three Chinese. Sindhu turned out to be more aggressive than her fancied opponent as she went on to hit as many as 26 smash winners as opposed to 20 by the Chinese. The net game was a close affair as the Indian had nine points to the Chinese’s eight. This was Sindhu’s biggest win in her career. Sindhu came into the match high on confidence, having got the better of world number 14 and eighth seed Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand in the pre-quarterfinals of the tournament. The 17-year-old Indian will now take on the winner of the match between Busanan Ongbumrungpan of Thailand and fourth seeded Yanjiao Jiang of China in the last four stage. The young Indian straightaway opened a 3-0 lead and then made it 6-1 in the opening game before the Chinese reduced the gap to 6-7. Sidhu continued to maintain the lead but Xuerui used all her experience to make it 18-19. It looked like Sindhu would wither under intense pressure from the vastly experience opponent but the Indian admirably held on to her nerves to take the first game 21-19. — PTI
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New Delhi, September 14 “My heart says something and mind says something else. My heart says that India will win the World Cup and my cricketing brain thinks that they will find it very difficult. The way they played in the last T20 against New Zealand is not a good sign ahead of such an important tournament," Kapil said on Friday. “India lost from a winning position and one cannot let go opportunities just like that. A team can lose confidence if they are defeats like these," Kapil added. “Getting off to a good start in the tournament will be a key thing and then should think about the later part of the tournament," he added. He didn't forget to mention that the batting unit has to click in order to excel. — PTI
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Irfan is back zipping the ball
Colombo, September 14 Irfan, who turned out to be one of India's most successful bowlers in Sri Lanka early this summer, has often been discussed for lack of pace, but the bowler is not perturbed. "A lot of people talk about my pace, but I'm generally never bothered. I'm not an out-and-out quick bowler. Everyone has their own gifts and I have my strengths and weaknesses as well." When he arrived on the scene in 2003, the bowler was seen as the great Kapil Dev's successor, and the pressure seemed to have got to Irfan. “This is what I've learnt throughout the year. I love playing, but sometimes you just put too much pressure on yourself by thinking about performance. Eventually you have to come down to the level where you love the game and you just play." In Sri Lanka Irfan was nothing more than pedestrian in terms of pace, but what brought him success was his ability to work out the batsmen. “I've tried to learn a few tricks in terms of thinking out the batsmen. The more experience I have, the better I'm getting in terms of that.” — PTI
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Clarke backs ‘bottom ranked’ Australia
Sydney, September 14 Clarke said it is a different thing for Australian team to be ranked so low, pointing towards their ninth spot in the T20 rankings, just one above Ireland “Hopefully, we're not ranked there by the end of the World Cup. It's different for the Australian team (to be ranked so low), but, I guess, it shows we haven't performed as well as we need to in that form of the game,” news.com.au quoted Clarke, as saying “We need to turn that around, and what better time than at the World Cup," he added “I think we can win the Twenty20 World Cup. We've got the talent and we showed that in the last game against Pakistan in the UAE, and I think we've showed it in patches over the last couple of years," he said. Australia's campaign starts with a match against Ireland on September 19. — PTI
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Stars pick IPL teams over home teams in CLT20
New Delhi, September 14 Champion domestic teams from a record eight countries will chase the USD 2.5 million first prize from a total pool (including participation fees) of USD 13 million, the organisers said in a statement. “The fourth edition of the Champions League Twenty20 is only a few weeks away. The squads that will be playing in the tournament speak for themselves. They comprise the finest cricketing talent on this planet,” said N. Srinivasan, Chairman, CLT20 Governing Council. “We are in for some extraordinary cricket, in what will surely be a thriller of a competition." Kieron Pollard, Mike Hussey, the Morkel brothers (Albie and Morne), Sunil Narine and Mike Hussey were among the nine players named initially by more than one squad which required each player to nominate the team they would play for. All players chose to play for their 'away' team. So, Pollard will turn up for the Mumbai Indians instead of his home team of Trinidad and Tobago while Brett Lee (Sydney Sixers) will be in action for the Kolkata Knight Riders. “Last year's tournament showed the fine line between making the finals and early elimination. Given the high stakes and small margin for error in the Qualifier and Group Stage, some of world cricket's biggest names who are eligible for more than one team have been in high demand," said Dean Kino, CLT20 Governing Council Member and Director of Legal and Business Affairs. "According to CLT20 rules, if a player qualifies for more than one team, all those qualifying teams can nominate that player. “When a player decides to play for an 'away' team rather than his 'home' team, the team from the country he is eligible to represent in international cricket, the 'away' team must pay USD 150,000 compensation to the 'home' team," he added. The Champions League Twenty20 will feature a record 14 teams from India (4), Australia (2), South Africa (2), England (2), New Zealand (1), Sri Lanka (1), West Indies (1) and Pakistan (1) for the first time. Eight teams have automatically qualified for the Group Stage while the remaining six teams will compete for the remaining two places via a Qualifier. The Qualifier will start on October 9 before the Group Stage on Oct 13. The final will be played on October 28 in Johannesburg. — PTI
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Jayawardene preplaces Sehwag as DD captain
New Delhi, September 14 “After leading Delhi Daredevils in four of the five IPL editions, Virender Sehwag has sought to step down from the skipper's post," the Delhi Daredevils said on their official website. “The new captain will be Mahela Jayawardene, who will lead the team in next month's Champions League T20.” Team mentor TA Sekar said Sehwag wants to focus solely on his batting. “Viru told us a few months ago that he wanted to bat freely and suggested that we make Mahela the captain," he said. This is not the first time that Sehwag has stepped down from the post to concentrate on his batting. He had earlier quit the position in 2010 and at that time Gautam Gambhir, who is now with Kolkata Knight Riders, replaced him.Delhi Daredevils are placed in Group A of the tournament along with Kolkata Knight Riders, Perth Scorchers, Titans and a qualifier. — PTI
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BCCI to take final call on Deccan Chargers
Chennai, September 14 As many as four meetings — Special General Meeting, IPL Governing Council, Working Committee and Marketing Committee — are scheduled for tomorrow during which amendments for a new rotational policy for the election of president and relaxation of the term of office-bearers could be passed. Both the amendments, if passed by three-fourth majority, would have long term implications in the functioning of the Board and could pave the way for a fresh innings for many of its stalwarts who have completed their terms. Apart from these amendments, the issue of Deccan Chargers will be the main agenda of the Working Committee meeting which has to find a way to resolve the financial crisis surrounding the beleaguered franchise. The Deccan Chargers' had surprisingly rejected the lone bid they received at the auction yesterday, throwing the future of the franchise into uncertainty. Deccan Chronicle Holdings, the owner of Deccan Chargers, received a bid of Rs 900 crore from PVP Ventures Limited, a Hyderabad-based company engaged in urban infrastructure and financing movies, but chose to reject it as it considered the price and terms unacceptable. The development brought the BCCI back into the picture and there are strong indications that the contract of Deccan Chargers could be terminated, unless the franchise resolves its financial problems by the 5pm deadline tomorrow. — PTI
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Colombo, September 14
India led 1-0 at the end of the first day a the second match was put off to tomorrow due to bad light. India’s Vishnu Vardhan led 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4 against New Zealand No. 1 Jose Statham when Statham raised concerns about the fading light, and the match was called off for the day.
