|
|
|
|
|
indian GP |
|
|
Vettel, Alonso in ‘package’ deal
duleep trophy
India has a special place in my heart: Sauber’s Monisha
DC players available to Sun TV: BCCI
Gavaskar to receive BCCI's lifetime achievement award
Lions’ Thami Tsolekile tries to run out Kevin Pietersen during the first semifinal on Thursday. — PTI
simply Sunny
|
|
Schumi stares at reality
M.S.Unnikrishnan/TNS
New Delhi, October 25 Schumacher had set such a lofty standard for himself ever since his debut at the Belgium Grand Prix for Jordan in 1991 that his return to the FI fold had raised expectations among his fans. In his chequered career, Schumacher had made 155 podium finishes in 304 races, and fans were egging him on to go for more. But in his second coming, Schumacher found to his dismay that age had finally caught up with him, and he could not replicate his all-conquering performance when he raced for Ferrari. Though his FI debut at the Buddh International Circuit at Greater Noida last year was a comparative success, finishing fifth ahead of younger teammate Nico Rosberg, he has not fared that well in this season’s races, despite his third-place finish at Monaco. He’s now tottering at the 14th slot, with 43 points, with not a ghostly chance of having another shot at the title, which has prompted him to announce that 2012 would be his last year on the fast track. At 43 years, Schumacher has understood that he has little fire left in his belly to match the younger drivers. And he has nothing to prove to anybody. But he will not throw in the towel in the remaining four GPs, though he knows well that his days at the top are well and truly over. This fact was drilled into his mind in no uncertain terms by his Mercedes bosses during a media interaction today when they took most of the questions directed at him, and answered them on his behalf. But on the few questions he got to answer, the suave Schumacher was his pleasant, polished self. Like most of the drivers who have assembled here, Schumacher had only nice words for the GP at BIC. “We drivers were given a very enthusiastic reception, and it will be interesting to see if this enthusiasm has remained as strong,” he said. Of course, he was not totally satisfied with the two races he lapped last year, and is keen to bid adieu to BIC on a high. “We naturally wish for a more positive trend to come, and everybody in the team has put in a lot of effort to achieve it,” he explained. He said the BIC track was very particular in design, with lots of challenges “which astonished me”. He said his team had seen some strong races, and some not so strong races. “When the car and tyres work in harmony, we get some strong races,” he said. With four more races to go before the season ends, he was looking to add a healthy number of points to improve his position in the Driver’s Championship race, and he wants to put his best effort at the Buddh track. Rosberg said the BIC was “very challenging, with an interesting combination of slow speed and long fast straights". “The track also has the highest average speeds in Formula One, and is good for overtaking,” he said. Philipe Massa of Ferrari, who is at the ninth position with 81 points, said the last two GPs were great for his team, as they are now second on 290 points behind Red Bull Racing (367), with his teammate Fernando Alonso lying just six points behind leader Sebastian Vettel. Thus both Ferrari and their drivers can hope to finish on a high, if they come up tops in the remaining races. Understandably, Massa was looking ahead to the race at BIC with much hope. “I like the track and the layout here. We are fighting for the championship. The India circuit is better than Korea,” he added. Massa’s confidence has solid grounding, as Ferrari have an enviable track record — with 16 Constructors’ titles, five in a row from 2000 to 2004. But the Ferrari management has told him that he has to earn more points, and have podium finishes to keep his seat for 2013. And he’s all keyed up to do his best at BIC, where a corner has been named after him after his last year’s mishap.
|
|
Vettel, Alonso in ‘package’ deal
Greater Noida, October 25
With 206 points in his kitty, Alonso is presently lying a close second to Vettel, who is leading the driver standings. But Alonso feels he has every chance of beating Vettel for the title race, provided he comes up with four more "perfect races" this season. “Still four races to go and I have nearly the same points as Vettel. There is all possibility to push for the championship. We are in a position to fight for the world championship," he said at the Buddh International Circuit here today ahead of Sunday's Indian Grand Prix. Asked about the duel between him and Vettel, Alonso said: "It will be a battle of package. Everyone will have their strong points and weak areas. At the moment Red Bull may have the fastest cars, especially on qualifying days, but we will try to use strong points. “Our performance may have been up and down but our approach towards a race is the same, there is no difference. We were leading the championship till the last race, thanks mainly to our consistency. We had 16 perfect races and we need another four perfect races. After 16 races, the race for constructors' championship is wide open with Red Bull leading the team standings with 367 points, just 77 points ahead of Ferarri. — PTI
|
|
Irish, Anustup help East win second title in row
Chennai, October 25 In reply to East Zone's first innings score of 232, almost all the Central batsmen barring opener Tanmay Srivastava found it difficult to survive on a slow track which also offered appreciable turn as they were shot out for 189 in 83.5 overs. Srivastava made a patient 94 off 252 balls with eight fours and was Iresh's fifth victim as he gave a simple catch to Ishank Jaggi at forward short-leg to become ninth central batsman to get out. Left-arm spinner Iresh had career-best figures of five for 58 while Majumdar, who had done the star turn with bat during their maiden triumph last season, bamboozled the opposition with his leg-breaks and googlies to end with 4/29 in 7.5 overs. The East Zone team management had read the pitch wrong when they left out leg-spinner Samar Quadri with only Saxena being the specialist slow bowler but it didn't take too long for skipper Natraj Behera to understand that spin was the key on the final day. The turning point came when Behra handed the ball to Anustup in the 70th over which tilted the match decisively in East's favour. He immediately got Rawat caught behind with leg-break and his googly got rid of the dangerous Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0). From 147 for four, they were suddenly 165 for seven. There wasn't any looking back for the East after that. Starting the day at 74 for two, Robin Bist (2) became the first batsman to be dismissed as he got short-pitched delivery from Basant Mohanty which kicked up as Dheeraj Jadhav at gully took the catch. Iresh, got his third victim when scratchy Ashok Menaria pushed at a flighted delivery to be caught at first slip. At 97 for four, Mahesh Rawat (22) joined Srivastava as they added 50 runs in the next 20 overs where East couldn't make any inroads before Anustup's twin strike and Iresh dismissing Jalaj Saxena proved to be vital. Man-of-the-match Ishank Jaggi also praised the bowlers for their lion-hearted effort. "I happy to have contributed to team's cause but at the same time would like to congratulate the bowlers for their brilliant effort. For me, sticking to the wicket was key and I did just that. I got an able partner in SP Gautam who encouraged me to go for my shots. Also the performance against tail-enders in the South Zone game gave me confidence," a delighted Jaggi said after the match. Skipper Natraj Behra did admit that he had "never seen Anustup bowl in a competitive match." "I have never seen him bowl in a competitive game. When he got one wicket, he said that he wanted to bowl more. I will certainly tell him to continue bowling leg-spinners," the soft-spoken Natraj said while collecting the coveted trophy. Brief Scores: East Zone 232 & 8/0; Central Zone 189 in 83.5 overs (Tanmay Srivastava 94, Iresh Saxena 5/58. Anustup Majumdar 4/29). East won by virtue of 43-run 1st innings lead. — PTI
|
|
India has a special place in my heart: Sauber’s Monisha
New Delhi, October 25 “Our value systems are very strong. We are very hard working and we are passionate about our goals in life. It helped me a lot," Monisha said. Born as Monisha Narang, her parents shifted to Vienna when she was only eight, but Hindi still remains a part of her daily life. “Hindi is very much a part of the language of my home and children speak it a bit, though my in-laws struggle,” she said. — PTI Massa desperate to erase 2011 memories Ferrari’s Felipe Massa is determined to end the year on a high. “I am looking for some good results because the second part of the season is very important. I have very good co-driver in Fernando Alonso, who is in the race for the championship title. We are a strong team and we work well together. But there is also healthy competition between us. I hope we both can win points for team here.”"It's my seventh year with Ferrari. I know I am not young now but I am really looking forward to carry on for Ferrari. I will try to do better in 2013," said Massa. — PTI
|
|
DC players available to Sun TV: BCCI
Mumbai, October 25 "All the players of Deccan Chargers are available to the new franchise. I think they have signed agreements and the new franchise will have time till October 31st to decide who they want to retain, but all the Deccan Chargers players are now with Sun Group," Srinivasan told reporters after the opening of the bids by the IPL Governing Council here. "The franchise now has a choice to retain whoever they want and decide by October 31st. As far as the player their interest is completely protected and they have also been paid for the last year," the Board chief said. Srinivasan also said that the value that the Board got from the new owners was twice of what Deccan Chargers paid in 2008. "If you see, this is twice the value of Deccan Chargers (who had bid for Rs 428 crore). If you take into account the sharing of central rights compared to the earlier expansion of franchise, you will find that this bid represents a higher value; it is a very good value. "That is because the original eight franchises have ten-year contracts; so five years is left. So after ten years the revenue sharing is that you don't pay a franchise fee but you pay 20 percent of your income. So that is consistent for all of them. "More importantly it is a very credible franchise owner who is in the media so they will add a lot of value to the league so that is something to be very happy about," he said. “It is not a question of how many bids came in but the fact is that we got a good bid," added Srinivasan. There was only one other bidder, PVP Ventures whose bid amount was Rs 69.03 crore. Two other interested parties bought the Invitation to Tender, priced at Rs 5 lakh by the Board and non-refundable, but did not bid, according to sources. — PTI
|
|
Gavaskar to receive BCCI's lifetime achievement award
Mumbai, October 25 The award comprises a trophy, citation and a cheque for Rs 25 lakh. Gavaskar will receive the honour at the BCCI Awards Ceremony, to be held shortly.Gavaskar represented India in 125 Tests from 1970-71 to 1986-87, scoring a record 774 runs in his debut in the West Indies. He was the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in Tests, and the first to play 100 consecutive Tests. He was the first batsman to score hundreds in each innings of a Test thrice and was the first batsman to surpass Sir Don Bradman's tally of 29 Test centuries. He led India in 47 Tests and his greatest triumph as captain was India's victory in the World Championship of Cricket, a limited-overs tournament featuring all the then Test-playing nations, in 1984-85. Post retirement, he became a cricket expert. He was also the chairman of the BCCI's Technical Committee, and the chairman of the ICC's Cricket Committee. Meanwhile, the committee has also decided to honour seven individuals posthumously with Special Award for their outstanding contribution to Indian cricket. The yesteryear cricketers — Vijay Merchant, Vinoo Mankad, Dattu Phadkar, Vijay Manjrekar, Ghulam Ahmed, M L Jaisimha and Dilip Sardesai — will receive a trophy and cheque of Rs 15 lakh at the award ceremony. The ceremony will take place in Mumbai on November 21, two days before the commencement of the second India-England Test at the Wankhede Stadium. — PTI
|
|
League of champs CLT20 Durban, October 25 On a bouncy Kingsmead pitch, Highveld Lions got a decent 139 for five which was par for the course and then restricted Daredevils to only 117 for nine. With Daredevils' defeat, the challenge of IPL teams in this edition ended on a disappointing note. The Daredevils batsmen save Pietersen who scored 50 off 44 balls, looked in utter discomfort against Lions attack especially pacer Chris Morris. Morris bowled fast and straight as he gave away only seven runs in four overs taking prize wickets of David Warner and Pietersen. Morris and find of the tournament left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso (2/17) gave away only 25 runs in the eight overs between them getting four wickets in the process. That was decisive although Daredevils never looked like being in the match once they started batting. Virender Sehwag lasted only one delivery as he decided to loft the Sohail Tanveer straightaway but only managed to offer rival skipper Alviro Peterson an easy catch. Warner, playing his first match of the tournament started with couple of boundaries off Dirk Nannes — a flick and then a pull in-front of square. Pietersen then got his first boundary off Tanveer with another pull-shot. The fifth over turned out to be a productive one for Daredevils as Pietersen and Warner got three boundaries off Nannes. While KP smacked one past Warner, the Aussie opener hit couple of boundaries through off-side cordon. Mahela Jayawardene's decision to include David Warner at his own expense failed as he got out executing a short-arm pull off Morris. — PTI Scoreboard
DELHI DAREDEVILS semifinal
|
|
|
Titans stand in way of Sydney Sixers for a place in final
Centurion, October 25 Sixers are the only side to have won all their four group matches and they are the most all-round team in the tournament with balance in batting, bowling and fielding departments. The Australian side had virtually spanked all their opponents in the first three Group B matches and the only time they had been put to test was when they clashed with last year's champions Mumbai Indians in their last league game. That match was played without the recent World Twenty20 Player-of-the-Tournament Shane Watson who had been called back by his Board to prepare for the home series against South Africa. But in that match also, their bowlers, who have been in impressive form, stifled the star-studded Mumbai batting order to restrict them to 124 and ensure that the Sixers remain unbeaten and go into tomorrow's semifinals high on confidence. Watson and Michael Lumb have been in explosive form at the top of the other, giving two 50-plus stands for the opening wicket in three matches they were together. The middle-order of Nic Maddinson, captain Brad Haddin and Steven Smith have been supporting the openers well. Moises Henriques has also been in fine form, showing what a fine all-rounder he has been in the shortest format. The only weak point, if there is any, for the Sixers is the spin department with their main slow bowler Simon O'Keefe having got just one wicket from the three matches he had played. But, the Sixers have relied heavily on their pacers to get the results and they have been doing just that. The Titans, however, will have the advantage of crowd support as they are playing at their home ground tomorrow. The South African side have a good bowling attack with the likes of Alfonso Thomas, Ethy Mbhalati, Cornelius de Villiers and Roelof van der Merwe among the wickets but their weak point is the inconsistent middle-order which would be put to severe test by the Sixers pacers. The top-order of Jacques Rudolph and Henry Davids have been giving them good start most of the time but the middle order has not been able to capitalise on them. — PTI semifinal |
|
|
Sixers the most impressive team in the tournament
By Sunil Gavaskar The Sydney team has been the most impressive team in the tournament so far. They have a terrific new ball attack which on the South African pitches at this time of the year have been hard to score off. The extra bounce and the movement they have extracted has made advancing down the pitch tough for the batsmen, and even when they have stayed back the cut shots and the pull shots have not been easy to play. Mitchell Starc has been quite outstanding with the angles that he has created whether bowling over or round the wicket, and he has used his height to great effect while slipping in the yorkers. Pat Cummins too has quickly learnt that mixing it up is a good ploy in this form of the game and that shows terrific maturity. At 19 when the shoulders are strong, the back not hurting then fast bowlers only want to deliver speed balls, but Cummins has developed a disguised slower delivery that has foxed batsmen more often than not. Sydney will be without Shane Watson, who was asked by Cricket Australia to come back and get some four day match practice in before the big series against the number one Test team South Africa, and they will no doubt miss him. It is not just the starts that he gives and the wickets that he takes, but the presence he has on the field and I’m sure in the dressing room that can lift the others to try and match his efforts. They have won their last group match without his services so they are capable of doing well even without him, but it’s always a very comforting thought to know that a magic player is in your team and he will change things around in case that is needed. When the toss for the Delhi versus Titans game took place many at the Centurion would have hoped that now that there was no pressure of qualifying the Titans should lose so that they stay in Centurion for the semifinals and play before their home crowd. That is what happened after the game got washed out and Delhi finished top of the group, but winning is always a good habit and even if a team is resting its star players and loses a game, the aura of invincibility goes and no team wants that. The Titans like the Sydney team have got off to good starts excepting against the Kolkata team and they will once again hope that Rudolph and Davids get them off to a flyer. It won’t be easy against the new ball attack, but if they do then we could be in for some thrills. The others have not quite come to the party. The bowling has been impressive in parts, but Kolkata also exposed the vulnerability by attacking them. — PMG
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Father time catches up with everyone. Even the best of champions will have to take a call when his time is up. And Michael Schumacher is no exception. The German legend had taken a sabbatical from racing after accumulating seven FI Grand Prix titles, before returning to the track on Mercedes wheels in 2010.
Schumacher had set such a lofty standard for himself ever since his debut at the Belgium Grand Prix for Jordan in 1991 that his return to the FI fold had raised expectations among his fans.
League of champs CLT20
