Mumbai, November 23
Shortly past 1.15 PM today after, Cheteshwar Pujara made a mistake. Off the 591st ball he faced from the England attack in this series, Pujara gave England a chance.

This is not a lie, it did happen today, though some would argue that it was merely a half-chance. That ball from England’s Monty Panesar, the fourth ball of the 47th over of the day, was beautifully directed — from around the stumps, it angled in to Pujara and turned away. Pujara’s forward-defensive was breached, the ball flew off the bat’s edge past the man at slip, to the left of James Anderson at gully. Anderson dived and reached his left hand out to it, but the ball bounced off.

This is the closest England have come to dismissing Pujara in the series. Over three innings, Pujara has batted 925 minutes and faced 719 balls, making 361 runs out of the 867 India have scored. Inevitably, Pujara walked off the ground unbeaten, having made 114 off 279 balls today.

In the first Test, Pujara had been the builder of the innings — here he was the saviour. He came in to face the third ball of the innings at four for one; later India were in worse strife at 119 for five and then 169 for six. Pujara’s defensive masterpiece, complemented by a relatively racy 60 by No. 8 R Ashwin, is taking India towards safety.

Pujara hit only 10 of the 279 balls he faced for fours, yet it was clear that it was not an innings of painful grafting. Two shots exemplified this. The first was hit off the third ball of the 19th over. Sachin Tendulkar had fallen the previous over to Panesar, sending the tall Sikh into wild paroxysms of joy. India were distraught, the Englishmen pumped up, the stands silenced. But Pujara was playing the ball, not the situation or the bowler. He remained alive to the scoring possibilities and when, three balls later, paceman Broad pitched one up, Pujara responded with a robust, decisive straight-drive.

Then, the fourth ball of the 21st over, from the ineffectual Broad. It was short, outside off. Pujara could easily have left it alone. But he responded in a manner seemingly antithetical to his principles of batting — he swayed back and calmly guided it over the slips for a one-bounce boundary.

Awareness of himself and the situation make Pujara such an exciting young talent. Of course the real test of his mind and technique would occur overseas, on bouncy and seaming wickets, but it’s clear that he’s something special.

Gautam Gambhir’s second-ball dismissal allowed Pujara 360 minutes to bat today; it was another failure for Gambhir to ponder over — his previous 50 in Test cricket came 10 innings ago, his previous Test century was the 116 against Bangladesh in January 2010. After each failure of Gambhir’s, these figures would be trotted out again and again, and Gambhir would do well to ignore the criticism and focus on his problems.

Tendulkar, despite 23 years in Test cricket, needs to do the same — he was bowled for the fourth time in five innings, this time to a spinner, Panesar. In all, this was Tendulkar’s 24th dismissal to a left-arm spinner. It seems a high figure, but it’s 7.5 percent of the 316 innings he’s played, which makes it less significant.

And the ball that got him today was very special, part of a plan perfectly executed. There was a gaping hole at midwicket and the ball was angled in to Tendulkar from wide of the stumps. It came in and in, and Tendulkar played defensively, with a final turn of the bat to steal a single. This did him in – the ball and the bat moved in the opposite directions, no contact was made and the ball hit the off stump.

Panesar out-bowled Swann by curving the ball into the right-handers and turning it out — he made them play, and pay. Swann struggled on both counts.

97 run stand between Pujara-Ashwin is the joint second-highest seventh-wicket partnership in Tests in Mumbai 

2 Ashwin's fifty-plus score in Tests. His only century (vs WI) also came in Mumbai. He has been dismissed below 20 in 3 out of 14 innings

Mumbai, November 23
Delighted at dismissing Sachin Tendulkar, England left-arm spinner Monty Panesar today said that out of the four wickets he took on the first day of the second Test against India, it was the wicket of the veteran batsman that he cherished the most.

"Obviously for me it has got to be the prince of India, Sachin Tendulkar. I was absolutely delighted with that," said Panesar, who pushed India on to the backfoot by sending back Virender Sehwag and Tendulkar in the space of 11 balls before the hosts fought back in the last session.

This was the third time that Panesar had dismissed Tendulkar. Previously it was at Nagpur in 2006 and at Lord's in 2007. Panesar, who ended with the figures of four for 91 in 34 overs, said he had worked hard with England bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed to get his action right and that paid rich dividends at the Wankhede stadium here today.

"During the practice session I have worked quite a lot with Mushy bhai in trying to get my action right. The previous ball, I remember, I got my action slightly wrong and dropped it. The next ball, I thought, I have to make sure that I get all the process I worked with Mushy bhai right. It seemed to click," said Panesar.

"I got my action right and got my fingers nicely around the ball. These kinds of things obviously work and it came out nice. Mushy bhai has been valuable for us. He has played a lot of cricket in the subcontinent. He understands the rhythm of the game out here and he helps us -- me and Swanny (Graeme Swann) -- a lot to understand the type of cricket that Indians play out here.

"And you have got to adjust to that, adjust to the conditions, to the heat, to the crowd noise. All of that comes into play when you are a spin bowler. You have to adjust to the flamboyant shots that they play and accept that and keep bowling the next ball," he added. Panesar was confident that his team could restrict the hosts, who ended the first day today at 266 for six, to 300 tomorrow morning."They (Ravichandran) Ashwin and (Cheteshwar) Pujara obviously built a good partnership. So what we are hoping is to restrict them to 300 tomorrow morning, and that will be good for us. That kind of partnership has obviously given the momentum to India but overall I don't think they expected us to dominate the first two sessions like that.

"I thought we struck really well out there. We, especially, applied lot of pressure early on Indian batters, it was something that the Indian team didn't expect. They won the toss and thought they would only have a few wickets down with may be 300 plus score. But we as a team put pressure on them, and having five wickets down early on is a testament on how we applied pressure to the team out there," he explained.

Stating that there was a plenty of turn in the wicket, Panesar said, “Me and Swanny both provided each other a good platform. There is obviously turn and bounce in the wicket. They have prepared a pitch, on which a four-day match (Ranji Trophy tie between Mumbai and Railways) was played on, so they have prepared a pitch that is going to turn and bounce.” — PTI

Monty's 4/91 is his best bowling performance in India surpassing his previous best of 3 for 65 in Chennai in 2008. In 2012, Panesar has picked up 20 wickets at 24.70

Tendulkar has been out bowled in four of his last five innings. Overall, he has been out bowled 52 times. Only Dravid (55) and Allan Border (53) have been bowled more often

Scoreboard

India 1st innings
Gambhir lbw b Anderson 4 
Sehwag b Monty 30 
Pujara batting 114 
Tendulkar b Monty 8 
Kohli c Compton b Monty 19 
Yuvraj b Swann 0 
Dhoni c Swann b Monty 29 
R Ashwin batting 60
Extras: 2
Total: (6 wkts in 90 ovrs) 266
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-52, 3-60, 4-118, 5-119, 6-169
Bowling: Anderson 14-3-49-1, Broad 12-1-60-0, Monty 34-7-91-4, Swann 26-5-59-1, Patel 4-1-6-0

Mumbai, November 23
The sight of a long queue in front of the box office today was quite encouraging, and one wished this would be replicated in all Test matches in the country.

This could be Sachin Tendulkar’s last Test in Mumbai — the Wankhede Stadium will probably not host a Test match for a couple of years, and Tendulkar turns 40 in five months.

While MS Dhoni says you can never know, the master could play for a couple of years more, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the end is nigh — especially if you consider the mode of his dismissals in the last few innings. The number of his consecutive failures in Test cricket has risen to nine now. Tendulkar won’t hang around for too long now.

Tendulkar was Monty Panesar’s first victim in Test cricket, six years ago in Nagpur. Panesar got him today too, with a brilliant delivery. Unsurprisingly, Panesar’s grin was intact when play ended and he came out to discuss his day’s performance.

Tendulkar’s modesty and correct behaviour endears him to his peers the most as they more than anyone else appreciate the degree of his genius. Thus, Panesar was visibly glowing when he named Tendulkar the prince of India today. He was asked what his best moment of the day was — not a particularly original question, but it made Panesar glow with joy. “Obviously, getting the prince of India out… Sachin Tendulkar,” he said. “I was obviously delighted with that.” MS Dhoni has wanted day-one turners in home Test matches; he’s got one here, and India were caught out on it, immersed in deep trouble despite batting first. Toss has became less of a factor on it, as became the clearestwhen India were reduced to 169 for six. Panesar was quite happy with it. He said bowlers need assistance from the wicket when pitted against the Indians in their own conditions. “When I’m bowling to these world-class cricketers, I’m going to be needing every help that there is around,” he said. “That’s the kind of delivery that you need to bowl to these top players to get them out, as they are very, very good players in their own conditions.”

In his own home conditions, in front of adoring fans, Tendulkar came second best to Panesar today. He’d hope to get a good knock the second time around, for that could be his Mumbai swansong in Test match cricket. 

Mumbai, November 23
He has squared off against the most fearsome of pace attacks all over the world but Sachin Tendulkar jokes that it is nothing when compared to facing his wife when she is upset!

In the Marathi book 'Samvad Legends Shi' (Conversations with Legends) by Dwarkanath Sanzgiri and published by Majestic Publications, the 39-year-old batsman opens up about things other than cricket that have shaped his life. While talking about helmets and when exactly he started using the equipment, Tendulkar, while being interviewed in London, was asked in a lighter vein who was more fearsome, an enraged fast bowler or an upset wife?

“You have already got me in trouble here. Well I am away from home so I can say an upset wife,” the diminutive right-hander joked.

The celebrated cricketer also spoke about the people who contributed to his rise and apart from his father and elder brother, Tendulkar detailed the part played by three women, including his wife Anjali. “Let me start with my mother. I think you know no one can take her place. She made sure I was fed well so that I could run around you know every day to practice for hours and hours to come back and my mother being a working lady had to go to office and work number of hours and then come back, look after the family,” he recalled. “It was really difficult and you know in spite of all these stresses and a notorious child like me — to have a smile on your face required a lot of courage which she managed and you know she is a very very strong lady...The second lady in my life has to be my aunt. I stayed for four years with my uncle and my aunt,” he said.

“The family decided that I stay with my uncle and my aunt. Their house was walking distance to where I practiced, he added. — PTI

Mumbai, November 23
R Ashwin's support was crucial in young batsman Cheteshwar Pujara scoring a century today and the India spinner says it would have been a "shame" had his colleague missed out on a hundred today.

Pujara was going strong while other top-order batsmen struggled but the young batsman found an able ally in Ashwin, who supported him well with a magnificent 60.

Ashwin lauded Pujara's technical efficiency and his controlled knock. "I thought it was a brilliant knock. The amount of time he trusted his defense and kept on defending was brilliant. He eased the nerves as he batted on, defending beautifully. I thought it was a very well paced knock and it would have been a shame if he had not got a hundred," said Ashwin after the first day's play.

Pujara, who came into the second Test with an unbeaten double hundred (206) and 41 not out in the first Test, ended the day with an unbeaten knock of 114.

The 25-year-old's knock rescued India from deep trouble as India were struggling at 119 for 5 at one stage and ended the day at a more comfortable 266 for 6.

Pujara and Ashwin (60) shared a partnership of 97 for the unfinished seventh wicket. Ashwin said Pujara's run-appetite was phenomenal.

"He has great temperament, he is in great form and he keeps on grinding the runs and even in domestic cricket he does not get small hundreds, he gets big ones," said Ashwin, adding they knew each other from teenage.

"We have played together since 16-17 years old. We have been at the national cricket academy and all that," he said. Ashwin, who scored his second half-century, said though his team was not out of trouble, they can put pressure on England by piling on more runs.

“We batted pretty well to be at the position where we are. There is lot of work to be done. We are not totally out of the woods. The morning session will be crucial, we need to just pass the 350 mark and the game will be on," Ashwin said. — PTI

Chandigarh, November 23
Punjab return to home at the PCA Stadium,Mohali to face Saurashtra after recording two outright wins (with an innings) and a draw against Railways in Bhubaneshwar in the last round. Hosts Punjab are at the top of the Group A table with 17 points, 11 ahead of Saurashtra at second place.

Their success has been largey because of good batting performances up the order and an enviable pace attack. Jiwanjot Singh (442 runs) and Uday Kaul (331) are leading the way, and pacer Siddarth Kaul is among the wickets. Saurashtra’s six points have come from first-innings leads.

A record 539-run stand between Ravindra Jadeja (303*) and Sagar Jogiyani (282) against Gujarat gave them three points and in round three it was Jadeja’s left-arm spin that gave three more. With a total of 260 in the first innings Saurashtra owed it to him.

Punjab on the other hand is being captained by 20-year-old Manpreet Singh who has done reasonably well with the bat. However, Punjab need to be wary of in-form Jadeja.

Meanwhile, Haryana will take on Baroda at Lahli. Haryana are down in the dumps and desperate to score points on the table tally. With two losses in a row, the Amit Mishra-led Haryana will have an uphill task against Baroda, who are a formidable opponent this time.

New Delhi, November 23
IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra has sought the urgent intervention of PM Manmohan Singh, following the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC’s) threat that the IOA will be disaffiliated if its elections on December 5 is held, as per the Sports Code of the Government.

The IOC has sought guarantee from the IOA that elections will be held on the basis of the Olympic Charter. — TNS