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India Vs
england DAY1
Kevin Pietersen blows cold and cold
A tale of 4 tweakers
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Amarnath's comments not in good taste: More
Playing 4 spinners is good strategy: Jadeja
India win World T20 for blind
Loniless of a champion
Canada, Denmark win
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India Vs
england DAY1
Nagpur, December 13 It’s a bombshell of a pitch for the fourth Test match. Though batsmen haven’t disintegrated when they’ve come into contact with it, and you might be all right as long as you play the forward-defensive with a straight bat all day long, scoring runs on it is a devilishly difficult business. At the end of the first day of the fourth and final Test, England were 199 for five in 97 overs. That’s a very strange sort of statistic, with an equally strange sort of scoring rate (2.05 runs an over) on the first day of a Test match in India. Kevin Pietersen scored 73 off 188 balls, at 38.82/100 balls, a particularly slow crawl by his generally hectic standard. Pietersen said it was the toughest wicket for run-scoring that he’s played on —that's saying a lot, for he’s played 91 Tests. The pitch is dry and slow, and it’s got cracks that the experts expect to widen. And captain MS Dhoni chose this pitch from hell to lose his first toss of the series on. India, having chosen three spinners and an allrounder who can bowl useful left-arm spin, to go with just one pace bowler, are going to bat in the fourth innings. The odd balls keep low and shoot through, and Pietersen said it was extremely difficult to play Ishant Sharma. India would be confronted by two accurate England pacers, James Anderson and Tim Bresnan. That must be an extremely unappetising thought for Dhoni, most of whose batsmen have failed to display a stomach for a fight in the two defeats in Mumbai and Kolkata. Dhoni was sailing smoothly until last April, when he won his second ICC World Cup. His ship is deep in troubled waters now, possibly about to be sunk by England. A miracle needs to be ordered, and possibly the most powerful cricket board in the world would manage it, just like this slow-low pitch was managed with the help of an obliging curator. When Pietersen fell in the 68th over of the day, caught at midwicket by Pragyan Ojha off debutant Ravindra Jadeja, England were reduced to 139 for five. In came England’s own debutant, Joe Root. Twenty-one years old, looking like a schoolboy, Root played like a seasoned professional — straight bat to balls directed at his wickets, smart placement of the ball into the gaps, followed by frenetic, energetic running. That got him the 31 most important runs of his life; unbeaten with him is Matt Prior, on 34. Prior gauged the situation well, patted rather than smashed the ball, and ran like a man possessed. But when he was given width, he uncoiled himself and attacked with all his power. The two have added 60 runs, having hung on in the middle for 29.3 overs, and England seem to be in a stronger position than India. The dismissal of opener Nick Compton in the fifth over was the first indication that the pitch was slow and low. The second ball of Ishant’s third over was short and Compton jabbed at it as it passed him around shoulder-high. He nicked it, but the ball-speed simply died and it fell quickly after passing the batsman. Dhoni had to catch it very low. Then, after captain Alastair Cook had been given a shocking LBW decision, to an Ishant ball angling across and out, Pietersen readied to face his first ball. It was banged short and Pietersen instinctively went on the back foot, to leap to his toes, to play it down defensively. But the ball, moving as if in slow motion, barely rose over the stumps. Pietersen was surprised, but had all the time in the world to lower the bat and pat the ball down. It was very clear then that this was a pitch on which the artful placer, nudger and nurdler could prosper. The mantra was to drop the ball into the gaps and run hard. Off-spinner Ojha shared the new ball with Ishant, but Dhoni didn’t place close catchers almost all day. He began by trying to save boundaries. Then, as the wickets fell, he brought most men in to save the ones and twos. The scoring was stifled, even with Pietersen in. Not that Pietersen didn’t display some wonderful shots. He used his feet to reach the ball and strike it hard, a few times over the infield. When the ball was wide of stumps, he freed his arms and hit out hard. Yet, when the ball was on the stumps, he didn’t try anything fancy. He may think the world of himself, he may be deeply insecure, he may have an ego bigger than the London Eye; but he also has enough self-awareness and ability to bat like a commoner. India’s strokeplayers must do the same when they get their chance to bat tomorrow. Any other method would lead to disaster.
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Kevin Pietersen blows cold and cold
Nagpur, December 13 He has a history with the English media, and things have gone rapidly downhill since the last Ashes series. The nadir was reached when it was exposed how Pietersen had sent text messages to South African players during their recent series; some of these texts were, it was alleged, against his own team and skipper. Pietersen was dropped. “He blames us for all his troubles,” say English journalists. Pietersen apologised for the texts, came to an understanding with the English team, management and his cricket board, and got back into the England team for the tour of India. His return was central to England’s performance. His innings in the second Test at Mumbai engineered England’s turnaround. Alastair Cook played the steady hand; Pietersen knocked Indian bowlers around with ease and contempt. But here, Pietersen was very, very restrained, such was the pitch he had to bat on on the first day, first hour of the fourth Test. When English journalists asked him to discuss his innings, he radiated glacial cold. He answered their questions with words that merely conveyed that it was tough out in the middle, but with a demeanour which said that it was beneath his dignity to respond to questions from such a craven bunch. He was more willing to talk, even smile, when questions were put up by Indian journalists. The gist of what he said is — it was incredibly tough. “It’s tough… It’s the toughest I have played Test cricket on, in terms of playing strokes,” he said. “I have no clue what the wicket is going to do from here on. Right now, it looks pretty similar to the way it was when we started the day.” He was asked about the nature of the wicket more than once, and he insisted that he has no insider information. “We are in an okay position at 200 for five but I think my guess is as good as anybody’s in this room as to what the wicket is going to do. I don’t know what the wicket is going to do,” he added, his expression conveying a desire to be somewhere else. “I think the key today was to try and bat as long as possible because I don’t think that wicket is getting any better.” “We are in a position of strength in that we have two seamers. Ishant was incredibly difficult to play today,” Pietersen added. He was asked if it was acceptable to play a Test match on such a track. “When you are the tourist… Obviously the Indians think that this is the kind of wicket they can produce to pull the series back,” he said. “And we have got an incredible challenge. We have got a few challenges over the past two or three years but it will be an incredible challenge for the boys over the next two or three days.” Then he stalked out, giving a cold shoulder to the men he loves to hate. He probably knows the feeling is mutual. SCOREBOARD ENGLAND 1st innings Compton c Dhoni b Sharma 3 Trott b Jadeja 44 Pietersen c Ojha b Jadeja 73 Bell c Kohli b Jadeja 1 Root batting 31 Prior batting 34 Extras: 12 Total: (5 wkts in 97 ov) 199 Fall of
wickets: 1-3, 2-16, 3-102, 4-119, 5-139 Bowling: Ishant 19-7-32-2, Ojha 27-9-50-0, Jadeja 25-13-34-2, Chawla 13-1-39-1, Ashwin 13-2-32-0 |
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A tale of 4 tweakers
Nagpur, December 13 That’s exactly what Jadeja managed to do today, a day that started perfectly for him with Sachin Tendulkar handing him a Test cap with the number 275 embroidered on it. Jadeja is the 275th man to represent India in Tests. Oddly enough, Jadeja came on to bowl before Aswhin and Chawla, in the 13th over of the innings. The reason was probably that Kevin Pietersen, supposed to be bad at playing left-arm spin, was fresh at the crease, and had faced only eight balls for his two runs. The senior left-arm spinner, Pragyan Ojha, was already in operation, bowling from the other end. Pietersen wanted to assert himself — quickly and decisively, he was down the wicket straight away to Jadeja, hitting one for four straight over the bowler. Eight runs from Jadeja’s first over in Tests, seven of them to Pietersen. In all, Jadeja bowled 51 balls to Pietersen and conceded 20 runs. Pietersen hit him for two more fours, both off loose deliveries outside his off stump. Pietersen faced an equal number of balls from the other left-arm spinner, Ojha, and took 12 runs off them. He was the most severe on Chawla, scoring 18 off the 29 balls faced off the leg-spinner. Pietersen fell to Jadeja when he leapt out, reached the ball and tried to muscle it through the on-side; he only managed to strike it a bit high, towards the man at midwicket, Ojha, who had to dive forward to take the catch. Pietersen out to a left-arm spinner yet again, for the 27th time in Test cricket. This dismissal, for one, wasn’t due to the excellence of the spinner. After periods of stodgy defence, Pietersen had, intermittently, exploded to hit boundaries. He was attempting to hit another four here, probably trying to get as many runs as he could before a ball shot through and got him. Overall, India’s spinners weren’t particularly impressive, and there wasn’t much assistance from the wicket. When the batsmen played with caution, there didn’t seem a chance of getting them. The four spinners combined bowled 78 overs, conceded 155 runs and took three wickets, all three pretty tame dismissals; Ian Bell lamely spooned one to Virat Kohli short extra-cover, while Ian Trott left a ball that didn’t turn and hit his off-stump. |
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Amarnath's comments not in good taste: More
Mumbai, December 13 Kris Srikkanth said, "I have always maintained that whatever happens in the selection committee meetings should remain within the four walls. It is not right for me or anyone to come out and say what exactly happened. It's just like a company's Board meetings where lot of discussions happen about what to do and what not.” Akram backs Dhoni
The recent criticism about his leadership skills, notwithstanding, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is still the "right choice" for Indian captaincy but he needs to be "more flexible in his tactics", feels former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram. Akram says, "I am positive that Dhoni is the right choice to remain as captain, but he has to be more flexible in his tactics. "You cannot throw the ball to a novice like Ravichandran Ashwin, like Dhoni did in Kolkata, and expect him to produce miracles. India and Dhoni, in particular, are lacking a Plan B when situations get tough.” — PTI |
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Playing 4 spinners is good strategy: Jadeja
Nagpur, December 13 "Four spinners will come in handy later in the game. Especially in the second innings, via the bowlers' foot marks. Currently wicket is neither helping fast men nor spinners. I think spinners will get more and more help as the game progresses. Fast bowlers' deliveries are going slow after pitching," Jadeja said. England, at stumps on day one, at the VCA Stadium in Jamtha, had inched their way after opting to bat first to 199 for 5 in 97 overs, at a rate of just over two per over. Jadeja said his team was aiming to restrict the visitors to between 300 and 350 tomorrow. "The less number of runs we give the better it will be for us. Ball will start turning on day two or three. As footmarks, develop ball will starting turning more. We should restrict them to 300-350." According to Jadeja, who forced his way into the team as replacement for the under-performing Yuvraj Singh, the wicket appeared pretty flat and did not help either the new ball bowler or the spinners. "There is no turn on offer. It's flat and very slow. Fast bowlers are also finding it difficult to bowl. No turn for spinners and bounce is low. Attempting to bowl stump-to-stump and not give them easy runs and boundaries so that they play wrong shots and get out." Jadeja said he was nervous when the game started before slowly getting into the groove and was very happy to get his first Test victim by dismissing Trott. "I felt very happy when I dismissed Trott my first wicket in Tests. I was a bit nervous too wearing the whites for India in Tests. Mahi bhai was saying bowl according to the wicket. It was important to bowl on the stumps." "He (Trott) survived a few close leg before shouts in my first spell. And after lunch, one of the balls turned in a bit and he thought it was outside the off and left it alone and bowled him." Jadeja said he could not believe the news conveyed to him by a teammate when he was fielding in the Ranji Trophy game for Saurashtra that he has been picked for the final Test. "I heard the news that I had been picked for the Test while fielding (at Rajkot). One of my teammates told me, but I could not believe it and did not know whether he was fooling me or it was real. "It did not allow me to think about what to do or not do as the Ranji game ended on 11th and I am playing today. It was good that I did not have to think much. It's a dream for everyone to play Test cricket for India and it was mine too." He pointed out that it was Tendulkar who had handed his one-day cap and did the same today. — PTI
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Bangalore, December 13 Batting first, Prakash Jayaramaiah made useful 42 while vice-captain Ajay Kumar Reddy contributed 25, helping India to post a competitive total. For Pakistan, Jameel scored 47. — PTI
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Loniless of a champion
Looking back, I feel it is tough to be a champion. It gets lonely at the top. But then again, you don't have the time to think about the loneliness. You just have time to train, eat, sleep and get up again, so there is no time left to feel bad. You have your parents who will support you, you have your friends who will be there for you, you have your coach who will guide you. Whatever sacrifices I've made have made me who I am today. I am reserved and I don't like partying but I like going for movies, shopping for gadgets, jackets, shoes, watching tennis. — Saina Nehwal, during the Super Series in Shenzhen, China |
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Canada, Denmark win
Jalandhar/Ludhiana Dec 13
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Nagpur, December 13
Bangalore, December 13
Jalandhar/Ludhiana Dec 13
In a keenly contested men’s match, raiders Onkar Singh, Ravi Sarai and Kulwinder Kinda Beharipuria got 12, 9 and 7 points for Canada while stoppers Hardeep Tau, Kuldeep Keepa and Aman scored 8, 4 and 4 points respectively. For Mohammad Alireza scored 8 points and stopper Asghar bagged 7 points. Meanwhile, Sikander Singh Maluka, president of Punjab Kabaddi Association (PKA) alleged, "The government had submitted Rs 40 lakh to NADA as we wanted that all the tests be conducted before the start of the tournament, but NADA did not take the samples on time and did not come for tests. We will complain to the Sports Ministry.”