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Despite odds, India look to get even
I was nervous but not under any pressure, says Bhuvneshwar
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No country for fans in stadiums
Skipper Hafeez confident Pakistan would down India
Australia’s new run machine
Sharapova, Williams set to be fit for Brisbane championship
Pakistan beat India 5-4 in Asian CT Fergie escapes action over officials’ rant
Basak and Karen in semis of Pune ITF event
Prez felicitates World Cup winning blind team
Paes to pair up with Roger-Vasselin
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Despite odds, India look to get even
Pakistan needed six off three balls in the final over in Bangalore, Shoaib Malik hit a six and they won with two balls to spare. Can such a close victory, with a six hit off the fourth ball from a below-par spinner of the calibre of Ravindra Jadeja, hold any great significance? Perhaps, but perhaps not. But the underlying fact of the situation is that India need to win tomorrow to square the series 1-1. A 2-0 drubbing would be difficult to digest for the fan of T20 cricket, the most rabid of whom believe that the Indian Premier League is the toughest, greatest league in the world. The realisation that India are not a T20 force at the world level galls them — the fact that India have done very badly in the last three T20 World Cups is a bitter pill to swallow. Perhaps, as cricketers say again and again, T20 is just an occasion to chill — this version of the sport is more about drama and excitement and passion manufactured by fans in the stands, than allround cricketing excellence. That’s the reason Sachin Tendulkar doesn’t play for India in T20 cricket. In Bangalore, Gautam Gambhir (43) and Ajinkya Rahane (42) had provided a big stand, 77 in under 11 overs. Yet, the target they set for Pakistan was a paltry 134. It’s hardly a winning total, though in the end, due to the nature of the format, it did become a close match. What is undeniable is that the Pakistan bowling attack is superior —Mohammad Irfan, Sohail Tanvir and Umar Gul are better and more experienced than the Indian attack of Ishant Sharma, Ashoke Dinda, and Bhuvnesh Kumar, the debutant was picked up three Pakistan wickets early. The Pakistani spinners are superior, too — there's the excellent Saeed Ajmal, apart from Shahid Afridi, Hafeez and Malik. Secondly, the Pakistan fielding was quite good in Bangalore, too. They ran two Indian batsmen out, one (Rohit Sharma) with a direct hit. Dhoni had not played Ravichandran Ashwin in the previous match, but the defeat might force him to bring back the off-spinner into the playing XI. Pakistan skipper Mohammed Hafeez has publicly spoken about how they benefitted from Ashwin’s absence in Bangalore, putting pressure on the Indians to play Ashwin here tomorrow. “Ashwin was not there in this team, so our plan was that if we play out the new ball, then their spinners are not world-class,” Hafeez said. “I know Yuvraj is in great form, but when you don’t have a world-class spinner then we can dominate.” Suddenly, Pakistan are dominant and India under pressure — that's what three hours of slogging did in Bangalore. Only a few minutes of out that time proved decisive — India's collapse, the runs that the Pakistanis took of Virat Kohli, or the three sixers that were hit off Jadeja’s 2.4 overs. Dhoni and his men would dearly love to do better than Pakistan in the decisive moments of the game here. Squads: 2nd t20 Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez (C), Nasir Jamshaid, Kamran Akmal, Umer Akmal, Umer Amin, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammed Irfan, Junaid Khan, Sohail Tanveer, Umer Gul, Asad Ali, Zulfiqar Baber, Ahmad Shahzad live on star cricket ( 5 Pm)
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I was nervous but not under any pressure, says Bhuvneshwar
Ahmedabad, December 27 "Any Indian cricketer playing against Pakistan is excited. Like any other debutant, I was a bit nervous but there was no pressure to perform," said the young UP lad who has suddenly caught the imagination of the cricket crazy Indian fans. Kumar had reduced Pakistan to 12 for three taking all the wickets in his first two overs when the vistors started the chase. The all-rounder said his seniors told him to treat it as any "normal match." "I played it like a normal match. The seniors came to me and told me play this like a normal match," he said. The wicket at Motera will be completely different from the one in Bangalore which aided seamers. "The conditions here is different. The one in Bangalore was seaming and over here, it will be slow and offer turn. The attempt will be to execute the plan and give our best shot." He further said the team is not under pressure as they are 0-1 down in the series. "There is no pressure on us. We play to win. In the last match, unfortunately we lost. But we will try our best to win this one," he said. While Pakistan captain Mohammed Hafeez termed giant speedster Muhammad Irfan (7 ft 1 inch) as a "surprise package", Kumar wasn't attributed with any such term by his skipper. — PTI Bhuvneshwar can prove to be a genuine all-rounder: Coach
It is still early days but the coach who taught Bhuvaneshwar Kumar the basics of cricket, says the talented India seamer could soon prove to be a cricketer of an ilk, who epitomises the value of a true all-rounder. "His domestic records says it all. He is a genuine all- rounder and used to open the inning for our academy team. Now he has world class coaches with him and Venkatesh Prasad is the coach of UP team, so they can transform him into a good all-rounder," Rastogi said. Bhuvneshwar had a dream debut in the first Twenty20 match against Pakistan as he claimed three wickets for just nine runs. That he gave away so less in his four-spell made it even more special. India, though, lost the match by five wickets, prompting the distraught 22-year-old to seek solace in Rastogi's comforting words. "He was very disappointed that India could not win that match. I told him to concentrate on the second match and I am sure he will do even better tomorrow," the Meerut-based coach said on the eve of the second T20 against the arch-rivals. When asked about Bhuvneshwar's inspiration, Rastogi said that he has learnt a lot from Praveen Kumar, who is also from Meerut, and former India skipper Saurav Ganguly while playing in the IPL for Pune Warriors. Bhuvneshwar hopes to play alongside Sachin in Tests
Bhuvneshwar Kumar is disappointed that Sachin Tendulkar has retired from One-Day Internationals but said he can realise his dream of playing alongside the veteran batsman in the longer format of the game. "Yes, that's a big disappointment. When I saw his retirement news on the TV, I thought that I've lost the chance to play alongside him. But then I thought that I still have a chance to play with him in Tests. I hope that happens," said Kumar. — PTI |
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No country for fans in stadiums
Ahmedabad, December 27 It had been caused by policemen trying to ensure orderliness in the queues with their time-honoured method — an indiscriminate charge with their lathis. There were no separate queues for the women, and they were caught in a bad situation, surrounded by men who themselves were trying to escape the lathis raining on them. The sari of one of the women in the middle of the melee came off, and no one tried to help her. The paying spectator is a nuisance, an evil necessity required only to make noise at the stadium, an entity whose dignity and comfort are not part of the bargain – this conclusion is irresistible. For the Bangalore Twenty20 game, the enthusiasm was enormous. The fans came in large numbers, many with their faces painted in the Indian flag’s colours. A surprisingly large number of people were wearing the blue India shirt, and some sections in many stands were completely blue. Most of the professionals in the press box had never seen so many blue shirts in one match ever before. This colour of nationalism/jingoism had a strong economic hue to it — the stands with the most expensive tickets, Rs 1600 or above, were the bluest. The stands with the Rs 250 tickets had only an occasional sprinkling of blue. It was reported that at many gates, leading to the more expensive seats, inexpensive blue T-shirts were being handed out free. In some stands, official India shirts were being sold by salespersons carrying handheld credit card readers. On the MG Road, there were vendors with cheap knock-off of the India shirt in sacks doing brisk business. The in-stadium experience wasn’t particularly pleasant for most of the spectators. Many people had queued up through the night at the Chinnaswamy Stadium to buy the tickets. Match day involved parking your vehicle over a kilometre away, walking towards the stadium to join long, slow-moving queues. The cops, themselves overworked and under pressure, weren’t particularly pleasant —though it must be said that compared to their Delhi or Mohali brethren, they were perfect angels. “The arrangements could have been much better,” said LS Govind, who works with an IT major in Bangalore. “The security arrangement was a pain. The arrangement for the food was chaotic — there was a small outlet where we were, and in the small 15-minute gap between the two innings, it was they had to serve hundreds of people. With cricketers in charge of the KSCA, I expected better management.” The Ahmedabad experience, lathis and all, has been worse for the fan. After queuing up for hours, people had to return empty-handed. But the black marketers were having the time of their lives. Tickets were sold at up to 10 times their printed price. Priyamani, the south Indian movie star and winner of the National Award, was in an expensive stand at the Bangalore game. Wearing an India shirt, she was unrecognisable as the actress who is wont to turn her fans weak-kneed with one look. She said she purchased her shirt at an outlet, and that she didn’t have to buy her ticket as “I work in the media”, before the gentleman with her revealed her identity. Priyamani said she got five tickets free, no hassles. Many others, who can afford to buy each and every ticket at a stadium, get them free. Those who want the tickets, want to buy them, get the lathi treatment.
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Team India sweats it out ahead of second T20
Ahmedabad, December 27 The team had a two-and-half-hour practice, supervised by chief coach Duncan Fletcher, bowling coach Joe Dawes and fielding coach Trevor Penny, at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium here. The practice session began around 2 pm with a game of football, which has been a customary practice in the last few years, followed by fielding and net sessions. The Pakistan team, on the other hand, started with net session and followed it with fielding drills. This is the first bilateral series between the two sides since 2007 and the visitors lead the two-match T20 series 1-0. The two teams will also play each other in the three-match ODI rubber starting in Chennai on December 30. The second one-day game against Pakistan is scheduled to be held in Kolkata on January 3 followed by the last game on January 6 in Delhi. This three-match series will be followed by the five-match ODI rubber against England that commences on January 11 at Rajkot. — PTI
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Skipper Hafeez confident Pakistan would down India
Ahmedabad, December 27 “The way we played the last match, our morale is quite high. The way the entire team bounced back in both batting and bowling, that was morale boosting for us and we will try to continue that tomorrow as well," Hafeez told reporters. "We have the opportunity to win the series. We are all ready for this. Not just tomorrow's match, we are positive about the entire series. We are united (as a team) in this series and we want to play good cricket," he added. Hafeez emphasised that bowling is their strength since the attack has a lot of variety. "I will give credit to the bowlers and fielders. They (India) were 70 for no loss and after that we came back. Bowling has always been our strength and in the last match even after a bad start, the comeback was outstanding. As a captain I am very pleased with that," he said. "Most of our players have proved at the international level that they are match winners. Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, recently included Mohammad Irfan. Shoaib Malik is the only one who hasn't bowled but he is good enough to play his role in any format with his spin bowling. We always believe that as a bowling unit, we can always come back. We have got enough experience. We can dominate with our bowling." On his surprise bowler Mohammad Irfan, who bamboozled the Indian players with his pace and bounce, Hafeez said, "He is an outstanding talent. We had a domestic tournament recently, where we saw his performance and for us he came across as a surprise package, who will be difficult especially in this part of the world and also across the world because of the extra bounce he gets." 'Give iconic status to Indo-Pak series' Former Pakistan captains Rashid Latif and Moin Khan today urged the ICC to give India-Pakistan series the iconic status. "The response to this ongoing short series and the way the people followed the first T20 match in Bangalore, it is a clear indication that the ICC needs to give iconic status to Indo-Pak matches," Latif said. Moin argued that the Indo-Pak matches are bigger than even the traditional Ashes contests. "The huge interest is enough to convince the ICC,” he said. — PTI
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Australia’s new run machine
Melbourne, December 27
The Australia skipper, enjoying an inspired 2012, surpassed the 1,544 runs Ricky Ponting amassed in 2005 during his innings of 106, before tail-ender Mitchell Johnson rubbed salt into Sri Lanka's wounds with an unbeaten 73. Paceman Johnson strode off at stumps with Nathan Lyon yet to score, with Australia having added 108 runs in the session after tea to drive their total to an imposing 440-8 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. "As many runs tomorrow would be very handy," Clarke told reporters after celebrating his first ton at the MCG. "I would love to see Mitchell get his second test hundred and then we'll be back out there bowling and hopefully we can bowl Sri Lanka out." Sri Lanka, skittled for 156 on day one, had only a six-run lead to protect at the start of the day's play and their hopes of restricting the hosts diminished with a hamstring injury to seamer Chanaka Welegedera in the morning session. The remaining bowlers had little assistance from a flattening pitch on a gusty day and were put to the sword by Clarke and Shane Watson, who composed a record-breaking fourth-wicket stand of 194 against Sri Lanka at the MCG. Clarke's fifth test ton of the year, the 22nd of his career, propelled him to 1,595 runs for the year and fourth on the all-time list behind Mohammad Yousuf (1,788), Viv Richards (1,710) and Graeme Smith (1,656). Clarke's selection appeared a gamble after he sustained a hamstring injury in the first-test victory in Hobart, and pundits complained that it was a case of double standards given injury-free seamer Mitchell Starc was left out as part of the team's controversial rotation policy. Few would be arguing after Thursday, with Clarke's 14-boundary knock confounding the Sri Lankans for more than four hours and putting Australia in the box seat to take a winning 2-0 series lead before the final test in Sydney. The 31-year-old's dismissal, slashing a Shaminda Eranga delivery to his counterpart Mahela Jayawardene in the slips, broke his perfect record of scoring at least a double-century once he surpassed 100 in 2012. It also sparked a mini-collapse as Watson (83) and Matthew Wade (1) fell in quick succession to ill-conceived hook-shots, both caught in the deep before tea.Watson's half-century was his first in eight innings and a welcome return to form, but the all-rounder will rue another lost chance to score his third century. — Reuters SCOREBOARD
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Sharapova, Williams set to be fit for Brisbane championship
Brisbane, December 27 French Open champion Sharapova pulled out of an exhibition match against Caroline Wozniacki scheduled for Friday in Seoul because of a sore collarbone. But the Russian, along with Williams one of the biggest draws in women's tennis, is due to arrive for the Dec. 30-Jan. 6 tournament on Saturday. Sharapova withdrew from the Australian Open warm-up event last year. Williams, who won a fifth Wimbledon title, Olympic singles gold and a fourth U.S. Open crown in 2012, also pulled out of an exhibition against China's Li Na in Thailand last week. However, the American has been given the green light to participate in Brisbane following toe surgery. "It's great that they're both going to be fit to play the first tournament of the year," tournament organiser Cameron Pearson told Australian media. Eight of the world's top 10 women are scheduled to play in the $1.5 million Brisbane event, including number one Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. Azarenka and Sharapova will both receive first-round byes, as do the top four seeds in the men's draw, headed by Britain's Olympic and U.S. Open champion Andy Murray. — Agencies
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Pakistan beat India 5-4 in Asian CT Doha, December 27 India were leading at half time (2-1) but were pegged back by a resurgent Pakistan who raced to a 3-2 lead soon after. India managed equalisers twice but Pakistan extended their lead to 5-4 and emerge victorious. The match though had a controversial moment when in the dying minutes, the Indian team while contesting a long corner walked off. The Indians while attacking the Pakistani goal missed a chance, but contended that there was enough contact for a penalty corner. The Korean referee though ruled otherwise. After a heated argument, the entire Indian team walked off the turf. However, the drama soon ended as the Indians returned on to the field shortly afterwards. But Pakistan held on for the remaining couple of moments to clinch the cup. India had defeated Pakistan earlier in the tournament 2-1 on December 24, 2012. But the green shirts turned up when it mattered the most on Thursday. — PTI
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Fergie escapes action over officials’ rant London, December 27 Ferguson berated referee Mike Dean and two of his assistants at half-time of Wednesday's game, after being angered that Newcastle's second goal —a Jonny Evans own goal — was given despite Papiss Cisse being in an offside position. Ferguson felt Dean should not have over-ruled his assistant, Jake Collin, who initially raised his flag for offside, and berated both men, as well as fourth official Neil Swarbrick, as the teams re-emerged for the second half at Old Trafford. "The referee changed the linesman's mind," Ferguson said. "He said it was an own goal. But if you see it again, and the referee can't, the guy (Cisse) is in an offside position, then he pulls Evans' arm. "If that is not interfering, what is? I think it was a bad decision." The Premier League also issued a clarification, backing Dean's decision.— PTI
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Basak and Karen in semis of Pune ITF event
Pune, December 27 On a day when every match barring one went to the distance, unseeded Eraydin stunned Chinese fourth seed Sheng Nan Sun 6-2 2-6 7-5 after a two hour and six minutes battle. Eraydin, who had upset fifth seed Perrin in first round, ran away with the first set before losing the second with identical margin.In the decider, both players broke each other thrice as the score reached 5-5. Eraydin made a solid hold to go up 6-5, and broke Sun in the 12th to win her third consecutive three-set match in as many days. Eraydin's reward would be a semi-final clash against top seed Nina Bratchikova, who survived a fierce three-setter against sixth seed Thai Noppawan Lertcheewakaran.Bratchikova won the first set 7-5, and was serving at 5-3 in the second, where she wasted 2 match-points. — PTI
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Prez felicitates World Cup winning blind team
New Delhi, December 27 Sports Minister Jitendra Singh and BCCI vice president Arun Jaitley were also present on the occasion. The sports minister will consider the request of awarding Rs 30 lakh each to the players and Rs 10 crores to promote blind cricket in India through Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI). Mahantesh, General Secretary of CABI, also presented a memorandum to the President requesting him to consider awarding the captain of the Indian team Shekar Naik with the Arjuna Award and a special award to the association for organising the event. "I pray each one of them gets rewarded and recognised for the tremendous effort during the tournament and also a special note of gratitude to CABI for supporting us think and strong all through the event," Mahantesh said after the ceremony.— PTI
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Paes to pair up with Roger-Vasselin
Chennai, December 27 At 39, Paes has had a good run in 2012 winning four titles, including the Australian Open (doubles) and reaching the finals at Tokyo and US Open. And for the 29-year-old Frenchman, the year has brought three doubles titles, taking him to a career-best doubles ranking of 38. He, though, will finish the year at 43. This is the first time the duo will partner each other in a tournament in which the Indian had won six times in 17 appearances. "Paes and Roger-Vasselin are pairing up for the first time at the 2013 edition of the Aircel Chennai Open. While enough has been written and said about Leander, it will be a tremendous learning opportunity for Roger-Vasselin," said tournament director Tom Annear. "Going by their individual records and playing styles, I am pretty certain the duo will give the others a run for their money in this tournament," he added. Among other Indian players, world No. 11 Mahesh Bhupathi will play alongside world No. 5 Daniel Nestor while the number 12 ranked Rohan Bopanna will be pairing up Rajeev Ram in the event. Karti P Chidambaram, tournament organising committee chairman and AITA vice-president said, "It is always a pleasure to have Leander Paes playing in Chennai. Besides him being a fine doubles player, he is also the most successful here with six titles under his belt. The tournament already has four doubles players from the top 20, with two of them ranked among the top ten. India's only ATP World Tour tennis event will take place in the city's SDAT Tennis Stadium. — PTI
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Ahmedabad, December 27
Melbourne, December 27
