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The Mumbai matinee
Last ride together for Sachin & Dravid
Hold on, let selectors decide on Tendulkar
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India
vs AUstralia
BCCI changes timings of ODI series
Sachin’s exploits inspired me: Dravid
South thrash West, make it to the semifinals
Bopanna-Edouard pair wins Japan Open
I’m better player than I was last year: Sania
Russian roulette: Klitschko retains world titles with points win
Triumphant Vettel on brink of world title
Late goals give Chelsea 3-1 win at Norwich
CWG organisers face over 24 cases over corruption
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The Mumbai matinee
New Delhi, October 6 Harbhajan struck in the 17th over like a tornado to claim the prized scalp of Ajinkya Rahane (65,47b,4x5,6x2), Stuart Binny and Kevon Cooper to turn the match on its head, with a dream 4-0-32-4 spell. Royals could not recover from Harbhjan blows, and to add to their wounds, captain Rahul Dravid, playing his farewell match, was out for one. They finally folded up for 169 in 18.5 overs. It was, however, a memorable farewell for Sachin Tendulkar, as he signed off from the shortest format of the game in style, his personal contribution in MI's 202 was just 15 runs. Chasing 203 for victory with an asking rate of 10.15 runs per over, Rajasthan Royals made light of the loss of opener Kusal Pereira off the fourth ball of the innings, as Sanju Samson and Ajinkya Rahane launched a merciless assault on the Mumbai Indians bowling. When Samson fell to Pragyan Ojha for 60 (37b, 4x4,4x6), he had put on 109 runs off 67 balls with Rahane for the second wicket. Royals were still 89 runs away from victory, but Rahane and Shane Watson maintained the run-scoring momentum, and in the process, Rahane also got his fourth consecutive half century. But the exit of Watson for 8 at 137 for 3 rekindled MI's hopes, with 65 runs still needing from 5.3 overs for RR to record their title win. But Harbhajan came up with a cunning spell when it mattered the most to guide MI to the podium. Earlier, Mumbai Indians, put into bat, powered to their best-ever total of 202 for 6 in 20 overs. Dwayne Smith once again provided the cushion for others to work on, and hoist a huge total, though Royals periodically put a spoke in MI's batting, with vital strikes. With titans Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar playing their farewell T20 matches, a sellout holiday crowd had turned up to watch the action. The entire Rajasthan Royals players lined up to give Dravid a royal welcome as he walked into the field for the last time to lead the team. The action unfolded in dramatic fashion when Dwayne Smith opened the account with a pulled six over deep square leg off James Faulkner's third ball. Sachin Tendulkar flicked Shane Watson for a single, but survived a strong appeal for lbw two balls later. An incensed Watson then hurled a beamer which Sachin tried to pull, but missed. Watson finally had the last laugh when he uprooted Sachin's off stump off the third ball of the fifth over after the maestro had pasted him for two consecutive fours — to backward square leg and the cover region, to make 15 (13b, 3x4). Sachin walked back to the dug out quickly with his team mates lined up to give him a standing ovation. Brief scores: MI: 202/6 (Smith 44, Maxwell 37, Tambe 2-19) beat RR: 169 (Rahane 65, Samson 60, Harbhajan 4-32)
Last ride together for Sachin & Dravid
Playing for one last time together, albeit for different teams in the Champions League Twenty20 summit clash, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid today heaped praises on each other. “Even though Tendulkar is of my age, he is seven years senior to me as an international cricketer. When I came into the Indian team, in my third Test, Tendulkar was India captain. He was someone you would look upto as a young cricketer growing up. You saw this young kid do amazing things across the world. It was sort of inspitation for all of us playing first-class cricket," said Dravid. "It was like, look if this guy can do it, we can also try to do it. The opportunity to try and share a dressing room with him, that was a huge motivation," said Dravid. Tendulkar returned the compliments, describing Dravid as the “master technician”. "Absolutely, he is a master technician. Any day in my team, he will be number three. When the rest of the guys found it difficult, he was comfortable. He loved challenges and I knew we could bank on |
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Hold on, let selectors decide on Tendulkar
Chandigarh, October 6 Sadly, the rule has been seldom followed, since or before. Sportspersons, most of them, keep dragging their careers to the point where they aren’t half as good as they had been in their prime, believing the slump isn’t the handiwork of age but just one of those temporary setbacks which they have faced and overcome throughout their careers. It’s not at all difficult to understand this reluctance to let go. And it’s not unique to sportspersons either. Don’t we come across so many people with routine jobs who are desperate for extensions when their time’s up? And here, we are talking about elite athletes, with name, fame and riches almost unimaginable for common man. Yet, it’s not the loss of this attention and indulgence they dread the most; it’s the thrill of the battle they can’t imagine living without. And it was perhaps this insatiable hunger for one more leap and dunk, one more knockout punch on the face of the opponent and one more drive at breakneck speed that drew legends like Michael Jordan, George Foreman and Michael Schumacher out of their comfy retirements. John Murray, a sports psychologist, summed up the retirement angst of the athletes in the best possible way when he said: “The elite athletes are the only people who have to die twice.” That’s even more relevant in cases such as Sachin Tendulkar’s, who has known nothing but cricket since his adolescence. And that is the perspective people shouldn’t lose while shooting off their mouths to demand his retirement. The last few months have seen rumour mills working overtime, churning out sinister stories about how the BCCI have messed up the South African tour to enable Tendulkar play an easier opponent at home in his landmark 200th Test, how the selectors have conveyed to Tendulkar that he won’t be picked after his 200th Test, and the BCCI identifying a messenger tasked with telling him to retire after the landmark Test. All these anonymous ‘plants’ were of course denied, with the BCCI secretary saying that the Board had no business telling Sachin when to retire. That’s the most sensible statement to come out from the BCCI in recent times, for the BCCI doesn’t have any right to tell any player when to retire. That’s a player’s prerogative, be it Sachin Tendulkar or Parthiv Patel. Having said that, this right isn’t absolute. Cricket is after all a team game and it can’t afford to have a player, no matter how big in stature, not pulling his weight. And that’s where the selection committee steps in, with the powers and mandate to decide whatever is in the best interest of the team. If the selectors feel Indian cricket is served better without Tendulkar, they should drop him. But if they keep picking him, it will be seen as a vote of confidence in his abilities and to his bringing something valuable to the side. So, where does the question of retirement arise, unless the man himself wants to? Anyway, Tendulkar, by his own admission, isn’t a big fan of the idea of going out on top. In a way, he’s the antithesis of Gavaskar’s retirement template. “It’s a very selfish thought that when you are at the top you should retire. When you are at the top, you should serve the nation. When I feel I am not in a frame of mind to contribute to nation, that’s when I should retire, not when somebody says. That’s a selfish statement that one should retire when on top,” Tendulkar had said after completing his 100th hundred in Dhaka last year. Clearly, he has his roadmap worked out. He will try to hold on to his spot as long as he thinks he brings something valuable to the table. The selectors, of course, can differ and can drop him if they feel he isn’t measuring up to their expectations. Tendulkar, of course, knows that risk and has apparently made his peace with it. So, let’s allow him to tread the exit route he has chosen for himself. We owe him that for giving us numerous occasions to enjoy and celebrate for almost 25 years now.
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This series is all about money: Chappell
New Delhi, October 6 India and Australia will clash in a Twenty20 and seven ODIs starting October 10 in Rajkot. Chappell said the entire series has been planned just for money. “Agreeing to this meaningless ODI tour of India so close to an Ashes series is evidence that Cricket Australia is more concerned with dollars than sense,” Chappell wrote in a column. “Australia’s mounting Test losses not only hurt in the record book but have also shredded the team’s aura... Australia’s weakness in this bleak period has been batting in general, and coping with good spin bowling in particular,” he explained. “The flaws have become so glaring that at a Lord’s Taverners function I attended recently in London, the comments from former players were pointed. ‘What’s happened to Australian batsmanship?’ was the welcome from past opponents before I received the obligatory ‘Oh, and by the way, how are you?’,” he added. In the absence of injured skipper Michael Clarke, Chappell said Australia would be all the more vulnerable against an Indian team, which dominates on home turf. “The glaring batting weakness will be exacerbated in India by the absence of Michael Clarke, easily the best player of spin in the Australian side. Without Clarke to guide them and be a steady source of runs, Australia are at risk of again losing in India,” he said. “While few from the ODI team will be in contention for the Test side, a demoralising loss on the eve of an Ashes series won’t help Australian morale, while it will boost England’s outlook,” he added. Chappell said the series will also make it more challenging for the Australian selectors to pick the right squad for the Ashes next month. “Not only is the scheduling of this tour badly timed for the players, it also hasn’t done the Australian selectors any favours,” he said. “Normally at this time they would be gauging batting candidates for the No. 6 position in the Test side based on their domestic first-class form. Now they’ll feel obliged to take into account any contenders who put up good performances on the tour of India. — PTI
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BCCI changes timings of ODI series
New Delhi, October 6 Under the revised timings, the first session will be played from 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm followed by an interval between 5:00 pm to 5:45 pm. The second session will be played from 5:45 pm to 9:15 pm, BCCI Secretary Sanjay Patel said in a statement. The excessive dew factor prompts the ball to get slippery thus placing the side bowling second at a disadvantageous position.— PTI
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Sachin’s exploits inspired me: Dravid
New Delhi, October 6 Tendulkar’s final T20 act and Dravid’s last hurrah in competitive cricket were the talking points at the Feroze Shah Kotla here as the two legends got together though in the colours of Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals. The two legendary batsmen had announced that this would be their final Twenty20 season. “Even though Tendulkar is of my age or two months younger to me, he is seven years senior to me as an international cricketer. When I came into the Indian team, in my third Test, Tendulkar was India captain. He was someone you would look upto as a young cricketer growing up. You saw this young kid do amazing things across the world. It was sort of inspitation for all of us playing first-class cricket,” Dravid said before the start of the CLT20 finale. “It was like, look if this guy can do it, we can also try to do it. The opportunity to try and share a dressing room with him, that was a huge motivation. For me to be on that England trip for the first time and share a dressing with him was a huge trip,” said Dravid. The 40-year-old Dravid had retired from international cricket at the beginning of 2012 while Tendulkar, who retired from One-Day International cricket last December, is in the twilight of his Test career. Together they have scored close to 92,000 runs in all formats of the game. Tendulkar, who is also 40, returned the compliments, by describing Dravid as the “master technician”. “Absolutely, he is a master technician. Any day in my team, he will be number three, because there were so many innings in which he batted brilliantly. When the rest of the guys found it difficult, he was comfortable. He loved challenges and I knew we could bank on Rahul at the times of difficulty.” — PTI
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South thrash West, make it to the semifinals
Chennai, October 6 South Zone will now play Central Zone in the last four game here at the M A Chdambaram Stadium from October 10-13. South Zone's Malolan Rangarajan (5-101) wrecked havoc, dismissing five West Zone batsmen, while spinners Abhinav Mukund (2-8) and R Aushik Srinivas (2-52) shared four wickets between them . West Zone's top-order batsman Aknit Bawne's chanceless unbeaten 115 (377b, 7x4s, 1x6s) was the highlight of the day. Baba Aparajith was rightly adjudged man-of-the-match for his all-round display. Overnight unbeaten batsmen, Rakesh Dhruv, who survived a run-out chance when on 36, made a valuable 53 before he was caught at mid-on by Rohan Prem of Srinivasb as West Zone were bowled out for 287 in reply to South Zone's mammoth first innings total of 600 declared for the loss of nine wickets. South made 44 runs in their second essay for the loss one wicket in 22.5 overs before both the captains agreed for a draw. Brief scores South Zone: 600/9 and 44/1 (Akshath* 25; Dhurv 1/14) beat West Zone: 287 all out (Bawne* 115, Waghmode 57, Dhurv 53; Rangarajan 5/101, Mukund 4-0-8-2, Srinivas 2/52) — PTI
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Bopanna-Edouard pair wins Japan Open
Tokyo, October 6 The fourth seeded Indo-French pair emerged winners with a 7-6 (5) 6-4 scoreline against the Briton-Australian combo in one hour and 17 minutes in the summit clash of the $1,297,000 tournament. Bopanna had won his first title of the 2013 season in February when he triumphed at ATP 250 event in Marseille, France with British partner Colin Fleming. He had also reached the final of Rome Masters with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi but ended runners-up. It was a tough battle out there for Bopanna and his partner as the two teams fought tooth and nail, not allowing a single break in the opening set. The fourth seeds had five break chances but Murray and Peers saved all to stretch the issue to a tie-breaker. In the second set, Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin finally converted a break chance to get a lead, which they maintained to emerge winners. — PTI
I’m better player than I was last year: Sania
As she closed her 2013 season winning the prestigious WTA China Open, Sania Mirza avowed that she is a better player compared to what she was last year. It was Sania's fifth title of the season, during which she was forced to switch partners frequently for several reasons. “I think, I have improved all round. I am much fitter now. I have also improved myself around the net. My serve has improved so I am a better player than what I was last year,” Sania said. “There is no better way to finish the year. I have been playing well. Sometimes you are unlucky and you don't win despite playing well. I am happy that I was able to convert these big moments and we played well, specially in the last couple of weeks.” — PTI |
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Can’t get past this wall
Beijing, October 6
Nadal had to reach the final in the tournament to displace Djokovic from the top ranking and the issue was put to rest on Saturday when Tomas Berdych retired with a back injury in his semi-final against the Spaniard. The 26-year-old Djokovic stamped his authority on the title match early, racing to a 3-0 lead in the first set and never allowing the Spaniard, who went into the match unbeaten on hard courts this year, to stage a comeback. He broke Nadal in the first game of the second set and clearly looked the better player, hitting winners almost at will. Such was the Serb's domination that the 27-year-old Nadal, who boosted his grand slam singles tally to 13 this year by winning the French and U.S. Opens, failed to create a single break point opportunity in the whole match. Djokovic had also won the tournament in 2009, 2010 and 2012, while missing out in 2011 through injury. — Reuters
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Russian roulette: Klitschko retains world titles with points win
Moscow, October 6 “I wanted to finish it earlier. I wanted to land that one big punch and I think I could have done better,” Vladimir said. With 14,000 fans firing up the Russian, Klitschko stuck to his tried and tested game plan by chipping away at his opponent's defense with a relentless series of left jabs. Standing 10 centimeters taller than the challenger and with a longer reach, the Ukrainian floored the 34-year-old with a wicked left hook in the second round. Povetkin, who had never been knocked down and was undefeated in his 26 previous fights, went down three more times in round seven but somehow managed to survive the onslaught. Apart from the occasional big right, the bruised Povetkin had little to offer going forward. — Reuters
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Triumphant Vettel on brink of world title
Yeongnam, October 6 Even two safety-car periods, the emergence of a truck on the circuit mid-race and the incineration of his teammate's car were not enough to put off the German, who made it a hat-trick of wins in Korea, and a fourth successive victory overall. The Red Bull ace led throughout to win by 4.2 seconds ahead of the Lotus pair Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. Nearest title rival Fernando Alonso was sixth, stretching Vettel's lead in the championship to 77 points with only five races remaining, and he could wrap up the title at next weekend's Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. “Even though it looks very good for us, it's still not over,” Vettel said. Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg put in a superb defensive drive over the last 17 laps by holding off a queue of world champions behind him after the second safety-car period ended, finishing fourth to equal his career best.
Vettel, who has now led after every lap of four-straight races, again got away well from pole position and avoided the chaos on turn three, at the exit of the main straight. Massa spun and made contact with teammate Alonso, who was able to continue, while Button and Force India's Adrian Sutil also had collisions that forced them to pit. Vettel led Grosjean by 2.1 seconds after the first lap but he was not able to drive away from the field as comfortably as he had in recent races, with the Frenchman clinging on and within 3.4 seconds when the leaders started to pit after nine laps. The championship leader extended that to 5.1 seconds by mid-distance from Grosjean, who had ably held off Hamilton in their battle after the first stops. Hamilton's rubber soon started to degrade and he fell back toward teammate Rosberg, but as soon as the German passed the Briton, his front wing failed and drooped. — Agencies
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Late goals give Chelsea 3-1 win at Norwich
Norwich, October 6 Chelsea took a fourth-minute lead with Oscar's first-time shot from a Demba Ba lay-off. Norwich kept a dominant Chelsea at bay for the rest of the first half before stepping up their game after the break with the reward coming in the 68th minute through Anthony Pilkington. Just as the game looked to be heading for a draw with five minutes to go, substitute Hazard made the most of a quick Chelsea break to put the visitors back in front, while a minute later Willian curled in a superb shot on his league debut. Southampton win
In other action, Southampton continued their good start with a 2-0 win at home to Swansea City with Adam Lallana netting in the 19th minute and Jay Rodriguez adding another on 83 minutes. Liverpool lead with 16 points from seven matches after beating Crystal Palace 3-1 on Saturday, while Arsenal have 15. Chelsea's win lifted them to third on 14, with Southampton level on points in fourth. —
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CWG organisers face over 24 cases over corruption
New Delhi, October 6 “There are about 24 cases related to the Commonwealth Games pending in courts or undergoing arbitration. The total revenue involved in them is about Rs 350 crore,” Chief Executive Officer of the Games Organising body Jarnail Singh said. The cases, filed in various courts here and outside Delhi, relates to dispute in finance, workforce, catering, merchandising, cleaning and waste management, technology and other functional areas. — PTI
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India bags gold and two bronze in World Snooker IBF state units meet in informal conclave Salgaocar get the better of Md Sporting Steve Harmison calls time on his career Gangjee 27th on storm hit final day
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Harbhajan Singh spun Mumbai Indians to a remarkable 33-run victory with seven balls to spare over Rajasthan Royals to wrest the Champions League Twenty20 Championship title for the second time in three years at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here tonight.
Rohan Bopanna ended his long wait for the second title of the season as he lifted the Japan Open trophy with French partner Edouard
Roger-Vasselin, sailing past Jamie Murray and John Peers on Sunday.
Vladimir Klitschko retained his world heavyweight titles with a unanimous points victory over Russian Alexander Povetkin at the Olimpiyskiy Stadium on Saturday.
The 37-year-old Ukrainian, who took his record to 61 wins and three defeats, knocked Povetkin down four times on the way to retaining his
WBA, IBO, IBF and WBO crowns. Klitschko's older brother Vitali holds the WBC belt.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was fifth, just holding off Alonso on the last lap. Mercedes Nico Rosberg took seventh by passing eighth-placed Jenson Button of McLaren in the closing stages. Ferrari's Felipe Massa was ninth and McLaren's Sergio Perez tenth.
