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Attack changed, for the better
Rain washes out the ODI in Ranchi
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Tahir, Steyn run through Pakistan, put SA in firm control
WORLD c’ships
Jayaram in 2nd round; Kashyap falls to Lee
Good outing for Indian golfers
Life is anything but sweet at sixteen for bed-ridden Akash
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Attack changed, for the better
Ranchi, October 23 A sword had hung over Ishant’s head by the thinnest of threads. It wasn’t just the matter of that over, the 30 runs he conceded in the 98th over of the Mohali ODI that had earned him the nation’s derision; the Delhi lad has been the worst performer among the specialist bowlers in the series so far. The selectors had a short chat with the tall quick bowler. Ishant then trooped back to the edge of the field, visibly deflated; it was probably during this brief chat that the thread finally snapped and the sword fell on Ishant’s neck. He was axed. Also axed was Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who’s taken only one wicket in three matches in this series. The three wickets used in the first three ODIs weren’t pleasant for the bowlers. The pacemen would have loved them as much as sheep love the gates of an abattoir -- 1864 runs were made in the first three ODIs, 600-plus in each match. The Ranchi conditions were different, and Ishant and Bhuvneshwar would have liked it here. It had rained day-before yesterday, it was cloudy yesterday, and rain was forecast for today. On the eve of the match, opinion was divided on the nature of the pitch and the composition of the Indian attack. The BCCI curator had revealed that the pitch would be hard and true; the local curator, an equally unimpeachable source, had disclosed that the pitch would be on the slower side. If one goes through the bowling figures, it would appear that both were right. Mahendra Singh Dhoni relied on the spinners more, for 28 of the 50 overs; the pacers were more successful, though, picking up five of the eight wickets that fell, in the 22 overs they bowled. There was help for the new-ball bowlers; the pitch was on the slower side, and the ball was seaming, and the Australians were drawn into false strokes. Mohammed Shami took the first three wickets, reducing Australia to 32/3 in eight overs. The ball was doing a bit but not too much; the pace, or the lack of, obliged the pacers be extremely accurate. Shami had the best pace and the best accuracy among the three Indian pacers. Shami’s average speed was 139.69 kmph, the quickest ball being 144.51 kmph. This pace would scare none in the Australian camp; on this slowish track, though, it meant that even the deliveries short of a good length didn’t sit up to be smacked. The batsmen struggled to time the fuller deliveries. Shami bowled Aaron Finch and Shane Watson with balls that cut in — the batsmen had left a gap between bat and pad; Shami got Phil Hughes with one that rose sharply from short of a length. Shami had a first spell of 6-0-21-0; but he bowled only two overs more, probably because Dhoni wanted to deny Australia pace bowling in the final overs. Jaydev Unadkat (0/31 off 6 overs) was adequate though unthreatening; early wickets by Shami meant that the batsmen were very careful, against the other bowlers too. Unadkat showed signs of swing but no pace like fire, bowling averaging 127.13 kmph with a fastest of 133.41 kmph. Vinay Kumar got two wickets when the Australians were attacking, building towards a total of 350. Australia had recovered to 224/4 in 37 overs, Glenn Maxwell was on 81 off 67 and George Bailey on 98 off 93. Vinay got both of them in 12 balls; Bailey was out in an offensive manner, edging one to deep midwicket; Maxwell fell lbw, trying to nudge a single or two. Those two wickets helped India restrict keep Australia below 300 for the first time in the series. Vinay’s pace, modest pace, was consistent, with an average of 127 kmph and fastest of 130.8 kmph. These are speeds that Australian sup and dine upon, right from their early years. On this track, though, Dhoni relied on the slow men more than the quicks. The Indian bowlers deserved better support from the fielders -- six catches that went to hand were dropped. Even Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina dropped catches. Four of the six chances were quite tough, with the fielder diving full length to reach the ball, but they’re meant to be caught in international cricket.
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Rain washes out the ODI in Ranchi
Ranchi, October 23 When India’s chase began, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma took India to 27/0 in 4.1 overs before the heavens opened, precisely at 6.18 pm. It didn’t rain buckets, but it was a fairly intense, giving the ground a through sprinkling. The crowd, which had filled over 75 percent of the seats in this excellent new stadium, scurried to find shelter. The wait for the rain to end began. When it did stop, the rain had left the outfield too wet to allow play, and the decision to call it off was taken within minutes. Australia couldn’t reach 300 today, for the first time in four innings on this tour; this was largely because of Mohammed Shami, playing his first match of the series. Aided by the conditions, seaming and swinging the new ball, and bowling faster than any other Indian bowler in the series, Shami took out the first three wickets. Bailey and Glenn Maxwell then proceeded to reconstruct the innings, adding 153 off 22.4 overs. They seemed primed to take the score past 325 before they fell in the batting powerplay, and Australia added only 57 in the final 10 overs. Shami’s strikes helped India win the new-ball battle against the Aussie top-order; the intensity at the other end, though, was not of similar quality in conditions that were not, for the first time, loaded in favour of the batsmen. Brief scores: Australia 295 for 8 (Bailey 98, Maxwell 92, Shami 3-42)
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Tahir, Steyn run through Pakistan, put SA in firm control
Dubai, October 23 Tahir made an instant impact on his return to the South Africa line-up and his team mates made sure his hard work did not go to waste as they finished the day on 128 for three wickets, a 29-run first innings lead. Captain Graeme Smith (67 not out) and nightwatchman Dale Steyn (three not out) will resume day two on a dry, dusty track that is offering the spinners plenty of encouragement. Pakistan-born Tahir, playing for the first time since conceding 260 runs without a wicket against Australia last November, made the most of the conditions as he recorded career-best figures of 5-32 after replacing Robin Peterson as South Africa's main spin option. He was ably supported by Steyn, who took 3-38 as South Africa brutally exposed the fragility of Pakistan's top order, who were hoping to make the most of the conditions after electing to bat first. Four of Tahir's victims were bowled as he made expert use of the googly turning back into the right-handed batsmen, as well as his 'slider' quicker ball that does not turn but beats the batsmen for pace. He bowled Shan Masood for 21, before trapping Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq (two) leg before wicket. Adnan Akmal (0), Asad Shafiq (10) and Mohammad Irfan (0) were all bowled. Steyn took the first wicket with just the second ball of the morning as centurion from the first test Khurram Manzoor guided the ball to gully without scoring. He also claimed the big wicket of Younus Khan (10), and bowled number 11 Junaid Khan to wrap up the innings. — Reuters Brief scores
South Africa: 128-3 (Smith 67*; Ajmal 2-42) vs Pakistan: 99
(Tahir 5-32, Steyn 3-38) |
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Lewis to give his best shot at BIC
New Delhi, October 23 Hamilton, who finished fourth at the Budh International Circuit (BIC) last year, will certainly look for a podium finish, despite Sebastian Vettel maintaining an all-conquering sweep. “I want to race. I don’t want to dominate,” he said, hinting at Vettel’s sweep, though he made it clear that he did not want to “get into problems anymore”. His remark after Vettel’s victory at the Korean Grand Prix that he felt “sorry for the fans as the races had become predictable” had received a lot of criticism. No wonder, he desisted from getting into any more controversy, though he did concede that Vettel’s domination had dimmed the chances of others in the championship race. But he was firm in his resolve to step on the pedal when he races at one of his favourite tracks, in the Indian Grand Prix this week end. Hamilton is now in fourth position with 161 points, behind Vettel (297), Fernando Alonso (207) and Kimi Raikkonen (177). If he does well in the remaining races, the Mercedes driver can overtake Raikkonen, and that seems to be his strategy. Lewis had only one podium finish this year, in the Hugarian GP, and he said he would strive to finish on the podium at the BIC. “It’s a good circuit. I see no reason why the races should not return after a break next year.” Hamilton has become so used to the conditions in Delhi and Noida that the hectic traffic no more surprises him, and he was at ease when he addressed the gathering with a “Namaste”. He said he was always pushing to get the perfect lap time, though it does not work that way every time he races. “I started training at the age of eight and trained very hard to improve my technique.”
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WORLD c’ships Almaty, October 23 After the afternoon losses of fourth seed Shiva Thapa (56kg) and sixth seed Manoj Kumar, Vikash Malik (60kg) and Sumit Sangwan (81kg) also lost their quarterfinal bouts in the evening session. Satish Kumar (+91kg), meanwhile, was declared medically unfit to fight after sustaining a cut above his right eye yesterday in the pre-quarters. While fourth seed Shiva went down to Azerbaijan's Javid Chalabiyev, sixth seed Manoj was defeated by Cuba's Yasnier Lopez. Both the boxers lost by a similar margin of 0-3. Later in the second session, Vikash lost 0-3 to fourth seeded Brazillian Robson Conceicao, a Pan-American Games silver-medallist. Sumit (81kg) went down to world number one and top seed Adilbek Niyazymbetov of Kazakhstan. Shiva was the first to take the ring and made an energetic start, showcasing some fine ring craft to wriggle out when cornered but Chalabiyev's aggression impressed the judges, who gave first round unanimously to Chalabiyev. In the second round, both the boxers tried to counter-attack but ended up clinching and holding each other for the majority of the time. There was no aggression but Chalabiyev managed to have the upper hand in this round too. With this edition's campaign ending on a disappointing note, India's all-time medal tally at the World Championships remained just two. Vijender Singh (75kg), who bowed out of the ongoing event in the second round, opened India's account in 2009 with a bronze medal. In the very next edition in Azerbaijan, Vikas Krishan (69kg) also grabbed a bronze medal.
— PTI
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Jayaram in 2nd round; Kashyap falls to Lee
Paris, October 23 World number 25 Ajay rode on his smashes and better net play to get across Kazumasa 21-16 21-11 in a 38-minute men’s singles match last night. For Kashyap, it was always an uphill task to tame the top seed and world no. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia and the Indian did play his heart out in the first game but the Malaysian still prevailed 22-20 21-12 at the end of the 37-minute battle. Gurusaidutt, however, could not put up a fight in the first game but he tried to make a comeback in the second before going down 9-21 14-21 to Chen Yuekun of China in another first round match at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin. — PTI
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Messi keeps Barca’s slate clean
Milan, October 23 Atletico Madrid made it three wins from three, thanks to a double from in-form striker Diego Costa in a 3-0 victory at Austria Vienna, leaving the Spanish side on the brink of the last 16 already to continue its brilliant start to the season. Chelsea claimed the performance of the night by crushing Schalke 3-0, with striker Fernando Torres also scoring twice to put the 2012 champions top of Group E. Back from a thigh injury, Messi scored from close range to cancel out Robinho's opener for Milan and keep Barca in charge of Group H on seven points, two ahead of the Italians. Robert Lewandowski grabbed an 82nd-minute winner for Dortmund, last season's beaten finalist, at Arsenal in Group F to bring the English team down to earth after a flying start to the Premier League and in Europe. They are joined in a three-way tie on six points by Napoli, which won 2-1 at Marseille to condemn the French side to a third straight loss. There were also first wins of the group stage for Celtic and Zenit St. Petersburg while Basel drew 1-1 at Steaua Bucharest. Milan and Barca were meeting in Europe's top competition for the seventh time in three seasons, so it was perhaps no surprise to see the teams cancel each other out. There was no shortage of stars on show at the San Siro and two of them combined for Milan's opener, Robinho exchanging passes with Kaka before slotting past Victor Valdes. However, Milan has never been able to handle Messi, the Argentina forward has now scored six times against the Italians, and he equalized after collecting Andres Iniesta's pass, evading Kevin Constant and shooting into the bottom corner. The teams meet again in two weeks' time, with Barcelona knowing a victory would put them on 10 points and close to the knockout stage. Celtic is two points behind Milan after beating Ajax 2-1 thanks to goals by James Forrest and Beram Kayal in a 10-minute spell either side of halftime. Ajax grabbed a consolation goal through Lasse Schone in second-half stoppage time, by which time Celtic had been reduced to 10 men after Nir Biton was red-carded in the 87th minute. Arsenal’s first loss
Arsenal's first loss since mid-August, on the night of manager Arsene Wenger's 64th birthday too, was sealed by Lewandowsi's unforgiving finish eight minutes from time at Emirates Stadium. Back in London for the first time since losing last season's final to Bayern Munich in May, Dortmund went ahead through Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the 16th minute only for Olivier Giroud to equalize just before the break. Jose Callejon and substitute Duvan Zapata were the scorers for Napoli at the Stade Velodrome, with Andre Ayew netting for Marseille four minutes from time. Atletico, level on points with Barca at the top of the Spanish league, is the only team in the four groups who played on Tuesday to have three straight wins after Costa added to the opener scored by Raul Garcia in the Austrian capital. Diego Simeone's side is five points clear of Zenit, which beat FC Porto 1-0 thanks to Aleksandr Kerzhakov's goal five minutes from time. Porto had done well to nearly hold out for a draw after seeing Hector Herrera sent off for two yellow cards after just six minutes. Chelsea in cruise mode
In Group E, Torres marked his 100th start for Chelsea by scoring in the fifth and 69th minutes, with Eden Hazard completing an unexpectedly easy win against a Schalke team that led the group at kickoff. “If you do garbage, then you have to clean it up and we cleaned it up,” said Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, referring to his team's home defeat to Basel on the opening matchday. “We've got two matches at home so now we are in good condition to qualify and we'll try to finish top.” Chelsea is ahead of Schalke on goal difference, with Basel two points back after conceding a late goal by Leandro Tatu to draw at Steaua, which claimed a first point in group play. —
PTI |
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Good outing for Indian golfers
Chandigarh, October 23 Lahiri matched a nine-year-old course record, held by countryman Amandeep Johl at the Macau Golf and Country Club to finish the week with a total of 13-under-par, 271, three strokes behind the winner, Australian Scott Hend. “I am very pleased as I played really good right from the start," said the 26-year-old who earned US$88,000 for his effort and almost failed to tee it up last week after missing cuts in Taipei and Japan following a knee injury. “I am glad with the way I’ve played the last few days. Didn’t get on to the best starts but I’m glad my golf has improved and there are some good events coming up, CIMB Classic next week, the Hero Indian Open and then the ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf. It’ll be great to keep this form going," said Lahiri who played alongside his golfing idol Arjun Atwal who urged him on and told him he had to make a three on the last hole and he did not care how he did it. The other Indians in the field included Rahil Gangjee who finished tied 11th, while Arjun Atwal finished a stroke behind, in a tie for 13th place. Gaganjeet Bhullar, SSP Chowrasia and Chiragh Kumar were tied for 22nd place, Himmat Rai was in 45th place, Ajeetesh Sandhu was 53rd and Sujjan Singh finished the week in 57th place. Another interesting news is that Gaganjeet Bhullar moved up to 110th in the Race to Dubai rankings and has managed to retain his card on the European Tour after his performance this week - the last player to do so as the top 110 qualify, while SSP Chowrasia finished outside the top 110 and will probably be heading back to qualifying school. On the Indian tour, Chandigarh professional Harendra P Gupta won the Ansal API Feeder Tour Championship which was played in Lucknow last week. The last event of the Feeder Tour also saw Arjun Chaudhari win the 2013 PGTI Feeder Tour Order of Merit. "It feels great to win the Order of Merit and all the hard work I put in has paid off. My game is looking good as my short-game and putting have been very consistent this year. I will now be a lot more relaxed while playing on the main tour and hope to carry this form into the big events coming up on the PGTI Tour over the next two months," said Chaudhari.
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Life is anything but sweet at sixteen for bed-ridden Akash
Chandigarh, October 23 So what's his birthday wish? He doesn't say much. Prod him a little more, and he barely mumbles, “Ok, buy me a hockey stick”. Seeing his prosthetic legs by his side and a wheelchair near his bed, it's almost cruel to ask what he would do with a hockey stick. The promising hockey player lost his legs and hockey stick exactly a year ago when he fell off a moving train. “It got lost somewhere that day,” he said. And since that day, he has been bed ridden. A budding hockey player at the Jarkharh Hockey Academy, Akash had participated in various national-level school and sub-junior championships. “He needs help for pretty much everything, he can barely move on his own,” says mother Geeta Rani, who works as a domestic help. Geeta says her financial condition doesn't allow her to take proper care of her son. To add to their misery, Akash's father Mohan Lal is mentally unstable and admitted in a Pingalwara. Can fate be more cruel? Yes, at least to this family. After the accident, the media and pseudo philanthropist made everyone believe that the boy had been given enough cash and help. As a result, Akash's relatives not only stopped helping the family but started maintaining a distance saying that they had loads of money in the bank. “Nobody helps me now. Our relatives think we have lot of money. The reality is, there's nothing left in the account opened for his treatment. Whatever little money we got has already been spent on Akash’s treatment. “Till date, the state government and sports department has not given me a single penny. My file for compensation was put forward to sports director. But that too was returned after a week,” she said.
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Shortly after noon today, Ishant Sharma, warming up with the rest of his mates near the boundary line, was beckoned by two wise and powerful men, the selectors Sandeep Patil and Saba
Karim.
Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram notched up a straight-game win over Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai but his compatriots Parupalli Kashyap and RMV Gurusaidutt failed to cross the first hurdle in the French Super Series in Paris.
World number 25 Ajay rode on his smashes and better net play to get across Kazumasa 21-16 21-11 in a 38-minute men’s singles match last night.
Akash Mehra turns 16 today but there is hardly any excitement. There are no big plans, no celebrations, neither are any of his friends around. He sits on his couch, and stares blankly out of the window.
So what's his birthday wish? He doesn't say much. Prod him a little more, and he barely mumbles, “Ok, buy me a hockey stick”. Seeing his prosthetic legs by his side and a wheelchair near his bed, it's almost cruel to ask what he would do with a hockey stick.
London: