BENGALURU, November 2
Having run Virat Kohli out for a duck, Rohit Sharma became the demon hitter here on Saturday as India won the final One-dayer against Australia, and thus the series 3-2.

India’s run-fest, the last 10 overs seeing 151 runs added, seemed unlikely to be matched today. Yet, the Australians came close to doing that, and James Faulkner, for the second time in the series, came close to giving India a stunning defeat.

Faulkner was the last man out, caught by diving Shikhar Dhawan at deep midwicket, and the Indians celebrated, milling around an ecstatic Dhawan. India’s win was taken for granted by everyone present; the fall of five wickets with just 132 runs scored, in 22 overs, confirmed that view. There was a sting in the tail, though. A century that would have been called stunning in earlier times, but now just a routine affair, by James Faulkner gave India a terrific scare. He struck the ball hard and often into the stands, but his effort proved inadequate, because Australia had lost too many wickets too early.

Rohit, thus, remained the undisputed star of the day. After that mix-up with Kohli, Rohit needed to make two hundreds today. He did that, playing some remarkable shots to score his second 100 off just 42 balls. Mahendra Singh Dhoni provided his customary ballast and the India innings soared to 383/6 in 50 overs. Rohit Sharma has been one who caresses rather than smashes the ball; in this series, with the bats going insane, he had to awaken the inner ball-basher in himself. In the first 97 innings of his ODI career, he’d hit 23 sixers; in this series against Australia, he hit 23 in five innings. The ‘new’ rule that permits only four fielders outside the 30-yard circle has been around for a year; in this series, though, the full effect of the change became evident because pitches in India have been flatter than at other venues. “We know it is a small ground, runs are easy to come by once you are in,” Rohit said later.

Runs came with ridiculous ease after Rohit and Dhoni started hitting the ball at will.

Rohit’s acceleration was bewildering — the first five came off 71 balls (strike rate 70.42), the second 50 off 43 balls (SR 116.28), and the final 109 off 44 balls (SR 247.72).

Rohit had started off more tentatively than Dhawan and was the only bat beaten more than once, trying to defend or drive outside the off stump. Dhawan had been bowled at his pads, and he thus raced to 60 off 57 balls, with nine fours, before he fell. Then Kohli was run out, sent back too late by Rohit; Kohli was incensed, and the scoring rate fell immediately. India were 128/2 in 24 overs (run rate 5.33), and then 218/4 in 38 (5.73). The second powerplay, overs 36-40, yielded only 22 runs, and India were 232/4 after 40 overs. Then Rohit exploded, accelerating almost with ridiculous ease. Dhoni joined in, smashing 62 off 38balls (seven fours, two sixers). The final 10 overs went for 15, 16m 26, 20, 17 and 21 runs.

India’s total was like a mountain -- the sort of mountain that would have been called the Everest in earlier times, but now it’s just another high peak among similar-sized companions. Australia were troubled by the new ball, especially the sharp Mohammed Shami, who bowled his incutters well. The ball was keeping a bit low, and the Australians seemed overawed by the near-impossible task at hand.

Brief Scores: India: 383/6 (Rohit 209, Dhoni 62, Dhawan 60) bt Australia 326 by 57 runs

BENGALURU, November 2
The cricket lover appreciates the game’s subtleties. The cricket fan, less discerning but more inflammable, and present in greater numbers, better appreciates the ball bludgeoned for fours and sixers. The classical and the pop are very often in conflict -- the pop wins most battles, the classical mostly cedes space to the pop.

That’s exactly what’s happening in cricket right now.

The lovers of cricket — the practitioners of the sport, past and present — are furiously wringing their hands. They think that modern One-day cricket has become too one-sided — it’s too much like Twenty20 cricket. The rules, the equipment and the pitches are loaded in favour of the batsmen. The fan wants to see fours and sixers only. For that to happen, the pitches must be flat and the boundaries short. The rules leave vast territories left unguarded so that the ball could go for fours.

It’s not a contest. It’s torture of the bowlers for the pleasure of the fan.

That’s exactly what Kapil Dev was saying in the press box tonight as the ball went flying all over the place here. “The rules are wrong... the bats should be smaller/lighter,” he said. “It’s madness.”

By the 80th over of the day, 33 sixes had been hit in Bangalore — a new record for most sixes in an ODI innings.

The fans didn’t mind even one single sixer, not even the ones hit by the Australians. They wanted more.

On twitter, former Indian opener Aakash Chopra was saying: “Wasn't cricket a contest between bat and ball?” Around the world, cricketers were keeping an eye on Bangalore. Cricketer Niall O’Brien was tweeting: “MS Dhoni’s comments about using bowling machines gets more momentum every game.” Mark Butcher, the former England batsman, was writing: “Unerringly in the slot from Vinay... 6 number 29 in the match!”

Bishen Singh Bedi, who says it like he sees it, was saying that “mediocrity is being murdered with gay abandon”.

The fan’s perspective is very, very different. You sit in the stands with them for some time, and this sense of gloom dissipates. The fans are there to have fun, not worry about the extinction of the bowlers or the triteness of the plot of the games, or fret over the fact that all the matches seem exactly alike.

They’re sucked into a stadium-wide, pervasive, and almost physical thrill of watching the ball flying into the crowd or darting over the ropes; the crowd of thousands becomes one entity, throbbing as one with joy at the sight of the flying ball. One roar, one cheer in the stands incites the others, evokes louder cheers and whistles. Children are delirious. Middle aged men go wild. Old women shout with joy.

Kolkata, November 2
The West Indies's practice match against the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association ended in a draw but Chris Gayle got some runs under his belt ahead of the two-Test series against India with an entertaining half century on the third and final day on Saturday.

Gayle, who had a muted outing in the first innings, slammed a 49-ball 58 studded with 11 boundaries, while Marlon Samuels was more aggressive with an identical score (47b; 9x4, 1x6).

The touring West Indies were 199/5 in 37 overs in their second essay when both the captains mutually agreed for a draw, 20 minutes before schedule on the final day. UPCA captain Piyush Chawla, who returned wicketless in the Windies first innings, claimed an impressive 4/72 in the second innings. Resuming the day at 206/5, the UPCA had it easy and the Windies put up a sloppy display on the field as Chawla declared their first innings at 372/9.

The highlight of the UPCA innings was Parvinder Singh's 112 (17x4, 2x6) in a 57-run partnership with Amir Khan (47).

Brief Scores: WI: 466 (Chanderpaul 112, Deonarine 94, Imtiaz 5-117) and 199/5 (Gayle 58, Samuels 58) drew with UP: 372 for 9 (Parvinder 112, Cottrell 3-65). — PTI

Patiala, November 2
In their best performance ever in the Asian Archery Championship, Indian archers finished overall second in the 18th Asian Archery Championship that concluded at Chinese Taipei. The team bagged six medals, including three gold medals, one silver and two bronze medals, to finish behind Korea which won a total of 10 medals. Host Chinese Taipei was placed third.

The golds came in the form of team championships with India lifting the title in three team events- compound men team, compound mix team and recurve mix team.

The compound men consisting of Abhishek Verma, Ratan Singh and Sandeep Kumar defeated the Koreans by two points to lift the title. In the compound mix team event, the duo of P Lily Chanu and Abhishek Verma drubbed IR Iran.

In the recurve mix team event, Deepika Kumari and Jayanta Talukdar drubbed Korea by five points to lift the title. The individual silver was won by Abhishek in the compound individual event. Sandeep Kumar won the bronze in the same event. The second bronze came from Bombayla Devi who defeated Korean archer. Meanwhile, the compound team lost bronze medal match.

Kolkata, November 2
The touring West Indies side have a couple of injury worries in fast bowler Kemar Roach and spinner Shane Shillinford but coach Ottis Gibson hopes that the duo would be fit before the opening Test beginning next week.

Both the bowlers missed out on the three-day practice match that concluded with a draw at the JU Saltlake Campus due to shoulder injuries. "Shane was supposed to play but then he slept badly on his neck and had a little bit of shoulder problem so we rested him," Gibson said. He said: "Kemar Roach has a shoulder problem but he should be okay for next week. But it was good to see Sheldon Cotterrell getting a run and Tino too looked good." — PTI

New Delhi, November 2
Yuki Bhambri avenged his last week’s defeat against James Duckworth by knocking out the home favourite Australian from the Traralgon event and earned himself a shot at his second title on the Challenger Tour, here on Saturday.

The 21-year-old Yuki had lost to Duckworth last week in the Melbourne Challenger but today he put up a much better show and sent the second seed packing with a comfortable 6-2, 6-4 scoreline in the semi-finals.

Yuki, ranked 277, will now fight it out American top seed Bradley Klahn in the final of the $50000 hard court event.

Yuki, who won his first Challenger level title in Fergana, Uzbekistan last year, had lost to Bradley, ranked 123, in July this year in Binghamton. It will be Yuki’s second Challenger level final of the season. He had lost the summit clash of the Kaohsiung event in Taiwan to Yen-Hsun Lu in September.

New Delhi, November 5
Poonam Rani struck twice as India scored an upset victory over higher-ranked China 4-2 in their opening match of the third Asian Women Champions Trophy hockey tournament at Kakamigahara, Japan.

Rani gave India the lead in the eighth minute by converting a penalty corner. Five minutes later, Amandeep Kaur scored a field goal on her debut international match. In the 59th minute, Rani scored her second — a field goal — off a pass from Namita Toppo. The fourth goal for India came in the 61st minute when Vandana deflected the ball into the net. India play their next match against Malaysia on November 4.

Meanwhile, A young Indian side went down 0-2 against China in their opening match of the third Asian Men Champions Trophy hockey tournament at Kakamigahara, Japan on Saturday.

The Indian team, made up mainly of junior players, let in two second half goals -- in the 50th and 55th minutes -- to begin their campaign on a losing note at Gifu-ken Green Stadium.

The Manpreet Singh-led India play hosts Japan on Sunday.

India had picked 13 juniors in their squad of 18 in view of the Junior World Cup to be held here next month. — PTI

Perth, November 2
England were little the wiser with regards to their likely side for the first Ashes Test at the Gabba after their inconclusive tour-opening three-dayer against the West Australia Chairman's XI on Saturday.

The Perth match ended in a tame draw, when the home team called a halt at 168 for five in their second innings, representing an overall lead of 228 after England was dismissed for 391 in reply to the Chairman XI's 451 for five declared.

Up against a second-string side comprising fringe first-class players, the tourists did not gain much insight into their best team for the first Test against Australia, starting in Brisbane on November 21. England rested several key players for the match, allowing the opportunity for some Test hopefuls to push their claims, most notably for the third seamer's position and the spot at number six in the batting order.

Pace trio Chris Tremlett, Steven Finn and Boyd Rankin all laboured with the ball, taking seven wickets between them in the match, but just two in the home team's first innings.

Tremlett finished with just one wicket for the match, while Finn and Rankin picked up three each, and the trio conceded 425 runs between them.

Batting hopefuls Gary Ballance, who was dismissed first ball, and Ben Stokes (4) also failed to grasp their opportunity, although Michael Carberry made the most of his chance at the top of the order, making 78 to advance his cause.

One positive for England was the form of key batsmen Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott, who both scored centuries. Trott hit an unbeaten 113 and Bell retired when on 115, the pair spending valuable time in the middle as they shared in a 197-run partnership before the latter decided to give his teammates the chance for some time in the middle.

Trott batted for 342 minutes, hitting 10 fours and one six, while Bell, who led the aggregates in the Ashes series earlier this year, faced 165 balls with 19 fours and two sixes.

England's next tour game is a four-dayer against Australia A, starting in Hobart on Wednesday. Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott warmed up for the Ashes series against Australia with fluent centuries before England collapsed on the final day. Bell hit 19 fours and two sixes before retiring on 115 and Trott was not out on 113 after almost six hours at the crease before a second-string Western Australia team bowled out England for 391 at Perth.

For the local team, seamer Jim Allenby claimed four for 58 as England lost their last seven wickets for 57 runs in reply to the hosts' first-innings total of 451 for five declared.

Gary Ballance, out for a golden duck, and Ben Stokes (four) failed to push their cases for the number six slot in the English batting lineup for the first test in Brisbane from Nov. 21.

Western Australia were 168 for five in their second innings after Chris Lynn followed up his first-innings century with an unbeaten 61 and Mitch Marsh (62) made his second fifty of the match.

For England, Boyd Rankin finished the match with three wickets and looking marginally better than Steven Finn (three) and Chris Tremlett (one) in their three-way shootout for the third paceman's slot. England's fielding was sloppy with Joe Root, Rankin and Ballance all dropping catches. The tourists rested skipper Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad, putting Matt Prior in charge of the team. — Agencies

ABU DHABI, November 2
Sebastian Vettel maintained normal service on Saturday when he and his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber set the fastest times in final practice for Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The newly-crowned quadruple world champion clocked a best lap of one minute and 41.349 seconds in the closing seconds of a busy session run in stifling conditions at the state-of-the-art Yas Marina circuit.

This lifted him 0.222 seconds ahead of Australian Webber, with Lewis Hamilton third and his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg fourth.

The 26-year-old German Vettel, who clinched his fourth title in India last Sunday, appeared capable of setting the pace at will as he and Webber demonstrated champion team Red Bull's clear supremacy over their rivals.

Frenchman Romain Grosjean was fifth for Lotus ahead of Briton Jenson Button of McLaren, German Nico Hulkenberg and his Sauber team-mate Mexican Esteban Gutierrez.

This left Ferrari-bound Finn Kimi Raikkonen down in ninth in the second Lotus, less than 24 hours after warning the team that he was prepared to miss the season-ending races in the United States and Brazil unless they paid him.

He is reportedly owed more than 15 million euros (£12.7m, $20.3m). In steaming heat, with the air temperature hovering around 36 degrees celsius and the track touching 52 degrees, Raikkonen was soon into the groove and topped the times for a short spell early in the session.

As the Finn revelled in his escape from the media pack, drawn around him by his threat to miss the final two races this season, his future team-mate Fernando Alonso was stuck in the Ferrari pits with an unspecified leak.

He emerged to join the fray as Ferrari continued to struggle while Rosberg and then Vettel set the pace, the Mercedes man going quickest again before the final flurry when most switched from medium to soft compound tyres. This was led by Button and Hamilton in succession before Vettel swept back to the top in a chaotic final minute as the flag fell. — Agencies

NEWCASTLE, NOVEMBER 2
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho criticised his side following their 2-0 Premier League defeat at Newcastle United on Saturday and conceded that they deserved nothing from the game.

Victory at St James' Park would have provisionally sent Chelsea above Arsenal at the top of the table, but instead they went down to second-half goals by Yoan Gouffran and Loic Remy.

I didn't like it. I think we deserved to lose," Mourinho told BT Sport.

"We had a couple of good chances to score the equaliser, but they were in the game more than us, they fought more than us and they were much more committed than us. "They were the best team on the pitch. If someone had to win, I think it was Newcastle, not us."The game was quite easy to play in the first half, but we were not sharp, we were not intense with the ball. So we let the game go, waiting for a chance to score a goal or a chance to concede and lose it, and that is exactly what I was telling the players at half-time." It was Chelsea's second league defeat of the season, following a 1-0 reverse at Everton in September, and brought an end to a nine-game unbeaten run in all competitions.

However, Mourinho said that his side were not in need of a wake-up call. "I don't need to lose a match to be aware of (how competitive the league is)," said the former Real Madrid coach, whose side host Schalke in the Champions League on Wednesday.

"It is something I know and pass on to my players every game. I know exactly how it is. The race is there for everybody. If Arsenal win (against Liverpool) today, they open the gap. I didn't like my team today." — Agencies

London, November 2
Chelsea were prevented from taking over at the top of the Premier League table on Saturday after being dealt a shock 2-0 defeat at Newcastle United.

Victory would have taken Jose Mourinho's side above leaders Arsenal, who host Liverpool later on Saturday, but instead they fell to second-half goals by Yoan Gouffran and Loic Remy on a rain-soaked afternoon in northeast England. It was Chelsea's second defeat of the campaign and their second consecutive loss away to Newcastle, while Mourinho has now gone four league games without victory at St James' Park in his two spells as Chelsea coach.

Chelsea's best chances of the first half both came from corners and fell to John Terry, who saw one header come back off the crossbar and another headed off the line by a stooping Davide Santon. The visitors were happy to cede possession to their hosts, but although Newcastle struggled to create chances in the first half, they began to make inroads in the second period.

Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech was called upon three times in five minutes to keep Newcastle at bay, thwarting Moussa Sissoko, Remy and Gouffran in quick succession as Alan Pardew's men took the upper hand. Mourinho reacted by sending on Willian for Juan Mata, only for Newcastle to open the scoring in the 68th minute when Gouffran converted Yohan Cabaye's free-kick with a diving header.

Mourinho introduced Andre Schuerrle and Samuel Eto'o, and the Cameroonian felt he should have been awarded a penalty soon after coming on when his goal-bound half-volley struck the arm of Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa. Nothing was given though, and after Willian, Eto'o, Schuerrle and Eden Hazard all went close to an equaliser, Remy swept home a neat cut-back from Vurnon Anita in the 89th minute to seal Chelsea's fate. Chelsea's defeat saw them slip to third place, with Liverpool overtaking them on goal difference, while Newcastle climb to ninth. — Agencies

BRIEFLY

Abu dhabi
Irfan, Afridi lead Pakistan to victory