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Yuvi axed for New Zealand tour; Binny, Pandey get nod
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Ranji
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Rusty Serena wins tough opener
Pak beat India by 2 wkts in Under-19 Asia Cup
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Yuvi axed for New Zealand tour; Binny, Pandey get nod
New Delhi December 31 Yuvraj, who got out to a second-ball duck the only time he came out to bat in the lost three-match ODI series against South Africa, was replaced by Stuart Binny, son of former India all-rounder Roger Binny. Binny, 29, has played 53 first-class matches for Karnataka and scored 2714 runs at an average of 34.79, besides taking 79 wickets. Another surprise inclusion in the team was Madhya Pradesh seamer Ishwar Pandey, who has been drafted into both the ODI and Test squads. Fit-again pacer Varun Aaron, 24, has made a comeback to the ODI squad replacing Mohit Sharma, who failed to impress in South Africa. If he makes it to the final XI of the five-match ODI series against New Zealand, it would be Aaron's first 50-over appearance for India after 2011. The Test team was not altered too much with Ishwar coming in place of Pragyan Ojha being the only change made to the 17-member squad. The two-match series against the Kiwis starts February 10 in Auckland after a two-day practice match. Interestingly, Ojha did not get a single game in the two-match series against South Africa which India lost 0-1 yesterday. The 24-year-old Ishwar has played 31 first-class matches, grabbing 131 wickets at an average of 24.43. The rest of the Test line-up has been left untouched with R Ashwin, who did not impress much with his bowling, holding on to his place despite the conditions in New Zealand being not too conducive for slow bowlers. While Murali Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli picked themselves after fine performances in the trying tour of South Africa, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have managed to retain the selectors' faith despite coming a cropper. Senior pacer Zaheer Khan would once again spearhead the Indian pace attack in Tests with Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Pandey to support him on the seaming tracks of New Zealand. The ODI squad also sports a pace-heavy look but the spearhead's role would be taken over by Ishant as Zaheer will not play in the five-match series. The batting line-up remains more or less the same except for Binny coming in to take Yuvraj's place. The specialist all-rounder's role continues to belong to Ravindra Jadeja, who shone with the ball but disappointed with the bat in South Africa. The tour of New Zealand will start with the first ODI in Napier, followed by matches in Hamilton (Jan 22 and Jan 28), Auckland (Jan 25) and Wellington (Jan 31). — PTI
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floats Entering 2014, is Indian sport in any better health than it was when the year 2013 began? It’s a difficult question with difficult answers Rohit Mahajan Tribune News Service In post Tendulkarian times, awash with sentiment, it’s commonly accepted that Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement was the tragedy of the year, if not the decade or, indeed, the century. It’s been forgotten that when 2013 started, there was a widespread lament over his continuation in the Indian Test team. He did nothing significant on the field this year, but the final goodbye roiled memories and nostalgia, fomented sentiment. That’s what the departure of a favourite son can do Entering the year 2013, the fans of cricket in India were tormenting themselves with a question that was more important than life itself — If Tendulkar doesn’t retire, will the selectors have the courage to drop him? He’d been made to look inept by Monty Panesar in India, and India had lost the Test series to England. Tendulkar was one of the failures in the series — he’d seemed leaden-footed, harried and terrified by the thought of failure. Less disturbing were the very frequent sights of his broken stumps in the IPL and the Champions League, both played in the lesser T20 format. The Indian cricket board, then, hastily, arranged for the West Indies to drop in and play two Tests, taking his total of Tests played to a neat, unprecedented 200. Tendulkar, ostensibly, seems to have gone of his own volition. But insiders believe that it had been communicated to him, directly or indirectly, that if he didn’t announce his retirement after the series against the West Indies, he was in the danger of being dropped. We were scared of life without Tendulkar. We thought we’d be smashed to bits in South Africa, the No.1 Test team in the world. India, though, didn’t do too badly, losing the series only on the last scheduled day of the tour. Indian cricket ends the year on a low, again, but perhaps it’s better to lose with a young team in that's learning than with a team of the aged. Entering 2014, is Indian sport in any better health than it was at when the year 2013 began? It’s a difficult question with difficult answers. The Indian sportspersons spent the year outside the Olympic Movement, for the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) remained suspended through the year for electing a corruption-tainted official as secretary-general. Indian sportspersons competing in international events had to compete as ‘independent athletes’, under the International Olympic Committee flag. It is one of the triumphs of the year, then, that the IOA agreed to change its constitution so that individuals against whom charges have been framed are barred from IOA elections. It took massive amount of force to persuade the IOA officials to change the constitution, but at least some progress has been made. Change, Martin Luther King had noted, comes through continuous struggle. Incrementally, step-by-step, perhaps sports officials would become accountable. Bringing the sports associations under the purview of the Right to Information Act would be a good thing to hope for in the coming year. For our athletes, the year 2014 would present many challenges and opportunities -- it's the year of the Asian and the Commonwealth Games. It’s an important year in terms of gauging the Olympics ambitions of our shooters, boxers, wrestlers. India’s star wrestlers, Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt, would compete in new weight categories. There’s also the hockey World Cup and the Twenty20 World Cup. We’d also get to know if Viswanathan Anand has the desire and the skill to wrest back his world title from Magnus Carlsen who, honestly, seems impossible to vanquish. There are other questions — will PV Sindhu eclipse Saina Nehwal? Can Vijender Singh regain peak form? Would India be able to compete in Tests in England? In the biggest sporting of the year, of course, Indians would have only spectating interest — the football World Cup in Brazil would arouse interest, nonetheless. In cricket, there’s something important off the field: Will N Srinivasan accept that his positions as a businessman and BCCI president are untenable, and quit either the BCCI or withdraw his commercial stakes from cricket? Sadly, that’s a question for which we’ve already got the answer.
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Dhanbad, December 31 Jharkhand, in reply, were struggling at 210 for nine after getting off to a decent start. The hosts lost the last seven wickets for just 29 runs to give Punjab complete control of the match at the end of Day two at the Railway stadium here. Jharkhand were 173/2 when opener Rameez Nemat (81) was run out by Yuvraj Singh. Spinners Rajwinder (4/66) and Gurkeerat (4/36) wreaked havoc as Jharkhand batsmen failed to negotiate the two. The duo produced a fine spell of spin bowling in the closing overs of the day to leave Jharkhand reeling at 202 for nine. Ishank Jaggi (51) and Rameez, who hit 11 boundaries, put on a 91-run stand for the second wicket, while Saurabh Tiwary made 30. Earlier, Siddarth Kaul (50) scored a half-century to guide his side over the 500-run mark. For Jharkhand, spinner Shahbaz Nadeem picked four scalps while Samar Quadri and Varun Aaron finished with three and two wickets respectively. Gujarat take an upper hand against Mumbai
Gujarat placed themselves in a strong position as they first took a 99-run first innings lead over Mumbai and then reduced the visitors to 76/4 in their second essay on day two of Group A match. In reply to Mumbai 154, Gujarat posted 253 in their first innings to take a solid lead. At stumps, Mumbai were struggling with their top four batsmen back in the pavillion. Hiken Shah and Iqbal Abdulla, both unbeaten on four each, were at the crease. — PTI Dewan puts Haryana in strong position against Odisha
Brief scores
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Som run over by Chennai express
Chennai, December 31 The 19-year-old, who qualified for the main draw after beating higher-ranked Slovakian Norbert Gombos yesterday, fought back after losing the first set to beat Devvarman 4-6 6-3 6-4. On the other hand, wild card entrant Yuki Bhambri today sprung a surprise by upsetting higher-rated Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain to enter the second round. Yuki, ranked 195 in the world, took 76 minutes to stun 64th ranked Busta 6-4 6-3 in the opening round to set up a clash against third seed Fablo Fognini of Italy in the pre-quarterfinals. Yuki, in all probability, will make the quarterfinals without taking the court as his next opponent, Fogini, who was partnering Indian ace Leander Pace, has pulled out from the men's doubles event due to a strain in his left leg. A statement from the orgainsers read that Fogini has withdrawn from the doubles event due to an injury and was being monitored by the doctors. But it has been learnt that Fogini would take a call on his participation in the singles event by tomorrow evening. — Agencies
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Rusty Serena wins tough opener
Brisbane, December 31 The number one seed won in 98 minutes to reach the quarterfinals but her 36 unforced errors and 55 percent serving accuracy showed how much Williams has to work on with the first grand slam of 2014 less than a fortnight away. On the other side of the draw, fourth seed Jelena Jankovic beat Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-1 6-3, keeping the Serb on course for a semifinal meeting with Victoria Azarenka. In the men’s tournament, home favourite Lleyton Hewitt held off a spirited challenge from young compatriot and qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis, winning 6-3 7-5. — Reuters
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Pak beat India by 2 wkts in Under-19 Asia Cup
Dubai, December 31 Pakistan chased down a challenging 251 with just three balls to spare and registered their third straight win of the tournament. Riding on Ricky Bhui's quick-fire half-century, India scored 250 for seven off their quota of 50 overs after electing to bat at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. India got off to a solid start with openers Ankush Bains (41) and Akhil Herwadkar (31) putting on 74 runs in 13.3 overs for the opening wicket. However, Pakistan leg-spinner Karamat Ali brought his side back into the match as he removed the top three batsmen, including skipper Vijay Zol (20) to reduce India to 116 for three. Ali kept a tight leash in Indian batters as he finished with figures of four for 28 in his 10 overs. In the process, Ricky put on small but significant partnerships of 36, 42 and 45 with Sanju Samson (38), Sarfaraz Khan (20) and Deepak Hooda (24) to take side to a testing total. Ricky's 66-ball-64 included three fours and two sixes. In reply, left-handed Aslam led from the front as he smacked Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground. He laid the foundation for his side and put on 72 runs with Hasan Raza (30) for the third wicket. Aslam 119-ball knock included 11 fours and a six. Kamaran Ghulam (55) then took on the mantle to take his side to the finishing line. — PTI Brief Scores
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Stuart Binny
will provide balance to the side as a pace-bowling all-rounder in New Zealand conditions. Earlier this year, he earned a call-up to the India A squad.
Opener Rahul Dewan (in pic) smashed an unbeaten century to take Haryana to a commanding position against hosts Odisha in an inconsequential Group A match. Placed seventh and last in the nine-team Group A, Odisha and Haryana are already out of the quarterfinal reckoning but both the teams would be hoping to end their Ranji campaign this season on a positive note. Dewan made an unconquered 136 off 253 balls with the help of 19 boundaries, while Sachin Rana was unbeaten on strokeful 83 off 103 balls and Avi Barot scored 60 off 91 balls as Haryana took the vital first innings lead over Odisha. Replying to Odisha's 242 all out, Haryana were 294 for two at stumps on the second day of the four-day match at the East Coast Railway Sports Association ground. Dewan and Barot made a strong start to Haryana's reply, stitching 143 runs for the opening stand before Rana joined hands with Dewan and the duo shared an unbroken 141-run third-wicket partnership to take the visitor's forward. For Odisha, Niranjan Behera (2/48) took both the wickets. — PTI
