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Karnataka make clean sweep
Lancers look to upset UP Wizards
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Marsh provides resistance for Oz
Hoping to keep India winless,
says Southee
Chelsea title bid stumbles in draw at West Brom
It took some time to sink in, says joyous Karthik
Dravid sorry for Taylor, White not finding buyers
Former keeper Moin appointed Pakistan coach
Tri-colour to be hoisted at Sochi Village on Feb 16
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Karnataka make clean sweep
Bangalore, February 12 Gopal (5/35) also registered his best bowling figures, while skipper Vinay Kumar scalped four for 70 to bowl out ROI for 183 runs in their second innings in 57.5 overs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The leg spinner first dismissed set batsman Baba Aparajith, caught by Stuart Binny at long-off, with the third delivery of the 58th over and then bowled Ashoke Dinda and Pankaj Singh with two perfect googlies to wrap up ROI's innings. Vinay's four wickets in the second innings helped him end with impressive match figures of 11 for 82. Resuming their second innings at 114 for three, ROI's middle and lower-middle order fell like a pack of cards as their last seven wickets could add just 69 runs. Aparajith, who resumed on overnight score of 42, was the lone bright spot for ROI as he laboured his way to 66 off 162 balls. ROI struggled throughout their second innings as only three batsmen - Aparajith, Kedar Jadhav (44) and wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik (27) managed double digit scores. The platform for Karnataka's innings victory, however, was set up by their batsmen. Stuart Binny (122), CM Gautam (122), Karun Nair (92) and Ganesh Satish (84) played impressive knocks to help Karnataka amass a mammoth 606 in their first innings in reply to ROI's 201. Brief scores: Rest of India 201 and 183 (Aparajith 66, Jadhav 44; Gopal 5/35, Vinay 4/70); Karnataka 606 (Binny 122, Gautam 122, Pankaj 6/122). — PTI
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Lancers look to upset UP Wizards
Bhubneswar, February 12 The Lancers had lost 1-3 to Wizards in their previous encounter at Lucknow and come tomorrow the hosts would be eyeing a win to make life little difficult for the visitors. The Wizards are currently placed at the fourth position in the standings with 21 points from seven games, while the Lancers just have 10 points from as many matches. But off late, the Lancers have started to gain momentum and gave their opponents tough fights in the last few matches. Barring the 2-1 win over bottom-placed Dabur Mumbai Magicians, the Lancers did not have anything more to show in their maiden outing. And the Terry Walsh-coached side would be hoping to prove their critics wrong tomorrow. "We have lost another player (Mandeep) to injury in our last encounter, this is disappointing for us. Tomorrow's match against Uttar Pradesh Wizards is important for us as the results will have bearing on semifinal standings. We will focus on converting our chances in to goal," Walsh said on the eve of the game. UP Wizards skipper V R Raghunath, meanwhile, said that they need to win tomorrow's game to consolidate their semifinal chances. "It's an important game for us. We have to make sure that we qualify for the semi-final. Tomorrow's game would be crucial as it will affect the pool standing of top teams. Plus, we need to win the game as it will also boost our morale and confidence," he said. — PTI
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Marsh provides resistance for Oz
Pretoria, February 12 Marsh, who only arrived on Sunday as a replacement for the injured Shane Watson, was unbeaten on 67, reaching his 50 off 101 balls, as he and Steven Smith put on a 78-run unbeaten stand for the fifth wicket. Only captain Michael Clarke was dismissed in the second session after South Africa's fast bowlers had taken the top three before lunch, vindicating Graeme Smith's decision to put the tourists in to bat on a quick wicket on steamy, hot day. Clarke was caught at deep fine leg off a short delivery from Dale Steyn for 23 as the much-anticipated clash between the highly-rated batsman and bowler went Steyn's way. Smith said after the winning the toss that he was not sure whether sending the opposition in to bat was the best option, but he was backed up by his fast bowlers and fielders as they took the first three Australian wickets relatively cheaply. However, the visitors proved resilient after lunch and then picked up the run rate. After a fast start from Australia on the opening morning of the three-Test series, South Africa removed both openers quickly to leave the tourists teetering on 24-2. First David Warner (12) chopped a Steyn delivery on to his stumps before Chris Rogers (four) was brilliantly caught by a diving JP Duminy at short leg off a rising Morne Morkel ball that rapped him on the gloves. Marsh and debutant Alex Doolan (27) set about building a partnership before the latter was out 15 minutes before lunch, caught at mid-wicket by Robin Peterson as he tried to pull Ryan McLaren to the on-side. Brief scores: Australia 176-4 (Marsh 67*). — Reuters
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Hoping to keep India winless,
says Southee
Wellington, February 12 After losing the ODI series 0-4, India slumped to a 40-run defeat in the first Test at Auckland. "They have obviously had a disappointing tour but are too good a side to roll over. They'll come hard and they will want to have a win on the tour. They are a far better side than they have shown on this tour so far," said Southee. "They have a lot to prove in this last Test and have got a lot of quality players. I am sure we are going to have to up our game. They'll come out and look to finish their tour on a high. Hopefully, we can keep them winless on their trip to New Zealand. Clean sweep is on our mind," he added, two days ahead of the match at Basin Reserve. He said that the Kiwis were preparing as well as they could against the Indians. "We have had a low-key couple of days, guys have reflected on the first Test and what a special achievement it was. Cricket is a sport where you cannot get too far ahead. It can always come around and bite you. We are focusing on the next couple of days leading into the next Test and prepare as well as we can," said the bowler. The square at the Basin Reserve looks absolutely green and Southee said it was tough to differentiate between the pitch and the outfield. "It is a bit tough to see the difference between the pitch and outfield at the moment. It is usually a pretty good deck here. We will have to see how it is on the morning of the match. It is still another couple of days and a bit of sunlight on it will round that off a bit I am sure.” — PTI Green top awaits Indians
* There would be no respite for the Indian batsmen from the New Zealand pacers as the Basin Reserve pitch, under cover for the last few days, would be a green, seamers` paradise, curator Brett Sipthorpe on Tuesday said. "I don`t expect they (India) will be too happy when they see that," Sipthorpe said. Four days of rain had hindered pitch preparations for the final Test, but the showers eased to finally allow some work. Sipthorpe has had produced wickets with lively pace and bounce and the Black Caps had requested him the "same again" pitch on which they romped to an innings and 73-run victory over the West Indies in December. Sipthorpe said it was a guarantee that the toss winning captain would bowl first on Friday. "It`s had good pace and bounce in it this summer and basically we`re aiming for exactly what we had for the West Indies one. That was nice and bouncy and had a little bit of nip around, which suits the seamers," he said. "It just depends on what the weather brings us. If we have to take a little more off we will, but we don`t want to lose our pace and grass cover is pace. We`ll do everything we can to try to keep as much grass on as we possibly can," he added. |
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Chelsea title bid stumbles in draw at West Brom
London, February 12 It looked like Jose Mourinho's side would move four points clear after defender Branislav Ivanovic, who got the winner in Chelsea's 1-0 triumph at Manchester City last week, smashed the ball home in first-half injury time to put the visitors ahead. However, Victor Anichebe grabbed a precious point for the hosts when he headed in Saido Berahino's cross, leaving Chelsea in pole position in the table but possibly for only 24 hours. Chelsea now have 57 points from 26 matches, two ahead of Arsenal, who host Manchester United on Wednesday, and three in front of City, who are at home to Sunderland. At the other end of the table, West Ham United again showed they can win without suspended striker Andy Carroll as they beat Norwich City 2-0 to ease their relegation fears with a third successive victory and fourth straight clean sheet. — Reuters
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Sochi, February 12 Despite clear skies and mild temperatures, complaints about slushy snow conditions in the Caucasus mountains melted away, while on the Black Sea coast excitement grew with the first puck set to be dropped in the men's ice hockey competition. History was made when Switzerland's Dominique Gisin and Tina Maze of Slovenia shared the women's Olympic Alpine skiing downhill gold medal after clocking exactly the same time down the gleaming Rosa Khutor descent. "It's better to be two on top than one to be 1/100th behind. Two happy faces," said Maze, Slovenia's first Winter Games gold medallist. Few had given much of a chance to 28-year-old Gisin, a pilot in the Swiss Air Force. "I have had a lot of injuries in my life, I had nine knee surgeries. I was close to the podium a lot. I never medalled on a big event, so what comes around, goes around," she said. Alpine skiers have shared medals before at the Olympics, but never gold. It was the second time in two days that women athletes set a precedent at the Olympics. German favourite Eric Frenzel won the Nordic Combined normal hill, landing the longest jump of the day and then mastering a slushy cross-country course to beat Japan's Akito Watabe. — Reuters
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Yuvraj laughs all the way to the bank
Chandigarh, February 12 Both Yuvraj and Karthik, who are not even regular members of the Indian team, triggered stunning bidding wars among the franchisees to set a new record in earnings in the cash-rich league. They surpassed the record of Rs 11.04 crore that was bid on Gautam Gambhir in 2011. Curiously, the two Indians easily exceeded Rs 9 crore Delhi Daredevils spent on Kevin Pietersen. Clearly, the enormous amount paid for Yuvraj Singh is based on emotion and chance rather than current cricketing value. Yuvraj has been in terrible form for India over the last couple of years. In 2012 he averaged 25 in Tests, 2 in one innings in ODIs and 28 in Twenty20 Internationals. In 2013, he didn't play a Test but averaged 19.71 in ODIs and got 77 not out in his only T20 International innings. In the IPL, he didn't do too well last year — 238 runs at 19.83, without a single half-century, and he picked up six wickets. Yuvraj has been dropped from India's Test and ODI teams, though he was surprisingly included in the team for the Twenty20 World Cup. Luckily for Yuvraj, Virat Kohli, the caption of Royal Challengers, was very keen to get him into the team. Another stroke of luck was that he was in the first lot of players to be auctioned - which meant that all the teams had substantial funds to spend and were keen to acquire a big-name player early. Yuvraj also has an image of a fun-loving individual, which goes well with the ethos of the Royal Challengers — right down from team owner Vijay Mallya to players like Chris Gayle and Kohli. Pietersen, whose England career came to an abrupt end after a disastrous Ashes campaign earlier this month, fetched Rs 9 crore, which was significantly lesser than the 3 million pounds (around Rs 30 crore) Lalit Modi had projected for him. Upcoming New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson, who scored the fastest ODI century smashing a 36-ball ton to breach the record set by Shahid Afridi in 1996, got a decent package of Rs 4.5 crore from Mumbai Indians. This figure, too, was lesser than expected, for it was widely speculated that he'd emerge as the most valuable player in the auction. The fact that he was the 83rd player to be sold may have contributed to that - by then the buying power of the franchisees had reduced significantly. Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson (Rs 6.5 crore, Kings XI Punjab), all-rounder Glenn Maxwell (Rs 6 crore, Kings XI Punjab), Indian opener Murali Vijay (Rs 5 crore, Delhi Daredevils), South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis (Rs 5.5 crore, Kolkata Knight Riders), Robin Uthappa (Rs 5 crore, KKR), West Indian batsman Dwayne Smith (Rs 4.5 crore, Chennai Super Kings), Amit Mishra (Rs 4.25 crore, Sunrisers Hyderabad) and Aaron Finch (Rs 4 crore, SRH) were some of the players who triggered intense bidding in the auction. The top buys Yuvraj Singh (RCB): Rs 14 crore Dinesh Karthik (Delhi Daredevils) Rs 12.5 crore Kevin Pietersen (Delhi Daredevils) Rs 9 crore Mitchell Johnson (Kings XI Punjab) Rs 6.5 crore Glenn Maxwell (Kings XI Punjab) Rs 6 crore Jacques Kallis (KKR) Rs 5.5 crore David Warner (Sunrisers Hyderabad) Rs 5.5 crore Robin Uthappa (KKR) Rs 5 crore Unsold players Ross Taylor Base Price Rs 2 crore Tillakaratne Dilshan Rs 2 crore Angelo Mathews Rs 2 crore Praveen Kumar Rs 2 crore Mahela Jayawardena Rs 2 crore David Hussey Rs 1 crore Ajantha Mendis Rs 50 lakh Team position: Players and purse Kings XI Punjab Players: 12 Purse left: 14.2 crore Royal Challengers Bangalore Players: 11 Purse left: 1.8 crore Rajasthan Royals Players: 11 Purse left: 12.10 crore KKR Players: 10 Purse left: 9 crore Delhi Daredevils Players: 13 Purse left: 8.6 crore Chennai Super Kings Players: 13 Purse: 2.9 crore Mumbai Indians Players: 10 Purse: 5.15 crore Sunrisers Hyderabad Players: 13 Purse: 8.4 crore
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It took some time to sink in, says joyous Karthik
New Delhi, February 12 “Yes, I am very happy but I never thought that I would get this kind of a price. Actually, I came to know a bit later as we didn't have access to television in the dressing room,” said Karthik, after fetching the second biggest draw in the auctions following Yuvraj Singh (Rs 14 crore). “I was actually pretty angry with myself after getting out and was sitting quietly,” he said. Asked if there would be any added pressure on him having commanded this kind of a price, the talented wicket-keeper batsman replied, “I don't think so as you don't play cricket just to earn money. I have never played my cricket that way. I have been picked by Delhi Daredevils and as a professional, it is my duty to perform to the best of my abilities”. But will this million dollar deal (USD 2.03 million) work at the back of his mind as people will equate his performance with the amount of money he is getting, the Tamil Nadu stumper was honest in his reply. “I have never been through such a process earlier, so I won't be able to relate how it works for a particular player in this situation,” Karthik said.
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Dravid sorry for Taylor, White not finding buyers
Bangalore, January 12 Dravid, who is currently the mentor of the Rajasthan Royals, feels Taylor and White could have been good buys for the franchisees if the duo had come in the first part of the batting list. “It was a bit of surprise for me. Ross in Rs 2 crore could have made a lot of sense but I think he came at the back end of the batting list which went against him," said Dravid. “I think someone like White who is a shrewd captain and a good batsman is also unfortunate. What I feel is that people have learnt that they can't afford to spend so much money and then make the players sit outside. By the time they came, I think most of the franchises had sorted out their top four-five batsmen," he added. — PTI
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Former keeper Moin appointed Pakistan coach
Lahore, February 12 Khan, 42, was shortlisted along with another former captain and ex-coach Waqar Younis by a four-man committee, which included former captain Javed Miandad, Intikhab Alam and Wasim Akram, earlier this week. The decision came after a lengthy management committee meeting under the chairmanship of Najam Sethi who replaced Zaka Ashraf on Monday. The decision came as a blow to Younis who was regarded as favourite to regain the post he left in 2011 but Ashraf's sacking led to him not being selected. — PTI
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Tri-colour to be hoisted at Sochi Village on Feb 16
New delhi, February 12 Senior officials of the International Olympic Committee and Sochi Organising Committee are expected to take part in the flag-hoisting ceremony. — PTI
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Pretoria, February 12
Premier League leaders Chelsea were hit by an 87th-minute sucker punch as they were held to a 1-1 draw by lowly West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday, handing the title race initiative back to Arsenal and Manchester City.
