Mirpur, march 2
India paid the price for costly blunders at crucial junctures to suffer a nerve-wracking one-wicket defeat at the hands of arch rivals Pakistan, who rode on Shahid Afridi's brilliant cameo to virtually assure themselves a berth in the final of the Asia Cup here on Sunday.

In a tense encounter, where fortunes fluctuated till the very last, Afridi turned the game decisively for Pakistan by hitting successive sixes off Ravichandran Ashwin's last over to overhaul India's total of 245.

Afridi, who has been very inconsistent with the bat, hit the first six over deep extra cover, and the next over long on as he scored 34 not out off just 18 balls with two fours and three sixes.

Dinesh Karthik's woeful work behind the stumps again cost India dearly as he missed an easy stumping chance when Ashwin fired one down leg side with Sohaib Maqsood (38), then batting on 21, coming out to charge. Karthik failed to gather the ball and missed the stumping with Pakistan on 167 for four.

Mohammad Hafeez (75) and Maqsood added 87 runs for the fifth wicket and after IPL's new million dollar man Karthik fluffed his lines, they added another 37 runs which proved crucial in the context of the game.

From 200 for four, Pakistan slumped to 203 for six. But then the winners had a couple of profitable overs — 45th and 46th, wherein Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar went for 13 runs each.

With this defeat, India's chances of making it to the finals are all but dashed, with Pakistan versus Sri Lanka summit clash looking imminent. For India, leg-spinner Amit Mishra (2/28 in 10 overs) bowled a brilliant spell, while Ashwin too looked pretty good until Afridi spoiled his day.

Earlier, Ravindra Jadeja (52) hit a timely unbeaten half-century as India recovered from a mid-innings collapse to post a modest 245 for eight in 50 overs. Opener Rohit Sharma (56), who finally found his touch after a lean patch, and Ambati Rayudu (58) also did their bit but none of the batsmen could make it big.

Experienced spinner Saeed Ajmal (3/40) bowled nicely in the death overs to remove three batsmen while debutant pacer Mohammad Talha (2/22) and off-spinner Mohammed Hafeez (2/38) took two wickets apiece.

It was Hafeez, who trapped Dhawan to give Pakistan their first breakthrough but India had the match in control with Rohit and Kohli in the middle. Rohit seemed to have found the touch he displayed before the tour of South Africa and New Zealand. He pulled Gul over square leg to break free and showed no mercy against pacer Junaid Khan. Unfortunately, he couldn’t convert his promising start into a big knock. — PTI

mirpur, march 2
Normally regarded as the mother of all battles in international cricket, the India-Pakistan match, for a change, began in front of a near empty Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Sunday. “I don't see the usual excitement here. I was expecting 'Chacha' (Chaudhry Abdul Jalil) to be here but heard that he's only coming here during the World Twenty20,” said Sudhir Gautam, an ardent Indian fan.

The India-Pakistan contest, for a change, didn’t create the usual buzz and was played out in front of a partly empty stadium. AFP

According to the Bangladesh Cricket Board, the match was sold out but the stadium, with a seating capacity of 25,200, presented a different picture with many empty seats in the lower tier.

Major Mohammad Hussain Imam, BCB security chief, said that they were following high security measures as per the ICC regulations. Outside the stadium it was a different scene with a huge crowd, most of them Pakistani fans, gathering near the stadium gate and adding to the already chaotic traffic.

On the seats in the lower tier lying vacant, a BCB official said: “These are premier seats purchased by big corporate houses in advance. They gift the tickets to their clients. It will fill in as the match progresses.” — PTI

NAGPUR, MARCH 2
The suspense over the venues for this year`s IPL is all set to end on March 5 when the BCCI will take a decision on the matter in a meeting, Board vice-president Rajiv Shukla revealed on Sunday.

“The BCCI president has been authorised to take a decision,” Shukla told reporters, adding that the matches may not be played in the country because of the elections due in April-May.

The Home Ministry has already made it clear that in view of the Lok Sabha elections, providing security for IPL matches will not be possible for it. Therefore, the BCCI has options of holding the matches in South Africa, Bangladesh and UAE,” said the Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs.

“We are in touch with the Home Ministry and a decision will be taken on March 5. Sri Lanka, the fourth venue which was under consideration, has been ruled out due to prospect of rains,” he added. — PTI

MUMBAI, MARCH 2
He delivered his farewell speech with such emotional conviction that many were left wiping tears but Sachin Tendulkar on Sunday said his only preparation for the stirring address was to remember the “important” names he wanted to mention.

Tendulkar revealed that he planned on delivering a speech after his penultimate Test on a flight from Kolkata to Mumbai.

“I was flying back from Kolkata to Mumbai and then I realised that this is going to be my last match. I was sitting alone and I thought I’d better think of something, think of people I need to mention because before I realise, Mumbai match would also be over and all of a sudden, I would be standing in front of my peers,” Tendulkar said at an event.

“Then the whole world would be waiting for me to say something. Something I didn't want to do was to miss out on any important name. I mentioned all names and rest of the things came from my heart. But those things you cannot script. It's the Almighty's wish. Everything went off much, much better than what I had expected,” he added.— PTI

new delhi, MARCH 2
The Indian Super League is set to roll again with the bidding process of the much-anticipated IPL-style football tournament starting from tomorrow.

IMG-Reliance, the tournament organisers, will be floating a tender through 'Invitation To Bid' documents, inviting bids for nine cities (Bangalore, Chennai, Dehli, Goa, Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune) across the country from which eight franchises will be finally selected.

The league was to begin in January but had to be postponed owing to scheduling problem and lack of a window.

Promising to revolutionise the sport in the country, the league has the backing of All India Football Federation, and is likely to see big names such as former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke, former Argentina striker Hernan Crespo and former England forward Michael Owen. — PTI

SOUTHAMPTON, March 2
Liverpool moved into second place in the Premier League table as goals from Luis Suarez, Raheem Sterling and Steven Gerrard secured a 3-0 win at Southampton on Saturday.

Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge vies with Southampton's Calum Chambers during their English Premier League match in Southampton on Saturday. AFP

Suarez put Liverpool ahead after 16 minutes of his 100th Premier League appearance with his first goal since January 28. Southampton missed chances to level before Sterling, a 57th-minute substitute, scored with his first touch of the game and Gerrard then netted a penalty in injury time.

Meanwhile, Chelsea beat Fulham 3-1 to open a four-point lead at the top and Newcastle United's 4-1 win was marred by manager Alan Pardew's dismissal for head-butting Hull City's David Meyler.

Germany international Andre Schuerrle scored a 16-minute second-half hat-trick at Craven Cottage before John Heitinga pulled one back for Fulham.

Second-placed Arsenal lost 1-0 at Stoke City, Jon Walters scoring a second-half penalty after Laurent Koscielny handled. Chelsea have 63 points from 28 matches followed by Arsenal on 59 and Manchester City who have 57 points and two games in hand on the top two.

While Schuerrle grabbed the headlines for the right reasons, Pardew will make them for the wrong ones after being sent from the dugout for head-butting Meyler who tried to move him out of the way to take a quick throw. Meyler was handed a yellow card for the incident.

The other afternoon kickoff ended in a 1-0 win for Everton over West Ham United.

Bayern rout 10-man Schalke to go 20 points clear

Berlin: An Arjen Robben hat-trick helped Bayern Munich open up a 20-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga with a 5-1 win over ten-man Schalke 04, who suffered a second drubbing in four days.

Having lost 6-1 at home to Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid on Wednesday in the Champions League, Schalke were put to the sword again at Munich's Allianz Arena as Bayern went 4-0 up inside half-an-hour.

Bayern extended their record unbeaten league run to 48 matches, dating back to October 2012, and earned their 15th straight league victory. — Agencies

City sink Sunderland to win League Cup

 London: Two moments of magic in the space of two second-half minutes helped Manchester City to a 3-1 victory over Sunderland in the English League Cup final at Wembley on Sunday. Manuel Pellegrini’s favourites were trailing to Fabio Borini’s 10th minute strike for Sunderland and a shock looked on the cards until Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri intervened. Jesus Navas completed the turnaround late on.

Acapulco (Mexico), march 2
Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov edged out South Africa's Kevin Anderson 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 7-6 (7-5) in a three-hour slugfest to claim his second career title with victory in the Acapulco International final on Sunday.

The 22-year-old claimed the first-set in a tiebreak but Anderson broke in the second game of the next and comfortably held serve to level the match at one set apiece.

Anderson carried the momentum into the third with an early break but handed back the initiative with a double fault on break point in the eighth game. — Reuters

Lucknow, March 2
Hockey Gangpur, Odisha, thrashed Tripura 9-0 to register their fourth consecutive win in the Hockey India Senior Men National Championship at Major Dhyan Chand Stadium here today.

Ashish Anmol Minz scored four goals, while William Xalxo scored three goals for the Gangpur team, which is heading Pool C with 12 points.

Earlier, N Sellamuthu scored a hat-trick to give Puducherry their first win in the tournament when they beat Assam 11-1 in another Pool C match. Other scorers for Puducherry were M Harikrishnan and N Kamalakannan, who scored two goals each.

In Pool D, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) defeated Kerala 2-1.

Nimhas Khokha and Amaritvir Singh struck one goal each for CRPF, while Joshan George scored the only goal for Kerala. — PTI

Manama (Bahrain), March 2
Brazilian Felipe Massa put Williams on top on the penultimate day of pre-season testing in Bahrain on Saturday while Red Bull's quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel failed to complete a lap.

Massa, who moved from Ferrari at the end of last year, completed 99 laps in the Mercedes-powered FW36 car and set the fastest time yet in seven days of testing at the Sakhir desert circuit.

“I'm really happy with the car and feel we found a good balance,” said the 32-year-old. — Reuters

BRIEFLY

Kapil feels Subrata Roy is extremely patriotic person
New Delhi: Former Indian cricket captain Kapil Dev has expressed concern over the arrest of Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy and hoped that an “extremely patriotic person” like him will come out of this situation soon. “In Bangladesh, I came to know through TV channels that Saharasri has surrendered and is in police custody. I have known him as an extremely patriotic man who has done so much for the country. I wish that he comes out of this situation soon,” Kapil said in a letter addressed to the media. Roy was arrested by UP police after non-bailable warrant was issued by the Supreme Court for his failure to appear before it in a case of non-refund of Rs 20,000 crore to investors. He would be produced before the apex court on March 4

Arvind Bhat in German Open badminton final
Mulheim an der Ruhr: Former national champion Arvind Bhat entered the German Open Grand Prix Gold finals after registering a thrilling three-game victory over Chinese Taipei’s Tien Chen Chou in the men’s singles. Arvind took 55 minutes to prevail over his 15th-seeded rival 21-12, 12-21, 22-20. He will now lock horns with Dane Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, who defeated Marc Zwiebler 21-16, 21-13 in the other semifinal clash.

Bhullar drops, Kapur moves up in South Africa
Centurion: Gaganjeet Bhullar faltered in the third round as he stumbled to a two-over 74 and dropped from overnight ninth to tied 35th at the the Tshwane Open. Bhullar, with three bogeys and a double bogey, could manage only three birdies. Meanwhile Shiv Kapur improved on his overnight position with a round of two-under 70 to get to tied 41st up from overnight 51st. Kapur had four birdies against two bogeys. Ross Fisher will take a five-shot lead into the final round as he looks to secure a first European Tour title for four years.

Rory McIlroy leads at Honda Classic
Florida: Rory McIlroy was steady rather than spectacular as he extended his lead to two strokes after the third round at the $6 million Honda Classic in south Florida. McIlroy missed only one green on the water-lined back nine as he compiled a one-under-par 69 in a moderate breeze at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens. “I thought 69 in the conditions was a pretty good score,” the 24-year-old said. — Agencies