Chandigarh, March 7
The way Stuart Binny has been used by the Indian team management, it would appear that the Indians are not seeking an allrounder, or that the team is brimming with players who can bat and bowl.

Binny has played two One-day Internationals under two captains, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli. It didn't matter who lead the team - the captain didn't seem too keen to use Binny too much.

In his debut, against New Zealand at Hamilton last month, Binny didn't get to bat as he was slotted to come in at No. 8, below even Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. He was used as the fifth bowler and given only one over, in which he conceded eight runs.

In his second ODI, against Sri Lanka in Fatullah in the Asia Cup, Binny came in at No. 8, in the 43rd over, and fell without scoring. When India bowled, Binny got only four overs, in which he conceded 22 runs.

Binny will turn 30 in less than three months - he doesn't have too much time if he is to adapt to the highest level and display his abilities.

Dhoni has regularly rued the absence of a seaming allrounder in the team, but compelling young talent is starkly absent. In the recent times, what we've got is batsmen who can bowl a bit.

Over the last five years, 30 players have made their One-day debut for India - nine batsmen, 16 bowlers (four spinners, 12 pacers), four allrounders and one wicketkeeper.

The four allrounders are Yusuf Pathan, Abhishek Nayar, Ravindra Jadeja and Binny. Over the five years, India have played 179 ODIs. A large number (60) were played on home, while another 49 were played Bangladesh, Pakistan or Sri Lanka. It is understandable, thus, that spinners Pathan and Jadeja have got to play a large number of ODIs - 57 and 101, respectively.

However, it does seem that the pace-bowling allrounders haven't got enough opportunities. Binny, we've seen, hasn't been used optimally. Nayar has played three ODIs, all against West Indies in 2009. In the first, he wasn't given a single over and wasn't required to bat. Rain washed out his second ODI and he didn't bat or bowl. In his third match, he got to bowl three overs and gave away 17 runs. He came in to bat at No. 5, with 26 needed for victory; he played seven balls and remained unbeaten without scoring.

Thus, his ODI career seems to have ended with zero runs from seven balls played, and zero wickets from 17 balls he's bowled.

If he was good enough to be picked up for India, why wasn't he good enough to be given a reasonable time to perform and showcase his abilities?

Binny, hopefully, wouldn't suffer Nayar's fate. It's not that the Indian domestic circuit is brimming with pace allrounders — Himachal Pradesh's Rishi Dhawan is another player who has done enough to deserve a chance at the top level.

However, it does seem that despite Dhoni's need for pace allrounders, once they get into the XI, they're being disregarded.

Reetinder Sodhi, the allrounder who played 18 times for India, says Binny — and Nayar before him — deserved greater opportunities. “If a player is picked, he should be given enough opportunities to perform,” he told The Tribune. “It's very crucial to invest in allrounders at the moment, with the World Cup around the corner.”

“In Australia and New Zealand, a fast bowling allrounder will be a must, a spinning all-rounder won't be that effective in those conditions,” he added. “Besides Binny and Nayar, they could try out Vinay Kumar and Dhawan ahead of the World Cup... if one of these players settles into the role, it will give India a huge advantage.”

Another former India allrounder, World Cup-winning Madan Lal, agrees that a player should be given enough opportunities, but adds: “Sometimes it depends on the situation, what the captain is thinking.”

“A fast bowling allrounder should be capable of bowling 10 overs and getting quick 30-35 runs, I don't see many with that sort of ability,” he said. “Besides, Jadeja is doing a fine job as an allrounder, he picks wickets and scores quick runs too.”

Mirpur, March 7
Rampaging Shahid Afridi and prolific Kumar Sangakkara have set the stage for a rousing contest when Pakistan face Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup one-day final in Dhaka on Saturday. Angelo Mathews' Sri Lanka have been the dominant team in the five-nation event with four straight victories in the league, including a 12-run win over Pakistan in the tournament opener on February 25.

The charge was led by Sangakkara, who has been in prime form during his team's current tour of Bangladesh which began with a bilateral series in January.

He remains the leading scorer in the tournament with 248 runs despite falling cheaply for two in Thursday's last league match against Bangladesh. “It is great to have Sangakkara in such good form, but the others will also need to step up and rally around him if we are to win,” Mathews said.

“Pakistan have shown how tough a side they are to beat. But we have our plans and are confident of doing well if we execute them well.”

Pakistan, the defending champions, bounced back after the loss against Sri Lanka to qualify for the final with three successive victories against Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh.

The mercurial Afridi fashioned two tense last-over wins, slamming an 18-ball 34 against India before making an astonishing 59 off 25 balls against Bangladesh.

“Afridi is our main player,” a grateful Misbah said. “The kind of form he is in and the kind of confidence he shows, it's good for the Pakistan team.

“We just tell him to make sure he bats for at least 25-30 balls. If he does that he can score a 50. I'm really happy with the way he's playing.”

Pakistan will also look for another good innings from opener Ahmed Shehzad, who followed his 50 against Afghanistan and 42 against India with a polished 103 versus Bangladesh.

Both teams boast of destructive bowling attacks with Sri Lanka's Ajantha Mendis the tournament's joint leader with nine wickets and Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal in second place with eight.

Sling-arm fast bowler Lasith Malinga, who has taken six wickets, said Afridi's explosive game-changing form did not worry him. “I am more concerned about how I bowl,” Malinga said. “Afridi does not worry me and I don't think they (Pakistan) are thinking too much about me either.” — PTI

New Delhi, March 7
The much-awaited hearing on betting and spot fixing scandal in IPL was today adjourned with the Supreme Court posting the case for March 25 when it would take cognisance of its probe panel report indicting BCCI chief N Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan in the scam. A bench headed by Justice A K Patnaik said the case will be heard on non-miscellaneous day as the hearing would take time. It also agreed to consider contents of a sting operation which a news channel wanted to place before it on the scam.

The committee has said Meiyappan's role in CSK as the team official and his involvement in betting during the IPL matches stands proved. The report said allegations of fixing against Meiyappan require further investigation and also left it to Supreme Court the issue of conflict of interest against Srinivasan. — PTI

Sydney, March 7
Australians have acclaimed their cricket team`s epic series win over South Africa, but not the manner in which they achieved it.

Michael Clarke`s team Wednesday clinched a 2-1 series win over the world`s number one-ranked Test side just months after thrashing England 5-0 in their home Ashes series.

But just as Australia dominated the South Africans with their aggressive brand of cricket under coach Darren Lehmann, the team was rebuked by sections of the media on Friday over their on-field behaviour during the final Cape Town Test.

“Darren Lehmann has guided the Australian cricket side to the top of the world. His next challenge is to control it,” News Ltd cricket columnist Robert Craddock said. “Australian fans like to see their side play tough cricket but social media in Australia yesterday had strong feedback from fans wanting their side to behave better.

“The sight of Michael Clarke angrily confronting umpires and Australian fieldsmen barking like dogs at batsmen left a lot of people cold and alienated from the team and its success.”

Some Australian cricketers were pictured howling following the dismissal of South African batsman Faf du Plessis, in reaction to Du Plessis`s comments likening them to “a pack of dogs” in the field.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said the barking dogs incident might have been childish, but he saw it as funny.

hat`s just typical childish cricketers, but he (Du Plessis) asked for that with his comments a few days earlier,” Sutherland said in a radio interview. “Some people might not see the humour in that but I did.” — Agencies

Birmingham, March 7
India's Saina Nehwal had to go the full distance to overcome American qualifier Beiwen Zhang 24-22, 18-21, 21-19 to enter the quarterfinals at the All-England Badminton Championships.

Saina needed an hour to get past a fighting Zhang, a China-born former Singapore player, here on Thursday night. Saina now plays fourth seed Wang Shixian of China, who easily beat Chloe Magee of Ireland 21-15, 21-12.

The seventh-seeded Indian, who was playing the American for the first time, lost the first game on extra points before pulling off the second. Then at 19-all in a closely-fought third game, Saina held her nerve to take the next two points to edge out her opponent, who in the first round had an easy win over Germany's World No.11 Juliane Schenk.

China's top seed Li Xuerui and Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand both dropped their opening games before getting past Minatsu Mitani of Japan and China's Han Li, respectively. Bae Yeon Ju of Korea had to play three games against Thailand's Porntip Buranaprasertsuk before sailing through 21-11, 19-21, 21-13. In the men's singles, Hans-Kristian Vittinghus squeezed past Thailand's sixth seed Boosak Ponsana, 18-21, 21-12, 21-19 to enter the last eight.

Top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia and second-seeded Chinese Chen Long won through their second round matches in straight sets. Others still in the hunt are China's defending champion Chen Long and team-mate Wang Zhengming, world No.1 Lee Chong Wei, Japan's No.5 seed Kenichi Tago and his young compatriot, Kento Momota, Lee Dong Keun and Son Wan Ho of Korea. — IANS

Pretoria, March 7
Around 10 minutes after shooting dead his model girlfriend through a locked toilet door, South African track star Oscar Pistorius told a housing estate security guard “everything is fine”, his murder trial heard on Friday.

Testifying on the fifth day of the trial at the Pretoria High Court, Pieter Baba, who was on guard duty the night Pistorius killed 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp, said he received a call from the athlete at 3:21 a.m., around five minutes after Steenkamp was shot.

Pistorius was too upset to say anything on the call, Baba said, speaking in Afrikaans through an interpreter. However, when Baba - concerned that something was wrong — called him back a few minutes later, Pistorius told him: “Security, everything is fine.” Baba delivered the quote in English.

The dramatic testimony from one of the first people on the scene capped a week of hearings in which several witnesses described hearing a woman's shouts and screams before a volley of shots in the early hours of Valentine's Day last year.

Steenkamp died after being hit by three of four rounds fired by Pistorius from a 9 mm pistol through the door of a toilet cubicle in an upstairs bathroom in his luxury home in a Pretoria gated community. The shooting stunned South Africa and millions of Pistorius supporters around the world.

The 27-year-old - one of the most recognised men in world athletics - denies murder, saying it was a tragic accident and that he mistook her for an intruder. If found guilty, he is likely to spend at least 25 years behind bars.

“Shoot a Robot”

As well as the murder charge, Pistorius is being tried for three firearms offences, part of prosecution attempts to portray him as a gun-obsessed hot-head.

Earlier on Friday, ex-girlfriend Samantha Taylor told the court how a seething Pistorius had fired his pistol out of a car's open sun-roof after a heated argument with a police officer in September 2012. Taylor said she, Pistorius and a friend, Darren Fresco, had been pulled over by a policeman for speeding. When he saw Pistorius' pistol lying on the car seat, the officer picked it up and emptied its magazine onto the floor of the car, prompting an outburst from Pistorius, she said. When they were allowed to go on their way, Pistorius and Fresco started to joke about shooting out a traffic light, known in South Africa as a robot, Taylor said.

“Oscar was very angry,” said Taylor, who was sitting in the back seat at the time of the incident. “Thereafter they were joking around and saying they wanted to shoot a robot.” “Two minutes after, I saw Oscar take his gun and shoot out of the car roof. A very loud sound. They both laughed,” she said.

Pistorius girlfriend

Taylor, who broke up with Pistorius when he started dating Steenkamp in late 2012, also described two other incidents in which Pistorius drew his gun. The first was when he jumped out of his car at the gateway of his Pretoria housing complex and put his gun to the window of a black BMW that appeared to have been following him. The other was when he woke up in the middle of the night after hearing a bang in the bathroom. — Reuters

London, March 7
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has refused to blame anyone for the fractured foot suffered by his midfielder Jack Wilshere during England's friendly against Denmark on Wednesday.

Wilshere was hurt when we went into a strong tackle with Danish defender Daniel Agger in the first half but after treatment he continued playing until the 58th minute.

“I believe it was accidental and he will be out for six weeks,” Wenger told reporters before Arsenal's FA Cup quarter-final against Everton on Saturday. "It is a blow for him and for us and we just want him to recover as quickly as possible to prepare for the rest of the season. "You can only be very down in a situation like this, especially in the first days. He has gone away for a few days to get over the disappointment and to think about something else.”

Wilshere, who will be out of action for up to eight weeks, has suffered a numbrt of injuries in his career including several to his ankle and foot.

“This was an accident on his good ankle,” Wenger said. “The tackle was strong, but he (Agger) went for the ball.” Wenger also said he had no problem with the way the England physios handled the situation on the pitch.

“It's the player that gives you the indication of whether he's in pain and you trust the player to tell you how he feels after a few minutes,” he said.

“We are not at the point where you can have an instant checkup with an X-ray to see how big the damage is. But most of the time the player indicates if he can go on or not.”

The injury could hamper Wilshere's preparations for the World Cup, but he should be fit if coach Roy Hodgson picks him for Brazil. A number of England players have been injured in build-ups to the World Cup since 2002, including David Beckham and Wayne Rooney who recovered from broken metatarsals to play in 2002 and 2006 respectively.

Rooney also damaged his ankle ligaments before the 2010 World Cup but was fit for the tournament.

Bayern showdown won't distract Arsenal: Flamini

Mathieu Flamini insists Arsenal will not be distracted by next week's Champions League clash with Bayern Munich when they face Everton in the FA Cup quarterfinals on Saturday.

Arsene Wenger's side will attempt to overturn a 2-0 first leg deficit when they travel to the Allianz Arena just three days after facing Roberto Martinez's side at the Emirates Stadium, with a Premier League meeting with Tottenham to follow next weekend. — Agencies

Lucknow, March 7
Namdhari XI, Bihar, Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd. and Uttarakhand resgistered easy victories in their respective pool matches of the fourth Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2014 at Major Dhyan Chand Stadium.

In Pool A, Namdhari thrashed Gujarat 9-0 to claim their first win in the tournament. Namdhari went all out from the beginning of the match, and took a 2-0 lead when Bhagat Singh Dhillon converted two penalty corners in the fifth and 15th minutes before Santa Singh (27th) and captain Kuldeep Singh (29th) extended their lead to 4-0 at halftime through field strikes.

After the change of ends, Namdhari pumped in five more goals to complete the rout. Udham Preet Singh scored two goals (37th, 54th) while Avtar Singh (50th), Mehkeet Singh (54th) and Gurjant Singh (68th) found the net once each for the winners.

In another Pool A match, Bihar defeated Rajasthan 4-2. in Pool A. In the first match of Pool B, Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd routed Goa 13-0, while in the other game of the same pool Uttarakhand beat Jammu and Kashmir 5-3.

Result: Pool A: Namdhari XI 9 Bhagat Singh Dhillon (5th, 15th); Santa Singh (27th); Kuldeep Singh (29th); Udham Preet Singh (37th); Avtaar Singh (50th); Hartaj Singh Aujla (53rd); Mehkeet Singh (54th); Gurjant Singh (68th) vs Gujarat 0.

Pool B: Mumbai 13 Manprit Singh Chahal (11th, 28th, 61st, 62nd); Harjit Singh (33rd, 56th, 63rd); Ambika Pratap Singh (50th, 67th); Nitin Kumar Nandanoori (13th); Sajit Lakra (26th); Tyron Pereira (31st); Amit Goswami (64th) vs Goa 0; Uttarakhand 5: Amit Aswal(18th); Prakash Mehra (23rd, 44th); Manoj Tamta (46th); Vijay Pal (49th) vs J&K 3: Amrinder Singh (8th); Sunil Kalsotra (22nd); Amarjeet Singh (69th).

BRIEFLY

Smith is the best Test captain ever: Kirsten
New Delhi: Graeme Smith has received an enormous compliment from former India coach Gary Kirsten, who called the just-retired South African legend the “best captain that has ever lived” in Test cricket. The South African called time on his international cricket career after a successful run that saw him being handed over national captaincy at 22, following the 2003 World Cup. Kirsten, under whom Kirsten played the final four Test series of his career, said, “Is he the greatest captain ever in Test match cricket? In my view he must be.” “I don't think anyone had led as long. We know that. He has taken South Africa to great heights. The kind of success he has had, the kind of success he has taken South African cricket to, I would argue that he is the best captain that has ever lived,” said Kirsten. According to the 46-year-old Kirsten, the success Smith achieved as an opener despite the added resposibility of captaincy, was massive.

Rishi eyeing good show in IPL to get into Indian side
New Delhi: Himachal Pradesh all-rounder Rishi Dhawan, who was bought by Kings XI Punjab for Rs 3 crore at the 2014 players' auction, is eyeing impressive performances in the forthcoming Indian Premier League to stake a claim for national selection. Dhawan believes his fine show for KXIP will act as a “stepping stone” to get ready for a maiden call-up into the Indian team. “I have done well in the domestic circuit this season. I believe my good showing in the IPL will act as a stepping stone to get into the Indian team,” said Dhawan.