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special coverage |
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Proteas fret, fume, Indians take a chill pill in practice session
Srini can’t represent BCCI at ICC, says Abdi
Hope Lee can continue till Rio Olympics: Sidek
Sports Ministry punches IABF hard, withdraws recognition
Consolation win for Aussies
Haryana beat Punjab; Viru shines in Delhi win
After Dutch disaster, English experts want rethink
Rasool hoping for better IPL with new team
champions league
Hockey girls ready for Euro challenge
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Windies seal the deal
Defending champs beat Pakistan by 84 runs to make it to semis Subhash Rajta in Mirpur There’s apparently nothing that Darren Sammy and Dwayne Bravo can’t do at the moment. Together, they are like a violent tornado that blows away everything falling in its way. A couple of days back, they snatched a fantastic victory from the jaws of the Australians, and, on Tuesday, they literally toyed with the famed Pakistan attack to set up a massive 84-run victory and propel their team into the semis.
If anything, the two looked even hungrier, brimming with energy and enthusiasm, as they went about scripting yet another stupendous rescue act for their team, which appeared to be heading towards disaster until the two joined hands. A look at a few numbers is a must to appreciate their spectacular effort. When they got together on the last ball of the 14th over, West Indies were struggling at 81 for 5. Sammy used up the next over to get his eye in, taking the score to 84 for 5 after the 15th over. What happened in the next five overs is scarcely believable, with 82 runs coming off it, 59 in the last three. And by the time the storm the duo whipped up in those overs died out, Pakistan were staring at a daunting 166-run total on the scoreboard. While, as in the game against Australia, it was Bravo who began the mayhem, smashing Umar Gul for 21 runs in the 18th over, Sammy kept it going by hammering 24 off the next over from Saeed Ajmal. Eventually, Bravo finished with 46 off 26 balls, and Sammy remained unconquered at 42 off just 20. How they hammered Gul and Ajmal, who are amongst the best death bowlers, makes their astonishing assault even more spectacular. The struggle of the more fancied names before them shows their feat in even brighter light. Chris Gayle fell at the very beginning, Dwayne Smith followed him soon; Lendl Simmons and Marlon Samuels offered some resistance but the runs didn’t come quick enough. And when they departed, after consuming good number of balls, they had left the duo with a mountain to climb. But then, there doesn’t seem a mountain high enough that the duo can’t scale. Not only the merciless assault took West Indies to a big total, it also drained out the last ounce of hope and fight from the Pakistan batting. The shaken-up Pakistan needed a great opening partnership to settle their nerves and start believing that they could still pull it off. But Pakistan kept sinking deeper and deeper into trouble, with spinners Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine providing the stinging knockout punch, bowling them out for just 82. Brief scores: West Indies: 166/6 in 20 overs ( Bravo 46, Sammy 42, Hafeez 1/15); Pakistan: 82 all out in 17.5 overs (Hafeez 19, Badree 3/10,Narine 3/16). Key numbers
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Proteas fret, fume, Indians take a chill pill in practice session
Mirpur, April 1 But then, one realised, it's the T20 animal he's trying to tame, and few could dominate it with grace and copybook strokes; it respects and bows to players with unconventional and unexpected strokes in their arsenal. And just like Amla, the entire South African squad, who had their first practice session in Mirpur after playing the league phase in Chittagong, knows what's going to hit them in the semifinal against India on Friday, and have begun preparing accordingly. “We know it's going to be a big challenge for us. Spinners have bowled exceptionally well against us. We want to put up a big performance against India's spinners,” said JP Duminy. And their gameplan seems simple — prepare as much as possible to counter India's spin juggernaut that's on a roll at the moment. No wonder, then, even fast bowler Morne Morkel was throwing down spinners at the batsmen and the latter were playing all kind of strokes, less conventional, more unorthodox. “We have improvised against spinners in the last few games and we have been pretty successful, but those games are over, it's a new game and we will
need to start all over again,” he said. Apart from spin, South Africa are all too aware of the fact that India have played all their games in Mirpur and would be far more familiar with the conditions. “That's true, they will definitely have an advantage in this count. But again, all you can do is have your gameplan in order,” said Duminy. While South Africa have hit the ground running, India are yet to get into an overdrive for the semifinals. On Tuesday, too, they just played football during a training session. They are undoubtedly in the midst of a great run, but South Africa, with their fiery pace battery, will present an entirely different challenge to their batsmen. Besides, South Africa are coming into the semifinal having won two very close games, without choking. And they, as Duminy pointed out, will draw a lot of confidence from that. "We will be taking a lot of confidence from those games that we came on top of. We were not meant to win at least two of those games, and we will draw a lot of confidence from those games.” |
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Players unplugged at Mirpur
Mirpur, APRIL 1 Read on Sammy side up
It's got to be Darren Sammy, the West Indian skipper, without a shadow of doubt. Not just on the field but off it too. Check out his pearls of wisdom… “I'm no Jesus Christ man, don't know what's going on in his mind," he said, responding to question about what was going on in Chris Gayle's mind ahead of the India game. On another occasion, reacting to Suresh Raina's assertion that West Indians could hit just sixes and can't rotate the strike for singles, he said: “Really! They should then stop us from hitting sixes.” The diminutive Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim can talk, almost endlessly. And that, too, when the team has been losing one game after another, in almost the same fashion, making the same mistakes. But neither do the questions stop, not does the man get tired of answering them. And just when one feels he's finished a sentence, he inserts 'so' to stretch the sentence even further. If Chris Gayle were to advise him, this is what he would have said: When you got to play — play, don't talk Bad boys of cricket
Something didn't look right about Pakistan this time. The T20 World Cup had moved into the second week but there was not even a hint of any discontent, controversy or fight in the normally volatile team. And just when we were almost convinced that Pakistan had lost their age-old knack, along came Ahmad Shehzad to prove how wrong we were. “This hundred is my gift to everyone who has criticised me in and outside Pakistan. This hundred should serve as a reminder to all of them that one shouldn't be written off on the basis of one or two failures,” he thundered after scoring a hundred against Bangladesh. Yes, Bangladesh! And by the way, by his own logic, he shouldn't be considered a good player on the basis of one hundred. Right, Shehzad? Hit wicket
For no apparent reason, Saqlain Mushtaq was trying a little too hard to prove that his loyalties as the West Indies spin coach were with the Caribbean side, not with Pakistan, his former team. "I've not worn this shirt just on my body," he said, caressing the West Indies logo on his shirt. "As a true Muslim, it's on my heart and my team is West Indies for now." But then, who do you think is the best spinner among the current crop? "Well there are many who are doing well. Our Saeed Ajmal is good… I mean theirs," he quickly corrected himself. But the damage was done and we were already struggling to muffle our guffaws. Big mouth
That's an easy one, it's got be James Faulkner. Only if he had kept his mouth shut, Australia might not have been on the plane back home just yet. His unwarranted comment "I don't like the West Indians" woke up the sleeping giants and the entire world saw what happened next. The Australians, who believe it's okay to needle the opposition, might rethink before using verbal barbs as a strategy again |
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Srini can’t represent BCCI at ICC, says Abdi
Jaipur, April 1 Abdi has also filed an FIR against Srinivasan alleging fixing in a IPL match featuring Chennai Super Kings, owned by the BCCI chief’s company India Cements. The top court has asked for the removal of all India Cements employees from the BCCI. “Removal of smaller functionaries of India Cements from various BCCI assignments would not be the desired compliance of the Supreme Court Order until N Srinivasan is removed from all BCCI assignments and responsibilities including representation in ICC,” Abdi, who is also a counsel for Srinivasan’s foe and former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, said in a statement. “In view of this clear direction of the honourable apex court, N Srinivasan cannot represent BCCI at the ICC since he being an India Cements employee is barred by the Supreme Court order to be associated with any assignment of duties by the BCCI. “This clarification on part of the interim President of the BCCI is imperative since an impression is being created in a section of media that Srinivasan’s role as the BCCI’s representative in the ICC is still intact,” he added. — PTI |
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Ajay Kumar causes major upset
New Delhi, April 1
It was supposed to be a cakewalk for Arvind, ranked 65th in the world, but Kumar made his opponent commit mistakes at crucial junctures to book his maiden berth in the main draw of the $250,000 prize-money event at the Siri Fort Sports Complex. It was a contest in which fortunes fluctuated between the two contestants until the very end before Kumar, ranked No. 301 in the world, showed admirable tenacity to clinch the thriller 22-20 23-21 in 38 minutes. Arvind had earlier defeated his compatriot Mayank Behal 21-18 21-14 in his first qualifying encounter, while Kumar had put paid to the hopes of Deepak Khatri 21-13 21-15 to book an evening date with his senior pro, Arvind, the second Indian to win a GP gold title away from home. “I had cough and cold but that can’t take away any credit from Ajay, who played really well and kept his calm in a pressure situation,” said Arvind after his match. Kumar will now meet world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the first round tomorrow. In another match, Shreyansh Jaiswal ended the hopes of another higher-ranked opponent, Shubhankar Dey, 21-19 14-21 21-8 to ensure his maiden main draw appearance in a Super Series event. He faces Brice Leverdez of France in the first round. Also advancing to the main draw were two-time national champion Anup Sridhar and Thailand’s Suppanyu Avihingsanon. In the women’s qualifiers, India’s Sayali Gokhale, Mudra Dahinje, Shruti Mundada and China’s Xin Liu made it to the main draw. The other Indians will begin their campaign tomorrow, with eighth seed Saina Nehwal taking on Austria’s Simone Prutsch and PV Sindhu challenging second seed Shixian Wang of China in the afternoon session.
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Hope Lee can continue till Rio Olympics: Sidek
New Delhi, April 1 Lee had originally planned to retire after the 2012 Olympics and has recently been suggesting that he may do so after the Asian Games in September to spend more time with his family. “He will be 33 in 2016. Lee is trying his best to play in the Olympics, but the World Championship has really kept him going. There’s still time left for the Olympics,” said Sidek. Sidek is in the capital as the chief singles coach of the Malaysian contingent participating in the India Open. The 1992 Thomas Cup winner said that Lee is aiming for the elusive World Championship title this year to be held at Copenhagen. Lee had lost the 2013 World Championship final in Guangzhou to old foe Lin Dan of China. “His main target is the World Championship. He has to maintain his standard to win the title,” said Sidek, who also won silver at the 1987 Beijing and 1989 Jakarta World Championships. The 51-year-old sounded confident about Lee winning his third India Open title and said it would act as a “confidence booster” ahead of Thomas Cup (the men’s World Team championship). “He has a very good record here. He will try his best, but for the rest of the Malaysian players, I would be happy if they reach the quarterfinals.” As the discussion veered towards Indian badminton players, Sidek was quick to point out that Saina Nehwal, world number 8, has been struggling for form of late. “Saina is not in good form, may be because of injury issues. It takes time to pick up after injury. Other shuttler PV Sindhu has to improve on her physical shape,” he said. “K Srikanth has impressed me as he is an attacking player. He has the quality and can go far, but he has to work on his shape,” he said.
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Sports Ministry punches IABF hard, withdraws recognition
New Delhi, April 1 The latest missive by the Sports Ministry has come as a massive jolt to the IABF, which has already been suspended by the sport’s world governing body, AIBA. It also means that Indian pugilists would have to wait longer to compete under the Indian tricolour at the multi-disciplinary sporting events like the Commonwealth and Asian Games this year. “The matter has been considered in totality and keeping in view all relevant facts including the fact that the international federation of the boxing sport has withdrawn its recognition to IABF, it has been decided to withdraw the recognition granted by Government of India to IABF with immediate effect,” the Ministry said in a letter. The Sports Ministry had provisionally suspended the IABF in December 2012 and had directed the federation to hold fresh elections and make changes to its constitution in accordance with the National Sports Code. “The Sports Ministry had provisionally suspended the IABF in 2012 after the AIBA suspended the Indian federation. The IABF has done nothing since then to get the suspension lifted by the world body and return to the Olympic fold. Recently, AIBA completely suspended it from its membership for not doing enough. Keeping all the developments in mind, the Sports Ministry also decided to withdraw the recognition,” Sports Authority of India (SAI) secretary Neeraj Kansal told The Tribune. In December 2012, Sports Minister Jitendra Singh had said that the IABF election, held in September, was in “violation of the procedure laid down in the Sports Code”. The September elections saw incumbent president Abhay Singh Chautala being nominated chairman, and replaced by his brother-in-law and BJP MLA from Rajasthan, Abhishek Matoria, as president. In the latest letter, the Sports Ministry further stated that the AIBA has, from time to time, advised the IABF to hold its elections after suitably amending its constitution. “IABF was directed to annul their elections held on 23.9.2013 and communicate its decision of holding fresh elections by following the provisions of the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011 under the supervision of an independent Returning Officer. However, neither the directions of the Ministry nor those of the AIBA have so far been complied with by IABF and fresh elections have not been held,” the Ministry said. After the IOC had revoked the IOA’s suspension in February this year, the country’s sports fraternity had heaved a sigh of relief. The Indian boxers hoped to participate under the tricolour in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July and Asian Games in Incheon in September-October. Unfortunately, there is every possibility that the Indian boxing contingent would be asked to walk under the AIBA flag following its decision to exclude IABF from its membership and the Sports Ministry’s latest directive withdrawing the recognition.
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Consolation win for Aussies
Chittagong, April 1 Openers Aaron Finch (in pic) scored a 45-ball 71 and David Warner knocked a fiery 35-ball 48 to help Australia chase down a 154-run target in 17.3 overs in the Group 2 match. Australia and hosts Bangladesh had lost their first three matches and were playing for pride in a meaningless match with no bearing on semi-final positions. Finch and Warner put on a solid 98-run opening wicket stand by the 12th over to quash any hopes of a win for Bangladesh at a packed Sher-e-Bangla stadium. Finch smashed four sixes and seven boundaries before he was bowled by paceman Al-Amin Hossain who finished with 2-30. Finch was also ruthless, hitting three sixes and five boundaries before Hossain bowled him. Cameron White, who made 18 not out, hit a four and a six to seal the victory. Earlier Bangladesh were helped to 153-5 by Shakib Al Hasan’s 52-ball 66 for his fourth T20 fifty — the first from any Bangladeshi batsman in the tournament. Brief Scores:
Australia 158/3 (Finch 71, Warner 48) bt Bangladesh 153/5 (Shakib 66, Mushfiqur 47) by 7 wickets. — Agencies |
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Haryana beat Punjab; Viru shines in Delhi win
Mohali, April 1 Defending a low score of 136, Patel and Yadav took three wickets each as Haryana restricted Punjab to 104 for nine.
Manan Vohra was the top scorer for Punjab with 28 runs, while Manpreet Gony hung in to score 19 runs as batsmen fell around him. Earlier, Himanshu Chawla and Harbhajan Singh bowled impressive spells to bowl Haryana out for 136 in 19.5 overs. The opening pair of Avi Barot and Rahul Dewan shared a 60-run partnership that came in just 29 balls, before Barot was dismissed by Gony on 27 off 14 balls, studded with four boundaries and one six. Guntashveer and Sachin Rana failed to support Dewan and were dismissed by skipper Harbhajan and Chawla respectively. Harbhajan then had Dewan stumped on 38 with 83 runs on score board. Nitin Sharma (23) and Joginder Sharma (23) contributed at the end to help their team post a competitive total. Brief scores: 136 in 19.5 over (Dewan 38; Chawla 3/23); Punjab 104/9 (Vohra 28; Patel 3/35, Yadav 3/10) Delhi beat
Himachal
Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir led Delhi to a six-wicket win over Himachal
Pradesh. Sehwag smashed 42 off 32 balls, while Gambhir made 41 runs as Delhi chased down 134 with 10 deliveries to spare. Sehwag and Gambhir put on 82 runs for the opening wicket in 11.1 overs before Sehwag was sent back by Gurvinder Singh. Gambhir followed 13 runs later, falling to Aksahy
Chauhan. Rajat Bhatia (13) and Milind Kumar (22) completed the task with eight balls remaining. Brief scores: HP 134/6
(Dogra 40*; Ishant 2/22); Delhi 135/4 in 18.2 overs (Sehwag 42, Gambhir 41). |
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After Dutch disaster, English experts want rethink
London, April 1 ‘The Guardian’ ran with headline “Shambolic winter ends in Dutch humiliation” while the Sun tabloid splashed “Hol lot of rubbish” across its sports pages. “Of course England should have won their final match but somehow there was an inevitability that they would not," wrote the Guardian's Mike Selvey. ‘The Times’ writer Michael Atherton said, “Defeat by the Netherlands, and not just any defeat but a good old-fashioned hammering by an associate country, is not a good, concluding line to have to ink in to the CV for Giles.” The Daily Telegraph's Jonathan Liew mocked England's defeat, and suggested it was the end of the road for Giles. “This is defeat as performance art, a Fibonacci sequence of horror, the final flourish of a side that have become so thoroughly addicted to losing that they have placed every fibre of their being into its service,” he wrote. “Coach Ashley Giles wants the job of running the England team full-time. Let him have it. The two are a perfect fit for each other: the blind leading the blind,” he added. David Hopps in an article, ‘England’s final humiliation’for a website, wrote, “ Make no mistake, this was a defeat entirely lacking in energy, nous and mental strength. England make a habit of losing to Netherlands, but surely none have been as bad as this. This was far beyond a side just lacking in confidence. There was no hunger and no pride. There was no common sense. There was no aptitude.” — Agencies |
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Rasool hoping for better IPL with new team
Chandigarh, April 1 Rasool, who has become the face of Jammu and Kashmir cricket, has said that he would refuse to wear his IPL team’s outfit with the logo of a liquor brand. Rasool, who was part of the disbanded Sahara Pune Warriors team, will represent Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL-7. “I am looking forward to joining my new team and performing better than the last edition,” Rasool told The Tribune. “Off-the-field matters should be ignored, but my sentiments don’t allow me to play carrying a liquor brand logo. I had opted to drop it the last time and this year too I’ll do the same if my team’s jersey has any such logo. I get the support of my team management and my teammates about this,” said Rasool, who was in Chandigarh to play the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy. Even though his team lost to Services in their first match, the allrounder is confident of making this tournament the “base to perform” for this year’s IPL. “Last year I played well, though only in some matches,” he said. “I claimed Jacques Kallis as my first victim. He was a good batsman to beat and this made me confident of working more on my bowling. T20 is the fastest form of cricket and getting used to this format is quite difficult.” “Over the past one year, I’ve been working on my shortcomings, seeking the help of senior players, especially Bhajji Paaji (Harbhajan Singh),” he added. “Hopefully, the result would be seen in the coming international season. Grounds in the UAE (where the first part of the IPL will be played) are known to be good for batsmen and I want to do well in both batting and bowling.” Rasool said that he’s keen to break into the Indian Test squad, and that there was a dire need to encourage youth back in his home state. “Cricket needs a lot of grooming and encouragement. However, back in my hometown, we don’t have anything to groom young talent with,” he said. “The government should come forward and bring in the basic needs, provide grounds. We have only two grounds in the whole state. You can imagine the problems the cricketers face. It’s my dream to provide the youngsters with at least the basic facilities to learn the game.”
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Real path to ‘decima’ blocked by Dortmund again
Barcelona, April 1 As each year passes, the desire for Real to claim a 10th European Cup, or 'decima', has become more of an obsession and president Florentino Perez has spent lavishly to try and make it a reality by bringing in top talent from around the world. They last won the Champions League back in 2002 and their hopes were raised once more last season when they reached the semifinals only for underdogs Borussia Dortmund to conjure up a stunning upset. They face off again in their quarter-final first leg tie on Wednesday with Real under pressure to enjoy some continental success after two defeats in three league games has derailed their domestic campaign after a long unbeaten run. Real may be facing a Dortmund side which has been blighted by injuries all season but coach Jurgen Klopp believes they can pull off a another surprise at the Bernabeu. "With our budget and list of injuries... we are the underdogs in the tie," he said. "However, I always say that it is not necessary to be the best team in the world but to be capable of beating the best in the world in a one-off contest, and Borussia can beat the best. That is the most important thing for me. Borussia have a chance and maybe we will catch them out." Along with the players in the treatment room, they will also miss talismanic striker Robert Lewandowski, who is suspended for the first leg. — Reuters
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Hockey girls ready for Euro challenge
Patiala, April 1 The team has a packed schedule as it will play a three-match series in Ireland and will then head to Scotland for the Champions Challenge. They will also be seen in action in the Commonwealth Games. However, the most crucial tournament of the year will be the Asian Games, which holds a ticket to the Olympics. It will be interesting to see whether the team will be able to end their over 30-year absence from the Olympics. Speaking to The Tribune, chief coach Neil Hawgood said it was a little disappointing that the team could not play any tournament abroad for six months. “But I am pretty satisfied with their performance and am sure they will soon find their form.” Expressing his satisfaction with the steady progress the women have made in the past two years, Hawgood said they have already made their presence felt by winning a historic bronze at the junior women’s World Cup and finishing second in the Asian Champions Trophy in Japan last year. This, he said, has certainly pumped up their morale. “I have been attached with the team for about two years now and in that time there has been a lot of improvement,” he said. “I am sure it is going to improve in the coming months since we have some very important tournaments lined up for the year.” The players are equally hopeful of a good show, considering their improved form. Captain Ritu Rani said the team was working really hard to remove its flaws ahead of the forthcoming tournaments. “There has been improvement in the penalty-corner conversions and we are hopeful of a good show,” she said.
HI panel bans Devesh Chauhan for 3 months
New Delhi: The Disciplinary Committee of Hockey India handed a three-month ban to Devesh
Chauhan. He was one of the many, which included players, coaches and officials, who were handed bans for breach of code of conduct at a disciplinary hearing today. Chauhan had stated that during a match in the senior men’s Nationals, an umpire used abusive language. Chauhan reported this to Tournament Director RV
Shelar, who denied any such incident and alleged that Chauhan was doing this to get even for some incident of the past. Chauhan and Shelar did not turn up for the hearing, hence both were banned for three months for making false allegations against each. — PTI |
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There’s apparently nothing that Darren Sammy and Dwayne Bravo can’t do at the moment. Together, they are like a violent tornado that blows away everything falling in its way. A couple of days back, they snatched a fantastic victory from the jaws of the
Australians.
What's wrong with Hashim Amla? One wondered as the stylish South African opener struggled to play a reverse sweep from middle and leg, tried to sweep a delivery that he would otherwise caress to the cover boundary, and aimed for the cow corner with occasional clumsy heaves.
But then, one realised, it's the T20 animal he's trying to tame, and few could dominate it with grace and copybook strokes; it respects and bows to players with unconventional and unexpected strokes in their arsenal.
Emotions have no boundaries, and that is true for personal opinions too. But for 25-year-old allrounder Parvez
Rasool, maintaining his personal opinion protects his emotions.
Coming off an emotionally draining game against Australia, the West Indian supporters feared that the team, especially the duo, could be a little complacent, a tad low on motivation. How misplaced all those fears turned out to be!
