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Greenhorns on green tops
Mahela ends glorious Test career on a high
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Federer wins sixth Cincinnati title
Haryana’s Naveen wins steeplechase at Fed Cup
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Greenhorns on green tops
London, August 18 They were lucky to get a benign pitch in the first Test at Nottingham — they made 457 and 391 in the draw. The first day of the Lord’s Test was their finest triumph in the series — that was a greentop and though the England bowlers got their lengths quite wrong, India deserved credit for finishing the day at 290/9. Day 5 was England's worst show in the series. They sank without a fight — or they continued to fight the stupid way, hitting the short ball right into the hands of the fielders, to lose by 95 runs. The pitches then became more English — it was bouncier in Southampton, the ball swung a lot at Old Trafford in Manchester, and at The Oval in London, it seamed dangerously. The Indian batsmen were all at sea. England's bowlers were magnificent — the Indian batsmen did not know whether the ball was going to come in or go away from them. England gave a masterclass on how to bowl in such conditions — the Indian batsmen gave a masterclass on how not to bat. Cheteshwar Pujara's Test average before this series was 58-plus — with the average of 22.2 in this series, his career average is down to 49.26. Virat Kohli got 134 runs from 10 innings at 13.40 — he's been left with a muddled head and a battered mind. These two men were to form the backbone of the Indian batting line-up. Their spirit is fractured, though, as is the spine of India's batting. India were bowled out for 178, 152, 161, 148 and 94 in five successive innings. "This Indian batting revolves around these two men," Geoff Boycott, the former England captain, told this writer. "Pujara is the new Dravid, technically correct and sound. Kohli has got everything you want to have in a No. 4. And neither of them could get any real runs in this series. These two men are players in the mould of Tendulkar and Dravid, that kind of players. If they don't do well, this Indian team has no chance." Will things change?
Sunil Gavaskar, the former captain and the real Little Master of batting, is not optimistic that the hammering will change attitudes. "The thing is that nothing changes," Gavaskar said yesterday. "Is there going to be a review of this performance? India has a good One-day team, and if they do well, this Test defeat will be forgotten. If that happens, then you're not serving Indian cricket. You can write as many articles as you want, nothing matters. So you just shrug your shoulders and say, 'What's the point'.” “If you do not want to be playing Test cricket for India, quit. Just play limited-overs cricket,” he added. “You should not be embarrassing your country like that.” Hard words, but no one wishes to lose, surely. The conditions were really very difficult to bat on in the last two Test matches, at Old Trafford and The Oval. The five Test matches came quickly, one upon the other - five Test matches on the trot, in 40 days, surely a mindless and suicidal. How and when could players work on their technical problems? “It's mad that there were no practice games in between,” says Boycott. “If there had been, the batsmen could have had practice on difficult pitches against mid-level bowlers, which would have given them some time in the middle and better preparation.” Mahendra Singh Dhoni is left with a team in tatters, jeered by the spectators from the stands — 'Don't play Test cricket, it's too tough,' people shouted at him yesterday — and panned by the critics. But what can Dhoni do? Retirements or loss of form has cost him several Indian all-time greats in the recent years — Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan. These men are irreplaceable. Dhoni has been conservative in his Test captaincy, unimaginative and even apparently daft with his field placements. But with no resources, what can he do? “The difficulty is when he goes overseas he doesn't have the personnel at his disposal to do well in those conditions,” former India coach Greg Chappell noted recently. “We saw in the second Test against England at Lord's Ishant (Sharma) bowling, and it made a difference. Outside of the subcontinent, if you don't have a potent pace attack, it's very hard to succeed. By and large during his time as Test captain, he hasn't had a potent pace attack consistently.” The batting needs better practice on tougher wickets than it gets at home. “Rahul Dravid came and played at Kent and that helped his batting,” says Boycott. “Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara would benefit a great deal if they played in the county circuit — preferably a northern county, where it rains more and the pitches are tougher to bat on!” Indian batsmen are not likely to play in county cricket, though, because the IPL clashes with the early part of the county season. IPL is where the money is — it would be very hypocritical to blame the players for choosing the IPL, because if any of us were in their boots, we'll make the same decision. Two, the BCCI wants all the star players in the IPL, not in some unfashionable domestic event in cold and wet conditions. “Unless you come and play over here it's very difficult… I think this will help, so it's important to spend some time over here,” Dhoni said yesterday. “It has helped other players in the past, whether they are from the West Indies or Australia or were Indians. So that's definitely something we can look into, but it will be difficult to fit it in.” Dhoni was then asked if some players could skip the IPL to play in county cricket, to improve their game. “Ask the BCCI about that,” Dhoni said. “And don't get jealous of the IPL.” Really, that was a strange notion to think up and express. As India's cricket plumbs the depths again, jealousy is certainly not the emotion that's prevalent in other nations. Statistical slide: Shocking numbers tell India’s sad story 22.20 is what Pujara averaged in the series —his tally being 222 in ten innings. That's the poorest by India's No 3 batsman, who has played a minimum of five innings, in England in a Test series. 25 runs scored by Gautam Gambhir. It's his worst performance in a Test series in which he has played at least two Tests. 13.40 is Virat Kohli’s average in the series. He has failed to post a half-century in ten innings in succession — an unwanted feat achieved by him for the first time in Tests. 3 India have recorded their third largest defeat in Tests — the largest being by an innings and 336 runs to the West Indies at Eden Gardens in 1958-59 and by an innings and 285 runs to England at Lord's in 1974. 2 India have lost two consecutive Tests within three days by an innings margins. 5 India have earned a dubious distinction by losing five consecutive overseas Test series — to England in 2011, to Australia in 2011-12, to South Africa in 2013-14, to New Zealand in 2013-14 and to England in 2014. Verbal Volleys
Dhoni led the team poorly. His selection policy, strategy, field placing and bowling changes lacked common sense. He made some glaring mistakes match after match for which India paid heavily. Unfortunately for him and India, he had Duncan Fletcher as the coach who, it seems, is devoid of any ideas
.— Dilip Vengsarkar I’m not happy with his keeping and captaincy, he’s got his own mind. He always keeps repeating that. He always expects a miracle. Miracles cannot happen all the time. It happens once in a blue
moon.— G Viswanath Dhoni changed his technique and batted well. But why he did not change his tactics as captain foxes me. For example not keeping a third man where half the runs were scored. Also in team selection, Ashwin should have played from the first Test. Wonder why he did
not.— Ajit Wadekar There have to be some harsh decisions. The selectors' outlook has to change — when you pick your players, when you identify talent, these are the things you have to look for: who gets runs for you in difficult circumstances, who gets runs for you when the chips are down, who gets runs for you when you are
50-5.— Sourav Ganguly The thing is that nothing changes. Is there going to be a review of this performance? India has a good One-day team, and if they do well, this Test defeat will be forgotten. If that happens, then you're not serving Indian cricket. You can write as many articles as you want, nothing matters. So you just shrug your shoulders and say, 'What's the
point'.— ~ Sunil Gavaskar I don't think he's good as a coach whatever the Indian players might say. He does not say anything, the records speak for itself. We should have looked beyond him after we lost eight consecutive matches overseas to England and
Australia.— Ashok Malhotra |
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Mahela ends glorious Test career on a high
Colombo, August 18
The victory enabled batting stalwart Jayawardene to end his 149-Test career with a victory on an emotional day for the 37-year-old, who scored 11,814 runs at an average of 49.84. "Thank you so much for all the wishes! Got up and realised it's my last day. Bit emotional but the journey has been great!" Jayawardene tweeted before play began as he pouched two more catches to finish with a world record Test tally of 205. "The boys turned up to win these two Tests for Mahela. The amount of work that he has done in the past 17 years is unbelievable," Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said. After ripping through the Pakistan order the previous evening, Sri Lanka were forced to wait for nearly an hour before capturing the last two wickets with Ranagana Herath claiming his 14th victim of the match to dismiss the tourists for 165 in their second innings. Wahab Riaz was the last man out for 17 when he top edged a delivery from Herath to cover that Kaushal Silva held on to despite colliding with Kumar Sangakkara, who was also attempting to catch the ball. Junaid Khan did not bat due to injury. At the fall of the final wicket, all thoughts turned to the departing Jayawardene, who first met with his parents and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his VIP suite before returning to the field to be hoisted on the shoulders of his team mates and carried around the ground. Brief scores: Sri Lanka: 320 & 282 (Sangakkara 59, Jayawardene 54; Riaz 3/76); Pakistan: 332 & 165 (Ahmed 55; Herath 5/57). — Reuters Mahela’s Test career
Mat Runs Ave 100s 149 11,814 49.84 34 Notable achievements *n Mahela Jayawardene is one of only five batsmen to score more than 11,000 runs in both Test and one-day cricket *
Jayawardene and Sangakkara hold the record for the highest partnership in Test cricket — 624 runs *
Jayawardene captained Sri Lanka in 38 Tests, winning 18, losing 12 with 8 drawn |
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Federer wins sixth Cincinnati title
Cincinnati , August 18 It marked the sixth Cincinnati title for the Swiss second seed and, coming off last week's runner-up finish in Toronto, will give him plenty of confidence going into the year's final grand slam. "I've been beating top 10 (players) along the way and just enjoying myself out on court, playing some positive tennis, so it's really encouraging," said Federer, who beat fifth seed Milos Raonic and eighth seed Andy Murray en route to capturing his third trophy from eight finals this season. Serena beats Ivanovic
Serena Williams finished her last US Open tune-up in style by blowing away Serbian Ana Ivanovic 6-4 6-1 to win her first title at the Western and Southern Open. For the American, the triumph marked her first in six visits to Cincinnati and sent a message that she is in top form heading into the year's final grand slam, where she is the two-time defending champion. "It's just amazing to finally win here," said Williams, who fired a dozen aces and broke her opponent four times. "The fans were amazing and it's so wonderful to be here." — Reuters Champion Nadal out of US Open with wrist injury
Champion Rafa Nadal has pulled out of the US Open, which begins next Monday, after failing to recover from a right wrist injury. The 28-year-old sustained the injury in practice last month and had been training with a cast on his right wrist, forcing him to miss the Rogers Cup in Toronto and last week's Cincinnati Open. "I am very sorry to announce I won't be able to play at this year's US Open," the world No. 2 said on Facebook on Monday. "I am sure you understand that it is a very tough moment for me since it is a tournament I love. |
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Haryana’s Naveen wins steeplechase at Fed Cup
Patiala, August 18 Lalita did the front-running for most part and let Sudha take over briefly before snatching the lead at the ‘bell’. Sudha tried to regain the pace but could not keep up. Both Lalita (9:52.34) and Sudha (9:53.54) ran under the latter’s previous meet mark of 10:13.83 set last year and the Asian Games qualifying mark of 10:05.60. The men’s 3000m steeplechase witnessed high drama as Haryana’s Naveen, who finished first in 8:46.16, got disqualified immediately after the race on the grounds of an unprecedented “assistance” from an Assam runner Asish, who acted as the pace-setter in most part of the race. However, the jury overturned the decision and awarded Naveen the gold. State-mate Jaiveer (8:53.36) and Manju (8:54.43) of BSF took silver and bronze respectively. Kerala’s MA Prajusha completed a golden double as she went on to win the triple jump gold with a leap of 13.39m — the qualifying mark for the Asian Games. She had earlier won the long jump title. Surprisingly, the winner had only two valid jumps this evening. Considering her past record — her personal best is 13.72m which was set during 2010 CWG — Prajusha is expected to do better at the Asiad. National record-holder Mayookha Johny (ONGC) and Gujarat’s NV Sheena both jumped 13.34m but Sheena took silver because of her better jump series. Baljinder Singh of Punjab won the men's discus throw with an effort of 56.01m. Arjun Singh (54.62m) of Tata Motors and Dharmaraj Yadav (53.16m) of UP were second and third respectively. Annu Rani from Uttar Pradesh, who eclipsed the national record in women’s javelin throw with 58.83m during the National Inter-State Championships earlier this year, once again touched the 58m mark. Her throw surpassed the earlier meet best set by her state-mate Suman Devi. Devi won silver this evening with 54.72m. As expected Olympian KT Irfan of Kerala won the 20km race walk gold in a time of 1 hour 24 minutes 27.6 seconds with Tamil Nadu’s Ganapathy finishing second and Gurmeet Singh finishing third.
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The women’s 3000m steeplechase turned out to be a tactical race with reigning Asian Games champion and national record-holder Sudha Singh (UP) and marathon runner Lalita Babbar (Maharashtra) fighting for the top honours on the third and penultimate day of the Federation Cup Athletics Championships here today.
