New Delhi, October 10
The Ferozeshah Kotla pitch has a reputation for being a batsman’s graveyard. The stats, at least, suggest so. The average first innings total in the last nine matches played over the last ten years has been just 231 — quite ordinary given that 300 has been more or less the par score at most of the other venues in the country for quite some time now.

The teams here have managed to score more than 237 in the given period only twice — Pakistan made 303 against India back in 2005, and then West Indies hammered 330 against The Netherlands in the 2011 World Cup.

More recently, bowlers have been calling the shots at the venue. India were bowled out for 167 against Pakistan in 2012, but they still managed to win the game.

Although Kotla’s young pitch curator Ankit Dutta has promised to roll out a wicket that is full of runs, the inherent bowler-friendly nature of the wicket will ensure there will be enough help for fast bowlers.

The look of the wicket will get the West Indian pacers excited. The quartet of Jerome Taylor, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo picked up six Indian wickets at Kochi and they would hope to inflict greater damage at Kotla.

India’s persistent problem against the moving ball was exploited well by the West Indian pacers in Kochi, and with a thick layer of grass on the Kotla pitch, things could become even more difficult for them against the two new balls.

New Delhi, October 10
The world was at his feet when Shikhar Dhawan made a stunning Test debut against Australia in Mohali. That flamboyant 187 made him the cynosure of all eyes. Add to it 1162 runs from 25 ODIs at an average of over 50 and his impressive knocks in the Champions Trophy, and you could say Dhawan was on a dream run.

Then came 2014, and the two tough tours of New Zealand and England, and suddenly his form deserted him. His poor show with the bat in the first three Tests against England led to him being dropped. For the left-hander, the failure in England was a big learning curve. “It was a big learning experience for me,” he said. “It taught me a lot. If I’m not going to see failures, I’m not going to taste success either. It’s important to fail, but my game today is far better than it was then. How I look at it is, if I fail in six innings, I know what I learn from those will give me runs in 50 innings,” he added.

Dhawan reckoned there was an issue with his footwork against off-spinners during the Asia Cup and the World Twenty20 this year. The way he batted at the nets on Friday, his intent was clear — sweep each delivery bowled around the middle and leg stumps.

“In World T20, I was getting out lbw, now I’m getting bowled. I’ve been playing spin well. It’s just that I wasn’t executing the shots. Obviously, there will be low bounce, that’s how Delhi wickets are, so I was working on getting into correct positions. Overall, I feel my game has improved,” he said.

West Indies skipper Dwayne Bravo admitted India’s tour is the biggest test for his side with the World Cup just a few months away. “It’s a great feeling to go 1-0 up against the World champs. That was our best all-round game we have played in a long time. There have been times when we have started well but not finished to our potential. We have set ourselves a standard, now that we have got a good start, we have to make sure we maintain it. This is going to be our biggest test.”

London, October 10
Andrew Strauss has said English cricket could be damaged by the “madness” surrounding the publication of Kevin Pietersen’s autobiography.

As Pietersen’s book went on sale yesterday after a welter of revelations and counter-claims, former captain Strauss said he was concerned by the impact the accusations have on current skipper Alastair Cook and his side.

Strauss, Pietersen’s successor as captain, had his own problems with the with the South Africa-born batsman. In particular, there was the incident which saw Pietersen send text messages critical of Strauss to opposition South Africa players during England’s home series in 2012.

Strauss retired soon afterwards and Pietersen was banished from the England side for three months. Former Middlesex captain Strauss who, believing he was off-air, used a particularly obscene epithet to describe Pietersen while commentating for Sky television in July, said Thursday he was dismayed by the controversy generated by his old team-mate’s book. “A lot of this that’s going on at the moment is madness,” Strauss told Sky. “There’s been a lot of rumour, innuendo and opinion. I prefer to stick with the facts. All this tit-for-tat stuff, I don’t think really helps the England cricket team.”

One of the main accusations in Pietersen’s book is that senior England bowlers James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann, assisted by wicketkeeper Matt Prior, operated a “bullying” culture where they demanded apologies from fielders who made mistakes, but only if they were not in their own clique.

However, Strauss added: “The victim here really isn’t Kevin Pietersen, or Andy Flower or Prior or anyone; it’s actually the England cricket team and Alastair Cook and (returning coach) Peter Moores who’ve got to try to take the side forward. That, to me, is the disappointing thing.” — Agencies

Chandigarh, October 10
On Friday, Haryana’s Mangali village wore a deserted look. The ‘chaupals’ were forlorn and barbers had only radios to give them company. Teenagers, middle-aged men and the ‘taus’ from the five nearby panchayats, had to be at one place — the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi.

Early in the morning, they hopped on a chartered bus and off they were to Delhi, for 16 of the village girls were in dire need of some support. The title match of the 55th Subroto Cup football tournament (U-17) became not just a football match played among schoolgirls but a question of pride for the village folk.

The girls could sense it hours before the start of the game as the village crowd began to swell on the sidelines of a swish stadium. Naturally, they had to pull up their socks and get going.

When the final whistle blew Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Mangali, 11km from Hisar, had blanked Assam’s Kiyang Kasiya Memorial Tribal School 3-0. They had also pocketed a cash prize of Rs.3.5 lakh, quite a hefty cheque for teenagers.

But the joy was in keeping their village’s pride up.

Haryana may have a dubious reputation of having a bias against girls but when it comes to pride, nobody in this village is found wanting, that include teenaged girls also.

Coach Ashwani Kumar says, “We were playing in this tournament for the first time, so you can gauge the achievement of the team. If you come to the village ground in the mornings and in the evenings, you will see not less than 150 girls (classes III to XII) chasing footballs. They all belong to humble backgrounds but enjoy playing the game.”

Recounting the recent achievements, Kumar says, “They have won the National School Games title. Two girls, Nirmala and Poonam have represented India in Schools World Cup in France where India finished eighth.”

The Mangali girls had started reckoning their moment of glory ever since they beat NCC (North Eastern Region) 1-0 in the semifinals. Renu,15, with her predatory skills, had been leading the team charge with 11 goals. In the final, she drew first blood in the 28 minute.

Pooja tucked in deeper with another goal in the 40th minute. Six minutes later, Santosh decided the fate of the match. Renu was declared the best player of the tournament for her 12 goals.

The team is yet to reach home but a grand welcome awaits the girls in Mangali.

Jalandhar, October 10
The North American leg of the World Kabaddi League (WKL) was cancelled, ostensibly, because of the “superb response” to the league, according to the organisers; the fact is that some of its players were denied visas to travel to the US and Canada due to discrepancies found in their visa documents.

However, sources at the WKL have revealed that one big reason behind the league being confined to Punjab was the fear of ‘Kabootarbaazi’, ie the fear that some players could illegally immigrate to the US or Canada. According to the sources, intelligence inputs received by the state government raised fears of possible ‘Kabootarbaazi’.

Pargat Singh, WKL Commissioner, informed that due to some discrepancies found in the visa documents of some players of Punjab Thunder, Royal Kings USA and Khalsa Warriors teams, the league had to be rescheduled to Punjab. “Some of them did not submit their documents on time, hence were denied visas to these countries. Due to this, we had to reschedule some of the matches to Bathinda, Mohali and Jalandhar,” he said.

He also informed that as the WKL is in its very first year, no action would be taken against the erring players as no guidelines have been made to penalise the players. However, he denied receiving any intelligence input on the possible illegal immigration through the WKL.

Some sources at the WKL have revealed that due to the poor response to the league, differences have cropped up between the WKL organisers and the franchise owners.

“Most of them are influential NRIs from Punjab and have already spent around Rs 5 crores in hosting matches in India and abroad, but they’re not happy with the poor show put up by the league organisers,” said the source.

Meanwhile, the finals that are scheduled to be held from November 22 to December 2 in Lahore have also come under a cloud due to the growing tensions between India and Pakistan. “It all depends on whether the Pakistan government — they even refused to exchange sweets on Eid — will grant visas to the Indian players. We may have to shift the venue of the final,” said Pargat.

The WKL is a society registered with the registrar of firms & societies. The society is chaired by Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, and has on board influential personalities like Pargat Singh, the former Olympian & sports administrator, as WKL commissioner.

Bathinda, October 10
California Eagles beat Vancouver Lions 63-53 to notch up their seventh win in eight matches and move into second position in the World Kabaddi League here today.

California Eagles, who had a terrible start in the league, dominated the match. The first quarter saw the California Eagles raiders make an immediate impact. Jagmohan Makhi and Sukhpal Singh made four successful raids each.

Paris, October 10
Defending European champions Spain suffered their first qualifying defeat in eight years on Thursday when they slumped to a 2-1 loss against Slovakia while England made it two wins in two.

Spain, who had opened their Euro 2016 campaign with a 5-1 mauling of Macedonia, exhibited all the faults which had led to their World Cup humiliation as Slovakia went top of Group C with a perfect six points.

Former Chelsea midfielder Miroslav Stoch struck three minutes from time in Zilina to condemn Vicente Del Bosque’s team to a first qualifying defeat since 2006, a streak lasting 36 matches.

At a subdued Wembley, England made it two wins from two with a routine 5-0 defeat of whipping boys San Marino. Wayne Rooney took his international goal tally to 42 and forced Alessandro Della Valle into a late own goal, while Phil Jagielka, Danny Welbeck and substitute Andros Townsend also found the target.

Switzerland’s campaign went from bad to worse as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat in Slovenia.

Group G favourites Sweden and Russia fought out a 1-1 draw in Solna but Fabio Capello’s Russians stay top on goal difference. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Everything fine, Dharamsala ODI is on, says HPCA
Chandigarh: Even as the excitement brewing in hills ahead of ODI in Dharamsala had reached its crescendo, there were rumours that the match might be shifted to Vizag due to transportation issues with the airline companies. There are reports that airline companies have expressed their helplessness to ferry the two teams to Dharamsala via Gaggal. Gaggal airport is not fully equipped to land bigger planes and it becomes a hassle every time a match is scheduled in the hill town. HPCA secretary Vishal Marwaha laid the rumours to rest by confirming that the match was very much on. “The two teams will arrive by a chartered plane and the luggage will come by road. It has been always like this.” The fourth ODI, and second in Dharamsala, is slated for October 17.

Djokovic, Federer to clash in Shanghai semis
Shanghai: World No.1 Novak Djokovic and 17-times Grand Slam winner Roger Federer will battle for a place in the Shanghai Masters final after they powered through their quarter-final matches Friday. Gilles Simon of France and Spaniard Feliciano Lopez will also meet in Saturday’s semi-finals as the tournament reaches its dramatic climax. Federer won his evening match against Julien Benneteau of France, taking the first set at the tie-break, before demolishing his opponent in the second to finish with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-0 scoreline. — Agencies

Punjab Police pip PSPCL, climb to the top
Hoshiarpur: Punjab Police climbed to the top of the table after beating Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) 3-0 in the 28th JCT Punjab State Super Football League today. Jaswinder Singh scored the first goal in the 8th minute. Punjab Police kept the PSPCL defence throughout the first half, but were unable to find a goal. Punjab Police took total control of the match as Harjinder Singh doubled the lead in the 48th minute. Gurtej Singh sealed the match for Punjab Police in the 65th minute as the team regained the top spot with 23 points from 12 outings. JCT Football Academy will take on Dalbir Football Academy at Zakir Hussain Stadium, Malerkotla, on Saturday. — TNS

Ronaldo will end his career at Real: Agent
London: Portuguese football captain Cristiano Ronaldo's agent has revealed that the forward would play out the rest of his career at Real Madrid, shunning reports of return to Manchester United. Ronaldo has been linked with a sensational return to United in the past few weeks after reportedly growing frustrated at the Bernabeu. However, his agent Jorge Mendes insists his client aims to stay until his playing days are over. — Agencies