New Delhi, october 11
On the eve of the second ODI between India and the West Indies, visiting skipper Dwayne Bravo had stated that there is a mutual balance and respect between both the teams.

On the personal front, he had claimed that he respects the Indian players a lot and that he is friends with most of them. At least, seven of the current 15 members in the touring West Indies squad play for the different franchises in the IPL.

Bravo, himself, plays for the Chennai Super Kings, the champion side captained by his Indian counterpart MS Dhoni. But, when the two sides squared off at the Feroze Shah Kotla on a warm Saturday afternoon, there was no such mutual respect or admiration. At least, not between the two CSK teammates — Dhoni and Bravo.

For the world, Dhoni and Bravo are good friends, thanks to their association with the IPL outfit, but their demeanour on and off the field was in sharp contrast, at least, in the second ODI when Bravo's flamboyance got the better of him.

The incident happened on the fourth ball of the 49th over of India's innings, when Dhoni was beaten by an off-cutter from Bravo. Bravo stared at his CSK captain before walking back to complete his over. Next ball, Bravo followed up the stare after a yorker on middle, which Dhoni pushed through midwicket for a single. Bravo tried to block Dhoni's way at the non-striker's end before pushing him. Dhoni, too, responded in the same manner by pushing his CSK teammate before exchanging wry smiles.

Bravo's expressive nature is not hidden to anyone, and that's what he did in his futile attempt to stop Dhoni's charge with the bat towards the end, which lifted India to a challenging 263.

In the end, India beat West Indies by 48 runs.

Dhoni's unbeaten half-century (51), coupled with the 105-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Virat Kohli (62) and Suresh Raina (62), helped the hosts post a competitive total on a two-paced surface, which offered uneven bounce. Opener Shikhar Dhawan perished early, while Ajinkya Rahane (12) struggled as some balls stopped on him, while others skidded through.

The Indian team management sprang a surprise by promoting Ambati Rayudu (32) ahead of Virat Kohli, who has been subjected to a lot of criticism for his indifferent form. The move did not exactly pay the desired dividend as Rayudu struggled to find the middle of bat and faced 54 balls, with just three fours to his credit, before spinner Sulieman Benn sent him back to the pavillion. His dismissal brought Kohli and Raina together and, with it, more fluency to India's innings. Kohli struggled initially, but once he struck a beautiful square-cut off Benn in the 16th over, the rest was history.

The two consecutive fours off Taylor made him grow in confidence and his signature cover drives won him more fans than his critics. Credit should also be given to Raina for making Kohli comfortable in the middle as he played the role of an aggressor to perfection. Raina brought his excellent Champions League form into play as he unleashed sublime drives and delightful glides off the pacers to pummel the West Indian bowling attack into submission. Both were building the platform for a final onslaught, when the two were separated in the 41st over with 196 on the board.

At this point, India needed Dhoni's last-minute blitzkrieg to get past the 250-run mark, and he didn't let his team down, scoring an unbeaten 40-ball 51, with some support from Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Chasing 264 to go 2-0 up in the series, West Indies top-order breathed fire with the bat as Dwayne Smith ripped apart the Indian bowling attack with consummate ease. Smith batted as if he was chasing the target in a T20 contest. He frustrated the Indian pace trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami with his delightful stroke-play.

The opening stand was broken by Shami when his good length delivery uprooted the stumps. Despite Bravo's fall, West Indies continued to press hard and consolidated their good start with both Smith and Pollard scoring runs with relative ease.

Leggie Amit Mishra stuck to his strengths and reaped the reward when he castled Pollard. Pollards' wicket spelt doom for West Indies as their innings fell apart after Smith ran short of partners at the other end.

New Delhi, october 11
Former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi was on Saturday unceremoniously ousted from the president’s post of the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) with a rebel group led by local BJP leader Amin Pathan taking over the reins.

On a day of hectic developments, Pathan was elected as the acting president by the majority of the members in an extraordinary general body meeting, bringing a dramatic end to Modi’s tenure almost five months after he was elected to the top post.

It is learnt that 23 out of the 33 district cricket associations of RCA supported the move to remove Modi, who has been banned for life by the BCCI but came back as the chief of state association with an overwhelming majority in May this year.

With the BCCI imposing a ban on RCA following Modi’s election as its president, there was an impasse on the future of state’s cricketers on their participation in the BCCI affiliated tournaments.

Modi’s sudden ouster also paves the way for RCA’s smooth return into the BCCI fold. It will also ensure regular annual grants for the body as well as Sawai Man Singh Stadium getting its quota of IPL and international matches.

In view of the stalemate, Rajasthan High Court, in a recent judgement, formed an ad-hoc body of three separate selection committees to choose the various state teams for BCCI tournaments.

However, with RCA still remaining banned by the BCCI which hampered its smooth functioning, there was an unrest among members with a lot people supporting Pathan, a BJP leader from Kota, who is also the district association president from the region.

It is also learnt from sources that Pathan had the backing of the Vasundhara Raje Scindia led state government which wanted the RCA to function smoothly with the co-operation of the BCCI.

“We passed a no-confidence motion against Lalit Modi today 23 out of the 33 district cricket associations of RCA supported the move to remove Modi. In the meeting we also removed Pawan Goyal (treasurer) and Mehmood Abdi (Deputy president),” Pathan said after the meeting. “Tomorrow we will go to the BCCI and seek their advice on the future course of action,” he said.

Modi has hit back at his removal, saying the meeting was illegal because a 21-day mandatory notice period was not given. He has also ‘suspended’ acting president Pathan. — Agencies

Chandigarh, october 11
The Indian Super League (ISL) is all set to herald a new dawn for football in India. On Sunday, the premier football league of India will kick off at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata and try to give a new lease of life to the sleeping giant of football.

The marquee league is already being touted as a game-changer as the most star-studded event ever in the history of Indian football kicks off with the inaugural game between Atletico de Kolkata and Mumbai City FC.

The tournament has been given a glitzy avatar by including former international players, coaches, business magnates and a dash of Bollywood celebrities who co-own the teams. Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, two of the biggest names in Indian cricket, are also doing their best to promote the game through their respective teams. The tournament features five World Cup winners and Brazilian legend Zico, as coach, and that has been the biggest factor in generating the buzz around the glitzy league.

Though all the big names are past their prime and are discards of European leagues — David James of Kerala Blasters is the oldest at 44 — the organisers the organizers have tried their best to catch eyeballs.

Detractors, on the other hand, have questioned how the Indian footballers will benefit from the 10-week league which has a six-five foreigners-domestic ratio and whether the new teams will be able to gain fan bases like the traditional powerhouses East Bengal, Mohun Bagan or the Goan and North-East clubs. On paper, the Ranbir Kapoor co-owned Mumbai City FC appear to be the heavyweights due to the presence of the mercurial Frenchman Nicolas Anelka and Swede Fredrik Ljungberg along with acclaimed domestic players like India No. 1 goalkeeper Subrata Pal, experienced side-back Syed Rahim Nabi and the spirited medio Lalrindika Ralte.

Kerala Blasters, the team co-owned by Sachin Tendulkar appears to be weakest among all but will be the only team to have some distinctive Indian flavour.

Goa and North-East United FC of Guwahati are the only teams in the ISL to have avoided the domestic players draft and the two teams with huge fanbase would be the ones to watch out for.

Delhi Dynamos too are one of the most talked about franchisees after their signing of Italian World Cup winner Alessandro Del Piero. Among the top Indian names would be missing from the ISL are captain Sunil Chhetri after Bengaluru FC did not allow any of their players to participate in the event. Salgaocar custodian Karanjit Singh, last year I-League's second highest Indian goal-scorer Balwant Singh, Pune FC's Japanese born Arata Izumi and BFC's Robin Singh will also be missing in action. Going by the team composition — six compared to three plus one Asian quota in I-League — it appears that the foreigners are all set to rule the roost in the ISL.

The league will be played on home/away basis. Each team faces the other twice (home and away). The top four qualify for a two-leg semifinals followed by the two semifinals' winners contesting the final on December 20. A grand Bollywood-style opening ceremony is on the cards where Priyanka Chopra will be the star attraction. 

Big shots

Delhi - Alessandro Del Piero (Italy); Notheast - Joan Capdevila (Spain); Kolkata - Luis Garcia (Spain); Mumbai - Fredrik Ljungberg (Sweden); Pune - David Trezeguet (France); Goa - Robert Pires (France); Kerala - David Benjamin James (England); Chennaiyin - Elano Blumer (Brazil)

Shanghai, October 11
Roger Federer brought world No. 1 Novak Djokovic’s juggernaut to a halt when a 6-4 6-4 victory in the Shanghai Masters on Saturday set up a final against unseeded Frenchman Gilles Simon.

The 33-year-old Swiss was in aggressive mood against his younger opponent, who was on a 28-match winning streak in China, and converted his third match point with a backhand volley to end a semifinal slugfest that lasted one hour 35 minutes.

Federer, who will return to second in the rankings on Monday, broke serve in the fifth game of th e first set after a couple of unforced errors from the twice Shanghai Masters champion.

The 17-times Grand Slam winner broke again in the opening game of the second set and went on to exact sweet revenge for his defeat in their last meeting, at the Wimbledon final in July.

Earlier, Simon moved into his first Masters Series final in six years after outclassing big-serving Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.

The world No. 29 faced little pressure on his serve and dominated the match from the baseline with some sumptuous groundstrokes to beat the 33-year-old Lopez 6-2 7-6(1).

Lopez, who knocked out world No. 2 Rafa Nadal in the second round, netted a backhand volley to hand Simon the first break of the match in the third game and the tall Spaniard only had himself to blame as a double fault gifted a second break.

The frazzled world No. 21, under pressure from Simon’s winners, finally held to make it 5-2 but the Frenchman wrapped up the set in 25 minutes with an ace down the middle that swerved teasingly away from the left hander.

Lopez mixed up his tactics in the second set, opting to attack the net more to hustle his opponent, whose only previous Masters Series final appearance came in 2008 in Madrid, with some success.

The Spaniard came through seven deuces in the third game to avoid another break while Simon only dropped four points on his serve in the set.The pressure finally told on Lopez in the tiebreak as he crumbled under a mix of double faults, netted returns and wild smashes to lose it 7-1. — Reuters 

Sochi, October 11
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton put his Mercedes on pole position for the first Russian Grand Prix on Saturday with team mate and title rival Nico Rosberg having to settle for second. The pole was the Briton’s seventh of the season and 38th of his career.

Rosberg had to recognise that Hamilton, fastest also in practice, had been quicker all weekend. Both were given a scare by Valtteri Bottas, whose Williams was quicker through the first two sectors before the Finn made a big mistake right at the end and was unable to improve on his third place. McLaren’s Jenson Button completed the second row while Daniil Kvyat, the only current Russian Formula One driver, will have the home crowd excited after taking fifth place for the Toro Rosso team.

Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen qualified eighth and ninth while Red Bull’s quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel managed only 11th. — Reuters

Sochi, October 11
Formula One is planning to impose automatic speed limits as part of safety measures to prevent any recurrence of the sort of accident that has left French driver Jules Bianchi fighting for his life in Japan. Race director Charlie Whiting said that he would meet teams on Saturday to discuss the proposals.

They included fitting ‘skirts’ to recovery vehicles, the cranes and tractors used to remove stricken cars, to protect against the type of impact suffered by Bianchi when he crashed into one at Suzuka last Sunday.

Whiting showed footage of the crash to reporters at a briefing conducted with International Automobile Federation president Jean Todt and F1 medical officers.

The images showed marshals waving double yellow flags after Adrian Sutil had crashed his Sauber a lap before Bianchi lost control at the same place. Double yellow flags mean a driver must slow and be prepared to stop if necessary. Whiting said Bianchi had slowed as required and indicated some had shed less speed than others.

He had come to the conclusion, he added, that it was “probably better to take the decision to slow down away from the drivers” in future.

Whiting indicated this could be done through what amounted to a virtual safety car — using the existing GPS-controlled systems to slow the entire field without actually bringing the safety car onto the track. — Reuters

Bathinda, October 11
Raider Gagandeep Nagra led United Singhs to a convincing 68-48 win over California Eagles in the World Kabaddi League here today. The win brought United Singhs level with California Eagles in second place. Both teams have 14 points, though the Singhs have played 12 matches — one less than the Eagles.

Nagra was in brilliant form, winning 17 points for his team. He was adjudged the man of the match, while his Singhs’ skipper Sandeep Singh Sandhu was named the best stopper for his seven stops.

In the other match, Khalsa Warriors beat Vancouver Lions 60-51 to register their 12th win and move 11 points clear of their nearest rivals at the top of the table.

Beijing, October 11
Lionel Messi had a penalty saved as Brazil continued their defensive rehabilitation under returning coach Dunga with a morale-boosting 2-0 win over old adversaries Argentina in a feisty friendly on Saturday.

Atletico Mineiro striker Diego Tardelli scored once in each half, his first goals for Brazil, as former skipper Dunga made it three wins and as many clean sheets since returning to the role following the World Cup in July.

Dunga upset many fans with his negative tactics in his first spell in charge but his methods seem well timed for a proud nation still coming to terms with a 7-1 hammering at their home World Cup by eventual winners Germany that led to Luiz Felipe Scolari’s sacking.

More compact and organised, the five-times world champions soaked up wave after wave of pressure before launching swift counters at the Birds Nest Stadium in the Chinese capital.

Sergio Aguero and Angel Di Maria had early sighters at goal for Argentina before they fell behind in the 28th minute against the run of play following a defensive lapse worthy of Scolari’s Brazil.

A right-wing cross from midfielder Oscar drew the attention of Federico Fernandez and Pablo Zabaleta, the two defenders diverting the ball to an unmarked Tardelli who fired home.

The Argentines were gifted an opportunity to draw level four minutes before halftime when they were awarded a soft penalty. Messi could only offer a soft, low penalty which Jefferson dived to his right to palm away. — Reuters

Paris, October 11
Luis Suarez returned for Uruguay for the first time since his infamous World Cup biting shame and helped the South Americans to a 1-1 friendly draw against Saudi Arabia. The 27-year-old Barcelona star’s shot from an angle on 47 minutes in Jeddah came back off the far post before hitting Hassan Muath Fallatah for an own goal.

Although still serving a nine-match competitive international ban, Suarez is allowed to play in friendlies. “Happy to wear this shirt again,” tweeted Suarez. — PTI