Cuttack, October 31
Uncertainty over the availability of Wriddhiman Saha, who had a split webbing in his right hand, for the first ODI of the five-match series against Sri Lanka seems to be over as the wicket-keeper batsman looked fit ahead of the opener in Cuttack on Sunday. The Bengal wicket-keeper, who impressed during this year's IPL, looked in full flow during a full-fledged Indian training session under stand-in skipper Virat Kohli.

Saha batted for about 15 minutes and looked at ease. Later, a team official said the wicketkeeper batsman was "available" for the series opener at the Barabati Stadium. Playing for East Zone, Saha had split his right hand webbing during the Duleep Trophy semifinal against South.

The 30-year-old has played two Tests and six ODIs for the senior national team in the sporadic chances he has got.

Mainly dubbed as a classical wicket-keeper, who is best suited for the longer version, Saha has more than decent statistics in the List A format as a glovesman. In 90 List A matches so far, he has scored 2,536 runs at a decent average of 43.72 with two hundreds and 18 half-centuries. He has also taken 109 catches and 12 stumpings.

Meanwhile, the Indian cricketers toiled for about three hours this morning. Apart from Saha, the other player watched closely during the practice session was R Ashwin, who's making a comeback after being 'rested' for the India-West Indies series.

India's frontline spinner for quite some time now, Ashwin was seen padded up and was the first to start the proceedings in the batting nets before the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Kohli, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina came in to bat. Not only did he bat long, Ashwin also bowled in tandem with left-arm spinner Akshar Patel and Amit Mishra.

It was a no-nonsense approach for the Kohli-led young turks who headed straight to the nets after a bit of stretching without opting for a fun football match, normally a feature in India's net sessions under Dhoni.

Among the bowlers, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma looked impressive, bowling with pace and bounce. The other two pacers, Varun Aaron and Dhawal Kulkarni, too looked good. It would be interesting to see whether India feel tempted to go for a third seamer on a track that has a bit of green. The Sri Lankans, who arrived in the afternoon, opted for a day's rest.

Apart from Cuttack, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Ranchi and Kolkata would host the matches of the series from November 2-16. — PTI

New Delhi, October 31
Ali Murtaza spun a web around the South Zone batsmen and tied them in knots to lead the Central Zone’s fightback on the third day of the Duleep Trophy final.

Murtaza (4/59) bowled out South for 379 in the morning session. Central then capitalised on a strong start by their openers Faiz Fazal and Jalaj Saxena to swell their lead by 111 runs and finish the day at 214/4.

South Zone would have been disappointed with their shoddy batting performance, considering they resumed in the morning at 308/4, with KL Rahul on 168. Hanuma Vihari, too, had reached his half-century in 69 balls, and his two sixes off spinners indicated the aggressive mood he was in.

However, the introduction of Murtaza triggered a sensational batting collapse, from which the title favourites never recovered — they lost six wickets for just 20 runs and could manage a lead of 103 runs. A maiden double-century appeared for the taking for Rahul, but the 22-year-old Karnataka batsman completely misread a straighter delivery from Piyush Chawla and was dismissed for 233-ball 185, decorated with nine fours and two sixes. Soon, Murtaza dismissed a well-set Vihari for 75, who dragged a delivery on to his stumps off a wild slog. Murtaza then accounted for Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun and Pragyan Ojha as South’s innings folded in 90.3 overs.

Central responded well with Fazal and Saxena adding 68 runs in 12 overs before the lunch, and then continued to build on the platform in the second session. Both batted with vigour to put on a 128-run stand at a brisk rate. Fazal hit some eye-catching drives off medium-pacer Mithun, while Saxena capitalised on some wayward bowling from Vinay. Pragyan Ojha gave South the first breakthrough when the left-arm spinner trapped Saxena in front for 71. A top edge off Vinay to deep square leg saw Fazal (72) taking a long walk back to the pavilion.

Naman Ojha began by hitting three boundaries in an over bowled by Vinay. But in a bid to get some quick runs, he top-edged a Shreyas Gopal delivery to Robin Uthappa. Central were unfortunate to lose Ashok Menaria (0) in the dying minutes of the game as umpire Anil Chaudhary handed out an iffy decision to the former Rajasthan U-19 skipper. The ball was sliding down the leg side, but Chaudhary raised his finger to Menaria’s disbelief. Robin Bist (26 not out) and Mahesh Rawat (11 not out) were at the crease when bad light again forced an early end to the day with five overs left.

Brief scores: Central Zone 276 & 214/4 in 62 overs (Faiz Fazal 72, Jalaj Saxena 71, Shreyas Gopal 2-43); South Zone 379 all out in 90.3 overs (Robin Uthappa 80, KL Rahul 185, Hanuma Vihari 75; Pankaj Singh 3-67, Ali Murtaza 4-59).

New Delhi, October 31
Former India Davis Cup captain Vijay Amritraj on Friday said that the top tennis players who had pulled out of the Asian Games to participate in the prize-money tournaments should not be portrayed as bad boys if they decided to concentrate on their individual careers. "I don't think it was a matter of choice. Everyone has done it... our boys and girls have represented the country amazingly well in the recent past. The question is more about what option do they have at that time. Players have to worry about their careers more than anything else, otherwise things would become difficult for them," Amritraj said.

The Sports Ministry had, on Wednesday, issued a diktat to all the NSFs, stating that financial help would not be extended to the athletes who prefer prize-money tournaments over representing the nation. Amritraj said tennis is an individual sport and the players should have the freedom to decide what's in the best interest of their game.

"We are an individual sport where players come first. A tennis player's career is very short and there would be time and days when he has to make a tough decision," he said.

New Delhi, October 31
Inspired by the success of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in cricket, almost every sport with some following in India has launched or is planning to roll out a city-based professional league. Currently, there are at least five full-fledged leagues running in the country — IPL, Hockey India League, Pro Kabaddi League, Indian Super League and Indian Badminton League.

Sponsors of many hues are warming up to corporate houses to start another four leagues — Indian Wrestling League, Indian Volley League, Indian Golf League and Indian Racing League — in the coming months.

At a time when it's raining leagues, how could tennis stay behind? It isn’t, for there’s not just one but two tennis leagues — International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) and Champions Tennis League (CTL) — about to hit the Indian sports scene.

So what sets the two leagues apart? Vijay Amritraj, the former Indian tennis star and the CTL promoter, claims his ambitious league is designed to "provide a chance to juniors to gain experience by practising and travelling together with the international players". IPTL, on the other hand, is an Asia-based competition, which is more about live entertainment and targeting the top five in the world.

"I am doing it for India and Mahesh is doing it for Asia. Asian tennis will benefit from what he is doing, while Indian tennis will benefit from what I am doing. Both the leagues are extremely competitive and I strongly feel that India is ready for CTL," Amritraj said. "There is only one tennis league in India and that is CTL. There is no clash with the IPTL. It's raining sports leagues in the country, so we decided it was time to have a league which will help in unearthing fresh talent. Sports in India is going through a transformation and both the leagues can co-exist," he said on the sidelines of the unveiling ceremony 'Delhi Dreams' — one of the franchise of the league. The CTL will feature players ranked between 5 and 25. It will include a minimum of 18 Indian players, out of which 12 will be from the junior level.

Amritraj said he always wanted to start a tennis league in India and had started working in this direction four years back. "We were struggling to get tournaments into India. We had Chennai Open as the only ATP tournament here and the calendar was so full. It was very difficult to get a tournament. I thought CTL is the best way to bring international tennis to various cities across India," he said.

Abu Dhabi, October 31
Younis Khan remained unbeaten on 205 and Misbah-ul-Haq hit his sixth Test century as Pakistan milked Australia’s lacklustre bowling attack to amass 517 for four wickets at tea on the second day of the second and final Test on Friday.

Younis, who hit twin centuries in the first Test, continued to punish the Australians who could not stop the run-feast on the flat track at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

The former Pakistan captain hit 14 fours and two sixes in his fifth 200-plus score, also passing the 8000-run mark in Tests in the process.

Asad Shafiq (1) was batting with him as Pakistan boosted their chance of securing their first Test series win against Australia in 20 years. Mitchell Starc claimed the lone wicket of the morning session when Azhar Ali (109) tickled a delivery and Australia’s stop-gap keeper David Warner dived to his left to take a smart catch.

Warner, otherwise a brilliant fielder, endured a miserable day as he dropped Younis at gully, missed a stumping opportunity to dismiss him and also could not latch on to a half-chance at slip after Misbah had flashed at a Nathan Lyon delivery. Younis, who hit his third century in as many innings, was lucky when he edged Peter Siddle and the ball fell just short of Haddin, who dived and landed awkwardly on his shoulder.

Haddin carried on for two more overs before leaving the field. Warner donned the keeper’s gloves until Haddin returned after lunch as Pakistan continued to plunder runs. Younis, who added 236 runs with Ali for the third wicket, added another 181 with Misbah for the fourth, in an effort to bat Australia out of the contest. — Reuters

Brief scores: Pakistan 570/6 dec (Younis 213, Azhar 109, Misbah 101). 

Jalandhar, October 31
Punjab Police beat Indian Navy 3-2 to enter the league stage of Surjit Hockey Tournament at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium here today.

In the last pre-qualifying match, Policemen bounced back after trailing 1-0 in the 11th minute when Jagmeet Singh sounded the board. Indian Navy were the first to score as Ved Parkash (6th min) scored from right flank (1-1). 

BRIEFLY

Murali wouldn’t have played under chucking laws: Yousuf
Karachi: Former Pakistan captain Muhammad Yousuf said Muttiah Muraliatharan, the world's highest wicket-taker in Tests, would have not been allowed to play top-flight cricket had the current ICC rules on chucking been in place during his time. “Murali straightened his elbow well past the current allowed limit of 15 degrees but he was fortunate to play top-flight cricket because at that time the ICC protocol was different," Yousuf said. "I played him a lot of times and I know how he exceeded the 15-degree limit. With each ball, one could see him speed up his deliveries and I told him myself ‘You are lucky to be playing’,” Yousuf said.

Ban on Habas reduced, no change for Pires, Fikru
New Delhi: All India Football Federation on Friday reduced the four-match suspension handed to Atletico de Kolkata head coach Antonio Lopez Habas to two games after an appeal pertaining to the breach of disciplinary code during the ongoing Indian Super League.

The two-match bans on players Robert Pires (FC Goa) and Fikru Lemessa (Atletico de Kolkata) and one-match suspension on ATK goalkeeping coach Predipkumar Bhaktawer remained the same as the AIFF Disciplinary Committee did not make any other change in their earlier order of October 25.

Ribery attacked by pitch invader in shocking scenes
Berlin: Bayern Munich star Franck Ribery was at the centre of a scary moment on Wednesday night as he was attacked by a pitch invader. The incident happened in injury time of Bayern's 3-1 win away at Hamburg in the German Cup. A Hamburg fan ran onto the pitch, sought out Ribery and, as the Vine above shows, slapped him round the face with his scarf. And wasn't it lucky that he only had a scarf? It's crazy to think he was able to just run up and acost a star player like this.

United SC rally to down Air India in Durand Cup
Margao: United SC came from behind to down Air India 2-1 in the group B quarterfinal league match of the 127th Durand Cup on Friday. Thus, United SC who finished their league engagement with three points from two matches are behind Sporting Clube de Goa who also have three points but have better goal difference against United SC.

Federer's No. 1 hopes take a hit in Paris defeat
Paris: Roger Federer's hopes of finishing the season as world No. 1 took a hit when he was dumped out of the Paris Masters with a 7-6(5) 7-5 defeat by Canadian Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals on Friday. Seventh seed Raonic served 21 aces to keep alive his hopes of securing a place at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals. — Agencies