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Sports News |
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 India-Sri Lanka 2nd Test draw |
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COLOMBO, July 30: The second Test between India and Sri Lanka meandered to a tame high-scoring draw on Friday with a staggering 1478 runs being scored over five days on a track which proved to be graveyard for bowlers.
With little interest left on a dreary last day, the Indians scored a mammoth 707 all out in the first innings, recording their second-highest total ever largely due to a dogged resistance by the last wicket pair of Ishant Sharma (27) and Pragyan Ojha (17).
The hosts then scored 129 for three in their second innings before both the captains decided to call off play, bringing an end to a dull Test completely dominated by the batsmen with just 17 wickets falling.
The drawn result meant that India retained their number one position in the ICC’s Test rankings as the hosts needed to win the match to dislodge the visitors from top of the table.
The third and final Test will begin at the P Sara Oval here from August 3 with the hosts leading the series 1-0 after winning the first Test in Galle by ten wickets.
The track at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground, which came in from much flak, hardly gave any assistance to the bowlers which made life extremely easy for the batsmen as was evident with as two double centuries and three centuries being scored.
Resuming at 669 for nine, Sharma and Ojha almost survived the opening session of the final day as India’s first innings folded for 707 about 15 minutes from the break.
India bettered its highest total abroad by two runs as they had made 705 against Australia in Sydney in 2004.
It was also India’s second highest total, the highest being 726 for 9 declared against the same opponents in Mumbai last year.
Sharma and Ojha shared the longest tenth-wicket partnership for India in terms of balls faced by number 10 and 11 batsmen as they resisted for 174 balls. They bettered their own mark of 92 balls at Galle during the first Test.
Paceman Dilhara Fernando ended Sri Lanka’s agonising wait when he had Sharma caught at gully by Kumar Sangakkara.
Sharma’s 27 runs came off 117 balls with help of one boundary while Ojha consumed 92 balls for his unbeaten 17 and helped himself with one boundary.
Ojha survived a couple of leg before appeals from Ajantha Mendis and took a sharp blow on the helmet off Dammika Prasad in his defiant knock.
Sharma played with confidence and straight bat until he played an uppish cut off Fernando and found Sangakkara at gully.
Sri Lanka, who trailed by 65 runs, lost Tharanga Paranavitana (34), Tillakaratne Dilshan (14) and Mahela Jayawardene (5) in the post lunch session.
Abhimanyu Mithun drew first blood by having Dilshan caught at short mid-wicket and then Laxman caught Paranavitana in the slip cordon off Harbhajan Singh.
Part time spinner Virender Sehwag trapped Jayawardene minutes before the second break of the day.
Captain Kumar Sangakkara (42 not out) and Thilan Samaraweera (10 not out) ensured that there were no further setbacks before both the captains decided to call off play.
SCORECARD
Sri Lanka 1st innings: 642 for four declared
India 1st innings (overnight 669/9) Murali Vijay lbw Mendis 58; Virender Sehwag st Prasanna b Randiv 99; Rahul Dravid lbw Randiv 3; Sachin Tendulkar c Prasanna b Dilshan 203; VVS Laxman lbw Mendis 29; Suresh Raina c Sangakkara b Mendis 120; Mahendra Singh Dhoni c & b Dilshan 76; Harbhajan Singh c Sangakkara b Dilshan 0; Abhimanyu Mithun b Mendis 41; Ishant Sharma c Sangakkara b Fernando 27; Pragyan Ojha not out 18
Extras (b 9, lb 7, w 4, nb 13) 33
Total (all out in 225.2 overs) 707
Fall of wickets: 1-165 (Sehwag, 36.1 overs), 2-169 (Vijay, 37.5), 3-173 (Dravid, 40.5), 4-241 (Laxman, 70.5), 5-497 (Raina, 140.4), 6-592 (Tendulkar, 162.1), 7-592 (Harbhajan, 162.4), 8-643 (Dhoni, 184.2), 9-668 (Mithun, 196.3)
Bowling: Damika Prasad 22-2-101-0 Dilhara Fernando 31.2-1-116-1
Angelo Mathews 9-1-24-0 Suraj Randiv 73-16-222-2 Ajantha Mendis 63-10-172-4 Tillekaratne Dilshan 27-6-56-3
Sri Lanka 2nd innings:
Tharanga Paranavitana c Laxman b Harbhajan 34; Tillekaratne Dilshan c Sharma b Mithun 14; Kumar Sangakkara not out 42; Mahela Jayawardene lbw Sehwag 5; Thilan Samaraweera not out 10
Extras (b 8, lb 8, nb 8) 24
Total (declared for three wickets in 45 overs) 129
Fall of wickets: 1-50 (Dilshan, 8.1 ov), 2-73 (Paranavitana, 18.4 ov), 3-97 (Jayawardene, 29.6 ov)
Bowling: Abhimanyu Mithun 6-1-17-1 Ishant Sharma 4-0-31-0 Virender Sehwag 9-1-17-1 Harbhajan Singh 13-0-35-1 Pragyan Ojha 13-6-13-0 (PTI) |
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| Dhoni slams pitch, Sangakkara agrees |
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Colombo, July 30: Lambasting the lifeless pitch that produced a dull high-scoring draw against Sri Lanka, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni today said the track made it seem that the bowlers were there just to get smashed all over the park. Sri Lanka piled up 642 declared before India replied in similar fashion to post 707 on the board in a rather disappointing track which offered nothing to the bowlers.
“If not for the fast bowlers, at least for the spinners we can make Test cricket interesting. It doesn’t have to be bouncy.
In this game, it was all about the batsmen and the bowlers were just getting wacked all over the park,” Dhoni said. Dhoni’s opposite number Kumar Sangakkara too felt the bowlers were made to work very hard by the pitch.
“It was not easy like M S said it was hard work for bowlers but I am very impressed with our bowling. We were always trying to attack and gave India a tough time,” said the Lankan captain.
Dhoni said he never thought of making the proceedings any interesting by declaring while still trailing by 100-odd runs. “If the opponent scores 600 odd runs, I think we did well in the way we responded but we should have scored 50 more runs.
At the end of the day I am quite happy. For the first time in the series, we bowled second with a lot of wear and tear and the bowlers performed well.
“We were 100 odd runs behind and had we allowed the Lankans to bat they would have got 300 plus and they could have gone for an outright win. We also thought of giving our bowlers some rest,” he said.
Sangakkara, meanwhile, hoped the next match would be more interesting but said his team would not think about the number one Test ranking which would go the hosts’ way if they win the series 2-0, having already clinched the opening match. “There is a bit of a way to go before that.
We have to concentrate on playing well. Work on our fielding.
A half chance on a track like this is tough and we have to grab such chances,” he said. Debutant Suresh Raina, who got a hundred besides sharing a match-saving partnership with double-centurion Sachin Tendulkar hoped to get picked for the next match as well.
“I hope to continue and make sure that we win the last Test as we are one down. I was batting with Sachin and he was telling me to keep calm and rotate the strike,” he said. (PTI) |
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| Khel Ratna for Saina, Chettri gets Arjuna Award |
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New Delhi, July 30: Ace Indian shuttler and World no.2 Saina Nehwal will get the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the country’s highest sports award, while Indian footballer Sunil Chettri, currently playing for American club Kansas City Wizards, is among the 15 sportspersons selected for the Arjuna Award.
The award’s committee, headed by legendary athlete PT Usha, met here on Friday to finalize the winners of this year’s national sports awards.
Saina has been in great form and recently won three back-to-back tournaments, including two Super Series titles. The 20-year-old from Hyderabad won the Indian Open Grand Prix, the Singapore Open and the Indonesian Open.
Earlier this month, she jumped one spot to World No.2, and it came as a major boost for the star shuttler ahead of the World Championships at Paris from August 23.
“I am very happy and it is a surprise for me. It has come just before the World Championships. In fact, the last couple of months were great for me. I have done consistently well this year,” said Saina.
“Everything has happened quickly in my career. But it has been tough for me as well. Things will be different now as expectations will be high from me,” she said.
Saina has been made the captain of the Indian team for the World Championships.
Saina, who won the Padma Awards last year, was the first Indian girl to reach the singles quarterfinals at the Olympics in Beijing and the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championships.
Footballers got an Arjuna Award after a gap of eight years. Delhi boy Chettri is the third Indian to ply his trade in a foreign football league and also scored a hat-trick in the AFC Challenge Cup final that India won to qualify for the Asia Cup after 24 years. Chettri’s team mate in the national team Dipak Mondal, who plays for Kolkata club Mohun Bagan, will also get the Arjuna Award.
This is the first time, since the inception of Arjuna Awards, that two footballers have been conferred with the prestigious award.
Former India international Mohammad Habib, a member of the award’s selection committee, feels the recognition will boost the game in the country.
“After a long time footballers got this prestigious award. In the last three years the team has done exceptionally well by winning two Nehru Cups and the AFC Challenge Cup. This will surely give confidence to the players,” Habib, an Arjuna Awardee, told IANS.
In cricket, fast bowler Jhulan Goswami, who was adjudged as the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s Player of the Year award in 2007, will also get the Arjuna.
Arjuna Awardees: Krishna Punia (athletics), Joseph Abraham (athletics), Dinesh Kumar (boxing), Parimarjan Negi (chess), Jhulan Goswami (cricket), Deepak Mondal (football), Sunil Chettri (football), Rajiv Tomar (wrestling), Sandeep Singh (hockey), Jasjit Kaur (hockey), Jajseer Singh (paralympics), Dinesh (kabaddi), Kapil Dev (volleyball), Rehan Poncha (swimming), Sanjeev Rajput (shooting) (IANS) |
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| Team India retain No. 1 Test tag |
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DUBAI, July 30: Despite losing the series opener, India managed to retain the numero uno status in the ICC Test Championship table by virtue of a hard-earned draw against Sri Lanka in the second Test in Colombo on Friday.
With 130 rating points in their kitty, India is now 11 points clear of second-placed South Africa (119) and will continue to enjoy the top spot in the chart irrespective of the result of the last match of the series.
However, India’s 11-point lead at the top will be short-lived following its failure to win the current series against Sri Lanka.
If India wins the third Test, starting at P Sara Oval in Colombo on August 3, and draw the series, they will drop to 127 points, while the hosts will move to the third place with 115 points, ahead of both Australia and England.
If the match ends in a draw, India will slip to 124 points, just five ahead of both South Africa and Sri Lanka.
However, Kumar Sangakkara’s side will be placed just below Graeme Smith’s men when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.
But another defeat for India will not only see they plummeting to 122 points but it will also lift Sri Lanka to 121 points and to the second position on the Test Championship table for only the second time since the current ranking system was introduced in 2003.
Sri Lanka had previously claimed the second spot in late August last year following a series win over New Zealand and stayed there until it lost 0-2 to India in December.
Australia, which fell from the top spot after losing The Ashes last year, stayed in third position but has dropped from 116 points to 113, just two ahead of England.
England (111), which is presently hosting Pakistan in a four-Test series, occupies the fourth spot followed by Sri Lanka (111), Pakistan (84), West Indies (79), New Zealand (78) and Bangladesh (7).
Meanwhile, Australia continues to top the ICC ODI Championship table with 132 points, 14 clear of closest rival India. South Africa (115) occupies the third position. (PTI) |
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| People should stop talking about my age now: Tendulkar |
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COLOMBO, July 30: With a fifth Test double hundred under his belt at 37, Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar on Friday said he has proved that age has got nothing to do with performance and people should just stop linking the two in his case.
Tendulkar scored a match-saving 203-run knock as India and Sri Lanka settled for a high-scoring draw in the second Test.
“I think as long as you are mentally strong and prepared to go through the grind, age does not really matter. I think everyone should just stop talking about the age factor. If I can score a double hundred at 37, I don’t think age really matters,” he said after being named the most stylish player of the match at the post-match presentation.
The veteran right-hander has 48 Test hundreds against his name and though his knock played a crucial role in saving the match for India, he chose to praise the contributions of debutant Suresh Raina (120) and opener Virender Sehwag (99).
“Suresh built an important partnership with me and all credit to him. And the start that Sehwag gave us was also crucial,” he said.
India are 0-1 down in the series after losing the series-opener and Tendulkar said the team is desperate to latch on to the top spot in the ICC Test rankings which the visitors stand to lose if they go down 0-2.
“Being number one is important for us. We got here through a process and we hope to continue this process in the next match and win it,” he said. (PTI) |
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| WC venue after Murali |
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COLOMBO, July 30: A new cricket stadium being built for next year’s World Cup will be named after the world’s most successful bowler Muttiah Muralitharan, a report said on Friday.
The 22,000-capacity stadium, being constructed in Pallekele in Muralitharan’s home district of Kandy, is due to host three matches of the World Cup in South Asia in February-March.
The Central Provincial Council in Kandy decided to name the venue as the Muttiah Muralitharan International Cricket Stadium to honour the recently retired spinner, the Daily Mirror said.
The move had the backing of the provincial governor, Tikiri Kobbekaduwa, and will be put to Sri Lanka Cricket shortly, the newspaper said.
Muralitharan, 38, quit Test cricket last week after reaching the unprecedented 800-wicket mark during the first Test against India in Galle.
He is also the leading wicket-taker in one-day cricket with 515 scalps and said he will be available for the World Cup if needed.
The matches in Pallekele are Pakistan vs New Zealand on March 8, Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe on March 10 and Pakistan vs Zimbabwe on March 14.
Sri Lanka, which co-hosts the showpiece tournament with India and Bangladesh, is due to organize 12 matches at three venues.
The other venues are the under-renovation Premadasa stadium in Colombo and a new cricket facility being built in Hambantota in the island’s south. (Agencies) |
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| TN beat Mizoram, Bengal hold Delhi |
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Kolkata, July 30: Tamil Nadu struck twice in the second-half to defeat Mizoram 2-0, while hosts Bengal had to settle for a tame 1-1 draw against Delhi in the quarterfinal group league of the 64th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy here today. The win enabled Tamil Nadu take the lead in Group B with three points.
Delhi and Bengal, with one point each, share the second spot, while Mizoram are yet to open their account. The winners and runners-up of the group will make the semi-final cut.
In the first match of the day at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan here, 29 times champions Bengal came back from behind through a Jayanta Sen strike late into the second-half to hold Delhi 1-1. Playing under lights in the second match of the day, Mizoram’s defence was nowhere to be seen as Tamil Nadu scored an easy goal through C S Sabeeth in the 62nd minute to go ahead.
Even though there were some loud cheers for Mizoram, the North-East side could not make much inroads with Tamil Nadu striking their second through Rajesh in the 70th minute. Playing their first match of the tournament after directly seeded into quarters, Tamil Nadu took sometime to settle down as the first 45 minutes saw Mizoram create a few chances.
Beikhokhei, who plays for East Bengal, had a nice opportunity in the injury time of first-half from the edge of the box but failed to find the target. Tamil Nadu defenders should also be given credit as they thwarted Mizoram’s attempts late in the second-half with some fine goalline saves. (PTI) |
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| Manipur wins girls Jr National football |
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Chandigarh, July 30: Manipur defeated Haryana 6-1 to win the ninth Junior National Football Championship for girls here today. Preeti gave Haryana the lead but S Rinaroy Devi scored the equaliser for Manipur to go into breather tied at 1-1.
However, Manipur came out rejuvenated in the second half and pumped in five goals to stamp their authority over Haryana. S Rinaroy Devi scored three goals in the match while Manipur captain Y Kamala Devi, Bina Devi and E Bindiyarani Devi found the net once each.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda also announced Rs 51,000 to Raveena for her outstanding performance in the match. While addressing the players and the audience, Hooda, who himself is an avid sportsman, congratulated the teams for their performance.
He also announced Rs 5 lakh grant for Chandigarh Football Association. A total of 27 teams participated in the tournament.
Haryana entered the final defending champions defeating Orissa while Manipur beat Sikkim 3-0 in the other semifinal. (PTI) |
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| India win 2nd practice match in Portugal |
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NEW DELHI, July 30: Indian national football team thrashed Portuguese third division side Desportivo Monsanto 6-2 in their second practice match of the two-month training tour of the Iberian country in Vieria de Leiria.
Mohammed Rafi struck twice (40th and 58th), while Renedy Singh (20th), Anthony Pereira (42nd), Abhishek Yadav (44th) and Clifford Miranda (65th) scored a goal each for India in the match played at Pilado ground located some 200km from Portuguese capital of Lisbon on the road to Porto.
India made two changes in the starting XI which beat Desportivo das Caldas 4-1 in their first practice match with Subrata Pal making way for Subhasish Roy Choudhury while Clifford Miranda replaced injured Steven Dias.
It was Desportivo Monsanto who took a surprise lead in the 17th minute, but Renedy Singh brought India back on track scoring from the spot three minutes later after one of the defenders of the local side handled the ball inside the box.
India were ahead for the first time in the match in the 40th minute when Rafi and Pereira combined well before the former fired home. Anthony and Rafi were once again in the thick of action, but it was the former’s turn to register his name in the scoresheet two minutes later.
Abhishek then made it 4-1 just a minute before halftime heading in a Renedy Singh flag-kick.
Bob Houghton brought in eight players in the second half with only goalkeeper Subhasish Roy Choudhury, Clifford Miranda and Rafi remaining unchanged.
Rafi scored his second goal in the 58th minute off a James Singh pass from the right while Miranda completed India’s tally in the 65th minute before Desportivo Monsanto decreased the deficit in the 78th minute following a goal mouth melee.
The Indians will wound up their month-long training at Vieria de Leiria and leave for Lisbon tomorrow for another month-long stint at Sporting Lisbon facilities as part of their preparations for the 2011 Asian Cup. (PTI) |
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