Tendulkar plays big
brother to younger
teammates

HARARE, June 3: Everyone knows what Sachin Tendulkar does with his bat to bowlers and records. Very few know how much help he offers to his team-mates and their cricket. Any number of his young teammates on this tour are spending a lot of time with the best batsman in the world and putting that........more

Academy tail
frustrates Indians

HARARE, June 3: A frustrating 77-run stand for the ninth wicket between Gary Brent and Wisdon Siziba which enabled CFX Academy to reach 192 in ...more

Windies fast bowlers ‘not as tough as they were’

ST John’s, (Antigua), June 3: West Indian fast bowlers are not as tough as they were a few years ago, according to former test paceman Kenneth .......more

Cricket should not
be mixed with politics:
PCB chief

DUBAI, June 3: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Gen Tauqir Zia has said he fails to understand why the Indian Government is not permitting its....more

Harbans calls for
promotion of rural sports

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, June 3: The Minister for Labour, Employment, Youth Services and Sports.....more

Teakwondo Warriors
Club shine in Distt Champ

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, June 3: Eveready Teakwon-Do Warriors Club won seven medals, including two gold, two silver and three bronze in the District Teakwon-Do Championship held here.......more

Sub-junior boys enter singles quarter-finals

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, June 3: Quarter-finals position in the Sub-juniors boys singles group have been cleared, while in the rest of the groups first round matches ....more

French Open
Henin continues smooth run to quarter-finals

PARIS, June 3: Belgian 14th seed Justine Henin became the first player through to the French Open quarter-finals when she strolled past Austria’s Barbara Schett 6-3 6-4 today. ..more

Tendulkar plays big brother to younger teammates

HARARE, June 3: Everyone knows what Sachin Tendulkar does with his bat to bowlers and records. Very few know how much help he offers to his team-mates and their cricket.

Any number of his young teammates on this tour are spending a lot of time with the best batsman in the world and putting that advice into practice, often profitably.

Shiv Sunder Das got over his opening blues with a century against CFX Academy yesterday. He gratefully acknowledged the technical advice that Tendulkar had shared with him during nets.

"He told me a few things about my foot movement and body position in the nets," said the little opener from Orissa. "I put it in practice in the middle and had immediate results."

Time and again Tendulkar had taken Das aside in the nets and given him practice against rising deliveries. Das had landed in no-man’s land on a few occasions against bouncers aimed at his body by Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie in the recent series against the Aussies.

It had been saving Das from injuries but not his wicket. Tendulkar then advised him how to drop his bat and not instinctively raise it in front of his eyes. Also, how he could tuck these bouncers behind square for some runs.

Das’ partner Sadgopan Ramesh is another case in point. Ramesh has this tendency to reach for the balls. On these bouncy wickets, it is the surest way to doom.

"In this innings (of 42) against CFX, I was committing this mistake in the first hour. Sachin offered a fairly valuable piece of advice. He told me how I should look to play shots off my pads and also those cuts behind square. I had a far better stay thereafter."

Vice-captain Rahul Dravid says he seeks out Tendulkar whenever he feels the latter could be of help. "I check him out on little things, when I feel he could offer a valuable piece of advice".

The openers alone are not singing Tendulkar’s praises. Wicketkeeper and his state-mate Samir Dighe is also full of praise for the maestro.

"He is always there when you need him. I remember the Chennai test, my debut game. When I went into bat in the second innings, Tendulkar asked me to wear elbow guard. Usually I never go for it. But I was so lucky I heeded his advice.

"When I went in, we needed some 40-odd runs for victory. As we inched closer, Gillespie started throwing bouncers. One such delivery hit my elbow guard and went to fine leg for two runs. The way that test went, those two runs were absolutely critical. What is more I could have injured myself and ejected out from the middle," Dighe recalls.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh is a die-hard Tendulkar fan too. "Anyone who plays this game, I think, is a fan of this little master".

The ‘turbanator’, who tore apart the mighty Aussies in the recent series, acknowledges he learnt how to bowl the new ball from Tendulkar.

"I also seek him out to test myself in the nets, as often as I can. I want to test myself and do my best when bowling to him. It is a great confidence booster if I do well against him," said Harbhajan.

This morning, before the start of the second day’s play against CFX Academy, Tendulkar sought out Ramesh, V V S Laxman

and Hemang Badani for catching practice in the slips.

He decided to make it interesting by giving grades to the catches the three picked: A for the best and B and C for the next grade of efforts.

After a few hits, Ramesh indicated Tendulkar was hitting spliced catches too hard at him. But Tendukar would have nothing of it as he smashed the next ball with a full swish of the bat and the ball rocketed behind the slips and thudded into the sightsreen.

Ramesh raised his hands in mock surrender and later admitted it was tough but "valuable practice."

Any discussion on the matter and Tendulkar shrugs his shoulders in his characteristic manner and is close to being embarrassed.

"I only try to do what I observe, the little things I notice," the champ said modestly. (PTI)

Academy tail frustrates Indians

HARARE, June 3: A frustrating 77-run stand for the ninth wicket between Gary Brent and Wisdon Siziba which enabled CFX Academy to reach 192 in their first innings marred an otherwise excellent second day for the Indians who performed well both the bat and the ball in the three-day match here today.

The Indians added 77 runs to their overnight 370 for three in the 13 overs of the morning session and declared their first innings at 447 for four. Hemang Badani became the third centurion in the innings and remained unbeaten on 112. Captain Saurav Ganguly emulated Shiv Sunder Das and V V S Laxman, the other two centurions, in forfeiting his innings after making 53.

The bowlers, led by Harbhajan Singh who took four wickets, then ripped open an inexperienced Academy batting line-up and had them reeling at 100 for eight at tea before Brent, who remained unbeaten on 72, and wicketkeeper Siziba (20) gave some respectability to the score.

The Indians chose not to force a follow-on following the 255-run first innings lead and opted for more batting practice ahead of the first test starting in Bulawayo on June 7. Badani came out to open with Sadgopan Ramesh and the duo put on 15 runs when the day’s play was called off. Badani was batting on six while Ramesh had made nine. (PTI)

Windies fast bowlers ‘not as tough as they were’

ST John’s, (Antigua), June 3: West Indian fast bowlers are not as tough as they were a few years ago, according to former test paceman Kenneth Benjamin.

"Our present fast bowlers lack the aggression and style of past West Indies fast bowlers," said Benjamin, who recently helped ex-test paceman Andy Roberts with a two-week fast bowlers’ clinic in Antigua.

"A lot them don’t have that aggressiveness. Once a batsman gets on top of them they didn’t know how (to come back)."

Benjamin said the young bowlers needed to focus on one element of their bowling.

"I think a lot of them were concentrating on more than one aspect when they are bowling. One of the big problems was consistency and I think we actually made some great strides in that (respect)."

"We gave them some (physical and mental) exercises (to help in that area)," said Benjamin, who played 26 tests for West Indies during the 1990s.

With the retirement of Curtly Ambrose last September and Courtney Walsh in April - the last in a long line of great fast bowlers from the Caribbean - the West Indies are now struggling to find replacements. (REUTERS)

Cricket should not be mixed with politics: PCB chief

DUBAI, June 3: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Gen Tauqir Zia has said he fails to understand why the Indian Government is not permitting its cricket team to play against Pakistan, especially when the two countries are playing against each other in sports such as volleyball, hockey and squash.

"Our stand is that cricket should not be mixed with politics, especially when you are taking part in other games. Their (India) volleyball team recently played in Pakistan. Also, they (the two countries) play regularly against each other in hockey and squash," he said.

In an interview to Jeddah-based Arab news, Gen Zia said he could not understand why cricket was being singled out. "May be because there is a greater involvement of people. There is a lot of money, but anyway the fact remains that we want to play against India."

However, he asserted that if India did not want to play against Pakistan " then we are not going to go on our knees and beg that we do want to play, then we also don’t want to play against them...It is as simple as that".

His comments come against the backdrop of Indian Sports Minister Uma Bharati announcing that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) would have to seek the Government’s permission before the Indian team was allowed to visit Pakistan to play an Asia Cup match later this year.

Gen Zia said he had no doubt that the BCCI was in favour of the Indian team playing against Pakistan. "As far as their board is concerned, I have been dealing with them for the last one and half years, they definitely want to play cricket with Pakistan. But the Government is the supreme authority which will tell you against whom you can play and against whom you cannot," he added.

Asked why Pakistan had to go in for a foreign coach when there were so many former cricketers ready to coach the players, Gen Zia said there were three qualified coaches in the country — Shahid Mahmood, Wasim Hassan Raja and Khan Mohammed — who were all residing in England and did not want to come back to Pakistan.

In this connection, he also indicated that the decision to choose a foreign coach was also inspired by the success of John Wright as the coach of the Indian team.

Gen Zia said John Wright as foreign had proved himself to be successful. "How that has happened and whether the home ground had anything to do with the success, we will have to see if India does well abroad. But in the short-term, he has been successful."

Asked about his plans to generate revenue, Gen Zia said, " we are trying to rope in as many sponsors as we can so that not only the PCB but the players also benefit."

Noting that in India Sachin Tendulkar was making Rs 100 million, he said, "I want that our players should earn at least Rs ten million if not 100 million so that they do not indulge in any misdeeds." (UNI)

Harbans calls for promotion of rural sports

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, June 3: The Minister for Labour, Employment, Youth Services and Sports Mr Harbans Singh has underlined an imperative need for promoting sports and other youth activities in rural areas to enable them to chanalise their energies in constructive way.

Speaking at the concluding day of Mahant Bachitter Singh Ji Cricket Tournament played at Simbal Camp in R S Pura Tehsil today, the Minister said that the Government was determined to provide allied infrastructure to promote rural sports in backward and far flung areas of the state. He said the youth living in rural areas have budding talent both in academic and sports sides but necessity was to further exploit the talent and chanalise it in a proper direction.

The Minister while referring to the demands of the local Youth Welfare Association said that the Department will provide 30 hockey sticks to the players in the local Boys High School. He also announced that over Rs two lakh would also be sanctioned for providing a good hockey ground to the School. He said the work on the local sports stadium would be completed with an estimated cost of over Rs 2.50 lakh . Reciprocating to the demand for renovation of dilapidated old structures in the school, the Minister said that Rs three lakh would be sanctioned for the purpose.

He complimented the people of the area and organizers of the tournament for their endeavor to organise the tournament in memory of Mahant Bachitter Singh who was a great spiritual leader and a great social reformer.

Mahant Manjeet Singh Ji of Dera Nangali Sahib , Poonch who also graced the occasion called upon the younger generations to desist from using intoxicants and chanalise their energies towards constructive side.