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India
snatch victory from CHENNAI, Mar 22: Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, India chasing 155 to win....more Full credit to Indians, CHENNAI, Mar 22: "It was a great game and the better side won. Full credit to them", Australian.......more Harbhajan makes a CHENNAI, Mar 22: Even in his moment of glory, Harbhajan Singh was modest......more
CHENNAI, Mar 22: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president A C Muthiah today hailed.....more |
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CGEWCC Cricket Tourney Railways to take on CDA in first semi-final today Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Mar 22: Railways will take on Combined Defence Accounts (CDA) in the first semi-final of the Central Government Employees Welfare Coordination Committee (CGEWCC) here.........more Kanchan
Kaur, Harpreet Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Mar 21: Kanchan Kaur and Harpreet Kaur Isher bagged Nikhil Baru Memorial Gold medals for excelling in Medicine and Surgery in the MBBS final examinations.......more CHENNAI, Mar 22: ‘Man-of-the-series’ Harbhajan Singh and Australian.......more
Andre Agassi practice MIAMI, Mar 22: Season points leader Andre Agassi pulled one of Wednesday’s.....more |
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India snatch victory from jaws of defeat, win series CHENNAI, Mar 22: Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, India chasing 155 to win were down at 135 for 7 but managed to win through a steely 22 not out by Sameer Dighe and his 16-run eighth wicket stand, 54 minutes after tea on the fifth and final day of the third cricket test match at the M A Chidambaram Stadium here today. At 101 for 2, a victory seemed to be there for the asking for India, but they slumped to 135 for 6 after V V S Laxman, who was batting with ease, fell after tea for 66 to a stupendous catch at mid wicket by Mark Waugh off the Aussie offie Colin Miller. But stumper Dighe, who saw the fall of Laxman and Zaheer Khan after tea, had Harbhajan in company. It seemed poetic justice that Harbhajan, who had turned the match around for India, also scored the winning runs-two off the fast bowler McGrath in the first ball of the 42nd over. Thus vanished Australia’s hopes of a series win in India after the one achieved by Bill Lawrie’s team in 1969-70. The win also heralded a great series triumph for Saurav Ganguly-led India, who were at the threshold of an ignominous defeat, after losing the first test at Mumbai tamely before bouncing back at the Eden Gardens. The Aussies could not get past Laxman till tea. But they managed to stay in the match in a game written off as they took to the field. Openers S S Das (9) and S Ramesh (25) were removed early. After this, Sachin Tendulkar (17) put on 25 runs for the third wicket with Laxman, before falling of Jason Gillespie. Then captain Saurav Ganduly too fell cheaply (4) to see India reeling at 117-4. Even as India took solace in the fact that Dravid would see them through in company with Laxman, further disaster struck them. They were reduced to 122 for 5 when the Aussie captain Steve Waugh snapped up Rahul Dravid, who had hit just one four off off-spinner Colin Miller. India still needed 33 runs at this juncture with five wickets in hand. They went into tea break at 132 for 5 with Laxman (66, 82 balls) and Samir Dighe (5, 18 balls). The Kangaroos were fighting for their life as Indian openers S Ramesh and S S Das looked comfortable against pacemen G McGrath and J Gillespie. The only moment of flutter was when Das edged Gillespie between the wicket keeper and first slip in the fourth over. But even as the Indian openers were looking for a good start, Das fell trying to hook McGrath. The bowler himself accepted the catch in his follow through. India were 18-1 in five overs as Laxman walked in. The Indian tryst with a series win continued smoothly after lunch with Ramesh and Laxman making no mistake even as Colin Miller came on as Steve Waugh brought in spin. Ramesh was opening in front of his home crowd for a second time when India was chasing a victory target. Miller was hit for four fours by Laxman and one by Ramesh in his first four overs. They posted the 50 in 75 mnts in 14.4 overs. As warne replaced Miller, Laxman square cut him to the ropes. Ramesh and Laxman also posted the 50 stand for the second wicket in 56 minutes and 13.1 overs. However, in the 20th over, the Aussies were cock a hoop as Ramesh (25) was stranded with Laxman not responding to a run. Ricky Ponting threw to Gilchrist who broke the stumps to see India 76-2. Sachin walked out to great expectations but after a belligerent 27 off 17 balls, he fell to gillespie caught by mark waugh at slip to see india 3-101, 54 to win. The pressure of saving the match resuming at the overnight score of 241 for 7, only a small lead of 131 told on the Aussie skipper too. Nilesh, the left armer opened the day’s play bowling to Steve Waugh from pavilion end. Steve played out a maiden over. With Gillespie joining him, visions of their Kolkata partnership were raised. But that was not to be. After getting away Nilesh past cover to the ropes Steve Waugh fell the sixth victim to Harbhajan. Shiv Sundar Das snapped him up at forward short leg as the Aussie captain played forward tentatively. The eighth wicket association this time between Steve and Gillespie lasted just five runs in 7.1 overs. Harbhajan struck off the first ball of the eighth over of the day. Offie Colin Miller joined Gillespie at the wicket, with the Aussies just 136 runs ahead. Harbhajan struck again 35 balls later for his seventh wicket. Gillespie (2 in 46 minutes) guided a rising ball to Dravid at short leg after grafting for 47 balls. Aussies were facing possible doom in the match down 251-9, with only 141 runs ahead and just a wicket left in hand. It now remained to be seen how long Miller and McGrath could prolong the Kangaroo innings. In his first 9 overs, Harbhajan who had a bag of 7 wickets again as in the Kolkata test, at this juncture, conceded just 1 run for his 2 wickets. Australia posted the 250 mark in their second innings just before Gillespie fell, in 352 minutes. Harbhajan, who had yesterday emulated Anil Kumble (23 wkts) bagging the best haul of 29 wickets in this series, also created a record of having the best haul of 32 wickets in a series by an Indian bowler. The Aussie’s tale of woe was complete in 97.5 overs. Off the fifth ball of his nineth over of the day, the wily Punjab spinner, Harbhajan Singh had Miller leg before wicket as the batsman tried to play him on the leg side. Australia were all out for 264, with a meager lead of 154 runs to save the match which had slipped out of their grasp on day two itself when their captain Steve Waugh got out handling the ball, setting off a collapse. Indian openers S Ramesh and S S Das got down to their task scoring five runs with the former playing a delectable cover drive boundary off McGrath. The two teams will now go on to Bangalore to play the first of the five one-day international matches. SCORECARD: Australia 1st Innings 391 India 1st Innings 501 Australia 2nd innings M Hayden c Zheer b Kulkarni 35 M Slater c Laxman b Harbhajan 48 A Gilchrist lbw b Harbhajan 1 J Langer c Laxman b Bahutule 21 M Waugh c Dravid b Harbhajan 57 S Waugh c Das b Harbhajan 47 R Ponting c Dravid b Harbhajan 11 S Warne lbw b Harbhajan 11 J Gillespie c Dravid b Harbhajan 2 C Miller lbw Harbhajan 2 G Mcgrath not out 11 Extras (b-8, lb-6, nb-4) 18 Total (all out, 97.5 overs) 264 Fall of Wickets: 1-82, 2-84, 3-93, 4-141, 5-193, 6-211, 7-241, 8-246, 9-251. Bowling: Zaheer 4-0-13-0, Ganguly 1-0-8-0, Harbhajan Singh 41.5-19-84-8, Kulkarni 30-11-70-1, Tendulkar 12-0-43-0, Bahatule 9-0-32-1. India 2nd innings: S S Das c and b McGrath 9 S Ramesh run out 25 V V S Laxman c M Waugh b Miller 66 S Tendulkar c M Waugh b Gillespie 17 S Ganguly c M Waugh b Gillespie 4 R Dravid c M Waugh b Miller 4 S Dighe not out 22 S Bahatule c M Waugh b Miller 0 Zaheer Khan c M Waugh b McGrath 0 Harbhajan Singh not out 3 Extras (lb 3 nb 2) 5 Total for 8 wkts in 41.1 overs 155 Fall of wickets: 1/18, 2/76, 3/103, 4/117, 5/122, 6/135, 7/135, 8/151, Bowling: McGrath 11.1-3-21-2, Gillespie 15-2-49-2, Miller 9-1-41-3, Warne 6-0-41-0. (PTI) |
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Full credit to Indians, says Steve Waugh CHENNAI, Mar 22: "It was a great game and the better side won. Full credit to them", Australian captain Steve Waugh, gracious in defeat, said after his side was beaten in in the thrilling third and final test by India here today. Addressing a post-match press conference, he said the Australians had picked themselves up really well from a nearly hopeless situation and fought well. However, winning was not everything. "We gave 100 per cent - made some mistakes - but will try to rectify them," he said. Asked if he thought the target of 155 was easy for the Indians on the last day, Waugh said the Australians should have made around 250 runs to make the chase difficult. ‘Great performance,’ he said when asked about Harbhajan Singh’s match winning efforts, compared to Aussie spinner Shane Warne. However, he hastened to add that he would’nt like to put him down. "Shane always gives 100 per cent." On the Australian performance against spin bowling, he said they had learnt to play spin pretty well and were improving all the time. He was all praise for Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie, who, he said, had bowled very well. On his comments prior to the series that his side did not deserve to be ranked amongst the best if did not win the rubber, he remarked "I only said you should judge us by our performance". (PTI) |
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Harbhajan makes a glorious comeback CHENNAI, Mar 22: Even in his moment of glory, Harbhajan Singh was modest. The 20-year-old Sikh from Punjab destroyed the mighty Australians in the three-test series with a record 32 wickets. He hit the winning two runs in a tension-filled M A Chidambaram Stadium here this afternoon to give India a series win. But the off-spinner was almost shy when he spoke moments after he was declared the man-of-the-series. He attributed his fantastic achievement to God’s blessings, support of his teammates and coach John Wright who had given him tips on the line and length he should adopt. "I’m very happy. It was God’s grace... I got a lot of support from my team... Captain Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tenulkar and all other senior players kept encouraging me and offering me advice. I am also very thankful to coach John Wright guided me to bowl a correct line and length," he said. Harbhajan said his strategy against the Australians was to bowl to a tight line and not concede any extra run. "I was looking to tie down the batsmen and force them to commit mistakes and I was successful in my plan," he said. For Harbhajan, as also for India, this series was a resurrection. It was not long ago that Harbhajan’s action was suspect and he found himself out of the Indian team. He was not even considered for the recent series against Zimbabwe. He is up there among the very best, Australia’s Mark Waugh had said yesterday. "I knew I will do well if I return to the Indian team. I worked hard," he said. For the erratic Indian side too, it was a triumph. Beaten within three days in Mumbai and forced to follow on in Kolkata, the Indians snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. (PTI) |
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CHENNAI, Mar 22: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president A C Muthiah today hailed India’s series triumph with the thrilling win in the third test here as "a great victory for cricket". Talking to UNI after the match, Mr Muthiah said "I am really proud of our boys. They have proved that they have the resilience." "The win also proves that we have the talent," he said adding the boys have also proved that they can rebound even under pressure. Asked above the fact that our batting was still a bit over dependent on Sachin, Dravid, Saurav and now Laxman, Mr Muthiah said "I think we have a balanced side." Mr Muthiah said winning against the formidable and invincible Aussies deserves all encomiums for our team. I am really proud of the boys, he said.(UNI) |
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CGEWCC Cricket
Tourney Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Mar 22: Railways will take on Combined Defence Accounts (CDA) in the first semi-final of the Central Government Employees Welfare Coordination Committee (CGEWCC) here tomorrow. Earlier, in the last quarter-final played today, Accountant General’s Office defeated Survey of India (SoI) by 22 runs to find berth in the last four stage. Batting first after winning the toss, AG’s office scored 154 losing all the wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Ranji all rounder Ashwani Gupta hit the SoI bowlers hard in his 81 runs innings which came off just 42 deliveries with the help of 16 boundaries. He was well supported by Om Parkash, who made 43 runs off 37 balls with the help of five boundaries. From SoI, Shashi Jamwal took two wickets, while Surinder Mohan, Sanjeev, Dushant and Suresh took one each. Batting second, although, Shashi Jamwal (off 33 balls, 2x6, 4x4) played an unbeaten inning of an 63 runs, but lack of support from the other incoming batsmen caused SoI 22 runs defeat. Surinder Mohan and Suresh contributed 15 and 10 runs respectively. From AG, Ashwani, who earlier batted brilliantly, claimed three wickets. Sawami Raj also bagged three wickets, while Jasbir Singh nd Om Parkash shared one each. |
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Kanchan Kaur, Harpreet bag
Nikhil Baru Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Mar 21: Kanchan Kaur and Harpreet Kaur Isher bagged Nikhil Baru Memorial Gold medals for excelling in Medicine and Surgery in the MBBS final examinations. The medals were presented to them by the Governor, Mr Girish Chander Saxena in the 10th Convocation of the University of Jammu, recently. Medals were instituted by Prof O P Baru in sweet and loving memory of his grandson, Master Nikhil Baru who expired on the operation table in a private nursing home. |
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CHENNAI, Mar 22: ‘Man-of-the-series’ Harbhajan Singh and Australian opener Matthew Hayden emerged the most successful bowler and batsman respectively in the three-match test series between India and Australia which ended today with the hosts claiming it 2-1. Harbhajan Singh took 32 wickets in the series, the highest for any Indian in a three-match test series, at an average of 17.03, a shade inferior to Australian paceman Glenn McGrath who averaged 15.35 for his 17 wickets. Hayden compiled 549 runs at an astounding average of 137.25 from five innings that included a double century, a century and two fifties. Second on the list is India’s V V S Laxman who averaged 83.83 aggregating 503 runs from six innings followed by Rahul Dravid who scored 338 runs at an average of 56.33. Maestro Sachin Tendulkar, by his own lofty standards, had a moderate series with an aggregate of 304 runs at an average of 50.66. But that was good enough to put him third among the Indians and fourth overall. (PTI) |
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Andre Agassi practice session draws crowds MIAMI, Mar 22: Season points leader Andre Agassi pulled one of Wednesday’s biggest and most enthusiastic crowds as the draw-card hit the practice court on a lacklustre opening day at the 6.12-million-dollar Masters Series. The winner of last week’s masters in California was a major attraction on a day all but devoid of popular interest with 32 men and 32 women being given byes into the second round. With that kind of a scheduling handicap which the tournament forces upon itself each year, the first of the household names are unlikely to get onto court before Friday at the earliest. Agassi was one of the few recognisable faces around Prandon park as the tennis wannabes got to work on the hard-courts in the first round. American Andy Roddick, tipped as the wave of the post-Sampras and Agassi future, fulfilled promise with a victory, beating Israel’s Harel Levy 6-3, 6-2 and moving into a contest against 1998 Miami winner Marcelo Rios. Elder compatriot Justiin Gimelstob, the in-your-face player from New Jersey, was contemplating chucking in tennis for university after running his 2001 record to 0-6. His latest loss came Courtesy of Swede Andreas Vinciguerra 3-6, 6-2, 6-0. The American blamed a bad back this year for hampering any progress in the game. "If I continue on this path, I’ll stop playing sooner rather later," said the 24-year-old. "My back problems seem to be creeping back in. "I was struggling to move and could barely touch my shins," he said after losing the last ten games of the one-way match. (DPA) |
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