Saurav Ganguly

Sourav scripts victory
India win third one-dayer
by 14 runs to go 2-1
up in series

GWALIOR, Nov 11: Saurav Ganguly was on a song today and his...more

Kumble rested,
Pande in

VADODARA, Nov 11: Leading Indian wicket-taker, spinner Anil Kumble....more

CGEWCC holds prize
distribution function

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 11: The annual prize distribution function...more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 11: Vijay Club registered an impressive.....more

21st State Table Tennis Champ
Bhavna enter
Junior girls final
Anant to meet Ankur in Cadet boys final today

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 11: Bhavna Arora sailed into the finals...more

JU men, women Handball
teams leave for Inter-Varsity

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 11: Twelve-member men team led by Sanjeev......more

Open Squash League
Champ from Nov 13

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 11: Open Squash League Championship is being organised....more

MP make sound start
against Railways in Ranji

NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Opener J P Yadav slammed an....more

Sourav scripts victory
India win third one-dayer by 14 runs to go 2-1 up in series

GWALIOR, Nov 11: Saurav Ganguly was on a song today and his explosive unbeaten century coupled with the gentle but tight medium pace bowling brought a thrilling 14-run victory for India in the third one-day international against New Zealand here today.

After an intial stupor in the morning, Indian batting came into reckoning, largely due to Ganguly’s dazzling unbeaten 153 and his 70-ball unbroken 119-run sixth wicket stand with Robin Singh, setting a target of 262 for the visitors.

The two New Zealand openers, Craig Spearman and Nathan Astle, began on a breezy note and the way they batted it looked they would overhaul the target without much sweat.

Indian seamers Debashish Mohanty and Ajit Agarkar, replacing the ‘rested’ duo of Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad, had little effect on the two batsmen as runs started flowing. They were particularly harsh on Mohanty who was hit for 25 runs in his first spell of four overs while Agarkar gave away 22 runs in his first six overs.

At the end of the 10th over, the Kiwis were cruising at 51 without damage.

It was only when ‘man of the match’ Saurav Ganguly came into the attack with his gentle seam bowling that brakes could be applied at the scoring rate. With able support from Chopra, who in the final analysis emerged the most successful with three wickets for 32 runs, Ganguly was instrumental again in sending the visitors to despair. Though he took only one wicket while missing a tough catch offered by Stephen Fleming off his own bowling, the pressure exerted by Ganguly’s economy paid the dividends to other bowlers later. Skipper Tendulkar persisted with Ganguly for eight overs at a stretch and this gradually increased the asking rate for the visitors.

The breakthrough was provided by Chopra when he got Craig Spearman caught at slip by Rahul Dravid when the New Zealand opening partnership was just one short of hundred and the batsman was on 32 (62 balls, 4x4). Fourteen runs later, Saurav found the middle stump of Adam Parore.

Nathan Astle was going great guns and kept the Indian fielders busy till he departed missing his century by a whisker while sweeping Kumble, only to miss the line of the turning ball which rattled the stumps. His 97 of 111 balls contained six boundaries and a six off mohanty. In company with skipper Stephen Fleming, he put up 57 runs for the third wicket off 12.4 overs.

Two runs later, Fleming fell LBW to Chopra and after the departure of the duo in quick succession spelt doom for the Kiwis. The Indians kept on getting wickets at regular intervals to force the pace of the proceedings against their rivals.

Chris Harris remained defiant till the end with an unbeaten 32 (24 balls, 1x4) and alongwith Scott Styris (25) did give some anxious moments with their seventh wicket stand yielding 39 runs.

Even before Chopra started to throw down the last over, the visitors had virtually lost the match needing 22 runs to win. In the second ball of the over, Chopra removed Alex Tait off the second ball of the over and the celebrations started at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium even before the final delivery was sent down. Earlier in the day at a time when India were being projected to score inside 225, Ganguly and Robin sent the bowlers on a leather hunt to reach a respectable total against the visitors.

In the morning, Indian skipper Sachin Tendulkar seemed to have all the advantage when he won the toss on a perfect batting track. But as the match got under way, the sedate batting by the hosts turned the tide in favour of the visitors, at least in the first half of the Indian innings.

Sachin and Ganguly started on an extremely cautious note so much so that the first five overs produced only eight runs with 22 runs coming in the next five. The Indian skipper himself took his first run, the only one he scored in this match, off the 18th ball that he faced.

It was the pressure of scoring that claimed Sachin when he tried to square cut a delivery from Chris Drum way outside the off stump and an upper edge landed comfortable at the hands of Stephen Fleming in the first slip.

Rahul Dravid, the other centurian besides Sachin in the last match at Hyderabad, also could not hold out for long and rove uppishly to substitute Matthew Horne at mid-off after having contributed 14 off 31 balls (1x4) with the total reading 63 for 2.

With Indian scoring rate slightly above three per over (64 runs off 20 overs), Nikhil Chopra was promoted in the batting order to go for some pinch hitting. However, he was also cleanbowled by Nathan Astle for 15 while Ajay Jadeja followed suit with an identical contribution when the bowler held on to a hard hitting drive in his follow through. Vijay Bhardwaj (02) was run out as he rushed in for single when there was none and found himself alongwith Ganguly at the non-striker’s end.

With five wickets down at a merely total of 142 off 38.3 overs, the visitors seemed to be well in command of the proceedings. But after Robin joined Ganguly in the middle, the complexion of the match took a swift turn with their awesome strokeplay which aggravated as the overs passed by. India’s first 50 runs came on the board in 15.2 overs, the second in 14, the third in 10.5 and the fourth in just 6.1 overs. Ganguly reached his ninth one-day century off the last ball of the 43rd over off a single and after that the bowlers found it difficult to contain him with Robin setting the other end on fire with his big hitting.

Both the batsmen had no mercy on the bowlers, in particular Chris Drum and Chris Cairns who were whacked all over the ground in the closing stages.

Drum conceded 21 runs in his ninth over of which 20 came off Saurav’s bat (including one six and three boundaries) while Cairns gave away 19 runs in his ninth over. Saurav had started his big hits off Drum hitting him for two consecutive boundaries in the sixth over of the innings. The last over by Cairns accounted for 15 runs.

In all Ganguly had three sixes to his credit, the last one being a trifle fortuitous as the fielder on the mid-off fence could not grasp the ball which finally jumped over the fence. Besides Saurav had 18 hits to the ropes during his stay all through the Indian innings.

Robin was also in his typical elements hitting three sixes, one each of Nathan Astle, Scott Styris and Cairns, and one boundary off 34 balls for his unbeaten 45.

New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming did not invite left arm spinner Daniel Vettori to bowl at all, seemingly after watching Ganguly in full flow and considering his capabilities to exploit spin attack. Astle was the most successful of the lot taking two wickets for 47 runs.

New Zealand went into today’s match with one change in the side bringing in Alex Tait in place of Hayne o’Connor. (UNI)

Kumble rested, Pande in

VADODARA, Nov 11: Leading Indian wicket-taker, spinner Anil Kumble, has been rested from the two one-day internationals against New Zealand and will be replaced by Gyanendra Pande, Board of Control for Cricket in India Secretary J Y Lele announced here today. (UNI)

CGEWCC holds prize distribution function

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 11: The annual prize distribution function-cum-cultural programme was organised today by Central Government Employees Welfare Coordination Committee (CGEWCC) Jammu in the Auditorium of Regional Research Laboratory, Jammu.

The chief guest of the function was Prof SS Handa, Director, RRL, Jammu and Mr H Pradeep Rao, Accountant General, J&K State presided over the function.

Dr Naresh Kumar, Secretary, welcomed the guests on behalf of the committee and gave a brief resume about the activities of the committee.

A colourful cultural programme was presented by Radio Kashmir Jammu on this occasion which was greatly applauded.

The prizes were distributed among the players for different sports activities. In the end, Lt Col Shamsher Singh, Head, Survey of India, Jammu presented vote of thanks.

Football League Tournament
Vijay Club beat International 4-0 in replayed league tie

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 11: Vijay Club registered an impressive 4-0 win over International Club in a replayed league tie in the senior division in the ongoing Football League Tournament at Mini-Stadium, Parade, here this afternoon.

Vijay Club which is being considered as one of the contenders for the winners trophy, dominated the field completely. The first goal came in the very 10th minute through Joginder Kumar, who headed the ball into the net after getting a pass from Kamaljeet.

In rest of the first half game, score remained the same. However, after the breather, Mohit Verma struck in the 40th minute to add another goal in their tally. He took a shoot from top of the box piercing through International defense line.

Third goal was also scored by Joginder Kumar in the 45th minute again through header. This time Mohit had given him a pass from the corner which Joginder converted into goal without making any mistake.

Kamaljeet Singh scored the fourth goal in the 55th minute after getting a pass from Firdous.

Another well contested match of the senior division between Young Star and Churchill Brothers ended in a goalless draw. Earlier, first half was completely dominated by the Young Star wherein Shakti Kumar had got two opportunities, but missed.

In the second half, they remained on the top most of the time, but in the last 10 minutes game, Churchill Brothers created an upper edge. Ravi Sandhu had attempted a header after getting a rebound from Young Star goalkeeper, Samson Gill, but missed the target.

Young Star too got a corner in the dying minutes which they too missed ending the tie in a goalless draw. Peter Sandhu had guarded the goalpost for Churchill Brothers.

With today’s draw, Young Star has got nine points after playing five matches, while Churchill Brothers gathered five from three matches.

In the Junior division, Vijay Hero got walkover against Young Christians. Vijay Hero and Young Christians have completed their league round playing six matches each. Vijay Hero has three points, whereas Young Christians stands without any score.

Today’s matches were officiated by Messrs Iqbal Singh, Ramesh Chander, Suresh Kumar, Shiv Pal, Joginder Kumar, Sunny and Nirmokal Singh.

Tomorrow’s fixture: NGR Club V’s Yougmen, Gurah Salathia; National Club V/s Young Rovers; Young Hero V/s New Bharat.