CHANDIGARH, Dec 6: Legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev is a saddened person over the Abhijeet Kale episode as "it is an unpleasant controversy in the history of Indian cricket. I am at loss to understand how can one afford to spare Rs 20 lakhs to pay for playing cricket".............more

Rain thwarts play
on third day

BRISBANE, Dec 6: Rain thwarted the first cricket Test between India and Australia from developing into an pulsating contest, washing almost the whole of third day’s play at the Gabba here today..................more

Gilchrist still
confident of
result in Gabba

BRISBANE, Dec 6: Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist today said that despite loss of substantial play due to rain, his side could still force a result in the first cricket Test against India at Gabba.................more

Rangan Herath packs
off India A for 172

MUMBAI, Dec 6: Left-arm spinner Rangan Herath took four for 34 as Sri Lanka a bowled India-A out for 172 in less than............more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 6: Jammu and Kashmir Police in men section and Jammu district in women emerged winners of Sher-i-Kashmir Gold Cup State Kabaddi Tournament.......more

13th State Billiards & Snooker Championship
Kamal misses berth
in Billiards final too

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 6: In the last six years, it happened for the first time when Kamal Rohmetra will not.......more

District Gymnastics
meet begins

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 6: Two-day Jammu district Gymnastics championship, organised by the J&K Gymnastics Association, begun........more

PG Arts bags Hockey trophy

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 6: Post Graduate Departments (PG) of Arts today defeated the defending champion, Government MAM.....more

Jammu Public School holds annual day.....

District level science exhibition held at Poonch.....

Tourism Deptt organises Kayaking course at Mansar.....

Abhijeet Kale episode saddens Kapil

CHANDIGARH, Dec 6: Legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev is a saddened person over the Abhijeet Kale episode as "it is an unpleasant controversy in the history of Indian cricket. I am at loss to understand how can one afford to spare Rs 20 lakhs to pay for playing cricket".

These were the comments of former Haryana Hurricane, made in the course of his tete-a-tete with children of schools here and in Mohali yesterday. His visit as the ‘Max brand ambassador’ was to promote ‘Kapil under 19 cricket World Cup’ to be hosted by Bangladesh in February-March next year.

Recalling his own episode(fixing of matches), he said if one was clear in his thoughts, everything would just fall in its right place and in good time.

The visit of the "cricketer of the millennium" to Yadvendra Public School in Mohali and the St Stephen’s School here was in connection his itinerary to tour schools in 11 cities across the country. His itinerary included visit to schools in Baroda, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune and Mumbai.

The cricketing icon giving a pep talk to the students said he loved interacting with children and encouraging them to do their best for the country. His advice to the youngsters was to imbibe discipline, work hard and with dedication. Every kid must include sports in his day-to-day life so as to absorb the qualities required in the life.

The students were excited to find themselves with the ‘son of the soil’, who from a "child of the team", grew to such dizzy heights, which many of his contemporaries from the city beautiful could not achieve.

The students sporting yellow and white sun shade head gears, bearing Kapil’s signatures, learnt the tricks of bowling and batting from the former all rounder. (UNI)

Rain thwarts play on third day

BRISBANE, Dec 6: Rain thwarted the first cricket Test between India and Australia from developing into an pulsating contest, washing almost the whole of third day’s play at the Gabba here today.

After the entire first two sessions were washed out, only 32 ball were bowled before another spell of steady drizzle brought the game to an early halt on a gloomy day.

In the brief period, Australia failed to add to their overnight score of 323 as they lost their last wicket off the first ball of the day.

Stuart MacGill tried to pull a loosener from Ajit Agarkar but ended up skying a simple catch to Aakash Chopra in the gully region.

The wicket gave Agarkar figures of three for 90, while Zaheer Khan was the pick of the bowler for the tourists with five for 95.

At close, India were 11 for no loss with opening batsmen Aakash Chopra and Virender Sehwag on an identical score of five.

In all, only 84.2 overs had been bowled in three days of action. But the met men had encouraging news for the cricket fans with clear skies forecast for tomorrow and the day after.

Chopra looked steady against the Australian new-ball bowlers but Virender Sehwag had his moments of doubts against in-coming deliveries from debutant left-arm paceman Nathan Bracken.

Gillespie, returning to the Australian team after missing the Indian tour because of side-strain, looked sharp but Chopra showed neat footwork against the aggressive fast bowler.

Sehwag could once drive bracken on the onside but he had problems in picking the bowler’s line who mostly bowled inswinging deliveries at the Indian openers.

Although the wet conditions helped the ball swing, the dampness in the pitch meant Gillespie and Bracken could not hit the maximum speed they were capable of.

That however could change tomorrow when the sun comes out shining. (PTI)

SCOREBOARD

Australia first innings (overnight 323-9)

J Langer lbw b Agarkar 121

M Hayden c Laxman b Khan 37

R Ponting c Patel b Khan 54

D Martyn run out 42

S Waugh hit wicket b Khan 0

S Katich c Patel b Khan 16

A Gilchrist c Laxman b Khan 0

A Bichel c Laxman b Agarkar 11

J Gillespie run out 8

N Bracken not out 6

S MacGill c Chopra b Agarkar 1

Extras (b-4 lb-7 nb-14 w-2) 27

Total (all out, 78.1 overs) 323

Fall of wickets: 1-73 2-162 3-268 4-275 5-275 6-276 7-302 8-310 9-317

Bowling: Khan 23-2-95-5 (nb-12), Nehra 15-4-51-0 (nb-2), Agarkar 25.1-5-90-3 (w-2), Harbhajan 14-1-68-0, Ganguly 1-0-8-0

India first innings

A Chopra not out 5

V Sehwag not out 5

Extras (lb-1) 1

Total (for no wicket, 6.1 overs) 11

To bat: VVS Laxman, S Tendulkar, R Dravid, S Ganguly, A Agarkar, P Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, A Nehra.

Bowling: Gillespie 3.1-2-1-0, Bracken 3-0-9-0. (AGENCIES)

Gilchrist still confident of result in Gabba

BRISBANE, Dec 6: Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist today said that despite loss of substantial play due to rain, his side could still force a result in the first cricket Test against India at Gabba.

"Weather permitting, we have still two days left in this Test. There is a lot in this wicket and you never know. We have put 300 runs on the board and if our bowlers could consistently put the ball in the right areas, we could have a result," said Gilchrist.

After the rain-truncated first two days, only 38 balls were possible on the third day today when Australia were all out for 323 and Indians replied with 11 for no loss.

Gilchrist though was not sure if his side would look to rush up their second innings later during the match and try and force a result.

"We did it against New Zealand and we nearly lost the game. It could have cost us the series."

"So we would be taking that into account. We would have to look at the variables, we are keen to chase results but it doesn’t mean it would happen here.

"Still it would be Stephen’s (Waugh) call," he said.

Gilchrist praised Indian openers — Aakash Chopra and Virender Sehwag — for their willingness to dig in during the six-odd overs of their innings on the third day. (PTI)

Rangan Herath packs off India A for 172

MUMBAI, Dec 6: Left-arm spinner Rangan Herath took four for 34 as Sri Lanka a bowled India-A out for 172 in less than 50 overs on the opening day of the four-day third cricket Test match at the Braboune Stadium here today.

But the visitors found themselves in a tight spot when they came out to bat, being reduced to 69 four four in 23 overs at stumps.

India-a skipper Shiv Sunder Das won the toss in the morning and elected to bat first. However, some insipid batting performance by the hosts saw them lose their last six wickets for just five runs off 22 balls after they were coasting at 138 for three at one stage.

Herath, who was on a hat-trick twice but failed to claim the feat, bowled a superb line and length and was ably supported by right-arm medium pacers Lashita Malinga (two for 49) and Taranga Lakshita (two for 49).

The top order batsmen were left blaming themselves for the situation their team found in. The top four — S S Das (39 off 60 balls), Gautam Gambir (18 off 24 balls), Mohammed Kaif (33 off 64 balls) and Hemang Badani (47 off 65 balls) — got off to starts but failed to covert those into big scores.

Second Test century maker Rohan Gavaskar (6) and Ambathi Rayudu (8) disappointed going for rash strokes too early in their innings while India-A’s tail failed to wag.

After bowling out India-A 20 minutes before tea in 47.3 overs, the visitors were precariously placed at 69 for four off 23.2 over before their skipper Naveed Nawaz (batting 46 off 81 balls) and A Polonowita (batting 38 off 61 balls) steadied the innings with an unbroken fifth wicket partnership of 65 runs. (PTI)

J&K Police, Jammu share Kabaddi titles
*J&K Police to host all India Police Kabaddi meet: Aggarwal

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 6: Jammu and Kashmir Police in men section and Jammu district in women emerged winners of Sher-i-Kashmir Gold Cup State Kabaddi Tournament that concluded today at MA Stadium, here.

Men’s champion, J&K Police defeated Jammu district in the final 24-11 (7-2). Earlier, Jammu district skipper, Jasdev won the toss and took away the gold coin. Later, Policemen dominated the field beating Jammu on both as raiders and catchers. Dharamjeet Singh, Ajay Sharma and Gurmeet Singh were the architects of Police’s victory while from Jammu, Tarandeep Singh, Vinod, Sandeep and Jasdev fought well.

Earlier, in semi-finals, J&K Police defeated Poonch and Jammu outplayed Kathua.

In women’s final, Jammu district beat Kathua 50-20 (ht 31-11) in a one sided contest. Earlier, the toss was won by Kathua. For Jammu, Meenu Sharma, Sukhmeet Kour, Amit Kour and Jasmine Kour played well. Rinkle and Nisha made excellent raids for Kathua.

In the semi-finals, Jammu beat Pulwama and Kathua got walkover Baramulla, who did not turn-up.

On the basis of performance, Vinod and Meenu Sharma, both from Jammu district, were adjudged as best players in men and women section respectively. They were presented with a golden chain by the organisers.

Earlier, before the start of the women’s final, chief guest, Omar Abdullah was introduced with the teams. Because of his scheduled visit to Delhi, Omar left before the prize distribution function.

Naveen Aggarwal, IGP, presided over the prize distribution function.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Aggarwal disclosed that the J&K Police has decided to host the All India Police Kabaddi Tournament at Jammu. He further said that J&K police has also picked the names of some promising Kabaddi players for strengthening the Police team.

Others, who witnessed the finals were Dinesh Gupta, Mohan Lal Gupta and B S Tirthi, incharge STC Udhampur.

Earlier, general secretary of the J&K Kabaddi Association, Kuldeep Gupta briefed the gathering about the Sher-i-Kashmir Gold Cup Kabaddi Tournament.

Meanwhile, the J&K Amateur Kabaddi Association has been promised by two National Conference MLCs, Depinder Kour and Brij Mohan Sharma an assistance of Rs one lakh each for the development of a flood light Kabaddi fields within the MA Stadium premises.