DURBAN, Mar 20: Sourav Ganguly struck his third century of the tournament as India made a confident bid for the berth in the final by posting a huge score of 270 for four against Kenya in the World Cup semi-final here today.............more

Triangular series in Sharjah
Waqar, Akram, Shoaib
among seven Pak
players dropped

ISLAMABAD, Mar 20: In a massive clean-up exercise, Pakistan’s newly-appointed panel of selectors today dumped seven celebrated cricketers including sacked captain Waqar Younis and pace spearheads Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar and picked a new-look team for the Triangular Series in Sharjah next month......more

Lee says he’s ready
for Tendulkar

JOHANNESBURG, Mar 20: Fast bowler Brett Lee says he’s keen to test himself against...........more

Nehra to undergo ankle
operation after Cup

DURBAN, Mar 20: Left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra will undergo operation on his injured ankle......more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 20: Minister for Sports, Haji Nissar Ali will be meeting Chief Minister, Mufti Mohd Sayeed tomorrow to discuss......more

CGEWCC Sports Meet
Menon wins singles
final, team trophy goes
to ASI in Badminton

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 20: Menon Gupta of CDA won the singles final, while as the team event.....more

Arun in Indian team,
leaves for North-Korea

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 20: Jammu’s Arun Malhtora has been included in the Indian team.............more

Trials for selection of
Indian Style Wrestling
team on Mar 23

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 20: To name the Jammu and Kashmir team for the forthcoming Federation.....more

South Africa review plans for Sharjah ....

Australia turns solid with every game....
By Ian Chappell

Contracts issue to be discussed at ICC meeting....

Ganguly leads India to a huge total

DURBAN, Mar 20: Sourav Ganguly struck his third century of the tournament as India made a confident bid for the berth in the final by posting a huge score of 270 for four against Kenya in the World Cup semi-final here today.

Ganguly smashed an unbeaten 111 runs off 114 balls with 5 sixes and 5 fours and put on 103 runs for the second wicket with Sachin Tendulkar who notched up his seventh fifty in ten innings of this competition but once again failed to convert it into a hundred.

Tendulkar, who has a record 669 runs in this competition so far but just one century, was dismissed after a sedate knock of 83 which included five fours and a six.

Tendulkar put on 74 for the opening wicket with Virender Sehwag, who scored 33, after India elected to bat under overcast conditions.

With the threat of rains looming large, it was Ganguly who turned on the heat on the disciplined Kenyans with some big hits after the Indians seemed to be getting restricted a bit in the middle overs.

The Indian captain hit three huge sixes in three overs, two in an over from Collins Obuya, to quicken the Indian run rate which had been dwindling below four runs an over.

As slight drizzles began around the 30th over, Tendulkar also opened up and repeatedly came down the track though the dampness in the pitch made stroke play rather difficult.

Tendulkar, who has also been dismissed on 98 and 97 in this tournament, was out in the 38th over, caught by David Obuya when he pulled Kenyan skipper Steve Tikolo to the deep midwicket fence.

But Ganguly continued his march towards his 22nd one-day century, his fourth in a World Cup, which put him on par with Tendulkar and Australian Mark Waugh with maximum number of hundreds in the competition.

Ganguly added 56 runs for the third wicket with Kaif in just six overs. Kaif was run out for 15.

Ganguly hit Martin Suji for his fifth six to reach his second century against Kenya in this tournament. Ganguly had played a match winning 107 not out when the two teams met in the Super Six encounter. His other hundred came against Namibia in the league matches.

Earlier, Tendulkar and Sehwag gave India a lively start before the Kenyans pulled back a bit with some tight bowling and fielding.

Sehwag, who struck three boundaries in his 56-ball knock, scored most of the runs in the early overs but got bogged down a bit after that, failing to pierce the gaps. He was dismissed when he miscued an attempted big hit against Peter Ongondo which went high up in the sky for Maurice Odumbe to complete a well-judged catch.

Tendulkar also found it a bit difficult to play the big shots but he made it up by rotating the strike and picking up runs in singles and twos.

Yuvraj Singh contributed an useful 16 runs towards the end which came off just 10 deliveries with a four and a six. (PTI)

SCOREBOARD

India:

V Sehwag c Odumbe b Ongondo 33

S Tendulkar c D Obuya b Tikolo 83

S Ganguly not out 111

M Kaif run out 15

Yuvraj Singh c D Obuya b Odoyo 16

R Dravid not out 1

Extras (w-9, nb-2) 11

Total (for 4 wkts, 50 overs) 270

Fall of wickets: 1-74, 2-177, 3-233, 4-267.

Bowling: Suji 10-1-62-0, Odoyo 10-1-45-1, Ongondo 10-1-38-1, Karim 4-0-25-0, Tikolo 10-0-60-1, C Obuya 6-0-40-0.(PTI)

Triangular series in Sharjah
Waqar, Akram, Shoaib among seven Pak players dropped

ISLAMABAD, Mar 20: In a massive clean-up exercise, Pakistan’s newly-appointed panel of selectors today dumped seven celebrated cricketers including sacked captain Waqar Younis and pace spearheads Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar and picked a new-look team for the Triangular Series in Sharjah next month.

Also out of the 16-member team were off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, batting mainstays Saeed Anwar and Inzamam-ul Haq, and all-rounder Azhar Mahmood, chief selector Aamir Sohail told reporters in Lahore.

The team, which has only seven players from Pakistan’s disastrous World Cup campaign and three new faces, was selected at the behest of newly-appointed captain Rashid Latif, Sohail said.

However, Sohail emphasised that it was not the end of the road for the senior cricketers.

"We have not closed the chapter on superstars. On the basis of just one poor tournament, their past achievements and heroics cannot be forgotten," Sohail said.

"It has been a very difficult decision to leave out the maestros but we are looking for future. This is the beginning of a rebuilding phase and some of the bitter pills will have to be swallowed.’’

"We will have to keep patience, wait and hope for the young guns to justify their talent," he said.

Pakistan made an ignominious first-round exit from the World Cup which included a humiliating loss to India.

Besides Latif, the new vice-captain Yousuf Youhana, Taufeeq Umer, Saleem Elahi, Younis Khan, Abdur Razzaq and Mohammad Sami were the other members of the World Cup squad to have retained their place in the side.

Mohammad Hafeez, Rana Naveedul Hasan and Umar Gul are the three uncapped players in the side while Misbah-ul Haq, naved Latif, Faisal Iqbal, Shoaib Malik, Danish Kaneria and Mohammad Zahid have been recalled.

Explaining the exclusions, Sohail said Shoaib needed to work on his fitness while Inzamam and Saqlain needed a break from international cricket. His former opening partner Anwar, Sohail said, required to improve his fielding.

"As far as Inzi (Inzamam) is concerned, if you recall he had a lean period against Australia in 1999-2000. He was dropped but when he came back, he was charged up and piled up runs. I think he needs rest, regroups himself and recharge his batteries because I strongly feel he has at least three years of cricket left in him," Sohail said.

"Saeed Anwar, we all know that he is around but probably needs to improve his fielding a little bit. You see in one-day cricket, you have to have young legs because you field, bat and bowl for 100 overs.

"As regards Saqlain Mushtaq, he has looked out of sorts in the last six months and probably needs a break from international cricket. Likewise, Shoaib Akhtar also needs to work on his fitness," he said.

Sohail said all the demands of the captain were accepted by the selection panel. "We have fully backed Rashid because he is the man who is going to lead the team in the field.

"But he has been told in clear terms that there should not be any experiments and the players will have to play in their positions unless situation demands some reshuffle in the batting order," he said.

Latif himself justified the inclusion of youngsters, saying it was the right time to blood them in.

"I think it is the right time to throw the youngsters in and let them show what they have got. In the absence of the big boys, I think they will realise their responsibilities more than ever," he said.

"The problem is that we did not try the youngsters in the past and, therefore, we do not know if the back-up boys have the talent, temperament and potential to carry on the good work left by the seniors. We have to persist with the youngsters and keep throwing them in until we are convinced about the future," he said.

Among the newcomers, Hafeez is a right-handed opening batsman and a useful off-spinner while Rana Naveed is a fast bowling all-rounder. Umar Gul is a right-arm fast-medium bowler.

The Sharjah tournament starts on April one and has Sri Lanka and South Africa as the other two teams. (PTI)

Lee says he’s ready for Tendulkar

JOHANNESBURG, Mar 20: Fast bowler Brett Lee says he’s keen to test himself against Indian opener Sachin Tendulkar in the World Cup final after Australian coach John Buchanan dubbed him the new Jeff Thomson of cricket.

The Lee vs. Tendulkar duel looms as the most anticipated head-to-head in the World Cup and the outcome will be determined by who comes out on top - if India qualifies for Sunday’s final at Wanderers.

Tendulkar, the most successful batsman in one-day cricket, leads the runmakers here with a record 586 runs before today’s semifinal against Kenya.

Lee has been at his devastating best lately, increasing his haul to 20 wickets as he’s tormented opposition batsmen with his blistering pace.

"It would be great to bowl against the world’s best batsman," said lee. "He’s a great character. He’s tall in stature but he’s not really tall in height.’’

"If you bowl a bad line and length then you just get dispatched. It’s pretty hard to bowl to Sachin because no matter where you put the ball, he always seems to find a spot to hit it in."

Lee’s form with ball has hit a career high since he started to share the new ball with Glenn McGrath since the departure of fast bowler Jason Gillespie with a tendon tear.

"The last four or five months it’s been feeling pretty good," said lee. "I got a bit of a roll on I suppose. We’re trying not to look too far ahead. (AP)

Nehra to undergo ankle operation after Cup

DURBAN, Mar 20: Left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra will undergo operation on his injured ankle but only after the World Cup as he is determined to be part of history as India ready to get past Kenya and book a final berth after 20 years.

Nehra, who has been a revelation for India in this competition, admitted it was not easy bowling with a strapped ankle but was in no mood to miss the semi-final against Kenya today.

An operation on the ankle, which Nehra damaged in India’s opening game against Holland, would mean the bowler will miss action for at least three weeks.

"It is not easy bowling with a strapped ankle and such injuries do not get healed easily," Nehra said.

"But this is one of the greatest moments of my career —playing in a World Cup semi-final and pain or no pain, I am going to play," Nehra was quoted as saying on the world cup’s official website today.

Despite the injury, Nehra was optimistic about his fitness. "I think this World Cup has proved to one and all a thing or two about my fitness. People have been commenting on my fitness and I cannot shut everyone up but I think I have done justice to my team," he said.

Nehra’s commitment has impressed one and all including captain Sourav Ganguly. Nehra defied pain and returned to take six for 23, the best bowling performance by an Indian in the World Cup, against England.

Nehra has taken 13 wickets so far in this world cup. (PTI)

Sports Minister to meet CM today

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 20: Minister for Sports, Haji Nissar Ali will be meeting Chief Minister, Mufti Mohd Sayeed tomorrow to discuss the future course of action aftermath the resignation of the Secretary Sports Council.

According to reliable sources, the meeting is scheduled to take place at 12 noon.

Meanwhile, general secretary of the J&K Olympic Association and former joint secretary of the Sports Council, Ashutosh Sharma has denied that he has submitted his resumes for the post of Secretary, State Sports Council.

"It is too small a post for me to apply for. I am no more interested for the post of Secretary Sports Council", said Ashutosh Sharma today.

Director, Physical Education, University of Kashmir, Prof Khushid Tarzon too has clarified that he has not submitted any kind of papers to the Government, but at the same time he did not rule out the possibility of his being considered for the post.

"I have not submitted any resumes to the Government and neither I ever discussed this issue with any body in the Government", he said and added, "since I am already well placed and have a lot to my credit, if asked for any assignment, I will consider it".

With two individuals, who as per the sources were in the race for the Secretary’s post, denied the reports, only four persons have been left for the race.

Since the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohd Sayeed has already spoke much about promoting the indigenous games, the chances of Kuldeep Gupta, general secretary of the J&K Kabaddi Association has been brightened.