Zaheer scalps three
as India gets on top

AHMEDABAD, Oct 9: India today exposed the chinks in both the bowling and batting departments of the New Zealanders to be right on top at close of the second day’s play in the first test being played at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium, Motera, here today................more

Dravid is one of modern
era greats: Ganguly

AHMEDABAD, Oct 9: Skipper Sourav Ganguly today put his deputy on the elite pedestal calling him one of the game’s greats in the modern era after Rahul Dravid put India in command with a masterly 222................more

Hayden punishes
Zimbabwe

PERTH, Oct 9: Stately left-hander Matthew Hayden shrugged off a painful back injury to fashion a dazzling century as...............more

J&K Bank Soccer team
calls on Chairman

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 9: Jammu and Kashmir Bank Football team today called on Bank’s Chief Executive (Chairman), M Y Khan to appraise him of the team’s............more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 9: Sumesh Turki today upset Kuldeep Sharma, the defending champion......more

KV Miran Sahib Judokas
help Jammu Region
win Judo trophy

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 9: Judokas from Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) Miran Sahib guided Jammu..........more

J&K Kabaddi teams
announced for
Sub-Junior Nationals

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 9: Jammu and Kashmir Amateur Kabaddi Association today announced the teams...........more

Volleyball finals
postponed due to
bad weather

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Oct 9: Finals of the District Udhampur Volleyball Championship.....more

Zaheer scalps three as India gets on top

AHMEDABAD, Oct 9: India today exposed the chinks in both the bowling and batting departments of the New Zealanders to be right on top at close of the second day’s play in the first test being played at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium, Motera, here today.

Zaheer Khan with a burst of three for 17 perfectly complimented the batting exploits of centurions Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly to leave the black caps tottering at 41 for three at the close of play in reply to India’s mammoth 500 for five declared.

The Kiwis, who are 459 runs behind, still require 260 to avoid the follow on with seven wickets in hand. Scott Styris on 10 and Nathan Astle on 13 were at the crease when stumps were drawn for the day.

If the final session belonged to speedster Zaheer Khan, then the first two belonged to double centurion Dravid, who notched up his highest test score of 222 beating his previous best of 217 against England at the oval last year.

He also became the highest scorer on this ground beating Sachin Tendulkar’s 217 that he had scored four years ago also against the Kiwis.

The Indian captain, who started scratchily, also came into his own later to notch up his tenth century and put on 182 runs for the fifth wicket with Dravid after the early exit of Laxman (64) this morning.

Ganguly also had his problems with the umpires and Rudi Koertzen deducted two runs of his for the second warning for running onto the wickets. The Indian skipper took some time to stroke the ball well at the beginning, but after seeing Dravid a picture of confidence at the other, he also blossomed out to hit three sixes in his 211-ball hundred.

Dravid, however, was the star and it looked from his poise and craft that the pace and spin of the Kiwi attack had no effect on him as he hit the ball all over with ease. He also hit a huge six off Daniel Vettori stepping down the wicket to loft him over long on.

He reached his 200 with a flick of Styris to the mid wicket boundary in a marathon stay of 547 minutes and faced 365 balls in which he had 24 fours and one six.

After tea, Dravid went for the bowling and fell in his quest for quick runs for the team edging Jacob Oram to Robbie Hart behind the stumps for 222 in 387 balls with 28 boundaries and a six.

The local boy Parthiv also gave the partisan crowd much to cheer about, hitting five boundaries including three in one over from Oram to remain unbeaten on 29 when Ganguly applied the declaration after reaching his century.

Suddenly when the New Zealanders came into bat, the wicket seemed to have been transformed and the bowlers were making the ball talk.

Requiring to negotiate 19 overs in the day, Zaheer Khan rocked them with a fiery burst of three for 17 at one stage before Styris and Astle brought back some respectibility to the proceedings adding 24 more runs before stumps were called for the day.

Zaheer started the Mayhem by castling Mark Richardon, who got an inside edge onto the stumps playing away from the body and then removed the other opener Lou Vincent with a ball that left him just a wee bit to take its edge for Parthiv Patel to complete a good diving catch to his right.

Zaheer then got the prize scalp of New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming shouldering arms only to see the ball jag back to uproot his off stump. (UNI)

Dravid is one of modern era greats: Ganguly

AHMEDABAD, Oct 9: Skipper Sourav Ganguly today put his deputy on the elite pedestal calling him one of the game’s greats in the modern era after Rahul Dravid put India in command with a masterly 222.

"Even before this knock I have always believed that Rahul is one of the greats. He is a fine player and to have scored 15 centuries from 70 tests is no mean feat," Ganguly said after India cornered New Zealand by first amassing 500 for five declared and then reducing the visitors to 41 for three.

"Apart from that he has so many thousands of runs and his records speak for themselves and it was a pleasure to bat with him," said Ganguly who remained unbeaten on 100.

On fast bowler Zaheer Khan’s fine opening spell (3 for 16) that rattled the visitors, the skipper said the Baroda speedster has improved a lot in the last 18 months.

"He is a very changed bowler in the last year and half. He has become much fitter and stronger after training under Adrian Le Roux and now under Greg King. He has been an outstanding bowler for some time now.

"I am now looking forward to Javagal Srinath’s decision on the forthcoming tour to Australia as experience counts a lot," he said.

Ganguly said it is always a plus to start the season with a hundred. "It is always good to score runs especially and to get a hundred at the start of the season in very satisfying." Ganguly also confirmed that V V S Laxman coming in ahead of him in the middle order was no strategic move.

"I was not fit and was suffering from groin pain and I could not have batted on yesterday. Even today, I was feeling a bit uncomfortable initially but played on. I am happy I could do well," he said.

Commenting about the warning he received from the two umpires David Shepherd and Rudi Koertzen for running on the wicket, Ganguly put his hands up saying it was not intentional.

"Running on the wicket was not intentional. The umpires warned me once and I must have done it again as they warned again," he said. "I agree they are the boss on the field.

"They told me that they will be deducting two runs after I ran on the wicket for the second time and I think they are the ones who make the decisions," Ganguly said accepting the punishment.

The Kolkatan, who is just one win short of joining Mohammed Azharuddin as India’s most successful Test skipper, said it is nice to dictate terms from the second day itself. (PTI)

Hayden punishes Zimbabwe

PERTH, Oct 9: Stately left-hander Matthew Hayden shrugged off a painful back injury to fashion a dazzling century as world champions Australia made undermanned Zimbabwe pay dearly for a major tactical blunder in the first cricket Test here today.

Sent in by Zimbabwe skipper Heath Streak after he won the toss, the home country romped to 372 for three wickets on a pitch which played far more comfortably than Streak had expected when he made his big gamble. (AFP)

J&K Bank Soccer team calls on Chairman

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 9: Jammu and Kashmir Bank Football team today called on Bank’s Chief Executive (Chairman), M Y Khan to appraise him of the team’s achievements since January this year.

Chairman was today that out of a total of 35 matches played, Bank won 29 and lost five match with one game ending in a draw. Three trophies exhibited on the occasion were Ist place State League Championship 2002-03, 2rd place in Bank Olympiad and Ist place in Kashmir League 2003-04.

Mr Khan congratulated the Football team for showing excellent performance. The team also affirmed Mr Khan that efforts would be strengthened to flourish the name of the institution.

Team was accompanied by General Manager, Shamas Farooq and Deputy General Manager, Manzoor Ahmad Shah.

The J&K Bank team is to take part in the title clash of J&K State League Championship, forthcoming Durand Cup at Delhi and inter-bank competition at Chandigarh in November.

District Billiards & Snooker Championships
Sumesh upsets Kuldeep on way to Junior Snooker final

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 9: Sumesh Turki today upset Kuldeep Sharma, the defending champion, on way to final of the Junior Snooker in the Jammu District Billiards and Snooker Championship being held at Billiards Hall, MA Stadium, here.

Going through the winning margin of Sumesh in the initial rounds of the competitions, a tough fight was expected from him against title holder Kuldeep Sharma. But the way Sumesh played today, he surprised one and all beating the once tough cueist to beat, Kuldeep Sharma. The score: 58-71, 66-47, 34-69, 64-26, 73-28.

In the second semi-final, last year’s runners-up, Nishant Azad defeated Ritesh Gupta after facing a tough fight. Nishant was surprised by Ritesh in the first frame winning it with a wide margin 67-13. However, Nishant equalised the score 1-1 and then made it a 2-1 lead winning the third frame 72-43. Ritesh against shattered Nishant’s confidence equalising the score with fourth frame win 75-37. However, in the deciding fifth frame, Nishant had some better potting thereby winning the frame and the game 3-2. The score: 13-67, 63-33, 72-43, 37-75, 76-47.