Daily Excelsior.........sports

India rely on spin trick
to clinch series win

KOLKATA, Dec 2: India relied on their spin trumpcard Harbhajan Singh’s guiles to clinch their first home series win in two years with a facile eight-wicket victory over South Africa in the second cricket Test here today.............more

Ganguly all praise
for his spin twins

KOLKATA, Dec 2: Triumphant skipper Sourav Ganguly credited Harbhajan Singh for "turning the game around" but did not fail to mention the contribution of Anil Kumble to the eight-wicket victory that India registered against South Africa here today...............more

Laxman, Kumble ‘rested’
for Bangla ODI series

KOLKATA, Dec 2: The national selectors today omitted stylish batsman V V S Laxman and leg-spinner Anil Kumble and named two uncapped youngsters in the Indian squad for the three one-day internationals against Bangladesh this month..................more

Indo-Pak Punjab
Games torch to
arrive today

CHANDIGARH, Dec 2: To commemorate the historic Indo-Pak Punjab Games commencing Sunday, a torch relay carrying the message of goodwill and understanding from Pakistan will reach here through Wagah Border tomorrow afternoon.................more

Karan guides GGM to
7-wkt win over MAM

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 2: The GGM Science College today entered into the semi-finals of inter-college cricket tournament in style beating Government MAM College by seven wickets in the quarterfinal match played at University ground, here.................more

RCA’s 4th qualifying round begins
Sports Stadium XI
wins opening tie

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Dec. 2: Sports Stadium XI won the inaugural match of fourth qualifying round for the North Zone cricket tournament, to be organised by Roshni Cricket Academy, at Sports Stadium, here.............more

Haji Nisar reviews
KU sports scenario

Excelsior Correpsondent

Srinagar, Dec 2: Minister of Youth Services and Sports, Haji Nisar Ali today visited the Physical Education department Section.............more

North-Zone AG cricket
tourney from Dec 6

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 2: Chief Secretary, Dr S S Bloeria will declare open the North Zone Indian Audit and Accounts Department cricket tournament.......more

India rely on spin trick to clinch series win

Chasing a victory target 117 runs on a difficult Eden Gardens track, the hosts lost dangerman Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir before they romped home ten minutes before the tea interval to break a rather prolonged win-less streak at home.

Sachin Tendulkar slammed a boundary to take India to victory and send a vociferous home crowd into a frenzy on the final day after off-spinner Harbhajan Singh had quickly put the lid on the South African second innings with figures of 7 for 87.

Rahul Dravid (47) and Tendulkar (32) were at the crease to bring about the much-awaited series triumph with the home team scoring 120 for two on a pitch which provided plenty of assistance to the slow bowlers.

The Indians did well to wrap up the South African second innings for 222 within 72 minutes this morning, polishing off the last five wickets for just 50 runs with the two spinners Harbhajan and Anil Kumble (3/82) accounting for all the ten wickets.

Though Harbhajan did the bulk of the damage, Kumble made it a memorable match by equalling former captain and coach Kapil Dev’s Indian Test record of 434 wickets.

The last time India won a home series was in 2002-03 when they defeated the West Indies with a 2-0 verdict but drew a series against New Zealand in 2003-04 and lost to Australia 1-2 this season.

The 1-0 series victory following the drawn first Test in Kanpur was also India’s first series win over the South Africans in eight years since their 2-1 victory at home in 1996.

Resuming at 172 for five, South Africa lost their premier batsman Jacques Kallis (55) in the fourth over of the morning.

Kallis was surprised by Harbhajan’s extra bounce and offered a simple return catch to bring an end to his 135-minute vigil during which he hit four boundaries.

The ‘turbanator’ then dealt a double blow when he had Shaun Pollock and Justin Ontong dismissed in three balls.

Pollock was unfortunate as he padded up and the ball hit the knee roll before Gautam Gambhir scooped it up at short leg.

Television replays showed no contact between bat and ball but Daryl Harper, who had rejected a similar appeal against Kallis yesterday, raised his finger after some deliberation, much to the joy of the Indians.

But the dismissal came not before Pollock had achieved the rare double of 3,000 runs and 300 wickets in Test cricket.

Two balls later, ontong missed a sweep off Harbhajan and the ball climbed up after hitting his wrist for a simple catch to the wicketkeeper.

Kumble then beat Thami Tsolekile’s defence to knock his off-stump before Ntini edged him to Dravid at first slip to become his record victim.

Kumble achieved the milestone in 90 Test matches whereas Kapil Dev had taken the same number of wickets in 131 Test matches in 1994.

The veteran leg-spinner who had started his Test career against England in Manchester in 1990, also has the distinction of being only the second bowler in Test history after Jim Laker of England to take all 10 wickets in an innings. He had achieved this remarkable feat against Pakistan in Delhi in 1998-99.

Tsolekile had no clue to the sharp turn from Kumble and ended up playing inside the line.

Last man Ntini was adventurous while De Bruyn at the other end too decided to play his shots.

De Bruyn was successful in his reverse sweep off Harbhajan but the partnership ended when Ntini fell to Kumble.

Sehwag (10) then fell to Ntini for the second time in the match but Gambhir and Dravid were bold in playing their shots and quickly took the momentum away from the visitors.

Gambhir (26) was ruled leg before when he offered no stroke to a Rudolph deliver that hardly rose above the ankle.

Tendulkar then joined dravid at the crease and although he seemed hesitant in the beginning, began to play his shots once he got his eye in.

Tendulkar was lucky when a low delivery from Andrew Hall missed the off stump but he asserted himself by lofting ontong over the long on ropes.

Dravid at the other end was sure in his touch. He did not miss out on loose balls either, whipping the full tosses from makeshift slow bowlers to the boundary with disdain.

The vice captain then was unlucky to not reach his half century as Tendulkar turned ontong to third man fence before bringing up the winning runs by pulling a long hop to midwicket.

SCOREBOARD

South Africa 1st innings: 305

India 1st innings: 411

South Africa 2nd innings:

G Smith c Laxman b Harbhajan 71

A Hall c Kaarthick b Harbhajan 21

J Rudolph lbw b Harbhajan 3

J Kallis c and b Harbhajan 55

H Amla c Laxman b Harbhajan 2

B Dippenaar c Sehwag b Kumble 2

Z De Bruyn not out 32

S Pollock c Gambhir b Harbhajan 6

J Ontong c Kaarthick b Harbhajan 0

T Tsolekile b Kumble 1

M Ntini c Dravid b Kumble 12

Extras (b-12, lb-2, nb-3) 17

Total (all out in 74.4 overs) 222

Fall of wickets: 1-77, 2-81, 3-126, 4-138, 5-147, 6-183, 7-193, 8-193, 9-194.

Bowling: Pathan 5-1-17-0, Zaheer 5-0-22-0, Kumble 34.4-8-82-3, Harbhajan 30-3-87-7.

India 2nd innings:

V Sehwag c Smith b Ntini 10

G Gambhir lbw 26

R Dravid not out 47

S Tendulkar not out 32

Extras (lb-1, nb-4) 5

Total (for 2 wkts in 39.4 overs) 120

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-60.

Bowling: Shaun Pollock 7-1-22-0, Makhaya Ntini 4-0-11-1, Justin Ontong 10.4-1-44-0, Jacques Rudolf 8-1-24-1, Graeme Smith 7-1-16-0, Andrew Hall 3-2-2-0. (PTI)

Ganguly all praise for his spin twins

Ganguly also said he had feared that the match would peter out into a draw since the wicket was flat but was glad that the spinners exploited the rough well to fashion a 1-0 series win.

"It was a pretty flat wicket. I was wondering whether the match would end in a draw as the track was not giving any assistance to the bowlers. But the footmarks were pretty prominent and it helped the spinners (in the second innings)," he said at the presentation ceremony after the match.

Ganguly said while Harbhajan did well in taking seven second innings wickets, Kumble’s contribution could not be overlooked.

"Anil also bowled well, sometimes you bowl well but don’t get enough wickets. He kept it tight from the other end. Of course Harbhajan bowled very well and turned the game around."

Praising Kumble for equalling Kapil Dev’s record of taking maximum wickets for India, he said his commitment had been unwavering over the years.

"I have been playing alongside Kumble for the last 10 years and his commitment is still the same," he said.

On the other hand, rival captain Graeme Smith admitted that the side missed a specialist spinner who could have made all the difference to his team’s fortunes.

"We missed a frontline spinner. India could have been put under pressure in the second innings if we had a specialist spinner in our ranks," said Smith even as he praised his players for showing a lot of determination.

Looking back, Smith said his team could have put itself in a winning position had it managed to score around 400 runs in the first innings.

"Winning the toss and not being able to score 400 proved crucial. We did well in the second innings though. Had we set a target of 200, it would have been difficult to chase for India on a fifth day track," he said.

Smith singled out Jacques Kallis for special praise for his 121 in the first innings and 55 in the second.

"Kallis stood up, he took off a lot of heat from the guys. Ntini also bowled well, in fact the whole team showed a lot of determination."

On coach Ray Jennings, who was on his first assignment here, he said, he had brought about a refreshing change with his new work ethics.

"He is superb, I am sure he will get the results that he is hoping for in near future," he said adding the team would try to perform better in their upcoming series against England.

Smith said the entire team had "enjoyed the Indian trip, the people and their culture."

Man-of-the-series Virender Sehwag said he owed his good Test form to his teammates.

On the Edens track, Sehwag said it was difficult to bat early on in the innings but once the batsman got into a groove he could not be dismissed easily.

Man-of-the-match Harbhajan Singh said Eden Gardens has always been special for him as it was here that he marked his comeback to cricket with a 13-wicket haul, including a hat-trick against Australia.

Asked if he had some special strategy in place today, he said, "I just go out there, do my best and leave the rest to God."

Harbhajan also said he was most pleased with his dismissal of Kallis.

"He is a great player, the way he batted in both the innings, it was not easy. I was very pleased to get him out." (PTI)

Laxman, Kumble ‘rested’ for Bangla ODI series

While Laxman and Kumble were "rested", Haryana pacer Joginder Sharma and Bihar wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni were the two new faces in the 15-member squad announced by cricket board joint secretary Gautam Dasgupta here.

Punjab left-hander Dinesh Mongia earned a recall since being dropped after the World Cup in 2003 while Tamil Nadu middle order batsman Sridharan Sriram also found a berth in the squad.

Dhoni, who has been a consistent performer in the domestic circuit, got the nod ahead of Dinesh Kaarthick by virtue of his better batting record.

"The name of Kaarthick also came up for discussion. But ultimately the selectors to include Dhoni because of his batting and his consistent performance in the domestic matches and the India `A’ series," Dasgupta said.

He said that Dhoni will be the first option for the wicketkeeping slot but the final decision will be taken by the team management.

The squad: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Murali Kartik, Dinesh Mongia, Sridharan Sriram, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Joginder Sharma.

Dasgupta said that Kumble and Laxman had been rested to try out youngsters on the tour of Bangladesh.

"The selectors felt that some youngsters should be tried out on this tour and therefore decided to rest Kumble and Laxman," he said.

The five-member selection committee chaired by Kiran More met for about 90 minutes before finalising the squad which has two specialist spinners in Harbhajan Singh and Murali Kartik and four seamers.

Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar and Joginder Sharma were the four fast bowlers but there was no place for Ashish Nehra who was ruled out with an abdominal strain.

The young Joginder was rewarded for his consistent performance in the Ranji Trophy and is a handy batsman as well, with two centuries to his name in first class cricket.

Joginder has claimed 70 first class wickets since his debut in 2002-03 with an average of 20.88.

India will play three one-day internationals on Dec 23, 26 and 27 during the 22-day tour which will also include two Test matches.

The Tests will be played at Dhaka (Dec 9-13) and Chittagong (Dec 16-20) for which a separate team was announced yesterday. (PTI)

Karan guides GGM to 7-wkt win over MAM

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

Earlier, Science College won the toss and opted to field. Batting first, MAM lost all their wickets at 164 in 37.4 overs of the 40 overs match. In reply, Science College reached the required total in 29 overs with seven wickets in hand.

Kapil was top scorer from MAM with 38 runs including five hits to the fence while Harmeet Singh and Abhishek contributed 30 and 27 runs respectively. Narinder was most successful bowler from Science College with three for 21. Anuj and Sunny shared two each.

Chasing a target of over four-run per over, Science College attained their goal for the loss of three wickets in 29 overs. Karan Kochar’s unbeaten 107 ball 83 runs innings studded with one six and six fours made the victory more easy. Pardeep Singh also did a fine job contributing 43 runs with the help of five boundaries. Extras added 25 runs.

Abhishek took three wickets for 39 runs in eight overs while Jarnail bagged one for 26 for MAM College.

PG blanks Poonch 4-0 in chess

JAMMU: Post Graduate Departments today defeated Degree College Poonch 4-0 to advance into the next round of inter-college chess tournament. The winner team was comprised of Rajinder Singh, Ajit Kumar, Mohit Bharti and Akhil Chopra.

In another scheduled match, GGM Science College got walkover Dogra Law College.