KOLKATA, Nov 9: Cricket fever is reaching a high in the city with the Indian and Pakistan teams scheduled to arrive tomorrow for the November 13 one-dayer at the Eden Gardens, staged as a part of the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Indian cricket board...........more

Kapil, Imran to be
present at Eden
Gardens on Nov 13

KOLKATA, Nov 9: Legendary allrounders Kapil Dev and Imran Khan would be among the Indian and Pakistan captains to be felicitated during the November 13 one-dayer........more

Parthiv was pampered,
Ratra got a bad deal:
Chandrakant Pandit

NEW DELHI, Nov 9: There is not an iota of doubt about Parthiv Patel’s talent but the babyface stumper was pampered beyond justification while step-motherly treatment was meted out to others............more

HC dismisses Jadeja’s
plea for playing
international cricket

NEW DELHI, Nov 9: The Delhi High court today dismissed the plea of former Indian middle order batsman Ajay Jadeja seeking.............more

By Sanjeev Sharma

JAMMU, Nov 9: Guests Delhi today restricted Jammu and Kashmir to a paltry 154 runs and were later themselves struggling at 24 for two at the end of first day of three-day Polly Umrigar (under-15).............more

Big win for PG Law
and Science in cricket

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 9: Post Graduate Department of Law and Science defeated Bhargwa Degree College by a big margin of 193 runs in the ongoing inter-college...........more

Ghagwal wins district
football tourney

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

KATHUA, Nov 9: Ghagwal Club defeated Kathua XI 3-0 in the final to lift the district Kathua football championship trophy.....more

Shiv acts as observer
in HP elections

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 9: Shiv Kumar Sharma, president J&K Indian Style Association and treasurer, Indian Style Wrestling....more

India, Pak teams to arrive today

KOLKATA, Nov 9: Cricket fever is reaching a high in the city with the Indian and Pakistan teams scheduled to arrive tomorrow for the November 13 one-dayer at the Eden Gardens, staged as a part of the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Indian cricket board.

While the Indian players would assemble from various parts of the country by the evening, the Pak cricketers are scheduled to land at 2200 hours by an Indian Airlines flight at the NSC Bose International Airport.

Massive security arrangements have been made at the airport and the team hotel as also Eden Gardens for the two teams, especially the visiting side.

Police Commandos, RAF, armed forces personnel, detectives and plainclothesmen would be deployed to provide fool-proof security to the two sides.

The police were not taking any chances in view of the untoward incident during the 1999 Asian Test championship match between the two sides at the Eden, when a section of the crowd got restive and threw missiles on the ground to express their displeasure over a run out decision against Sachin Tendulkar.

The match could be concluded only after the police emptied the Galleries.

Meanwhile, the stadium, which also houses the headquarters of the cricket association of Bengal, was being spruced up for the big event.

The galleries were being given a coat of paint and the groundsmen were busy in preparing the 22 yard strip for the day-night encounter. (PTI)

Kapil, Imran to be present at Eden Gardens on Nov 13

KOLKATA, Nov 9: Legendary allrounders Kapil Dev and Imran Khan would be among the Indian and Pakistan captains to be felicitated during the November 13 one-dayer between the archrivals at the Eden Gardens here to celebrate the Indian cricket board’s platinum jubilee.

Kapil and Imran sent their confirmation today to the board and would now join a galaxy of former skippers of India and Pakistan to be feted during the 15-20 minute dinner break function. Disclosing this, BCCI platinum jubilee celebration committee chairman Jagmohan Dalmiya told newspersons that Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar - current Indian team members who have had led the team - would also be felicitated on November 13. The organising committee, which met during the day, also decided to fete former West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd, who would be present in his capacity as match referee. The committee has invited top board officials of all Test playing nations for the match, and so far received confirmation from the chiefs of Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Pakistan boards, Dalmiya said. Around 100 distinguished guests from Pakistan are scheduled to be present on the occasion. (PTI)

Parthiv was pampered, Ratra got a bad deal:
Chandrakant Pandit

NEW DELHI, Nov 9: There is not an iota of doubt about Parthiv Patel’s talent but the babyface stumper was pampered beyond justification while step-motherly treatment was meted out to others, alleged former test wicketkeeper Chandrakant Pandit.

"The selectors’ experiment with Parthiv came a cropper and he remained with the team for too long. I have nothing against Parthiv and I don’t doubt his talent but he needs to hone his skills first at the domestic level if he has to succeed at the international level," Pandit told UNI.

" You can’t groom a keeper at the international level," said Pandit, who is in the city as coach of the Mumbai team playing Railways in the Ranji Trophy.

Pointing out that India did not have a steady wicketkeeper in the post-Nayan Mongia era, Pandit said,"this is unfortunate. That means the bowlers had to bowl knowing well that they were operating without a pair of safe hands behind the stumps. It gets on to the mind of every bowler and he feels less confident."

When asked on his view on the dearth of specialist wicketkeepers in the team despite having two former stumpers, Syed Kirmani and his successor Kiran More, as chief selector, Pandit said,’’ you can’t blame them actually. They had to pick from what was available around and they hardly had options. But while they persisted with Parthiv, players like Ajay Ratra got an unfair treatment. I think Ratra was going well before being axed.’’ Pandit, a veteran of five Test and 36 one-day matches, however opined that having Rahul Dravid behind the stumps in one-dayers lent balance to the side and there was no harm in that.

"Of course in test matches you need a specialist wicketkeeper. But team balance is important, especially in one-dayers and if Dravid behind the stumps serves your purpose, be it."

He also urged the selectors to give long rope to Dinesh Kaarthik.

"He should not be jettisoned after a game or two. Everybody needs a certain time to settle down to job. Give him just that," he said.

"We need a wicketkeeper who can bat and not a batsman who can keep. These days, I think everyone can bat and so batting is not the issue. What matters most is how the player keeps," he added. (UNI)

HC dismisses Jadeja’s plea for playing
international cricket

NEW DELHI, Nov 9: The Delhi High court today dismissed the plea of former Indian middle order batsman Ajay Jadeja seeking permission to play international cricket.

A bench comprising Justice Vijendra Jain and Justice Anil Kumar dismissed Jadeja’s appeal as none appeared on behalf of the cricketer when the petition was taken up for hearing.

Jadeja had filed the appeal challenging an order of the single judge of the High Court disallowing him to play any competitive cricket. (PTI)

Delhi restricts J&K to paltry 154; struggling at 24 for 2

By Sanjeev Sharma

JAMMU, Nov 9: Guests Delhi today restricted Jammu and Kashmir to a paltry 154 runs and were later themselves struggling at 24 for two at the end of first day of three-day Polly Umrigar (under-15) cricket tournament that started today at multipurpose M A Stadium, here.

Delhi created an upper hand after Manan Sharma, son of former Test cricketer, Ajay Sharma destroyed the J&K batting line-up through his deadly left-arm spin. He took six wickets for 16 runs in 24 overs he bowled.

Beginning with a dismal performance losing first wicket at a score of 11, J&K managed a total of 154 runs due to the two encouraging partnerships for the 2nd and nine-wickets. Earlier, Divya Pratap Singh and Aditya Pratap Singh together brought the score from 11 to 58. It was followed by fall of wickets on regular intervals including that of Sudhir Dhar who was out on duck.

However, wicket-keeper batsman, Gokul Baru alongwith Manik Gupta extended their stay on the wicket through some patient batting. They together added valuable 50 runs for the eighth wicket partnership making it 153 for nine. With Gokul on the other end, the hosts were expecting full third session play from the remaining two batsman. But, Jobesh Jamwal and Amir Mehraj could not stand before Delhi spinners and lost their wickets to Manan Sharma and Tejasiwi Yadav respectively on duck.

However, in the remaining 10 over game that started at 3.40 pm, Delhi lost two quick wickets in the shape of Vivek Mishra (0) and Varun Sood (1). Both the wickets were taken by medium pacer, Shahid Hussain. When day’s play was called on by umpires, H S Sekhon and Dr M S Mahal, Sourav Pasi (12) and Yogesh Nagar (10) were on the crease.

SCOREBOARD

J&K first innings

Sunil Kumar c Karan b Tejasiwi Yadav 4

Divya Pratap lbw Manan Sharma 39

Aditya Pratap c Anuj Tyagi b Manan 14

Sudhir Dar c Anuj Tyagi b Manan Sharma 0

Sadiq Medhi c Kamal b Varun Sood 14

Shahid Hussain c Kamal b Varun Sood 14

Kanav Sharma lbw Manan Sharma 4

Gokul Baru not out 27

Manik Gupta c Kamal b Manan Sharma 26

Jobesh Jamwal c Tejasiwi Yadav b Manan 0

Amir Mehraj c Kamal b Tejasiwi Yadav 0

Extras: (nb-1, lb-7, b-4)

Total (all out in 83.3 overs) 154

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-58, 3-58, 4-81, 5-95, 6-95, 7-103, 8-153, 9-153, 10-154.

Bowling Analysis: Pratap Sangwan 8-3-18-0; Anuj Tyagi 3-0-10-0; Tejasiwi Yadav 20-3-10-31-2; Rahul Bhardwaj 20-7-39-1; Manan Sharma 24-17-16-6; Yogesh Nagar 2-0-6-0; Varun Sood 6-3-23-1.

Delhi first innings

Vivek Mishra lbw Shahid Hussain 0

Varun Sood c Sunil b Shahid Hussain 1

Sourav Pasi not out 12

Yogesh Nagar not out 10

Extras: 4

Total (for two in 10 overs) 27

Bowling Analysis: Shahid Hussain 5-4-9-2; Manik Gupta 5-1-14-0.

Laloo’s youngest son in Jammu

JAMMU: Youngest son of Bihar Cricket Association president and Union Railway Minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav is in City of Temples. In his first ever visit to Jammu, 8th standard student Tejasiwi has admired the climate of Jammu by comparing it with that of Capital Delhi.

Talking to EXCELSIOR after the first day’s play at MA Stadium, here, Tejasiwi, who has began his cricket career with Polly Umrigar (under-15) tournament, disclosed that he wants to play international cricket.

Studying at Delhi Public School (DPS) R K Puram, Tejasiwi has been provided top level security by Jammu and Kashmir Police and he has been provided a VIP ambassador for his to and fro to the venue.

When asked about his strategy for the second day play tomorrow, he said," since we have already lost two wickets, efforts would be made to stay on the wicket for long. In fact we want to first take lead and then make maximum possible score".

However, he smiled on a particular question regarding his joining politics like his parents.

Manan wants to follow father Ajay Sharma’s foot-prints

JAMMU: Another member of the under-15 Delhi team, Manan Sharma is son of former Test cricketer, Ajay Sharma, who, however, desires to follow the foot-prints of his father.

Manan, who, likewise his father is a left-arm spinner, has proved himself by taking six wickets for Delhi on the opening day of three-day match against J&K.

A regular member of Sonnet Cricket Club Delhi, Manan is also 8th standard student but studying in Modern School Barakhamba Road Delhi.

Talking to EXCELSIOR, Manan said, " I want to be a Test all-rounder because, I think the real cricket is Test game and moreover it is different from limited overs sensation."

Contrary to his skipper, Manan is a regular visitor to Jammu. "Visiting Jammu is a routine for my family because my papa has ancestral home at Panthal in district Udhampur," informed Manan.