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

India slumps to sixth in ICC ODI rankings

DUBAI, Dec 5: The 4-0 drubbing at the hands of South Africa has relegated Team India to it’s lowest in more than a year ranking of sixth in the latest LG ICC ODI Championship table.

And it can get even worse for Rahul Dravid’s team if the West Indies, who are tied with India on points, put in a good performance in the five-match ODI series against Pakistan, which is due to get underway in Rawalpindi today.

The last time India was lower in the championship table in october last year when they languished at the seventh position and if the West Indies wins the series against Pakistan, even by one match, India will be back down to that lowly position.

It has been a sharp fall for the team, which was one of the in-form sides in ODIs in the first half of the year. At the end of April, India lay third in the table, just three rating points behind the Proteas.

The only piece of good news for India is wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni has moved up one place to fifth, at the expense of Australia’s Andrew Symonds.

But since then it has won just three of its last 17 outings to slip to the sixth spot, 25 rating points adrift of leaders Australia and 20 points behind South Africa.

Conversely, South Africa’s position has not been this healthy since way back in january 2003 when it stood, as it does today, on 126 rating points in second position overall.

The Proteas have never enjoyed a higher rating since the rankings were launched in october 2002.

Graeme Smith’s team is now hot on the trail of Australia and if Ricky Ponting’s side stutter in their tri-series with England and New Zealand in the new year and South Africa do well in their five-match series with Pakistan in february, they can go into next year’s ICC cricket World Cup as the top ranked ODI team.

That said, Pakistan will be anxious to make their own way up the ladder. If they can beat the West Indies by three clear matches over the next couple of weeks, they will move ahead of New Zealand and into third place in the table.

South Africa’s bowlers enjoyed the series against India with Shaun Pollock strengthening his position at the top of the rankings. Makhaya Ntini, meanwhile, moved up four places to fifth. Andre Nel gained five places to 14th spot and Jacques Kallis went up 17 places to the 45th position.

The 33-year-old Pollock is now a remarkable 111 ratings points ahead of his nearest competitor, Glenn McGrath, having moved up to 910.

Not only is that rating a personal best for Pollock but it is also the fourth highest of any one-day bowler in history, behind Joel Garner, Richard Hadlee and Muttiah Muralitharan.

Also, Pollock is now just one point behind top-placed Chris Gayle in the all-rounder rankings, while Kallis has moved up six places in this category to sixth.

The batting category of the rankings has seen less movement with Mike Hussey retaining his place at the top. Graeme Smith has dropped out of the top-10 after a disappointing series against India, in which he managed to get back to form in the last match.

LG ICC odi Rankings:

Top 10 teams:

1. Australia (131),

2. South Africa (126),

3. Newzealand (113),

4. Pakistan (110),

5. Sri Lanka (108),

6. India (106),

7. West Indies (106),

8. England (99),

9. Bangladesh (37),

10. Zimbabwe (27),

Top 10 Batsmen:

1. Mike Hussey (Aus), 2. Chris Gayle (WI), 3. Kevin Pietersen (Eng), 4 Adam Gilchrist (Aus), 5. Mahendra Singh dhoni (Ind), 6. Andrew Symonds (Aus), 7. Ricky Ponting (Aus), 8. Ramnaresh Sarwan (WI), 9. Kumar Sangakkara (SL), 10. Michael Clarke (Aus).

Top 10 Bolwers:

Shaun Pollock (SA), 2. Glenn McGrath (Aus), 3. Ian Bradshaw (WI), 4. Nathan Bracken (Aus), 5. Makhaya Ntini (SA), 6. Brett Lee (Aus), 7. Shane Bond (NZ), 8. Daniel Vettori (NZ), 9. Muttiah Muralitharan (SL), 10. Chaminda Vaas (SL) (PTI)

Australia complete dramatic victory

ADELAIDE, Dec 5: Australia beat England by six wickets with 19 balls to spare on an extraordinary final day to win the second test and take a 2-0 lead in the Ashes series today.

England set Australia a victory target of 168 off 36 overs after their batting inexplicably crumbled, losing their last nine wickets for 60 runs to be all out for just 129.

Australia lost Justin Langer (7), Matthew Hayden (18), Ricky Ponting (49) and Damien Martyn (5) during their run-chase before Mike Hussey (61 not out) and Michael Clarke (21 not out) steered them to victory.

Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne was the architect of England’s collapse, capturing four for 49 off 32 overs. Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee captured two wickets each.

England hold the Ashes after beating Australia 2-1 at home last year but need to win at least two of the three remaining tests to retain the urn.

The third test of the series starts in Perth on Dec. 14 with the fourth match in Melbourne and the last in Sydney.(AGENCIES)

PCB lifts ban on Shoaib, Asif

LAHORE, Dec 5: The three-member appeal Committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board today lifted the doping ban imposed on pacers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif.

After a final meeting at Karachi yesterday, the panel comprising Justice Fakhruddin Ebrahim, Dr Danish Zaheer and Hasib Ahsan decided in favour of the bowlers, who had challenged the bans imposed on them by the PCB Anti-Doping Tribunal.

The lifting of the ban has cleared the way for the bowlers to play in next year’s World Cup in West Indies.

According to Cricinfo, the decision of the committee was not unanimous and Dr Zaheer voted against lifting the bans.

The pace duo had been banned after testing positive for banned Anabolic Steroid Nandrolone in tests conducted by PCB ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy. While Shoaib was banned for two years, Asif was barred from International Cricket for one year. (UNI)

Give importance to extra-curricular activities: CM
West Bengal clinch Volleyball, Kho-Kho titles

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 5: West Bengal stamped their authority by claiming Volleyball and Kho-Kho titles in the 32nd National Womeng Games which concluded at M.A. Stadium today. Delhi outclassed Karnataka by 34-22 to clinch Kabaddi title.

In Volleyball, defending champion UP lost to last year runner up West Bengal by 2-1 sets in a keen contest. West Bengal started off well by winning the first set by 25-22 but U.P. made a fine comeback to took the second set by 15-25. In the final set, West Bengal spikers played outstandingly to give no chance to the UP to make any comeback. They won the set by 25-18.

Earlier, in the semifinals played today, UP beat Mizoram by 2-0 and West Bengal beat Gujarat by the same margin.

Gujarat and Mizoram jointly finished 3rd.

In Kho-Kho, West Bengal trounced Haryana in sudden death to claim the title. In the semifinals played earlier, West Bengal beat Punjab whereas Haryana beat Kerala.

West Bengal finished runner up in the last edition of the Women Sports. Assam and Punjab stood 3rd and 4th respectively. Delhi clinched the Kabaddi title defeating Karnataka by 34-22 in an eventful contest. At half time, Delhi was leading by 29-19.

Earlier, in the semifinals, Delhi beat defending champion Punjab in sudden death while Karnataka beat Himachal Pradesh by 26-24.

Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad was the chief guest on the occasion and he gave away prizes to the winners and runners up teams. In his address, he underlined the importance of extra-curriclular activities and excelling in games along with carrying forward academic goals.

He said that participation of young girls and women in sports activities is an encouraging sign it needs to be given further fillip. He further said that such sports provide an excellent opportunity to the participants who came from different parts of the country to know about the areas, culture, people and economic activities of the place.

He also released a souvenir of the festival and declared the Sports Meet closed.

Babu Singh, Minister of State for Youth Services and Sports, while speaking on the occasion said that sports are an important ingredient for all round round personality development along with academics.

Romesh Sharma, Minister of State for Industries and Commerce, Shabir Ahmad Khan, Vice Chairman, Pahari Board, A.K. Angurana, Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Ravinder Gupta, Secretary, State Sports Council, Siddharth Sharma, Madan Lal, Ashok Sharma, B.N. Bhatt, S.S. Bali, Manoj Pant, Ajay Sharma and other members of J&K State Sports Council and Department of Youth Services and Sports were also present on the occasion.

About 800 players from 22 states namely AP, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, HP, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka, MP, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, UP, West Bengal and hosts J&K Participated in the Sports Festival.

The festival was organised by the J&K State Sports Council under the aegis of Sports Authority of India.

Sanjeev trounces MN Khan in Senior Billiards

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 5: Sanjeev Gupta defeated M.N. Khan by 288-253 in the inaugural match of Senior Billiards at Billiards Hall, M.A. Stadium today in the ongoing 16th J&K State Billiards and Snooker Championship.

Ishan Choudhary registered an easy win over Umar Humayun by 353-282 where as Ajay Pal Singh trounced Abhimanyu Arora by 318-252 with consummate ease.

However, Jaideep Manocha suffered an upset defeat against Avish Sharma by 256-279.

The officials in the match were Rakesh, Surjit Singh and Shanker Dass.

The tournament is being organised by the J&K Billiards and Snooker Association and sponsored by J&K State Sports Council.

The Junior Billiards matches shall commence from December 8.

Sher-e-Kashmir Squash Championship from Dec 16

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 5: The J&K Squash Rackets Association would conduct 1st Sher-e-Kashmir Open J&K State Squash Championship from December 16-19 at Jammu Club.

All the interested participants from Kashmir division are required to send their entries to Wasim Raja, General Secretary, J&K Squash Racket Association at Star Sports Shop no.6, Sir Syed Market, Gogi Bagh on or before December 15 while players from Jammu division will send their entries to Kishan Sharma, Marker, Jammu Club on the same date.

All the players are requested to bring their own Kit whereas the balls will be provided by the Organising Committee.

Ganguly’s ouster started India’s slide

By Ajit Wadekar

The downslide of the Indian Cricket team started with the unsavoury manner in which Sourav Ganguly was ousted. Excessive experimentation with our batting and inability of our players to come to grips with the contract system have further contributed to our dismal performance.

Still, there are no excuses for our poor display in South Africa. The Indian team should have prepared itself better knowing fully well what to expect there. Even a schoolboy knows they were not going to offer flat wickets on a platter for the Indian batsmen to flourish.

The ground work was not done. The team should have either gone to South Africa much earlier than they did or at least put the gap between the matches during the ICC Champions Trophy to better use.

Now-a-days information is available with the click of a mouse even if it is not forthcoming from the South African Board and there are search engines like google to do the job for you!

They should have got acclimatised to the conditions by planning a few more warm-up games. But it now seems by the time they will do so, the tour will be over!

To put the entire performance in proper perspective it should be said that our strength is batting and we have undermined it by the excess amount of experimentation that has been carried out.

A player like Rahul Dravid can cope up with the constant change in his batting order but not someone like Virender Sehwag who struggles when he is sent in the middle order.

And pray what are we doing with Irfan Pathan by sending him at number three when even a great all rounder like Kapil Dev has not batted at this position!

These experiments have become too much of a hindrance to the team’s progress. You need to be mentally strong to play at this level and these constant changes have made players unsure about their roles in the team.

There are so many players padded up, it’s a joke! no one knows who would go where! it’s looking like a team of schoolboys and not the India team.

It is time to identify 14 or 16 players for the World Cup, which is the most important thing that’s coming up. I do not think this has been done so far. By now the players must know their jobs, whether they are openers, middle order batsmen or what.

Our other traditional strength is spin bowling and we have not used it fully to our advantage. As we know because of the amount of one-day cricket that is played now wickets are slowing down and spinners will have a role to play.

We have Anil Kumble back now which is a good sign. Though Harbhajan Singh has not been in form, I think he will get his act together soon.

Then there are people like Ramesh Powar and even Murali Kartik to do the job. But they need good support in the slips which is not happening now. For a bowler these missed catches are very disturbing.

We do have some good medium pacers now but spin should always be looked upon as our strength in bowling, even on bouncy wickets as batsmen the world over are not able to play spin well.

The same team was doing very well earlier but the downslide, I feel, started with the unsavoury manner in which Ganguly was ousted.

Coach Greg Chappell had no business to send the E-mail to the board criticising Ganguly, resulting in the spat being made public. What happens in the dressing room should never go out of its four walls.

And all these fitness regimens and Commando Training are not for us. We are unlike the Australians who are rough and tough from childhood. Our culture is different and we have to balance it properly.

We should concentrate on getting the players, who come from different regions and speak different languages, blend as a cohesive unit. Otherwise groupism may take place.

You leave it to the players to remain fit or else go out of the team. After all they will be losing not only allowances but also modelling assignments if they are checked out!

I also feel that the poor performance of the Indian team in South Africa and in recent times in one-day internationals show that the players are yet to come to grips with the contract system which is new to our cricket.

It seems the Indian players are yet to understand the implications of the system. They are happy to sit out when injured as they are assured of a fixed sum. I would advocate going back to the old system where players are only paid match fees and allowances.

Yes, the Indian Board is a very rich body now and lots of money has flown into its coffers. But it would make sense if the contract system is done away with and a new system, in fact the age-old format, is resorted to.

Give them big money as match fees and allowances, offer them bonuses for performing well. I feel that is the way we can go back to put the game back on track.

As for Sachin Tendulkar, I think he will bounce back. He is still getting back into the groove after his injury lay-offs. But I’m sure he will come back stronger. He has two or three years of cricket left in him and hopefully his injuries are a thing of the past. But I feel he requires support from the other end which is not forthcoming. (PTI)