India
eager to exploit pitch in second Test
AHMEDABAD, Apr 2: Handicapped by the
absence of champion batsman Sachin
Tendulkar, India go into the second
cricket Test against South Africa here
tomorrow hoping to exploit a track which
was expected to suit the slow bowlers.
After the
run glut on a placid track in Chennai,
both the team will be hoping that the
Motera pitch will provide some assistance
to the bowlers who had a nightmarish
experience in the first Test.
Although
the curator has predicted a "slow
and turning" surface for the match,
the question is whether India have the
resources to exploit the conditions with
some of the key bowlers still to recover
fully from injuries.
The hosts
are confronted with fitness problems to
some of their key men, including captain
Anil Kumble, and would sorely miss
Tendulkar, out with a groin injury, whose
mere presence in the line-up weighs down
the opposition ranks.
The
fitness of Kumble, also carrying a groin
niggle, and fast bowler Ishant Sharma,
recovering from a bowling finger and toe
injuries, will be assessed tomorrow and
the team management will be hoping that
both pass the fitness test.
In case
they are not fit, it will further weaken
India’s bowling attack which is
already without pace spearhead Zaheer
Khan.
South
Africa, on the other hand, need to find
an answer quickly on how to stop Virender
Sehwag from repeating his blitzkrieg of
Chennai where he decimated the rival
attack with his audacious stroke-play and
carved out a fantastic second triple
century of his career.
Not only
the amount of runs, but the speed at
which Sehwag scored them, provided India
with a chance of forcing South Africa on
their knees in the second innings but
men-in-form Neil McKenzie and Hashim Amla
ensured that the tourists would not be
cowed down to a defeat.
The
visitors feel they have found a chink in
the Delhi marauder’s batting armour.
Coach Micky Arthur pointed out that
Sehwag did not play a pull shot till he
reached 312 and promised to target the
Indian opener with body-line attack.
"We
had a look at Sehwag’s fantastic
innings. We saw that he played his first
pull shot after scoring 312. He cuts the
ball very well. We plan to target him
with short balls into his body and cramp
him for space and see how he takes
it," Arthur said.
Planning
for something and executing it are two
different things and the proteas will be
hoping that their fast bowlers are able
to extract enough bounce to trouble
Sehwag as well as the other top-order
Indian batsmen like Rahul Dravid, who
notched his 25th ton at Chennai, Sourav
Ganguly and V V S Laxman too.
And like
in Chennai the heat factor would be
another major handicap to both the teams,
and especially the touring team, though
arthur said the dry heat here was similar
to what they encounter back home.
If the SA
attack was ripped apart by Sehwag, the
home team’s attack proved equally
tame on the flat track at Chennai and
needs to pull up its socks here if they
intend to trouble the visiting team which
bats deep down up to number eight or
nine.
Barring
Jacques Kallis, who flopped in both the
innings, the other top-order batsmen of
South Africa showed good touch which
would have given them a lot of confidence
going into the second match.
Only
Harbhajan Singh proved successful with
eight wickets to his credit, but it has
to be said they were taken after
conceding over 100 runs in both the
innings, and he also lacked adequate
support from the other end.
Ishant
Sharma, if pronounced fit, is bound to
play as he is one Indian bowler who is
capable of beating the slowness of a
track with his speed in the air. In case
the team decides to play him, it may be
at the cost of R P Singh who looked a bit
listless and not fully recovered from his
injury lay-off in the first Test.
The
absence of Tendulkar has given a chance
to Yuvraj Singh to resurrect his
stop-start Test career as he’s
expected to get the nod ahead of Mohammed
Kaif whose break from the highest form of
the game has been even longer.
The fact
that Yuvraj scored a splendid 169 in the
first innings of the last home Test he
played, against Pakistan at Bangalore
late last year, could sway the think tank
to include him in the eleven for the
match here.
Pitch
curator Dhiraj Parsana has promised a
more sporting track for the match than
the one that gave heart-break to the
rival teams’ bowling attacks in
Chennai.
Incidentally,
sa have played a Test here only once
previously, in 1996, and slumped to a
dramatic defeat when they failed to chase
the small target of 170 set by India and
collapsed for 105 against the pace and
reverse swing extracted by Javagal
Srinath who took his then career-best 6
for 21. (PTI)
Sri
Lanka eye record-setting win over Windies
PORT-OF-SPAIN (Trinidad),
Apr 2: Sri Lanka can kill the
proverbial two birds with one stone when
they face West Indies in the second and
final Test, starting tomorrow at
Queen’s Park Oval.
When Sri
Lanka flew into the region a fortnight
ago, they had a single objective on their
mind - to win a Test series on Caribbean
soil for the first time.
They
gained a welcomed boost to their chances
when they clinched the opening Test at
the Guyana National Stadium by 121 runs
to take a 1-0 lead in the brief series.
But there
is an extra special reason that Sri Lanka
will pursue victory vigorously in the
second Test - and that is to become the
first side visiting the Caribbean to
sweep a Test series of any length.
"It
is important that we go for a win in the
second test," Sri Lanka captain
Mahela Jayawardene said.
"This
is the way we play cricket. We want to
win every match in which we play. This is
the attitude with which we play whether
we are playing at home or away.
"This
is the attitude that has helped us in the
last few years, and this is why we have
been winning Test matches away from home,
and we will not move away from this
attitude.
"We
want to get accustomed to the conditions
in Trinidad. We’ll make sure we do
all the hard work and challenge West
Indies, and see if we can win this Test
series 2-0."
In the 80
years that West Indies have been a
Test-playing nation, no side has ever
come into their backyard and embarrassed
them with a series sweep, although West
Indies have achieved this several times
on foreign soil.
Australia
came close five years ago, when they won
the first three Tests in a series of four
before the West Indies embarked
successfully on a world record 418 to win
the final Test at St. John’s.
Jayawardene
acknowledged that his side outplayed West
Indies in every department in the opening
Test, but he does not intend to ease up
on his opponents. (PTI)
Pak
Govt backs Akhtar, pacer vows to fight
against ban
ISLAMABAD, Apr 2: Banned for
five years for bringing cricket into
disrepute, Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib
Akhtar today found support from the
country’s new government even as he
vowed to challenge the cricket
board’s verdict.
Akhtar
described the ban as victimisation by the
board and said that he would appeal
against the punishment by Friday.
"I
have been victimised by the board. This
ban is unacceptable because I have
committed no big crime. Even if there was
any instance of me being undisciplined,
the board should be clear about it,"
Akhtar said a day after PCB took the
unprecedented action having found the
bowler guilty on six charges of code of
conduct breaches.
Pakistan’s
new sports minister Khawaja Asif came out
in support of the pacer, saying the PCB
should reconsider its decision as the
"harsh" punishment would be
"unacceptable to the nation".
In an
interview with the Associated Press of
Pakistan (APP), Asif said the
Board’s move would not go down well
with the team either which "needs
Shoaib’s services".
"This
decision of PCB would develop breaches
within the team which would ultimately
harm cricket," Asif said.
The board
also came under criticism from former
captains like Imran Khan, Javed Miandad,
Rashid Latif and Zaheer Abbas who held it
responsible for destroying Pakistan
cricket. More
The ban
came as Akhtar was already serving a
two-year probation from last year when he
was banned for 13 matches and fined 3.4
million rupees for hitting team-mate
Mohammad Asif with a bat in South Africa.
Akhtar,
32, said if the board rejected his
appeal, he would approach the courts to
get the ban overturned.
"I
have always given my 100 per cent for my
country. If I am not fit it has nothing
to do with discipline. This ban is unjust
and I intend to fight it. I will not go
down without a fight," he told a
press conference here.
He said
the Board had made an issue of his
fitness but he was not the first fast
bowler to have fitness problems.
"I
have even played for my country in high
fever and this is the reward the Board
gives me," Akhtar said.
Akhtar
said he had been encouraged by the
support of the media, former greats, the
cricket community and the people.
"I am
a Pakistani first. Whatever I am today,
it is because of Pakistan. I don’t
accept this ban but I will follow the
board procedures in filing the
appeal."
Imran said
the ban was yet another case of poor
policy decision by the board and called
for an overhaul of the system.
"The
ban on Shoaib and even on the players who
have gone to play in the Indian Cricket
League are unacceptable and will shake
the foundations of our cricket system. We
are losing good players to bad policies
of the board," Imran said.
Miandad
also echoed the sentiments of his
ex-teammate, saying he was surprised to
know that a board that had always been
soft on disciplinary issues should take
such a harsh decision.
"I
don’t understand what they are
trying to do. Yes, Shoaib has had
disciplinary problems in the past but
still five years for just speaking out
against their policies is unacceptable
and uncalled for," he said.
Miandad
called on the new government to make
sweeping changes in the cricket board to
save the sport from further destruction.
(PTI)
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