Batsmen
fail India in opening ODI too
DAMBULLA (Sri Lanka), Aug
18:
India’s forlorn batting,
depleted further by the absence of
Virender Sehwag, against fiery Sri Lankan
bowling handed the visitors an
eight-wicket thrashing in their first
one-day international cricket match here
today.
India were
skittled out for 146 in 46 overs as none
of its batsmen could fire up, yuvraj
Singh being the top-scorer at 23, against
spinners Ajantha Mendis (3-21) and
Muttiah Muralitharan (3-37), who shared
the spoils after Mahendra Singh Dhoni
elected to bat.
Sri Lanka
comfortably chased the win in 34.5 overs
as skipper Mahela Jayawardene (61 not
out) hit a breezy half century while
Chamara Kapugedera contributed 45 to take
the side home.
The Indian
team, playing without Sachin Tendulkar
who is ruled out of the series owing to
his left elbow injury, also missed the
services of Sehwag as the opener injured
his ankle during practice session on the
match eve.
Indians
never looked like settling down as they
were tottering at 36 for 3 after losing
both openers — Gautam Gambhir and
debutant Virat Kohli — cheaply and
slumped further to 75 for 5 in the 21st
over before the last three batsmen
contributed 59 runs.
Earlier,
veteran paceman Chaminda Vaas and young
gritty medium pacer Nuwan Kulasekara kept
the Indian batsmen on tight leash with
the visitors scoring just 29 runs in the
first 10 overs.
With this
victory, Sri Lanka have taken a 1-0 lead
in the five one-dayer series.
Gambhir,
opening with 19-year-old Kohli, was
removed by Vaas on the second ball of the
innings. The left-hander batsman played
all around the line to a good length
delivery from Vaas, with the ball
slipping between his bat and pad to hit
the off stump.
Kohli, who
replaced Sehwag, began on a shaky note
too, playing and missing away-moving
swingers but was lucky not to get a
snick. He contributed only 12 before
finally being adjudged lbw to a delivery
off Nuwan Kulasekara.
Next man
in, Suresh Raina started off emphatically
hitting two fours — one to mid-off
boundary off Kulasekara and then to
mid-wicket fence — but returned to
the pavilion, leaving India tottering at
36 for 3 in the 12th over.
Raina
tried to drive a Kulasekara full length
delivery only to pop up a simple catch to
short cover at his individual score of
17.
Yuvraj was
lucky to be dropped by Lankan skipper
Mahela Jayawardene at second slip when he
played a Kulasekara delivery away from
his body.
Though
Jayawardene got his hands on the ball, it
eventually popped out, saving India from
further damage.
The
droppped catch did not yield much for
India as Mendis consumed the dangerous
looking left-hander who swatted the young
Lankan mystery bowler in the previous
delivery for a six.
Rohit
Sharma tried to steady the sinking ship
and kept prodding for ones and twos and
also hit a six off Vaas over the
midwicket boundary, bringing in some
cheer in the downcast Indian camp.
It was,
however, the handiwork of Thilan Thushara
to plot the downfall of Sharma who edged
a short length delivery to the first slip
where Jayawardene made no mistake this
time.
India were
on the ropes at 75 for 5 but it felt all
was not lost with Dhoni at the crease.
However, the captain failed too and India
were in deep trouble and after Irfan
Pathan’s departure in the 29th over
it looked like the visitors would not
cross 100-run mark.
But Zaheer
Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Munaf Patel
defied the Lankan bowlers for 17.3 overs.
Harbhajan
shared two 20-run partnerships —
with Zaheer for the eighth wicket and
with pragyan Pjha Oor the ninth wicket
— before he was out ninth for
individula score of 12.
The last
wicket of Ojha and Munaf yielded 29 runs
in nine overs.
The hosts,
cheered by their home crowd and egged on
by the dancing fans amidst beating of
drums were hardly troubled by the Indian
bowlers in their innings.
Sri
Lankans scored as many as 18 runs in the
first five overs. Kumara Sanghakkara took
off from where he left in the third test
in Colombo and began with a cut to the
point boundry of a Munaf Patel delivery.
A
relatively subdued Sanath Jayasuriya was
also quick to capitalise on a loose ball
from Patel as he edged it one bounce over
wicket keeper Dhoni’s head for a
boundary.
Jayasuriya,
however, did not last long and was caught
by Irfan Pathan at mid-on for 10 runs of
Patel.
Skipper
Mahela Jayawardene made a flying start as
he converted a Zaheer delivery to
half-volley and drove it through the gap
at cover boundary.
The
wicket-keeper batsman, wanting to spare
no time in finishing it off, executed a
perfect cut off Irfan Pathan through the
cover fence.
Score
Board
India:
Gautam Gambhir b Vaas 0
Virat Kohli lbw b Kulasekara 12
Suresh Raina c silva b Kulasekara 17
Yuvraj Singh b Mendis 23
Rohit Sharma c Jayawardene b Thushara 19
M S Dhoni c Jayawardene b Mendis 6
Irfan Pathan lbw b Muralitharan 7
Harbhajan Singh c Sangakkara b
Muralitharan 12
Zaheer Khan c Thushara b Muralitharan 12
Praveen Ojha not out 16
Munaf Patel b Mendis 15
Extras (b-2, lb-2, w-3) 7
Total (all out, 46 overs) 146
Fall of Wickets: 1-0, 2-23, 3-36, 4-73,
5-75, 6-87, 7-87, 8-107, 9-117
Bowling: Vaas 9-0-34-1, Kulasekara
7-0-23-2, Thushara 6-0-18-1, Mendis
9-4-21-3, Muralitharan 10-2-37-3,
Jayasuriya 5-1-9-0.
Sri Lanka
S Jayasuriya c Pathan b Patel 10
K Sangakkara c and b Patel 19
M Jayawardene not out 61
C Kapugedara not out 45
Extras: (b-4, lb-3, w-5) 12
Total: (for 2 wkts in 34.5 overs) 147
Fall of Wickets: 1-18, 2-45.
Bowling: Munaf Patel 9-0-32-2, Zaheer
Khan 7-1-24-0, Irfan Pathan 7-0-35-0,
Harbhajan Singh 4-0-18-0, Pragyan Ohja
3-0-9-0, Rohit Sharma 2.5-0-11-0, Suresh
Raina 2-0-11-0.(PTI)
Nadal
takes Federer’s number one ranking
PARIS, Aug 18: Spain’s
Rafael Nadal has replaced Roger Federer
as the new world number one and
Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic toppled
compatriot Jelena Jankovic at the top of
the ATP rankings released today.
Federer,
27, relinquishes his hold on the top spot
after 237 weeks.
The Swiss
player has struggled all season, while
Nadal, 22, has played some of the best
tennis of his career, winning eight
titles including Roland Garros, Wimbledon
and the Olympic gold.
Asked
about his feelings on becoming number
one, the mallorcan left-hander, said:
"I’m very happy to be number
one. But the feeling doesn’t change
too much because the last years I did
very well, too."
Ivanovic
did not compete at the Beijing Olympics
because of a thumb injury, while Jankovic
reached the quarter-finals.
The French
Open champion has a 97-point lead on
Jankovic with Russia’s Svetlana
Kuznetsova, beaten in the first round in
Beijing in third.
In
men’s ranking, Olympic finalist
Fernando Gonzalez of Chile moves up four
places to 11th, while Argentine Juan
Martin Del Potro, winner of his fourth
consecutive title in Washington yesterday
after Kitzbuhel, Stuttgart and Los
Angeles, moves to 17th.
Sania
continues free fall in WTA rankings
Sania
Mirza’s woeful Olympic performance
has seen her drop two places to 65 in the
singles chart of the latest WTA tennis
rankings issued today.
After
getting a bye in the first round, the
21-year-old Indian was forced to retire
from her second round match in Beijing
due to a nagging wrist injury.
The misery
continued in the doubles as well as she
and Sunitha Rao made a first-round exit
but that has not affected her doubles
rankings and the Indian continues to hold
steady at 27th.
Meanwhile,
in the ATP charts, Leander Paes and
Mahesh Bhupathi did not experience any
major rise or fall despite a
disappointing Olympic campaign in which
the reunited partners were knocked out in
the quarterfinals.
While
Bhupathi rose a spot to 12th this week,
Paes dropped a rung to 16th. (PTI)
PCB
chief Nasim Ashraf quits
KARACHI, Aug 18: The
Pakistan Cricket Board chief Nasim Ashraf
quit today in one of the first fall-outs
of the resignation of president Pervez
Musharraf.
The
resignation of Ashraf was announced by
the Pakistan Cricket Board just an hour
after Musharraf resigned.
"After
the president resigned, I also felt
morally bound to resign," Ashraf,
who was appointed as PCB chief in 2006,
said.
Under the
Pakistan Cricket Constitution, the
president of the country appoints the
cricket chief and musharraf in his
nine-year tenure appointed three men to
this position.
In his
letter to Musharraf, Ashraf said, "I
have informed him that I can no longer
continue my duties and would like to be
relieved as cricket chairman."
Ashraf’s
resignation came soon after his return
from the United States after a two-week
vacation during which speculation was
rife that he was waiting to see if
Musharraf would survive the impeachment
motion against him.
Ashraf
said his resignation would not upset
Pakistan’s preparations to host the
Champions Trophy to be held from
September 12.
"The
resignation of an individual does not
affect the working of an institution and
the Champions Trophy would be held on
schedule and properly," he said.
Ashraf is
seen as very close to the outgoing
president who brought him in to manage
the national commission for human
development in 2002.
With less
than a month remaining to the Champions
Trophy and the new president to be
appointed after 30-days, analysts believe
that the political government will move
quickly to appoint a new chairman and may
be even a new cricket set-up.
Ashraf
said he would talk to the media in detail
after his resignation was formally
accepted by the president.(PTI)
Akhil
loses, India starves of success in TT,
Athletics
BEIJING, Aug 18: Boxer Akhil
Kumar today failed to win a tactical bout
dashing hopes of first Olympic medal from
the ring compounding India’s woes in
the games here with its challenge in
women’s table tennis fizzling out in
first round and succes remaining elusive
in athletics.
BOXING
Akhil
Kumar was stranded on the cusp of history
and his dream of becoming India’s
first Olympic boxing medal winner lay in
tatters as he lost rather tamely his 54kg
quarterfinal bout against unheralded
Moldovan Gojan Veaceslav 3-10 in the
quarterfinal.
India’s
hopes of a boxing medal now rest on
Jitender (51kg) and Vijender (75kg) who
fight their quarterfinal bouts on
Wednesday.
The
all-out aggression of Akhil, who had
upset world champion Russian Sergey
Vodopyanov, could not penetrate
Gojan’s solid defence and the
Moldovan virtually snatched the match
from the Indian in the third round.
On the
other hand, Gojan’s strategy was to
remain in a defensive shell and break out
occasionally to land the punches on
target to reel off the points. And he
succeeded immesely.
Akhil did
not get points for a few early punches
and once the Moldovan took the lead, the
Indian just could not close the gap.
Gojan
landed the first blow on Akhil and that
was probably an ominous sign of things to
come. Akhil managed to go for the
breather at 1-1 and after second round,
both were tied at 2-2.
Gojan
proved his tactical superiority in the
third round as he never lowered his guard
but still managed to land his blows,
penetrating Akhil’s porous defence.
Desperate
to induce the Moldovan into attack and
open up his defence, Akhil completely
dropped his guard, inviting his rival to
come out of his cocoon but the Moldovan
was smart enough to walk into that trap.
Trailing
2-6 and with just one round to go, Akhil
virtually chased Gojan all over the ring
but the evasive Moldovan managed to score
a few points in the final round to
complete a convincing, even if
unimpressive, win.
"I
have nothing to say against scoring
system or Gojan’s strategy. I guess
I would have done the same and protected
the lead had I been in his place,"
Akhil said after the bout.
"Boxing
may be a four-round game but fortunes are
made in the first two rounds. And once
you manage to take a lead, it’s all
about protecting the lead. Gojan
didn’t do anything wrong," said
Akhil.
"Anyway,
I have no excuse to offer. It was simply
not my day, even though I tried my best.
I think the scoreline could have been
different in the first round and that
could have been crucial for me," he
rued.
Coach G S
Sandhu was equally upset with the outcome
and he too felt Akhil probably was denied
a few crucial points in the first round.
TABLE TENNIS
India’s
campaign in table tennis began poorly
with Delhi teenager Neha Aggarwal, making
her first appearance in the Olympics,
lasted precisely 34 minutes before going
down to 35-year-old Chinese-born
Australian Jiang Fang Lay in a
five-setter 12-10, 8-11, 11-13, 8-11 and
4-11.
Neha,
India’s lone woman paddler in the
Olympics, looked determined to avenge her
previous two defeats against Jiang, and
went neck-and-neck in the first game till
they were levelled at 8-8.
The Indian
soon broke loose, much to the surprise of
the Australian, to pocket the game in
five minutes and go one up in the match.
In the
second game too, Neha looked sharp as she
raced to a 4-2 lead before her opponent
turned the table and eventually overtook
her. Neha could not withstand the
onslaught of Lay and surrendered the
game.
The third
game followed the same script with Neha
leading 10-8 before the Australian came
from behind to grab the game and go 2-1
up in the match.
Neha found
it hard to tackle the deceptive returns
of her Australian rival and once again
lost momentum in the fourth game as Lay
ran away with the next three points and
the game and the match.
ATHLETICS
The gloom
in India’s athletics camp deepened
further with an off-colour Renjith
Maheswary finishing a dismal 35th in a
37-athlete field in the triple jump event
of the Beijing Olympics here today.
Maheswary
leapt 15.77 in his first attempt
something he could not better in his
subsequent two efforts, including a
botched one, and finished last in his
group.
His effort
today was well below his personal best of
17.04m, which he had recorded in Guwahati
last year to become the first Indian to
reach the 17m mark.
He began
on a poor note, clearing 15.77 and his
second attempt was rejected as foul. His
third was a dismal 15.51 and that put
paid to his hopes of a place in the
final.
"Today
was not my day and it was very
disappointing indeed," a dejected
Maheswary later said.
Taekwondo
team leaves for Pondicherry
Excelsior Sports
Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 18: A team of J&K
Taekwondo Association left for
Pondicherry today to participate in the
forthcoming 28th National Junior
Taekwondo Championship slated to held
from August 22 to 24.
A
13-member team was flagged off by P C
Sharma, president of J&K Taekwondo
Association and D N Pangotra, organising
secretary.
Atul
Pangotra who has been appointed as a
technical official for the record 8th
time is also accompanying the team.
The Team:
Boys:
Nitin, Ankush, Adnan Beig, Arjun Jandyal,
Mohd Saud Bhat and Ramesh Kumar.
Girls:
Mansi, Kamini, Mukta Gupta and Sandeep
Bansal.
Coaches
and Managers: Rocky, Shagun Gupta and
Atul Pangotra.
Sehwag
ruled out of entire ODI series
DAMBULLA, Aug 18: Virender
Sehwag was today ruled out of the one-day
series against Sri Lanka owing to his
ankle injury, an Indian team management
official said.
"Sehwag’s
injury is bad and he will miss the
remainder of the series," the
official said.
Sehwag,
who sustained the injury during practice
session yesterday, had missed the opener
of the five-match ODI series.
Earlier,
skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni during his
press conference after the first ODI
today, had hinted at the explosive opener
missing out the entire series.
"He
was a batman in top form you can say.
Gautam Gambhir also got out initially. We
lost the top two performers of the test
series in a way. But that is the way it
is. Now I think we may lose him for the
entire series. You never know,"
Dhoni told reporters.
"That’s
the way it goes in cricket. You
can’t really stop and think about
the guys you will be missing in the
series. Rather than that you will have to
fill in that space. Because that is the
only way your team can win," he
added. (PTI)
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