Opening India-South Africa Test in Chennai .............

Kumble urges axed seniors to focus on deciding Test...........

BCC approached by Swiss Govt, NBA for player tie-up.........

Confident India seek to level series

ADELAIDE, Jan 23: Bolstered by the sensational win at Perth, India face a big dilemma on whether to alter their winning combination as they go into the the fourth and final cricket Test against Australia here tomorrow, seeking to level the engrossing four-match series.

The 72-run triumph at Perth, regarded as one of the greatest wins overseas, will no doubt serve as a tonic for Anil Kumble and his men who have now proved to be worthy challengers to the champion team.

But the selection dilemma confronting the visitors in their bid to level the series 2-2 is whether to bring back seasoned off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on an Adelaide track which was expected to help the slow bowlers on the last two days.

India’s unheralded pace trio — R P Singh, Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma — were highly impressive at Perth and it will be a tough call to leave one of them out to accommodate Harbhajan.

"There are a few possibilities but we would like to take another look at the pitch. It (five bowlers) is an option and that is something we will definitely assess," and undecided Indian skipper Anil Kumble said at the pre-match press conference here today.

With Virender Sehwag being quite useful with his part-time off-spin at Perth, the team management may decided to retain the young pace attack which managed to extract a lot of swing in the last game.

But if the Indians opt for Harbhajan, Ishant Sharma appears to be the likely candidate to sit out as Pathan is quite handy with the bat also.

The other option for the visitors is to go in with a five-pronged bowling attack leaving out a batsman.

Opener Wasim Jaffer, who has failed in all the six innings so far, may also lose his place with Dinesh Kaarthick being the front runner to open the innings with Sehwag.

The Australians, whose 16-match winning streak was broken at the Perth, have also been strengthened with the towering Matthew Hayden returning to the team after an injury lay-off.

There is more than a hint of concern on the form of their key batsmen with Hayden and Andrew Symonds alone passing muster among its top batsmen who, not very long ago, were striking terror in the hearts of the bowlers.

Hayden was badly missed in Perth for the left-hander had raised 307 from the first two Tests at 76.75 while Symonds has 380 runs from the three games at 75.39 despite his relative failure in WACA.

Mike Hussey (270 at 49.45) and Michael Clarke (198 at 33.00) have raised eyebrows but nowhere has it widened in more disbelief than at the form of two of its legends, Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist.

Ponting has suffered his first big slump in seven years and his mere 128 runs at 21.33 has hurt Australia real bad. The inability of Gilchrist to shore up the lower half is well reflected in his 136 runs at 22.66.

Swing has emerged as the big poser for the Australians and they reckon it is the presence of left-handers in their ranks — five of them are southpaws—which is helping the cause of India’s left-arm swing bowlers.

Ponting is hurt by his first loss as captain on home soil and by the growing din in the media that Australia is no longer invincible.

Gilchrist has had problems against every Indian bowler and the legendary wicketkeeper-batsman, due to play his 95th successive match, is under pressure enough to claim in local media that he wants to last for another year at least.

Not that Australia’s bowling worries are less pronounced. Brett Lee is a class act but Mitchell Johnson has a long way to go and Stuart Clark, despite his accuracy, still can not run through a side.

Brad Hogg, the left-arm spinner set to return to the side, has a question mark on his ability because of his tardy spell on the final day of the Sydney Test. This has left ponting in a bit of dilemma on the final composition of the team.

"We haven’t finalised our team yet, we’ll sleep on it and make the announcement at the toss tomorrow morning," he said.

"We’ve got a few things we want to run through our heads about our make up and about that wicket," he added.

India appears to be a better balanced team than the world champions at the moment. Their batsmen are refusing to budge in face of Australia’s pace fury and seniors, such as Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, have largely been immovable.

Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly and the lesser ones such as Irfan Pathan and Anil Kumble, give a real depth to the line-up.

India’s bowlers, but for Anil Kumble, are no world beaters but they bowled well as a unit and really complimented each other a great deal. They have successfully dragged Australian batsmen on the front foot and induced them to drive.

The conditions at Adelaide are expected to be good for batting for the first three days. The game tends to move quickly thereafter when the pitch tends to increasingly get up and down.

Rain is forecast for the third day but it is not alarming and the game should go the distance. The quality of cricket dished out in this series should again come to the fore.

The teams:

Australia (from): Ricky Ponting (Capt), Phil Jacques, Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark and Shaun Tait.

India (from): Anil Kumble (Capt), Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Kaarthick, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, RP Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Wasim Jaffer.

Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZ) and Asad Rauf (Pak).

Match Referee: Mike Procter (South Africa)

Hours of Play: 5.30 am to 7.30 am, 8.10 am to 10.10 am,

10.30 am to 12.30 pm. (PTI)

Ganguly unperturbed by ODI exclusion

MELBOURNE, Jan 23: His axing from the Indian one-day squad for the tri-series might have created a furore back home but Sourav Ganguly is unfazed and determined to stay focussed on the crucial fourth and deciding Test match against Australia starting in Adelaide tomorrow.

"I haven’t given things a thought beyond this Test. It’s an important match and I’ve got to stay focused. I’ll think of the future once it gets over," Ganguly was quoted as saying by the ‘Herald Sun’ newspaper today.

The former skipper has been in superb form since his comeback and continued his good run in the ongoing Test series but his fielding skills or rather lack of it cost him the ODI berth.

Rival skipper Ricky Ponting was also surprised not to see the Bengal left-hander in the one-day squad.

"I am surprised and shocked that he is not in the side because right through this Test series, he has certainly looked good with the bat," he told NDTV.

Selectors had also wielded their axe on former captain Rahul Dravid and stylish right-hander VVS Laxman to pave the way for youngsters to come in for the one-day tri series, also involving Sri Lanka, beginning February 3 after a one-off Twenty20 tie.

Ponting felt one-day cricket was gradually becoming a youngster’s game.

"That’s the way, one-day cricket is becoming a younger person’s game and fielding has become such an important aspect.

"They (Indians) are looking at a more youthful sort of approach," he said. (PTI)

Anand draws with Gelfand; Carlsen, Kramnik beaten

WIJK AAN ZEE (The Netherlands), Jan 23: World champion Viswanathan Anand played out a draw with Israeli Boris Gelfand to improve to the joint third spot after the ninth round of the Corus International Chess tournament here.

The Indian ace did not have any trouble in holding Gelfand with black, but in a major turnaround, Hungarian Peter Leko defeated overnight sole leader Magnus Carlsen of Norway to leave the field wide open.

With Russian Vladimir Kramnik bowing to some fine attacking display by Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, Levon Aronian of Armenia joined Carlsen in lead on 5.5 points.

Anand inched himself up to joint third spot on 5 points and giving him company are Kramnik, Teinour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and Michael Adams of England. Just four rounds remain in the category-20 tournament.

In the ‘B’ group, being played simultaneously, the Indian GrandMasters’ duel between Koneru Humpy and P Harikrishna ended in a draw without much ado. Playing white, Humpy played it safe in the neo-grunfeld.

The draw helped Harikrishna retain his joint fourth spot on 5 points as Sergei Movsesian of Slovakia retained sole lead after drawing with Nigel Short of England.

With Movsesian on 6.5 points, the second place in this section is held by Etienne Bacrot of France on 6 while short is clear third another half point adrift.

GrandMaster Parimarjan Negi was held to a draw by Mark Van Der Werf of Holland in the ‘C’ group. Playing white, the Dutchman played a closed position wherein the Indian did not get many chances.

Fabiano Caruana of Italy strengthened his position at the top of the tables in this section defeating John Van Der Wiel of Holland. The Italian teenager took his tally to 7 points out of a possible 9 and remained a half point clear of Dutch GM Dmitry Reinderman.

Parimarjan is joint third along with Friso Nijboer of Holland on 5.5 points.(PTI)

Semifinal lineup drawn in Volleyball tourney

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 23: The semifinal lineup has been drawn in the ongoing Inter Collegiate Volleyball Tournament (men) being played at New University Campus.

In the quarterfinals played today, SPMR College of Commerce, PG Department and DC Kathua sealed wins to advance into the semis.

In the first quarterfinal, SPMR College of Commerce got the better of last year runner up DC Bhaderwah by 3-0 sets 25-18, 25-11 and 25-19.

Deepak Kumar was the star spiker who unleashed powerful smashes against DC Bhaderwah blockers.

PG Department also had a cakewalk against GGM Science College with identical 3-0 win.

The final set score was 25-16, 27-25 and 25-14. Anil Sharma and Vishal Sharma played outstandingly for the winner team while Bipen Singh also played well for GGM Science College.

In the third quarterfinal, DC Kathua overwhelmed DC Ram Nagar by 3-0 sets 25-16, 25-22 and 25-12.

Roshan Lal of DC Kathua displayed a fine exhibition of smashes to penetrate the defence of DC Ram Nagar time and again.

The matches were officiated by Shashi Sharma, Karan Singh, Neeraj Sharma and Mulkh Raj.

The first semifinal between PG Department and DC Kathua will be played at 11 am at the same venue.

Vocal Classical, Instrumental competitions held

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 23: On the third day of the ongoing ‘On the Spot Music Competition’ being organised by the J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Language at K L Saigal Hall, competitions in Vocal (light/folk), Vocal Classical and Instrumental categories were held today.

Ayushi Koul, Urvashi Sharma, Ravi Kumar, Shivani Mehra, Prakriti Sharma, Priyanka Bhat, Approval, Isha Balgotra, Manvi Padha, Ankia Wattoo, Vishal Verma, Joi Singh, Vandana Kumari and Sumriti Sharma enthralled the audience with bhajans and songs.

In Vocal (classical), Mukteshi Sharma, Nausheen Padha, Swati Satish, Opinder Bhat, Rishabh Raj, Shweetanshu and Priya Khar spell bound the audience with their presentation.

In the Instrumental category, Ashim Dhar, Niyanta Talwar, Mithlesh Wanchoo and Ankit Verma showcased their skills on Tabla and Violin.

V N Kohli and Charan Singh were the adjudicators in today’s competitions whereas Anil Tickoo conducted the proceedings.

The vote of thanks was presented by Shamima Akhter, special officer for cultural activities.

Rahil to face Sahil in senior boys final

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 23: Rahil will take on Sahil Koul in senior boys final of the ongoing District Jammu Carrom Championship being played at SOS School, Gole Gujral.

In junior girls final, Neha would lock horns against Anita for title clash while Sarthak will face Hans in the first semifinal in junior boys followed by match between Akhil and Ishan Sharma to decide the second finalist.

All the matches in the tournament are being conducted under the supervision of G S Bakshi, chief co-ordinator.

MMCC enters Twenty20 final

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 23: Madan Mohan Cricket Club (MMCC) trounced Luxmi Cricket Club (LCC) by 44 runs in the semifinal today to enter into the final of the ongoing Twenty20 Cricket Tournament being played at Mini Stadium, Parade Ground.

LCC’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss backfired as MMCC posted challenging 142/8 in the allotted overs with Abhishek Singh top scored with 42 runs.

Shashi Kumar also chipped in with useful 28 runs. For LCC, Manik Gupta took two wickets while Sameer Khajuria, Surinder Gupta, Ashok Kumar and Pardeep Bali scalped one wicket each.

In reply, LCC managed 98 runs in the stipulated overs losing nine wickets in the process.

Only Pardeep Bali and Sameer Khajuria shown some resistance against discipline bowling performance by MMCC bowlers with contributions of 26 and 23 runs respectively.

Right arm spinner Raman Dutta was the wrecker-in-chief for the winner club with four scalps.

The umpires in the match were Rajinder Singh and Ashok Dogra. The scorer was Rajeev.

The final between MMCC and NCC (National Cricket Club) will be played on Saturday at the same venue.

According to Pawan Gupta, senior vice president, LCC, all the members of Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association and veteran cricketers of the State are requested to watch final match.

Too early to call Aussies a declining force: Ponting

ADELAIDE, Jan 23: Australian skipper Ricky Ponting today warned critics not to rush to a judgement about the slipping crown of the world champions after the shock defeat against India in Perth, saying it was too early to declare his team a declining force.

"I think one loss is probably a little bit early to be calling that this team is on the slide. We have had it before. We had it before the World Cup, eight or 12 months ago now, we went through the World Cup undefeated," Ponting said.

"We have just gone 16 Tests matches in a row it has only been done once before by another Australian team. I don’t think we have too much to worry about just yet," he added.

Ponting refused to divulge details about the Australian team composition for the fourth and final Test and said he was still to make up his mind on whether to persist with pacer Shaun Tait or bring back spinner Brad Hogg.

"We just have to toss up in our head whether the spin is the way to go or do we try and use pace with variable bounce late in the game," he said.

"I think historically spin has probably been the preferred option for the Australian team to play in most conditions around the world."

"But when you have someone like Taity — a wicket taker like that in the room as well, it gives you lots of options but makes your decision very difficult as well," he added.

But if spin was to be Ponting’s option, the Australian skipper said he would try not to put too much pressure on Hogg.

"If he does come in, it’s important we make sure he is not under too much pressure because we all do know how hard it is to perform when you do feel like your spot is on the line," Ponting said. (PTI)

Opening India-South Africa Test in Chennai

MUMBAI Jan 23: The first Test in the forthcoming three-match rubber between India and South Africa would be played at the Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, in Chennai from March 26-30, the cricket board announced today.

The second and third Tests will be held at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad (April 3-7) and Kanpur’s Green Park (April 11-15).

The visitors will land in Kolkata after flying in from Dhaka on March 15 before proceeding to goa for a short holiday, according to BCCI sources. (PTI)

Kumble urges axed seniors to focus on deciding Test

ADELAIDE, Jan 23: Indian skipper Anil Kumble today admitted that the timing of announcing the one-day side was far from "ideal" but hoped his axed senior players would shrug off the disappointment to stay focussed for the crucial fourth Test against Australia, starting here tomorrow.

"(The selection) is not in their hands. I have gone through it, it’s not ideal (the announcement of the team before the Test) but that’s the way. It’s a bit disappointing.

"It’s not easy on senior players, having said that we would keep our focus on this test," the ace leg spinner said.

Kumble said the senior players were mature enough to take the exclusion in their stride.

"It’s a challenge (to get them around). People (not selected) would be disappointed but they have played enough cricket to understand, why this (Test) is important for Indian cricket and to stay in the series," he said.

Shockingly Sourav Ganguly, and to a lesser extent Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman have been left out of the one-day squad for the tri-series, by the selectors.

Kumble was statesman-like while speaking on the importance of the final and deciding Test.

"It all started here (in 2003-04), it’s a special venue for me for India as the last four years have gone well for Indian cricket. Now the opportunity is there for us to level the series."

Kumble also looked at his own revival, starting from the Adelaide game in 2003-04, and conceded this time around it’s definitely going to be his final match.

"They said the same (about my last visit to Australia) in 2003. But this time I am sure it’s the last time. It’s been great so far, we came with a purpose of winning the series in australia.

"We have held our head high and hopefully we would perform which would (inspire) the Indian teams in future to do what we couldn’t achieve here," he said.

Kumble, unsurprisingly, stood up for his tribe —the bowlers— and spoke glowingly about their contribution.

"Before we came here, we were asked if we could pick 20 Australian wickets in the series. As a senior most experienced bowler, I am delighted that our young bowling attack has stepped up the plate."

The Indian pace trinity— R P Singh, Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma — outshone their counterparts at Perth and Kumble admitted they were undecided on including Harbhajan Singh on a pitch, which is tipped to help spinners too.

"There are a few possibilities but we would like to take another look at the pitch. It (five bowlers) is an option and that is something we will definitely assess," Kumble said.

There has been a suggestion that Indian fast bowlers could be found out on this pitch where the bounce would not be as big a factor nor would be the breeze.

"I am sure this place offers swing. As for reverse swing (considering the dry conditions at the Adelaide Oval), I would say we are not ignoring the possibility and (bowling coach) Venkatesh Prasad is working hard on it with the boys."

One of India’s success story in bowling has been the continued dominance over Ricky Ponting and Kumble could not hide his glee that his bowlers had been successful in taming one of the greatest batsman of modern era.

"He (Ponting) is definitely a key member of the Australian team. Success against him has allowed us to work on their middle-order sooner than what would have been the case.

"It doesn’t matter whether it’s Harbhajan or Ishant or RP Singh or me. As long as anyone can do the job it’s okay."

Kumble also exuded confidence that India’s young guns, if nurtured properly, had it in them to take the game forward for the nation.

"Indian team is undergoing transition. That’s the key. India certainly has the talent. It’s just a matter of ensuring they (the younger lot) get the confidence.

"In four or five years time, I am sure, India would have a good set of players and Indian cricket would move forward," he said. (PTI)

BCC approached by Swiss Govt, NBA for player tie-up

MUMBAI, Jan 23: The government of Switzerland and National Basketball Association of US have approached the BCCI for using Sachin Tendulkar and some other Indian cricketers for furthering social causes through advertisements.

"The Swiss government approached us and wanted Sachin to do an ad with (world’s number one men’s tennis player) Roger Federer for a social cause. Sachin was thrilled and agreed to it immediately", said BCCI CEO Prof Ratnakar Shetty here.

"The NBA has also approached us and wants to utilise our players’ services for furthering social causes," Shetty added on the sidelines of a media conference last night to announce boost Under-17 Cricket Cup tournament for school children.

"We, in the Mumbai Cricket Association (of which Shetty is the Treasrer), had taken a policy not to allow juniors to play limited overs cricket but have relaxed it for this tournament since it’s to be run on an All-India basis and we did not want Mumbai schools to be denied an opportunity to become All-India champions," Shetty said.

"In fact the BCCI has decided to scrap some junior age group tournaments and conduct a schools tournament instead. The board wants to hold events for only under 16 and under 19 age groups instead of for under 15, 17 and 19 as at present," he explained.

The January 30-February 15 Boost Cup tournament, to be organised jointly by MCA and the Mumbai Schools Sports Association, will have 30 teams from Mumbai and Thane districts with the winners advancing to the inter-city challenge featuring teams from 18 cities and towns around the country. (PTI)