 Busy last day in
Australia for Team India
MELBOURNE, Mar 5: The victorious
Indian team spent a busy last day in
Australia before boarding the flight for
back home with the entire squad in a
delirious state of mind and braced up for
the hysterical reception that awaits them
in India.
"It
was a very busy day. The boys returned
from the ground late and the celebrations
continued in the bar of the hotel till
early morning," said an elated team
manager Dr Bimal Soni a couple of hours
before the team was to board the 12.30 am
(local time) flight for Mumbai.
Soni, and
the rest of the team, were preparing
themselves for the hectic schedule in
India. The team will arrive in Mumbai at
10.30 am in the morning and then be flown
on a chartered plane to Delhi where a
massive reception will take place at the
Ferozeshah Kotla Ground between 3 and 6
pm.
The day
after the historic ODI tri-series triumph
was an extremely hectic one for the
champions, by all accounts.
"It’s
been really busy. After we retired to our
rooms last night, there was this flight
in the afternoon for Melbourne and before
the day is out, we would be on plane for
back home," stated Dr Soni.
By the
look of it, skipper Mahendra Singh
Dhoni’s wish for a quiet few days
with his family would remain just that
—a wish.
"I
haven’t driven a bike for a long
time," Dhoni said after he had
secured the second straight win for his
side in the CB series finals in Brisbane
last night.
"If
the series had gone to the last game, we
would’ve boarded the flight on 9 and
hardly got time for ourselves. We need
some rest, either you take a break or God
gives you the break," he quipped.
A swooning
nation though is unlikely to provide the
cricket stars with some private moments
as more and more gushing cricket experts
join in to praise the team’s
achievements.
"I
have no doubt, this is the biggest Indian
one-day triumph since 1985," stated
former Indian captain Ravi Shastri as he
boarded the flight for back home.
"The
1983 World Cup and the 1985 Benson and
Hedges series in Australia and then is
this present one," he added. (PTI)
Ishant
produced best bowling I have faced:
Ponting
BRISBANE, Mar 5: Australian captain
Ricky Ponting today gave a thumbs up to
young paceman Ishant Sharma, saying the
Indian speedster produced "some of
the better bowling I have faced in Test
cricket."
"Ishant
has been the standout young player in the
Indian set up though the tour. Everybody
has spoken about him. At different times
he has bowled very good spells. The spell
he bowled to me in Perth on the last day
was some of the better bowling I have
faced in Test cricket," Ponting
said.
The Aussie
skipper said it would be interesting to
watch how the towering Delhi pacer and
other youngsters in the Indian team
develop over the next few years.
"He’s
(Ishant) Someone who’s going to be
around for a while and play a lot of
cricket. It’s something I have
always said about the Indian team: they
always seem to produce good young
players. Let’s see how they develop
over the next few years," he told
‘NDTV’.
Ponting
lamented that the controversies during
the tour showed him and his leadership in
poor light.
"Probably
yes. I think a few Australian players and
me too (were shown in bad light). I think
a lot of it from me was really
unavoidable. I was not involved in any of
those stuff that happened. I was supposed
to do captaining my side but with the
Harbhajan incident somehow it came out
looking badly," he said.
"A
lot of things have been said about me but
I really was not involved in any of those
stuff... I don’t think I could
handle things any differently or any
better," he added.
Ponting,
however, denied that his team’s
performance was affected due to the
off-field incidents or that Harbhajan was
spurred to do better.
"I
don’t think so it happened. If
things get tough, you genuinely play a
lot more better cricket and I think he
(Harbhajan) tried to play exactly the
same way (he performs usually).
"Australians
also played in the same fashion like
Symonds played in the same way whenever
he had those pack of volleys, he
genuinely played well. Matt hayden was
the same. They love being into such
intense battle... Overall, I think we
also played pretty well," he said.
Ponting,
however, admitted that Harbhajan had a
difficult tour down under would be
relieved at the end of it.
"It’s
been a hard summer for him. As to say how
many wickets he has ended up taking on
this tour, I imagine he had a magnificent
tour. He had a good tour and he has got
wickets at the end... He got two big
wickets in Sydney of Symonds and Hayden.
"He
has got crucial breakthroughs and this is
what you expect from a spinner. In
cricket, you need a good quality spinner
in odis who can come out in the middle
and can break a partnership and
that’s what he has done through all
this series.
"He
had a fair share of his dues ever since
he has been in australia as he was among
quite a few of those players. "I
think he must be relieved going back home
and getting out of australia and when you
win a match, it becomes easier," he
said. (PTI)
Tendulkar
tops ICC ODI batsmen rankings
DUBAI, Mar 5: Master blaster
Sachin Tendulkar’s match-winning
performances against Australia in the
finals of the CB series helped him jump
ten places to top the ICC player rankings
for ODI batsmen.
Tendulkar,
who scored 399 runs in the series Down
Under scored an unbeaten 117 in the first
final whereas he made a gutsy 91 in the
second final at Brisbane yesterday.
The
34-year-old batsman had entered the
series in eighth place on 736 points and
after battling the ups and downs during a
keenly contested series, finished on 777
points to lead Australian captain Ricky
Ponting by seven points who is at second
spot.
The little
master regaind his top spot after a long
wait of almost three-and-a-half years
which he last spearheaded in august 2004
during the series against Sri Lanka in
Colombo.
However,
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni
dropped one place to 10th while Yuvraj
Singh and Gautam Gambhir, too, dropped a
place each at 18th and 27th place
respectively.
India’s
Rohit Sharma moved 21 places to 88th
position and Australia’s James Hopes
jumped 11 places to 99th spot.
In the odi
bowlers’ list, Harbhajan Singh
improved three places to 18th spot to
become India’s only representative
in that group while man of the match in
the second final of the CB series Praveen
Kumar climbed 47 places to 75th and Irfan
Pathan slipped six places to 36th
position.
Australia’s
Adam Gilchrist signed off in sixth place
while Matthew Hayden, too, moved in right
direction to finish the series at the
eighth position. (PTI)
India
has last laugh after bitter summer:
Aussie media
MELBOURNE, Mar 5: Australian media
again highlighted off spinner Harbhajan
Singh as India claimed epoch-making
tri-series victory at Brisbane and
described the young side’s feat as
having "the last laugh after a
bitter summer of explosive
tensions".
Harbhajan,
who had hit headlines throughout the long
tour for being at the centre of off-field
controversies, proved to be the nemesis
of Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds,
claiming him in both the tri-series
finals while also cheaply removing
another detractor Matthew Hayden at
Sydney. "As cricket became a contact
sport, Australia were pitchforked out of
the finals in straight sets by an Indian
side which had the last laugh after a
bitter summer of explosive
tensions," said leading newspaper
‘The Daily Telegraph’.
Australian Associated Press (AAP)
reported the home side’s plight
under the title ‘Australia sunk in
straight sets’ after Ricky
Ponting’s men lost to India by nine
runs and 2-0 in the best-of-three finals.
"Instead
of a fitting one-day farewell for
retiring wicketkeeper (Adam) Gilchrist,
it was controversial spinner Harbhajan
Singh who laughed last and loudest,
lapping up the triumph on the Gabba
boundary in front of ecstatic expat
fans," the paper said. Heandline of
the main article in another national
daily ‘The Australian’ aptly
summed up the tour as it said - ‘a
summer of spite ends in Indian
glory’.
"A
fresh, young India beat Australia by nine
runs in last night’s ultimately
gripping second final at Brisbane’s
Gabba to wrap up the competition after
winning by six wickets in Sydney on
Sunday," The Aaustralian’
wrote.
"India’s
wild celebrations matched those of
Australia after winning a dramatic second
Test in Sydney and India after its
historic third Test victory in
Perth," it said.
‘Herald
Sun’ narrated similar sentiments
after the Indian triumph, saying
‘rough night as Indians reign’.
"Andrew
Symonds shoulder-charged a streaker but
it was his nemesis Harbhajan Singh and
his Indian teammates who landed the
knockout blow as Australia crashed out in
straight sets in the tri-series finals at
the Gabba last night," it said.
(PTI)
P&S
Bank wins thriller to clinch Police
Martyrs’ Hockey Tournament
Excelsior
Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 5: Defending champion
Punjab and Sindh Bank (P&S Bank) once
again proved their supremacy by notching
up a thrilling 3-2 win over battling
Punjab Police in a nerve wrecking summit
showdown to clinch 3rd All India Police
Martyrs’ Memorial Hockey Tournament
at K K Hakku Stadium today.
The
contest went right down to the wire which
saw fortune fluctuating from one team to
the other till the very end.
P&S
Bank dominated the entire proceedings of
the first half by making some decisive
moves which finally paid off. Bikramjit
Singh drew first blood in the 24th minute
by converting a penalty corner followed
by another by Dalair Singh in the next
minute to tighten their grip further.
Punjab
Police had their moments in the first
half but failed to deliver the knock out
punch.
The
penalty corner which they conceded to
P&S Bank proved fatal.
The second
half witnessed a sudden change of gears
in Punjab Police camp as their forwards
shown urgency to put things back on
track.
In the
meantime, P&S Bank added one goal to
their kitty through Rajwinder Singh in
the 39th minute to make it 3-0.
The
contest took a U-turn with Punjab Police
managed to score two goals within eight
minutes to make the contest tantalisingly
close.
Both goals
were scored at the stroke of second half.
The goal scorers were Jugraj Singh (62nd)
and Amit Singh (68th).
P&S
Bank despite conceding two goals in quick
succession held their nerves to survive
anxious moments and finally emerge the
winners.
Chief
Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad was the chief
guest on the occasion who gave away
winner and runner up trophies to the
teams.
Speaking
on the occasion, the Chief Minister
congratulated J&K Police for
organising the tournament in the memory
of police martyrs’.
He further
said J&K Police was now ready to
scale new heights in the shape of
climbing the Mount Everest.
He also
gave away mementos to the players.
Director General of Police, Kuldeep Khoda
also given a memento the the Chief
Minister.
The match
was officiated by Satvir Singh, Sanjay
Bhatia, R Gandhi, Amarjit Singh and
Jasbir Singh.
JKFA
Jammu wing holds meeting
Excelsior
Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 5: A meeting
of Jammu wing of Jammu and Kashmir
Football Association (JKFA) held at Mini
Stadium, Parade today under the
chairmanship of Dr Nirmolak Singh,
Vice-President, JKFA to discuss the
arrangements for hosting of Santosh
Trophy.
Members of
JKFA (Jammu wing) comprised R K Kohli,
Treasurer, Ashok Sharma, Chairman
Selection Committee, JKFA, Shiv Paul
Sharma, Resident Secretary, Jammu were
present.
During the
meeting, it was decided by the house that
Dr Nirmolak Singh should approach the
JKFA President for allotment of 4
clusters out of 8 to Jammu wing and also
two knock-out matches of
pre-quarterfinal.
The house
further authorised Vice-President to
frame/constitute various committees for
smooth conduct of matches.
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