India
keen to continue their good work
CHENNAI, Mar 25: India will look to
get back into the Test mode quickly as
they square up against South Africa in
the first of their three-match cricket
series in the backdrop of the euphoria of
the one-day tri-series triumph in
Australia.
Although
South Africa is regarded as a tough team,
India’s record on home turf clearly
makes the hosts favourites provided the
weather holds good for all the five days.
With the
unseasonal depression in the bay of
Bengal persisting, the sun has been
playing hide and seek. Light showers
lashed the city yesterday, forcing the
ground staff to give up their
preparations and cover the pitch.
But the
two teams are hardly worried about the
weather as Indian skipper Anil Kumble
made his intentions clear, saying his
team would be keen to snatch a series
win.
"It
will be the first step to ensure that we
keep the good work done in Australia.
This is the beginning of a long season of
test cricket," Kumble said.
"We
are all geared up, we have to go out
there and ensure we do our best. We did
that throughout in Australia. We are
really confident."
Kumble
indicated India would go into the match
with seven batsmen and four bowlers.
"Playing
eleven is not decided, but as of now we
are looking at two (medium pacers) and
two (spinners). We have Sourav (Ganguly),
(Virender) Sehwag and Sachin (Tendulkar)
who can fill in as bowlers. We will see.
There is no injury issues to any of our
players in the team," the
leg-spinner said.
Indians
players would have guidance of former
South African opener Gary Kirsten, who
would be with the team for the first time
as its chief coach, a position left
vacant by Greg Chappell of Australia
after the World Cup debacle last year.
Kirsten
and India’s newly appointed mental
conditioning coach Paddy Upton were once
a part of the South African dressing room
and the visiting side has been bombarded
with queries on what it thinks of the
duo’s association with the rival
team ever since its arrival in India.
Graeme
Smith’s men , some of who played
with Kirsten, have cleverly ducked the
matter, saying they don’t really
care what secrets about them may have
been passed on to the Indians but clearly
having Kirsten and Upton does give a
psychological edge to Kumble’s men.
Besides,
the South Africans will be without the
services of pace bowlers Andre Nel and
Charl Langeveldt due to the raging quota
controversy but captain Smith has tried
to divert attention from the issue by
pinning hopes on the available players.
South
African pace attack might not possess the
same intensity in the absence of
Langeveldt and Nel and this will
certainly help the hosts.
The M A
Chidambaram stadium has been a good
hunting ground for Tendulkar and the
master batsman would be hoping to
continue his fine form from the Australia
tour.
Going by
the predictions of pitch curator M
Parthasarathy, the match will be
result-oriented and the turf would start
turning from second day onwards.
This will
be to the advantage of India, which has
world class spinners in Kumble and
Harbhajan Singh as compared to the
visitors, already lacking services of
their top bowlers.
The hot
and humid Chennai weather is another
nemesis that the Proteas will have to
deal with but they claim that having
played in the sub-continent for the past
few months has prepared them well for it.
The
series, being seen as a filler before the
much-hyped Indian Premier League (IPL),
has not generated the kind of excitement
or anticipation that generally goes with
cricket in India but promises to be
engrossing nonetheless.
And one
factor that will make it a keen contest
is how the two teams conduct themselves
on the field after the ICC issued
guidelines urging captains to control
sledging.
So far,
instead of trying to have a go at each
other, the rival captains have chosen to
state politically correct admirations for
each other’s team.
The two
captains are on record saying the game
will take precedence over everything and
their focus would be firmly on the
on-field battle. (PTI)
ICC
bans sledging
SYDNEY, Mar 25: After
India’s ill-tempered tour of
Australia this month, the International
Cricket Council (ICC) has finally banned
sledging and has sent a letter to
officials, captains and chiefs calling
for support of the decision.
The ICC
said there will still be a room for
occasional light hearted remarks but the
use of harsh-swear words will be strictly
prohibited.
"This
is specifically directed at preventing
offensive language directed at another
person, be it a fellow player, official
or spectator,’’ said the
letter, signed by ICC Chief Executive
Malcolm Speed and cricket operations
manager David Richardson.
"You
will appreciate this is not an easy
issue. International cricket is played
and followed by people from a wide range
of cultures. What is offensive to some
may not be considered so by
others,’’ the statement said.
However,
it still remains to be defined that what
will be considered as offensive and what
not. The ICC said it will be at
umpires’ discretion and they will
the offense and its degree.
"It
is impossible to define which words or
combination of words will be regarded as
offensive and there will always be a need
to take into account the context in which
the words are used and for the umpire to
apply a degree of individual
interpretation and judgment.
"We
are, however, asking you, as players, to
raise the bar and to set and respect new
standards. Players are asked to show a
greater level of respect to their
opponents, umpires and referees and to
recognise that swearing is regarded by
the majority of people as obscene,
offensive or insulting,’’ the
ICC said.
The
cricket’s governing body also
accepted that recent incidents have
proved to be a catalyst for such a
decision taken by it. (PTI)
Don’t
dump senior players: Atapattu
NEW DELHI, Mar 25: The new-found
go-young policy may have yielded results
in recent past but it was rash on
India’s part to dump senior players
like Sourav Ganguly from the one-day
squad, feels former Sri Lanka captain
Marvan Atapattu.
According
to him, packing a side with only
youngsters affects the team balance and
Ganguly is not yet a spent force as far
as one-day cricket is concerned. (PTI)
ICC
to remove Gavaskar as Chairman of cricket
committee
LONDON, Mar 25: Speaking
out against alleged discrimination againt
India during their recent tour Down Under
cost Sunil Gavaskar dear as the legendary
batsman will in all likelihood be sacked
from his post as Chairman of the
ICC’s cricket committee.
According
to a report in the times, in an unanimous
vote at the ICC executive committee
meeting in Dubai last week, it was
decided that Gavaskar should be asked to
resign because of a conflict of interest
between his honorary ICC position and his
paid role as a columnist and commentator.
The
58-year-old former India captain has been
called to meet International Cricket
Council (ICC) Chief Executive Malcolm
Speed at the governing body’s Dubai
headquarters to account for his
controversial media columns. (PTI)
J&K
Bank wins State Football Championship
Excelsior Sports
Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 25: Formidable
J&K Bank cruised past J&K Police
by a solitary goal in a nerve wrecking
summit showdown to clinch the State
Football Championship played at Mini
Stadium, Parade Ground today.
The final
as expected was a cracker of a contest
with both teams played their heart out
much to the delight of capacity crowd who
watched the pulsating encounter with
bated breath.
After
toiling hard for 14 minutes, J&K Bank
finally seized an opportunity in the 15th
minute with Kamaljeet produced a majestic
corner kick thereby bisecting the
opponent’s defenders to score the
all important goal.
J&K
Police forwards tried desperately to
squander the lead but failed to penetrate
the rock solid defence of J&K Bank
which was at its awesome best.
With 1-0
down, J&K Police forwards shown
urgency by making decisive moves time and
again in the second half but
couldn’t succeed.
J&K
Bank survived some moments as J&K
Police struck telling blows in their
final ditch effort to score an equaliser.
However,
one yellow card was also shown to Sheikh
Rizwan of J&K Bank in the 78th
minute.
The match
was officiated by Farooq Ahmed, Suresh
Gupta, Mohd Shafi and Suresh Dimple.
Kuldeep
Khoda, DGP was the chief guest on the
occasion who gave away winner and runners
up trophy to the teams.
K Rajinder
Kumar, IGP Jammu Zone was the guest of
honour.
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