OID ‰ ‰ † ‹ K OID ‰ ‰ † ‹ OID ‰ ‰ † ‹ M OID ‰ ‰ † ‹ C

The Times of , New Delhi, Thursday,January 1, 2004

Gemma has guts KFA chief to quit In the drop zone The gruelling Paris-Dakar Kuwait Football Association chief McLaren F1 driver David rally will have Spaniard Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah Coulthard looks set to be Gemma Garcia as the only has decided to step down after the dropped from the team at the female contestant in the national team’s 0-2 loss to UAE in end of the season. He was motorbike section. The rally the Gulf Cup. Fans vented their ire outshone by team-mate Kimi starts on January 1 by staging a protest against KFA Raikkonen in the last season

East Bengal beat Mahindras in the National Football League

They (Hayden and SIZZLERS AT THE SCG Ponting) are scoring a lot India- Test matches at the Ground have pro- of runs at present and if duced three double centuries and a single ten- haul in a match. we can get them out India speak the plan-guage They remains the best at Sydney as detailed hereunder: cheaply there will be a lot of pressure on the guys * Ravi Shastri’s 206 in 1991-92: Dogged and attritional, these are the coming in the middle. Sourav and Co go into fourth and final Test at Sydney with a blueprint adjectives that come to mind when — AP one reminisces Ravi Shastri’s su- Sydney: The Indians have worked well; good cutter-puller. per effort in the New Year Test of SPORTS DIGEST out an elaborate plan against the Weaknesses: Ball leaving him 1992. Opening the , he against spinners; looks to sweep and Ajit Ninan Australian batsmen and although faced a hostile pace quartet of slog-sweep. it has hardly worked so far, they Craig McDermott, and are banking on it to pull off a se- Strengths: more of a mind player; with panache. He ries-winning win in the fourth went on to complete his only Test starting here on plays point, cover, mid-off; sweeps through mid-wicket; looks to work it double hundred and then fell to a Friday. onside for one to get off strike. tired shot to Test debutant Shane has a very short Weaknesses: short pitch; suscepti- Warne after nine and a half hours stride on the front foot and is a big ble to inswingers; slow starter; not hitting 17 boundaries and two six- lbw candidate to ball coming in to much of footwork against spinners; es. He shared India’s highest ever him, reminds the Indian team’s bowl fourth stump line and get him fifth-wicket partnership (196) dossier on team, a hitting through cover point; give him against Australia with Sachin Ten- copy of which has been given to nothing on legs. dulkar who scored 148. The match was drawn. every Indian player. Langer has so far scored 205 Strengths: good driver; cutter; * ’s 204 in 1980-81: Elegance, style, ruthlessness Greg runs from six innings; 121 of puller; very positive; allround shots. Chappell had it all. An ideal No.3 bat, Greg Chappell pulverised India by which came in the first innings in Weaknesses: big shuffle; early com- occupying the crease for 408 minutes and scoring 204 runs off 296 the first Test at Gabba. He has mitment on the frontfoot; instinctive balls smashing 27 boundaries and helping Australia score 406. Truly a been dismissed leg before wicket puller; struggles for good ’s innings, it helped complete an innings and four win inside three out of six times, all of them outswingers. Give him nothing on the three days. to Ajit Agarkar who overall has backfoot; middle-leg line for left-arm or leg spinners; fourth stump line. * Justin Langer’s 223 in 1999-00: got him five times. On a second day belter, Australia Here is the analysis of some of Strengths: off-side; plays fast bowl- were strangely struggling at 49 for the leading Aussie players. ing better; likes to cut and sweep the two. A further setback looked im- Psychologist for archers: In a Justin Langer spinners; plays inside-out. minent as Justin Langer scratched, bid to enhance the country’s medal Strengths: More of a nudger; Weaknesses: doesn’t like middle-leg prodded and poked around till he prospects in the Athens Olympics, sweeps spinners well; cuts/pulls; ball coming in from fast bowlers; can reached 50. Like long lost lovers, likes to play long innings; tons of pa- Archery Association of India (AAI) will get out trying to cut arm ball of spin- his timing returned and never left be employing the services of a for- tience; likes to grind the attack; likes ners; probably start with spin. to rotate the strike; good off the back him. After reaching 50, he blitxed eign sports psychologist, AAI presi- the Indian attack and compiled dent Vijay Kumar Malhotra said. Mal- foot, pulls well. Strength: big puller and cutter; picks hotra, who was unanimously re- Weaknesses: Short stride on the 223, an innings spread over eight the line early; is not afraid to hit loft- hours 43 minutes and punctuated elected president of the association, front foot; big lbw candidate to ball ed strokes. said Alisan Rodeus of United King- coming in to him; sometimes get a Weakness: tends to hit in the air by 30 fours. Australia won by an dom will start working with the feeling he reads off the wicket; shaky while driving, mid-off and mid-on innings and 141 runs to end a woe- archers from next month. starter; plays half cock most of the closer to bowler than squarish as he ful tour for India as they lost the se- times; spinners should make him does not hit many straight shots. ries 3-0. Asian hockey meet in Delhi: play on the offside ( through In addition, there are general The 5th Asian women’s hockey cover); should be bowled off-stump instructions. These are: championship will be held in New line; good length ball coming in. 1. Bowl fourth stump line to all of * Glenn McGrath’s match haul of Delhi from January 31 to February 5, them; coming forward. 10-103 in 1999-00: Still wonder- the All India Women’s Hockey Feder- Strengths: Strong of the back foot; 2. Give them nothing to cut or pull. ing whether Justin Langer’s 223 ation president Vidya Stokes said. stands tall; sweeps spinners well; India captain Sourav Ganguly and wife Dona (top of the stairs, left) arrive 3. If you bowl a bouncer it has to be helped him pocket the Man-of-the- The groupings for the event would be likes to play through onside; pulls at Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport on Wednesday. good. PTI made on the basis of the four zones Match award? Well he didn’t. Glenn as defined by the Asian Hockey McGrath won it for his splendid fig- Council to promote the game and al- ures of ten for 103 off 35.5 overs. low weaker teams to gain experience. Indians at the Rethink strategy for Sydney Rain before the start meant con- ducive bowling conditions and Mc- Lanka beat India A: Fine all- round display by Kanchan Gunawar- ALLROUND VIEW contributed very little, and this is something Grath exploited them to the hilt dane (40 runs and 3/20) enabled Sri that will trouble the side consistently. The with five important in the receiving end of Ravi Shastri lower order must be able to deliver some first innings including that of skip- Lanka beat India A by 26 runs in the Commonwealth Cricket (under 19) Australia wrapped up the third runs. per . McGrath was Championship. Test quite comfortably on the Sachin Tendulkar showed some of his old India’s nemesis in the second dig Scores: Sri Lanka 162 in 36 overs (Kanchan Gu- form finally,but he will be unhappy with his too taking five wickets. Australia nawardane 40, T. Mosmulla 40, Mayank Sharma Aussie sledging fifth morning, but I am con- dismissal to a loose shot. 2/22) beat India A 136 in 35.4 overs (Soumick vinced that if India had another romped home in three days. Chatterjee 39, Tapan Jain 31, K. Gunawardane 100-125 runs to defend, they The Sydney Test begins in a couple of - Anant Gaundalkar 3/20) by 26 runs. Sydney: The Indian resistance on the fourth day would have been in a spot of days, and this series is intriguingly poised. of the third cricket Test here was so frustrating for bother. The wicket was getting India allowed Australia to get out of their CHESS RANKINGS the Australians that they resorted to sledging to increasingly two-paced, and stranglehold, but by no means were they unsettle their rival batsmen. Top women players in FIDE list could have been very dangerous. overwhelmed at . I thought they “Where have your learnt your technique, mate! showed a lot of attitude and character, but Swami Army, Beer 1. J. Polgar (HUN) 2722 But he just did not have enough runs to defend. Is this all that John Wright has taught you?’’ 2. M Chiburdanidze (GEO) 2502 In effect, the decisive phase of the match they will have to keep the momentum going Matthew Hayden 3. A Galliamova (RUS) 2502 came on the second morning when India col- for another week. The Australians have tast- asked Rahul 4. A Stefanova (BUL) 2497 lapsed after making a strong ed triumph, and will be eager 5. Zhu Chen (CHN) 2495 Dravid as the Indi- to move in for the kill. Wenches pad up start on the first day through an vice-captain, 6. K Lahno (UKR) 2486 ’s swash- Ganguly will miss Harbha- with his trade- Sydney: The thrill of a se- 7. K Humpy (IND) 2485 buckling century. You can’t jan and because Sydney Test Fest mark defiance, ries-decider coupled with the 8 Xu Yuhua (CHN) 2485 give the Australians any lee- the track at Sydney would 9. Wang Lei (CHN) 2484 sought an Indian emotions surrounding the ates and it travels around way,but India’s caved have helped both these 10. S Matveeva (RUS) 2483 revival. farewell match of Australia Australia in support of the in without reason. bowlers. Some rethink in source: www.fide.com Brad Williams strategy is now imperative. I Test captain Steve Waugh Indian cricket team. snarled at Sachin ’s dismissal would opt for two spinners have provided supporters of “Considering that the SCG Among targets: Dravid, Patel Tendulkar after on the fourth evening also because the Sydney track can both teams the perfect ex- is a small ground with re- getting him out came at a crucial time for In- help slow bowlers in the last cuse to break into grand cel- served seating we are not ex- and directed Ajit Agarkar towards the dressing dia. It opened up the tail for 4-5 sessions. Murali Kartik, ebration during the Sydney actly sure how many Indian room after rattling his stumps with a quick Australia, and also seemed to impressive for a good many cricket Test, irrespective of supporters will come but one delivery. affect Sourav Ganguly who months now, deserves to the outcome. can easily spot us as we sport BETTING METER , not to be outdone, gave a had otherwise been batting partner Anil Kumble who That the start of the match Mexican hats, Indian shirts CRICKET mouthful to after the little wicket- well. In both innings, the bot- looked to be at his best at coincides with the second and five of us are topless keeper had guided him through slips in succession TCM day of the new year has also India vs Australia — Top wicket-taker tom half of the Melbourne. with a alphabet each from I- for fours. contributed to the enthusi- S MacGill 4/7 n-d-i-a,’’ Abhilash Mudaliar, A Kumble 5/4 An Indian middle-order batsman revealed that asm of the cricket fans. who leads the group, said. J Gillespie 25/1 one player subjected to special sledging by the Williams left out of Tri-series squad While the Australian sup- Mudaliar, who shifted to A Bichel 33/1 Aussies was Indian captain Sourav Ganguly. Sydney: Paceman Brad sion of another speedster, have room for so many fast porters would line up in large Australia 16 years ago, says N Bracken 66/1 Ganguly was constantly spoken to by the Williams, who had an im- . bowlers in the squad,’’ chair- numbers to give a fond the army has a core group of as per ladbrokes.com cordon and close-in fielders of the Australian team pressive limited over series Taking the place of the two man of selectors Trevor farewell to their champion 15 members who travel with Hayden and Gilchrist doing the maximum TODAY’S ACTION in India, was on Wednesday would be tearaway fast Hohns said. skipper, who retires from in- around the country for all chattering. The din grew louder as Dravid and NATIONAL left out of the 13-member bowler and Jason ternational cricket after the games while other Indian Ganguly dropped anchor and put on 93 runs in the The Australian squad Basketball: Senior Nationals (Cuttack). Australian squad for the first Gillespie, both of whom Test, an ever-swelling group supporters come and join afternoon, resisting the verbal intimidatory tac- Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam them intermittently.Also ex- Tennis: AITA junior masters (New Delhi). four matches of the triangu- missed the Indian outing due Gilchrist, , Andrew of Indian supporters, called tics of the Australians. the Swami Army, is also ex- pected on the ground are the INTERNATIONAL The Indians found skipper Steve Waugh the lar One-day series starting to injuries. “That (not mak- Bichel, Nathan Bracken, Michael pected to throng the venue. Beer Wenches, a team of Cricket: India vs Australia, 4th Test, day 1 most well-behaved of all his teammates. on January 9. ing the squad) is hard on Clarke, , , (Friday 5.30 am, Live on Star Sports). The Swami Army, a take scantily clad girls who could Waugh even walked up to Ganguly after the In- The other change in the Brad Williams and Michael Matthew Hayden, , Brett Chess: Hastings International chess champi- on the original Barmy Army be hired for $65 an hour to dian captain had been hit on the head by a rising squad that did duty in the In- Kasprowicz, who performed Lee, Damien Martyn, Andrew onships (Hastings, ). of England supporters, is wait hand and foot on groups delivery from Brad Williams. PTI dian tri-series was the exclu- so well in India, but we only Symonds. PTI fronted by a quintet of bare- of thirsty fans. chested youths with the let- “Then, for an extra fee the ters I-N-D-I-A painted in the wenches, or another girl tricoulour on their chests. from the same company, Everybody says he’s not fine, everybody’s forgetting a few things The foursome have promised would do a private strip away By Ayaz Memon to be vociferous in their sup- from the ground for those Vishwanath, for instance. Great, of course. port to the Indian team with fans who have had their fill TIMES NEWS NETWORK It is the consistency of achievement that LARA VS SACHIN their chants and songs. of sun, drink and cricket,’’ : If he is not inured to the ways of becomes the hallmark for earning such an M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 The Swami army was said The Sun Herald. the world, Sachin Tendulkar might consid- epithet. Tendulkar has almost 9000 Test 100 176 5 8916 375 52.14 23 42 founded in 1999 by a group of To add to all this extrava- er it supreme irony that critics, aficionados, runs, more than 12000 one-day runs, more Sachin Tendulkar 110 178 16 8964 217 55.33 31 36 expatriate Indian university ganza, there will be private fans — almost everybody — wants him to than 60 centuries in both forms of cricket, students and recent gradu- box for Waugh’s guests. PTI reiterate his credentials at the same venue ation. forms of cricket, he has and a dozen and more years of yeoman AP where he had announced his greatness as a I remember John Wood- played with distinction. service to the cause of Indian cricket. This batsman almost 12 years to the day. cock, covering the series Which is why current doubts is no flash-in-the-pan stuff. This is real stuff. At the , where the for The Times (London), about his caliber are not only This is the stuff of greatness. fourth Test begins on Friday,and where the saying that he had not dismaying, but frankly Like almost all great batsmen before him focus will be as seen so much aptitude and ridiculous. You don't doubt a (barring the peerless ), Ten- much on his form as audacity in any young performer's class, his great- dulkar is now going through the horrors. TODAY’S Steve Waugh's player. ``He has the mak- ness, after a lifetime, as it Lean trot it is called in cricket jargon. Greg farewell, Tendulkar ings of a great batsman,'' were. Form by all means, but Chappell, , , SPECIAL made a scintillating observed Woodcock, who not his intrinsic worth. , to name a few modern ma- 148 out of a 196-runs had reported on cricket The Big B does not become jor domos, have been through this too, and partnership with the sturdy Ravi Shastri in for almost 40 years. In the small b if two films fail be- survived. 1992. It not only ensured the only draw for last Test of the series, on a cause his body of work is just Some are on the sidelines, some giving ex- India in the four-Test series, even more im- flier where the diffi- Sachin Tendulkar too formidable and not easily pert comments, some still playing. Oh yes, portantly, revealed to the cricket world, a culty quotient for stroke- blighted. There are players let's not forget Brian Lara. In fact, the bat- batsman extraordinaire. play was much higher than at Sydney, Ten- who start with a bang and fade away in a ting statistics of Lara and Tendulkar are This was Tendulkar's second Test hun- dulkar made another rousing hundred. couple of seasons. Not great. There are uncannily similar (see box), except that dred, but his first against a quality attack in Woodcock's observation this time was suc- those who finish their careers on some sort Lara has tided over his problems, reinvent- which the only weak link was a plumpish cinct and salutary. ``This is a great bats- of a high. Not great again. There are others ed himself and come back perhaps stronger. leg-spinner called , playing his man.'' who start slowly, then gather steam, like That to me is the challenge before Ten- first game for Australia. Those present at In the 12 years since, Tendulkar has con- Rahul Drvaid and Matt Hayden and Ricky dulkar as he takes the field in the New Year. the SCG for that Test, marvelled at Ten- sistently demonstrated the hows and whys Ponting. Yes, great. Then there are some He set the benchmark for a whole genera- dulkar's sense of timing, his range of shots, of Woodcock's early assessment. In every who may finish limply, but have done tion of batsmen. Can he set a new one now and his utter disdain for reputation or situ- country, against all opponents, in both enough to ratify their class, Gundappa for himself ? The Swami Army bring the stands alive.

TOID10104/CR1/19/M/1TOID10104/CR1/19/C/1TOID10104/CR1/19/K/1TOID10104/CR1/19/Y/1 CMYK