Anderson leads England charge with four wickets

CRICKET / Misbah-ul-Haq scores a fighting 71 for Pakistan

Paceman James Anderson led England’s efforts to level the series against Pakistan with four wickets on the opening day of the third and final cricket Test here on Sunday.

Seeking to level the three-match series after losing the second Test in Dubai, England was kept in the hunt by Anderson, who took four for 17 to dismiss Pakistan for 234 on a re-laid pitch. At close, England openers Alastair Cook (0) and Moeen Ali (four) had survived two overs to finish on four without loss.

Anderson’s new-ball partner Stuart Broad kept the pressure on from the other end, bowling eight maidens in his 13 overs and finishing with two for 13.

Pakistan, which elected to bat, was indebted to skipper Misbah-ul-Haq who was ninth out after scoring a fighting 71 for his 32nd half-century.

Misbah added 80 for the sixth wicket with Sarfraz Ahmed (39) but all the other batsmen, including Younis Khan (31), Shoaib Malik (38) and Mohammad Hafeez (27), failed to capitalise on good starts.

England took the second new ball with the score on 222 for seven with Anderson dismissing Misbah caught in the slips before wrapping up the innings with the wicket of Rahat Ali for four.

Misbah hit seven fours and two sixes during his 160-ball knock but could not stop the slide as Pakistan lost its last five wickets for just 38 runs.

Miscued

Younis, who made a brilliant hundred in the second Test, looked good before he fell leg-before as he missed an incoming full toss from Anderson and unsuccessfully challenged the umpire’s decision. — AFP

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Anderson is now eighth on the all-time leading Test wicket-takers list with 422 victims from 110 Tests

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Stage set for the de Villiers-Steyn show

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  READY TO FIRE:A.B. de Villiers and Dale Steyn are capable of lifting the profile of the four-Test series by delivering a high brand of cricket.— FILE PHOTOS
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×Powered By shopperz011120152227Indians fans have been blessed to see Test cricket’s pantheon on home soil with the exception of Don Bradman and there are a vast number of the old faithful who regret not watching a vintage Bradman wield his willow. The first Australian team visited in 1956, under the captaincy of Ian Johnson, eight years after the greatest modern Test batsman’s retirement.

By and large, fans spread over many decades have been able to witness some of the greatest players, who have produced thundering knocks and done remarkable feats with the ball on India’s slow wickets.

There are at least two in the current South African team capable of lifting the profile of the four-Test series by delivering a high brand of cricket — the vibrant A.B. de Villiers and the hot-to-handle fast bowler Dale Steyn.

Skipper Hashim Amla, who has demonstrated a remarkable appetite to score heavily off the Indian bowlers, is poised to reach the milestone of crossing 1000 runs in India which only the likes of Clive Lloyd, Gordon Greenidge and Matthew Hayden have achieved.

Redefining batting

But the focus would be on how de Villiers keeps himself busy at the crease; he, along with New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum, have changed the concept of batting across all formats. Their refreshing idea to follow the same principle for Test, ODI and Twenty20 cricket has not escaped the notice of fans and de Villiers will be central to South Africa’s plans to subdue the home team in the Test series.

Previous South African greats like Herbie Taylor, Arthur Dudley Nourse, and Bruce Mitchell may not have any connect with the present generation of Indian fans, but Graeme Pollock and Barry Richards — though they did not get the opportunity to play in India — have a following because of accessible cricket literature.

South Africa’s finest cricket writer and historian Louis Duffus tells how Taylor followed Ranjitsinhji and Archie McLaren’s backplay method as against the coaching he received in school that emphasised on front-foot play.

Duffus also reveals that Nourse was a product of “natural surroundings” of lamp posts, street cricket and not in the traditional cricket nets and how Mitchell used a “dusty road, a thoroughfare on which there was very little traffic and close to a towering white sand of Johannesburg’s mine dump’’ to practice.

de Villiers is a product of modern coaching system and still, in the post Twenty20 and IPL era, a self-made batsman full of ideas that would evoke acknowledgment from both the purist and the post IPL follower of the game.

Just the other day, a commentator wondered how he managed to stretch his right foot towards point and still dispatched the ball to the boundary with a reverse hit.

Fluent century

Last Saturday, he scored a fluent century against the Board President’s XI team, starting with a cut shot four. “I thought I bowled a good ball, he thought it was a bad ball; he under-cut the ball,” said seamer Shardul Thakur about the short conversation he had with de Villiers.

de Villiers, with only 372 runs in five Tests in India with 217 not out as his highest, has scored four centuries on this tour and promises more.

South African fast bowlers have taken 134 wickets in India and Steyn leads the list with 26 wickets at 20.23 in five Test matches and with seven for 51 at Nagpur as his best.

Steyn will have Morne Morkel to hunt as a pair as well as Vernon Philander and Kasigo Rabada.

Speedsters have taken more wickets at Mohali and that should be good news for the visitors. Indian fans have seen the likes of Allan ‘White Lightning’ Donald, Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock, Makhya Ntini, Steyn and Morkel.

As de Villiers will look to score quick runs, Steyn will go for wickets with the new and old ball. It promises to be a great sight.

Atletico snaps Mumbai’s winning run

MEMORABLE MOMENT:Iain Hume showed admirable skills while scoring a hat-trick against Mumbai FC on Sunday.— PHOTO: ISL / SPORTZPICS

Canadian striker Iain Hume’s master-class enabled Atletico de Kolkata return to winning ways. The striker scored a hat-trick and defender Augustin Fernandes found the target once, snapping Mumbai FC’s winning run at home in the ISL 2015.

Hume’s first strike was a left-footed volley off a Jaime Gavilan assist while the fourth goal was a nonchalant tap-in after arriving unmarked into the box for a pass from Sameehg Doutie of South Africa. The Canadian’s second goal was a penalty.

Augustin had a quick one-two with Doutie just outside the box and then kept his cool to finish the move with a low grounder for the third goal. Selim Benachour scored the only goal for Mumbai.

The host got the first close look at goal, when Spanish midfielder Juan Aguilera displayed a touch of class by hooking the ball over the defence for his captain Nicolas Anelka to attempt a shot. The French ace tried to lob over, but ATK custodian Amrinder Singh was quick to block the angle.

However, in the 34th minute, Hume started a move that culminated in the visitor’s first goal. The Canadian gained possession deep in the rival half, laid off the ball back towards a teammate and moved into the striking zone. Gavilan arrived to convert the move into a goal-worthy one with a left-footed sweeping pass into space for Hume to finish.

×Powered By shopperz011120152227ATK’s second goal came via a penalty, the culprit being Subash Singh. The forward, who tracked back to help out the defence, attacked Gavilan from behind. The referee pointed to the spot and Hume converted coolly as Subrata dived the other way.

Anelka came up with a triple change at half-time. Subash, Francis Bertin and Darren O’Dea made way for Rowlinson Rodrigues, Fred Piquionne and Selim Benachour respectively. All-out attack was the message as the home team went in pursuit of goals.

The ATK goal came under siege on resumption. A floater from midfield found Mumbai defender Pavel Cmocs, whose shot missed the target. Amrinder punched away a fierce Piquionne attempt a few minutes later.

ATK coach Antonio Habas, in an attempt to stop the marauding Mumbai players, brought in Rino Anto for Nabi. But, this could not stop substitute Benachour — who is back after rushing home to attend his father’s funeral in France — from scoring.

Amrinder saved a Sunil Chetri volley from close and shifted position for the rebound, but Benachour reacted faster. ATK’s own response was a cheeky goal by defender Fernandes. Habas leaped in joy as his team picked up three points, savouring the sweet taste of victory after three consecutive defeats.

The result: Atletico de Kolkata 4 (Iain Hume 34, 45-pen, 82, Augustin Fernandes 77) bt Mumbai City FC 1 (Selim Benachour 71).

‘Sachin was clearly ahead of his time but did not grow as I wanted him to’

Embattled Kapil Dev elaborates on his compliment to Tendulkar that was misinterpreted

SEE, MY POINT IS…In a candid chat, Kapil Dev cleared the air about his views on Sachin Tendulkar's batting that created a buzz among fans and ex-players alike.— FILE PHOTO

Kapil Dev is pained that his compliment to Sachin Tendulkar has been misinterpreted and led to widespread criticism.

He recalled the “Kapil can’t get another Test fifty” remark from Sunil Gavaskar. “It was for my good. He was challenging me to raise my game. I got a fifty in the next match (a sterling 79-ball 69 in his next innings at Bombay against Pakistan) and onemore two Tests later (a 98-ball 84 and 11 wickets as India beat Pakistan at Chennai too).

“Gavaskar used to say that I should have scored 5000 runs more than what I did. In hindsight, I agree I should have taken my batting seriously. But importantly, I didn’t take Gavaskar’s remark in the wrong sense. He challenged me and I accepted it.”

What about the remark on Tendulkar that led to needless controversy?

“Needless is the word. Sachin, I’ve always said, was a fabulous cricketer and more talented than Viv (Richards). He had the calibre to be as ruthless, or more, but did not deliver as much as I had expected. He got 100 international 100s but his potential was greater.”

“How else could I have described him? He was an underachiever and that I maintain was a compliment. He could have done better. Am I wrong?”

Digging into the past, Kapil recalled, “He was just about making waves and I was up against him. He drilled me over mid-off for a six. I was stunned. He hit me as if I was an off-spinner and I marvelled at his talent.

“Sachin was clearly ahead of his time but he did not grow as I wanted him to grow. I loved the Sachin of Sharjah 1998 when he clubbed the Australians. His dominance was complete and stroke-play so imperious. He made good bowlers look ordinary, could hit boundaries at will but that Sachin was lost somewhere as his career progressed.”

Praise for Mumbai cricket

As for the remark on Mumbai cricket and cricketers, Kapil explained, “I would be silly if I doubted their calibre. Has Bombay not won 40 Ranji Trophy titles and 15 in a row? What an awesome record!

Players from outside Bombay learnt to be professional from them.

The Bombay batsmen believe in playing correct cricket — technically supreme, no reverse sweeps or upper cuts. But the game has changed. You have to be ruthless now.

With the exception of Sandeep Patil and to some extent Vinod Kambli, Mumbai has not produced ruthless cricketers. Now we have Ajinkya (Rahane) and Rohit (Sharma) batting differently, wanting to dominate.”

Elaborating on his views on Mumbai cricket, “I respect Mumbai cricket and cricketers. They laid the base for the growth of Indian cricket but the game has changed and it is time we all realised and accepted it.

“We also need to rise above petty regionalism. Mumbai is mine too. We would like to see Mumbai cricket and cricketers to move on. It is not about Mumbai, Haryana or Delhi.. It is about Indian cricket... Also, (Ajit) Wadekar Sir should please understand that I am a true Indian and Mumbai is part of us. I am a Bombaywalah too.”

Remembering an anecdote with noted lyricist Javed Akhtar, he said, “I told him once I would have beenmore successful if I had worked harder because I got so much affection from my countrymen. He said an 80-year-old man could have lived to be 100 had he cared more for his body.”

“There comes a time when one says enough is enough. In Sachin’s case it was never enough.”

“He was worth much more and that is what I meant.”

“Does he not call me Paaji ? Can an elder brother not say what he feels about his younger brother? I did precisely that.”

Sania-Hingis domination is complete

The top-seeded combine steamrollers to its ninth title in a lopsided final

JUST REWARD:The legendary Martina Navratilova hands over the eponymously named trophy to Sania Mirza (centre) andMartina Hingis after the Indo-Swiss pairing swept to the WTA Finals title with a ruthless performance on Sunday.— Photo: AFP

Swiss veteran Martina Hingis and India’s Sania Mirza crowned a stunning year for their partnership on Sunday by winning their ninth title at the WTA Finals here on Sunday.

The top seeds, who joined forces only in March, beat Spain’s eighth seeds Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-3 in 66 minutes, much of which looked more like an exhibition match than a season finale.

Hingis, 35, and Sania, 28, have also won Wimbledon, the US Open and Indian Wells on their way to Singapore, where they also swept all their matches. Their only finals loss was in Rome.

Sania and Hingis are now unbeaten in 22 matches, stretching back six tournaments.

In fact, since their last defeat — to Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan in Cincinnati — they have dropped just two sets.

The pair had bagged the 2015 WTA year-end top ranking on Saturday.

The Indo-Swiss pairing dropped serve only once through the match and broke their opponents five times to wrap up a comprehensive victory. Muguruza and Suarez Navarro — late replacements in the draw after Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova’s withdrawal — were completely outplayed.

In the second game, Sania unleashed a ferocious forehand to break Muguruza. The second set was morecompetitive, but Sania and Hingis did not let go of their supremacy and wrapped it up after little over an hour on court.

It has been 15 years since Hingis won a doubles title at the WTA Finals — she was also the singles champion in 2000 — and the pair share 33 years of professional experience between them.

“I feel like it was a perfect day,” Hingis said.

“Sania just played out of her mind — she was everywhere today, getting everything back and playing incredible tennis.”

Sania said “everything, on court, off court” is working for the pair.

“These are the moments we’ve worked all our lives for and we feel very fortunate together.

“We’ve done some amazing things this year so it’s a perfect way to, you know, end the year for us,” she added.

Sania successfully defended the title that she won with Cara Black last year, while for Hingis it was her 50th WTA doubles titles, a milestone only 15 other players have reached. In her singles career, Hingis won five Grand Slam titles.

Radwanska reigns

Meanwhile in singles, Agnieszka Radwanska won the biggest title of her career as she downed two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Radwanska, who lost twice at the round-robin stage and upset Garbine Muguruza in the semis, came from a break down in the deciding set to win a tense final in two hours and five minutes.

The 26-year-old Pole, who was a last-minute qualifier for the eight-player season finale, was in floods of tears after winning the prestigious title at her seventh attempt.

“It just means everything — it was my first final and it couldn't have been any better,” she said.

“A few weeks ago I didn't even know I would be here. I was doing the right thing in the important moments of a really close match, I had my chances in the second set but it doesn't really matter how I won,” the Pole added.

Radwanska dominated the first set but Kvitova hit back to win the second and take it to a decider at an increasingly tense Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The Pole went down a break early in the third but she snatched back control and saw off a gritty fightback by Kvitova, who was hampered by an injury to her heavily strapped right leg.

The championship is generally considered the fifth most prestigious event on the women’s tour after the four Grand Slam tournaments. It also has the largest prize money and ranking points after the Grand Slams.

The results:

Singles: 5-Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) bt 3-Petra Kvitova (Cze) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Doubles: 1-Martina Hingis (Sui) & Sania Mirza (Ind) bt 8-Garbine Muguruza (Esp) & Carla Suarez Navarro (Esp) 6-0, 6-3. — Agencies

Robin’s rampage leaves Rajasthan in a daze

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  MAKING MERRY:Robin Uthappa's belligerent century (160 off 128 balls) put Karnataka in the driver's seat.– photo : R. V. Moorthy
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CRICKET / Karnataka needs seven more wickets on the final day for an outright victory

For over a decade, Robin Uthappa has been struggling to live up to the promise he once showed. Right through a chequered career, the 30-year-old’s flamboyance caused him more harm than good and inconsistency remained the only consistent factor since he made his first-class debut in 2002.

But on Sunday, Uthappa’s whirlwind 160 stood out like none of his 14 other centuries in the Ranji Trophy. It overshadowed the effort of debutant half-centurion Abhishek Reddy and was true to his reputation of being a compulsive stroke-maker. His rampaging ways left Rajasthan in a daze and set up Karnataka’s course to a much-needed victory.

For the record, Rajasthan has been set a target of 358.

On Monday, the host needs 316 to win with seven wickets in hand. But, with the Karnataka pacers sending back three top-order batsmen, including the seasoned Vineet Saxena and hard-hitting skipper Ashok Menaria, the defending champion is hugely favoured to win.

Playing his 147th Ranji innings, Uthappa fell short of improving on his best score of 162 that came against Madhya Pradesh in his seventh innings in November 2004.

With every passing session, Karnataka inched closer to victory. Armed with a first-innings lead of 39 runs in the morning, Karnataka plotted an outright victory. Uthappa’s savage batting — that produced 109 out of the 181 unexpected runs in the post-lunch session — was in keeping with the plan of making Rajasthan bat at least 15 overs on the penultimate evening.

In the post-tea session, Karnataka declared at 318 for five in 63 overs and went for the kill. S. Arvind, who took two wickets in the first hour to hasten the end of Rajasthan’s first innings, struck twice in the last hour to leave the host staggering. David Mathias sent back Maneria and pushed Rajasthan closer to defeat.

But for Uthappa’s aggressive batting, Karnataka could not have found itself in a position to declare when it did.

Aided by some unimaginative captaincy by Menaria and the bowlers going through the motions without bowling to their chosen fields, Uthappa made merry.

Though Uthappa faced 128 deliveries for his 160 and hit four sixes and 25 boundaries. With 124 runs off the big hits, Uthappa left the bowlers demoralised.

From a copy-book on-drive to a switch-hit, Uthappa played every conceivable stroke.

He made room to send the ball across the boundary in the region between point and third-man region.

On the on-side, he was quick to punish anything bowled back of the length and even hit successive sixes over midwicket off left-arm spinner Ajay Singh, who was the most expensive.

The scores:

Karnataka — 1st innings: 281.

×Powered By shopperz011120152227Rajasthan — 1st innings: Pranay Sharma b Arvind 11, Vineet Saxena run out 2, Vaibhav Deshpande c Samarth b Mathias 13, Ashok Menaria c Gautam b Vinay Kumar 17, Rajat Bhatia lbw b Vinay Kumar 99, Puneet Yadav c Samarth b Binny 28, Dishant Yagnik b Mathias 21, Deepak Chahar c Samarth b Vinay Kumar 13, Ajay Singh c Gautam b Arvind 6, Tanveer ul-Haq c Gautam b Arvind 8, Aniket Choudhary (not out) 15; Extras (b-4, nb-3, w-2): 9; Total (in 91.4 overs): 242.

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-13, 3-44, 4-48, 5-123, 6-183, 7-211, 8-218, 9-219.

Karnataka bowling: Vinay Kumar 22-9-42-3, Arvind 24.4-12-42-3, Binny 12-1-39-1, Mathias 12-3-41-2, Shreyas Gopal 10-0-30-0, Suchith 7-1-24-0, Samarth 2-0-2-0, Abhishek Reddy 2-0-18-0.

Karnataka — 2nd innings: Abhishek Reddy st. Yagnik b Bhatia 69, Mayank Agarwal c Chahar b Tanveer 8, R. Samarth b Bhatia 6, Robin Uthappa c Menaria b Choudhary 160, Stuart Binny c (sub) b Ajay Singh 29, C.M. Gautam (not out) 36, J. Suchith (not out) 3; Extras (b-1, lb-4, nb-2): 7; Total (for five wickets decl. in 63 overs): 318.

Fall of wickets: 1-49, 2-58, 3-159, 4-210, 5-307.

Rajasthan bowling: Chahar 0.2-0-0-0, Tanveer 12.4-2-58-1, Choudhary 14-0-90-1, Bhatia 17-5-44-2, Ajay Singh 15-0-104-1, Menaria 4-0-17-0.

Rajasthan — 2nd innings: Pranay Sharma (batting) 24, Vineet Saxena c Gautam b Arvind 6, Vaibhav Deshpande c Samarth b Arvind 0, Ashok Menaria b Mathias 9, Tanveer ul-Haq (batting) 0; Extras (lb-2, nb-1): 3, Total (for three wickets in 15 overs): 42.

Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-23, 3-38.

Karnataka bowling: Vinay Kumar 5-2-16-0, Arvind 6-2-20-2, Mathias 2-1-4-1, Binny 2-2-0-0.

Rohan Prem happy with his form

Rohan Prem has struck a purple patch with the bat for Kerala in this season’s Ranji Trophy. The 29-year-old left-hander from Thiruvananthapuram struck two centuries, including a maiden double hundred, and two fifties to carry the Kerala batting on his shoulders.

The early season flourish saw Rohan score 460 runs, which is second only to Mumbai’s Shreyas Iyer, in the Ranji Trophy this season. Rohan also reached an important milestone in his career as he crossed 3000 runs in Ranji Trophy and there have only been three others from Kerala — Sunil Oasis, Sreekumar Nair and V.A.Jagadeesh — who have reached the milestone before him. The century against Services was his ninth and Rohan heads the list of century-makers from Kerala.

Hard work pays off

A veteran of 10 seasons in the Ranji Trophy after making his debut as an 18-year-old, Rohan is happy that the hard work he did during the off season has paid off. “I am enjoying my game and happy with my form. I had worked on a few things during off season with my coach like polishing my strokes and fine tuning my technique. I am happy that it has worked well for me during matches,” said Rohan who is in Thiruvananthapuram on a short break before the next match against Tripura in Perinthalmanna.

Rohan Prem’s under-rated off-spin bowling has turned out to be a potent weapon for Kerala this season. Rohan picked up his career best figures against Services (four for 44) but more importantly it enabled Kerala to squeeze out a narrow first innings lead. “I enjoyed the spell against Services. The match was tantalisingly poised when I came on and I took the crucial wicket of M. Khalid who had defied our attack for more than three hours. I was thrilled as I was able to contribute with the ball. I am now working more on my bowling hoping to bowl long spells.

“Earlier, I used to bowl mostly in the shorter formats. With the emphasis now on medium pacers, I give an extra option to my captain. I have only enjoyed the added responsibility,” said the former India under-19 player.

A former captain, Rohan said that Kerala despite the reverse against Jharkhand at home was still capable of qualifying for the elite group. “We have a good team under Sanju. The good thing is that we have done well in our away matches this season. Now it is important for us to score maximum points at home,” he said.