14 SPORTS
Sunday, 2 November, 2014
raHul ton leaDs soutH Zone’s 301 cHase
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sports Desk
IDWAY through the day, Robin Bist’s century and his 104-run partnership with Ali Murtaza for the eighth wicket had boosted the lead to 300, and seemingly put Central Zone in control of the Duleep Trophy final. By stumps, it was South Zone who were in control of the game as Karnataka opener KL Rahul hit his second century in the match, reaching triple digits at almost a run-a-ball. South ended 117 runs away from the title, with nine wickets - including Rahul’s still in hand. Rahul signalled his intentions with three crisply driven fours off Ishwar Pandey in the second over of the chase. The boundaries flowed right through the innings, including sixes over midwicket to reach both his half-century and his century. His belligerence meant that even though his opening partner, Robin Uthappa, played cautiously, the run-rate hovered around four an over. Uthappa was lucky to be reprieved when he looked plumb lbw early in his innings against Pankaj Singh, and was finally dismissed for 30 in the 25th over. That only prompted a further flurry of boundaries from Rahul, who first lofted offspinner Jalaj Saxena over midwicket for six, before twice
reverse-sweeping him for four in the same over. With B Aparajith giving support, the stand for the second wicket grew to an unbroken 88, with Rahul 121 at stumps. Rahul’s performance, watched by national selectors Vikram Rathour and Saba Karim, took some of the shine off what had been an outstanding effort earlier in the day from Bist. South’s spinners were getting the ball to fizz in the morning, and when Arindam Ghosh and Piyush Chawla were dismissed in successive overs to leave Central at 260 for 7, a quick end to the innings loomed. Instead, Bist and Murtaza counterattacked to put the pressure back on South. As the partnership flourished, with Bist reeling off plenty of big straight hits, South began to flag, and the score ballooned towards 400. Bist was left stranded on 112 and walked off to the applause of his teammates. The bowling couldn’t follow up on his efforts though, and Rahul cashed in. After a hugely successful season with Karnataka in 2013-14, Rahul was keen to bag more titles. “I feel happy to score back-to-back hundreds, especially on a big stage like this, but my mind is on the target. I want to win this tournament, last season we won three, I want this one in the bag as well,” Rahul said after the day’s play. “I want to stay not out, and see my team through.”
OPERATION T20 CONFIDENCE sports Desk Forget that Test result, look over here. See, we can still hit sixes. A fresh Australian Twenty20 combination will seek to reassure the nation and themselves that the Test team’s UAE travails are more a matter of unfriendly conditions than a lack of quality in the playing personnel being called upon ever more broadly by the game’s three formats and wall-to-wall schedule. The T20 team convened on Saturday for training ahead of Wednesday’s opening international of the home summer, also Adelaide Oval’s televised cricket debut since its redevelopment was completed early in 2014. Led by Aaron Finch and a locum coach in the New South Wales mentor Trevor Bayliss, they face South Africa over three matches while Michael Clarke’s team travel home and recover. Ben Cutting said the struggles encountered by the Test team in Dubai and Abu Dhabi had raised the significance of the T20 matches, as confidence derived from home results needed to grow over the course of the summer leading into next year’s World Cup. “It’s very important to make a good start,” Cutting said at Adelaide Airport. “The Test boys are playing at the moment and having a bit of a tough time as you can imagine in those sorts of conditions, so for us to try to bring the focus back on home soil and start with a win would get the ball rolling for them when they get back next week. That’s a big thing for us.” Equally important for Cutting will be the chance to show he has added a few extra kilometres of pace to his deliveries, following the Darren Lehmann directive that bowlers consistently topping 140kph would be looked upon favourably. “I’m feeling pretty good with the ball, but felt like
it was coming out nicely, a little bit more pace on it this year than last year and I’ll keep working on that through the T20 format,” he said. “A fair bit of gym work over the off-season, I’ve worked on a bit of core strength through the legs and just putting overs in my legs, and that’s helped me get stronger than I was last year.” As a pace bowler, Cutting’s attitude to T20 is somewhat fatalistic, knowing he is essentially there as an extra in the hitting exhibition. But of course his own ability to strike a long ball will be useful when Australia bat. “You’re pretty much there for the entertainment aren’t you?” he said. “The crowd wants to see big hits and sixes and not many wickets fall, so from that perspective it’s all about trying to contain them and do the best you can to perform a bit of damage control. “If you go for a few runs with the ball you can try to make up for it with the bat for the good of the team. I do enjoy getting out there and batting as much as I do bowling.” While Shane Watson will add plenty of international T20 experience to the side on his return from ankle and calf problems, the likes of Nathan Reardon and Ben Dunk will seek to make the most of a chance that might not have been afforded had Australia’s selectors been able to consider their Test men. “I probably wouldn’t be human if I wasn’t excited,” Reardon said. “It’s an opportunity for me to perform against one of the best attacks in world cricket so really looking forward to it. “It’s a little bit different but I guess [to be preparing while another team is in the UAE that’s just the way cricket’s going, it’s getting busier and busier and the schedule’s pretty jam packed, so it’s a good opportunity with those guys away for me to try and perform.
Shastri ‘glad’ at ICC clampdown on suspect actions Agencies Former India allrounder Ravi Shastri has said classical spin bowling is on the decline due to the expansion of cricket into three formats. Backing the recent ICC clampdown on spinners with suspect actions, Shastri, who has taken over as India team director till the next year’s World Cup, also pointed out the change in the mindset among Indian players when compared to his playing days. “I’m glad at what’s happening now - guys with bent arms and over 15 degrees flex being shown the door. That’s why you must give full credit to the likes of Anil Kumble and Shane Warne, who did an outstanding job with no flex in their actions and went on to take 600, 700 wickets,” said Shastri. “But such players are getting rare, the reason being three formats and youngsters wanting to play all three. The classical art of spin bowling, how you should bowl in Test match cricket, is disappearing. Luckily for Anil and Shane, they came at a time when there was oneday cricket. There was no T20 cricket, so they could still balance things out. But it’s harder and harder for a youngster now who comes in at the age of 20 and wants to play for India. And he wants to play for India in all
three formats of the game.” Shastri, who is a member of the ICC technical committee, supported the ICC drive against bowlers with suspect actions. “Better late than never,” he said, adding the issue should continue to be tackled aggressively. “You’ve got to nip things that can be detrimental in the bud, even if this raises a few eyebrows or invites some opposition.” After retiring from international cricket in 1992, Shastri has spent the last two decades in the media. Shastri had overseen the Indian team briefly in 2007, and took over as team director midway through the
tour of England earlier this year after India suffered yet another humiliating Test series defeat away from home. Citing the need to give more time to a young team, Shastri said there has been a shift in mindset in the modern Indian cricketer. He attributed it to the game’s evolvement into a three-format sport. “I think there has been a big shift in the mindset and simply because of the number of formats that exist. I mean, if you look at skills, these might still be the same. Especially with batting. But today, players have got to juggle around with all three formats to ensure that they’re performing, as opposed to the time when I played, where the emphasis was on Test cricket. Yes, there was one-day cricket but not as much limited-overs cricket as there is now. So you could give your attention to either format, which is difficult for a batsman these days,” Shastri said. “And it’s taking its toll on the bowlers too. You know, when a fast bowler comes back after a series of five Test matches and then straightaway has to go into a one-day series with a three-day break, a T20 series with a one-day break, it is tough. It’s going to get harder and harder to find guys who will play for ten years in all formats of the game, and whoever does it, good luck to him - he’ll be a great batsman or bowler.”
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DaviD Hussey ton Drives victoria David Hussey clattered a rapid century in the company of Matthew Wade to push Victoria to within sight of the New South Wales’ firstinnings score on a good day two for batsmen in the Sheffield Shield match at the MCG. The Blues were able to stretch their first innings out to 366 thanks to a last wicket stand of 89 between the captain Peter Nevill and the No. 11 Josh Hazlewood. Victoria lost wickets at regular intervals to keep NSW slightly ahead of the match into the afternoon, as Hazlewood and Gurinder Sandhu both bowled decent spells. But Hussey was able to go after the inexperienced NSW spin duo of Patrick Jackson and Will Somerville, and Wade joined him in accelerating towards the end of the day. SportS DeSk
WAHAB MAKING MARKED PROGRESS Noticeable improvement has been witnessed in Pakistan fast-bowler Wahab Riaz, who picked up a knee injury during the second ODI against Australia last month, according to a press release issued by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) yesterday. Riaz is currently undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy along with injured Junaid Khan. “The tenderness around Riaz’s knee seems to have been resolved to a great extent,” said PCB Sports Medicine General Manager Dr Sohail Saleem. “There’s no swelling around the knee joint and his range of movement has improved. For the last two days, he’s been bowling and batting without pain.” The statement added that Riaz bowled a warmup over and four full-speed overs with all types of deliveries, full-length variety being predominant. “His full match fitness can only be ascertained after he has played a first-class game on and around the first week of November,” added Saleem. Meanwhile, the update on Junaid suggests that while there is almost no swelling around the 24year-old’s knee, his thigh muscle still needs to be worked on.“Junaid’s MRI will be repeated after another six weeks to measure improvement,” he said. kArACHI