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DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8
PAGE 12
India to renew rivalry with Sri Gold rush continues for India; swimmers, wrestlers shine Lanka to maintain top T20 spot ANI Dubai, Feb 7 : India will lock horns against Sri Lanka in a three-match Twenty20 International series starting in Pune on Wednesday with the number-one ranking on the T20I Championship table up for grabs. India, which vaulted seven places to first after sweeping aside Australia last week, needs to win the series against Sri Lanka to retain the coveted position. In contrast, Sri Lanka will also aim to win the series, which will help it leapfrog India and the West Indies into the top spot. With the 2016 World Twenty20 starting in less than four weeks, this series is extremely crucial for both sides. India and Sri Lanka will not only aim to find the winning combination and momentum, but also target entering the tournament as the number-one ranked side, which will serve as an additional confidencebooster. Following this series, In-
PTI Guwahati, Feb 7: There was no stopping the Indian juggernaut in the 12th South Asian Games with the country's swimmers, wrestlers and weightlifters continuing their demolition of competition to fetch a bulk of the gold medals and complete a second successive day of supremacy here. India stood heads and shoulders above competition to top the medals tally with a count of 42, which included 27 gold, 12 silver and 3 bronze medals. The second spot continued to be held by Sri Lanka with a total of 37 medals (8 gold, 17 silver, 12 bronze).
India team. A file photo dia and Sri Lanka will feature in the Asia Cup Twenty20 tournament in Bangladesh before launching their ICC World Twenty20 campaigns on 15 and 17 March respectively. Sri Lanka will defend the title it won in Bangladesh in 2014 in the tournament to be staged from 8 March to 3 April, while India will try to repeat its ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 glory when it lifted the
most prestigious trophy in the sport in front of its fans in Mumbai. Meanwhile, India has rested number-one ranked T20I batsman Virat Kohli, which means his teammate Suresh Raina will start as the highest-ranked batsman in 13th position. Other batsmen featuring inside the top 20 include Tillakaratne Dilshan (14th), Rohit Sharma (17th) and Yuvraj Singh (20th).
India captain MS Dhoni is 38th, 108 points behind Yuvraj, while Shikhar Dhawan is 87th and Ajinkya Rahane 89th. Among bowlers, India's Ravichandran Ashwin will start in second place, 81 points behind numberone ranked Sunil Narine of the West Indies, while Lasith Malinga is sixth, Nuwan Kulasekara is 10th and Ravindra Jadeja is 18th.
Wenger says whole country wants BCCI to convene SGM Leicester to win Premier League before responding to SC ANI London, Feb 7 : Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that the entire nation is relishing the prospect of Leicester City lifting the Premier League title this season. Leicester continued their superb form as they moved five points ahead of second-placed Tottenham with a stunning 3-1 win over Manchester City at Etihad Stadium on Saturday. Delighted at the unexpected success enjoyed by Claudio Ranieri's side, Wenger said the whole country is behind Leicester apart from fans of Arsenal, City and Tottenham, the Mirror reported. Citing Leicester as a 'fan-
Arsene Wenger
tastic example' for the league, the Frenchman said the club shows that the football was about the quality of work rather than just about spending money. Star players Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez costed the Midlands club a mere 1.35million pounds in transfer fees. Arsenal will take on surprise pace-setters Leicester at the Emirates next Sunday.
Dean Jones backs discarded Ajmal for Pakistan comeback
Saeed Ajmal ANI Karachi, Feb 7 : Former Australian cricketer Dean Jones, who is currently mentoring Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League, has showered praise on Saeed Ajmal and described the out-of favour off-spinner as a `big plus` for the Pakistan cricket, following his impressive bowling display in the lucrative T20 tournament. Despite losing the match against a star-studded Peshawar Zalmi by 24
runs, Islamabad's spinner Ajmal, who returned from his five-month ban for chucking last year, was at his absolute best. Reflecting on Ajmal's performance, Jones said that the 28-year-old displayed a class bowling performance, insisting that the bowler was well aware of the pace and the variety of deliveries to bowl, the Dawn reported. Jones further said that Ajmal performed terrifically and that it was his experience that had helped him to make a brilliant comeback. Ajmal was ranked as the number one bowler in ODIs and was also as impressive in Test format before being suspended for exceeding the 15-degree elbow flex limit set by the International Cricket Council .
PTI Mumbai, Feb 7 : Cornered by the Supreme Court's latest missive to "fall in line" with the recommendations of the Justice R M Lodha Committee, the BCCI today decided to convene a Special General Meeting before responding to the apex court. BCCI President Shashank Manohar, himself a lawyer by profession, attended the meeting of its legal panel here comprising P S Raman (Tamil Nadu, chairman), D V S S Somayajulu (Andhra) and Abhay Apte (Maharashtra), along with treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary. It is learnt, that in the meeting, it was decided that an SGM would be convened at the earliest to get the views of the BCCI's various affiliates before it responds to the Supreme Court on the issue. As per the BCCI's Memorandum of Rules and Regulations 21 days' notice has to be given to convene an SGM, but the President has the discretionary powers to direct
the secretary to convene an SGM "at shorter notice in which case as a notice of at least 10 days shall be given." The apex court had said on February 4 that the recommendations are "straight, rational and understandable" and "deserve respect" and "there is no reason to disagree with the committee" which has the most "illuminated and respected members of the legal community". While four weeks time was granted to the BCCI to respond to the implementation of the recommendations, the court had made it clear that there should not be any difficulty in accepting the recommendations. The remarks by a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur came after senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, representing BCCI, said there was a need to consult the 30odd members of the Board on the recommendations and in view of its legal committee's meeting today, four weeks be allowed to respond.
The bulk of the medals today came through the swimmers, who scooped 10 in all -- including 4 gold , 5 silver and 1 bronze. The wrestlers added 4 gold and a silver, while the weightlifters snared 3 gold medals. The swimmers, who had fetched 3 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze medals yesterday, once again created a splash with Sandeep Sejwal picking his second gold of the Games.
Record time of 1:03.14 bettering his own mark of 1:05.01 which he had set in 2010.
Weightlifter Saraswati Rout of India reacts after winning gold in 58 kg category in the 12th South Asian Games As many as five Games record were created out of the seven events today with the Indians accounting for three of them, including Sejwal's. However, India suffered a reverse as well with ace swimmer Veerdhawal Khade losing the men's 50m freestyle golf to promising Sri Lankan teenager Matthew Abeysinghe, who grabbed his third gold of the Games, the most by any swimmer so far.
Abeysinghe won in a Games Record time of of 23:33 to emerge as the fastest swimmer of Games, eclipsing Khade's 2010 Dhaka edition mark of 23.75 secs. Khade also bettered his own Dhaka mark with an effort of 23.54 secs but had to be content with the silver. On the other hand, Sejwal, who won a gold in 200m breaststroke yesterday, added another yellow metal in 100m breastroke in a new Games
Another Indian, Puneet Rana took the silver in 1:03.80 while Kiran Jasinghe of Sri Lanka got the bronze. In men's 1500m freestyle, Kerala swimmer Sajan Prakash won his first international gold in 15:55.30 ahead of compatriot Saurabh Sangvekar who took the silver in 16:13.2. Mohd. Mahfizur Rahman of Bangladesh was third in 17:12.0. In women's 400m individual medley, India also finished one-two with Sayani Ghosh winning the gold in 05:14.51 while Shraddha Sudhir bagged the silver in 05:23.32. J Silva of Sri Lanka was third in 05:44.20. M Arvind gave India the fourth gold by winning the men's 200m backstroke event. In women's 200m backstroke, Manna Patel took a silver in 2 minutes and 22.06 seconds behind Kimiko Raheem of Sri Lanka who won the gold in Games Record time of 2:18.09.
Mithali Raj steers Indian eves to consolation ODI win over Aussies ANI Hobart, Feb 7 : Captain Mithali Raj and Smriti Mandhana struck half-centuries as the Indian women cricket team claimed a fivewicket consolation win over Australia in the third and final one-day international at Hobart on Sunday. Indian eves chased down Australia's 231 for seven in the 47th over, with Raj remaining the top scorer for her side with a composed 89-run knock. Mandhana, who scored her maiden ODI century in the previous game, laid foundation by scoring 55 before Raj consoli-
Yasir Shah given three-month ban over doping breach ANI Karachi, Feb.7 : Pakistan legspinner Yasir Shah has been handed a three-month suspension by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after being tested positive for a banned substance in December. The 29-year-old was provisionally suspended by the ICC on December 27 after the `A` sample he had provided in an in-competition test, which was conducted on 13 November 2015, was found to contain the presence of chlortalidone, a Prohibited Substance which appears in Section 5 of the WADA Prohibited List, the Dawn reported. Earlier in January, the Pakistan Cricket Board ( PCB) had also appealed against Yasir's provisional ban, saying that the spinner had mistakenly taken his wife's blood-pressure medicine. Yasir, who would be available to play again from March 27, holds the record of fastest Pakistan bowler to reach the milestone of 50 wickets.
dated the innings. The tourists lost five wickets in their victorious chase as Poonam Raut and Jhulan Goswami remained unbeaten to help their team cross the victory margin. Earlier, Indian bowlers produced a disciplined performance to prevent the hosts from posting a massive target with medium pacer Shikha Pandey scalping three wickets and one run-out. After losing the series 2-1 against Australia, India will now take on Sri Lanka in a three-match ODI series in Ranchi this month.
indiawomencricketteam. A file photo
When Steyn conceded defeat to venomous Black Mamba
spearhead Dale ANI Johannesburg, Feb 7 : Following a close encounter with a deadly snake, South African pace spearhead Dale Steyn has revealed that he has learnt his lesson and requested his fans to avoid getting in a similar situation to the one he found himself in.
Travelling with a friend in the Kruger National Park, the 32-year-old stopped his car in order to help what he initially thought was an injured brown house snake. However, the mercurial paceman immediately stepped back when he realised that he was dealing with one of the
planet's deadliest snakes, Black Mamba. "So this poor guy was hit by a car, we stopped to move him out the road thinking it was a brown house snake," Steyn wrote on his Instagram account. "Got a little too close and then realized what we were actually dealing with! Mr Black Mamba! "This post is not to show how brave we were, it's to show that if you don't know what you dealing with then best you leave it alone! Lesson learnt! #wildouthere #blackmamba." Steyn is currently recovering from a shoulder injury and is expecting to be fit again for the World Twenty20 in India next month.
De Villiers insists triumphant England `not unbeatable` ANI Johannesburg, Feb 7 : South Africa captain AB de Villiers has insisted that buoyant England side are 'not unbeatable' despite trailing 0-2 against the tourists in the five-match one-day international series. Alex Hales laid the foundation and then Jos Buttler, who scored a match-winning century in the opening game, played another key innings to give England victory by five wickets
with 22 balls to spare in the second ODI at St. George's Park on Saturday. "England are a good side. They are playing some good cricket at the moment, they look confident but they are not unbeatable," de Villiers was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. The swashbuckling batsman also rued his side's failure to accelerate innings towards the end and convert good starts into big totals. However,
AB de Villiers
he remains upbeat about their chances of staging fightback in the current series. "We had a couple of opportunities in both the games we played and I know it sounds like I am singing the same song from the Test matches but it's true, it's a matter of getting it right and taking our opportunities. In Bloemfontein we had a chance to get it right, I knew that rain was going to come and we didn't get the timing
right. Today again, we had the opportunity to take them down and unfortunately it didn't happen that way," the captain added. After winning the preceding Test series, England now have the chance to seal the series in the third match at SuperSport Park on Tuesday and hand South Africa their first home defeat in both Tests and ODIs against the same opposition in 14 years.
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