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Zabarwan times
Agencies
MONDAY OCTOBER | 28| 2013
India to open World T20 campaign against Pak
The Indian cricket team will open its campaign in next year’s World Twenty20 Championships against arch-foes Pakistan when the event is staged in Bangladesh from March 16 to April 6. As many as 60 tournament matches (35 men’s and 25 women’s) will be played across Chittagong, Dhaka and Sylhet in the 22-day tournament. As in the past, the women’s semifinals and final will be held on the same day as the men’s semifinals and final, and at the same venue, the ICC said in a statement. The format for the men’s event in next year’s tournament has been changed following an increase in teams from 12 to 16. As the teams’ seeding are based on the T20I Team Rankings as on October 8, 2012, the top eight sides following the conclusion of last ICC World Twenty20 will play directly in the Super 10 stage and India is one such side. Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, which finished outside the top eight, will participate in the first round that
will be held from 16-21 March. The first round of the men’s event will include eight sides that will be divided into two groups of four teams each, with the table-toppers progressing to the Super 10 stage. In the first round, Group A will feature host Bangladesh alongside three teams that will qualify from the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2013, to be staged from November 15 to 30. Group B will include Zimbabwe, which will be joined by another three teams from the upcoming qualifiers. As such, the two groups will be finalised on November 30. The Super 10 stage will start with an evening match between former champions India and Pakistan in Dhaka on March 21. Defending champions West Indies will launch their title defence
against India in an evening match on Sunday March 23. Earlier on the same day, Pakistan will lock horns with Australia, looking for the only global title that has eluded them to date.
AB de Villiers back as No. 1 Test batsman Agencies Dubai: AB de Villiers (file photo) South Africa’s AB de Villiers overtook teammate Hashim Amla as number one Test batsman after helping guide his team to a 1-1 series draw against Pakistan, the International Cricket Council announced Sunday. De Villiers, 29, hit an aggressive 164 in the second Test against Pakistan in Dubai. He and skipper Graeme Smith, who made 234, put on 338 -a South African record for the fifth wicket -- and the Proteas won the match by an innings and 92 runs on Saturday. De Villiers, who had scored a fighting 90 in South Africa’s seven-wicket defeat in the first Test in Abu Dhabi, earned 27 points to reach 900 points in the ratings, the ICC said. He is the fifth South African and 28th batsmen in the world to reach 900 rating points. Before him Dudley Nourse, Graeme Pollock,
Jacques Kallis and Amla were the other South Africans to achieve the distinction. De Villiers was also declared man of the series. Amla missed the Dubai Test after returning home for the birth of his child. West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul is third in the batsmen’s rankings. Smith returned to the top ten of Test batsmen after his monumental 234. The South African skipper jumped seven places and is now eighth in the rankings. Smith’s counterpart, Misbah-ul Haq achieved a careerbest sixth spot after scoring a century in Abu Dhabi and a fighting 88 on Saturday. Dale Steyn of South Africa remains the world’s best Test bowler according to the rankings. Pakistan moved up to fourth in the Test team rankings after sliding to sixth following their embarrassing defeat against Zimbabwe last month.
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Aussie Terry Walsh to go Indian way Agencies
If Bangladesh reach the Super 10 stage, they will play all their matches in Dhaka, facing the West Indies on March 25, India on March 28, Pakistan on March 30 and Australia on April 1.
Indian hockey men’s newly-appointed chief coach Terry Walsh might be Michael Nobbs’s compatriot, but it’s clear he will not go the Nobbs way — the Australian way. Speaking for the first time since he took over as coach 10 days ago, Walsh said playing the Indian style of hockey in the modern era will be the key. “I think it’s about the process of creating the style that works for Indian hockey, and that’s primarily the Indian style,” Walsh said here on Saturday. “It must have elements, how men in attack work as defenders when they don’t have the ball... knowing what to do in the 99 per cent when the players don’t have the ball. So if can fix those pieces of the puzzle, the style of hockey that is most threatening to the rest of the world is the Indian style of hockey.”One would have lost count of
the number of times Walsh used the word “process”, but the 59-year-old said it is the only way Indian hockey can get back on track. “I understand where Indian hockey was, and where
it is. I also understand how high performance works along with (high performance director) Roelant Oltmans. It is a process. It takes time to change. But the question always is how long? Everyone wants tomorrow. It’s not possible. “It’s probably somewhere between 5-7 years to be consistently in the top of
the world. The important part for me is that much of what the team requires to be the best, they have in the skill set. But there are many other things that go together to make the process work.” The Aussie realises 2014 is a very important year for Indian hockey, with five big tournaments including the World Cup and Asian Games lined up, but he said getting short-term results is not what he is looking for.“It’s easy to get short-term results but that’s not any good. We’re looking for consistency and progression over the next 4-6 years and beyond,” he said. “We’ll progressively improve. Everyone wants to win a medal at the WC, along with another 12 teams but only three can.”Walsh described his challenge ahead as the “biggest in world hockey”.“The biggest problem is the process of development.
Serena Williams battles past Jankovic to make WTA final
ISTANBUL: An apparently ailing Serena Williams struggled past Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 on Saturday and will play Li Na in the final of the WTA Championships. Li Na advanced to her first WTA Championships final by sweeping past 2011 winner Petra Kvitova 6-4, 6-2, setting up a showdown between the two oldest players in the tournament. It was not clear what was bothering Williams, but she was in obvious discomfort. She walked slowly during changeovers, did not move well on the court and frequently held her head wrapped in a towel during changeovers. Williams tried to keep the points short and often winced. Jankovic was unable to take advantage of whatever was bothering Williams, who is one win from her fourth WTA Championship and 11th title of the year. Williams wasted a match point and failed to serve out the match at 5-2 and Jankovic won two straight games. Williams squandered two more match points before finally closing it out with a
smash. By reaching the final, Li made sure of rising to a career-high No. 3 ranking, a jump of two places and the highest ranking for an Asian woman. Li is Chinese.
Like Williams, Li is unbeaten in four matches, after failing to advance from the group stage in the previous two years. Williams, 32, and Li, 31, are the two oldest players in the elite, eight-woman tournament, while the fifth-seeded Kvitova is the youngest at 23. Li began by breaking serve and raced to 3-0, before allowing Kvitova to come back to 4-4. But a backhand winner from Li broke Kvitova again and she closed out the set with a cross-court forehand followed by a service winner. Kvitova had no reply to Li’s forehand and was broken again in the second set to fall behind 3-2. After saving a break point, Li hit an ace to go up 4-2. Kvitova dropped serve again and netted a backhand on Li’s second match point for her 29th unforced error. Li holds a 4-3 career edge over Kvitova, who won Wimbledon in 2011 _ the same year Li won the French Open.
The one thing I want from Sachin Tendulkar is his calmness at the crease: Chris Gayle
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Sachin Tendulkar and I have always shared fun moments whenever we’ve met. The routine’s generally the same. I’ll share a few jokes with him, pull his leg. And he just ends up laughing a lot. Before his last Test in Mumbai, though, I will exchange a few stern words with him. “Don’t edge to me or I’ll gobble you up at slip and that will make me the last person to take Sachin Tendulkar’s catch in international cricket.” I might also remind him that I’ve gotten him out once. In a one-day game right here in India (lbw for 31 in Nagpur in 2007). So Sachin’s already in my pocket. Everybody wants to claim that he’s got the big wicket of Sachin Tendulkar. These days, some bowlers might say getting Chris Gayle out is a big thing. But trust me, that was a special occasion. Having said that, I have been in the outfield and watched him score hundreds and double-hundreds many times. He’s also gone on to score 100 hundreds. He’s simply the master. From a batting aspect, the only word you can use for him is ‘legend’. He makes batting look so easy. He’s strong all around
the wicket. It’s difficult to bowl at him. He got a shot for every ball you bowl to him. If there’s one thing I would want to take from Sachin it’ll be the calmness with which he goes about his batting. And how he can manipulate bowlers and dictate
the game however he wants to. Just like Brian Lara, whom I played a lot alongside, could do too. They always seemed to know which bowler they’re going to step it up against and score the most runs off and against whom they should back off. They are also great because they can make the bowler come to them and bowl where they want it rather than the bowler trying to go at them. I have a bit of it too to be honest. But Sachin and Brian are in a different class to everyone else. Phenomenal guys and I just wish I could learn to be as calm as Sachin when he shuts out everything and goes about his business. Growing up I was more a Lara fan. But how can you not admire the Master Blaster? His stats speak for themselves. So does his personality. He’s loved around the world. It’s an honour to have met him and played against him. He’s such a superb person and easy to talk to despite who he is. I’m glad that I’ve got an opportunity to be there at the finish of his career. I certainly wasn’t there at the start and hopefully I’ll get a chance to have a drink with him at the end of the day and thank him for everything he’s done for cricket. Definitely there have been changes in his approach to bat-
Indian GP is not about chicken tikka and Tendulkar
Agencies
Greater Noida: Walk into any press conference over the Indian Grand Prix weekend and you will see the place heaving with members of the local press. The enthusiasm of the Indian media in the build-up to the race is palpable and you generally see more members of the local press in the media center at the Buddh International Circuit than perhaps at any of the other races recently added to the Formula One calendar. It’s also clear to see from the questions being asked that the sport is catching on in the country, even if ticket sales this year don’t quite seem to back that up. Formula One drivers have always said that the Indian media is generally more informed and enthusiastic than local media in other countries recently added to the calendar, and this year too the questions Indian journalists have posed in press conferences over the weekend have tended to be wellinformed, knowledgeable and in the case of some, even quite technical. Drivers and teamprincipals found themselves fielding questions about driver input into the radically dif-
ferent 2014 cars, political questions about the Indian Grand Prix and its future, the driver market and the facelift the sport is set to get next year. Vettel might sometimes wonder whats going on. Reuters But inevitably our
obsession with chicken tikka (read Indian food) and Sachin Tendulkar resurfaced and we heard drivers parrot out that now well-rehearsed line about how they love to come to India and try some of our spiciest curries, the presses churning out those same, tired old stories pegged around tandoori chicken, chola bhatura and chicken tikka masala year after year after year. In fact, two of the most popular stories in the build-up to the race, apart from Vettel possibly clinching his fourth title in India and the future of the race, were Hamilton talking about how he wanted to get some more Indian food into his belly and how Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg finds India exotic and loves paneer tikka. Not to be outdone by our spicy curries, Sachin
Tendulkar was soon in the spotlight. Agreed Sachin is a legend of not just cricket but the sporting world as a whole. He is also an enthusiastic and knowledgeable motorsport fan but asking someone like Nico Rosberg, a German who probably doesn’t give a flying fig about cricket, to comment on the Master Blaster’s retirement at a Puma promotional event was quite frankly irrelevant. Ever the professional, though, Rosberg played along – “I heard he is retiring. It is a great pity, especially for the Indian public. I met him last year when I was here for the race. He came across as a true F1 fan,” Rosberg said before talking about his lack of interest in cricket. “The game is not popular in Germany and even in Monaco where I stay now. I have tried following it but I don’t really like it. I love football but the thing is I am not really good at it.” There is no doubt that, for a country hosting only its third race, our journalists have a very good understanding of Formula One. There has been some really great coverage in the run up to the race, our leading dailies breaking the sport down into its basics to make it easier for fans to understand.
ting over the years. That’s natural. But he hasn’t let it affect him overall. He still looks young, like he can go on forever. His stance and technique have remained the same, so too the temperament. His fitness is the key. He’s still maintained it in such a fashion that he manages to play against the young fast bowlers of this era the way he handled the likes of Hadlee, Ambrose, Walsh and Akram. Your reflexes and reactions might get a little slower, but Sachin’s greatest strength is his preparation. Who better than Sachin to know how to cope with changes, and that’s one of the main reasons for his longevity. There’s no doubt about the kind of pressure on Sachin every time he’s walked out to bat. A billion people wanting him to succeed and him having to deal with the burden of not letting them down. Doesn’t matter who the individual is, I’m sure there were times he too buckled under the pressure. But he’s managed to achieve so much and is now all set for a massive milestone. He will really want to walk away with something special. He might shed a few tears as well. It’s only natural. But it’s Sachin we’re talking about and if anyone does I’m sure he’ll know how to handle it.
PCB to write to ICC over ‘inconsistent’ penalties Disappointed that South Africa’s Faf du Plessis was let off with a fine for ball tampering, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will write to the ICC to review match referee’s decision and impose harsher punishment for his “grave” violation of rules.Du Plessis was caught tampering with the ball on the third day of the second Test in Dubai. But he escaped with only a fine of 50 percent of his match fee after he pleaded guilty to the charges, by Australian match referee David Boon. A senior official of the board told PTI that a letter will be dispatched to the International Cricket Council on Monday asking for a review of the match referee’s decision. “There appears to be no uniform system for imposing penalties by ICC referees. We feel du Plessis has committed a grave violation of the laws and should have got harsher punishment,” an official said on condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, Pakistan cricket fraternity expressed their unhappiness over the episode and accused the ICC of unfair treatment. The chairman of the PCB interim management committee Najam Sethi tweeted about his disappointment and confirmed the board would take up the issue with the ICC.