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Troy Cooley appointed interim coach for Australia’s upcoming tour of South Africa.
BENGALURU WEDNESDAY 28 | SEPTEMBER 2011
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SPORT
CSK coach Stephen Fleming says his team will not face any pressure against Cape Cobras.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
I am frustrated at the delay which has kept me from playing for Pakistan –– Danish Kaneria Pakistan leg-spinner
Briefs
KP RECALLED FOR INDIA TOUR London: Kevin Pietersen was recalled on Tuesday to England’s limited-overs squad for the trip to India next month. England pklay five ODIs followed by two T20 matches. The 15-man squad includes uncapped Surrey pace bowler Stuart Meaker, but fast bowler James Anderson has been rested.
Pics: Satish B.
Squad: Alaistair Cook (C), Jonny Bairstow, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Scott Borthwick, Tim Bresnan, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Craig Kieswetter, Stuart Meaker, Samit Patel, Kevin Pietersen, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott, Chris Woakes. Jos Buttler and Alex Hales to join the squad for the T20 fixtures.
Other stories
Speed demon ready to move on after Singapore disaster MAXIN MATHEW | DC BENGALURU, SEPT. 27
You know it’s not your day when you clip your fiercest rival’s rear wheel and totter back to the pits with a ruptured front wing and a penalty. But to fight back from the bottom of the grid to fifth place is a steely display of the grit and determination that makes Lewis Hamilton Formula One’s most aggressive and attacking driver. However, when not behind the wheel, Hamilton’s halcyon smile takes centrestage. Talking about his ill-fated collision with Ferrari ace Felipe Massa during the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday, the British whiz nonchalantly admitted that such incidents do happen and that he still had a lot of respect for the Brazilian. “Singapore was a bit of a disaster really. It was one of the races to learn from. As far as it (collision) is concerned, there’s not really much to say about it you know. Obviously we had a coming together in the race. Afterwards he was a bit angry... he was a bit forceful at the end. But I just ignored it and moved on. This is the most competitive sport in the world. And there are going to be instances like this. I have a lot of respect for Felipe still, regardless of how he has behaved,” Hamilton said on Tuesday. Excerpts: Your target for the remaining season: I think for me now it’s just to find my ground and improve my results. Jensen (Button) is doing a great job. He’s been a great team-mate and has done well throughout the season. On several occasions, I have been in the wrong places at the wrong time but I
THE TENDULKARS HAVE A NEW ADDRESS BIPIN DANI, MUMBAI, SEPT. 27
India’s legendary batsman, Sachin Tendulkar is likely to move into a new home on Wednesday and renowned astrologer, Bejan Daruwalla, says that it will prove to be very lucky for him. Daruwalla said, “It is a very auspicious day, being the first day of the Navratri. Sachin has ‘Raj Yoga’ and ‘Kumar Yoga’ in his birth charts. People with ‘Raj Yoga’ rule, very few people have these yogas in their horoscope.” While it might look like a triple-story house from the outside, Tendulkar’s home is spread across five floors. One and a half floors are underground, possibly because of the legal height restrictions, since the bungalow falls in CRZ II zone. The bungalow was bought by Sachin at a whopping `39 crore.
Ferguson fashions Redbacks victory R. PRASAD | DC HYDERABAD, SEPT. 27
The Mexican wave at the Rajiv Gandhi wasn’t enough to pump up the Kolkata Knight Riders as they drew a blank against the South Australian Redbacks. The Champions League T20 Pool B clash saw the Redbacks register a 19-run over the Knights on Tuesday. Looking to overhaul 189, the Knights lost Manvinder Bisla (13), Shakib Al Hasan (13) and skipper Gautam Gambhir (9) to be reduced to 46 for 3. Jacques Kallis (20) and Manoj Tiwary added 35 off 4.1 overs before the former was caught and bowled by Daniel Harris. Yusuf Pathan (5) and Tiwary (40) too were pouched by the Redbacks to be struggling at 102 for 5. Ryan ten Doeschate (32)
Callum Ferguson and Rajat Bhatia (21) played handy knocks towards the end, but it was too little too late. Earlier, Redbacks rode on top knocks from Callum Ferguson (70 n.o.) and Daniel Christian (42) to score 188 for 5. The Ferguson-Christian combine added 84 off 7.2 for the fourth wicket to change the course of the clash.
SCORECARD South Australia: M. Klinger (run out) 20, D. Harris c Abdulla b Balaji 26, C. Ferguson (not out) 70, C. Borgas c Balaji b Pathan 14, D. Christian c Tiwary b Balaji 42, T. Cooper c&b Lee 1, T. Ludeman (not out) 0, Extras (b2, lb4, w9) 15 Total (for 5 wkts; 20 overs) 188 FoW: 1-45, 2-51, 3-77, 4-161, 5174 Bowling: B. Lee 4-0-42-1, Iqbal Abdulla 4-0-37-0, Y. Pathan 40-43-1, L Balaji 3-0-27-2, Shakib Al Hasan 4-0-23-0, R. Bhatia 1-0-10-0 Kolkata Knight Riders: M. Bisla b Richardson 13, J. Kallis c&b Harris 20, Shakib Al Hasan c
Ferguson b Putland 13, G. Gambhir c Klinger b Lyon 9, M. Tiwary c Christian b Richardson 40, Y. Pathan c O'Brien b Putland 5, R. ten Doeschate c Borgas b Harris 32, R Bhatia c Ferguson b Putland 21, B. Lee b Harris 0, Iqbal Abdulla (not out) 10, Extras (b1, lb2, w2, nb1) 6, Total (for 9 wickets; 20 overs) 169 FoW: 1-15, 2-37, 3-46, 4-81, 5102, 6-104, 7-142, 8-143, 9-169 Bowling: N. Lyon 2-0-17-1, K. Richardson 4-0-29-2, G. Putland 4-0-31-3, D. Christian 4-0-34-0, A O'Brien 2-0-13-0, D. Harris 4-0-42-3 MAN OF THE MATCH: C. FERGUSON
SAHAN BIDAPPA | DC
have taken it in my stride rather than giving up. Rags to riches: My parents are West Indians and we lived in a one-bedroom flat in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. I used to spend my weekends with my dad and once he bought me a really old, rusty go-karting car on my eighth birthday. It was just terrible but he recreated it with some stickers and encouraged me to take part in a couple of local races. We were one of the poorest families at the karting circuit but we went on to defeat many people. And now I’m here. It was the most amazing feeling for us and still is an inspiration. Biggest inspiring icon - Gilles Villeneuve or Ayrton Senna: For me it will always be Senna. As a kid I was drawn to him and he inspired me. Gilles Villeneuve was an incredible driver but Senna’s fire, his passion and his persona – the way people received him was always brilliant. And of course his driving style is something that I am trying to emulate. McLaren my family: I have been with McLaren for 14 years now. There is no obligation to stay, McLaren is my family. They’ve given me massive support and never looked down on me even when I have had bad results. We win and lose together. Partnering Vettel in the future: I don’t think so. I will race against whoever I have to race to be the best.
BENGALURU, SEPT. 27
His love for Indian food is well-known and chicken tikka is his top pick. However, it’s not the Indian palate that drives Lewis Hamilton to the country, but instead it is the growing passion for Formula One. The former champ has come calling to India four times since 2008 for promotional events, but Tuesday’s visit to Bengaluru was his first to the city. The 26-year-old loves to keep coming back to the country. “I just loving coming to India, it’s just incredible,” said Hamilton after enthralling the crowd for two hours with his tricks. “I love Indian food, even during Silverstone Grand Prix we ordered for Indian food. Back home in Hertfordshire, we also do a take away from Indian restaurant.
“But what I saw today was amazing, I haven’t seen so many people in a Grand Stand at one time,” added the Brit. Hamilton, in fact, was so overwhelmed by the response that he continued to dole out mesmerising tricks, despite the crowd breaking the barricade and getting perilously close to the track. If one thought that the crowd frenzy had turned-off Hamilton’s mood, he was far from furious. “Every time I come to India, I am excited to see the passion for F1. Some Grand Prix have crazy crowds but this was the craziest I have seen,” he quipped. With Indian GP lined up for October 30, Hamilton will be back in the country soon and says he was looking forward to the experience. “I have only seen some small images of the track and we haven’t tested on it yet. I am very excited about the race. I think it’s great for India and for FI that we are going out to new countries. “We started coming to India four years ago and I could never imagine then that we could have a Grand Prix here. I’m going back to my Grand Prix and telling them how the people in India are crazy about F1. They love it and are so passionate,” said Hamilton.
FANS TURN UNRULY s Lewis Hamilton’s Laren F1 car screamed on the 500-metre stretch over 12 times on Tuesday morning on the NICE road, over 15,000 speed-crazy fans broke the makeshift barricades to line-up on the tarmac. During the final lap, the British driver climbed on the MP4-23
A
car to wave to the fans in the over-crowded stands erected for the public. But the barricades were hardly deterrent as fans broke through them and jumped on to the track. Although they took Hamilton by surprise, an unruffled racing ace jumped back into the cockpit to continue with the stunts.
With only a handful of policemen and security guards manning the flow of public, it soon became free-for-all as Hamilton fans sprinted on to the road to have a closer look at the F1 champion driver. To bring the situation under control, the cops the lathi-charged the unruly fans. — Abhishek Baadkar
Must-win game for CSK We did not deserve to win this one: Bhajji V. BALAJI I DC CHENNAI, SEPT. 27
Chennai Super Kings find themselves in a peculiar situation at home. A rare defeat at home to Mumbai Indians has made Wednesday's clash against Cape Cobras a must win. If Chennai meets with another reverse then they will have to depend on relative performance working in their favour to advance to the semi-final. Coach Stephen Fleming agreed the team was under pressure but added that the team is used to being in this situation. The defending champs are in no mood to make any changes and have taken the defeat in the stride and are moving forward with conviction. Cape Cobras will be wary of the fact the wicket here
P.L. ARAVIND | DC BENGALURU, SEPT. 27
CSK players during a practice session. has played slower than expected and given Chennai’s strength in spin, Cobras cannot afford to take anything lightly. The hosts have Albie Morkel and Faf du Plessis to gain additional information on the visitors. Chennai's success has been built on good foundations and one defeat should not
—JAISON G
bring everything down. The rhythm displayed by Cobras should be looked at closely, they showed how destructive they can be even in conditions that at the outset appear totally foreign to them. The champs will be hoping for a better all round effort than depend on a few individuals at all times.
As Mumbai Indians and Trinidad and Tobago dished out a low-scoring contest, it was a case of paisa vasool for the paltry spectators. As the Caribbean team’s players sunk to their knees and Mumbai Indians celebrated, victorious skipper Harbhajan Singh stayed away from it. On a wicket conducive for batting, the Mumbai bowlers did a commendable job restricting the T&T to 98. But their batsmen’s irresponsible show meant that they had to wait till the last ball to ensure two points. After the match, the off-
spinner came down heavily on his batsmen, saying that they had to be more responsible. “We didn’t play well at all. We didn’t take the responsibility. Playing too many shots was the problem. We need players to take more responsibility. “It was in that sense that I said we didn’t deserve to win. We were right on track with the ball, especially after the first six overs. But as I always say, it is not how you start the race that matters, it is how you finish the race. T&T showed a lot of heart and I thought they were the better side on the day,” he said. He also said that international cricketers like
Kieron Pollard and Andrew Symonds had to put up a better show. The Mumbai skipper refused to blame the pitch, “The ball neither seamed nor spun, so it can’t be the wicket. Basically, T&T batted badly, and we complemented them,” he added. Meanwhile, his opposite number Darren Ganga begged to differ. “We had heard about this wicket being a very good one and we let that rule our brains a bit. It was slow, there was tennis-ball bounce. “Also, a lot of silly mistakes cost us. As far as our bowling goes, we can’t ask anything more from our bowlers.”
Arvind has evolved as bowler: Prasad MANUJA VEERAPPA | DC BENGALURU, SEPT. 27 Bowling was Royal Challengers Bangalore’s strength in the IPL-IV and bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad believes the bowlers will continue to be their USP in the Champions League too. “It is something that we have been working on. In the last IPL it did work in our favour. We won a lot of games due to our bowling, especially when we were defending 120-130. And defending such small total is not so easy in this format
and the bowlers did a good job. But from the last two games of the IPL, a trend started when we have given nearly 10 runs per over. But we are working on it,” said the former Indian pacer. Prasad was all praise for Karnataka’s younger pacer S. Arvind, who was given the last over to bowl during their loss to Warriors last week. “He is a terrific bowler and probably the find of the IPL and its surprises that he is not in the India ‘A’ side or the Indian team. I believe he evolved as a bowler in the IPL. He has
bowled extremely well for the Karnataka too. He is a very smart bowler who knows his strengths and limitations and works around it to keep the batsman guessing,” Prasad observed. Despite their sloppy fielding against the Warriors, which left a lot to be desired especially from the youngsters in the team, Prasad defended his boys and said it was a bad day and they were otherwise terrific fielders. Looking ahead at the big match against Kolkata Knight Riders on
Thursday, the 42-year-old Prasad said his team would be looking to cash in on the fact that they have beaten the Kolkata team twice during IPL-IV. “We were watching KKR playing the qualifiers and in the last game. They almost missed out on qualifying for the CLT20 and lost their opening match too. So that’s something we would like to cash in on. But at the same time they are a fantastic side and we don’t want to take any team lightly. It’s going to be an important game for us,” he added.
RCB mentor Anil Kumble (right) and coach Ray Jennings during a practice session on Tuesday. —R. SAMUEL