Archive for December 22nd, 2008
Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh kept India in control of the second Test
Posted on: December 22, 2008
Following a fog-delayed start, England resumed on 282-6 in reply to India’s 453 but they were bowled out for 302 as Harbhajan Singh finished with 4-68.
The tourists fought back to reduce India to 44-3 and then 80-4.
But Gambhir (44no) and the explosive Yuvraj (39no) guided the hosts to 134-4 at the close, a lead of 285.
With his side having offered such a poor display with the bat, England captain Kevin Pietersen will have been delighted by the way they performed in the field.
But the arrival of Yuvraj, their nemesis in the abandoned one-day-series, allowed India to reassert their authority going into day five.
A draw remains the most likely result and that would be enough to seal the series for India, who are 1-0 in the two-Test series after their victory in Chennai.
For the second successive day, thick fog meant the start of play was delayed considerably and it was not until 0530 GMT, two hours late, that the players and umpires came to the middle.
That gave England, who lost the crucial wickets of Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff late on day four, plenty of time to focus on the task ahead.
It was vital that nightwatchman James Anderson and Matt Prior batted cautiously to see England through the opening exchanges and, if possible, guide them towards India’s first-innings 453.
But such hopes were banished when Prior clipped the first ball of the third over, from Harbhajan, into the hands of wicketkeeper Mahendra Dhoni when attempting to work it through the leg side.
India sensed England were there for the taking and they made further inroads when Broad shouldered arms to a straight delivery in Harbhajan’s next over and it went on to knock back the left-hander’s off stump.
Zaheer Khan then bowled Graeme Swann with a sumptuous in-swinger before Harbhajan had Monty Panesar caught at short leg by Gambhir.
Openers Gambhir and Virender Sehwag were forced to navigate two potentially tricky overs before lunch but they did so comfortably, Gambhir flicking Anderson for two fours as India reached the interval on 9-0.
But England seemed to come out for the afternoon session with a spring in their step and although India kept the scoreboard ticking over, the tourists were rewarded with the wicket of Sehwag.
The 30-year-old attempted to take a quick single off Broad with a drive that the bowler deflected to Ian Bell, who came in from short extra cover to drive at the stumps and complete the run out.
A period of slow scoring ensued as Rahul Dravid, still lacking fluency despite his first-innings 136, looked nervous in the face some aggressive but disciplined seam bowling.
England did all they could to keep Dravid on strike and the tactic paid off handsomely when he fell for a duck off 19 balls – Broad getting one to nip back off the seam, keep low and clatter the former captain’s middle stump.
Captain Pietersen tried to maintain the pressure by deploying an attacking field to Sachin Tendulkar, which looked as though it might backfire when the world’s highest run-scorer beautifully drove Broad wide of mid-off to the rope.
But that failed to dishearten a vibrant England and they soon had their man when Tendulkar (five off 22 balls) steered Anderson to Swann at gully.
It capped a tremendous session for the tourists, who took three wickets for 47 runs in 23 overs, but at tea India had ground their way to 56-3, a lead of 207.
VVS Laxman, fresh from his first-innings duck, was struggling to find any sort of rhythm but dug in as he and Gambhir steadied the innings.
Laxman laced Panesar to the cover boundary for the first four in 12.2 overs but soon succumbed as a mix up between the batsmen saw Flintoff and wicketkeeper Prior combine to run the right-hander out.
Unfortunately for England that brought Yuvraj to the crease and he signalled his intent with two fours off Panesar in the first over he faced.
Pietersen’s decision to stick with spinners Panesar and Swann allowed Yuvraj to open up but, at the other end, Yuvraj was fortunate to survive when Alastair Cook at silly point could not take a difficult chance low to his left.
Yuvraj responded by clubbing Panesar for a six over deep mid-wicket and four through the covers in the following over as India ended on a high.
Former Sri Lanka skipper Arjuna Ranatunga, who had predicted that Rahul Dravid would bounce back from his lean phase, was on Monday (December 22) effusive in his praise of the middle-order batsman who notched a century against England in the second Test in Mohali.
“Dravid is a fighter. That is why I said he would come back on his own soon as he has grit and determination besides the stamp of a world class batsman,” Ranatunga said.
“It is not without reason that he has surpassed 10,000 runs in Test cricket. He was going through a lean phase and I knew he would fight it out,” Ranatunga said on Dravid’s 136 that resurrected his career.
Dravid, 35, crafted a confident century, his first in 20 Test innings.
Rantunga said though the “wall” had used correct techniques, he was often unfortunate in getting dismissed for low scores.
The former World Cup winning captain and Chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket said players like Dravid should be treasured since he can still contribute a lot to the game.
“Dravid should be encouraged as he has contributed to many wins for India and has some years of cricket left,” Ranatunga said.
He said Indian batsmen were getting their act together and going by current form, India could be ranked one of the best in the world.
The 45-year-old cricketer-turned-lawmaker also had a word of praise for the Indian fast bowlers and said both Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan have been performing with a lot of consistency and were coming up with good spells.
Popular south Indian actress Asin, who starred in 17 films before making her debut in Hindi films with ‘Ghajini’, says that it has been a smooth transition for her in Bollywood.
“I have been warmly welcomed in Mumbai and it has been a smooth transition for me from South Indian films to Hindi.
The Cochin born actress says she is amused when she is referred to as a debutante in the film. “The Hindi ‘Ghajini’ is my 18th film. I have already acted in 17 films in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu languages,” she says. “Compared to my contemporaries, I have been selective and even took a break some years ago to appear for my HSC examinations.”
Asin, who is paired opposite actor-producer Aamir Khan in the film which will release later this week, is eagerly awaiting the verdict of the audience.
The Tamil version of ‘Ghajini’, on which the film is based, released on October 2005 and people down south are waiting for the Hindi film with tremendous excitement and anticipation.
On her character in the film, Asin, says Kalpana is a simple, ordinary girl from a lower middle class family struggling to make it big in the advertising world. “If the makers of the film worked hard on the look of Aamir’s character Sanjay Singhania, there was equal effort to keep my look very ordinary and simple.
In the Hindi version, except director A R Murugadoss and myself, the rest of the team is new. There have been changes in the action sequences as well as the climax. However, my character has been left untouched, she says. “I feel blessed to perform the same character twice,” .
India needed 45 minutes to polish off England’s tail before reaching nine for no loss at lunch in their second innings on the fourth day of the second and final cricket Test in Mohali today (December 22).
Gautam Gambhir (8) and Virender Sehwag (1) were in the middle at the lunch break, having stretched India’s overall lead to 160 runs after the hosts had bowled out England for 302 in a misty morning.
For the second successive day, thick fog delayed the start of play and by the time the first ball was sent down, the match had lost a couple of hours.
India, however, showed a sense of urgency and took just 10.5 overs to take the last four wickets, conceding just 20 runs.
Off-colour so far in the match, Harbhajan Singh made some amends by claiming three of the last four wickets to hasten England’s collapse.
Spin colleagues Harbhajan and Amit Mishra opened the attack for the hosts this morning and the off-spinner struck with his seventh delivery of the day which kissed Matt Prior’s (2) blade and Mahendra Singh Dhoni neatly collected the ball down the leg.
Harbhajan claimed his second wicket of the day in the very next over. Stuart Broad (1) proved a terrible judge of the turn as he left the ball alone only to see it straighten and knock back his off-stump.
Replacing Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan struck in his second over, rattling Graeme Swann’s (3) stumps before Harbhajan dropped curtains on the innings, claiming Monty Panesar (5) as England fell 151 runs behind India’s first innings total of 453.
Headless bodies found in Mexico
Posted on: December 22, 2008
Police found nine human heads and nine headless bodies in the Mexican state of Guerrero on Sunday.
The heads were found in Chilpancingo, the state’s capital, and the bodies were found at a different location in Chilpancingo. Information on whether the heads belonged to the bodies wasn’t available.
Police identified eight soldiers and one high-ranking former police officer among the victims, Zeferino Torre-Blanca, governor of Guerrero told.
Guerrero, a major tourist destination, is in southern Mexico on the Pacific coast and includes the resort city of Acapulco.
Decapitation has become a tactic used in Mexico by drug cartels fighting off rival traffickers, police and troops. However, authorities wouldn’t say whether the remains found Sunday were linked to drug-related violence.
In August, the headless bodies of 12 men were found in the state of Yucatan. That month, Yucatan’s governor said the killings appeared to be the result of disputes between drug cartels.
Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said this month that organized-crime killings climbed to 5,376 in 2008, more than double the 2,477 such deaths in 2007.
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