Duncan Fletcher claims to have the confidence of the England players and will continue to review his position on a six-monthly basis despite the crushing Ashes loss in Perth. England’s playing defence of the prize they won in 2005 lasted only 15 days and Fletcher has been seen as a crucial figure behind the loss.However, he said he would not rush a decision on his future and believed he was capable of improving the side. “I still have the players’ confidence, they still come to me on numerous occasions and still talk to me about tactics,” he said. “I have the respect ofthe players and that’s very important.”Fletcher will speak to David Collier, the ECB chief executive, when he arrives in Melbourne next week and will continue to judge his suitability for the position every six months. The only problem is that he’s not sure when the period starts or ends. Fletcher usually considers his role at the conclusion of the English domestic season and the beginning of the next campaign, but today he spoke of a “moving sixmonths”.”I’ll look at it when I feel like I’m enjoying the job or not enjoying the job, as simple as that,” he said. “I am enjoying it. You have your ups and your downs and as long as there are more ups than downs you enjoy the job.”England suffered a severe trough on Tuesday when they lost by 206 runs at the WACA to hand over the urn and Fletcher did not take individual responsibility for the series defeat. “There is blame on all of us,” he said. “Everyone has to be blamed. How we performed, how we selected it, if they feel they want to blame us in those areas we have to take thoseresponsibilities.”Despite the speed at which England handed over the Ashes, Fletcher said he was happy with the squad’s preparation for the series and would not have changed the teams for the first two matches. The selections of Ashley Giles, James Anderson and Geraint Jones were scrutinised as they underperformed while Monty Panesar, who came in for the Perth Test, made an instant impact with eight wickets.”The decisions aren’t easy and to select is very, very difficult,” Fletcher said. “From our point of view the people criticising now are the ones who run with the foxes and hunt with the hounds. All we can do is run with the fox. At the end of the day all we can do is make these very difficult decisions.”
ScorecardSourav Ganguly tore into the top order while Ranadeb Bose took care of the tail as Bengal, opting to bowl first on a green top, bowled out Tamil Nadu for 218 before struggling against the medium pace of Rajamani Jesuraj to reach 32 for 3 by the end of the opening day’s play at the Eden Gardens. “I’ve never seen such a wicket while playing in India”, Dinesh Kartik, TN’s wicketkeeper, had said on the eve of the game and nearly all the batsmen struggled on it. Only Hemang Badani who stepped down from the captaincy, giving way to Subramaniam Badrinath, to concentrate on his batting, offered the lone resistance with a fighting 67 to lift TN to a competitive total. Ganguly, who was ordered by BCCI to play in this tie, trapped all his three victims in front before being suspended from bowling in the rest of the innings for straying on to the danger area too often. Bengal, with nine points from five games, will be hoping to grab as many points as they can and secure a semi-final spot while Tamil Nadu, will try to get at least two points to avoid being relegated to Plate. For Tamil Nadu Yo Mahesh, the India under-19 player, made his debut. ScorecardA 97-run partnership between Barrington Rowland and Balachandra Akhil lifted Karnataka from dire straits at 134 for 5 to 231 for 6 by the end of opening day’s play against Delhi at Bangalore. Virender Sehwag, ordered by BCCI to play in this game, struck twice to push the hosts on the back foot before Rowland came to the rescue with a patient 81. However, he fell late in the day to bring back Delhi into the frame; Sehwag will be hoping to bowl out the tail quickly on the second day while Karnataka’s hopes of a big first-innings score rested on Akhil. It’s a crucial tie for Delhi as they have only 6 points in five games and need at least 2 points from this tie to avoid the relegation. ScorecardLed by Ramesh Powar’s four-wicket haul and assisted by twin blows from Aavishkar Salvi and Swapnil Hazare, Mumbai reduced Gujarat to 190 for 9 by close of the opening day at Ahmedabad. Parthiv Patel, who was picked for the India tour of Pakistan, shored up the Gujarat innings with a valiant 47 before Hemal Watekar’s unbeaten 46 lifted Gujarat to a fighting total. Salvi and Hazare picked up the four of the top six in the order before Powar, who had removed Parthiv, came back to rip the tail apart. ScorecardShalabh Srivastava and Ashish Zaidi rocked the top order while Piyush Chawla blew the tail away as Uttar Pradesh shot out Hyderabad for 142 before riding on Shukla’s unbeaten half-century to reach a position of relative strength at 101 for 1 by stumps on the opening day at Lucknow. A stunning scoreline considering Hyderabad, with 9 points from four games, are placed second in the Group B table while UP are wallowing near the bottom of the table. Shashank Nag, the left-hand opener, took Hyderabad to 70 before becoming the fourth wicket to fall, triggering a collapse. ScorecardOff the 32 overs that were possible due to a delayed start owing to rain Maharashtra reached 55 for the loss of Abhijit Kale, the opener, in the crucial tie against Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. Railways, with only 4 points in five games, lie at the bottom of the table along with Maharashtra and face the threat of relegation. Maharashtra have an overseas coach in Darren Holder, the Australian, but the results have been pretty disappointing so far. Scorecard</aOnly 26.2 overs were possible on a rain-affected day as Pinal Shah steered Baroda to 82 for 1 against Services by close at Palam A Stadium in New Delhi. Baroda are perched on top of the Group B table with 13 points from four games while Services are at the bottom of the pool, yet to earn a point. ScorecardPunjab, competing for the second semi-final spot, plodded their way to 190 for 4 by the end of the opening day against Andhra at Visakhapatnam. Pankaj Dharmani and Dinesh Mongia, the captain, put up a 91-run stand for the third wicket to lift Punjab from a shaky 99 for 3 to a position of relative strength. “We need to go all out and we are confident of doing it. Our team is well balanced. However, we don’t underestimate Andhra, which is doing well”, Inthikab Alam, the Punjab coach and former Pakistan captain, had said on the eve of the match. If their tedious progress today is any indication, they have a battle on their hands.
The careers of Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh have run almost parallel since they were together in the team that won the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka. For a long time they seemed to be vying for the same spot, but since Sourav Ganguly decided to pack the side with batsmen they co-exist happily. When the first ball of the one-day series is bowled, they will need to hit the ground running after a spell on the bench. They spoke to us on the eve of the match in Dhaka:
Mohammad Kaif How hard is it to keep yourself motivated when you are not in the side? One should understand the kind of players we have at the present time, especially in the Test team. Obviously I got a chance to play, after three years, against Australia, and did quite OK. I was quite satisfied with the way that I played and the way things went against them. But I understand I have to wait for the right time.How hard is it to just come into the side and perform? As a professional cricketer you have to perform, deliver your best, because that’s what people expect back home. Playing for your country, that is your job. The adjustment is probably more mental than anything. But when you are out, you’ve got to enjoy whatever you do – that can be training in the gym for 50-60 days, or batting in the nets, early nights and early mornings. I understand that’s part of the job. It can be tough, but you have to keep yourself going.How important has the team’s support been? I’ve been quite lucky. John [Wright] really helped me out, and obviously I must mention [Sourav] Ganguly. The whole team was very supportive. That’s what you need if you want to be a successful team. We have had our ups and downs in the last couple of years, but we’ve been together through it. It’s important that we always stick together. So we play better and improve all the time.But sometimes it’s hard to gauge how well or otherwise you’re doing at No. 7 It is quite sad, the kind of support you get back home, from the fans and from the media and on TV. In that position [No. 7], you come in with very few overs left and sometimes you don’t score much. Then suddenly one day you come in with five wickets down, and 35 overs to bat. You might get a good ball and get out. Then in eight innings you have hardly scored. The fans and media may think something, but what matters is when I come back to the dressing-room after scoring 15, and the team and coach appreciate this and say I’ve done a good job for the team. That’s what kept me going when I had a bad time. The team have all been there for a long time and understand that batting at 6 or 7 is not an easy job. When people back home only look at how many innings you have played, and judge players thinking only of records, I don’t think that’s right. Sometimes you come through a patch when you go in with just four overs to go and have to go bang-bang. Then if you get out after hitting a few boundaries, people count it as a bad performance because you haven’t scored a fifty in the last eight or ten games. But it doesn’t really matter to me – what matters is my team-mates.What do you need to do to change gears quickly? It’s not just technique, you have to be mentally aggressive. You have to be able to shift your game and your approach quickly. You have to know your own game very well. I try to keep it simple – the bad balls you try to score runs, the good ones you block or try to take singles.
Yuvraj Singh What was it like missing out on the Tests? Obviously it was disappointing, because every cricketer wants to play Test cricket. But that’s a part of life. Ups and downs will be there. I just have to carry on. Whether it’s a one-day international, a Test match or a Ranji match, I just have to perform.But you were not resting, you were playing first-class cricket … I was playing first-class, and got a few starts, but somehow was not getting a hundred. I was getting fifties and sixties, so now, when I’m playing one-day cricket, I need to play a big innings soon.What adjustments do you have to make? The way I look at it, one-day cricket and Test cricket are not too different – in the sense that I don’t have to make too many changes to the way I approach batting. I’m the sort of person who likes to play shots. I remember doing well in the last one-dayer I played, against Pakistan, and I just want to carry on and do well here.Are these three one-dayers against Bangladesh a good chance to get a big one, considering they’re not the strongest opposition around? I know it’s not the toughest opponent, but you and I know that anything can happen in one-day cricket. It’s only a matter of 50 overs, and someone can easily come up with a performance. If Bangladesh do well they can put us under pressure. If I get a chance up the order I will certainly look to bat throughout the innings.How has your game changed from the time you started? When I started I was just playing too many shots, and after the first few one-day internationals I played, I realised I had to change my game. Now what I do is take more time when I first come in, and try to play till the 50th over.It’s tricky batting down the order, isn’t it? At the moment my team requires me to bat at No. 5 or No. 6, so I give that my best shot. But obviously every batsman would like to bat up the order. Given a chance I would love to.
It’s taken two decades to achieve but Victoria has broken through for its first four-day win at the Gabba since 1983 with a five-wicket Pura Cup victory over Queensland today.Despite some last-day heroics from Bulls all-rounder James Hopes, the Bushrangers overcame some anxious moments to make 5-160 to post an outright victory and erase 20 years of disappointment at the Gabba.Stand-in skipper Cameron White, who was only four months old when Victoria last won at the ground, said the hoodoo was now broken.”Hopefully next year we come up here with more confidence and look forward to having another win,” said White, who was also named man of the match.”It’s a good start (to the season) and I guess it’s not a hoodoo anymore.”But there were concerns the young Victorians would crash to another ignominious defeat when Hopes captured 4-2 in 16 balls to have the Bushrangers teetering at 4-54 just after lunch.They recovered somewhat on an uneven pitch before Joe Dawes dismissed Jonathan Moss for 22 to leave Victoria at 5-93 an hour before tea.It took an unbeaten 67-run partnership between White (38) and Andrew McDonald (45no) to secure the landmark win.The victory was Victoria’s first at the ground in a four-day game since December, 1983, when Ray Bright led the team.Before that match, the previous Victorian win at the home of Queensland cricket was in 1965.The victory had looked a formality just before lunch with the Bushrangers reaching 0-50.But Hopes, whose bowling in the match had previously failed to live up to his promise, hit a purple patch.The 25-year-old had opener Matthew Elliott lbw for 23 just before lunch and after the break caught Jason Arnberger in front without offering a shot for 27.In his next over, he had Brad Hodge caught at gully for two with a searing bouncer and then caught and bowled first innings century-maker David Hussey for a duck.Regular captain Darren Berry, who missed the game because of injury, flew to Brisbane to enjoy the celebrations.But after hearing of the collapse he said he almost got back on the plane.”When I got on the plane it was 0-50 and I thought you beauty,” Berry said.”When I arrived Hookesy (Victorian coach David Hookes) told me we had lost 4-4 and I thought I should just get back on the plane and go home.”Hopes finished with 4-63 and Dawes 1-54.Bulls paceman Mitchell Johnson was unable to bowl because of a side strain and is in doubt for the match against Victoria at Junction oval next week.Queensland started the day on 7-233 aiming to soak up as much time at the crease as possible.But with the aid of the new ball, the Queensland made 256 after Moss captured 3-12 off four overs.Moss ended up with 3-61 while Mathew Inness had 3-42.
Michael Slater’s disastrous season took another turn for the worse today when selectors axed him from the New South Wales team to play Victoria in a Pura Cup match starting in Sydney on Friday.The former Test opener has surrendered his place in the Blues’ line-up after a lean patch with the bat that has seen him score just 257 first-class runs this summer at an average of 25.70 from his 11 Pura Cup innings. It follows his exclusion from the Australian team late last year.”It’s always distressing to leave out a talented player, especially one with a career record like Michael’s,” said John Benaud, chairman of the New South Wales selection panel, in a short statement.”He’s sadly out of touch at the moment.”Hopefully, some time in the middle away from the pressure cooker of first-class cricket might help him get back to his very best form.”Slater, an aggressive right handed batsman, has played 74 Tests and 42 one-day international matches for Australia but lost his place in the national side when Justin Langer was preferred to him for the fifth and final Test of the 2001 Ashes series in England. Langer has subsequently enjoyed a record-breaking season with Matthew Hayden at the top of the Australian order in an association that has already produced four double century partnerships in the space of seven matches.Slater, 31, enjoyed a meteoric rise at the start of his career, winning a call-up to the Australian side in the same season as he made his first-class debut for New South Wales. He was omitted from his country’s team for a period of 18 months between late 1996 and early 1998 but otherwise remained a fixture in the side for the eight years that led up to his axing in England.His omission today from his state team – which comes only five months after the loss of his Australian position – was part of two changes made to the squad which suffered a 67-run defeat at the hands of South Australia in Adelaide last weekend.The Blues, who chose batsmen Graeme Rummans and Matthew Phelps over Slater and twelfth man Anthony Clark, have now dropped to fourth on the Pura Cup table with four rounds remaining.The full New South Wales team to play Victoria is: Stuart MacGill (c), Greg Mail, Brett van Deinsen, Matthew Phelps, Corey Richards, Graeme Rummans, Michael Clarke, Mark Higgs, Brad Haddin, Nathan Bracken, Don Nash, Stuart Clark (12th man to be named).
PRETORIA (October 6) – Rudolf Steyn steered the Northerns Titans to a dramatic three-wicket victory over Western Province in their Standard BankCup game at Supersport Park on Friday. The Titans’ opening batsman scored 111 runs off 122 balls with 10 fours to lay the platform for victory and claim the man of the match award.The honour of clinching the game went to the diminutive Kruger van Wyk. Van Wyk, making his provincial debut, showed character and courage intaking on the acting Western Province captain, Alan Dawson. He first hooked Dawson for a six and then unleashed a cover drive for a four off successive deliveries to clinch the issue with an over to spare.HD Ackerman, the province captain, pulled a hamstring during his innings of 92. With Herschelle Gibbs acting as a runner and with the Western Province innings in trouble at 62 for the loss of four in the 20th over, the visitors rescued the situation through a fifth wicket partnership of 134 off 132 balls.After a slow start to the innings, Western Province picked up their run rate during the last 10 overs of their innings to score 229 for six. But all it did was raise the stakes slightly to set the Titans a more challenging yet still very makeable total of 230 in their 45 overs.The Titans’ Steve Elworthy ended with figures of three for 34 and Pierre Joubert, who also had a hand in the frantic run chase in the final overs of the innings, picked up three wickets for 51 runs.
Leeds United left-back Junior Firpo is set for a long spell on the sidelines after injuring his knee against Aston Villa, according to journalist Phil Hay.
The Lowdown: Firpo injured in defeat
The Whites were beaten 3-0 at home by Steven Gerrard’s men on Thursday evening, in what was a hugely disappointing first game at Elland Road for Jesse Marsch.
It was a result that leaves Leeds deeper in the relegation mire, with both Burnley and Everton having games in hands around them.
Firpo was injured late in the day against Villa, with a stretcher required for the 25-year-old, and now more bad news has been revealed as Hay shared the initial diagnosis.
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The Latest: Hay gives negative update
Taking to Twitter, the journalist claimed that Firpo picked up a bad knee injury and that a prolonged spell on the sidelines now awaits him, implying he will definitely miss Sunday’s clash with Norwich:
“No precise diagnosis on Firpo yet but he’s injured his knee and Marsch’s thinks he’s probably looking at a lengthy spell out.”
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The Verdict: Sums up his season
Firpo was having a poor night as it was, not covering himself in glory for Matty Cash’s goal, and his injury rather epitomises his first season as a Leeds player.
He has rarely convinced defensively, when fit, and his supposed attacking prowess has also been lacking, with no goals and just one assist coming his way in 19 Premier League appearances.
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The hope was that Firpo would be an upgrade on Ezgjan Alioski but that hasn’t proved to be the case – hopefully he returns from this lengthy absence a different player.
In other news, a source has dropped a key Kalvin Phillips update. Read more here.
Rahul Dravid found his true form on the last day of this match, hitting a double-century to guide Karnataka to a draw against Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium.Karnataka made 397 for 6 at tea before declaring to set Mumbaia target of 256 in 32 overs, 17 of which had gone by before both captains settled on a draw.Mumbai secured three points for their first-innings lead while Karnataka got one.The wicket had baffled many: it offered great assistance on the first day, which Ramesh Powar exploited, and lost its venom as the moisture evaporated. Also, Karnataka were guilty of being overcautious in the first innings and conceded the vital lead to Mumbai.Dravid said the regular fall of wickets didn’t allow them to attack. “We kept losing regular wickets, lot of players in our team are quite young as well and it would have been a good education for them to play a quality attack.”The final day belonged to Dravid who blasted 137 runs from 152 balls with 11 boundaries and three sixes. There were no big celebrations after he reached his hundred – off 213 balls – in the first session, with a dab to third man. He acknowledged his ton with a small raise of the bat towards the dressing room, then at the 50-odd spectators who’d bothered to turn up. He offered a similar reaction after bringing up his double hundred, in the second session, with a sweep to the square-leg boundary.Dravid, while understandably happy, wished he had contributed more in the first innings. “It is satisfying to have played a innings that helped the team. It would have been better had I played a big knock in the first innings. To be honest 195 was never going to be enough, we needed at least 300 but credit to them. Ajit got couple of wickets early and Ramesh [Powar] bowled very well.”In an otherwise smooth innings, Dravid had three moments of concern:on 110, he survived a run-out chance when C Raghu called him forinjudicious single but Wasim Jaffer didn’t find the target from squareleg; on 191 he checked a drive off a slower delivery from AbhishekNayar, who spilled the return catch and on 198 another run-out chancewent begging as Amol Muzumdar missed from cover.Dravid started off with a fluent drive through covers off Iqbal Abdulla and continued tobat positively as the new ball was taken in the fourth over of the day. Dravid showed his full repertoire of strokes – there was a hook and a pull, two crashing drives over cover, a steer to third man, a leg glance, a cut and a few lofted drives against the spinners to the straight boundary. He hit three sixes too, sending the ball out of the ground on one occasionwhen he swung Abdulla over long-on.Mumbai’s bowlers could not keep him in check. Ajit Agarkar, who removed KB Pawan with a full-length delivery that took the edge off a loose drive, sent down a series of bouncers but Dravid went for the horizontal shots.Ramesh Powar, introduced in the 20th over of the day, also didn’t cause any major problems. Dravid, at times, went down the track or made room by going back and twice swinging him over the midwicket.Raghu looked to get forward to play before he fell, under-edging a pull that wicketkeeper Vinayak Samant took sharply down the leg side. Encouraged by that wicket, Powar stuck to the middle and leg line, spinning into the hips, with a short leg and backward short leg inattendance, but could not break through.Abdulla, who mostly bowled over the wicket aiming for the rough, picked up his first Ranji Trophy wicket in his 41st over of the match when Yere Goud scooped one to cover. Abdulla picked two more easy wickets as Karnataka went for quick runs before the declaration.The bat continued to dominate in the second session before Dravid fell after facing 333 balls in 437 minutes to a tired pull shot off Abdulla to deep midwicket. He was one short of his highest Ranji score – 215 against Uttar Pradesh, 10 seasons back in a Ranji final.When Mumbai batted the second time, Vinay Kumar removed Wasim Jaffer in an identical fashion to the first innings, cleaning up his off stump with an incutter as he was caught at the crease, and trapped Sahil Kukreja in front but the fate of the game was sealed by then.
Scorecard Defending champions Uttar Pradesh slumped to their second defeat of the season, crashing to a humiliating innings and 88 runs loss to Haryana on the second day at Rohtak. Having been shot out for 71 in the first innings, they collapsed for 178 the second time round. Haryana carried on their impressive batting performance this morning, stretching their total to 327 with Sumit Sharma and Sachin Rana completing fine hundreds. Trailing by 266 in the first innings, UP were done in by Haryana’s new-ball bowlers. Joginder Sharma, who’d snared seven wickets in the first innings, scalped three more and Sanjay Budhwar ended with an impressive 4 for 36. day. Scorecard Hyderabad strengthened their position on the second day with a solid batting effort, gaining a 138-run lead with five wickets in hand. Resuming at 66 for 1 overnight, Hyderabad rode on plucky efforts from all their top-order batsmen with D Vinay Kumar standing out with 64. They stitched together vital partnerships of 53, 37, 23 and 41 to boost Hyderabad to a cosy position at the end of the day. Swapnil Hazare and Ramesh Powar struck twice apiece. Scorecard Laxmi Ratan Shukla led Bengal’s response on the second day at Kolkata as their game against Gujarat hung in a balance. Bengal were still 102 runs behind with five wickets in hand as Shukla, batting on 50, carried on useful contributions from the top order. Rohan Gavaskar gave him company with a useful 45. Gujarat hung on in the contest through Hitesh Majumdar’s medium-pace effort, picking up two wickets and pegging them back. Scorecard Thilak Naidu’s attacking century was the highlight of the day as Karnataka wrested the initiative after the Delhi seamers ran through the middle order in the morning session. Resuming on 299 for 3, the wheels started to come off for Karnataka as they lost six wickets for just 62. That brought KP Appanna and Naidu together, and Naidu played according to plan, hogging the strike while Appanna guarded his wicket at the other end. The bowling lost its sting as the seamers were guilty of bowling too short or too full, failing to slip in the yorkers, thereby allowing Naidu to use the long handle to good effect.Though Ashish Nehra picked up four wickets, leaked 171 runs while Ishant Sharma fared comparatively better, conceding 99. Sharma wrapped up the innings, dismissing Naidu for 122 to pick up his four-wicket haul. Matters got worse for Delhi in their reply, losing their first four wickets for just 14 runs, rocked by the seamers B Akhil and Vinay Kumar. Virat Kohli stood firm, remaining undefeated on 40 with Puneet Bisht as the pair took the score to 103 for 5 at stumps with plenty of repair work still to be done. Scorecard A 123-run last wicket partnership between captain Pankaj Dharmani and Luv Ablish propelled Punjab to a commanding 550 in their first innings. Dharmani, who retired hurt on 71 on the first day, resumed his innings and remained unbeaten on 113. Ablish, the right-arm seamer who began the season with five-wicket haul against Gujarat, played an entertaining knock of 76 off just 75 balls, with nine fours and three hits over the fence. Vipul Sharma, the overnight batsman, was unlucky to fall seven short of his ton, and was one of legspinner Sairaj Bahutule’s five victims. In reply, Maharashtra lost Harshad Khadiwale early for 5, before Dheeraj Jadhav and Hrishikesh Kanitkar took the score to 50 at stumps. Scorecard Meaty contributions by the middle-order propped Tamil Nadu to 500 against Saurashtra at Rajkot. Half-centuries by R Satish, K Vasudevadas and R Naresh strengthened Tamil Nadu’s position after Sreedharan Sharath laid the platform with a century on day one. Sharath fell after adding six to his overnight score, but Satish carried on from where he finished the previous day, scoring at over a run-a-ball in his 93 which included 14 fours. Vasudevadas and Naresh then frustrated Saurashtra further with a stand of 114 for the sixth wicket. Naresh’s 64 was the more agressive knock, coming off 95 balls with six fours and two sixes. Sandip Jobanputra, the left-arm seamer, picked up four wickets. Saurarshtra made a solid reply with the openers – Sagar Jogiyani and Kanaiya Vaghela – adding 70 till stumps. Scorecard Prasad Reddy’s patient 148 off 474 balls took Andhra to 342 in their first innings against Baroda. Reddy nearly carried his bat before he was run-out in the final over of Andhra’s innings. He was involved in stands 54 and 70 with B Sumanth and Mohammad Faiq respectively, with Faiq contributing 41. Rajesh Pawar, the left-arm spinner, was the only bowler who managed to pick up wickets, finishing with figures of 7 for 87 in 48 overs. Baroda began cautiously, with the openers adding 33 in 17 overs till stumps.
Virender Sehwag decided to ask his spinners to open the bowling on the fifth morning of the Ahmedabad Test, and it paid off. Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh were the dominant figures of this Test match, scheming and plotting, spinning and bouncing, wicket-taking furiously. And theydidn’t take long to finish it off, allowing Sri Lanka to add only 14 runs to their overnight score before they were all out for 249, losing this Test by 259 runs.Kumble struck in the second over of the day when Farveez Maharoof stretched out on the front foot and played for turn that wasn’t there, as the ball hurried on through and rapped him on the pads (235 for 7). Jehan Mubarak fell in the next over, edging a ball from Harbhajan thatpitched outside leg stump and spun across him (235 for 8).Malinga Bandara showed some spirit, executing what can best be described as a two-hand forehand down the ground for four off a short ball from Harbhajan, but it was the last flicker of a dying flame. Muttiah Muralitharan missed a slog sweep and was bowled by Harbhajanfor 3 (245 for 9). And shortly afterwards, Bandara edged a ball from Kumble to gully, where Sehwag took an excellent diving catch. Kumble, in the second innings of his 100th Test, had 5 for 89.The summary of the match: Sri Lanka played hard, intense cricket, but were outplayed by a team that beat them on talent and matched them in intensity. Despite India’s margin of victory, it had been a well-contested Test, and a fine advertisement for the game.How they were outSri LankaFarveez Maharoof lbw Kumble 2 (235 for 7) Jehan Mubarak c Laxman b Harbhajan 18 (235 for 8) Muttiah Muralitharan b Harbhajan 3 (245 for 9) Malinga Bandara c Sehwag by Kumble 11 (249)