16
Greater Kashmir
Srinagar | January 14, 2017, Saturday
epaper.GreaterKashmir.com
Gujarat
need
265 runs
to clinch
maiden
Ranji title
Indore, Jan 13: Doughty
challengers Gujarat -aiming for their maiden
title -- were on Friday set
a 312-run winning target
by record champions
Mumbai in the 83rd Ranji
Trophy cricket final here.
After Gujarat dismissed
Mumbai for 411 in their
second innings, openers
Priyank Kirit Panchal (34
not out) and Samit Gohel
(8 not out) were at the
crease when the umpires
called it a day -- with the
second-time finalists, at
47-0, requiring 265 runs to
win the coveted title.
Earlier, seasoned allrounder Abhishek Nayar
(91) and captain Aditya
Tare (69) propped up
Mumbai, who are bidding
to extend their record
haul of 41 Ranji Trophy
titles. Resuming the day
at 208-3, Mumbai failed
to put up a strong partnership throughout the
day. They were driven by
the individual brilliance
of Nayar and Tare. The
first wicket of the day
was overnight batsman
Suryakumar Yadav (49),
with the former captain
scoring barely four runs
in the morning.
Incoming batsman
Siddesh Lad too didn't
last long, falling at an
individual score of 15
when he was caught by
Chirag Gandhi off leftarm medium pacer R.P.
Singh. At 270-5, walked
in left-hander Nayar but
soon Tare, who scored
his 17th fifty in first-class
cricket, lost his wicket -- a
LBW verdict in favour of
Hardik Patel. Tare's knock
was studded with 12 fours.
After the captain's wicket,
Nayar decided to take the
attack to the opposition,
even as his partners kept
changing regularly.
Nayar used the long
range shots to good effect,
launching five fours and
five sixes as he waged a
lone battle against Gujarat
in his 31st fifty. Balwinder
Singh Sandhu (20) and
Vishal Dabholkar (12) did
their best to support Nayar,
who was the last batsman
to the dismissed, with R.P.
Singh getting a LBW decision.
For Gujarat, medium
pacer Chintan Gaja took
six wickets for 121 runs,
adding Sandhu, Shardul
Thakur (2) and Dabholkar to the three he took
on Thursday. Gujarat,
who had taken a 100-run
first-innings lead, were
set a target of 312 runs.
In-form openers Panchal and Gohel put them
on the right path from
the beginning, scoring
47 runs for no loss. Panchal, who has 1,276 runs
prior to this innings in
the Ranji Trophy season,
looked in ominous form as
he hit seven fours during
his unbeaten knock of 34
runs from 45 deliveries.
At the other end, Gohel
was determined to come
afresh on Saturday which
will be one of the biggest
days for Gujarat cricket.
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Sports Ministry revokes
IOA suspension
Australia beat Pak by
92 runs in first ODI
Brisbane, Jan 13: Australia set up
a meaty total for Pakistan as former
adversaries Matthew Wade and Glenn
Maxwell combined for a vital sixthwicket partnership of 82 runs to help
Australia post 268/9.
Pakistan were hamstrung by Azhar Ali,
who retired hurt after he lost his opening
partner. Pakistan's were still on course
when Babar Azam and Umar Akmal were
at the crease, but their game stagnated
after the partnership came to an end.
Wade was awarded Player of the Match.
"It was challenging at the top, it was swinging and seaming around. Maxi took the
pressure off me, and I was just looking to
get him on strike. I was absolutely cooked
(by the last over). They were taking the
pace off, I was swinging way too hard. If
the spinners bowled into the wicket it was
hard to hit them down the ground," he said.
After captain Steve Smith won the
toss and decided to bat, Australia was 78-5
before being rescued by the pair. Wade was
unbeaten on 100, bringing up his maiden
century with a single on the final ball,
while all-rounder Maxwell scored 60.
Maxwell was making his return to the
Australian side after he was dropped and
fined last month for saying it was “painful” having to bat below Wade in Victoria
state's Sheffield Shield first-class side.
There didn't appear to be any residual
problems or animosity between the pair
on Friday, although Maxwell came in
ahead of Wade. A strong opening spell
from Muhammad Amir (2-54) left Australia in trouble. Amir clean-bowled David
Warner and then handed Smith his first
ODI golden duck in successive deliveries,
meaning Chris Lynn would face a hattrick ball on debut. He survived, but not
for much longer; two
overs after sending a
Hasan Ali delivery
into the grandstand,
he misread a slow ball
and skied one behind
to Muhammad Rizwan.
Lynn, making his
50-overs debut for Australia, has smashed 309
runs in five games for
the Brisbane Heat in
the Twenty20 Big Bash
League.
Ali finished with figures of 3-58. The teams
will play five ODIs. Australia won the
three-test series 3-0. Pakistan is without
two players who have had to return home
for family reasons.Vice-captain and wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed returned Thursday to be with his ill mother. Sarfraz's
departure came just days after fast bowler
Mohammad Irfan left the team following
the death of his mother.
Brief Score: Australia 268-9 (Mathew Wade
100 (not out), Maxwell 60, Hasan Ali 3-65)
against Pakistan 176-10 (Babar Azam 32; James
Faulkner 4-32, Cummins 3-33) Agencies
New Delhi, Jan 13: The Sports Ministry on
Friday lifted the suspension of recognition
accorded to the Indian Olympic Association
(IOA) after the national sports body revoked
its earlier decision to appoint former chiefs
Abhay Singh Chautala and Suresh Kalmadi
as honorary life presidents.
The IOA's Annual General Meeting on
December 27 last year had reportedly passed
a resolution to honour the controversial duo
with the post of honorary life president. The
move invited severe criticism from various
quarters with the government issuing showcause notice before suspending the deemed
recognition of the national Olympic body.
Following the suspension, the IOA had
ceased to enjoy the privileges and prerogatives bestowed on it by the government as
the National Olympic Committee (NOC).
All government assistance, financial or otherwise, to the IOA had also been stopped.
However, in a letter to the Ministry of
Sports dated January 9, IOA President
N. Ramachandran had claimed that the
national Olympic body has not passed any
resolution to honour the controversial duo.
Ramachandran had pointed out that members could make proposals in a meeting but
if it did not meet the provisions of the IOA
constitution, it could not be assumed that
the proposal had been approved and passed
in the meeting.
"(The) government has decided to revoke
the suspension of deemed recognition of IOA
with immediate effect in the light of the corrective action taken by them in reversing its
earlier decision making Abhay Singh Chautala and Suresh Kalmadi life presidents of
IOA," the ministry said in a statement on
Friday.
"Since IOA has admitted the faux pas
committed and regretted the inconvenience
and embarrassment caused to all concerned,
it is expected of IOA that it will uphold the
highest standard of probity and ethics in its
functioning in future.
"In the light of the above developments
and keeping in view the larger interest of
promotion and development of sports in
the country, the Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Youth Affairs
and Sports has revoked the suspension of
deemed recognition of IOA, imposed on
30.12.2016, with immediate effect," the statement added.
Kalmadi served as IOA President from
1996 to 2011 and was jailed in April 2014 for
10 months for involvement in a corruption
scandal that cast a shadow over the 2010
Delhi Commonwealth Games -- he was later
released on bail.
Chautala is currently in jail over corruption in recruitment of teachers for government schools in Haryana. IANS
Changed my batting order for team: MS Dhoni
Pune, Jan 13: India's outgoing skipper for the limited
overs team Mahendra Singh
Dhoni on Friday said he
changed his batting order
according to the team's
requirement. Dhoni recently
stepped down from captaincy of One-Day International
and T20 International teams.
He also said he is ready to
change his batting order
again "if the team wants me
to do".
"The top-order batsmen
batted really well and I
felt there was no explosive
finisher at the lower order
and due to that I was batting lower down the order,"
Dhoni said while addressing
the media ahead of India's
first One-Day International
(ODI) against England, here
on January 15. "Over the
years, I changed my batting
order according to the team's
requirements. I am ready to
change my batting order
according to the responsibility given to me in the times
ahead," he added.
"As a cricketer, many
things have changed for me
since 2007. I debuted in 2004,
was given the captaincy in
2007. If I see my journey since
then, I had to change according to the team's needs. I
started in the lower order,
then moved up the ladder.
My batting order was never
fixed. I used to get batting
for 25-30 overs. However,
it changed in the last few
years," he added.
Dhoni also reckoned he
prefers one leader in all three
formats of the game. "I don't
believe in split captaincy.
For the team, there has to
be only one leader," the star
wicketkeeper-batsman from
Ranchi said.
The 35-year-old also
heaped praise on his successor Virat Kohli, saying Virat
always wanted to improve
when he got chances to play.
"Kohli and me have been
close right from the start. He
always wanted to improve
and contribute in the chances he got. I believe this team
will be the most successful
Indian team under Virat's
captaincy," Dhoni, who led
India to the inaugural World
DESIGNING
UNDER ONE
ROOF
Twenty20 title in 2007 and to
the ODI World Cup in 2011,
said.
Dhoni also spoke about his
cricket journey so far. "I don't
regret anything in life. There
is plenty of good things that
have happened. It has been
the journey for me, with ups
and downs." "When I started,
there were lot of senior players in the team and once they
left, we had to ensure the
smooth transition. Overall,
it was a journey that I really
enjoyed. Brings smile on the
face." IANS
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Brief scores:
Mumbai 228 and 411 all out
(Shreyas Iyer 82, Aditya
Tare 69; Chintan Gaja 6-121,
R.P. Singh 2-83). Gujarat
first innings 328 all out and
47-0 (Priyank Kirit Panchal
34 not out, Samit Gohel 8
not out) on Day 4. IANS
        CMYK        