Pakistan's loss to Aussies throws Team India out of Champions Trophy
Updated on Thursday, October 01, 2009, 21:04 IST Tags:Sharapova, Tennis, Tokyo Open
Tokyo: Former world number one Maria Sharapova advanced to the semi-finals of the Pan Pacific Open by outfoxing Czech Iveta Benesova 6-4, 7-5 on Thursday.
Earlier, seventh seed Jelena Jankovic eased past France's Marion Bartoli 6-4 6-3 to reach the last four of the $2 million (1.25 million pound) Tokyo tournament.
Sharapova, 25th in the world following shoulder surgery a year ago, recovered from a slow start to keep event organisers happy after a glut of early exits by top-seeded players.
"I feel like it's almost automatic again," the three-times grand slam winner told reporters. "Figuring things out and being patient. It didn't come easy to me at first.
"The goal is to be aggressive no matter what the situation is. It's about execution and not making errors when you have to step up and win big points."
The Russian, still looking for her first title since her return from injury, rattled off four straight games to take the opening set.
Sharapova's big-match experience told again at the business end of the second when she broke her opponent's serve at 6-5 with a ferocious backhand to close out the quarter-final.
The 2005 Tokyo champion will face the winner of Thursday's late match between 11th seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland and Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova in the semi-finals.
PCB refuses to pay for Shoaib knee surgery
Thursday, October 01, 2009, Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has refused to pay for a knee operation for fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar in a bid to revive his flagging international career.
Shoaib, 34, will have the operation in England next week but the PCB has said he is not entitled to treatment despite being a centrally contracted player.
"There is a clause in the central contract that clearly states that players can only be provided medical treatment by the board when they sustain injuries while playing for the country," a board official said on Thursday.
"Since Shoaib has not played for a while for Pakistan we can`t cover his medical treatment."
Shoaib has played a handful of tests and one-day matches in the last two and half years due to fitness and disciplinary issues.
Shoaib, who has taken 178 test and 223 one-day international wickets, was hoping to play some domestic cricket in a bid to convince the selectors he was ready for a return to the national team.
"Unless he plays and proves his fitness he cannot be considered for any future competition," chief selector Iqbal Qasim told Reuters.
India beat West Indies by 7 wickets
1 October 2009, JOHANNESBURG: India pulled off a consolation win over the West Indies in the Champions Trophy, beating a depleted Caribbean side by seven wickets in
the low-scoring final Group A match on Wednesday.
India were already knocked out of the elite ICC event after Australia defeated Pakistan by two wickets in a nerve-wrecking another Group A match earlier in the day.
To the irony of the Indians, Australia had to loss against Pakistan and India had to beat West Indies by a big margin if Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men have to make it to the semi-finals.
India rode on Virat Kohli's unbeaten 79 and Dinesh Karthik's 34 to overhaul the West Indies score in 32.1 overs after Praveen Kumar (3/31) and Ashish Nehra (3/22) ran havoc with the new ball and then Harbhajan Singh joining the party with two wickets to bundle out the Caribbean side for 129 in 36 overs.
Earlier, put into bat, West Indies had a tottering start to their innings and lost half of their side inside 17 overs with Darren Sammy (23), David Bernard (22) and Devon Smith (21) top scoring.
Chasing the modest target, India received the bad news from Centurion that Australia had beaten Pakistan just two over into their innings and the frustration soon became visible, with Gautam Gambhir inside edging a Kemar Roach delivery on to his stumps.
Rahul Dravid marked his arrival at the crease in style, flicking Roach for a boundary in the first ball he faced but the veteran right-hander fell to a terrible mix up with Karthik with India slumping to 16/2 after four overs.
With no pressure under their belt, it was an ideal platform for Karthik and young Kohli to impress upon the selectors and the duo grabbed the chance with both hands and played cautiously to share an 88-run third wicket stand.
Kohli was aggressor among the two as he hit Bernard for three boundaries in the 26th over to reach to his half century, while Karthik played the role of shit-anchor, dealing in ones and twos with occasional hits to the fence.
Kohli struck nine fours and three sixes while Karthik found the fence four times.
Karthik's sedate innings finally came to an end in the 28th over with Tonge breaking the partnership, held at mid-on by Travis Dowlin.
Earlier, Indian pacers exploited the spongy Wanderers track to the best effect as Praveen drew the first blood removing Andre Fletcher (0) in the last ball of the opening over of the innings.
Comeback man Nehra then dealt double blow, removing Kieran Powell (5) and Smith in the same over.
The lanky left-arm pacers' outswinging delivery got the outer edge of Powell's bat as West Indies were reduced to 26/2 in 7.2 overs and three balls later Smith perished while chasing an away going delivery.
Praveen struck again in the 11th over, removing skipper Floyd Reifer (1) when he had him caught behind by Karthik.
Five overs later, India skipper Dhoni also decided to roll over his arm and registered his first ODI wicket when he cleaned up Dowlin to reduce the West Indies to 57/5 in 16.4 overs.
Sammy (23 off 38) and Bernard did show some resistance, sharing 32 runs for the sixth wicket before leg-spinner Amit Mishra induced the later with a flighted delivery outside the off stump, only to hand Dravid his second catch of the day.
Sammy was the next to depart with Nehra striking in the first ball of his second spell. The West Indian batsman swats a short ball off his pads but to his irony he found out Mishra at the deep square leg to see the Caribbeans reel at 99 for seven after 29.1 overs.
Harbhajan also registered wickets against his name, picking up Royston Crandon and Roach at the fag end of the West Indies innings. The off-spinner first disturbed Crandon's timbers and then Roach gave a catch to Gambhir at silly point.
Praveen then cleaned up the West Indies batting line up when he caught last man Gavin Tonge off his own bowling to finish off the proceedings.
Dungarpur launched Tendulkar's career: Times
30 September 2009, LONDON: Raj Singh Dungarpur was an "uncompromising devotee" of Indian cricket responsible for launching batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, British
newspaper Times said in a tribute to the former BCCI president, who passed away a couple of weeks ago.
In an obituary, The Times described Dungarpur as "cricketer, selector, president of the Cricket Club of India and manager in 1986 of one of the most successful Indian sides to tour England."
"Dungarpur was an uncompromising devotee of Indian cricket, credited with launching the international career of Sachin Tendulkar and championing the captaincy skills of Mohammad Azharuddin.
Dungarpur was chairman of the Indian selectors when Tendulkar was chosen to play in his first Test in 1989.
"Few would have considered allowing anyone to play at the highest level at such a young age. At Dungarpur's request Tendulkar appeared first against Pakistan," it said.
"A purist and connoisseur whose idealism led him to look askance at moves to change the game - by introducing the quickfire Twenty20 version, for instance - he served as a selector, a coach and a player."
In 1986, Dungarpur was manager of one of the most successful Indian sides ever to tour England, winning a three-Test series 2-0. He was twice a member of India's national selection committee, in the second instance as chairman.
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