Going strong in sport and studies
By Arvind Katyal
Gourika Chhura plays badminton, Kirandeep does swimming and Kamalpreet goes for gymnastics but they have one thing in common, they are going great guns in both studies and sports, a combination which is rarely seen. Their parents or relatives had a sports background and they admit their performance in studies has gone up ever since they took up sports.

Sport Mail

Lack of judgement, vision
Why India fared poorly in World Cup
By Gopal Sharma

One-day cricket is all about resilience, creating chances and making things happen and, of course, lion-hearted performers, who by dint of sheer hard work and determination defy all odds to change the course of play.

Remember Australian pace spearhead Glenn McGrath reducing India to 17 for four inside his first four-over spell which included the key scalps of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Mohammed Azharuddin virtually sealing victory for his side, when India were chasing 283 runs for victory in the World Cup Super Six contest at Kinningston, Oval or Australian skipper and batting mainstay Steve Waugh notching up a valiant 120 off 110 balls against the fearsome pace battery of South Africa when his side, needing to overhaul a target of 272, was tottering at 48 for three which guaranteed his side a berth in the semifinal or Zimbabwean Henry Olonga claiming three wickets in the same over to send India crashing to the infamous defeat in the league match.

In an obvious reference to India’s campaign during the World Cup legendary opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar said: “Only those teams which had captains, bowlers and stewards coming up with tactical innovations were doing well. In this, India is finding itself being overwhelmed.

“In one-day cricket you have got to make things happen. That’s where Sachin Tendulkar makes a difference. He is the one who takes those risks.”

“It is the tactics in which they are lacking,” stated South African Barry Richards sensing flaw in the Indian tactics. Even the British media reported that various tacticians were working overtime on figures and permutations.

Fiercely motivated and talented teams with inspirational skippers at the helm created openings in their quest for the coveted title. Akram, in a bid to emulate Imran Khan and as an insurance against the match-fixing controversy raging back home, made wholehearted efforts to win the title. He almost succeeded in the task, falling at the last hurdle in the face of remarkable efforts by the Australians.

Promotion of Abdul Razzak, who hitherto had no pretentions of being a batsman but continued to bat at the crucial No 3 slot throughout the World Cup, surely cannot be an afterthought. Making Razzak bat at this spot, in fact, looked part of a well-conceived plan of not exposing the regular batsmen to the rival bowling attack in the initial stages of the game when there was moisture in the pitch and the ball was expected to deviate more. The top batsmen, as was the case, came in to bat later after the pitch eased considerably to hammer the ball around. The plan worked as Razzak not only neutralised the early nippy overs but added vital runs to the total.

All the hype and hoopla generated in favour of fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar that he would go whole hog to shatter the 100-mile barrier during the biggest cricket extravaganza looked calculated. Remember wily Javed Miandad urging Shoaib to bowl as fast as he could on the plea that no batsman, no matter how accomplished, ever liked to face the real hot stuff. Akram exhorted his trump card to go all out unmindful of wides and no balls. The strategy worked but up to a point only as Shoaib was found expensive and ineffective in the matches against India and South Africa.

Again success gained by Pakistan’s back-up bowlers Abdul Razzak and Azhar Mahmood, who invariably chipped in with vital breakthroughs, clearly underlined that the Pakistan pace attack under shrewd Akram had done its homework. Both maintained impeccable line and length and pitching the ball at the right spot, made it difficult for rival batsmen to score runs.

For South Africa it was not a matter of chance that someone like Lance Klusener clobbered the best of bowlers to the far corners of the ground with ease. Klusener had reportedly been practising power-packed hitting for hours together at the nets. He had been assigned a specific job which he did to perfection and emerged the Player of the Tournament.

Australia introduced ace leg-spinner Shane Warne against South Africa which made the batsmen look like novices and Aussies were right on top. England reserved one batting slot for hard -hitting Andrew Flintoff to accelerate the run rate towards the closing stages of the innings. That Flintoff could not prove to be a success is a different matter.

India looked perhaps the only team which had no gameplan and the team management looked bereft of worthwhile tactics and ideas intended to produce better results as the Indian campaign hobbled and wobbled, revved up momentorily before it came to an end in the match against New Zealand when wicketkeeper batsman Adam Parore laid bare the limitations in the Indian bowling, scoring a breezy 26 off 14 balls as the Kiwis stormed into the semifinal.

The biggest irony of the Indian World Cup campaign was that the team management comprising coach Anshuman Gaekwad, manager Brijesh Patel, consultant Bobby Simpson and skipper Mohammad Azharuddin remained unsure of the batting order of the world’s premier batsman Sachin Tendulkar for the better part of the tournament. And it was despite the fact that Tendulkar was evidently unhappy about all this ambivalence and wanted to bat at No 1 where he has scored most of his runs in one-day matches.

Despite the fact that India played a plethora of one-day matches in the past two years nothing was done to groom a wicketkeeper who could bat with some confidence in one-day matches. India suffered the most on this count. Nayan Mongia undoubtedly is excellent behind the stumps, but the same cannot be said about his batting. The limitations of Mongia as a batsman in this version of the game were exposed to the hilt during the World Cup. Even after playing 139 one-day matches — the maximum along with Pakistan’s Moin Khan among the contemporary wicketkeepers — he failed to come good whenever the need arose. He made 46 in the seven matches he played , whereas the likes of Moin(242), Adam Gilchrist(224), Rindley Jacobs(205) and Andy Flower (186) shared the responsibility as complete batsmen and also provided the necessary impetus to the innings whenever needed.

India had an excellent opportunity to take command in the Group ‘A’ opener against South Africa when at one stage they were sitting pretty at 197 for one. But at this stage the Indian batsmen miserably failed to press the accelerator and the last 10 overs produced just 63 runs on a lightning quick outfield when nine wickets were intact. South Africa have the tendency to choke under pressure and had India added 20 or 30 more runs to the total which was not at all difficult under the circumstances maybe Indian campaign would have opened in a rousing fashion. Imran Khan had later this to say about India’s show:”Saurav Ganguly looked good in the first match. Although he could have accelerated he started looking for his 100. If I was captain and any player started looking for personal landmark I would drop him. It sets bad example for the team”.

Little experimentation was done as the team went through the paces before it bowed out of contention before the semifinal. Orissa swing bowler Debasish Mohanty who did not get to bowl adequately during the Zimbabwe tour last year as well as during the New Zealand tour and about whom it was being repeatedly said that conditions were tailor-made for his type of bowling in England was drafted into the squad after Ajit Agrakar had proved prohibitively expensive with the ball and India’s campaign already in tatters. As it happened Mohanty made an immediate impression and, in fact, looked the best Indian bowler on view during the World Cup.

Robin Singh is the only genuine allrounder in the side who despite his age is the best fielder as also an agile runner in between the wickets along with Tendulkar. Besides, he is the only batsman in the middle order capable of putting any bowling attack to the sword . But he was dropped for the next match against England after he took a five-wicket haul in the previous match against Sri Lanka. Amay Khuresia, an impressive middle order batsman and an audacious stroke maker who made a decent debut recently was not given the nod to play even in an inconsequential match. Cases such as these only testify in the best possible manner the lack of judgement, vision and acumen on the part of those who pull the strings of Indian cricket.

Going strong in sport and studies
By Arvind Katyal

Gourika Chhura plays badminton, Kirandeep does swimming and Kamalpreet goes for gymnastics but they have one thing in common, they are going great guns in both studies and sports, a combination which is rarely seen. Their parents or relatives had a sports background and they admit their performance in studies has gone up ever since they took up sports.

Gaurika has secured 87 per cent marks in her matriculation examination, which she did from Government High School, Hoshiarpur. At 16, she sees no threat from the time consuming sports, and says in fact it balances her life.

She took to the game almost six years back and it was her father Mr H.S. Chhura, an executive engineer with the Punjab Government, who encouraged her as he himself was a sportsman. Gaurika last year won the Open Punjab Badminton Championship held at Hoshiarpur and in the Punjab School Games held at Sangrur (under 19) her district was the winner.

There is no stopping her as she secured 97 marks in English, 95 in both mathematics and science. She aims to be a computer engineer and has decided to go a little slow in the sports till she gets admission in a professional college. Having taken admission in the Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, in plus one class, she now stays with her grandparents here.

Kirandeep, a swimmer and a rower, has scored 80 per cent marks in her plus two examinations in the commerce stream from Carmel Convent School, Sector 9. She has now joined the local MCM DAV College for Women, Sector 36. She had secured 75 per cent in 10th and 84 per cent in plus one. Kirandeep took to swimming just four years back, and won the bronze medal in the individual medley in 200 metres at the Nasik National School Games.

She was the first girl from Chandigarh to have won a medal in the National School Games. Her other achievements include winning 100 metre freestyle and backstroke, 200 and 400 metre individual medley and winning the 50 metre, 200 metre and 400 metre freestyle event in the Punjab State Junior Swimming meet held at Ropar last year. As Chandigarh has no recognised association so she represented Punjab, where the competition is even more tough.

She participated in the junior nationals in 1998 and 1999 held at Ludhiana and Jodhpur, respectively. She has also participated in rowing meets.

Kirandeep was also the member of the Indian team for the Asian Junior Rowing meet in Hong Kong in 1998. She also bagged fifth position in the Junior National Cycling Championship.

Kirandeep admits that sports has helped her concentrate and enhance her performance in studies. Dr Kuldip Singh, her father, also agrees with her. She wants to go either for civil services or MBA.

Kamalpreet Nakai secured 79 per cent marks in her 10th class from Shishu Niketan Senior Secondary School, Sector 22. She will complete 15 years in September, but in gymnastics she has already justified the performance vis a vis the facilities available in Chandigarh.

She was placed third in individual category in hoop event at the National School Games held in Surat, Gujarat. Unfortunately, for this achievement gradations could not be done as the condition of having a minimum of four schools participation for the Inter-School meet could not be met. So she has been issued the grade on the basis of the participation in the nationals by the Chandigarh Sports Department.

Kamalpreet took to gymnastics as she was inspired by her maternal aunt, Balwinder Kaur, a former national level gymnast from Patiala. Kamalpreet has improved considerably, says Neelam Sharma, her coach. Kamalpreet aims to become a computer engineer, so she devotes time to studies and sports in a planned manner. She says gymnastics makes her feel comfortable and without it she feels restless. She says even if she gets admission in a professional college, she would continue with the sport, which infuses in her the confidence required in day today life.

Kamalpreet has participated in various nationals since 1993 and in Chandigarh meet, she had won the events in rope and hoop event. In 1996 she bagged the first position in ribbon event in the Chandigarh meet.

Sport Mail
Kudos to Sachin for becoming captain

Congratulations to Sachin Tendulkar on his selection as captain of the Indian cricket team. Whether Sachin is able to withstand the pressure of captaincy remains to be seen. Moreover Sachin’s reluctance to accept the captaincy should have made the selectors think of Ajay Jadeja who has handled the side well in the past.

Y.P. CHAUDHARY
Ambala Cantt

II

Mohammed Azharuddin has not been taken as captain of the Indian cricket team and his place has gone to Sachin Tendulkar. It would have been better if Ajay Jadeja had been appointed captain because besides being a good batsman, he has good rapport with his team-mates. Azharuddin is still saying that lot of cricket is left in him. It means he will not retire despite his dismal performance in the recent past. Anyway if his plea is accepted then Navjot Singh Sidhu, the dashing opening batsman, should also be taken back in the team without any second thoughts.

PRITPAL SINGH
Patiala

III

The cricket selectors have again reposed faith in Tendulkar. It was expected that Jadeja would be the new captain who had already shown his captaincy skills unlike Tendulkar who failed during his last tenure. Good players seldom make good captains. Sachin is a world class player but lacks captaincy skills.

NIDHI BHATIA
Amritsar

IV

The BCCI deserves congratulations for appointing Sachin Tendulkar as captain of the Indian cricket team by dislodging Azhar from his position. To ensure that Sachin comes out with flying colours, it is essential that Azhar who is out of form is not included in the team. His fitness is highly doubtful. His place should go to Amay Khuresia. Sachin should avoid opening the innings which he did under the captaincy of Azhar.

NATHA SINGH
Ludhiana

V

I totally agree that Sachin Tendulkar should be given a free hand while leading India. Sachin has an extremely sharp cricketing brain and can think better than anyone else. Although the selectors may be elder to him but still I feel they can’t think as much far and deep as Sachin. Sachin is an extremely God-gifted cricketer and the selectors should put all faith in him in whatever he wishes to do. The results would definitely be positive.

ISAAC DAVID
Jalandhar

VI

To lead the National side is a rare honour. The way Sachin Tendulkar showed his reluctance in accepting the captaincy indicates that all is not well in Indian cricket.

SUMAN SALHOTRA
Kapurthala