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| SPORT TRIBUNE | Saturday, January 29, 2000, Chandigarh, India |
Ranji Trophy round-up Punjab replace Delhi on top By Gopal Sharma Punjab emerged zonal leaders after a gap of six years, pushing last year’s leaders Delhi to the second spot, while Haryana clung on to the third position after the conclusion of the league phase of the North Zone Ranji Trophy Championship. Jammu and Kashmir showed some improvement in their performance, displacing Services at the fourth spot. They were followed by Himachal Pradesh while Services, handicapped by the absence of the the skipper and their best batsman Chinmaya Sharma were relegated to the bottom. ‘Winter
Games have enormous potential’ New
format to hit Maharashtra Teeing off |
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Ranji Trophy round-up Punjab emerged zonal leaders after a gap of six years, pushing last year’s leaders Delhi to the second spot, while Haryana clung on to the third position after the conclusion of the league phase of the North Zone Ranji Trophy Championship. Jammu and Kashmir showed some improvement in their performance, displacing Services at the fourth spot. They were followed by Himachal Pradesh while Services, handicapped by the absence of the the skipper and their best batsman Chinmaya Sharma were relegated to the bottom. Haryana, depleted by the absence of Ajay Jadeja, ace Indian middle-order batsman in one-dayers, allrounder Dhanraj Singh, wicketkeeper Vijay Yadav and Shafiq Khan did not face much trouble clinching a berth in the super league. Haryana were not far behind the leaders Punjab (34 points) and second placed Delhi (32), logging 27 points. Punjab owe their climb to the top largely to the likes of middle-order batsmen Pankaj Dharmani and Dinesh Mongia and spinners Sarandeep Singh and Navdeep Singh.Dharmani, who has been in tremendous touch this season, scored 678 runs with the help of a triple century, a double century and a century in five innings to emerge the highest scorer from the zone, while off-spinner Saradeep bowled with guile and purpose to be rewarded with a rich haul of 25 wickets, the second highest by any bowler in the league phase, Himachal Pradesh’s veteran medium pacer Shakti Singh being the most successful bowler with 27 scalps. In fact, Dharmani’s superb batting, Himachal Pradesh skipper Rajiv Nayyar’s creation of a world record of the longest stay at the wicket — he batted for 1015 minutes scoring 271 runs versus Jammu and Kashmir at Chamba — and Delhi’s Virender Sehwag’s scintillating 187-run knock versus Punjab were the highlights of the league phase of the national championship. Young players like Virender Sehwag, Ashu Dani and Ashish Nehra of Delhi and Reetinder Sodhi and Yuvraj Singh of Punjab acquitted themselves well and further boosted their standings as players of immense potential having ability to scale greater heights. Dharmani, who has been the batting mainstay of Punjab along with skipper Vikram Rathore and Dinesh Mongia, scored an unbeaten 305 runs against Jammu and Kashmir at Ludhiana to emerge as only the second player from the zone to score a triple century in the national championship. Former Delhi skipper and dashing batsman Raman Lamba was the first player to have this distinction. He notched up 312 against Himachal Pradesh in 1994-95. Continuing good form he scored unbeaten 202 runs against Services and 101 against Delhi. The Patiala batsman, in fact, emerged the only batsman from the zone to have three three-figure knocks in the league phase.He, in the process, amassed 678 runs in five matches, most by any batsman, at a whopping average of 226.00. Southpaw Dinesh Mongia scored two centuries — the 100 he scored against Himachal Pradesh at SAS Nagar being an outstanding effort — to finish fourth at an appreciable average of 78 runs per innings. Youngsters like Reetinder Sodhi and Yuvraj Singh, son of Yog Raj Singh, India’s former fast medium bowler, impressed with their allround skills. Reetinder proved the most economical bowler scalping 16 wickets at 13.06 besides scoring 256 runs at 40 plus average. Yuvraj, who got limited opportunities to play — he played two games only due to other engagements — showed that he had the makings of a good all rounder. Against Haryana at Gurgaon the southpaw made an impressive 149. Delhi middle order batsman Virender Sehwag, in reckoning for the national squad before the recent World Cup, was in sparkling form and did no harm to his reputation as a hard-hitting batsman. He put the Punjab bowling attack to the sword and notched up a scintillating 187 off just 175 balls. The sledgehammer knock was studded with 20 fours and nine sixes. Next, he revelled against Himachal Pradesh and scored 165 at Mandi. He also scored a half century to emerge as only the second batsman after Dharmani to finish the league phase with 100-plus average. Ashish Nehra, left-arm medium fast bowler, bowled well and claimed 23 wickets to be the third most successful bowler, while opener Ashu Dani scored back-to-back centuries against Punjab and Himachal. The league phase, in fact, once again highlighted the widespread disparities that exist among the competing teams. The teams simply looked to be going through the motions as Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, as was expected, booked their berths in the super league. Teams like Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Services, predictably, failed to pose any threat and gave the impression of being in the competition just for the sake of numbers. No batsman or bowler from Jammu and Kashmir could break into the top 10 in either category. Surinder Singh and Vijay Sharma, their most successful bowlers, could scalp 11 and 10 wickets conceding 40.54 and 31.20 runs, respectively, per wicket. Old warhorse M V Rao, the best Services bowler on view, occupies the No 13 slot in the list of successful bowlers, managing 12 wickets at a poor 49.25 a piece. Sachin Kulkarni, their next best bowler, occupies the 17th spot. For Himachal Rajeev Nayyar, the only player to have been selected to play in Duleep Trophy from the state, scored 593 runs with the help of two centuries and one half century to be No two behind Dharmani. Nischal Gaur — the next most successful batsman from the state — could score 270 runs from nine innings at a mediocre average of 30 to be at 18th place. Sangram Singh and Yashwinder, the next successful batsmen, averaged 25.44 and 28.85 from nine and seven innings, respectively. Among the bowlers apart from Shakti Singh, Rahul Panta (13 wickets) was the only bowler to take wickets in excess of 10. With the super league
matches about to commence from February 5, one only hopes
that these would generate at least some interest among
the competing teams. |
‘Winter Games have enormous
potential’ Mangat Dhani of Shimla, the veteran skater who promoted roller skating, ice skating and skiing, celebrated his 73rd birthday on December 15 last during the 37th National Skating Championships at Chandigarh. The founder member of the Roller Skating Federation of India (RSFI) recalled how at the age of 28 years he began skating and in 1957, he won the national championships. Mangat, who is a native of Shimla, also contributed to the growth of ice skating at the Shimla Ice Skating Club, which was the venue for ice skating at the recently concluded second National Winter Games. Mangat also introduced skiing to various parts of the state. The skiing champion is also the president of the Himachal Skiing Association. Mangat said earlier skaters used iron skates which made it difficult to give more enhanced performances. He gradually changed over to being a judge and was appointed a world class (B) judge in the artistic discipline in roller skating. Mangat later decided to go all out to promote and organise these three different sports events in a big way in Himachal Pradesh. Mangat remained the President of the RSFI for six years from 1980 to 1986. He has also contributed in many other ways. He was the manager of the Indian team in the 1974 World Skating Championship held at La Crunia, Spain. In 1985, he went with the Indian contingent for the first Asian roller skating meet at Okaya, Japan and as an artistic coach in 1987 at Kwangjde, South Korea. He was the chief de mission of the Indian team at the Macau world ‘B’ group roller hockey in 1990, manager of the Indian team for the seventh Asian Skating Championship at Kangnung, Korea in 1997 and the deputy chief de mission for the eighth Asian skating meet held at Shanghai, China in October last year. Mangat felt that in northern India, roller hockey was more popular while speed and artistic event were more popular with skaters from Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. He said the President of the RSFI, Mr Pradeep Ganeriwal, was working to popularise skating notwithstanding the financial problems being faced by the federation. He complimented the artistic skater Nikhil Parikh of Maharashtra, who he said was shaping up like Naman Parikh of Gujarat, the lone Arjuna Awardee, the game has produced. In the present national skating meet, former skaters, who had excelled in various events, came as technical officials. Chandni Patwa, who stole the show at the 1995 Asian skating meet in Japan bagging a bronze in the artistic event, was a technical official and has decided to train youngsters. Others skaters of repute included Sapna Desai, Smita and Seema Khriyal. Mangat Dhani who revolutionised ice skating at the famous Shimla Ice Skating Club said he had helped to organise the first National Ice Skating Championship at Shimla and also worked on the open ice skating rink at Thimpu, Bhutan, in 1974 on the request of the Royal Government of Bhutan. He was also made a technical member of the high powered committee of Himachal Pradesh Government for an all-weather skating rink at Himachal Bhavan at Delhi. The ice skating rinks at Auli (UP) for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force and at Mussoorie were also made under his guidance. Mangat Dhani said the winter games has enormous potential and the recently held winter games would help to popularise these sports in the state. This year the School Games Federation of India has plans to introduce roller skating at the school level. The formal approval for skating by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) is also likely this year as the sport has been on three years provisional approval by the IOA. The credit for
popularising skating and skiing in India goes to Mangat
Dhani, who has worked relentlessly for their promotion. |
New format to hit
Maharashtra AN age-old system was abolished without any notice at the annual general body meeting of the Table Tennis Federation of India at Lucknow this month. In a resolution supported by the majority, it was decided that the federation would henceforth allow only one team from each state for the nationals and Inter-State Championships. This decision, a far reaching one, would immediately affect Maharashtra which has been fielding two teams in the competition for nearly 30 years. The AGM decision has not exactly barred Maharashtra from fielding two teams in future but it will, however, have to satisfy that it has over 5,000 registered players on its rolls. Maharashtra will find it difficult to qualify on this account unless of course it resorts to large-scale enrolment of players irrespective of their merit. One of the main reasons why Maharashtra was granted special permission to enter two teams in the nationals was the state’s contention that it had over 2,500 registered players on its rolls. This was in the early 1960s and the atmosphere then was more congenial. The plea advanced by Maharashtra then was that the state had a lot of talent and entering just one team meant that a number of promising players would be sitting on the bench even if selected and they would be denied opportunity to prove themselves. Maharashtra had a point then. Table tennis was very popular there and the state had any number of talented players who would have easily made the grade in any other team. The Table Tennis Federation appreciated Maharashtra’s problems and sought to help out by allowing it to enter two teams. This gesture went a long way in promoting the sport in the state . Not only that. A number of players who would otherwise have been sitting on the reserve bench had the opportunity of proving themselves . But things have changed with the entry of the corporate sector. The players have found new avenues of gainful employment and this has changed the entire balance of the table tennis world. With most of the rated players rushing to the corporate sector, the strength of the state teams has denuded, Maharashtra being no exception. But because of its extremely efficient infrastructure Maharashtra continued to field more than two teams of variable talent and kept the state flag flying despite stiff competition from teams sponsored by the corporate sector. The last few years, however, has been somewhat difficult for Maharashtra to maintain its record. Its teams no longer make a major impact. Clearly teams like Petroleum Sports Control Board, which currently has all the players that matter, and other such institutional sides, have more or less dominated the scene. Bengal perhaps because of its vast reservoir of talent among the juniors still manages to create a flutter but once the players reach the national status, they are quietly and quickly absorbed by teams from the corporate sector. And why not? It has changed the heirarchy among the top teams and that has perhaps forced the federation to make the alterations in the rules. According to reports officials and players from Petroleum Sports Control Board are among those who want a more rational policy in regard to the participation of more than one team in the nationals. PSCB has a point. It has a large number of Indian players or potential national players on its rolls but cannot field more than one team. The result is that except for the top ranked four or five players, the others do not get a look-in during the nationals. In sharp contrast there is Maharashtra which, on the strength of an age-old ruling, fields two teams and has nothing much to prove for the exercise. Maharashtra certainly
has fallen on bad days. There was a time when the state
boasted of Jayant Vora, Sudhir Thackesey, Gautam Diwan,
Farrokh Khodaiji, Niraj Bajaj, Kamlesh Mehta, S. Sriram
and Sujay Ghorphade among men, Meena Parande, Kaity
Chargeman, Shlailaja Salokhe, Varsha Chulani and Niyati
Shah among women, all top stars and all India colour
holders. But those days are gone now. Maharashtra is just
another state these days though Kamlesh Mehta, the
national coach and eight-time men’s singles winner,
feels different. He feels that the decision to bracket
Maharashtra in the same category as the rest is an
injustice to a state which has done so much for the
development of the game. |
Teeing off The second SAARC Golf Championship at Dhaka was a grand success, judging from the enthusiasm displayed by the participating nations. The meet was well conducted with teams, including Indians, wearing superb outfits. It was a sheer joy to watch Indians looking impressive on and off the course. As expected, it was a touch and go between India and Sri Lanka and the Indians just about scrapped through to retain the title. The verdict hung in the balance until the 17th hole but Ashok Kumar maintained his cool and emerged winner. If Ashok Kumar was India’s best player, Sri Lanka had two outstanding performers, Anura Rohana and Tissa Chandradasa. Ashok Kumar’s strength lay in long drives, but he was equally consistent in chipping. He is an amateur to watch in the next two to three years. Apart from Sri Lanka, the players from Pakistan and Bangladesh also played superbly, displaying their talent and skill. The competition seems to have come to stay. The next meet will be held either at Kathmandu or Colombo. The first edition was held at Bangalore. Encouraging signs K.M. Mammen staged a comeback to serious golf in the Wills Tolly Cup at Calcutta. His performance in the competition provided him so much satisfaction that he made an announcement that he was seriously contemplating of constructing a course at Chennai to continue with his golf as also provide an opportunity to youngsters to take to the game with all seriousness. Mammen was not the only player to have been more than satisfied with the competition. There were many others who returned home happy. The meet was organised in such a way that there was something for every participant. Ashok Malhotra’s team comprising among others Sita Rawlley, an Arjuna awardee, won the scramble invitation with the nett score of 12 under. They prevailed over favourites, Y.C. Deveshwar’s team by one stroke. Deveshwar’s team included Madan Lal, a former Test star. NOIDA meet The Ongc Noida Championship promised much but did not achieve enough as most of the professional players played much below their form and reputation. The weather was ideally suited for sub-par scores but surprisingly players did not rise to the occasion. The leading score was 291, just one under par. This was by Jyoti Randhawa and Mukesh Kumar. This led to play-off between them. Randhawa won the title on the second play-off hole. Surprisingly, no golfer attained a par score. The next best score came from young Ashok Kumar, who fired 293, one over par. It was a tremendous achievement for an amateur, who holds a lot of promise. Vijay Kumar could not strike his dazzling form as he finished with 294 along with Ali Sher, twice Indian Open champion. Many other pros did not play to their potential. There were odd
complaints against pin positions on one or two days. But
it was not cause enough for professionals to have played
much below their form and reputation. Pros are expected
to take all conditions into their stride. The organisers
did their utmost to provide the best possible facilities
to the pros. The Professional Golfers Association of
India (PGAI) and Tiger Sports did their best to make a
success of the competition. |
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Selectors to blame for poor show THE selectors are to be blamed for the poor performance of the Indian cricket team against Australia. For the important and difficult tour of Australia, they picked many new faces to play on pitches where even our seasoned players cannot play with confidence. The Indian team depends on Sachin, Ganguly and Dravid. A.S. CHEEMA II The Indian cricketers touring Australia have plunged to a new low. Going by the performance of the present team, they are likely to lose more matches which will be a record by itself. All the newcomers such as S. Dighe, Martin, VVS Laxman and D. Gandhi have proved to be total flops. The forced and uncalled-for expulsion of seasoned players like Azharuddin, Jadeja and Mongia has proved to be too costly. For all these defeats, the present selectors are to be blamed. They have made a mess of the national team. MOHINDER SINGH III India lost their fourth match to Pakistan in the one-day triangular cricket series at Hobart which disappointed cricket lovers. Once again it has proved that the Indian team heavily depends on Sachin Tendulkar. However, Indian opener Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly gave India a good start and raised 99 runs for the first wicket. Sachin Tendulkar scored an unbeaten 93 runs and tried to turn the match in India’s way, but all in vain. After the fall of Sachin’s wicket, the rest of the players could not play like him and could score only 230 runs against the target of 262 set by Pakistan. Hats off to young Pakistan allrounder Abdur Razzaq, who not only batted well and helped Pakistan to pile up a huge total against India, but also took five wickets, which really hit the India. SUNIL DOGRA IV Persons holding important positions in the BCCI have no coordination and as a result our team has fared miserably. Due to a misunderstandings between the Indian coach and Mr Jaywant Lele, Ajay Jadeja is out of the game. Shoulder injury is cited as the reason for his exclusion but if it is so, why was he given a chance to play in domestic cricket? Another major cause of India’s defeat is poor fielding. ROHIT SONI Windies team Cricket is really a game of glorious uncertainties. Otherwise who could have ever thought that West Indies, who had established their superiority over other countries in both Test and one-day matches, would be white washed by New Zealand. West Indies for the first time in 100 years have experienced dearth of talent. New players have not come up to expectations. Actually, the young generation is tilting towards other games popular on the American continent. The continuous defeats will further diminish interest in the game. The WI board is also to blame as it never thought of preparing a B team. V.N. SHARMA |
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