A collective effort: Azhar

Chennai, March 10: While both coach Anshuman Gaekwad and captain Md Azharuddin were understandably happy at the result of the first Test, th...

Chennai, March 10: While both coach Anshuman Gaekwad and captain Md Azharuddin were understandably happy at the result of the first Test, they sounded cautiously optimistic about the remaining two matches in the series at Calcutta and Bangalore.

Azhar described the win as “a collective effort,” while talking to reporters shortly after India’s victory. While praising Tendulkar who he said “played really well” he also said the bowlers did not bowl well the first innings while Australia unexpectedly took the first innings lead. He however said they deserved a pat on their back for their effort in the second innings. Both Azhar and Gaekwad said they would not like to sit back on the laurels. “We played positive cricket here and our game plan worked.”

The Australian captain Mark Taylor tried his best to hide his disappointment at the result. Asked whether umpiring decisions went against his team, Taylor said “you people are watching the game and you should give your opinion on the umpiring decisions.”However, he maintained that a few decisions would not change the course of the match.

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Taylor praised Tendulkar’s knock in the second innings which turned the match in India’s favour. When Tendulkar gets going, he really is unstoppable,” he said.

The Australians next take on India A at Jamshedpur in a three day match from March 13, before the second Test at Calcutta which commences from March 18.SQUAD RETAINED: Never change a winning team is a well known adage. The Indian selectors are obviously firm believers in it, and not unexpectedly, they announced an unchanged squad for the second Test against Australia to be played at Calcutta from March 18.

Really, they could not have made any changes for almost everyone had played a part in the Indian victory in the first Test. The selectors, however, have this habit of axing reserve players without giving them a fair chance. But this time, even the reserves were retained.

The team: Mohd Azharuddin (c), Navjot Sidhu, Nayan Mongia (wk), Rahul Dravid,Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rajesh Chauhan, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Venkatapathy Raju, Harvinder Singh, VVS Laxman, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Debashish Mohanty.

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PRASAD TO LEAD: A 14-member Bangladesh cricket team would play in the Wills trophy tournament scheduled from March 20-24 in four different venues in the country. Announcing this to the press, JY Lele, secretary, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said Karnataka’s Venkatesh Prasad, would be the captain for the Wills XI. Delhi’s Vikram Rathore would lead the Board President’s XI.

The teams: Wills XI: Venkatesh Prasad (C), Nikhil Haldipur, Daniel Manohar, Devang Gandhi, Vanka Pratap, MSK Prasad (wk), Noel David, M Madhukar, KN Ananthapadmanabhan, Rajiv Kumar, A Lehari Rajesh Nayak.

Board President’s XI: Vikram Rathore (C), Gagan Khoda, Ratinder Singh, Pankaj Dharmani, Jacob Martin, Sanjay Bangar, Saba Karim, Sanjay Raul, Murali Karthik, Sandeep Sharma, Zakir Hussain, Mohd Kaif, Shafiq Khan and JyotiYadav.

Mehul Choksi faces setback as Belgian court finds arguments against extradition irrelevant

India2 hr ago

The Belgian government cannot extradite him without being held internationally liable; there is a violation of his right to a fair trial; and there are indications that he is subject to a political trial—these were some of the key points that Mehul Choksi, the fugitive diamond trader wanted in India for the alleged Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case, made before a court.

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