Short Corner — Chandigarh

Indians turn on heat
The wicket at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, is like those sales gimmick scratch cards where one takes off the top layer, only to find hidden gifts inside. The Indians collected a handful of goodies, with the decoating just having started, and there is little doubt that a bumper is expected at the end of it. Only, the irony is opponents New Zealand are doing the scratching for them.

Srinath in final
Prahlad Srinath’s fluent display to enter the final today made amends for a premature, injury-influenced exit at the Mumbai leg of the ITF Satellite tennis tournament. Ten-days after crashing out to the 26-year-old top seed from Mysore did not let his fans down today, as he made short work of Swede Per Thornadtsson 6-3, 6-2 to enter the final of the second leg in progress at Deccan Gymkhana.