Indian women enter Asian CT final

NEW DELHI: Indian women continued their impressive show at the Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) hockey tournament as they spanked Malaysia 5-1 to secure their place in the summit clash of the event at Kakamigahara, Japan on Monday.

After being locked 1-1 at half time, India scored four field goals after the changeover to register their second consecutive win in the four-team women's competition.

India, who stunned higher-ranked China 4-2 in their tournament opener, will take on hosts Japan on Thursday in their last round-robin match, which will also be a dress rehearsal ahead of Saturday's final.

With two wins from as many games, Japan also sealed their place in the final of the women's event. Japan on Monday defeated China 5-1 in another match.

Against Malaysia on Monday, the Indian girls were slow to get off the blocks.

It was Malaysia who took lead in the 15th minute through a penalty corner conversion by skipper Nadia Abdul Rahman.

But India hit back nine minutes later when Poonam Rani (24th) converted a penalty corner to level the scores.

In the second half, it was India all the way as Neil Hawgood's girls displayed incredible attacking hockey to run away with the match.

Namita Toppo (44th minute), Ritu Rani (52nd), Amandeep Kaur (54th) and Deep Grace Ekka (65th) scored for India to take the game out of Malaysia's reach.

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'Vettel's dominance is mind-blowing'

LONDON: Sebastian Vettel's run of seven Grand Prix wins in a row may be even more impressive than Michael Schumacher's similar streak in 2004, according to his Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.

Vettel, already the sport's youngest quadruple world champion at 26 years old, was utterly dominant in Abu Dhabi on Sunday as he chalked up his seventh successive victory with almost embarrassing ease.

No driver in the modern era has won more than seven in a row, and Schumacher and Vettel are the only ones ever to have done so in a single season.

Italian Alberto Ascari racked up nine consecutive victories but that was over the course of the 1952 and 1953 seasons - when the calendar admittedly had a fraction of the number of races seen today.

"The times are very different," Horner said when asked to compare Vettel's achievement with Schumacher's success at Ferrari.

"We're all on a standard tyre now, there's no testing, we're limited on the amount of engines we can have, the amount of wind tunnel time and so on.

"So it's a much more even playing field (now). It's always difficult to compare generations with generations but the level at which he's performing, I don't have words to describe how phenomenal it is. It's just truly impressive," added Horner.

Vettel finished more than 30 seconds ahead of second placed team mate Mark Webber in Abu Dhabi, the best benchmark of performance given that the Australian was in an identical car and had started on pole position.

He had been 40 seconds clear of the rest at his second pitstop.

Under the Singapore floodlights in September, the German's most dominant win of 2013 before Sunday, he had taken the chequered flag 32.6 seconds ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

In India, he won 29.8 seconds clear of second placed Nico Rosberg's Mercedes.

"It was absolutely mind-blowing in many respects. After the start, Seb just got his head down and disappeared," said Horner of Sunday's latest display of supremacy.

TRULY DOMINANT

In 2011, Vettel won 11 races - a number he has matched already this year with two rounds remaining - and is now on course to equal Schumacher's 2004 record of 13 victories in a season.

"It's just truly dominant, he has just hit a patch of form that is incredible. We know Mark Webber is a very fine racing driver and in a race that didn't have any safety cars or any issues, to achieve what he's done is quite mind blowing," said Horner.

"I think Sebastian's just stepped up another gear."

While others have struggled to get the most out of the tricky Pirelli tyres, or indeed make them last, Vettel seems to have unlocked their secrets more than anyone else - even if he denied there was any great mystery.

The tyres, he said, remained difficult to drive because of their extreme sensitivity but it helped to lead from the front and have clean air.

"Somehow we got the hang of it," he said. "More and more so towards the end of the year. And looking after them (the tyres), really listening to them and being able to extract maybe a little more performance than the other guys."

The comparisons with compatriot Schumacher have followed him throughout his career but the numbers tell only part of the story.

"The thing is that people see seven races. People don't see the challenge it takes every single race to nail it," said Vettel.

Webber, who has been on pole in two of the last three races but has yet to win a race this season, knows what it takes and recognised his team mate was simply 'on another category'.

"I think he's in a sweet spot, for sure," he said.

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'Celebrations will not affect Tendulkar'

KOLKATA: As a Sachin Tendulkar mania sweeps Kolkata, West Indies operations manager and former skipper Richie Richardson says the little master deserves all the adulation, but that will not affect his focus once he enters the field.

Describing Tendulkar, who plays the 199th and penultimate Test match of his career at Eden Gardens beginning November 6, Richardson said: "He has been a great ambassador of the game. He deserves every bit of adulation and celebrations surrounding him. But once he enters the field, the celebrations will not affect his focus."

Tendulkar will be retiring after the second and the last Test - his 200th - at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, November 14-18.

Richardson said Tendulkar was a great both as a sportsperson and a human being.

"It is difficult to express in words Tendulkar's contribution to cricket and humanity. What I like most about him is he is humble despite his achievements, and always smiling," said Richardson after Windies' practice session at the Eden Gardens.

"He is a great human being. You do often find somebody who is great at sports, but may be he is not equally great as a person. But Sachin is blessed to be both. People admire him forever," he said.

Richardson said the Caribbeans were happy to be a party in the final two matches of Tendulkar's Test career. "But at the same time we are here to play, to compete and to win."

He praised the Indian team, and said the visitors needed to work hard to make a mark in the two Test series.

"India are playing very well at the moment. They have some very good players, and they will come hard at us. We will have to work hard, but we will be pretty competitive," he said.

Richardson listed dashing opener Chris Gayle, middle-order batsmen Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, pacer Kemar Roach and offie Shane Shillingford as the players to look out for in his side.

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Tendulkar 'upset' with farewell frenzy

KOLKATA: Sachin Tendulkar is reportedly "unhappy" with Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) officials' attempts to go overboard with their celebrations for his 199th Test match in his farewell series against the West Indies starting from Wednesday.

There were contradictory statements from two joint secretaries of CAB with Sujan Mukherjee admitting that the maestro indeed was not amused with all the arrangements while the other joint secretary Subir Ganguly said that everything was under control.

As Tendulkar was the first to step down from the team bus this morning, confetti were burst near the gate, while 80 schoolchildren wearing T-shirts with the Mumbai batsman's photo and 199 written on the back, lined up till the dressing room to greet the seniormost cricketer.

If that was not enough, the CAB tried to do a Madame Tussauds erecting a life-like wax figure of Tendulkar next to the dressing room entrance but the finesse was missing in the statue with the face not exactly resembling the icon.

According to sources, Tendulkar reportedly said he's not bigger than the sport and it's not him only there are 14 other players who are part of the Indian squad.

"I too heard that Tendulkar was upset with the confetti burst and other things. He also cancelled his visit to a photo exhibition at the Bhowanipore Tent," senior joint secretary Mukherjee said.

It is learnt that the CAB officials later did some damage control as Tendulkar came and gave a photo-op near the wax statue and praised the wax craftsman Susanta Ray of Asansol.

"Sachin and everyone else in the team was happy with the grand arrangements," the other joint secretary Ganguly, said.

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Curator keeps Rohit away from the pitch

KOLKATA: Whenever there is an international match at the Eden Gardens, its septuagenarian curator Prabir Mukherjee finds himself in the news for all the wrong reasons and this time it was for denying India's star batsman Rohit Sharma a chance to have a look at the strip.

As is the practice among international teams, players normally want to have a look at the strip prior to a match but Mukherjee, who has been fussy about not allowing all and sundry to hover around the 22-yard strip, ticked off India's hero of the ODI series against Australia.

Fresh from his marvellous double ton in the final ODI, Rohit got a hero's welcome as he entered the stadium but little did he expect that Mukherjee would deny him.

As Rohit came near the pitch that was fenced with a board with the instructions 'Only Captain and Coach are allowed inside', Mukherjee barred the Indian batsman from going near the strip. The Mumbai batsman didn't get into any sort of argument but certainly wasn't happy with what had happened.

However, Mukherjee acceded to coach Duncan Fletcher's request of using the adjacent strips near the pitch for pace bowlers as Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were seen bowling.

Later in the afternoon, CAB's mismanagement led to the cancellation of a scheduled media conference by explosive opener Chris Gayle due to "unavailability of space".

The West Indies presser was scheduled at 1.45 pm but it was put off as the allotted room was hosting a meeting of the Kolkata Police Commissioner along with fire brigade and CAB officials.

"We're helpless, we wanted to have it on time but the room upstairs was not available," the West Indies media manager said.

The CAB wanted to alter the schedule to evening but the Caribbean star was not available then.

"The meeting with police was planned in advance so it was difficult to put it off and we asked the West Indies team to conduct their media conference at 4.30 but Gayle was not available then," CAB joint secretary Subir Ganguly said.

Incidentally, the meeting that took place at the media conference room, was more to do with security arrangements for the upcoming Chhat Puja and the Kali Puja immersion.

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Italy cruise to fourth Fed Cup title

CAGLIARI: Italy cruised to a fourth Fed Cup title on Sunday when Sara Errani gave the hosts an unassailable 3-0 lead with a comprehensive 6-1, 6-1 victory over Russian Alisa Kleybanova.

Roberta Vinci and world number seven Errani had given Italy, the champions in 2006, 2009 and 2010, a 2-0 lead on Saturday with victories over Alexandra Panova and Irina Khromachava respectively.

Kleybanova represented the depleted Russian team's last chance to rescue their bid ahead of the final singles and concluding doubles rubbers later Sunday.

However despite showing glimpses of promise, notably a powerful serve which at times Errani struggled to return, the 24-year-old Russian was outclassed by the more experienced Italian.

Errani, 26, had the Cagliari Tennis Club in jubilant mood after racing to a 6-1 victory in the first set and although Kleybanova rallied in the second to take the third game on serve, Errani was never under threat.

The Italian broke Kleybanova to take a 4-1 lead when the Russian sent a wild return into the tramlines.

And after reinforcing her advantage in the next game the Italian finished in style, breaking Kleybanova's serve when the Russian fumbled a return at the net in the seventh and final game to secure the win.

Vinci is due to meet Khromacheva before the final concludes with a doubles rubber between Flavia Pennetta and Karin Knapp and Kleybanova and Margarita Gasparyan.

Four-time champions Russia went into the final missing the injured Maria Sharapova while fellow top-30 players Maria Kirilenko, Elena Vesnina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova opted instead to chase points and prize money at the WTA Tournament of Champions in Sofia.

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B'desh complete 3-0 clean sweep over NZ

FATULLAH: Shamsur Rahman led Bangladesh to a stunning victory over New Zealand on Sunday, completing a 3-0 sweep of the one-day international series.

Scorecard

Shamsur's 96 rocketed the home side to 309-6, steaming past New Zealand's 307 with four balls and four wickets to spare at the packed Khan Shaheb Osman Ali stadium at Fatullah just outside Dhaka.

The 25-year-old opener hit seven fours and four sixes in his 107-ball knock as Bangladesh successfully chased down a 300-plus total for only the second time in their playing history.

Shamsur, playing only his second one-day international, fell short of what would have been a well- deserved century when his attempted drive off a Corey Anderson delivery became an edge and flew to wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi.

Naeem Islam continued to lead the charge after Shamsur's departure before he was run out for 63 after facing 74 balls.

Nasir Hossain (44 not out) stayed till the end to ensure Bangladesh never lost their way in the chase on the batting-friendly pitch.

Earlier, Ross Taylor hit his eighth one-day century as New Zealand posted their highest total in the series.

The visitors were desperate to avoid another humiliating whitewash, after their previous one-day series against Bangladesh.

Taylor, who was part of the New Zealand squad that lost 4-0 to Bangladesh in 2010, remained unbeaten on 107 while Colin Munro made 85 to give the tourists a fighting chance of victory.

The pair put on 130 for the fourth wicket after Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim won the toss and elected to bowl at the Fatullah ground, which was hosting its first international match for seven years.

Former captain Taylor made the most of his chances after Rubel Hossain dropped him off his own bowling on 12, hitting nine fours and three sixes in his 93-ball innings.

Anton Devcich (46) and Tom Latham (43) gave New Zealand a decent start with a 66-run opening stand. But Bangladesh struck back soon afterwards through their spinners to reduce the visitors to 101-3.

Munro, playing his first match in the series, led the initial charge to complete his fifty before he fell to off-spinner Mahmudullah.

The left-hander smashed seven fours and two sixes in his 95-ball innings.

Taylor was initially sedate but accelerated after reaching his fifty off 69 deliveries.

His three sixes came in consecutive deliveries off a Sohag Gazi over as New Zealand added 73 in the last five overs to cross the 300-run mark.

The two teams will now play a Twenty20 International on November 6 in Dhaka before New Zealand fly to Sri Lanka for an ODI and Twenty20 series.

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''Prince' Kohli can fill in Sachin's shoes'

NEW DELHI: Former Australian captain Ian Chappell today joined the bandwagon of experts who feel that Virat Kohli can fill in the big shoes of retiring Sachin Tendulkar, describing the youngster as the "prince" of Indian cricket.

Chappell says that the Australians should not feel relieved at the impending retirement of Tendulkar as they could be meted out the same treatment in future from Kohli, who hit two stupendous centuries against the Aussies in the just-concluded ODI series.

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, a few days back, had said that Kohli can break Tendulkar's record number of ODI centuries.

"With Tendulkar on the verge of retirement, Australian bowlers, past and present, must be sighing with relief that the torment is nearly over. Those expressions of relief are a bit premature. Virat Kohli's two recent centuries, plundered in winning Indian causes, were eerily similar and a stark reminder of Tendulkar's feat against Australia in Sharjah in 1997-98," Chappell wrote in 'ESPNcricinfo'.

"He (Kohli) is now set to take over not only Tendulkar's coveted No. 4 spot but also his mantle as the Indian player opponents most want out. Long remember the king for he's (nearly) gone; hail the prince, because he's still around to torment bowlers," he said.

Comparing Tendulkar's two Sharjah centuries with those of Kohli's two recent tons, Chappell said, "Tendulkar's first hundred in Sharjah was scored in a game India had to perform exceptionally well to advance to the final, while the second came in the final to pull off an extraordinary win - they were the two best ODI innings I saw Tendulkar play.

"He tore into an Australian attack that included Shane Warne, and in both innings Tendulkar scored at better than a run a ball in an era when that wasn't an everyday occurrence.

"Kohli went one better than Tendulkar. Both his imperious centuries ended in unlikely Indian victories. That's not to say Kohli is a better player than Tendulkar, but he has acquired the knack of being at crease when the winning runs are hit in extraordinarily difficult chases."

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B'desh complete 3-0 clean sweep over NZ

FATULLAH: Shamsur Rahman led Bangladesh to a stunning victory over New Zealand on Sunday, completing a 3-0 sweep of the one-day international series.

Scorecard

Shamsur's 96 rocketed the home side to 309-6, steaming past New Zealand's 307 with four balls and four wickets to spare at the packed Khan Shaheb Osman Ali stadium at Fatullah just outside Dhaka.

The 25-year-old opener hit seven fours and four sixes in his 107-ball knock as Bangladesh successfully chased down a 300-plus total for only the second time in their playing history.

Shamsur, playing only his second one-day international, fell short of what would have been a well- deserved century when his attempted drive off a Corey Anderson delivery became an edge and flew to wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi.

Naeem Islam continued to lead the charge after Shamsur's departure before he was run out for 63 after facing 74 balls.

Nasir Hossain (44 not out) stayed till the end to ensure Bangladesh never lost their way in the chase on the batting-friendly pitch.

Earlier, Ross Taylor hit his eighth one-day century as New Zealand posted their highest total in the series.

The visitors were desperate to avoid another humiliating whitewash, after their previous one-day series against Bangladesh.

Taylor, who was part of the New Zealand squad that lost 4-0 to Bangladesh in 2010, remained unbeaten on 107 while Colin Munro made 85 to give the tourists a fighting chance of victory.

The pair put on 130 for the fourth wicket after Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim won the toss and elected to bowl at the Fatullah ground, which was hosting its first international match for seven years.

Former captain Taylor made the most of his chances after Rubel Hossain dropped him off his own bowling on 12, hitting nine fours and three sixes in his 93-ball innings.

Anton Devcich (46) and Tom Latham (43) gave New Zealand a decent start with a 66-run opening stand. But Bangladesh struck back soon afterwards through their spinners to reduce the visitors to 101-3.

Munro, playing his first match in the series, led the initial charge to complete his fifty before he fell to off-spinner Mahmudullah.

The left-hander smashed seven fours and two sixes in his 95-ball innings.

Taylor was initially sedate but accelerated after reaching his fifty off 69 deliveries.

His three sixes came in consecutive deliveries off a Sohag Gazi over as New Zealand added 73 in the last five overs to cross the 300-run mark.

The two teams will now play a Twenty20 International on November 6 in Dhaka before New Zealand fly to Sri Lanka for an ODI and Twenty20 series.

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Virat Kohli becomes No.1 ODI batsman

DUBAI: Virat Kohli today became the number one batsman in One-day cricket after a superb batting show against Australia in the just-concluded series, in which he scored 344 runs.

Kohli had scores of 61 (in Pune), 100 not out (in Jaipur), 68 (in Mohali), 115 not out (in Nagpur) and 0 (in Bengaluru).

This gave the 24-year-old a series aggregate of 344 runs at an average of 114.66, and a reward of 38 ratings points which helped him to jump three places to top of the ICC ranking table for ODI batsmen.

He has achieved the number-one spot for the first time in his career, just a few days before his 25th birthday.

Kohli has now become the third India batsman to hold the number-one batting rank in ODI cricket, after Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni.

Tendulkar first claimed the number one position when he took over from Brian Lara in February 1996. He was last number one in March 2008.

Dhoni first reached number one when he took over from Ricky Ponting in April 2006. He was last ranked number one in July 2010.

Kohli now leads South Africa's Hashim Amla by 13 ratings points. Amla had been holding the coveted number-one position since November 2010. Kohli is not the only batsman who has gained in the latest rankings, which were released today.

Australian skipper George Bailey jumped six places to claim the number-three position for the first time in his career. Bailey scored 478 runs with a century and three half-centuries to earn 121 ratings points, which, in turn, has put him on a career-best 835 ratings points alongside a career-best ranking to-date.

India's Shikhar Dhawan has broken into the top 20 for the first time in his career after he jumped 12 places to claim 11th position in the batting chart. The left-handed opener scored 284 runs at an average of 56.8.

Dhawan's opening partner Rohit Sharma has also achieved a career-best ranking of 15th after finishing as the leading run-getter in the series, with 491 runs at an average of 122.75, including 209 in the final ODI on Saturday.

Rohit's results have earned him 102 ratings points and a leap of 25 places.

Rohit is now India's fifth batsman to feature inside the top 20, with the others being Kohli (first), MS Dhoni (sixth), Dhawan (11th) and Suresh Raina (19th).

The other big movers in the series were Australia's trio of Glenn Maxwell in 38th spot (up by 47 places), Adam Voges in 59th (up by 11 places) and James Faulkner in 61st (up by 77 places).

In the ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal has regained the number-one position, while Jadeja has slipped two places to finish in third spot.

Saeed had trailed Jadeja by 10 ratings points before the start of the series and, while the India spinner took eight wickets in the series against Australia, the Pakistan bowler has claimed six wickets in two ODIs against South Africa so far.

The biggest movers in what has been a difficult series for the bowlers are Vinay Kumar, Faulker and Mohammad Shami.

Kumar's seven wickets in the series have given him a lift of nine places into 61st position, while Faulker and Shami took seven wickets apiece and are now in 62 and 64th spots, respectively.

In the Rankings for ODI all-rounders, Watson and Jadeja have slipped one place each. The list is headed by Mohammad Hafeez of Pakistan.

The 3-2 series win for India means that it continues to sit on top of ODI Team Rankings with Australia in second position, nine ratings points behind.

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