Sports News

When Anirban Lahiri teed off at the year-ending BILT Open, the self-belief wasn't in place. There was a gnawing desire to prove that he had it in him to ?stand his ground amidst the sharks?. The indubitable talent soon took over and the greenhorn ended the penultimate day with a three-stroke lead over Jeev Milkha Singh.

Ayesha Bhatia has lived most of her life in England. And for the first time, she will run a special 'marathon' when she participates in the Salwan Marathon on Sunday.

Two goals from Brazilian Josimar Martins had Chirag United back on top of the table in the third I-League with 15 points from seven games. No one barring the team perhaps, expected this with the League one round away from breaking off for the year.

A stubborn batting display by Punjab all-rounder Gourav Gambhir (50 not out) denied defending champions Mumbai an outright victory in their Ranji opener here on Friday. Mumbai had to satisfy themselves with three points while Punjab got one. After the home team was done in by the Mumbai attack in its first essay, it put up a much improved performance in the second innings to finish on 311 for 7.

Sumit Narwal rushed straight to a container full of iced water and drowned himself in it. ?It relaxes the tired muscles and refreshes you,? he said. A couple of yards away, Pradeep Sangwan was icing his shoulder after taking his lunch on Friday.

Meerut, Nov. 7 -- A perfect 10 on debut is the dream for any bowler. This came true for Karnataka speedster Abhimanyu Mithun, who lived up to expectations and scripted an important win in the season opener.

There is something about India's narrow defeat in Thursday's fifth ODI. Not many seem to feel too bad about it although they should. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the first one to admit that poor fielding which included a few dropped catches was a reason apart from some rush of blood while batting.

Apart from opening up a handy lead in a series reduced to a best-of-three affair after the first four games, Australia have also gained a few psychological points from Thursday's nerve tickler in Hyderabad. All of it has got to do with confidence and for a side besieged by injuries on a tough tour, it couldn't have come at a better time.

Shanghai, Nov. 5 -- Taiwan's Lin Weng-Tang and India's Jyoti Randhawa led a strong Asian charge at the WGC-HSBC Champions Thursday, playing impressive golf to stay in touch with the leaders.

Kolkata, Nov. 5 -- He isn't trained in mathematics like Ottmar Hitzfeld, but mention I-League standings and Subroto Bhattacharya seems as comfortable with numerals as the legendary Bayern Munich coach now in charge of Switzerland.

Greater Noida, Nov. 5 -- Consistency for Anirban Lahiri is linked intrinsically to the saying: "You can't always be playing well when it counts. You'll never win tournaments unless you learn to score well when you're playing badly." Though he rarely put a foot wrong at the Jaypee Greens, the 22-year-old took pride while talking about a newfound ability.

Vadodara, Nov. 5 -- It's quite easy and convenient for bowlers to blame their failure on a 'placid' and 'unresponsive' wicket.

For a team which couldn't chase 250 in perfect batting conditions about 72 hours ago, getting 100 more even on a batting beauty seemed too tall a task. So what if bowling was reduced to an exercise in futility and Australia were without all first-choice bowlers.

New Delhi, Nov. 5 -- Finally there was some applause and noise from the Delhi under-22 camp, Vikas Mishra and Pawan Suyal.

New Delhi, Nov. 5 -- Fifteen years' experience, 106 first-class games and 320 wickets could not get him a ball on the entire third day even as Railways, desperately, and successfully, kept gnawing at the Tamil Nadu line-up.

Meerut, Nov. 5 -- It seems that even before the start of the Karnataka second innings, Rahul Dravid had told his batsmen to play their shots with a free hand.

Mumbai, Nov. 5 -- Media doesn't usually wait for pre-teen budding cricketers. But then it is not everyday that 12-year-olds score 439 runs. Springfield Rizvi High School's Sarfaraz Khan became the most sought after cricketer in Mumbai on a day his idol Sachin Tendulkar became the first batsman to cross 17,000 ODI runs.

Hyderabad, Nov. 5 -- In a thriller of a match, Australia whisked away a narrow victory despite a brilliant 175 by Sachin Tendulkar and some hard hitting towards the end by Jadeja and Praveen Kumar. Australian fielding struck form towards the end of the Indian innings after several mis-fields and missing run-out chances.

Hyderabad, Nov. 5 -- Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar is showing exactly why he is called that. At 168, which is also his third highest individual score, Tendulkar has struck 19 boundaries and is looking good for more. Raina, however has departed after playing a good knock of 59 runs. Ravindra Jadeja has replaced him at the crease with Harbhajan to follow.