Sports India

Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza’s best play is still some two years away, Davis Cupper Mahesh Bhupathi said here Wednesday.

‘Not too much should be seen from her early exits (from the international tournaments she plays). She is falling far short of the kind of tennis she is capable of,’ Bhupati told reporters here while announcing Martina Hingis’ participation in the Sunfeast Open tennis championship here in September.

‘But she will improve. She is on an upward curve and in about three years time she will break into the top 10. She has that in her,’ Bhupati, a doubles specialist, maintained.

‘She will be at her prime when she is around 22,’ Mahesh said, whose Globosports company manages Mirza’s career.

Mirza has recently dropped to World No 40 on the WTA rankings after early exits from Roland Garros and Wimbledon. The Hyderabadi dazzler has shown an indifferent form even after brilliant starts and that has cost her a few spots over the last few months.

Jeev Milkha scaled a whopping 18 places marking upward movement in the international golf ranking chart for the second consecutive week.

Jeev, who finished tied-fourth with an excellent two-under 70 at the Smurfit European Open golf championship in Ireland yesterday, was placed 144th to become the only Indian golfer inside 150 ranks.

The current leader of the Asian Tour’s UBS Order of Merit, who recorded his ninth top-10 finish this year, however, narrowly missed out on the British Open berth.

It was just contrasting luck for his compatriots like Jyoti Randhawa, Arjun Atwal and Shiv Kapur, who were distantly placed below the Chandigarh player.

Randhawa’s fall continued this week as well as he slid five places to 159, Atwal nine places to 177 and Kapur four places to 176.

Jeev Milkha Singh’s bid to book a place at The Open Championship suffered a setback after he carded a disappointing two-over 74 in a rain-hit third round to slip to the tied 12th spot at the 42,36,000 dollar Smurfit European Open here.

Singh, who started the day in tied fourth place, endured rain and windy conditions at The K Club to total four-under 212 after three days.

Playing alongside local favourite Darren Clarke, Singh held steady with a front nine 35 but dropped three bogeys on his homeward stretch to trail the Spanish leader Jose Manuel Lara (207) by five shots.

Meanhwile, Jyoti Randhawa improved his show a bit but could not prevent an over-par score as he carded a 73 to move up to the tied 55th spot.

Randhawa fired four birdies but three bogeys and a double-bogey marred his show and led to a second successive over-par finish after a promising opening round of four-under 68.

Randhawa now has a three-day total of 219 going into the final round.

Thai star Thongchai Jaidee moved up to the tied 22nd place on 214 after a 71 alongside England’s Simon Dyson.

Yuvraj Singh’s exploits in the limited over version games he played so far this year were enough to place him at the top among Indian batsmen in the best players’ list.

Yuvraj, who won three man-of-the-series awards on the trot – against South Africa (joint honour with Jacques Kallis), Pakistan and England – before the series against the West Indies, has 795 runs at a superb average of 61.15 from 17 ODI matches.

The left-handed Indian is placed fourth in the list behind Sri Lankans Kumara Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Sanath Jayasuriya but boasts of the highest average among all, as per the latest statistics available.

Sangakkara and Jayawardene have played 27 matches and scored 1048 and 959 runs averaging 43.67 and 41.70 respectively while Jayasuriya, who has played an identical number of ODIs as Yuvraj’s, averages 52.06 with 885 runs.

The Punjab batsman, who has the highest score of 107 not out, has two hundreds and five half centuries.

However, in the Caribbean he scored 182 runs, including two half centuries with highest score of 93, in four one-dayers. In Tests, he made only 104 runs from four matches.

Yuvraj Singh may not have turned waves in India’s just concluded tour of Caribbean but his exploits in the limited over version games he played so far this year were enough to place him at the top among Indian batsmen in the best players’ list.

Yuvraj, who won three man-of-the-series awards on the trot - against South Africa (joint honour with Jacques Kallis), Pakistan and England - before the series against the West Indies, has 795 runs at a superb average of 61.15 from 17 ODI matches.

The left-handed Indian is placed fourth in the list behind Sri Lankans Kumara Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Sanath Jayasuriya but boasts of the highest average among all, as per the latest statistics available.

Sangakkara and Jayawardene have played 27 matches and scored 1048 and 959 runs averaging 43.67 and 41.70 respectively while Jayasuriya, who has played an identical number of ODIs as Yuvraj’s, averages 52.06 with 885 runs.

The Punjab batsman, who has the highest score of 107 not out, has two hundreds and five half centuries.

However, in the Caribbean he scored 182 runs, including two half centuries with highest score of 93, in four one-dayers. In Tests, he made only 104 runs from four matches.

The director of cricket watched the draw live on television last night after Notts’ victory over the Derbyshire Phantoms in their final group game.

It paired the Outlaws with Graeme Swann’s former side, but Newell was more thankful that the match would be at Trent Bridge.

“It was perhaps good to avoid Surrey, but Northants are a dangerous side with the likes of David Sales, Sourav Ganguly and Lance Klusener in their ranks,” said Newell.

“But the key thing is that it will be at our ground.”

Notts clinched that privilege by beating Derbyshire by nine wickets.

It meant they finished second out of the three groups with the best record and joined group winners Gloucestershire, Essex and Leicestershire in being guaranteed a home tie.

“Fleming and Patel batted superbly at the end, as did Swann, getting us off to a quick start, but I thought it was a pretty professional performance all round,” he said.

Tickets for the quarter-final match went on sale this morning.

It’s the first time the Outlaws have reached the knock-out stages and Notts deputy chief executive Lisa Pursehouse expects a huge demand for tickets - nearly 8,000 watched them beat Derbyshire last night.

Captaincy is no longer on the agenda of Sourav Ganguly but making a comeback to the national squad certainly is, reveals the former India skipper who is also planning to write a tell-all book on his controversy-ridden cricket career.

Clearly stating that retirement was not on his agenda, the stylish left-hander also said he expected to be judged on his performance and given a chance to contribute to the side.

“I’ll do what’s in my hands, perform, because at the end of the day you can only be judged by your performances. If I don’t perform I don’t get back. If I perform I expect to get back,” he said.

“I am determined to get runs on the board. I had a good domestic season. I got to play in one Test match in Pakistan where I was the second highest scorer after Yuvraj,” he told BBC World’s Hardtime Extra programme.

Ganguly ruled out being captain of Indian team again, saying “you don’t have captains every six months. If you have captains every six months it’s wrong. I am looking forward to playing as a player.”

The batsman, currently playing for Northamptonshire in the English county championship, said he would not be disappointed if he does not come back into the team.

“I have played 390 internationals for India, captained 200. I must be one of the lucky few,” he said.

Sourav Ganguly struck a run-a-ball 23 but could not convert the start even though his side Northamptonshire stormed into the last eight stage of the Twenty20 Cup with an emphatic eight-wicket win over Gloucestershire at Bristol.

Opting to bat first, Gloucestershire reached 154 for seven. Chasing a victory target of 155, Northamptonshire romped home in 17.4 overs losing just two wickets.

Rob White (62) and David Sales (68 not out) starred for Northamptonshire. Ganguly and White raised an opening stand of 64 runs before the former India captain fell to spinner Martyn Bell, after scoring 23, an innings included three hits to the fence.

In another match at Riverside, Dinesh Mongia was out for a first ball duck even though his side Leicestershire beat Durham by 79 runs to seal their quarterfinal berth in the Twenty20 Cup. Batting first, Leicestershire scored 183 for seven with Hylton Ackerman (87) as their top scorer.

In reply, Durham reached 104 for eight, riding on Jimmy Maher’s unbeaten 55 which, however, was not enough to see them through. It was a forgettable outing for Mongia with the ball also as the Punjab southpaw conceded 23 runs in his three overs without any success.

Back from the West Indies, the disheartened Irfan Pathan must be wondering what he should do to regain his lost confidence. Greg Chappell publicly announced that Pathan was not considered as he had lost confidence and, bound by the BCCI contract, Pathan has not uttered a word in his defence.

Greg Chappell has to assess the mindset of an Indian fast bowler, which is quite different from the mindset of fast bowlers from other countries, and if Chappell has not realized this in one year then he probably never will. It is a mindset, which has insecurity as its core in spite of the tremendous hard work that the bowlers have put in to reach the top. Indian fast bowlers have to frequently bowl on dead pitches and run on hard outfields. There is hardly any recovery period and no rehabilitation centres to get them fit, and when one does succeed, like Irfan Pathan did at the age of 19, to understand that person’s mindset and nurture it becomes a full-time job.

When Frank Tyson was coaching fast bowlers in Mumbai for three years from 1990 to 1993, one thing he drilled into the coaches’ heads was the need to concentrate on the acceptability factor. Tyson picked up a few sentences in Marathi and Hindi to stress just how vital that aspect was. Once a fast bowler accepts you, things become easy to handle.

Former England fast bowler Devon Malcolm is one case study, which Greg Chappell would do well to note. He was handled so badly by the England coach Ray Illingworth on the tour of South Africa and later in England that a potential performer was reduced to an average bowler.

Illingworth got the best out of temperamental fast bowler John Snow on the tour of Australia in 1970, but when he applied the same yardstick to Devon Malcolm two decades later, he failed miserably. The only difference was that Illingworth was Snow’s captain and to Malcolm, Illingworth was the coach.

When playing against South Australia on the 1970 tour, fast bowler Peter Lever complained to Illingworth on the field about the lethargic approach of John Snow on the boundary line. llingworth writes in his autobiography `Yorkshire and Back’, “I called Snow to my room and said `Snowy, if you weren’t an intelligent bloke, you would be on a boat home. Because you are intelligent, I am going to talk to you as someone who, I hope, can understand what I am trying to say to you. Other bowlers in the team will say why should we bowl our guts out when Snowy is treating it like a benefit match. If this continues, I am going to have no one trying’.”

Both had a chat about the approach and Snow was instrumental in winning the series. In Snow’s case, Illingworth never went to the media, but in Malcolm’s case he did. “Malcolm has no confidence,” is what Illingworth, like Chappell, announced and that was the beginning of the end of Devon Malcolm.

Is this what is happening to young Irfan Pathan? Only Chappell and Chairman of the selection committee Kiran More would know, but there is a feeling that Pathan has not been handled well.

Making him sit with psychologist Rudy Webster for a few sessions is not the solution. The solution is that Chappell and his buddy Frazer should sit and discuss with Javagal Srinath the ways to handle Indian fast bowlers. No matter how talented you are, if your coach has no confidence in you, you can’t produce results. And when a coach announces a player’s problem publicly, not all Indian players are capable of digesting it.

Indian fast bowlers look for performance-motivation from their colleagues and the team management. Irfan Pathan is no exception. Today he has the right to feel that he does not fit into the team management’s scheme of things, and with Zaheer Khan taking more than 50 wickets in less than 10 county matches, Pathan could be thinking of Zaheer Khan replacing him.

It’s time the BCCI reviews the roles of support staff. If the problem of getting fast bowlers to bowl effectively still persists, then there should be technically sound and experienced Indian coaches to assist Chappell rather than leaving it to people who are not at all qualified to do the job.

The problem is not in Chappell’s and Pathan’s professional commitments and good intent, but rather in a conflict of understanding and perception. The problem is nascent right now and could be handled well enough. The solution is clearly apparent unless we conveniently want to ignore it.

A missed final hole birdie made all the difference as Jeev Milkha Singh narrowly missed out on the British Open while finishing tied-fourth at the Smurfit European Open golf championship at the K Club here on Sunday.

Jeev carded an excellent two-under 70 but it proved to be not good enough as he needed to finish second to book a ticket to one of four Majors. That excellent finish, howeve, should inspire faith in the Chandigarh lad as one last British Open berth remains to be taken coming week. Anthony Wall (73) of England achieved what the Indian failed to, with a birdie on the final hole and finish tied second with Jose Manuel Lara (74) while the title went to Stephen Dodd (70).

Welshman Dodd, who won his second title this season in Ireland and can now hope for a place in Europe’s team for Ryder Cup, also scheduled to be held in Ireland at this same K club. He had a winning total of nine under par 279. He took a cheque of $578,792 as the winner.

“Missing out on the Open berth was disappointing but then I am happy that I fought well to come fourth,” said Jeev, who moves to Loch Lomond for the Barclays Scottish Open this week. Jeev’s 70 saw him total six-under-par 282 for the week and he ended three shots behind winner Dodd.

Jeev earned over 126,000 euros and moved from 36th to 31st in European Order of Merit.

This season Jeev, currently leading the Asian Tour’s UBS Order of Merit, has achieved nine top-10 finishes including a win in the Volvo China Open.

The other Indian in the fray, Jyoti Randhawa, was tied 61st after signing off with a 78.

He had two double bogeys including one on the final 18th, which he had birdied on the first three days.

Thai star Thongchai Jaidee also enjoyed a solid week, closing with a 71 to earn tied 15th place in the European Tour event.

Jeev began the final round in the tied 12th place and with an opening hole bogey he dropped further down.

But Jeev fought back superbly for four birdies in five holes, starting from the fourth and added two more birdies on the 16th and 17th holes for his strong finish.

The title seemed to be fought very tightly before Dodd turned the tide with birdies on the 16th and the very difficult par-3 17th.

That was followed by a neat par on 18th and it gave him a steady round of 70.

The drama on the 18th hole came from Wall, who holed from 35ft to claim a share of second place on seven under and the one exempt place on offer for The Open at Hoylake.

Till then, that place seemed to be headed towards Jost Manuel Lara, Wall’s playing partner. And Jeev Milkha Singh was behind them.

Lara made only par and then despite tying with Wall lost out because his final round was 74 and Wall carded 73.

It was Lara’s fourth runner-up finish on The European Tour and earned him G301,622, the biggest cheque of his career.

It was also Dodd’s biggest pay day and the victory - the third by a Welshman here after Philip Price in 2003 and Woosnam in 1988 - moved him up to 16th place on The Ryder Cup European Points List.

The tournament did not lack drama, as another dramatic finish came from Paul McGinley.

The Irishman had left for Dublin Airport on Friday afternoon thinking he had missed the cut at two over par and that stage he was 91st. He narrowly made the cut and he was called back from the airport and his luggage had to be retrieved from the hold.

By close on Sunday he finished in a share of fourth place on six under par alongside the English trio of Simon Khan, Graeme Storm, Lee Westwood, and Jeev.