Petersen dedicates debut century to himself

Petersen dedicates debut century to himself

Kolkata, Feb 14: On a high after scoring a fluent hundred on debut in the second Test against India, South African opener Alviro Petersen on Sunday said he would dedicate it to himself for the hard work he has done.

“I’d probably dedicate this century to myself for all the hard work I have put in in the last couple of years,” the 29-year-old right-hand batsman told mediapersons at the end of first day’s play here.

Petersen, drafted into the team in place of Mark Boucher - down with back spasm - got to his three-figure mark in 221 minutes and also stitched together a 209-run stand for the second wicket with Hashim Amla, who struck 114.

Yuvraj ruled out of ODI series against South Africa

NEW DELHI: India's bid to win the ODI series against South Africa got a big blow as the swashbuckling left-hander Yuvraj Singh was ruled out of the series against visiting team starting on February 21.

The hard hitting middle order, who also missed the ongoing Test series, is yet to recover from a finger injury which he sustained during the Bangladesh series.

The Indian selection committee, led by Krish Srikkanth, will meet on Tuesday to pick the ODI squad against South Africa.

TOI

IPL schedule altered substantially

MUMBAI: More than a dozen changes have been incorporated by the Indian Premier League authorities in the revised schedule of the Twenty20 League whose third edition is to be held from March 12-April 25.

These changes were made after IPL shifted all matches of Deccan Chargers from Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam to other centres because of the ongoing Telengana agitation in Andhra Pradesh.

Some matches not involving Deccan Chargers also had to be given a tweak in the new schedule put up on its website.

Nagpur, discarded as an option for the Mumbai Indians to play its home ties, now hosts three matches of Deccan Chargers.

The other four ties featuring the Hyderabad franchise, including the opening match, would be held in Navi Mumbai's D Y Patil Stadium.

The revised schedule is:

Mar 12: Deccan Chargers (DC) vs Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Navi Mumbai, 8 pm.

Mar 13: Mumbai Indians (MI) vs Rajasthan Royals (RR), Mumbai, 3 pm; Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) vs Delhi Daredevils (DD), Mohali, 8 pm.

Mar 14: KKR vs Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Kolkata, 4 pm; Chennai Super Kings (CSK) vs DC, Chennai, 8 pm.

Mar 15: RR vs DD, Ahmedabad, 8 pm

Mar 16: RCB vs KXIP, Bangalore, 4 pm; KKR vs CSK, Kolkata, 8 pm

Mar 17: DD vs MI, Delhi, 8 pm

Mar 18: RCB vs RR, Bangalore, 8 pm

Mar 19: DD vs CSK, Delhi, 4pm; DC vs KXIP, Nagpur, 8 pm

Mar 20: RR vs KKR, Ahmedabad, 4 pm; MI vs RCB, Mumbai, 8 pm

Mar 21: DC vs DD, Nagpur, 4 pm; CSK vs KXIP, Chennai, 8 pm

Mar 22: MI vs KKR, Mumbai, 8 pm

Mar 23: RCB vs CSK, Bangalore, 8 pm

Mar 24: KXIP vs RR, Mohali, 8 pm

Mar 25: MI vs CSK, Mumbai, 8 pm

Mar 26: RR vs DC, Ahmedabad, 8 pm

Mar 27: KXIP vs KKR, Mohali, 4 pm; RCB vs DD, Bangalore, 8 pm

Mar 28: RR vs CSK, Ahmedabad, 4 pm; DC vs MI, Nagpur, 8 pm

Mar 29: DD vs KKR, Delhi, 8 pm

Mar 30: MI vs KXIP, Mumbai, 8 pm

Mar 31: CSK vs RCB, Chennai, 4 pm; DD vs RR, Delhi, 8 pm

Apr 1: KKR vs DC, Kolkata, 8 pm

Apr 2: KXIP vs RCB, Mohali, 8 pm

Apr 3: CSK vs RR, Chennai, 4 pm; MI vs DC, Mumbai, 8 pm.

Apr 4: KKR vs KXIP, Kolkata, 4 pm; DD vs RCB, Delhi, 8 pm

Apr 5: DC vs RR, Navi Mumbai, 8 pm

Apr 6: CSK vs MI, Chennai, 8 pm

Apr 7: RR vs KXIP, Jaipur, 4 pm; KKR vs DD, Kolkata, 8 pm

Apr 8: RCB vs DC, Bangalore, 8 pm

Apr 9: KXIP vs MI, Mohali, 8 pm

Apr 10: DC vs CSK, Navi Mumbai, 4 pm; RCB vs KKR, Bangalore, 8 pm

Apr 11: DD vs KXIP, Delhi, 4 pm; RR vs MI, Jaipur, 8 pm

Apr 12: DC vs RCB, Navi Mumbai, 8 pm

Apr 13: MI vs DD, Mumbai, 4 pm; CSK vs KKR, Chennai, 8 pm

Apr 14: RR vs RCB, Jaipur, 8 pm

Apr 15: CSK vs DD, Chennai, 8 pm

Apr 16: KXIP vs DC, Dharamsala, 8 pm

Apr 17: RCB vs MI, Bangalore, 4 pm; KKR vs RR, Kolkata, 8 pm

Apr 18: KXIP vs CSK, Dharamsala, 4 pm; DD vs DC, Delhi, 8 pm

Apr 19: KKR vs MI, Kolkata, 8 pm

Apr 21: Semi-final 1, Bangalore, 8 pm

Apr 22: Semi-final 2, Bangalore, 8 pm

Apr 24: 3rd Place match, Navi Mumbai, 8 pm

Apr 25: Final, Navi Mumbai, 8 pm.

TOI

Sehwag, Tendulkar tons put India in control

KOLKATA: Sachin Tendulkar notched up his fourth consecutive Test ton and Virender Sehwag cracked 165 as India relied on the sheer class of the experienced duo to take control of the second and final Test against South Africa on Monday.

After polishing off South Africa's first innings at 296, the hosts rode on Tendulkar's 47th ton and Sehwag's 19th century to reach 342/5 at close on the second day which saw the home team lose three key wickets in quick succession at the fag end.

At stumps on an eventful day, VVS Laxman (9) and night watchman Amit Mishra (1) were at the crease with India having taken a lead of 46 runs. They will now look to take a substantial first innings lead and push to level the series 1-1 in the remaining three days.

The vociferous crowd at the Eden Gardens was treated to a stunning exhibition of strokeplay by the two Indian masters as they put on a 249-run partnership for the third wicket to torment the South Africans, who need to win the match to dislodge India from the number one position in the Test rankings.

But both Sehwag and Tendulkar (106) fell at the fag end of the day alongwith S Badrinath to allow the visitors to claw back into the game to some extent.

Sehwag and Tendulkar, who unleashed some exquisite shots, appeared to be in no discomfort at all against the South Africans who did every thing to break the partnership without much luck till the very end of the day.

With the partnership taking gigantic proportions, South Africa's spinner Paul Harris mainly bowled a negative line outside the leg stump to dry up the runs.

It was Tendulkar's fourth century on the trot since the first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong last month. He hit his second century in the second Test against Bangladesh in Mirpur and his third came in the first Test of the ongoing series in Nagpur.

The quick dismissals of Sehwag and Tendulkar, the two well set batsmen, meant that India could not finish the day on a really commanding note.

Sehwag fell to part-time bowler J P Duminy with Ashwell Prince taking a simple catch in the cover region. His 174-ball 165 contained 23 boundaries and two sixes.

Tendulkar also returned to the pavilion soon after completing his century, his fifth against South Africa, with Harris plotting his dismissal. The star batsman edged the ball to Jacques Kallis in the slip leaving the Eden crowd shell shocked.

Earlier, India began the day by folding South African first innings at 296, conceding 30 more runs in the opening session.

With a four off Parnell to backward square-leg fence in the 69th over, the batting maestro carved his 47th century as his helmet came off and in his trademark style he looked upwards before acknowledging his feat to dressing room.

Sehwag, who was cruising along at the other end with 163, joined Tendulkar midway down the wicket with a warm hug as a standing ovation came from the near-full Eden crowd.

In the post-lunch session, the duo showed tremendous resilience as India slowly recovered from the twin blows of Gambhir and Murali Vijay.

Gautam Gambhir and Sehwag gave India an explosive start, stitching 73 runs for first wicket in just 9.2 overs before the southpaw was run out for 25.

Dale Steyn, first Test hero for the visitors, found the going tough with Sehwag creaming him for three consecutive boundaries and went on to concede 29 runs in his forgettable first spell of five overs.

With Sehwag on fire, there was a similar treatment at the other end for Morkel who conceded 28 runs from his three-over first spell.

Left-arm pacer Wayne Parnell replaced Morkel but it did not help as he leaked 11 runs in his first over with Sehwag freely dispatching the left-arm quickie over third-man for the first six of their innings.

Gambhir also joined the party as the Indian openers kept an eight-plus run-rate.

Just when South Africa needed a breakthrough badly, India gifted them an easy wicket in the form of Gambhir who became the victim of a Sehwag blunder.

With India cruising 72 for no loss in 9.1 overs, Gambhir responded to a second-run call from Sehwag but only to see himself stranded in the middle of the track as his partner changed mind.

The disappointing end to the entertaining opening stand brought Murali Vijay to the wicket.

However, Vijay (7) did not last long as he was caught brilliantly by AB De Villiers behind the wicket off Morkel.

Sehwag was lucky as he was dropped at the first slip by Duminy in the very next over.

Earlier, resuming at 266/9, South Africa added 30 runs to their overnight total before Wayne Parnell (12) was dismissed by Zaheer Khan leg before wicket in the fourth over of the second day.

Khan was the most successful Indian bowler returning with figures of 22-5-90-4.

Morne Morkel remained not out on 11 as the last wicket pair added 35 runs from 55 balls.

PTI

Watson wins Border Medal, ODI Player of Year award

STAFF WRITER 17:48 HRS IST

Melbourne, Feb 15 (PTI) Shane Watson beat Michael Clarke by a comfortable 15-vote margin to bag the Allan Border Medal besides being named Australia's ODI Player of the Year.

Watson polled 125 votes from the players, media and the umpires, in comparison to Clarke's 90 to run away with the Allan Border, which is given to the best Australian cricketer of the year.

In the ODI Player of the Year category, Watson bagged 33 votes to edge out Michael Hussey who had 25.

Watson's opening partner Simon Katich was adjudged Test Player of the Year with 11 votes, one more than left-arm pacer Mitchell Johnson got.