Sachin Tendulkar sells his Ferrari to Surat businessman

SURAT/MUMBAI: A Surat builder now owns the Ferrari presented to Sachin Tendulkar by Michael Schumacher on behalf of Fiat in 2002 when he equalled Sir Don Bradman's record of 29 Test centuries.

"It was my dream to own a Ferrari. I approached Sachin through a common friend and asked him if he wanted to sell the car. He agreed," said Jayesh Desai, the builder. According to sources in Surat's high society, Sachin's Ferrari had been up for sale for four months.

"It was the best experience of my life," said the realtor who drove the red two-seater from Sachin's flat in Bandra to his bungalow at Satkeval Society at Athwalines last weekend. Desai, 42, proudly recalled how he was stopped by curious onlookers when he drove the Ferrari to his office at Varacha. He has parked it in a specially built garage in his bungalow.

It is not clear why Sachin, who is passionate about cars, sold the Ferrari which is also a trophy. The news has come as a surprise to many, including his close friends. The cricketing legend, on his part, chose to make no comment on his decision.

"He doesn't wish to say anything on the topic," said a close friend of Tendulkar, who is holidaying in Europe with his family. This friend, though, did recall his own rides in the Ferrari. "I have been driven around in that car on many occasions and, yes, it was a special car," he said.

Last year, when TOI had asked former India captain Ravi Shastri about the Audi 100 he won for being honoured as the Champion of Champions in Australia in 1985, he had replied, "It is a priceless possession, no doubt about it. People ask me whether I have sold that car and I tell them there would be no buyer because it is priceless! I still have the car but I don't drive it."

Desai, the Ferrari's new owner, claims all the paperwork is done and the car is in his name now.

toi

India beat West Indies by 63 runs to win first Test, lead series 1-0

KINGSTON: The fear of a painful defeat had been looming over Sabina Park right from the time West Indies failed to put enough runs on the board in their first innings.


However, until they lost their last wicket on Thursday afternoon, chasing the target of 326 set by India in the final innings, nobody really wanted to state the obvious. India won their second straight Test at this venue, on both occasions facilitated by the dependable Rahul Dravid.

The handful of spectators at the Sabina Park stood still after their worst fears came true. With 195 runs required, seven wickets in hand and two days remaining, West Indies skipper Darren Sammy had talked about the team's expectations from veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul and young Darren Bravo, who resumed batting on the crucial morning.

However, the moment Bravo and Chanderpaul were dismissed after adding just 17 more runs, the rest of the batting order fell like a pack of cards. The hosts were eventually bowled out for 262 to lose the first Test by 63 runs.

Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma with three wickets each did most of the damage while spinners Amit Mishra and Harbhajan had their share of fun with the tail which wagged for a while but could only delay the inevitable.

For West Indies, batting remained their biggest disappointment throughout. Adrian Barath's first innings score of 64 was their highest individual score while Bravo and Chanderpaul's 68-run stand for the fourth wicket in the second innings remained their highest partnership in the game.

India's victory was based on three pillars. First was the 146-run partnership between Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh on Day One that helped the team score an eventual 246. Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar's spells on Day Two - with three wickets each - helped restrict West Indies to 173. And Dravid's hundred on Day Three helped the visitors set a formidable target. On the fourth day, West Indies simply crumbled.

The hosts will have a lot of soulsearching to do from here on. While the defeat was unavoidable, Darren Sammy's men have to get their batting in order as soon as possible if West Indies have to correct themselves in the remaining two Tests. The Kensington Oval in Barbados and Windsor Park in Dominica will favour India a lot more than Sabina Park, where they already gained the required advantage.

Sammy's batting lineup needs some kind of motivation too. Despite the skipper's talk of arranging various motivational activities - like attending lectures, staying together, going on adventure camps - the fact remains that the team tends to lose intensity on the field.

The pressure of chasing the target on Sabina's fourth-day wicket was asking for too much even from a batsman of Chanderpaul's calibre, and the batsman managed just 30 before falling to Praveen Kumar. Along with Bravo, who also became Praveen's victim, they both saw off 38.2 overs before the partnership crumbled. West Indies' hopes of survival perished with it too.

Praveen made the first Test his own with an excellent display of swing bowling that earned him a match haul of six wickets. He had his ups and downs in the game, for instance the warnings from Daryl Harper about running on to the danger area while bowling, which he says in hindsight were lessons to learn from. Ishant used his height to good effect and generated valuable bounce from the wicket.

While Ishant remained India's most economical bowler in the first innings, Praveen took over that role in the second and both ensured that India's target of 20 wickets was achievable. Dravid's bat had already done the rest.

In the absence of regular openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, India's opening combination looked unsettled.

Sachin Tendulkar's absence in the middle order made the batting looked further weakened. VVS Laxman failed to get going in both the innings.

Zaheer Khan's absence meant the hosts were less fearful of the kind of opening spell the left-arm seamer is capable of delivering. Dravid was India's only hope in the middle of this all and his contribution was more than enough to serve the team's purpose.

toi

Dhoni offers West Indies hope after India victory

KINGSTON: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni elected to offer words of comfort to the West Indies after seeing his side record a 63-run victory in the first Test on Thursday.

"I will not make the mistake by saying that this opposition is not good enough," he said.

"Every batsman can score runs. Their first seven batters have the talent that equally matches that of the current Indian team."

Dhoni, the World Cup and Indian Premier League-winning captain, was particularly impressed by the contribution of West Indies leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo.

Indian pair Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra proved to be the tourists' match-winners, but Bishoo also shone, picking up seven wickets.

"Bishoo kept bowling in the right areas," said Dhoni. "There was a fair degree of turn in the first innings, but as the game progressed, that turn was not there.

"The Indian spinners found it a bit difficult because of the strong breeze across the field. But as the game went on, they adapted well and began bowling better."

Man of the match Rahul Dravid and Test newcomer Praveen Kumar caught the eye for the visitors, but Dhoni singled out other members of his side for praise.

"Our lower-half batsmen for the past year and a half have been contributing well," he said.

"We were 85 for six in the first innings before Harbhajan, along with Suresh Raina, bailed us out. In the second innings, Mishra made a telling contribution."

Harbhajan and Raina added 146 for the seventh wicket in the first innings to help India reach 246.

Mishra and Dravid then put on 56 for the ninth wicket to take India to 252 in their second innings, leaving West Indies to chase 326 for victory.

"But for that stand (Raina and Harbhajan), we could have been all out for 150," Dhoni said.

"We were able to get more runs and thus gather a handy lead. Then in the second innings, we could stretch the lead to 300-plus.

"Three-hundred was always going to be a difficult score to chase in the fourth innings. They were off to a flyer, but wickets always slow down the momentum, and we were able to apply pressure on their middle order."

Dhoni was also fulsome in his praise of Dravid's batting in the second innings, as well as the bowling of Kumar throughout the match.

"Dravid has been an exceptional batsman for India," he said.

"That he played over 250 deliveries showed he was very patient. He made the bowlers pitch in his areas, and was brilliant.

"Praveen is a very skilful bowler and can swing it either way. He doesn't have the pace, but he can swing the ball, and confuse the batsmen if they needed to play or leave a delivery.

"He showed great character after having been stopped from bowling in the first innings. When you are switching from the 10-over format to 20 to 25 overs in an innings, you have to be careful.

"Importantly, he backed his strength and picked up wickets in the second innings as well."

toi

Indian cricketers criticise Harper for bad decisions

KINGSTON ( Jamaica): Umpire Daryl Harper came in for some scathing criticism from the Indian cricket team, which blasted the Australian for his poor decisions during the first cricket Test against the West Indies.

Such was the exasperation that a senior member of the side said that whole team wishes that Harper does not officiate in the third Test.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni did little to hide his disgust at the standard of umpiring in the Test, which they won by 63 runs to take a 1-0 lead.

"If correct decisions were made, the game would have ended much earlier and we would have been in the hotel by now," Dhoni said at the post match press conference.

The Australian would stand for one last time when India take on West Indies in the third Test at Dominica from July 6.

"We don't want him -- you can quote it as the reaction of the entire Indian team," said a very senior member of the side.

Though Dhoni did not name anyone of the two umpires officiating in the match --- Ian Gould (England) and Harper -- several Indian players openly termed the latter as the centre of their ire.

"It's Daryl Harper six not out," said another senior cricketer as soon as he saw a bunch of Indian pressmen approaching him.

Indians were upset that Harper made at least three critical errors against India and three in favour of West Indies during the match.

"Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh and Dhoni himself for done in; (Darren) Bravo twice and once (Shivnarine) Chanderpaul benefitted," chimed in another Indian cricketer, bristling with aggression.

Raina was given out caught in the leg-trap off Devendra Bishoo and television replays suggested no edge from either bat or gloves of the batsman.

Harbhajan Singh was ruled out leg before wicket when the ball clearly was seen going way above the height of the stumps.

Dhoni was cleanly caught at point region off Bishoo but the bowler had cut the return crease in his bowling run-up and the delivery should have been called a no-ball.

All three decisions in question were given by Harper in India's second innings.

Then, when West Indies batted for the last time, there were confident appeals against Bravo and Chanderpaul which were not upheld.

The controversial Australian umpire is regarded worldwide as the worst umpire in the ICC list of elite umpires.

After being on the panel for nine years, between 2002 and 2011, the ICC too has come round to the general perception and declared that Harper will stand down after the termination of his contract in July 2011.

Harper also needled the Indians by banning Praveen Kumar from bowling for treading on to the 'danger area' of the pitch in his follow-through in the first innings.

Indians are not contesting the decision in private but feel Harper could have cautioned the debutant in a friendly way before taking the strong step.

Indian cricketers have little doubt umpire Harper has been clearly biased against them over the years.

"Remember, it was Harper who gave Sachin Tendulkar out lbw in a Test when the batsmen had ducked and was hit on his shoulder," remarked a cricketer.

During a Test of the 1999-2000 tour to Australia, a short delivery from Glenn McGrath had Tendulkar looking to duck under it but it hit him on the shoulders.

Umpire Harper promptly gave Tendulkar out though he was to say later 'the one (decision) that I would like the world to forget is the Sachin one.'

The shocking decision was the reason the International Cricket Council (ICC) introduced neutral umpires for both ends in Test matches.

Justified as the Indians are, it only underlines the reason why they should give their sanction to Umpires Decision Review System (UDRS).

The Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI) has been steadfastly refusing the usage of UDRS technology even though worldwide it's acceptance is a norm.

The UDRS technology, because of BCCI's insistence, is not being used either in the present series or the one in England which follows next month.

toi