Neesham, latham in NZ squad for 2nd test
Wellington: Uncapped all-rounder Jimmy Neesham and young batsman Tom latham have been included in New Zealand’s 13-member squad for the second cricket Test against India starting here on Friday. Neesham and latham were added to the squad after selectors decided to drop Jesse Ryder and Doug Bracewell following their late-night drinking spree before the first Test in Auckland. While latham is a replacement for Ryder, who was a cover for Ross Taylor, Neesham is likely to play a “number of roles” for New Zealand which named an otherwise unchanged squad from the victorious first Test at Eden Park. New Zealand Cricket General Manager National Selection Bruce Edgar said that Neesham is not necessarily a straight replacement for Bracewell. “We see Jimmy as a genuine all-rounder who can play a number of roles for us. His form with both bat and ball in the Plunket Shield this season speaks for itself,” Edgar said.
Karnataka in control in Irani Trophy
Bangalore: Karnataka inched closer to winning the Irani Trophy crown after Chidambaram Gautam’s brilliant 122-run knock guided them to a mammoth 606 in their first innings against Rest of India on the third day here on Tuesday. The total gave Karnataka a huge first innings lead of 405 runs before they reduced ROI to 114 for three in their second innings, leaving the visitors trailing by 291 runs with seven wickets in hand. Karnataka first skittled out the visitors for 201 in their first innings and then batted with responsibility to reach 606 all out with Gautam cracking a sparkling century. At stumps, Baba Aparajith and Dinesh Karthik were batting on 42 and nine runs respectively for Rest of India. Much was expected of Gautam Gambhir but he failed to impress the national selectors, who had descended here to pick the World T20 and Asia Cup ODI squads. The India discard edged one to Manish Pandey at second slip, who took a magnificent diving catch.
Brief Scores: Rest of India: 201 and 114 for 3 (Jadhav 44, Aparajith 42 batting, Vinay 2-27) trail Karnataka 606 (Binny 122, Gautam 122, Pankaj 6-122) by 291 runs.
Kohli is fourth in T20 rankings
Dubai: Virat Kohli remained static at fourth position as the highest-ranked Indian batsman in the latest ICC Twenty20 rankings issued on Tuesday. Middle-order batsmen Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh too maintained their fifth and sixth position respectively. However, no Indian found a place in the top-10 of bowlers’ list, while Yuvraj was steady at third in the all-rounders’ chart. Batsmen rankings are led by Brendon McCullum of New Zealand while West Indian spinner Sunil Narine heads the bowlers’ table. In the Team rankings, India are unchanged at second place behind Sri lanka.
Yuki sails to Round II of ATP Challenger
Kolkata: Fresh from winning the Chennai leg, Yuki Bhambri advanced to the second round, even as the other two Indians Saketh Myneni and Vishnu Vardhan made quiet exits in the USD 50,000 ATP Challenger at BTA Courts here on Tuesday. The second day’s proceedings also saw an upset when unseeded Argentinean Agustin Velotti ousted fifth seed Blaz Rola 7-6(3), 6-4 in the first round. In the doubles, Vishnu Vardhan and Divij Sharan got the better of Somdev Devvarman and Purav Raja in an intense battle, while there was a heartbreak for the pair of Yuki and Michael Venus of New Zealand who went down to Taiwanese duo of Hsien-Yin Peng and Tsung-Hua Yang.
ISSF ratifies Heena Sidhu’s world mark
Mumbai: The world record set by Heena Sidhu-Pandit, who became the first Indian pistol shooter to bag an ISSF-World Cup Finals gold last November, has been ratified by the world shooting body. Heena shot a score of 384 in the preliminaries and a high tally of 203.8 in the final round in that event. The ISSF, which had made major changes in the rules to make the sport spectator-friendly, have considered them to be positive and should be continued with and consequently the scores by Heena, then considered provisional, have now been officially accepted as a record, said a media release issued by the Maharashtra Rifle Association on Tuesday.