Zak frustrated
Mumbai: Veteran pacer Zaheer Khan on Tuesday said it was disappointing to miss the England series due to the injury as he had undergone rigorous training sessions to be part of the squad.”I am missing playing cricket. I was preparing for English tour for a long time and that was one of the reasons why I went through all those regimes before but when things happen, you don’t have any control over it,” Zaheer said at the launch of his fitness and physiotherapy services based company ProSport. “You don’t have any control over injuries and doesn’t matter how much ever you train it is the one thing that you can’t control as a sportsman. It was frustrating but you have to take things in your stride and do the right thing,” he said.
U Mumba win
Mumbai: U Mumba notched up their third win in four games when they edged out Patna Pirates 36-33 in the final game of the Mumbai leg to remain on top of the table in the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi league at the NSCI Stadium here on Tuesday. Riding once again on the raiding skills of Anup Kumar (10 points) and Shabeer Bapu Sharafuddin (9), U Mumba fought off their rivals, spearheaded by the league’s highest paid player (12.80 lakh) and India captain Rakesh Kumar, to take their points tally to 18. The two teams were level (19-all) at the halfway stage of the game. The strongly built Rakesh was the highest point-getter in the match, raking in 15 points, but he lacked support from his teammates in the attack with Ravi Dalal the next best with 6 points. Playing their first game in the tournament, Patna took some time to settle down against the well-grooved home team and quickly trailed 5-12 after being all out to concede a ‘lona’. Rakesh led their revival with some good raids and some sound defending brought them some points as they caught up U Mumba at 18 before the teams went on level terms at half time. The home team surged to a 24-20 lead soon after the break and then went ahead 29-23 by effecting the second all out on their rivals for another ‘lona’ which gave them an additional two points.
ONGC vs Indian army
Coimbatore: ONGC will take on Indian Army in the finals of the 50th PSG Trophy All India Basket Ball Tournament for men, scheduled for Wednesday here. NGC defeated Punjab 85-67 to enter the finals. The winners were far ahead with 38-19 at half time. Though Punjab rallied to score 48 points in the second half as against 47 by ONGC, that was not not enough to find a berth in the finals, as they could not erase the huge deficit of the first half. Amrit Pal potted 25 points for the winners, while Gurkripal Singh scored 14 points for Punjab. In another semi-final match, Indian Army defeated Indian Overseas bank, 67-56.
PNS/Agencies