Sunday, April 14, 2013

Sportstar VOL.36 :: NO.14 :: Apr. 06, 2013


Cricket
FOURTH TEST
It’s not a sporting pitch
The under-prepared pitch at the Ferozeshah Kotla was sadly a poor advertisement for Test cricket. By Vijay Lokapally. 

Cover Story
All set for another high voltage drama
There will never be a dull moment when the Indian Premier League is around. By S. Dinakar. 

Cricket
TEAM ANALYSIS/KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
The squad has a settled look to it
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) came of age in IPL-5. After four seasons of disappointment and morale-sapping controversies, it finally tasted success under Gautam Gambhir, who rebuilt the team and helped his players overcome ...

TEAM ANALYSIS/ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE
Looking to go one better
If the first-step serves as an omen then Royal Challengers Bangalore had the worst of the inception-blues. RCB played the inaugural match of the Indian Premier League in 2008 and got whipped by a Brendon McCullum-inspired Kolkata Knight Riders ...

TEAM ANALYSIS/CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
All set to roar again
Like Germany in world football, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), in the short five-year history of the Indian Premier League (IPL), has always found itself at the business end of the tournament. Twice champion, twice runner-up and once ...

TEAM ANALYSIS/DELHI DAREDEVILS
KP will be missed
In Kevin Pietersen’s withdrawal, Delhi Daredevils has been struck a blow even before this year’s IPL season has begun. The Englishman injured his knee on the national side’s tour of New Zealand, and was ruled out of the IPL. ...

TEAM ANALYSIS/SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
A new beginning
The financial travails of the erstwhile owners of the Hyderabad franchise inflicted a premature closure upon the Deccan Chargers. Yet Hyderabad managed to have its own team as in the auction to buy the franchise, the media behemoth Sun Group ...

TEAM ANALYSIS/ MUMBAI INDIANS
A problem of plenty
Mumbai Indians is perhaps the most watched team in the Indian Premier League (IPL). For such a team, a solitary victory (2011 Champions League T20) so far is too meagre a return. Runner-up once and semi-finalist twice, it has either been blown ...

TEAM ANALYSIS/PUNE WARRIORS INDIA
In desperate need of a decent campaign
Arguably the worst side in the IPL over the last two seasons, Pune Warriors India is in desperate need of a decent campaign in order to stay relevant, not least to deflect from off-field issues. The team finished second-last in 2011 (avoiding ...

TEAM ANALYSIS/KINGS XI PUNJAB
Core remains the same
Kings XI Punjab sprang a bit of a surprise last season, remaining in contention for a berth in the qualifiers till the last round of the league games when it had mostly been written off. Even when captain Adam Gilchrist’s injury forced ...

T20 statistics

TEAM ANALYSIS/ RAJASTHAN ROYALS
Hoping for another fairytale
The erudite Rahul Dravid is missing in the television commentary team while India and Australia face-off in a one-sided Test series. However, for Rajasthan Royals, Dravid’s current absence in the sound-waves is welcome news indeed as the ...

W.V. RAMAN COLUMN
Inspiring Chennai duo
M. Vijay and R. Ashwin have done themselves proud and hopefully they will continue to do so for a long time.
ANALYSIS
Beaten lock, stock and barrel
Australia showed poor tactics when picking the playing XI for the first two Tests. In Chennai, Australia was a spinner short, while in Hyderabad it fielded an extra spinner. The worst came in Mohali where four players were excluded on disciplinary grounds. Australia had never looked so weak on a cricket field, writes Vijay Lokapally. 

Bridge
Bridge


Cricket
PROFILE
The new opener an eye-opener!
Is Shikhar Dhawan good enough to serve the Indian team long in the big league? He has begun to value his cricket and this was reflected in the manner in which he raced to his century in Mohali, writes Vijay Lokapally. 

Sports Extra
Educating children on Indian football
Football players are celebrities in Goa. Therefore, when the current and former India stars went on a parade in Panjim, with stopovers at five schools, there was excitement all around.
It was part of the Goa Football Development ...
Football
KICKING AROUND
The uncertain game
An Inter Milan team which in London had looked feeble and ineffectual came suddenly to life in San Siro and Tottenham Hotspur, admittedly without the talismanic Gareth Bale, scraped through, on away goal. By Brian Glanville. 

Kicking Around
A rising star
Kamara became the first player from Sierra Leone to score in the EPL when he struck against Everton, so he is something of a national hero back in his homeland. By Andy Ward. 

Football
FOCUS
A wake-up call for England
For the first time since 1996, the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals will be bereft of any English challenge, writes Ayon Sengupta. 

Cycling
ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIP
Empty stands, but not empty hands for the host
Despite the absence of fans inside the velodrome, Indian cycling had much to cheer about. However, it has much more to work on in the aftermath of the Asian Championship. By Priyansh.

CHAT SHOW
‘Sport is much more global now’
“The standard of events is growing particularly in Asia,” says UCI President Pat McQuaid to Priyansh. 

Hockey
SULTAN AZLAN SHAH CUP
Looking at the big picture
Though India finished fifth in the six-nation tournament, the chief coach, Michael Nobbs, is more than satisfied with his wards. “We set off for this tournament with several aims and I think we have achieved almost all of them,” he says. By Uthra Ganesan.
FOCUS
Turned on by the big stage
Manpreet Singh, the lone Indian to be named in the Azlan Shah XI this year, is a hardworking, intelligent and a thinking player. By Uthra Ganesan.

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