Gutsy Gambhir leads India's fightback in 2nd Test

Napier: Gautam Gambhir struck a gutsy unbeaten century to lead a remarkable Indian fightback as the visitors raised hopes of drawing the second cricket Test against New Zealand by losing just one wicket on the fourth day here on Sunday.
After conceding a huge 314-run lead, the Indians raised their game when it mattered most to reach 252 for two at close on the penultimate day, still trailing the hosts by 62 runs.

The left-handed Gambhir notched up his fifth Test ton and was batting on 102 while Sachin Tendulkar (58 not out) and Rahul Dravid (62) were the other notable contributors as the Indians batted valiantly to save the Test.

With one day left, the Indians have to keep the good work going and prevent New Zealand from levelling the three-match series 1-1.

Resuming on 47 for one, Gambhir first added 133 runs with Dravid before putting on 89 runs for the unseparated third wicket with Tendulkar.

Dravid and Gambhir displayed remarkable application in steering India out of woods with a steadfast partnership that kept the Kiwis at bay for four long hours.

In fact, the awesome threesome of Indian cricket manifested why VVS Laxman had been confident of India producing something special at the media briefing last evening. They scarcely gave the Kiwis a chance to reassert themselves in the game, mixing caution with aggression to assimilate runs, though scoring at a snail's pace of 2.28 an over.

Dravid's impregnable defence and Tendulkar's dominance are folklore in Indian cricket but today Gambhir showed why he is regarded highly by his illustrious seniors. He batted on and on, wearing the Kiwi nerves thin and running them ragged.

There was a period when he was stuck on 83 for 32 balls in 57 minutes but he hung on patiently to bring up his fifth century, getting a congratulatory hug from Tendulkar, who seemed more delighted than Gambhir himself.

Gambhir also reached a personal land mark in reaching 2000 runs in his 24th Test.

Tendulkar was his imperious self, driving with elan on the up and off the back foot through covers and clipping off his legs with precision, once even hooking Iain O'Brien over the pickets over fine-leg when the speedster dared to dig the ball short.

Having offered his wicket on a platter (49) in the first innings, the Little Master dropped anchor to prepare for what would probably be his 43 Test hundred, his second successive in the series.

Earlier, a dubious bat-pad decision by umpire Ian Gould set India back 27 minutes before tea when Dravid was adjudged caught at forward short leg by Jamie How off Vettori. Dravid had leaned forward to defend Vettori. Though the ball had eluded his bat and glove, Gould declared him caught off bat-pad at forward short leg by Jamie How, giving the Kiwis the breakthrough they had been searching for most part of the day.

More than the runs they garnered (133) for the second wicket, Gambhir and Dravid had done a great job for India in the morning by consuming four hours, effectively wearing down the enervated Kiwis.

Brawn GP take dramatic one-two victory in Melbourne

Not since the French Grand Prix in 1954 has a team new to Formula One racing finished one-two on their debut. That day it was Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling for Mercedes-Benz.
This afternoon it was Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello for Brawn-Mercedes after an extraordinary ‘race of two halves’ in Australia.
Button led from pole as Barrichello bogged down when his car activated its anti-stall device, and the Brazilian was then embroiled in a first-corner clash with BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld, Red Bull’s Mark Webber, Force India's Adrian Sutil and McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen.
Button streaked away from Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull, Robert Kubica’s BMW Sauber, Nico Rosberg’s Williams and the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen. But the face of the race changed on Lap 19 when Kazuki Nakajima crashed his Williams heavily, bringing out the safety car until the end of the 24th lap.
By then Button had watched a 47.7s lead reduced to nothing, and began to struggle to generate heat in his tyres. But he got his head down and opened a gap to Vettel again. As the Ferraris faded, Kubica found his BMW Sauber getting better and better on the harder Bridgestone tyre and gradually began to put Vettel, on the softer option tyre, under serious pressure in the closing stages.
Going into Turn Three on the 55th lap - with three left to run under a setting sun which made driving conditions very difficult - Kubica got alongside Vettel but they touched. Both spun, but continued. But not for long.
Vettel had lost his front wing and crashed heavily just as Kubica, further down the road, did the same thing. Out came the safety car again.Incredibly, that melee had promoted Barrichello back to the second place, despite his first-lap incident and a later touch with Raikkonen which damaged his Brawn’s front wing.
It was changed during his first pit stop on the 18th lap. As the race finished under the safety car, he admitted that he had never expected a one-two after all his dramas.Jarno Trulli started from the pit lane after Toyota’s rear wing infringement yesterday, but hauled through to take the final podium finish, while a very determined drive brought a hugely valuable fourth place for Lewis Hamilton and McLaren ahead of Toyota’s Timo Glock, who survived a spin while battling from his own pit lane start, when he and Fernando Alonso tangled.
The Spaniard brought his Renault home sixth, while seventh place came as a bitter disappointment to Rosberg. The German was running fourth with six laps to go and had set fastest lap, but had used up his Bridgestone option tyres and was simply in no position to defend the place. By the finish he had rookie Sebastien Buemi thirsting after him as Toro Rosso’s Swiss driver scored a point for eighth place on his debut.Neither of the Ferraris finished. Both struggled with tyre wear, and as Massa suffered a mechanical problem late in the race, Raikkonen spun and subsequently retired.
Sebastien Bourdais was ninth in the second Toro Rosso, ahead of Adrian Sutil, who survived a brush with Force India team mate Giancarlo Fisichella. They were separated by Heidfeld, who was consigned to a recovery race after the first corner fracas, while Fisichella further delayed himself by missing his pit marks in his first stop.Webber, another in recovery mode, was the final classified finisher, ahead of Vettel, Kubica, and Raikkonen.
The retirements were Massa, Nelson Piquet who spun his Renault after the first safety car restart, Nakajima and Kovalainen. Button’s great victory marked the 200th for a British driver."It's not just for me but for the whole team,” he said, “a fairy tale ending really to the first race of our career together and I hope we can continue this way.
We are going to fight every way we can to keep this car competitive and at the front. This has got to continue and this is where we want to be. Bring on Malaysia!”

Gambhir grinds to century, India inch to safety

Gautam Gambhir ground his way to his fifth test century as India edged closer to saving the second test against New Zealand by the close of play on the fourth day on Sunday.
The tourists, who won the first match of the three-test series in Hamilton by 10 wickets, reached 252 for two at stumps, 62 runs behind New Zealand's 619 for nine declared after being dismissed for 305 in their first innings and forced to follow on.
Gambhir was on 102, while Sachin Tendulkar was on 58 -- his 52nd test half century -- and with a day still to play he is well placed to convert that into his 43rd test century on the benign McLean Park wicket on Monday.
Gambhir, who was on 14 when play began on Sunday, was watchful all day with few false strokes and only one nervous moment when a James Franklin outswinger squared him up while he was on 84.
Initial reactions from the New Zealand fielders were that wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum had dropped a sharp chance, though television replays showed Gambhir had been comprehensively beaten and the ball had brushed his back leg.
The 27-year-old, who had spent almost an hour stuck on 83 after tea finally brought up his milestone with an aggressive lofted shot over wide mid-on for his 14th boundary. He had taken 265 balls to achieve the mark.
Rahul Dravid (62) was the only wicket to fall on Sunday after he had shared in a four-hour, 133-run partnership with Gambhir, though his dismissal was controversial.
Dravid was given out caught in close by Jamie How off Daniel Vettori by umpire Ian Orchard, but the batsman was visibly upset with the decision and television replays showed the ball had ballooned off his front pad without touching his bat or gloves.
India lost Virender Sehwag for 22 late on Saturday when the stand-in captain attempted an outlandish slog sweep to a straight delivery from off-spinner Jeetan Patel and was trapped in front.

Durban to host 16 IPL ties

The second DLF Indian Premier League will be held in eight cities in South Africa, including Cape Town and Johannesburg which are to host the opening tie and the final respectively, as per the official fixtures list released today.
The schedule of the high-profile Twenty20 League, to be held in South Africa from April 18-May 24, has been released after the organizers have fine-tuned the earlier programme sent to the franchises.
Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai Indians would clash with last years runners-up Chennai Super Kings, led by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, to kick off the cash-rich tournament that traverses the length and breadth of the Rainbow Nation.
Durban, with its high population of people of South Asian origin, will host the maximum number of 16 matches, including five double headers (April 21, 29, May 5, 14 and 20) while Cape Town will have double headers on the first two days of the competition.
Matches will be held at 12.30 pm and 4.30 pm local time

Kovalainen on pole for British GP

McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen seized the first pole position of his Formula One career at the British Grand Prix on Saturday.
The 26-year-old Finn left his rivals trailing with a lap of one minute 21.049 seconds, more than half a second quicker than second-placed Australian Mark Webber [Images] under grey skies at Silverstone.
"Well done, you're on pole by a mile," he was told on the team radio as he crossed the line right at the end of the qualifying session to deprive Red Bull's Webber of what would have been his first pole.
Ferrari's [Images] world champion Kimi Raikkonen [Images] qualified third with Britain's Lewis Hamilton [Images], Kovalainen's team mate, unable to match his 2007 Silverstone pole in fourth place after making a big error on his first flying lap.
Brazili's championship leader Felipe Massa [Images] was only ninth for Ferrari, with his closest rival Robert Kubica 10th for BMW-Sauber.

Force India starts British GP from back of the grid

Despite introducing new aero package, Force India will start Sunday's British Grand Prix from the back of the grid with Adrian Sutil at 19th, just ahead of teammate Giancarlo Fisichella.
Force India's gamble of putting in a series of laps in the opening 10 minutes and then a final flying lap in the dying minute nearly paid dividends, with Fisichella almost breaking into the top 15 on his very last lap.
Kovalainen on pole for British GP
But a spin in the last sector dashed Fisichella's chance and the Italian finished 20th and his German teammate Adrian Sutil was just ahead in 19th.
The duo, however, were just three tenths from making it to Q2 and less than half a second from the top 10 for the first time.
Although some mechanical glitches cost them dear, the duo feels overall it was quite satisfactory at the end.
Home hero Hamilton under pressure to win
"It was quite a good qualifying for us as I think we could get nearly all the performance out of the car, although we had a little problem with graining on the front tyres that cost us a little bit of time. There is a better trend at the moment; we have a new update on the car, it works well and we are not too far away from the others - only about two tenths," Sutil said.
On the other hand, Fisichella although quite happy with the performance could not help thinking about the lost opportunity.
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"Unfortunately I had a problem with the engine cover during the session and I lost some downforce as the right side of the car was in a bad position. That said, I was only three tenths away from Q2 so it's not too bad considering," Fisichella said.

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