CAPE TOWN: It happened a generation ago, but those who watched it carry with them technicolor images of a sunlit Newlands afternoon. South Africa piled up 529 for seven in the New Year Test of 1997, and India were in utter disarray at 58 for five when Mohammad Azharuddin, the team’s senior pro, strode out to join Sachin Tendulkar, the captain. For the next 40 overs, they put on a batting masterclass. Tendulkar did it by the book, even when attacking audaciously, while Azharuddin — freed from the cares of captaincy — was in free-flowing mode.
They added 222, with Azharuddin smashing 115 off just 110 balls. Tendulkar would stay right to the end, crafting a magnificent 169 off 254 balls that helped India save the follow-on before an unbelievable catch on the boundary from Adam Bacher. Despite that dazzling spell of strokeplay, Tendulkar and his team would go on to lose the match by 282 runs. One of the main reasons being the lack of quality back-up for Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad. Dodda Ganesh, who made his debut in that game, finished with just five wickets in four Tests.
Things were little different a decade later. S Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan bowled magnificently to script a 123-run win at The Wanderers, but the support for them just wasn’t good enough. Vikram Raj Vir Singh leaked runs in Durban, and a palpably unfit Munaf Patel bowled just one over with the series on the line in the final innings in Cape Town.
If you go back even further to India’s first tour of the rainbow nation a quarter century ago, Newlands saw an aging Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar, never more than medium pace, take the new ball instead of Javagal Srinath, one of the fastest bowlers in the world at the time. When he was finally utilized properly, and that too only as first change in the second innings, Srinath took four for 33 in 27 overs.
These are the cautionary tales that Ravi Shastri, the current coach who played three of the four Tests on that first tour, might have shared with Virat Kohli, the captain, as India embark on their toughest challenge since they were beaten 2-0 in Australia in 2014-15. Unlike his predecessors, Kohli will not be hamstrung by lack of resources.
Mohammed Shami can move the ball both ways at pace, while Ishant Sharma’s hit-the-deck methods offer both control and menace. At Newlands, Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s ability to swing the ball should see him get the nod in place of the skiddier Umesh Yadav. When the series moves to the Highveld, Jasprit Bumrah will also be an option.
But at a ground where Tendulkar played two of his greatest innings — a full 14 years after the 169, he made a sensational 146 against Dale Steyn in his prime — it is the batsmen who will have to take centerstage against the best pace attack in the game. Ottis Gibson, the coach, and Faf du Plessis, the captain, both hinted that the fit-gain Steyn would play only if accompanied by three other quicks — Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada.
For India’s batsmen, the trial by pace will be relentless. On their last tour in 2013-14, they acquitted themselves well, but one bad collapse in Durban was enough to give South Africa the rubber. After nine series wins on the bounce, this will be the real test of their mettle.
India must face up to South African pace for any series success
India must face up to South African pace for any series success
Paul Waring shoots 61 in Abu Dhabi to set 36-hole record on European tour with 19-under par
ABU DHABI: Paul Waring hit the shot of his life to complete a career-low 11-under 61 in the second round of the Abu Dhabi Championship on Friday and establish a five-stroke lead heading into the weekend of the European tour’s first playoff event.
The No. 229-ranked Englishman hit a draw with a 3-wood from about 260 yards to inside 4 feet at No. 18 and tapped in the birdie putt to move to 19-under par for the tournament.
The European tour confirmed to The Associated Press that it is the lowest 36-hole score to par in the tour’s history.
Waring, who opened with a 64 on Thursday, made nine birdies and an eagle in a bogey-free round at Yas Links and set a course record.
“I’ve got a nice lead at the moment but even before I tee off tomorrow, someone might have caught me,” said the 39-year-old Waring, whose sole win came at the Nordea Masters in 2018. “While I’m in the lead at the moment, and if we are rational about this, everyone is still going to fire a lot of
birdies in there.
“So if I’m going to be involved on Sunday afternoon, I’ve still got to keep going the way I am and I know that.”
First-round leader Tommy Fleetwood of England (68), Johannes Veerman of the United States (67) and Danish players Niklas Norgaard (65) and Thorbjorn Olesen (67) were tied for second place on 14 under.
Rory McIlroy hit his tee shot into a greenside bunker at the par-3 17th and made a triple bogey on the way to a second successive 67, leaving him nine strokes off the lead.
McIlroy, who can clinch a sixth Race to Dubai title with a win this week, was 7 under after 13 holes of his second round and feels he’ll need to produce something similar to reel in Waring and his closest chasers.
“I need the golf course to firm up a little bit and toughen up a little bit to have a chance,” McIlroy said. “There’s so many gettable holes out there.”
Zheng advances to WTA Finals championship match with semifinal win over Krejcikova
- Zheng, 22, awaits top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka or third-seeded Coco Gauff in the final on Saturday
RIYADH: Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen became the first tournament debutante to reach the championship match at the WTA Finals since 2021 with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Barbora Krejcikova in Riyadh on Friday.
The seventh-seeded Zheng needed one hour and 40 minutes to overcome the Wimbledon champion in their semifinal encounter, firing nine aces along the way.
Zheng led 6-3, 3-0 before the eighth-seeded Krejcikova launched a comeback attempt but the Chinese star regained control of the match to make it two wins from two clashes with the Czech.
Zheng, 22, awaits top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka or third-seeded Coco Gauff in the final on Saturday, as she bids to become the first player to win the WTA Finals on her maiden appearance since Ashleigh Barty in 2019.
“It feels so special because this is my first WTA Finals and right now I’m in the final, which is unbelievable. She’s a really good player, today we gave a good match,” said Zheng.
“It was tricky because at 3-0 I think I dropped my performance; suddenly my performance went down, and she played more free and I was suddenly 3-4 down. I gave so much control to myself to not panic too much. It shows I was mentally strong in that moment.”
Zheng was near untouchable on serve in the 40-minute opening set, dropping just one point behind her first delivery en route to a 6-3 lead.
The Olympic champion broke twice for a 3-0 advantage in the second set and looked on her way to a comfortable victory.
But Krejcikova had other ideas and she halted Zheng’s momentum by attacking her second serve to grab the next four games and inch ahead for the first time in the contest.
It became a tug of war but it was Zheng who found an opening, breaking in game 12 to put herself in the position to serve for the match.
The fight wasn’t over yet as Zheng had to save a break point and saw a first match point slip away before she wrapped up the win on her second chance when a Krejcikova forehand sailed wide.
Since the event’s inauguration in 1972, Zheng is only the second Asian player to reach the decider at the WTA Finals after Li Na pulled off that feat in 2013.
PSG to curb political slogans in wake of ‘Free Palestine’ banner
- PSG promised to “guarantee the absence of political messages” in the stands
- “The club was not aware of the plan to display such a message“
PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain say they will make sure there is no repeat of a midweek unfurling by fans of a banner proclaiming “Free Palestine.”
The huge banner covered an entire section of the stadium at the Parc des Princes Wednesday night ahead of PSG’s defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid.
As well as the slogan “Free Palestine,” the banner showed a bloodstained Palestinian flag, a gesticulating man with a keffiyeh scarf covering all his face except his eyes, the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and a young boy wrapped in the Lebanese flag.
On Friday, after a meeting with the French football federation and government officials, PSG promised to “guarantee the absence of political messages” in the stands.
“A frank and constructive dialogue made it possible to identify solutions that PSG is committed to putting in place from the next match at the Parc des Princes,” a government spokesperson told AFP.
The banner, which was unfurled by the Paris Ultras Collective (CUP) hard-core fan group, was shown above another slogan which read: “War on the pitch but peace in the world.”
“The club was not aware of the plan to display such a message,” PSG said in a statement Wednesday evening.
Al-Hilal win again to pile pressure on Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq
- Three fine goals from Aleksandar Mitrovic, Malcom and Mohammed Al-Qahtani did the damage
RIYADH: Al-Hilal returned to the top of the Saudi Pro League on Friday, defeating Ettifaq 3-1 to rack up the pressure on under-fire coach Steven Gerrard.
Three fine goals from Aleksandar Mitrovic, Malcom and Mohammed Al-Qahtani did the damage as the champions moved a point clear of Al-Ittihad, who won 2–0 at Al-Orubah on Thursday.
The loss means that Ettifaq, who started the season with three straight wins, have taken just one point from the last six games in the league. It may mean a nervous international break for Gerrard, though the Liverpool legend will know that this was a battling performance from his players, who just did not quite have the quality when needed.
While Ettifaq tried to keep it tight at the back, it was not all one-way traffic. Moussa Dembele had a couple of opportunities when the ball simply wouldn’t fall for him and Karl Toko-Ekambi shot just over from the left side, though it could have been a mishit cross.
All know, however, that you have to be ruthless and clinical when playing the 19-time Saudi champions as wastefulness is almost always punished. It took the Blues some time to get going but they started to look ominous as half-time approached.
Just before the break, Al-Hilal should have taken the lead. This season Mitrovic has been lethal inside the area and the league’s leading scorer was picked out in space near the penalty spot; the stadium held its breath but former Fulham teammate Marek Rodak got his foot to the low shot and Malcom fired the rebound wide.
Mitrovic didn’t miss in added time. Renan Lodi picked up possession on the left and the Brazilian then bent a beautiful low cross behind the Ettifaq defense and Mitrovic could not miss from inside the six-yard box for his 11th of the season.
Ettifaq were still very much in the game and ten minutes after the restart, Toko-Ekambi stretched for a low cross, and while the Cameroonian did make contact and forced a good save from Yassine Bounou, it was a great chance.
The easterners thought they were going to regret that as Mitrovic had the ball in the net once more but his close-range header was ruled out for offside. There was a lengthy VAR review but it only confirmed the referee’s original decision.
The second goal did come eventually, and when it did — in the 81st minute — it was one to remember, for the home fans at least. Malcolm was running in from the left side of the area when he was found by a smart backheel from Abdullah Al-Hamdan. The Brazilian then took the ball past the goalkeeper with his first touch and then rolled the ball home.
It seemed that there was no coming back from that — Hilal are not a team that gives up two-goal leads — but as injury time started, Ettifaq were handed a lifeline in the shape of a penalty, and up stepped Vitinho to place the ball into the bottom corner.
Unfortunately for the visitors, it served just to wake up the hosts, who quickly restored their two-goal lead, though Gerrard angrily told officials that Mitrovic had committed a foul in the build-up. The home fans enjoyed the goal, however, as Malcom fed Mohammed Al-Qahtani who turned 360 degrees to make a little space in the area and then fired a low shot home.
It got even worse for Ettifaq as Abdullah Radif was sent off for shoving Ali Al-Bulaihi in the neck. There really was no coming back from that.
All in all, it was a perfect evening’s work for Al-Hilal, even if Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard will be a little concerned that star man Salem Al-Dawsari seemed to pick up an injury — with the trip to Australia for a vital World Cup qualifier next Thursday.
Elsewhere, Al-Ahli bounced back from their defeat in the Jeddah Derby to defeat Al-Raed 2-0.
Paul Waring shoots 61 in Abu Dhabi to set 36-hole record on European tour with 19-under par
- Waring, who opened with a 64 on Thursday, made nine birdies and an eagle in a bogey-free round at Yas Links
- Rory McIlroy made a triple bogey on No. 17 in his second successive 67
ABU DHABI: Paul Waring hit the shot of his life to complete a career-low 11-under 61 in the second round of the Abu Dhabi Championship on Friday and establish a five-stroke lead heading into the weekend of the European tour’s first playoff event.
The No. 229-ranked Englishman hit a draw with a 3-wood from about 260 yards to inside 4 feet at No. 18 and tapped in the birdie putt to move to 19-under par for the tournament.
The European tour confirmed to The Associated Press that it is the lowest 36-hole score to par in the tour’s history.
Waring, who opened with a 64 on Thursday, made nine birdies and an eagle in a bogey-free round at Yas Links and set a course record.
First-round leader Tommy Fleetwood of England (68), Johannes Veerman of the United States (67) and Danish players Niklas Norgaard (65) and Thorbjorn Olesen (67) were tied for second place on 14 under.
Rory McIlroy made a triple bogey on No. 17 in his second successive 67 and was nine strokes off the lead.
McIlroy can clinch a sixth Race to Dubai title with a win this week.
