Johannesburg,
Brazil’s “Beautiful Game” came alive in the second half with three
comeback goals in a 3-2 win over the United States in the Confederations
Cup final here. Luis Fabiano scored two of the goals and Lucio added the
third in the 84th minute to give Brazil its second straight Confederations
Cup title and third overall yesterday.
But it was all looking good for the Americans, playing in the men’s
final of a FIFA tournament for the first time, in the first half when
Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan gave the team a 2-0 halftime lead.
Brazil really did look like a beaten team in the first 45 minutes,
creating little and being constantly stymied by the United States defense
and goalkeeper Tim Howard. During that time, the American attack was
stretching the nervous-looking Brazil defense, with Donovan working hard
to give his team several scoring chances.
Although that quality play managed to give the Americans a hefty lead,
Brazil was not about to let yet another title slip by.
Luis Fabiano started the comeback in the 46th minute. The striker
collected a pass from Ramires before turning and shooting past defender
Jay DeMerit for his fourth goal of the tournament.
He added a tournament-leading fifth to equalize in the 74th, heading in
a rebound after Kaka’s cross was kicked against the crossbar by Robinho.
Lucio then delivered the decisive goal in the 84th, heading a corner from
Elano past Howard. — AP
Kingston,
Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s defiant 95 went in vain as India suffered a
humiliating eight-wicket defeat at the hands of an inspired West Indies in
the lopsided second cricket one-day international here on Sunday. After
dismissing the visitors for a modest 188 in 48.2 overs, the Caribbean team
rode on openers Chris Gayle (64) and Runako Morton (85) to overhaul the
target in 34.1 overs and level the four match series 1-1.
Earlier, electing to bat first, Dhoni waged a lonely battle as India
succumbed to a batting collapse against a ferocious pace attack lead by
West Indies pacer Ravi Rampaul. Rampaul produced a career best four-wicket
haul and combined with Jerome Taylor to rip through the top-order before
joining hands with Dwayne Bravo to polish the lower order.
Chasing 189 to win, West Indies got off to a rollicking start with
Gayle taking the Indian attack by the scruff of its neck and Morton
playing initially the second fiddle. Gayle looked dangerous as he punished
the bowlers at will.
Ashish Nehra faced his wrath in the 8th over when he clobbered the
left-handed pacer out of the park and followed it up with a couple of
boundaries to amass 16 runs. Gayle also slog sweeped Harbhajan Singh for a
six in the 15th over to bring up the hundred before his blitzkrieg innings
was brought to an end by a stunning catch by Gautam Ghambir at long off in
the next over.
Sarwan then added 15 runs before being deceived by Rohit as Dhoni
completed an easy stumping. However, Morton chugged along nicely and with
Chanderpaul made sure there were no more hiccups as West Indies cruised to
192 for two.
Earlier, Dhoni struck six boundaries and a couple of sixes in his
innings and stitched together a record 101-run partnership for the ninth
wicket with RP Singh to lead India’s recovery after they were reduced to
82 for eight in 22 overs.
Dhoni’s decision to bat first backfired as India lost half their side
inside 15 overs with three batsmen going for a duck. The visitors had a
pathetic start losing Dinesh Karthik (4), Gautam Gambhir (0) and Rohit
Sharma (0) - to be left tottering at eight for three in 1.4 overs.
Playing his first match in the tournament, pacer Ravi Rampaul struck
twice in his first over but it was his partner Jerome Taylor who drew
first blood removing Karthik in the fifth ball of the innings.
Karthik’s outside edge found Ramdin, while a lame poke at an outside
delivery brought Gambhir’s demise. Rohit also followed suit when his
edge flew to Ramdin, who popped it to Runako Morton at second slip. Yuvraj
and Dhoni then steadied the ship to take India across the fifty in 11
overs. — PTI
T20 Win: A
‘rich’ experience for Pak players
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad
Each member of the Pakistan cricket team that won the T 20 World Cup at
Lord’s in England last week is richer by at least Rs 10 million as they
continue to accumulate cash prizes from different sources.
According to rough estimates some senior members like skipper Younus
Khan and Shahid Afridi have reaped even higher amounts, crossing the 15
million mark. The Pakistani heroes are expected to share around Rs four to
five million each; the total prize money the cup carried, apart from the
cash awarded for winning each match, man of match awards, climbing up the
ladder to the Super Eights and then onward to semifinals and the final.
“Though actual amount of the title money is yet to be disbursed by the
International Cricket Council (ICC), the team is likely to get around
$9.75 million,” according to an official of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
At home the largest amount of Rs 2.5 million rupees was announced for
each player by the PCB at a reception hosted by Speaker of the National
Assembly Fehmida Mirza. President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf
Raza Gilani announced a reward of Rs 10 million for each member of the
team, besides special rewards for Younus and Afridi.
Banks and other organisations, with which various players are
affiliated also gave generous amounts to honour their players. Younus,
Afridi and Umar Gul also received special boost in their service career.
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