18

SPORT
CRICKET

DELHI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2012

FOOTBALL

LONDON: Swansea dashed Thierry Henrys hopes of a dream return to the Premier League as it struck a blow to Arsenals top-four ambitions with a 3-2 win at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday. Robin van Persie had given the Gunners an early lead only for a Scott Sinclair penalty and a Nathan Dyer strike to swing the contest in Swanseas favour. Theo Walcott levelled for Arsene Wengers side in the 69th minute, soon after Henrys introduction as a substitute for his 255th English top-ight appearance, yet Arsenal was left stunned a minute later when Danny Graham red in the winner. Arsenal could have few complaints with the outcome, though, after a sub-standard display which means it remains four points adrift of fourthplaced Chelsea in fth position. It has now suffered back-toback league defeats and this was a painful reintroduction to the top-ight for French striker Henry, ve years after he left Arsenal to join Barcelona. Mikel Arteta was a notable absentee for Arsenal after picking up an injury in training on Saturday, while its injury crisis at left-back meant Ignasi Miquel earned his rst Premier League start. Swansea made four changes from the team which defeated Barnsley in the FA Cup last weekend.

Swansea shocks Arsenal

It is time BCCI took a stand

S. Dinakar
CHENNAI: The selection of a 17th member in Rahul Sharma, as an additional third spinner, was the heartening feature of the Indian squad for the two T20 internationals and ODI tri-series down under picked here on Sunday. Leg-spinner Rahul not a big turner of the ball, but one who relies on bounce could enjoy the conditions in Australia. Maestro Sachin Tendulkar returns to the ODI scheme of things for the rst time since April 2, 2011, when India triumphed in the World Cup nal, overcoming Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium. A legend and a path-nder,

Tendulkar played a huge role in that famous conquest at home with 482 runs in nine matches at 53.55. While Tendulkars greatness and inuence are beyond question, no player, whatever his scale of achievements, should be allowed to pick and choose his tours. Its time the BCCI takes a stand on the issue. Young opener Ajinkya Rahane he has a reasonable average of 30.90 from 11 ODIs misses out. When youngsters such as Rahane are being groomed, they deserve a fair run. The selection of Parthiv Patel as the second wicket-keeper batsman is bafing. Never an outstanding keeper, Parthiv averaged just 16.75 in the four ODIs against England and

14.00 in the ve one-dayers versus the West Indies at home.

Why not Karthik?

In a team that could struggle for runs on pitches offering bounce and movement to the pacemen even in the abbreviated form of the game, Dinesh Karthik could have added weight to the line-up. While Wriddhiman Sahas glovework can be impressive, there is little to choose between Parthiv and Karthik as far as keeping skills is concerned. However, Karthik has been the best batsman among Indian keepers in conditions outside the sub-continent. In fact, playing as a pure batsman in a top-order role against England in the Oval

Test of 2007, he came up with an impressive 91. Karthiks form in the ongoing domestic season has not been extraordinary he has 474 runs from eight Ranji matches at 43.09 with two hundreds but there are times when the selectors should not go by numbers alone; statistics can be misleading. The potential in a cricketer to deliver in challenging conditions should also be a yardstick. Karthik is unlucky to miss out. If the selectors wanted the best keeper, then they could have opted for Saha. The return of swing bowler Praveen Kumar he was sidelined by a rib injury is welcome. Praveen could combine capably with the left-arm varie-

ty of Zaheer Khan. Umesh Yadav has the ability to provide thrust to the attack, while leftarm swing bowler Irfan Pathan can also lend depth to the lower order with his batting. For once, the Board and the selectors have taken a tough stand on the injury front. Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Varun Aaron, S. Sreesanth and Munaf Patel have not been considered owing to lack of complete recoveries from tness concerns.
The squad: M.S. Dhoni (captain), V. Sehwag (vice-captain), S. Tendulkar, G. Gambhir, V. Kohli, Rohit Sharma, S. Raina, M. Tiwari, Parthiv Patel, Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Irfan, R. Ashwin, R. Jadeja, Rahul Sharma.

CHESS

Himal Gusain stuns Trang in third round

KEEN TUSSLE: Nathan Dyer (right), who scored the second goal in Swanseas defeat of Arsenal.
PHOTO: MICHAEL STEELE/GETTY IMAGES

Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Chandigarh-based 18-year-old Himal Gusain pulled off the biggest upset of his budding career by defeating former Asian women and World junior girls champion Hoang Thanh Trang in the third round of the Parsvnath International Open chess championship here on Monday. On a day when ve other

Yet it found itself trailing within ve minutes following the Gunners rst serious attack. The Gunners fans chanted Henrys name when he emerged from the dug-out to

warm-up as they signalled their desire to see their hero make his much-anticipated Premier League return.
The result: Swansea 3 (Sinclair 16-pen, Dyer 57, Graham 70) bt Arsenal 2 (van Persie 5, Walcott 69).

Grandmasters, including top seed Sandipan Chanda, were forced to split points by lesserrated rivals, 19 players formed the leaders group with three points each. The days biggest upset came in the fth hour of play with Gusains 86-move triumph. The 31-year-old Vietnamborn Trang, who represents Hungary, opted for the French Defence. Though Gusain was not

aware of the correct continuation, he capitalised on an error from Trang on the 20th move to trade a rook for a bishop and a knight. He later claimed a pawn and triumphed after missing an easier route to victory. On the top board, Chanda pressed hard for a win over R. Bhuvanesh but eventually settled for a 67-move draw in Sicilian Defence.
The results (Indians unless

stated): Third round: R. Bhuvanesh (2.5) drew with Sandipan Chanda (2.5); Rahul Sangma (2) lost to Andrei Deviatkin (Rus, 3); Oliver Barbosa (Phi, 3) bt Ankit Rajpara (2). Abhishek Das (2) lost to Abhijit Kunte (3); Lanka Ravi (2.5) drew with Mark Paragua (Phi, 2.5); Richard Bitoon (Phi, 3) bt P. Konguvel (2); John Paul Gomez (Phi, 3) bt V. A. V. Rajesh (2). Bitan Banerjee (3) bt Kirill Kuderinov (Kaz, 2); Deepan Chakravarthy (2.5) drew with S. L. Narayan (2.5);

Saravana Krishnan (2) lost to M. R. Lalith Babu (3). P. Shyam Nikhil (2.5) drew with Mu Ke (Chn, 2.5); M. Kunal (2) lost to Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb, 3); Prasenjit Dutta (2) lost to Aswin Jayaram (3); Neelotpal Das (2.5) drew with Shardul Gagare (2.5); R. A. Pradeep Kumar (2) lost to M. S. Thejkumar (3); Vaibhav Suri (3) bt Hemant Sharma (2). Himal Gusain (3) bt Hoang Thanh Trang (Hun, 2); Pravin Thipsay (3) bt G. B. Joshi (2); R. R. Laxman (2.5) drew with Anurag Mhamal (2).

...ND-ND