Wayne Rooney, England’s leading international scorer, looks a shadow of the player who has plundered 187 Premier League goals in his career. (Source: Reuters)

Wayne Rooney endured another frustratingly disappointing afternoon in Manchester United’s 0-0 Premier League draw at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

The England striker, starting in his favoured central role, huffed and puffed to little effect with just one effort on target before finishing the match wide on the left having done little to silence his mounting critics.

The 30-year-old Rooney, England’s leading international scorer, looks a shadow of the player who has plundered 187 Premier League goals in his career.

He has scored only two league goals this season and his first involvement at Palace was a heated argument with referee Mike Jones after he penalised a United player.

Rooney curled an inviting 20-metre free kick from a central position too close to goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey and lifted another free kick harmlessly over his team mates and into touch.

Released by a fine pass from fellow striker Anthony Martial, the former Everton forward failed to control the ball and wasted an opportunity before being caught offside in another promising position.

Rooney, however, continued to work tirelessly for United’s cause, tracking back and doing his fair share of defensive work.

With 20 minutes remaining, manager Louis van Gaal shunted him out to the left and moved Martial into the middle, the 19-year-old Frenchman’s better pace and mobility offering more of an attacking threat.

Rooney cut inside to send a 25-metre drive sailing over the bar to the delight of the home fans and his final contribution was to head away a deep free kick from Palace in stoppage time as United hung on for their third goalless draw in a week.

As he trudged off the pitch, Rooney raised his hands to applaud the away supporters who will have drifted away from Selhurst Park wondering if their captain’s loss of form is terminal.

Thirteen years as a professional footballer look to have taken their toll on his body and Van Gaal seems to have a difficult task to find a way to revitalise his once inspirational captain.

The draw left United fourth in the table, four points behind leaders Manchester City, and Palace in eighth position.

Kerala Blasters had plenty of chances to kill the game including a second half spot kick but failed. (Source: PTI file)

Kerala Blasters missed a crucial second-half penalty kick and had to settle for a 1-1 draw against rivals Chennaiyin FC in the Hero Indian Super League football in Kochi on Saturday.

Chennaiyin FC had taken the lead through Elano Blumer’s spot kick in the 34th minute and Chris Dagnall drew level for the hosts 15 seconds after play restarted in the second session. Kerala Blasters won a penalty in the 52nd minute but Josue Prieto’s low attempt was kept away by Chennaiyin FC goalkeeper Karanjit Singh.

Chennaiyin FC surged ahead with only their second shot on target in the first session. The goal came through the boots of Elano from a penalty after Sandesh Jhingan brought down Stiven Mendoza inside the box, even though the Colombian striker had no chance of reaching the cross.

Elano does not make mistakes from the spot and the Brazilian made no mistake by sending Kerala Blasters goalkeeper Stephen Bywater the wrong way.

Kerala Blasters had to wait till the second session to draw level. In fact, they took 15 seconds in the second session to score the equaliser when Dagnall rushed ahead of his marker to head a cross from Saumik Dey.

The hosts had plenty of chances to kill the game as a contest particularly after they had restored parity.

Two of their chances came from free-kicks with the 61st minute attempt the closest they came to taking the lead for the first time. A free-kick from Josue saw Dagnall head the ball but goalkeeper Karanjit did exceptionally well to palm the ball away. The ball, though, did not go too far and Jhingan, who was nearby, saw his resultant attempt slightly off the target.

Another chance was missed by Mohammad Rafi who headed wide a Peter Ramage cross from the left.

There was no better chance than the penalty in the 51st minute. Ramage was adjudged to have been brought down by Mailson Alves inside the danger zone and the referee quickly pointed to the spot. Josue stepped up to take the penalty but Karanjit guessed correctly and saved the attempt by diving full-length to his left.

At the other end, Elano got closest to goal with a curling effort that Bywater did well to keep away.

Kerala Blasters had to change their strategy for the last 15 minutes after Bruno Perone was sent off for a challenge on Mendoza.

Chennaiyin FC tried to push more men forward and pressurise the rival defence but Kerala Blasters gave little away.

Riding on centuries by openers — Ankush Bains (114) and Prashant Chopra (101) — Himachal Pradesh reached 259 for three in reply to Tripura first innings total of 285, at the end of second day’s play of their Ranji Trophy Group C match in Dharamsala on Saturday.

Himachal now trail Tripura by just 26 runs with seven wickets remaining.

Resuming on 223 for seven, Tripura’s overnight batsman Udiyan Bose, who was unbeaten on 95, failed to add any more run to his last night’s score, thus missing out on his maiden first-class century.

Tripura added 62 runs to their overnight total to finish their first innings at 285.

Himachal then got off to an excellent start with Bains and Chopra putting on 210 runs for the opening wicket. But once Chopra got out, Himachal lost two more wickets, which included Bains’ scalp as well, in the span of just 17 runs.

Rana Dutta (3 for 26) was the pick of Tripura bowlers, claiming all three wickets that fell on the day.

Brief Scores: Tripura 1st Innings: 285 all out in 107.4 overs (Udiyan Bose 95, Manisankar Murasingh 44; Akshay Chauhan 3/55) Himachal Pradesh 1st Innings: 259 for 3 in 70 overs (Ankush Bains 114, Prashant Chopra 101; Rana Dutta 3/26)

Saurashtra lead Services by 10 runs at end of Day 2 

Good bowling display from Services’ Muzzaffaruddin Khalid and DG Pathania, who took five and four wickets respectively, helped the team bowl out Saurashtra for 264 on day two of their Ranji Trophy Group C cricket match in New Delhi on Saturday.

At the close of play, Saurashtra led Services by 10 runs in the first innings. A A Barot top-scored for Saurashtra with 66 runs. C S Jani was bowled by Muzzaffaruddin Khalid for 47.

Saurashtra captain J N Shah managed to make 23.

Khalid (5-74) and Pathania (4-72) were the pick among the bowlers sharing nine wickets between them.

Brief Scores: Services 254 all out in 69.1 overs (Rajat Paliwal 121, Yashpal Singh 55 not out; Jaydev Unadkat 6-80, Shaurya Sanandia 3-62) Saurashtra 264 all out in 92.4 overs (AA Barot 66, CS Jani 47; Muzzaffaruddin Khalid 5-74, DG Pathania 4-72)

J&K put on 460 against Hyderabad 

Riding on a splendid show by their batsmen, Jammu and Kashmir posted a mammoth first-innings total of 460 against Hyderabad on the second day of their Ranji Trophy group C match in Hyderabad on Saturday.

After skipper Mithun Manhas’ 150 on Friday, the visiting side rode on Parveez Rasool’s 120-ball 75 and Ram Dayal’s 48 to get over the 400-run mark and grab the edge.

For Hyderabad, Anwar Ahmed was the best bowler with a haul of 5/92.

Brief Scores: Jammu and Kashmir 1st Innings: 460 all out in 131.2 overs (Mithun Manhas 150, Parveez Rasool 75, Anwar Ahmed 5/92). Hyderabad 1st Innings: 113/2 in 41 overs (Tanmay Aggarwal 57, Rohit Sharma 2/33)

Goa 141/2 against Jharkhand on 2nd day

An unbeaten knock of 67 by opener Swapnil Asnodkar steered Goa to 141 for two in their first innings against hosts Jharkhand on the second day of the four-day Group C Ranji Trophy cricket match at Keenan stadium in Jamshedpur on Saturday.

Elected to bat first after winning the toss, Goa openers Amogh Desai (26, 2×4) and Asnodkar started on a confident note, stiching together 84 runs before off-spinner Samar Quadri struck the first blow in the 31st over.

Off-spinner Gurkeerat Singh Mann registered his career best bowling figures as Punjab defeated a sorry-looking Andhra by seven wickets on the second day of a Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match, in Patiala on Saturday.

After the fall of 17 wickets on the opening day, it was no different on Saturday as well as 16 more tumbled on a rank turner at the Dhruve Pandove stadium.

Resuming their first innings at 127 for seven in reply to Andhra 80 all out, Punjab added 20 more runs to finish on 147 to take a first innings lead of 67 runs.

But the first innings lead hardly mattered as Punjab rode on Gurkeerat’s innings-best five for 38 to bundle out Andhra for a meagre 133 in their second innings, thereby setting a paltry target of 67 runs to chase for an outright win with more than two days play remaining in the match.

Gurkeerat finished with career-best match figures of nine for 52, which includes his first innings bowling figures of four for 14.

Gurkeerat was ably supported by pacer Rajwinder Singh (3/33) who picked up three wickets in the second innings, while Sarabjit Ladda (2/40) accounted for two.

The 67-run target was a mere formality for Punjab to complete which they achieved in 19.3 overs but not without losing three top-order batsmen.

By virtue of this win, Punjab pocketed six points from the match while Andhra returned empty-handed.

Brief Scores: Punjab: 147 & 67 for three in 19.3 overs (Mandeep Singh 22 not out; Hanumappa Shivraj 1/10) Andhra: 80 & 133 all out in 41.4 overs (KS Bharat 39; Gurkeerat Singh 5/38)

Points: Punjab 6, Andhra 0

Railways in deep trouble against TN

Railways were in a spot of bother at 129 for seven in their first innings in reply to Tamil Nadu’s 328 at the close of play on the second day of a Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match, in New Delhi on Saturday.

Pace duo of A Aswin Crist (4/42) and J Kousik (3/7) wrecked the Railways innings with their incisive bowling.

Brief Scores: Tamil Nadu 1st innings; 328 all out in 111.2 overs (Baba Indrajith 151; Anureet Singh 5/104) Railways 1st innings: 129 for seven in 59 overs (V Cheluvaraj 63 not out; A Aswin Crist 4/42)

Praveen, Saurabh give UP upper hand against Gujarat

Praveen Kumar (5/16) and Saurabh Kumar (5/37) shared 10 wickets between them to bundle out Gajarat for 100 and give Uttar Pradesh 173-run first innings lead on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group B cricket match Valsad on Saturday.

At the close of play, UP were 163 for seven in their second innings, with an overall lead of 336 runs and three wickets remaining.

Brief scores: Uttar Pradesh: 273 & 163 for 7 (Umang Sharma 66, Axar Patel 4/54) Gujarat: 100 all out (Parthiv Patel 39; Praveen Kumar 5/16, Saurabh Kumar 5/37)

Baroda 188/4 in reply to MP’s 269

Baroda were 188 for four in reply to Madhya Pradesh’s 269 at the end of second day’s play in a Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match, in Vadodara on Saturday.

Baroda rode on Aditya Waghmode’s unbeaten 64 and Deepak Hooda’s 51 to pile up the runs.

At stumps, dangerous Yusuf Pathan (27 not out) was at the crease along side Waghmode with Baroda playing out 66 overs in the day.

Brief Scores: Madhya Pradesh 1st innings: 269 all out in 111.2 overs (Rajat Patidar 60, Harpreet Singh 51; Swapnil Singh 4/61). Baroda 1st innings: 188 for four in 66 overs (Aditya Waghmode 64 not out, Deepak Hooda 51; Ankit Sharma 2/58)

 

Philippe Coutinho rewarded Liverpool for an impressive recovery by curling in an equaliser in the third minute of first-half stoppage time. (Source: Reuters)

Philippe Coutinho scored twice as Liverpool recovered from an early deficit to beat struggling Premier League champions Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday and pile more pressure on Blues manager Jose Mourinho.

Ramires headed Chelsea in front after four minutes but Mourinho’s side looked woefully short of confidence as Liverpool hit back to claim a first league win for new boss Juergen Klopp.

Coutinho rewarded Liverpool for an impressive recovery by curling in an equaliser in the third minute of first-half stoppage time.

The Brazilian put Liverpool in front after 74 minutes with another curler following Christian Benteke’s knock down and Benteke condemned Chelsea to their third home league loss of the season with a low shot into the corner with seven minutes left.

With Mourinho standing glumly on the touchline, Liverpool fans chanted: “You’re getting sacked in the morning”.

Chelsea had already made the worst start to a season for Premier League champions and now have only 11 points from 11 games played, leaving them in 15th place.

In all competitions so far this season Chelsea have lost nine times, including their midweek defeat on penalties by Stoke City in the League Cup which they won last season.

Liverpool moved up to seventh with 17 points.

Bengal pacer did a fantastic job to put Haryana in trouble. (Source: PTI)

Mukesh Kumar led Bengal’s impressive bowling show as they restricted the Virender Sehwag-led Haryana to 186 for eight to take control of their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match on Saturday.

Bengal were all out for 329 in their first innings with Sachin Rana returning figures of five for 46 at the CH Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium.

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The match’s biggest attraction and Haryana captain Virender Sehwag (28) was bowled by Mukesh Kumar (4/49) after getting a start. The just-retired India player hit three boundaries while facing 46 balls.

Earlier, a ninth-wicket partnership of 78 runs between Pragyan Ojha (51) and Ashok Dinda (45) frustrated the hosts after they had Bengal at 250 for eight at one stage on the first day’s evening.

Overnight 22, Ojha hit three fours and two sixes in his 103-ball knock, while Dinda found the fence six times in his 51-ball innings.

When their turn to bat came, Haryana lost wickets at regular intervals to give the visiting side advantage by the end of second day’s play. They were stuttering at 120 for eight at one stage before a ninth-wicket partnership of 66 runs between Rohit Sharma (55 not out) and Yuzvendra Chahal (33 not out) avoided a humiliation.

At stumps, Sharma and Chahal were at the crease, with the hosts still trailing by 143 runs with just two wickets remaining.

Delhi reduced to 245/7 against Odisha

Suryakant Pradhan’s four-wicket haul did the most damage as Delhi’s batting squandered a good start to be left tottering at 245 for 7 in their first innings on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group A match against Odisha on Saturday.

Overnight 99 for one, Delhi’s batsmen failed to convert their starts into big scores, allowing the home side to have the upper-hand.

The opening pair of Dhruv Shourey (42) and skipper Gautam Gambhir (41) and Nitish Rana (37) were the other notable contributors to the total.

The middle-order failed miserably with Pradhan being the wrecker-in-chief.

The medium-pacer’s day’s figures read an impressive 4 for 83 in 32.5 overs. Basant Mohanty notched up a couple of wickets.

Brief Scores

Delhi 1st Innings: 245/7 in 115 overs (Milind Kumar 59, Dhruv Shorey 42, Gautam Gambhir 41, S Pradhan 4/83).
Rajasthan reach 219/7 in reply to Karnataka’s 281 in 1st inngs

Rajat Bhatia missed out on a century by just one run as Rajasthan reached 219 for seven, still trailing Karnataka’s first innings total by 62 runs, on the second day of a Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match on Saturday.
At stumps, Deepak Chahar was batting on 13 and K Ajay Singh was on six.

Earlier, resuming on 270 for eight in their first essay, Karnataka could add just another 11 runs to their overnight total, getting all out for 281.

Aniket Choudhary finished with best figures of five for 77 for Rajasthan.

In reply, Rajasthan were struggling at 48 for four before Bhatia came to the team’s rescue.

Brief scores:

Karnataka 1st innings: 281 (Mayank Agarwal 66, Ravikumar Samarth 65; Aniket Choudhary 5/77).

Rajasthan 1st innings: 219 for seven (Rajat Bhatia 99; R Vinay Kumar 2/39, David Mathias 2/41).

Maharashtra trail Vidarbha by 144 runs

Vidarbha had the edge as they restricted Maharashtra to 144 for six after being bowled out for 332 in their Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match on Saturday.

At stumps on day two, Maharashtra were trailing by 188 runs with four wickets in hand at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground.

Vidarbha’s overnight batsman Faiz Fazal top-scored for the hosts with a 273-ball 120, while Shalabh Srivastava and the other overnight batsman Ravi Jangid made 63 and 40 respectively. Fazal struck 16 boundaries during his stay at the crease.

Hashim Amla was dismissed for 1 by Board President’s XI medium pacer Shardul Thakur on morning, caught edging to the slip cordon. (Source: PTI)

South Africa coach Russell Domingo did not sound too worried about the indifferent form shown so far on the tour by Test captain Hashim Amla, even if the opening Test of the four-match contest is just round the corner.

“Amla is a quality player. We know a big knock from him is round the corner. He’s batting well in the nets,” said Domingo in his post-match press conference at the Brabourne Stadium after the drawn two-day practice encounter against Indian cricket Board President’s XI.

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Amla was dismissed for 1 by Board President’s XI medium pacer Shardul Thakur on morning, caught edging to the slip cordon.

Amla, who has scored 6770 runs in 84 Tests with 23 hundreds to his credit – four of which had been made in six previous matches in India – and having a healthy career average of 52-plus, has had a poor run on this tour that started with the T20 series against the hosts.

His sequence of scores have been 36 and 21 in the completed T20 Internationals, 37, 17, 5, 7 and 23 in the five ODIs followed by his lowest score on Saturday.

South Africa’s best batsman and in-form ODI captain, AB de Villiers, on Saturday scored a superb 112 off 131 balls with 18 hits to the fence, and Domingo said he was easing back into the Test mindset after missing the tour to Bangladesh.

“AB (de Villiers) last played a Test match in January against the West Indies and missed the Bangladesh tour. That’s why he was leaving a few balls (without attacking them),” said Domingo about de Villiers’ ton, his fourth on the tour after his triple in the 3-2 ODI series victory.

On the composition of the team’s spin attack in the first Test starting at Mohali next week, Domingo said it will depend on the conditions of the pitch laid out for the game.

“We have been hearing about a spin-friendly surface being prepared. We will look at the conditions and then decide. There are a few options. Imran Tahir is an attacking option as he’s an aggressive bowler,” he said.

On the injury status of fast bowler Morne Morkel, who bowled only five overs without conceding a run here, the visiting team’s coach said there would be a fitness test for the lanky bowler “closer to the commencement of the Test match”.

On Jean Paul Duminy, the coach said that the batting all-rounder was scheduled to have the stitches taken out of the webbing of his right hand next week.

“The stitches would be removed next week, but the hand would be a bit tender,” he said, hinting that Duminy may not be fit to play the game.

The coach was happy with the way wicket-keeper Dane Vilas, who was not part of the limited overs squad, batted on Saturday in the company of de Villiers and put on a century stand for the seventh wicket while making 58 in 108 minutes, studded with seven fours.

“Dane Vilas was very good. He had kept well in Bangladesh too. He’s a good player of spin,” said Domingo.

He expected India to come hard at the visitors after losing both the T20 and ODI series against South Africa.

“They are a formidable side in their conditions. They must be hurting at the defeats in T20 and ODI series. We know they are going to be a tough challenge,” he said.