India vs Australia, 4th ODI Live: Rohit, Dhawan get India off to steady start

• INDIA

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OVERS10.4

R/R8.37

Fours7

Sixes5

Extras1

Play in Progress

Batsman	Status	R	B	4s	6s
Shikhar Dhawan	Batting	36	33	3	2
Virat Kohli	Batting	9	6	2	0

Extras : 1 (b - 0, w - 1, nb - 0, lb - 0, Penalty - 0)

Australian Open: Bhupathi starts with a win, Paes knocked out in the first round

Melbourne: Mahesh Bhupathi returned to Grand Slam action with a first-round win at the Australian Open but Leander Paes' bid fell flat at the first hurdle, in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Bhupathi, who is playing with Luxembourg's Gilles Muller, beat the Australian team of Alex Bolt and Andrew Whittington 7-6 (4) 3-6 6-4 in his tournament-opener at court seven.

Leander Paes with his partner Jeremy Charady at the Australian Open. AFP

In the two hour and 13 minute contest, Bhupathi and Muller managed to save 12 breakpoints out of 15 they faced.

It was Bhupathi's third competitive event since bowing out of 2015 Wimbledon championships. He had missed the entire second half of the last year as he was busy with the conduct of his ambitious International Premier Tennis League (IPTL).

He had played at the Chennai Open and then at a Challenger tournament in Thailand, where he reached the semifinals with compatriot Purav Raja.

The 42-year-old Paes made an exit with French partner Jeremy Charady after losing his first round 3-6 4-6 to Colombian 12th seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

Their challenge was over in 72 minutes as they squandered five of the six break chances.

Australian Open: Federer, Serena, Sharapova win in straight sets, advance to third round

Melbourne: Serena Williams has had so much success for such a long time that even in a second-round match she can set a record at the season's first Grand Slam event.

The six-time and defending champion beat No. 90-ranked Hsieh Su-wei 6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday at Rod Laver Arena, an all-time record 79th main draw match at the Australian Open.

She closed with an ace, her seventh, finishing in precisely an hour.

"It all started here — this is where I played my first Grand Slam right on this court and I'm still going, it's such an honor," said Williams, who has a 70-9 win-loss record at Melbourne Park since her debut in 1998. "I love it every time I come here."

Serena Williams in action in the second round of the Australian Open. Getty

She hit 26 winners, including one around the post that she thought may have been a first for her, at age 34.

"My first one I think," she said. "I was like, "Yay. Never too late."

Williams' next opponent will be 18-year-old Russian Daria Kasatkina, who beat Croatia's Ana Konjuh 6-4, 6-3, and she faces a potential quarterfinal match against Maria Sharapova, which would be a rematch of the 2015 final.

Sharapova reached the third round with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the first match completed on day three, when light rain caused an hour-long delay getting started on the outside courts.

Roger Federer extended his streak by reaching the third round for the 17th straight Australian Open.

Federer, playing his 65th consecutive major, advanced 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 over Alexandr Dolgopolov. He lost in the third round in his first two trips to Melbourne Park in 2000 and '01 and again last year — in between he won the title four times and lost one final during a run of reaching the semifinals or better in 11 straight years.

He didn't face a break point against Dolgopolov, his sometimes practice partner, and said "I thought I served great."

"Very happy, conditions are extremely quick," he said. "I had to serve well and as the match went on I started to feel better and better."

Seventh-seeded Kei Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open finalist, advanced with a 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Austin Krajicek, No. 15 David Goffin beat Damir Dzumhur 6-4, 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 and No. 19 Dominic Thiem had a 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 win over Nicolas Almagro.

Sharapova, the 2008 champion and four-time finalist at Melbourne Park, dropped two service games in the first set, including once when serving at 5-1, but was otherwise consistent except for some over-hit ground strokes.

"To come back here and play my first match on Rod Laver is always very special as you always get those first little jitters out of the way."

Other seeded players advancing included No. 12 Belinda Bencic, who had a 6-3, 6-3 win over Timea Babos, and No. 13 Roberta Vinci, who beat Irina Falconi 6-2, 6-3.

The 92nd-ranked Kateryna Bondarenko earned one of her biggest wins since returning from retirement after having a baby in 2013, beating two-time major winner and No. 23-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 7-5.

'Heavy' match-fixing in lower levels of tennis, says anti-corruption official

Melbourne: Match-fixing is commonplace in tennis's lower levels and efforts to fight it are inadequate, a senior anti-corruption official told AFP after cheating claims rocked the sport during the Australian Open.

After an explosive report claimed match-fixing was repeatedly going unpunished, Chris Eaton of the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) criticised tennis's "opaque and secretive" anti-corruption body.

The controversy is just the latest to hit the tainted sports world after claims of a doping cover-up shook athletics and multiple scandals engulfed football's governing body, FIFA.

Representational image. Reuters

Eaton, directory of integrity at the ICSS, said professional betting analysis showed "nil manipulation" of matches at the top levels of tennis, where players are highly paid and less susceptible to bribery.

"However in the second and lower levels, manipulation indicators are heavy and regularly occurring," the former FIFA security chief said via email.

"We are not the only sport integrity organisation to observe this."

Eaton's comments follow the BBC and BuzzFeed report that said 16 players who had reached the top 50 over the past decade had repeatedly been suspected of fixing matches, but never punished.

Three matches at Wimbledon had fallen under suspicion and at least eight of the "core group" of players on the fixing radar were at the Australian Open Grand Slam tournament, which began on Monday, it said.

Tennis authorities rejected any suggestion that evidence was suppressed and defended the workings of the Tennis Integrity Unit, which was set up in 2008 and has landed 18 convictions, including six life bans.

The BBC and BuzzFeed report's claims are backed up by anecdotal evidence including from Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic, who said he was once offered $200,000 to fix a match in Russia.

Retired American player Andy Roddick said a fellow former professional had told him he could probably name "at least 8-9" of the 16 suspected of repeatedly fixing matches.

'Operating in the shadows'

Eaton said hundreds of thousands of dollars can be made by gamblers using accumulators to bet on the outcomes of multiple matches, a practice that is especially popular in eastern Europe and Russia.

It creates a powerful incentive to fix matches -- something which is particularly easy to do in tennis, which has many poorly paid players and where it only takes one bribe to secure the desired outcome.

Eaton said tennis was the third most popular sport, behind football and cricket, for betting worldwide "and as a direct consequence it is third in the magnitude of identified suspicious matches".

"Tennis is not as lucrative for fixing as football or cricket. But it takes less corruptive effort to fix individual outcomes in a tennis match, so the frequency of winning on a single match can be vastly higher than in cricket and football," he said.

Eaton also hit out at the "poor choice of structure and process" for the Tennis Integrity Unit, saying it needs to be more open and relies too much on betting analysis, rather than field investigations.

"Integrity is by definition open and transparent. The TIU is neither... by operating in the shadows they fail to practice what they preach," he said, calling for a "new independent and integrated integrity model.

"If not, then tennis will continue to be targeted at its most vulnerable levels, and as intimidated or compromised players and others advance they bring that vulnerability with them."

His comments chime with top players Roger Federer and Andy Murray, who both said they were glad to see the issue of match-fixing brought to light and would like to see more details.

HIL: Whetton's early goal helps Punjab Warriors beat defending champions Ranchi Rays

Chandigarh: Australian Jacob Whetton scored an early field goal to hand Jaypee Punjab Warriors a 2-0 victory over defending champions Ranchi Rays in their opening match of the Hockey India League (HIL), in Chandigarh on Tuesday.

Under the newly introduced scoring system, a field goal is counted as two and the hosts did enough to defend their early strike to pocket full points from the encounter.

Whetton found the opposition net as early as in the second minute of the match to give the early lead to Punjab Warriors which they stoutly defended for the remaining 68 minutes of the match to stun the title holders.

Whetton slotted home a fine fiel goal from a counter-attack after he was brilliantly assisted by Punjab Warriors skipper Sardar Singh, who switched base from Delhi Waveriders this season.

Sardar Singh in action. Image Credit: Twitter @HockeyIndiaLeag

Punjab Warriors caught Ranchi, partly co-owned by India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, napping in a counter-attack when Sardar set it up for Whetton from the right with a brilliant pass and the Australian did enough to dodge past an onrushing Ranchi goalkeeper Tyler Lovell to shot home the goal.

Punjab Warriors looked more orgainsed than their opponents.

After Whetton's early strike, Ranchi got a golden opportunity to draw level in the 18th minute but skipper Ashley Jackson's flick from a penalty corner was blocked by Punjab Warriors goalkeeper Tristian Clemons. Ranchi had another scoring chance after in the opening half but Jackson's slap shot did not trouble Punjab Warriors custodian.

After the cross-over, Punjab Warriors came out with more purpose and attacked Ranchi goal at ease and in the process earned three penalty corners but the chances went in vain.

While Whetton's try from the first penalty corner hit the right post, the effort from the second set piece went wide.

Punjab Warriors had another scoring opportunity in the final quarter, but Christopher Ciriello's effort did not yield result.

Ranchi came out all guns blazing in the final quarter but their forwardline failed to get the final touch which could have earned them atleast a draw.

Punjab Warriors will meet last year's bronze medallist Delhi Waveriders in their next match in Chandigarh on Thursday, while Ranchi will play Uttar Pradesh Wizards in Lucknow on Friday.

After the match, Whetton thanked Sardar for the fine assist and also lauded his team's backline to hold on to the lead.

"It was good that Sardar provided the ball in time and I was there at the right place for the goal. Also, we put up a very good defensive performance as well, so it was a good win," Whetton, was adjudged player-of-the-match said at the post-match presentation.

SAFF Cup: With Robin Singh injured, India must look to it's young brigade for semi-final glory

Thiruvananthapuram: Six days, nine matches and an astonishing 31 goals later, the SAFF Championship is out of its group stage. Semi-finals beckon four teams that have passed the test — India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Afghanistan. It has been an exhilarating round of fixtures in the group stage, with an average of 3.4 goals scored per match. Defending champions Afghanistan have scored over a third of those goals — 11 in three games — and conceded just one.

It's Afghanistan's last SAFF Championships as they have now moved to the newly formed Central Asian Football Association (CAFA), and they want to finish on a high. But after a miserable World Cup qualifying campaign, hosts India will give their last inch to go all the way.

India will now face Maldives in the first semi-final on 31 December after the 2008 SAFF champions lost 4-1 to Afghanistan in the final group B game. And though the Blue Tigers have momentum following their 4-1 thrashing of Nepal, Maldives have more than enough in them to pull off an upset and send India packing in their own backyard.

Sunil Chhetri in action during the SAFF Cup. PTI

Maldives did lose to Afghanistan by a big margin, but the score doesn't come close to illustrate how difficult they made it for them.  And Maldives had rested five key players, just like Afghanistan, including their sensational captain Ali Ashfaq.

"We chopped and changed the team quite a bit tonight. I'm not quite sure we'll concede four goals like that again, it was just one of those nights for me. The goals we conceded were poor, now our focus is on the semi-finals," Maldives coach Ricki Herbert said after the loss to Afghanistan.

Herbert didn't seem fazed by the prospect of facing the hosts and tougher opponents India in the semi-finals and was relishing the chance to take on the men in blue.

"I think it's going to be great, all the pressure's on them. They're hosting it, they'll want to win it. I think they need to win it," he said, deflecting the pressure on the Indian team.

Herbert, the former NorthEast United coach, is not wrong. The pressure is on India, especially after a dismal run in the World Cup Qualifiers. True, Constantine is building a young team and has given youngsters a chance to shine (under the Englishman's second spell, 22 Indian players in the space of 10 months have been handed their senior team debuts) but while that is remarkable and encouraging, the results matter. Everyone would fancy India to bring home the SAFF Cup. Even though he doesn't admit it, Constantine must be feeling the pressure.

Although India have played a game less than Maldives and Afghanistan and thus have had more time to rest, recover and train, they have suffered a blow ahead of the do-or-die semi-final fixture. Star striker Robin Singh, who scored both the goals in the opener against Sri Lanka, will miss the rest of the tournament owing to the knee injury he suffered in the same match. An MRI revealed that the striker's knee injury is graver than it looked initially.

With Robin Singh sidelined, India will lose physicality and their aerial threat in the attacking third.

Constantine, who had initially dismissed the injury as "nothing serious", said he was disappointed to lose the Bengaluru FC and Delhi Dynamos striker.

"It's a blow and a loss for us. He had started to score for the national team on a regular basis and is such a hard working guy," the India head coach said ahead of the semi-final clash.

India won't be allowed to replace the injured forward, in accordance with SAFF guidelines.

However, the situation could be a blessing in disguise for the team as Constantine now has the opportunity to go a step beyond his word on trying out young players. The stage is set, and the occasion is big — the semi-finals of the SAFF Championships. Eighteen year old winger Lallianzuala Chhangte has had a dream of a start to his national team career. Constantine has the opportunity to show a bit more faith in him and hand him his first start. The kid will be under pressure but it will be a great opportunity for him to show that he can handle it. If his peach of a goal against Nepal announced an arrival, he now has the perfect chance to prove that he is here to stay.

Indian will also have to be wary of the Maldivian attack -- especially their captain and No 7 Ali Ashfaq. He was saved for the semi-final and the Indian back four will have to keep a tight mark on him. Early on in the match against Nepal, Indian defenders were caught off-guard by Nepal's intent -- Maldives will be no different.

Constantine made five changes to the squad in the second game. One can expect a few changes for the semi-final as well. Gurpreet Singh will be back between the posts and Jeje Lalpekhlua should start up front. But with Sandesh Jhinghan and Anas Edathodika injured, India still don't seem to have a settled defensive combination.

Whatever the Blue Tigers' starting XI may be, all of them must come up with their best to advance to the final on 3 January. After all, they are the hosts. And as Herbert said, the entire nation is looking at them.

Virender Sehwag admits he was 'hurt' when dropped 'without any communication from selectors'

New Delhi: Legendary opener Virender Sehwag admitted that he was "hurt" after being dropped in the middle of the 2013 Test series against Australia without any "communication from team management or selectors."

Sehwag was dropped after the second Test against Australia in Hyderabad but the 'Nawab of Najafgarh' felt that selectors should have given him an option to play two more Tests and retire in an India jersey.

Virender Sehwag called time on a glittering international career. Reuters

"I hadn't scored runs in two Tests against Australia. So, I was thinking I would get a couple of more opportunities to perform well in the last two Tests (of the series) and then get dropped if I didn't perform. If the selectors would have given me that option to play two more Tests and say that you play the two matches and then retire, I would have thought about it," Sehwag told ESPNCricinfo

Asked if the communication was lacking from BCCI and team management's end, Sehwag agreed.

"Absolutely, nobody called me from the team management, selectors or BCCI. I got to know about it from newspaper, that hurt me then but I am fine with it now," Sehwag said.

During his last three seasons in first-class cricket, Sehwag batted in the middle-order, something that he wanted in the Indian team but was denied.

"I told the management (about wanting to bat lower down) but they felt that I was still good enough to play as an opener and they didn't want to take chances with the opening pair. I tried my best but could not get an opportunity in the middle order," he said.

"When I played my last series, Tendulkar was still there, Kohli and Dhoni were there. Pujara was playing as the No. 3 batsman. Tendulkar was playing at 4, Kohli at 5 and it meant that I had to bat at No. 6 after Tendulkar as you could not ask him to bat at No 3 or 5. So, there was no chance for me to bat in the middle order."

Sehwag however did not make any bones about the fact that he had a horrible next season for Delhi just after getting dropped and that effectively ended his chances of a comeback.

"When I got dropped, I was thinking that I'm a good player and can get back into the Indian team but I was still living in the mindset that I am an aggressive opener and can score runs but I did not realise that domestic cricket is totally different to international cricket and I was still playing in the same way," he said.

"I did not score runs that (2013-14) season and my highest was 50-odd (56) and I was struggling to cope up with conditions in Delhi. I then changed my thinking next year and batting style by giving myself a little more time and I scored 500 plus runs, but I needed to score big in the previous season and maybe I would have got back into the team. It was too late but I was playing because I wanted to play the game."