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India thrashed arch rivals Pakistan 5-1 to reach the final of the hockey event in the 11th South Asian Games at Moulana Bhashani Stadium. V Raghunath scored a hat-trick converting three penalty corners in 14th, 19th and 57th minutes which guided India to a convincing victory over Pakistan.

Dharamvir Singh struck twice – in the first and second minutes. Pakistan reduced the margin through Wasif Siddique.

Earlier on Sunday, V Raghunath and Mohammad Aamir Khan scored two goals each as India beat Sri Lanka 7-2 to register their second consecutive victory.

Fresh from their 21-0 mauling of Nepal on Saturday, Indians put up a spirited display at the Moulana Bhashin Stadium as Dharamvir Singh, captain Ajitesh Roy and Pramod Kumar also chipped in with one goal each to complete the tally.

Australian middle order batman Michael Hussey has dethroned Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni from the top spot in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings for batsmen in one day international released on Monday.

Hussey had scored 220 runs at the average of 73.33 in the recently concluded ODI series against Pakistan. Hussey gained 24 points and jumped to number one position with a lead of three points over second placed Dhoni, while South Africa’s AB de Villiers is placed at the third spot.

Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar has gained one place to be at the seventh place while aggressive opener Virender Sehwag retained his ninth place.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori is leading the ICC ODI rankings for bowlers followed by Ray Price of Zimbabwe and Shakib Al Hasan at second and third spot respectively. Harbhajan Singh is the only Indian bowler in top 10 blowers to be at sixth place.

Australia has retained their top place with 133 points in the ODI team rankings while Indian team is placed at the second place with 121 points. South Africa is at the third position with 119 ranking points.

ennis biggie Leander Paes is ready to make entry into the Hindi Film Industry as he has recently signed on to play a lead role in a Hindi movie.

When questioned what he would like to do when his long and victorious career as a tennis professional finally over, Paes had mentioned various options, which includes writing columns, establishing a sports science institute, doing business in fashion designing and doing TV commentary.

“I could even turn a filmstar, don’t I have the looks!” Paes said.

That was a good 4 years back and hum like a joke.

Well, India’s multiple grand slam winning doubles tennis specialist must have raised serious filmi dreams, and his ambitions to enter Bollywood may come true shortly.

“I have got several offers to act in films in the last decade but turned them down… I’ve been approached once again, but nothing’s been finalized yet,”Leander said. “I believe no human being is one-dimensional, so if a script comes along which appeals to me, I’m not averse to the idea.”

Mr. Hiranmoy Chatterjee, Bengal Tennis Association (BTA) secretary, said that Paes, who won the Australian Open mixed doubles with Zimbabwe’s Cara Black on Sunday, has been learning Hindi as well as acting.

“He has been taking acting lessons at Anupam Kher’s institute for some months. He’s passionate about everything he does and it’s no different in this new venture,” Mr. Chatterjee added.

South Zone skipper Dinesh Karthik has scored unbeaten century against West Zone in the final of the Duleep Trophy as South Zone scored 356 runs for loss of nine wickets at the end of the first day of the test match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Karthik won the toss in the morning and opted to bat first. South Zone was looking in great trouble with both their opener back in the pavilion with just 34 runs on the board. But Karthik held one end and smashed unbeaten 161 runs to lead his team to a good total. Karthik and C Gautam (49) added 121 runs for the fifth wicket. G Satish also batted brilliantly and scored 53 runs. Irfan Pathan was the most successful bowler for West zone who took three wickets while Ravinder Jadeja picked up two wickets. D Kulkarni also chipped in with one wicket.