incredibly loyal or angry, depending

Pandya-moniumIn his short T20I career so far, Hardik Pandya has already bowled one of the most dramatic overs witnessed in the format: the final over of Indias World T20 game against Bangladesh in Bangalore. Now, on ODI debut, he sent down an over nearly as eventful.Pitching the ball up and swinging it away from the right-hander at a sharp pace, he caused Martin Guptill all kinds of problems. First, an attempted cover drive streaked away to the third man boundary off the outside edge. Then, looking to leave a similar delivery, Guptill withdrew his bat slightly late, and the ball kissed the bottom edge and streaked away wide of second slip again. Then came another outswinger, slightly shorter, to beat Guptills outside edge as he attempted to defend. Pandya followed this with a nervy debutant delivery, short, wide, and cracked away to the point boundary.MS Dhonis response to this ball was to treat it as an aberration, and reinforce his catching cordon, bringing in a third slip. Pandya ran in again, and angled the ball in towards off stump. Pitching on the shorter side of a good length, it left the batsman late. The line forced Guptill to play, the length froze his feet to the crease. The ball kissed his edge and flew to Rohit Sharma at second slip.The Jadhav joltIn 12 international matches before this one, Kedar Jadhav had never bowled. If there was an ideal time to bring on an utterly untested part-time offie, it was with New Zealand 57 for 5 in 16 overs. With two left-handers at the crease, Jadhav came on ahead of Amit Mishra and Axar Patel.He could have had a wicket with the last ball of his first over, when James Neesham missed a sweep. The ball, going on with the angle from around the wicket, struck Neeshams pad in front of middle and off, and umpire Bruce Oxenford must have given it a lot of thought before deciding it might have missed leg stump.Jadhav wasnt to be denied for too much longer, though. In his next over, he got a ball to stop on Neesham, who closed his bat face a touch too early while looking to work it into the leg side and popped a simple return catch. Next ball, Jadhav had two in two, as Mitchell Santner, looking to cut a non-turning delivery that cramped him for room, top-edged to MS Dhoni.Superman to BloopermanUmesh Yadav had already taken two catches in the innings - the first a stunning diving effort at mid-off to send back Corey Anderson - when Tim Southee, batting on 2, skied a top-edged pull towards him at fine leg. Umesh didnt have too much distance to cover, running forward, but perhaps misjudged the trajectory of the balls descent by a centimeter or two. Rather than let the ball plop softly into his hands, therefore, he was forced to claw at it. The ball hit his palms and bounced out. He picked it up again and threw it to the strikers end. It was a throw of frustration rather than intent to get anyone out, since the batsmen had completed the most comfortable of singles, but it found its target anyway, hitting the stumps direct.A chip off the old batAs they had done in the third Test in Indore, New Zealands fast bowlers looked to test Ajinkya Rahane with frequent use of the short ball. Unlike in Indore, Rahane could trust the pace and bounce of the pitch, and handled the line of attack with a fair degree of comfort, and even picked up a couple of pulled sixes. But the tactic did expose one chink - not in Rahanes technique but in his bat. Looking to pull Doug Bracewell from outside off stump in the second over of Indias innings, Rahane didnt quite middle the shot, and the ball dislodged a splinter of willow from the bottom of his bat. Custom Patrick Ewing Jersey . Clarke was injured while practicing on the Doha Golf Club range after the pro-am on Tuesday. The Northern Irishman arrived at the course on Wednesday hoping to start, but after hitting a few balls on the practice putting green Clarke advised officials he was not fit to play. Bernard King Jersey Large . Gather a group of friends, or find a league to join online, draft your team, set your lineup and compete in a number of different formats. http://www.customknicksjersey.com/custom-john-starks-jersey-large-79w.html . -- Claudio Bieler hadnt scored since early September, and not from the run of play since mid-July. Custom Knicks T-shirts . Duchene scored two goals and had an assist, helping the Colorado Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night to match the best 10-game start in team history. Custom Phil Jackson Jersey . Ferrer, trying to win his fourth title on Mexican soil, will next play South Africas Kevin Anderson, who eliminated American Sam Querrey,7-6 (2), 6-4. Also Wednesday, Gilles Simon (6) of France beat Donald Young of the United States 6-4, 6-3, Ukraines Alexandr Dolgopolov downed Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-4 and Croatias Ivo Karlovic defeated Dudi Sela of Israel 7-6 (4), 6-2. PARIS -- Marseilles new American owner, Frank McCourt, is moving quickly to make the ailing club competitive again.Three days after officially taking over, he hired highly rated coach Rudi Garcia in time for Sundays match against bitter rival Paris Saint-Germain.McCourt has much work to do, with Marseille languishing in 12th place in the French league, while the baseball team McCourt used to own, the Los Angeles Dodgers, is two wins from reaching the World Series.When he completed his takeover on Monday, McCourt pledged to act swiftly and proved true to his word -- bringing in the French coach who led Lille to a French league and cup double five years ago. It was at Lille that Garcia helped develop the talent of a young Eden Hazard, now a star for Chelsea and Belgium.As Roma coach, Garcia set an Italian top-flight record by opening the 2013-14 season with 10 straight wins.Rudi has a lot of character and a lot of energy, McCourt said. We share the same vision for Marseille and an identical determination to put it into place.Hiring someone who was voted French coach of the year three times was a powerful statement, and a good way for McCourt to show fans he means business.Such is PSGs outright dominance that French football struggles to maintain a high interest level.Frank McCourts arrival is a good thing, PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said. We need investors like him to raise the level of competition in the league.McCourt has pledged to invest 200 million euros ($220 million) over four years. He is looking for an experienced sporting director, and Marseille is linked with Andoni Zubizarreta, who previously held the role at Barcelona.McCourt will be in the stands at Parc des Princes to watch Sunday nights game.Games between PSG and Marseille used to be the most passionate in French football, fueling hysterical support with a violent edge.After fans were involved in heavy clashes around Marseilles seaport in October 2009, away supporters were banned from attending the fixture for several years. The clampdown was relaxed recently to allow small numbers to travel, but only under strict police control.Marseilles meager ticket allocation of 500 for Sundays match was snubbed by the fans because PSGs away section holds 2,000.Sundays atmosphere will lack the deafening chants and vicious goading so commonplace before. One game at Parc des Princes got so hostile that riot police had to protect winger Fabrice Fiiorese with shields when he was taking a corner.ddddddddddddFiorese had left PSG to join Marseille in the summer of 2004, and the betrayal felt by PSG fans was reflected in the objects and insults raining down from the stands.The edge in their intense rivalry has dimmed, however, due to Marseilles slump. Since winning its ninth league title six years ago, it has won only the 2012 League Cup.It still has something PSG craves, though.Marseille is the only French side to win the European Cup, beating Italian powerhouse AC Milan 1-0 in 1993. PSG has reached only the semifinals.But since being taken over by cash-rich Qatari owners QSI in June 2011, PSG has streaked ahead of Marseille. Heading into Sunday, PSG was in second place.PSG secured its second straight domestic treble last season, winning the league by an astounding 31 points, and reaching a fourth straight Champions League quarterfinal.Marseille finished a miserable 13th and failed to qualify for Europe. It was a turbulent season, with fans turning on players amid a chaotic merry-go-round of coaches.Marcelo Bielsa, revered by fans but at odds with then-president Vincent Labrune, walked out one game into the season after saying he signed a new contract. He was hurriedly replaced by Michel, who clashed with Labrune and was fired near the end, and replaced by Franck Passi.Marseilles fans can be incredibly loyal or angry, depending on their perception of how the team is being run and performances on the pitch.McCourt needs them on his side, in the same way the passionate and highly popular president Bernard Tapie did during the successful 1990s.Hiring Garcia is one way of giving them strong early assurances.When I met Rudi, he told me right away that he wanted to win the Champions League, McCourt said. I knew he was the man for Marseille.The 63-year-old McCourt sold the Dodgers for $2 billion in 2012.In October 2009, his wife Jamie McCourt filed for divorce and they reached a financial agreement in their divorce in late 2011. The deal came after the Dodgers filed for bankruptcy, setting the stage for the teams sale.He paid Jamie McCourt $131 million and other assets to resolve financial issues in the pairs divorce. She sought to block the deal, but early last year a California appeals court refused to overturn the settlement. ' ' '