New Delhi, March 21
Sledging is set to be banned by ICC, cricket’s governing body, which has been prodded by the Indian Cricket Board to take tough action to curb unsporting behaviour on the field.

In the backdrop of an acrimonious India-Australia series, the BCCI has been pressing for tougher laws to deal with sledging. The matter is before the ICC.

BCCI president Sharad Pawar told PTI here that the board raised the issue in ICC's Executive Board meeting in Dubai this weekend and would pursue the matter further when it meets for its Annual General Meeting in June.

"The process is on to get a ban on sledging and it would be discussed again in the June meeting," he said.

Since the war of words between Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh in the acrimonious Sydney Test snowballed into a major crisis threatening to polarise the cricket world, India has been seeking a ban on sledging.

Making it clear that the board would do everything to stamp out the menace, Pawar revealed that the Indian players, especially the bunch of volatile youngsters, have been asked to learn from the seniors and mind their on-field behaviour.

"We have told our players they have to behave properly. I can't name certain countries, for we need to keep good relations with them but often a group of players from those teams take a conscious decision to target a particular Indian player to demoralise him," he said.

"It's a strategy and sometimes our players become victim of it and react. But we ask them 'have you heard complaint about Sachin, Sourav, Dravid and Kumble?' They have set examples for world cricket how to behave on and off the field," Pawar said.

Asked what was the BCCI's recommendation to the ICC to stop sledging, Pawar said "We have to be very, very harsh and tough, irrespective of the player and that means even our players. Sportsman spirit has to be maintained and we have to take action."

"We have told them enough is enough. Erring once is understandable but you can't go on doing it." Players like S Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh have given ample evidence on the field that they would fight fire with fire and would not back out of any confrontation and both the players prominently figured in verbal duels with their Australian counterparts in recent past.

On empowering on-field umpires, Pawar said the process was on and the ICC was also contemplating introducing a fourth umpire to assist the on-field umpires.

"...that process is going on. Because of the electronic media, small mistakes by an umpire get magnified. That's why ICC is seriously thinking about a situation where the umpires will get immediate feedback about a particular decision and on the basis of that information and what he had seen, he can decide," he said.

"There might be a fourth umpire also who will sit with the television and there will be continuous communication between him and all three other umpires," Pawar said.

On the notion that India was a big bully and usually gets its way with the ICC, Pawar said there were many instances when Indian players have been punished and the BCCI never made an issue.

"There are number of instances where action was taken against Indian players. Match fees were deducted from Sourav, Sehwag and Yuvraj but we did not say anything and accepted it.”

But here in this particular (Sydney racism) controversy, Harbhajan was not at fault, ultimately he only reacted, which was so typical of Harbhajan." Pawar also disclosed that unlike the previous years, the ICC's next annual general meeting would not be held at the Lord's.

"I think it would be on June 27 and 28. Generally, this kind of meeting takes place at Lord's but since England is not giving visa to Zimbabwe, it's likely to be in Dubai," he said. — PTI

New Delhi, March 21
It was Sachin Tendulkar’s great idea to make Mahendra Singh Dhoni captain of India’s one-day cricket team, BCCI president Sharad Pawar disclosed today.

Pawar recalled how the Indian team plunged into a crisis in England last year with the then captain Rahul Dravid dropping first hints of his reluctance to lead the team.

"By that time, Rahul had told me he could not concentrate on his game and requested me to find someone else. Some of the selectors wanted Sachin to lead and I conveyed it to him. But Sachin said, 'please don't do this.'”

“I asked then who should lead the side and he said 'give it to someone like Dhoni'.”

"He said 'give Dhoni the opportunity. He has excellent relation with the teammates'. I told him I would not interfere but would definitely convey it to the selectors," the BCCI chief told PTI here.

Pawar also hailed Tendulkar and fellow senior players Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble for paving way for the youngsters in the Twenty20 team.

"I was in England when we were playing them. Sachin met me and suggested 'I know you don't interfere with the team selection but you please tell the selectors not to include players of my generation in the Twenty20 squad. He said 'my generation is not fit for Twenty20, so give opportunity to the youngsters.’"

"Now who would come and say 'don't induct us', when that means losing a few lakh rupees? I think we are fortunate to have players like Rahul, Sourav and Anil. Their commitment is unquestionable," Pawar said.

Pawar praised Dhoni’s leadership qualities after the swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman led India to Twenty20 World Cup and the tri-series triumph in Australia.

"Dhoni as the captain has done extremely good. He can motivate and has a good equation with other players. He is also cool (under pressure)."

He, however, seemed more impressed by Test captain Anil Kumble, especially after the veteran spinner handled the Sydney racism row with great maturity.

"I would say Anil Kumble has been remarkable as captain.”

“He is a good motivator and his behaviour was impeccable both on and off the field. In true sense of the term, he was an ambassador of the country and we are proud of the way he handled the entire issue," Pawar said.

During the racism row featuring Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh, Kumble's composure drew rich praise from all quarters.

Amid all the allegations and counter-allegations, Kumble's lone observation was that of the two teams fighting a no-holds-barred battle in the acrimonious Test, only one team played in the true spirit of the game.

Sepang (Malaysia), March 21
For the second event running, Giancarlo Fisichella posted a top 10 time, just under two seconds from the fastest lap recorded by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton at the second practice session ahead of Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix here today.

After an inconsistent morning session where he finished 19th on the timesheet, Fisichella looked far more impressive in the afternoon and despite being slowed down by Toyota's Timo Glock, the Italian lapped in 1m 36.756s to finish 9th among 21 drivers.

After a morning session accident, Red Bull's David Coulthard did not participate in the second free practice at the Sepang International Circuit.

Fisichella's German teammate Adrian Sutil, however, could complete only five laps in the morning session after an engine problem caused him to stop out on track.

Sutil put in 35 laps in the later session but struggled to find a good balance and lapped in 1m 37.614s to be 18th on the time sheet.

Meanwhile, Hamilton got his gear selection problems rectified and posted the fastest time, lapping his MP4-23 in 1m 35.055s, bettering Ferrari driver Felipe Massa's morning session benchmark of 1m 35.206s.

Kimi Raikkonen's 1m 35.428s lap saw him third in the order in the second F2008.

Both Fisichella and Sutil worked through a programme of set-up, tyre testing and data accumulation on the new aero updates introduced for this weekend, putting in 98 laps of the 5.543km track between them.

Sutil, meanwhile, was understandably upset at missing out chunk of the morning session action.

Qualifying will take place after a final practice session tomorrow and the Vijay Mallya-owned team is desperate to make it to the second of the three qualifying sessions. — PTI

Miami, March 21
Jeev Milkha Singh fired a steady opening round of four-under 68 to be tied ninth but compatriot S.S.P. Chowrasia fumbled in his WGC-CA Championship debut and went two-over 74 to be tied 63rd here.

Jeev began with a birdie and signed off with a bogey. In between, he dropped two more shots on the third and seventh holes. But on the other side of the ledger, he birdied the fifth, eighth, 10th and 14th, also squeezing an eagle at the par-four sixth hole to save his bacon.

Chowrasia, however, had no such luck and the Kolkata pro managed just two birdies, both on the front nine, against a bogey quartet to drop down the leaderboard.

Indian-born Swede Daniel Chopra was tied 45th after kicking off his campaign with a level-par 72.

The PGA Tour regular, who learned the basics at Delhi Golf Club, slotted four birdies, which were eventually cancelled out by a couple of bogeys and a double bogey on the fourth hole.

Former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy and European Tour regular Miguel ngel Jimenez blasted identical opening round of seven-under 65 to share the top spot, with American Stewart Cink breathing down their neck from one shot behind.

At tied fourth was Tiger Woods after a sedate round of 67, a card that included seven birdies and two bogeys. — PTI

Nice (France), March 21
World champion Viswanathan Anand recovered to beat Russian Alexander Morozevich in the rapid game of the fifth round to leap to joint second spot in the Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament here.

Anand had suffered his second defeat on the trot in the blindfold game in the fifth round but did well to win the rapid game to make the scoreline 1-1 in the two-game mini-match against Morozevich.

This was Anand's third straight loss to Morozevich in a blindfold game since 2006 in the same event when it was held in Monaco.

On both the earlier occasions, Anand had lost in blindfold after drawing the rapid game but this time the Indian did well to tie the match after being a point down.

The victory in the rapid game helped Anand recover some lost ground as he elevated himself to joint second position on 5.5 points in combined standings.

Armenian Levon Aronian continued with his winning ways and downed Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine 1.5-0.5 to jump to sole lead on 6.5 points.

Anand is also second behind Aronian in the rapid section but in blindfold, the Indian will need a huge repaid job as he is currently on 10th spot.

Playing the white side of French defence in the return game, Anand outplayed Morozevich right from early middle game.

Anand, playing the Winawer variation, got a typical bind and after the trading of queens won a pawn with ease.

Morozevich conceded the match after 35 moves.

In other matches of the day, Grandmaster Peter Leko scored an easy victory over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan while the much-awaited clash between Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia ended in the favour of the latter who won the rapid game. — PTI

Mohali, March 21
Making the game of cricket truly global is what I.S. Bindra is looking forward to. The former BCCI president was speaking to the media after having been appointed principal advisor to the president, International Cricket Council (ICC), at the PCA Stadium here today.

“There is not much of cricket played in the USA and China, the two most powerful economies in the world. Like India, these two countries have the capacity to generate huge revenue if the game is marketed properly. Promoting the game in these countries will be one of my major areas of concern,” Bindra, the PCA chief, emphasised.

“In countries like South Africa, England, Australia and New Zealand, cricket is not even third or fourth most popular game. Changing the scenario for the better is what our efforts will be focussed on,” Bindra revealed.

Asked if he was satisfied with the newly created post of principal advisor and whether this post will come in conflict with the chief executive officer of the ICC, he clarified “There is no area of conflict as our roles are clearly defined. My role will be advisory in nature. Moreover, I will be reporting directly to the president, ICC.”

Bindra said he had a long chat with Imtiaz Patel and he was looking forward to working with the new CEO who will take office after Malcolm Speed relinquishes charge in June-end.

Fostering friendly relations among the other cricket-playing countries was his other objective, he said.

He categorically denied that there was any despair having not got the post of CEO.