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Explain Kanpur crumble: ICC
Green Park stadium in Kanpur where third Test between India and South Africa lasted just three days. — AFP
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‘No need for IPL window yet’
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Sachin’s pull out leaves IOA red-faced
Veterans get prominence in torch relay
Scrap Champions Trophy: Hoggard
Katrina face of Mallya’s IPL team
Kings XI strongest team: Yuvi
More England players in next IPL edition
ICL asks for ICC recognition
Fisichella 2nd fastest
Sridhar, Chetan bow out in 1st round
India-Romania tie from Sept 19
Sonnet win
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Mumbai, April 16 Mahanama was less than impressed after the third and final Test in Kanpur's Green Park Stadium ended inside three days with the hosts cantering to an eight-wicket win that also helped them level the three-match series. Yawning cracks and uneven bounce made life difficult for the batsmen on the track, prompting Mahanama to submit an unflattering report to the ICC. Reacting to Mahanama's report, ICC sent a letter to the BCCI, seeking an explanation. "A letter has been sent to the BCCI. The process was initiated by Match Referee Roshan Mahanama and the ICC sent a letter to the BCCI after getting his report. We are awaiting a reply," ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said here today. BCCI Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty, however, sought to downplay the event and refused to call it a notice from the ICC. "It's a normal process where the Match Referee submits a pitch report to the ICC at the end of the match, a copy of which is also given to the Board", he said. "This is not the first time that a match ended in three days. Definitely there were suggestions for some corrective measures but I don't think it was a notice to the BCCI," Shetty said. Though BCCI officials sought to downplay the letter and said it was a routine affair, Mahanama's observation has initiated a standard process which requires the BCCI to reply within 14 days. After a match, the Match Referee has to give his assessment of the track and if he finds it unfit or sub-standard, the ICC takes note of that and seeks an explanation from the host Board. If BCCI's explanation fails to convince the ICC, the governing body can even ban Kanpur from hosting international matches, which is the extreme punishment. — PTI
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Mumbai, April 16 "The players know that the only reason they are approached for the Twenty20 is because they are the stars for their country. They have become good players because they have been brought up in the system within their country. IPL hasn't started yet. Before we go carving windows in the structure that is basis of the finances of all countries, including the BCCI, let's see how good it is. There is no rush to do this," he emphasised. Instead, the ICC CEO said the biggest challenge facing the game's administrators right now was how to integrate the T20 format with Tests and ODIs to ensure that none had to face disinterest of the fans. "I said to the ICC board in the very long paper I wrote in March this year that this current generation of cricket administrators will be judged not by how much money the game makes out of T20 cricket, it will be judged by how well we integrate T20 into the other forms of the game. We regard it as a challenge, not a problem," Speed told reporters here. Recalling how India and Pakistan were opposed to T20 initially till the dramatic change of view after the former defeated their arch-rivals to win the inaugural world championship last year in South Africa, Speed praised the cricket administrators in the two countries for respecting the views of the others and taking part in the championship. "If we go back three or four years when T20 cricket was emerging it was popular in England, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand and there was some resistance to it in the subcontinent. The ICC CEO stated in clear terms that the country versus country theme will always remain the lifeblood of the game and he was happy that all member boards, including the financial superpower BCCI, subscribed to this view. He also felt that while the Indian Premier League, floated by the BCCI, was a good concept, the need of the hour was to proceed with caution for the well being of the game. "What I also said to the (ICC) Board was that cricket as we know it is based on country versus country and that's the lifeblood of the game... We need to be very careful that we preserve that. I said to the Board and I say it to you, IPL is a good concept. If it's executed properly and can be integrated into nation versus nation cricket it can be very successful. But we need to proceed with caution," he said. Whether a window is carved out in the FTP is a different issue that could pose a serious problem for some countries, in particular West Indies. Their primary season coincides with the time IPL tournament is being planned. "It also affects the other countries and how they tour. It is premature to change the fundamental structure of cricket. Let's see after the first season, there will be enough information to see as to how it should be structured," he added. — PTI
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Sachin’s pull out leaves IOA red-faced
New Delhi, April 16 Talking to mediapersons here today, IOA president Suresh Kalmadi
said, ''I spoke to Sachin Tendulkar and he opted out because he has an IPL meeting tomorrow so he will be busy there.'' He further added that Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi will not be a part of the relay because he will be out of station while Sunil Gavaskar too, will be busy with his IPL engagements. Even the withdrawal of so many celebrities and athletes from the torchbearers' list, Kalmadi seemed all at ease saying, ''There is no problem if somebody has pulled out, there are many other sportspersons who will be taking part in the relay.'' He also responded to newly appointed Sports Minister MS Gill's statement that only sportspersons should be included in the torch relay while celebrities and politicians should be kept out. ''According to the Olympic charter, people from all walks of life should be included amongst the torch bearers. ''People who dedicated their career and those who uphold the Olympic movement can not be ignored either,'' he added. However, the IOA president was at a loss for words when asked about some of the basic details about the torch relay which is less than 24 hours away. ''I do not know when will the torch arrive in India and have no idea when will it be held tomorrow,'' Kalmadi said with a grin on his face.
— UNI |
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Veterans get prominence in torch relay
New Delhi, April 16 Gate, which is learnt to be 4 pm, due to security reasons. The Olympic torch is slated to arrive at the Indira Gandhi International Airport by a special aircraft around midnight, and the flame will be kept at a luxury hotel in the night, which was swarmed by security personnel by Wednesday afternoon. Kalmadi justified the unprecedented security blanket provided for the torch relay, saying "it's our responsibility to ensure the safety and security of the sacred flame". Seventy runners have been listed to run in the relay, including five from China, though surprisingly, some of the prominent sportspersons have either opted out of the race, or they have not been invited at all. And those who would not be holding the torch include former Indian cricket captains Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev. Kalmadi said while Gavaskar had execused himself, Kapil was not among those listed to run in the torch relay. Sachin Tendulkar will not be running as there will be a meeting of the captains of the Indian Premier League in Bangalore on April 18 while Baichung Bhutia had refused to run, declaring his solidarity with the Tibetan protesters. Kalmadi said he had personally extended an invitation to Rahul Gandhi but he could not confirm his participation as he would be out of Delhi tomorrow. Kalmadi claimed that there was overwhelming request from celebrities and sportspersons to run, but since only a limited number could be accommodated, many requests had to be turned down. The torch relay runners include 12 athletes, four boxers, eight hockey players, one kabaddi player, two rowers, four shooters, one squash player, two table tennis players, three tennis players and four wrestlers. The rest are made up of CEOs and other big shots of multi-national and Indian companies, film stars, sports heads, politicians and others. Surprisingly, no cricketer figures in the list of runners. The IOA nominees include 47, five each from sponsors Lenovo, Coca-Cola and Samsung and five from China. While some battered hockey Olympians have been given entry, the young lot has been kept out. Even among athletes, only Anju Bobby George is the only current Olympian in the list. Surprisingly, her husband Robert Bobby George also figures among the runners, may be for being the "Dronacharya Award" winning personal coach of Anju. The runners mostly include veterans, barring the exception of Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Abhinav Bhindra, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Chetan Baboor (TT), Karnam Malleswari, Kunjarani Devi, Dhanraj Pillai and Jaspal Rana. Among hockey players, shockingly no current or even recent Olympians have been listed to run. Dhanraj Pillai is perhaps the only exception. Nandy Singh, Ajitpal Singh, Aslam Sher Khan, Balbir Singh (Sr), Harbinder Singh, M. P. Ganesh and Zafar Iqbal are the other Olympians figuring in the list. There are runners in the "eminent personality" category, though no one could explain in what field they had achieved their "eminence". There seems to be a clear "pick and choose" method in the selection of the runners and even Union Sports Minister M. S. Gill does not figure in the scheme of things. As usual, the IOA brigade will be in full force, with Kalmadi, secretary-general Randhir Singh, National Rifle Association of India president Digvijay Singh and All India Football Federation president P. R. Dasmunshi, listed to run. Leander Paes, who won a bronze in tennis singles at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, said it was a dream come true for him to run in the torch realy, alongside veteran Olympians about whose heroics he had grown up hearing as his father Dr Vece Paes and mother Jennifer Paes were both Olympians in hockey and basketball, respectively. Sydney Games (2000) silver medallist Karnam Malleswari was also happy to be part of the relay while for P. T. Usha, the Olympic torch will bring back memories of her missed medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olmpics.
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Scrap Champions Trophy: Hoggard
London, April 16 ''That is a one-day tournament that none of the players would be sorry to see the back of,'' Hoggard wrote in a column published in The Times. ''If there was a choice of playing the Champions Trophy or the
IPL, I know what most international players would prefer to do,'' he added. ''When the England players were discussing the IPL on our recent tour to New Zealand the general feeling was that we'd see how this first run of the tournament went. There were no gaps in the schedule this year, so participation was not an option for England players,'' he remarked. ''But in the future you would be silly to rule yourself out, such are sums of money involved. We're talking six week's work for roughly a year's salary,'' he added.
— UNI |
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Kumble doubtful for IPL opener
Bangalore, April 16 "He (injured Kumble) probably might miss the first game definitely," Royal Challengers' skipper Rahul Dravid said, adding, another team member, Nathan Bracken would be able to join the squad only in the first week of May. Given the Twenty20 format, Dravid said the tournament was "very, very competitive" and therefore there were no favourites. "I think there is no clear favourite in the tournament", he said. On his comment made in Chennai over auctioning in team selection for IPL, Dravid said it was an "off the cuff" remark that was taken out of context, and then went on to support the IPL concept. "It's a great opportunity for domestic cricketers", he said. "It's a domestic tournament with international flavour". The team's manager, Martin Crowe, said the T20 format would "speed up" the one-day games and Test matches. This format is now "sitting along side" the other two versions "comfortably", he said. 5 foreign players
in Riders’ squad
Kolkata: Five foreign players, including West Indies opener Chris Gayle figure in the 14-member Kolkata Knight Riders squad for the Indian Premier League lung-opener against Bangalore Royal Challengers on April 18. The squad announced today has New Zealander Brendon Mcculum, Australian captain Ricky Ponting, David Hussey and Pakistani Mohammed Hafiz. The Pakistani duo of Salman Butt and Umar Gul are yet to join the team, while Rawalpindi Express Shoaib Akhtar’s participation in the tournament looks dim after he was slapped with a five-year ban by the Pakistani cricket board. The IPL authorities have said that Shoaib will not be allowed to play unless the ban is lifted. Zimbabwean Tatenda Taibu is the only foreign recruit for the Knight Riders who has not been included in the 14-member squad though he has practised with the team. Coach John Buchanan said he was happy with the team. He said the team was announced after discussion with Ganguly and praised the captain saying “Sourav has a clear idea.” Team: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Brendon Mcculum, Ricky Ponting, Chris Gayle, David Hussey, Mohammed Hafiz, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Wriddhiman Saha, Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, Murali Kartik, Ishant Sharma, Debabrata Das and Iqbal Abdullah.
— PTI |
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Katrina face of Mallya’s IPL team
Mumbai, April 16 "Let me clarify that Katrina is the face of Vijay Mallya's cricket team but not a brand ambassador to his Royal Challenge products," said a source close to the actress. The actress, who sizzled in the recently released thriller "Race", will be shooting an exclusive solo music video for Mallya's team to be directed by Sanjay Gupta. After starring in four hits last year, Katrina today ranks amongst the top league of actresses. Her next release is "Singh is King".
— IANS
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Kings XI strongest team: Yuvi
Mohali, April 16 “Using such a term is good to create hype but for both of us it would be just like any other match. Being a skipper, he (Dhoni) too wants to win the match as much as I want,” said the Kings XI captain at the Punjab Cricket Stadium here today. Terming his team as the strongest unit in the IPL, Yuvi said, “We have a good mixture of top class experienced and young players. Kings XI is going to win the tournament.” Interestingly, both Yuvraj and Dhoni share a close friendship. “Dhoni is a good friend but on the field we will be rivals. Both the teams would go all out to win their first match,” said the swashbuckling batsman. On the issue of the top players preferring IPL over their national teams, Yuvraj said, “The players are not going to play in the IPL throughout the year. As the league is just a 44-day affair, the players will be available for their respective national teams during the remaining part of the year,” Yuvraj said. When asked whether he would repeat the Twenty20 World Cup feat of smashing six sixes in an over during the IPL, Yuvi said, “You never know. Anything can happen in the game, but I feel such a thing happens once in a lifetime.” Echoing the sentiments of his skipper, coach Tom Moody said, “The team is looking forward to start their campaign on a winning note.” |
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More England players in next IPL edition
London, April 16 However, the participation will be restricted to the last two weeks of the 2009 edition as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has made it clear that its players will have to fulfil their international commitments till 2010. On the other hand, Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) president Sean Morris told BBC Sport that the Board will review its stand and players will get to play in the Twenty20 tourney next year. ''There will be a little bit of a window when England players return from West Indies. They will then be able to participate in possibly last two weeks of that tournament next year,'' Morris said. ''I think they will play. It is going to be driven by market forces, the players will go and play Twenty20 cricket. It makes a lot of sense to allow them to play based on the fact that we've got the World Twenty20 coming up five weeks later. ''Don't we want our best player competing in the leading domestic tournament at that time? The communication between the England players and the ECB has increased.'' ''There are so many positive from the players' point of view to come out of these Twenty20 tournaments,'' he added.
— UNI |
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ICL asks for ICC recognition
Mumbai, April 16 "There are two parts to that. Until recently the ICL had never sought recognition from the ICC, so it never asked the question. About 10 days ago lawyers acting on behalf of ICL contacted ICC and sought recognition from the ICC," said Malcolm Speed, the outgoing CEO of ICC, today during an interaction with reporters. "We are awaiting advice from our lawyers on that issue and I expect it within the next week or so (after which) we'll respond to the ICL lawyers," Speed added. "The question is never been asked whether the ICC will recognize the ICL one way or the other. It's a fairly complicated legal issue and we are taking legal advice," said the ICC CEO who will step down from his post in June. Speed also revealed that the Indian cricket board had never sent anything in writing to the ICC that the ICL was an unsanctioned event or the BCCI did not recognize it. "The BCCI has never sent anything in writing to the ICC terming the ICL as unsanctioned or that they don't recognize it. The law is different in every country on issues such as the state of trade, competition and these sorts of issues. "So the position that the members have taken is subject to ICC obtaining legal advice they do not recognize the ICL and they will deal with their player as they fit under the law of their country," Speed elaborated. "Similarly, the ICC has never been asked if the ICC will recognize the IPL. The IPL doesn't need ICC recognition because it's a competition run by the BCCI just as county cricket or Pura Cup doesn't need ICC recognition," he reiterated. Saying that the issue was a very complicated one, Speed said that it was up to individual countries to determine whether they wanted to take back players who had joined ICL or not into the mainstream of cricket.
— PTI |
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Sunny told to choose between ICC post, journalist work
Mumbai, April 16 ICC CEO Malcolm Speed told reporters today that he had already explained to the cricket legend that unlike in the past it had become an issue now and he has accepted it. "He was appointed last year for a three-year term as chairman of the cricket committee. The ICC Board is concerned about his role as a commentator and journalist and the Board has decided the chairman should be a non-practising journalist," Speed said. "I've explained that carefully to Sunny who accepts that after the cricket committee meeting (he) will choose to continue as chairman or as a journalist," he added. "There are no guidelines at the moment but he has been chairman for a long time. It hasn't been an issue up until now, but it's become an issue and the decision has been made. It's sensible that chairman of the committee is not a journalist and not commenting on issues that involve other employees or consultants of ICC," the ICC official said. Gavaskar had criticised Mike Procter, the ICC match referee during India's Test series in Australia, for going by the words of the Australian cricketers and not Sachin Tendulkar that Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh had racially abused the hosts' all rounder Andrew Symonds during the January 2-6 Sydney Test.
— PTI
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Fisichella 2nd fastest
Barcelona, April 16 Behind the wheels of the VJM01, Fisichella completed 79 laps and his best of 1min 19.721s remained the benchmark for major part of the day in the nine-man field before Honda's Rubens Barrichello (1 min 18.928s) raised the bar. Next on the list was Ferrari's Bahrain Grand Prix winner Massa, followed by Red Bull's David Coulthard, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso of Renault, Nico Rosberg of Williams, Toyota's Timo Glock and BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld. Though Fisichella posted his best time on 2009 'slick' Bridgestone tyre option, he proved quick on the grooved rubber too and managed a more representative time of 1m 20.7s to demonstrate the Silverstone-based outfit's rapid progress. This was a marked improvement from the team's previous fastest lap round in Barcelona this year - a 1 min 22.233, was set by Giancarlo in February. The same circuit will host the fourth Grand Prix of the season on April 27 and the strong show here would boost the Vijay Mallya-owned team's morale. Quite at home behind the wheel of the VJM01, Fisichella said, "The car went much better this time out than the last time we tested in Barcelona, which you can see in the considerable improvement in our lap times. This is largely due to the new parts we have introduced since the start of the season and the last time we were here. "I tested the new 2009 slick tyres here today - which was the reason for my fastest lap - but we were also much quicker on 2008 grooved rubber too. The best lap we did here in February was a 1min 22.3 and now we are at 1min 20.7, we're really moving forward," said the Italian. Most positive from the day however is that with full 2008 settings and tyres, Giancarlo put in strong times that bettered our previous fastest times round here by more than two seconds. We're obviously very pleased with this progress going into next week's race," he said. Adrian Sutil will take over testing duties for the third and final day of testing.
— PTI |
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Sridhar, Chetan bow out in 1st round
New Delhi, April 16 Highest-ranked Indian, Sridhar, who recovered from an injury recently, gave little opposition to seventh seeded Sung Hwan Park of Korea to lose 9-21, 13-21 and bow out of the tournament. Chetan, who was the losing finalist in the India Open Grand Prix last month, lost his first round match 19-21, 24-26 to Hiroyuki Endo of Japan in a 47-minute close contest. The loss virtually ended world number 47 Chetan's chances of making it to the Beijing Olympics as it is the final qualifying event of quadrennial mega event. Sridhar though still has a chance of making it to Beijing as he is ranked 24th in the world and top 38 in the May 1 rankings list get automatic qualification. Anand Pawar was also no match to 10th seed Simon Santoso of Indonesia losing 16-21, 9-21 in 34 minutes. P Kashyap, however, saved the day for the Indians and he came from behind to score a 11-21, 21-17, 21-10 victory over Chinese Yi Lu in a tough 50-minute contest. Kashyap now faces a tough task in the second round as he is pitted against third seed Chinese Chunlai Bao in the3 second round. In mixed doubles, V Diju and Jwala Gutta made it to second round after a 21-17, 23-21 victory over the Korean pair of Sang Hoon Han and Yu Mi Hwang.
— PTI |
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India-Romania tie from Sept 19
New Delhi, April 16 The unseeded Indian team, which last played in the World Group in 1998, will contest the tie in Romania according to the draw announced today. The Indians defeated Uzebekistan and Japan in the Asia/Oceania Zone ties to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2005. Romania lost to France in the opening round of the World Group for the second year running and goes into September's play-offs for the third year in a row. The 16-team competition will see the eight winners advancing to the World Group while the losers will start next year in Group I of their respective zones.
— PTI
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Sonnet win
New Delhi, April 16 Scores: SSS Academy: 174 (Abhimanyu Insan 39, Lakhwinder Singh 35, Dilraj Atwal 3 for 43). Sonnet: 175 for 3 (Gaurav Kocher 70 n.o., Khalid 51).
— TNS |
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After Match Referee Roshan Mahanama gave a thumbs-down to the Kanpur dustbowl where India tamed South Africa within three days, the International Cricket Council has shot off a letter to the BCCI seeking an
explanation.
Mumbai, April 16
The first match between local favourite Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings on Saturday might be hyped as ‘Yuvraj vs Dhoni’ but for Yuvraj it will be just like any other match.
“Using such a term is good to create hype but for both of us it would be just like any other match. Being a skipper, he (Dhoni) too wants to win the match as much as I want,” said the Kings XI captain at Punjab Cricket Stadium here today.
Video
IPL hasn't started yet. Before we go carving windows in the structure that is basis of the finances of all countries, including the BCCI, let's see how good it is. There is no rush to do this.