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Time to rock and roll
Pak Match Fixing Scare |
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Indian Open
Suspension revoked as Mary Kom apologises
2011 World Cup
Challenger Trophy to begin sans stars
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Time to rock and roll
Bangalore, October 7 Hosts India, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Trinidad and Tobago are the seven countries from which twelve teams will turn out to vie for honours in the 15-day event which was postponed last year after 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai. Royal Challenger skipper Anil Kumble will be back in the field after a long gap and he would look to stamp their authority right from the start. The Challengers would like to exploit the home conditions with Jacques Kallis already making it clear that knowing the conditions will benefit the home team. However, with most of players not playing together often, regrouping the team again would be a challenge for Kumble. In contrast, Cobra will play in an alien conditions as most of the players would be touring India for the first time but they would have the advantage of playing together for the whole year. For Challengers while stars like Kallis, Mark Boucher and Dale Steyn will be seen in action, it will also an opportunity for 18-year-old Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who replace Jesse Ryder in the squad, to make himself counted. For Cobras, Herschelle Gibbs and JP Duminy will be the face and the onus will be on the two batsmen to shoulder the burden against a quality spin attack spearheaded by Kumble and South African all-rounder Roelof van der Merwe.
— PTI In a league of their own: Part
2 Group C
Cape Cobras
Royal Challengers Royal Challengers Bangalore, like Deccan Chargers, had ended up at the bottom of the table in the inaugural edition of DLF IPL. Both met in the final of IPL 2009 in South Africa. Anil Kumble led RCB with great heart, but was unable to win the title. Group D
Wayamba Elevens
Delhi Daredevils
Delhi Daredevils have a number of genuine match-winners in their squad. They boast of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir at the top of the order while wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik beefs up the middle-order. Tillakaratne Dilshan has been a revelation in this format. |
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Intikhab, Younus blame Indian media
ICC rubbishes fixing claims
Karachi, October 7 Intikhab accused the Indian media of triggering and fanning the match-fixing debate. He asked the Pakistan Cricket Board to decide whether there is any need to restore cricketing ties with India which is “hell bent” on damaging them. “All this stuff about our team being involved in match-fixing started because of a report in some Indian newspapers and since then they have carried out a relentless campaign to defame us,” he said. “Maybe it is time we also reviewed our cricket relations with India and decided whether we really need to play them when they are hell bent on trying to damage us,” said Alam, who had coached the Punjab Ranji team in India. Alam was shocked that a parliamentarian like Jamshed Dasti, who heads the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports, made a noise on the basis of the reports in India. “The truth is that it is hard for the Indians to digest the fact that this year in two major tournaments their team, whom they tagged as favourites, was eliminated in the first round and our team not only won the Twenty20 World Cup but also reached the semifinal of the Champions Trophy,” he said. A defiant Younus also said he had not decided as yet whether he would go to attend the hearing of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports. “So far I have received no summons or invitation and at the moment I have not made up my mind whether to go and attend such a hearing,” he said. Meanwhile Dasti, who had accused Pakistan of throwing their match against Australia “on purpose”, did a complete volte-face and said he never accused the side of involving in match-fixing. “I never said the Pakistani players indulged in any match-fixing against Australia or New Zealand. What I was trying to say has been completely misunderstood by everyone,” Dasti said. He claimed all he wanted to say was that some people had called him up and told him about their concerns that Pakistan might have deliberately lost their matches to Australia and New Zealand. “What I was trying to say was that the Standing Committee is also concerned by these reports and it is fair to hold an inquiry into the allegations and for this purpose we intend to call the captain, coach and the Chairman of the (Pakistan Cricket) Board to a hearing soon,” Dasti said. ICC clean chit NEW DELHI:
The International Cricket Council today rubbished match-fixing allegations against the Pakistan cricket team in the just-concluded Champions Trophy in South Africa. ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat also gave a clean chit to Australian umpire Simon Taufel who was officiating the semifinal match between Pakistan and New Zealand. “It is not worthy of spending any energy on that. We are very comfortable with Simon Taufel,” Lorgat said from Johannesburg.
— PTI
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Atwal, Bhullar to lead Indian challenge
Sonika Bhatia Tribune News Service
Gurgaon, October 7 Bhullar, on the other hand would strive to continue his golden run as he has already won six titles in the current season (five on the Aircel-PGTI and one on Asian Tour). He had won his last event about three weeks back at the DLF Golf & Country Club - the Indian Open venue here. SSP Chowrasia, a full card holder on the European Tour and Gaurav Ghei, an Asian Tour regular and a former runner-up at the Indian Open, will also be among the top Indian contenders this week. Digvijay Singh, another Asian Tour regular, will enjoy the advantage of local knowledge as he tees it up at his home course. Young guns Anirban Lahiri and Himmat Singh Rai add depth to the Indian contingent at this year’s event. Lahiri and Rai are both regulars on the Asian Tour and have registered their maiden professional wins on the Aircel-PGTI this year. Three other former Indian Open champions, Ali Sher, Feroz Ali Mollah and Vijay Kumar will bring forth all their experience to roll back the years. As for the international challenge Michael Campbell, who has been invited to dinner by Daniel Chopra at his favourite restaurant in New Delhi, hopes it will be part of a special week. The 40 year old Kiwi is thrilled to be in the country for the first time and after an injury plagued season he senses better times ahead. “I am at the end of another five year cycle of inconsistent form. I had a really good year in 1995, when I was second in the British Open, but then struggled until winning the Johnnie Walker Classic at the end of 1999. I won two times in Europe in 2000 but then only peaked again in 2005 when I won the US Open. As 2010 approaches I am hoping things will start to happen,” said Campbell.
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Suspension revoked as Mary Kom apologises
Jamshedpur, October 7 “Having considered her achievements and seniority, the temporary suspension till 27th October of Mary Kom has been lifted after she apologised before the jury and the officials this morning,” P K Muralidharan Raja, secretary general of the Indian Boxing Federation, said here. Mary Kom was slapped the temporary suspension because of her “unsporting behaviour” after her surprising quarterfinal loss to Pinky Jingra of Haryana on Monday. Raja said the IBF Executive Council, comprising himself, vice presidents N S Kichi and Asit Banerjee, senior joint secretary Anil Bohidhar and the technical director of the ongoing championship, called Mary Kom and the jury members to discuss the ugly incident. Mary Kom subsequently apologised before the council and promised not to repeat such behaviour in future and the IBF Executive Council decided to revoke her suspension as there is no major event till October 27, Raja said. The IBF official described Mary Kom’s outburst against the jury as a “heat of the moment reaction” but made it clear that IBF would not tolerate such indiscipline irrespective of the achievements of the boxers. Mary Kom is a world champion and senior boxer and the IBF decision to punish her was to set an example before others, Raja said. He also expressed confidence that Mary Kom, being an ambassador of women boxing, would set examples in the sport arena to promote the game. Mary Kom lost her bout against Pinky on count-back and the five-member jury had to step in with their judgment after they were locked in a 15-15 stalemate.
— PTI |
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India, Pakistan in separate groups
New Delhi, October 7 Australia have been grouped with local rivals New Zealand, who they defeated by six wickets on Monday to retain the Champions Trophy in South Africa. Twenty20 champions Pakistan, stripped of co-hosting rights due to security concerns in the country, are also in Group A and will not face rivals India in the preliminary round. South Africa, seeking their first World Cup win, are in Group B with former winners West Indies and India besides England and Bangladesh. India will host 29 of the tournament's 49 matches, including a semi-final and the final. Sri Lanka will stage the other semi. According to the provisional schedule, Bangladesh is due to stage the opening ceremony on Feb. 18 and the opening game the next day, as well as two quarter-finals. India will stage matches in eight venues, Sri Lanka has 12 matches at three venues and Bangladesh eight at two. South Asia previously hosted World Cups in 1987 and 1996. — Reuters
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Challenger Trophy to begin sans stars
Nagpur, October 7 Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma are some of the prominent names that will be missing during the 50-overs cricket tournament. Dravid will be seen donning the colours of Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sehwag and Gambhir will represent Delhi Daredevils, and Rohit Sharma will be on duty for IPL-II winners Deccan Chargers in the inaugural Champions League, also starting tomorrow. Yuvraj and Irfan are out of the tournament due to injuries, while Tendulkar has opted for rest prior to the seven-match ODI series against Australia. Maharashtra's Ameya Shrikhande will replace Yuvraj and Vikramjeet Malik has been named as a replacement for India Green’s Irfan Pathan.
— PTI |
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Twelve teams from seven countries will be seen in action in Cricket’s greatest extravaganza when the inaugural edition of the $six million Champions League Twenty20 tournament begins here tomorrow. Indian Premier League II finalist Royal Challengers and South African Cape Cobras will start the proceedings with a high voltage inaugural match of the Twenty20 event at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here.
Otago Volts are a New Zealand side that have been based at the University Oval for the last five seasons before which they played at Carisbrook. Glenn Turner, Mark Richardson and Ken Rutherford, at various times in the last thirty years, have played their part for Otago. But the big names did not yield many trophies.
Standard Bank Pro20 champions of the current season, Cape Cobras, are one of the two teams representing South Africa in Airtel Champions League Twenty20. The team is known to have produced a number of quality cricketers for the national side. Players like Herschelle Gibbs and JP Duminy make up the Cobras’ ranks.
Judged purely on form, they are one of the top contenders to win the CLT20 2009. The Bushrangers are an Australian team based in Melbourne. They were winners of the first three editions of the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash that took place in 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08.
Sri Lanka’s first class cricket team - Wayamba - represents North Western Province and draws cricketers from the Sri Lanka Premier trophy. They won the Inter-Provincial Twenty20 tournament, 2009, defeating Basnahira South to qualify for the T20 extravaganza - the Champions League. Former Sri Lanka captain, Mahela Jayawardene, is their guiding light.
