Mirpur, March 20
India were tonight knocked out of the Asia Cup cricket tournament after minnows Bangladesh continued their giant-killing act by upsetting Sri Lanka by five wickets in the last league match here.

Chasing a revised target of 212 after a rain interruption, the spirited hosts held their nerve to make their maiden entry into the summit showdown of the tournament where they will meet Pakistan on Thursday.

Nasir Hossain (36 not out) hit the winning boundary straight down the ground as the home crowd at the jam-packed Sher-E-Bangla National Stadium went into a state of frenzy.

Tamim Iqbal (59 off 57 balls; 9x4), Shakib Al Hasan (56 off 46; 7x4), Hossain (36 off 61; 3x4) and Mahmadullah (32 not out off 33; 3x4) were the notable batting heroes for Bangladesh who recorded their second consecutive upset wins after having beaten India last Friday.

Put into bat, Sri Lanka were all out for 232 in 49.5 overs with Chamara Kupugedegera (62 off 92; 4x4), Lahiru Thirimanne (48 off 73) and Upul Tharanga (48 off 44) making significant contributions.

But the target was reduced to 212 in 40 overs after a heavy downpour during the innings break, which lasted for a little more than an hour.

India needed a Sri Lankan victory to qualify for the final but now will have to pack their bags and return home.

They had to pay the price for the shock defeat against Bangladesh.

Prior to today's match, Bangladesh were on four points and India on eight. But the hosts' win shut the door on India as they had defeated the Men in Blue earlier in the meet.

As per the rules of the tournament, if two teams are tied on points, head-to-head record is considered.

Sri Lanka had a chance as Bangladesh were off to a bad start, losing three wickets with just 40 runs on the board.

But opener Iqbal and Shakib staged a remarkable comeback, adding 76 runs for the fourth wicket in just over 12 overs. The duo seemed to be playing sensible cricket before Iqbal fell to off-spinner Sachithra Senanayake.

The offie then trapped Shakib to deal another blow to the hosts in a crucial phase of the match.

But Hossain and Mahmudullah kept their cool and in the end finsihed the job with 17 balls to spare.

Earlier Bangladesh kept their hopes alive for a place in the final by restricting Sri Lanka to a modest total.

Kapugedera, Thirimanne and Tharanga made useful contributions in the middle-order after a top-order collapse saw the islanders reeling at 32 for three 
in 10 overs.

Comeback man Nazmul Hossain was the pick of the bowlers with figures of three for 32 while left-arm spinners Shakib-al Hasan (2/56) and Abdur Razzaq (2/44) also got important breakthroughs.

Medium pacer Hossain, who was drafted into the XI in place of Shafiul Islam, struck triple blows within the first 10 overs.

Nazmul, who played his last ODI back in October last year, bowled with a lot of control as he rocked the Lankan top-order removing Mahela Jayawardene (5), Tillekaratne Dilshan (19) and Kumar Sangakkara (6).

Jayawardene who has played some poor shots in the two earlier matches once again tried to play across the line to a delivery that moved in a shade and breached his defence. — PTI

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka

Mahela b Nazmul 5

Dilshan b Nazmul 19

S’kara c Nazimuddin b Nazmul 6

K’gedera c Shakib b Razzak 62

Thirimanne st Mushfiqur

b Razzak 48

Tharanga c Mushfiqur

b Shahadat 48

Maharoof c Mushfiqur b Shakib 3

Kulasekara lbw b Shakib 1

Senanayake not out 19

Malinga b Mashrafe 10

Lakmal run out 0

Extras (lb 3, w 8) 11

Total (all out, 49.5 ovrs) 232

Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-29, 3-32, 4-120, 5-169, 6-175, 7-183, 8-204, 9-230.

Bowling: Mortaza 9.5-1-30-1, Nazmul 8-1-32-3, Shahadat 8-0-51-1, Razzak 10-0-44-2, Shakib 10-1-56-2, Mahmudullah 4-0-16-0.

Bangladesh

Tamim c Thirimanne

b Senanayake 59

Nazimuddin b Kulasekara 6

Jahurul c Kapugedera b Lakmal 2

Rahim b Kulasekara 1

Shakib lbw b Senanayake 56

Nasir not out 36

Mahmudullah not out 32

Extras (lb 13, w 7) 20

Total (5 wkts; 37.1 ovrs) 212

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-39, 3-40, 4-116, 5-135.

Bowling: Malinga 8-0-29-0, Kulasekara 6-0-30-2, Lakmal 7.1-0-44-1, Senanayake 8-0-38-2, Maharoof 6-0-46-0, Dilshan 2-0-12-0.

Kolkata, March 20
India's new batting sensation Virat Kohli, who has hit three hundreds in his four innings, is the ideal batsman to fill in the number three slot left by Rahul Dravid, former skipper Sourav Ganguly has said.

Dravid recently retired from international cricket. Talking on the sidelines of the launch of a documentary on his cricketing career, 'The Warrior Prince', Ganguly said Kohli is the next big thing to have happened to Indian cricket.

Talking about Kohli's blistering 148-ball 183 in their record win over Pakistan, Ganguly said, "He is the next big thing in Indian cricket. I've never seen a better one-day innings in my 22-year-career. I hope he fills up the place of the champion Rahul Dravid at No 3," Ganguly said.

Ganguly also congratulated Sachin Tendulkar for completing 100 international centuries.

"I had always said it was a matter of time. It's a colossal achievement. I congratulate Sachin. I only sent a text message." During the DVD launch of the documentary, directed by Mitali Ghosal, Ganguly spoke to cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle on key phases of his career, beginning with the 1991 tour of Australia.

"I was 17 years old. I didn't play for the entire tour. I went with high hopes. I was little awe struck after meeting greats like Kapil Dev. Initially I thought that I was taken as a left-handed batsman who can hit a few shots.

"But I ended up bowling at the nets. Then I was dropped ahead of the World Cup. I was happy to be back playing for Ranji for four years," he recollected as Bhogle described him as a shy person when he had first seen him during Bengal's 1989-90 Ranji Trophy triumph.

The talk then shifted to his debut Test hundred at Lord's in the 1996 tour.

"It was an emotion that I can play." Asked about his ODI career-best 183 against Sri Lanka in the World Cup, Ganguly said the 97 he scored in his debut World Cup match had set the tone.

"It was chilly winter morning in South Africa and facing four-pronged South Africa pace attack was not easy. It was definitely special." On the 183-run knock in Taunton, during which he had despatched the ball out of the park many times, Ganguly joked: "It was a small ground. The bats were very good those days." On his ascent to captaincy something that changed the attitude of Indian cricket especially while touring overseas, Ganguly said a lot of factors had played a role.

"The quality of players changed. There were likes of VVS Laxman, Sehwag... It was a mixture of attitude, wanting to change Indian cricket coupled with keen to improve fitness." Ganguly thanked New Zealander coach John Wright for instilling the fitness mantra in Indian dressing room.

Recollecting his first day as coach, Ganguly said, "We would take a lap of a stadium once. But on his first day he said, 'I am your coach. You have to run 10 laps of the stadium. You may abuse me.'" "It's the attitude to train, I think that changed the Indian cricket. A crop of players came in. I loved working with him. It was a great relationship. We thought alike." He said the 2003-04 when they reached World Cup final and beat Pakistan in Pakistan was the most memorable phase of his career.

There were also talks about his stepping down from captaincy during their tour to Zimbabwe and his infamous spat with then coach Greg Chappell.

"No differences of opinion last long. It was most frustrating period..." On his retirement, he said: "I still had two years of cricket. But I was not enjoying. I was given Asian cricketer, Batsman of the year. I just felt that something was not right. I didn't want to play cricket like that." — PTI

London, March 20
Disgraced Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Aamir has said that he was tricked into spot-fixing by Salman Butt and bookie Mazhar Majeed and that he did not bowl no balls against England for money.

Aamir, who recently retuned to his country after spending three months in a British jail, said he was tricked into the dirty world of match-fixing by Butt and Majeed, who had fixed deals with an unidentified bookie called Ali.

Aamir said he had sent text messages to Ali with his bank account details. He also claims to have sent further texts to Ali trying to find out why he wanted them, but did not receive any money.

Aamir said Majeed later trapped him by saying that, "Oh bro, you've got yourself in big trouble, you're trapped, and your career is at stake." "He told me that my calls and texts with Ali had been recorded and had reached the ICC," the left-arm pacer said to former England skipper Michael Atherton in an interview in Sky Sports.

Explaining further Aamir said Majeed told him that he was using his influence to stop the case and said: "Can you do me a favour? ... Do two no balls for me." "At this point, I'd like to say how stupid I was. He had spoken about the whole ICC intelligence investigation, and on the other hand he was asking me to deliver no balls. I was panicking so much, it didn't occur to me how ridiculous it was," Aamir said.

"I knew that it was cheating cricket and that it shouldn't happen. Then I thought on the other hand that they are helping me. I thought that they are saving me and, if I don't do it, it might become a problem for me.

"That's what I was thinking at the time, then I did it.

Everyone thinks that I did it for money. I want to clarify that is not the case," Aamir insisted.

Aamir said Butt bertrayed him by involving him in such a muck. "I'm so angry with Salman. He took advantage of my friendship. He used to call me 'innocent one', like how an elder brother would speak to a younger one. He should have helped me instead of involving me in all this," he said.

Amir then apologised again for his involvement in spot-fixing. "Bearing in mind the Pakistani culture, where my situation is concerned, it hits very hard. The public has such passion for the sport that you are recognised immediately, even if you are just walking down the road. — PTI

Patiala, March 20
Giving a chance to four Indian women athletes - Ashwini A.C, Sini Jose, Priyanka Panwar and Tiana Mary Thomas - to compete in the forthcoming Olympic qualifiers, NADA’s Anti Doping Appeal Panel (ADAP) has chosen the date of sample collection as the date 
for commencement of the ban period of one year for these players.

Giving information in this regard, Director General of NADA Rahul Bhatnagar informed that, “Earlier the ADAP had fixed the date of provisional suspension as the date of commencement of ban but the players than filed an appeal stating that in that case, they would miss their chance to take part in Olympic qualifiers and thus will not be able to make it to the London Olympics. Therefore, they requested for few days relaxation,” he added.

“Though WADA had also appealed before the panel to increase their ban from 1 to 2 years, the Panel gave a decision in favour of the athletes. The date of provisional suspension was 15-20 days after the date of sample collection and thus this decision has reduced the ban by a few days, but very crucial ones. Now, they will be able to take part in the qualifier," he added.

Notably, the dates of sample collection for Ashwini A.C and Priyanka Pawar was June 27, 2011, for Sini Jose June 12, 2011 and for Tiana Mary Thomas is June 12 and June 27, 2011. 

Patiala, March 20
The Sports Ministry’s decision to hold fresh trials for the 48 kg weight category to select the women wrestler who will take part in the Wrestling FILA Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament in Astana from March 30 to April 4 has brought a sigh of relief to Commonwealth bronze medallist Babita.

Notably, Babita was found overweight and thus disqualified from her 48 kg category during the Asian Championship that was held in Korea in the month of February. Therefore, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) decided to send Asian Championship bronze medalist Neha Rathi in her place for the Asian qualifiers. Despite the fact that Babita pleaded to the WFI that she would take corrective measures at the earliest, she was not allowed to take part in the trials. Two more wrestlers, World Championship medallist Alka Tomar and Arjuna awardee Geetika Jakhar could also not take part in the trials as they were medically unfit and submitted medical certificates.

The trio then urged the sports ministry to intervene in this matter and hold fresh trials so that they could get an equal chance to compete in the London qualifiers. On their plea, the Sports Ministry had constituted a five-member committee to study the entire case which submitted its report.

Talking to The Tribune in this regard, joint secretary of the Sports Ministry Rahul Bhatnagar informed, “That based on the committee report, we have decided to hold fresh trials for the 48 kg weight category. However, no such relief has been given to the other two wrestlers as they were well aware of the trials in advance,” he added.

It is worth mentioning that there are only four weight categories for women wrestlers in Olympics - 48 kg, 55 kg, 63 kg and 72 kg, and the other three players who have been selected for these trials are Commonwealth Games Gold medalist and Babita’s elder sister Geeta (55 kg), Anita (63 kg) and Gursharan Kaur (72 kg). 

New Delhi, March 20
Five-time World Champion Mary Kom gave India a perfect start by defeating Thailand's Indoor Asian Games gold medallist Laopeam Peamwilai on point 6:4 in 51 kgs category at the 6th Asian Women Boxing Championships in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Mary, who has moved up from her customary 48 kgs to the Olympic 51 kgs weight category, showed her mental strength during a hard-fought victory.

Although the Thai boxer was slightly taller of the two, it was mental domination by Mary that gave her a slender lead of 2:1 by the end of round 1.

In round 2, the lead was increased to 3:1 but in the next round, the Thai girl came back strongly to reduce the deficit.

Mary, however, still managed to keep a lead of 4:3. Round 4 was a tactical win for Mary as she delivered two crisp blows towards the end to romp home the winner on 6:4.Mary would next face Nandinsetseg Myagmardul of Mongolia in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

In the 57 kgs, Mandakini Chanu defeated Rahemi Sadaf of Afghanistan after referee stopped the contest in the fourth round as the Indian proved to be far superior than her opponent.

Mandakini will now take on Kil Ok Kim of Peoples Republic of Korea on Thursday. — PTI

Chandigarh, March 20
Bouyed by their terrific comeback victory against Pune Strykers in their previous match, Chandigarh Comets were in total command today as they celebrated their back-to-back win over hopefuls Delhi Wizards here at Sector 42 Stadium. A win was a-must for the Wizards but they had overlooked the crest that Comets are riding at the moment, though the 3-2 victory margin could have been bettered by the hosts.

Star drag-flicker Gurjinder Singh showed abundant talent and imagination to score a brace though he was unlucky not to add another which was a low-flick speeding parallel to the turf, but it missed the goal by a couple of inches. His striking success, no doubt, gave confidence to the Comets that they could hold their sway in the match at will, but they must be contemplating the several missed chances. The talented PC expert is now the second-highest scorer in the tournament after this match, and he deserves the credit for taking the late-starters thus far in second place with 18 points from 10 matches (dated before Chennai Cheetahs match against Bhopal Badshahs at 9pm). Gurjinder had scored the lone goal in their first leg against the Wizards.

Meticulous in moves and methodical in approach, Comets held sway in the beginning before giving enough elbow room to their rivals to cancel out both their leads at the half time. Vikramjeet Singh will rue his missing of stroke, a lapse that had changed the course of the match forever.

Comets missed two easy crosses in the beginning, and then changed their strategy from going for direct goals to penalty corners, which proved fruitful. Sukhwinder ‘Gabbar’ Singh and Rehan Butt worked on the Wizards’ weak left flank, and earned penalty corners at will. Gurjinder converted his first and third, while goalie Kamaldeep Singh cleared the second and Jaswinder picked up the ball on the goalline off the fourth.

On the other hand, renewed with timely time out, Shakeel Abbasi fetched his team’s first penalty corner, which was converted by Vikramjeet Singh to bring up the equalsier.

New Delhi, March 20
The much-delayed Delhi and Districket Cricket Association (DDCA) League will be held from Wednesday. The League was scheduled to start on March 1 at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground, but the ground was not available.

Tomorrow's fixtures: Madras Club vs BSNL, Delhi Gymkhana vs Delhi Administration, Gush Club vs Telefunken,PMG vs Tedco, South Delhi Colts vs IAF,Mount CC vs Delhi Wanderers, Pioneer vs Harsh Sports,Darling vs Malik Sports, Rohtak Road Gymkhana vs Malviya Club. The matches will start at 9:00 a.m, and will be over 40 over games.