Karachi, March 23
Despite losing the Asia Cup final to Pakistan by just two runs, Bangladesh managed to win several hearts with their lion-hearted performances in the series with former players heaping lavish praise on the Tigers. “I think Bangladesh has emerged with a new fighting spirit and self belief. They might have lost but they were certainly not disgraced,” former Pakistan Test captain Javed Miandad said.

“They appear to have benefited a lot from holding the Bangladesh Premier League and their team appears to have improved a lot,” he said.

Pakistan regained the Asia Cup title after a gap of 12 years, sparking off a wave of celebration here with heavy aerial firing and people dancing to drum beats the order of the night.

Former captain Rashid Latif said Pakistan were always the favourites to win the summit clash. “Pakistan’s win is good but not unexpected. What is unexpected is definitely the way Bangladesh team fought in the final. They fell short by just two runs and that says a lot for the improvement in their ranks,” he said.

Pakistan’s chief selector Iqbal Qasim said he was relieved at the result. “If we had lost the final it would have come as a big shock to Pakistan cricket because no one expected us to lose. But Bangladesh gave us a hard time and there are areas where we need to improve,” he said.

All-rounder Shoaib Malik said, “I must give credit to Bangladesh for putting up a good fight. They appear to have improved their batting, bowling and fielding. They had belief they could win the final.” The chairman of the Pakistan Board, Zaka Ashraf also congratulated the team for winning the Asia Cup after a decade-long gap.

“This Pakistan team deserves plaudits on the victory. It kept its nerve against a resurgent Bangladesh and proved themselves a better side,” he said. — PTI

Mirpur, March 23
They came agonisingly close to clinching their first Asia Cup title before losing to Pakistan by just two runs and Bangladesh skipper said it was the dismissals of Tamim Iqbal and Shakib-Al-Hasan that proved to be the turning point of the final. Bangladesh has played brilliant cricket in the Asia Cup, beating India and Sri Lanka and they restricted Pakistan to 236 and were in the hunt before succumbing to a 2-run defeat at the Shere Bangla National Stadium here.

“Before the tournament, we had great preparation but the boys stuck to the plans. We played good in the tournament I thought. But the wickets of Shakib and Tamim were the turning point tonight,” Rahim said after the match. “The wicket is a bit slowish, it’s not easy to score runs, Tamim and Shakib played well. We gave away some runs in the last over, that was crucial.

“It’s been a great tournament for Shakib, Tamim, Mashrafe, Razzak and Nasir. We fought in all the games and we achieved a lot in this tournament,” said Rahim, who signed off by promising the crowd a better performance in future.

Man of the series, Shakib Al Hasan said, “If we look at the overall tournament, we were terrific. The teamwork has been terrific, the way the crowd supported us was fantastic too. Hopefully we’ll kick on from here,” Shakib said.

“If I had scored two more runs we would have won the game, we came so close to win the Asia Cup. We’ll take the positives from this series and move on from there.”

Pakistan clinched the Asia Cup title after 12 years and skipper Misbah-ul-Haq credited the youngsters for setting up the victory for the team. “Wonderful victory, well fought by all guys, the youngsters came in and contributed well. Hammad Azam played well, Sarfraz’s innings was a vital one for us. It was a good team effort,” he said.

Even though heart-broken after their narrow defeat, Bangladesh won hearts with Misbah and former skipper Shahid Afridi heaping praise on the team for their “awesome” performance in the four-nation tournament. “Bangladesh played wonderfully well, this is really a new Bangladesh team and they are really the winners,” said Misbah.

Afridi, who won the man of the match award for his 32-run innings and a wicket, said, “Bangladesh really played well, they played awesome cricket. They always surprise and give a tough time to top teams. Credit goes to guys like Shakib and Nasir, they really played some good cricket.” — PTI 

New Delhi, March 23
Australian pacer Brett Lee has paid rich tributes to retired Rahul Dravid and iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar, describing them as "brilliant cricketers and extremely great guys off the field." Lee feels Dravid, who recently retired from international cricket, is an excellent player and he would be missed by his fans across the world.

"The last week has been huge for Indian cricket with two important events, Rahul Dravid retiring from international cricket and Sachin Tendulkar scoring his 100th international century," Lee wrote in his blog on www.castrolcricket.com.

"They are both brilliant cricketers and are extremely great guys off the field as well. I have a lot of respect for Dravid, he is an excellent cricketer and I have had a good time playing against him.

"It is obviously sad that he is leaving and the fans are going to miss watching him. I'll certainly miss playing against him," he said.

The 35-year-old speedster from New South Wales also showered praise on Tendulkar and said: "It is amazing! Almost unbelievable that he has scored a hundred international centuries! "It's hard to believe some of the things he has achieved. He is in a class of his own, and he deserves every accolade that comes his way. A truly world class player!," he added.

Dravid, the second most prolific batsman in the game's history and India's middle order bulwark for years, bid adieu to a 16-year-old international cricket earlier this month.

Tendulkar had achieved the milestone of scoring 100 international centuries when he blasted 114 against Bangladesh in the just-concluded Asia Cup. — PTI

New Delhi, March 23
Olympic-qualified Vikas Krishan (69kg) and Shiva Thapa (56kg) assured India of at least two bronze medals at the 43rd men's and women's Boxing Grand Prix after reaching the semifinals of the event in Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic.

Vikas, a World Championship bronze medallist, outpunched Belarus' Dauhliavets Yauheni 13-2. He will now take on Cuba's Despaigne Arisnoide in the semifinal.

Shiva, who has been picked in the team for next month's Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Kazakhstan, defeated Hungary's Nagy Kriztian 11-3. The promising Assam-lad will now face Czech Republic's Velky Patrik.

"Both these boxers fought extremely well. Vikas was exceptional with his footwork and seems to be gaining in strength as well. Shiva, on the other hand, displayed sharp reflexes and tired out his opponent," coach Jagdeep Hooda, who is with the team, told PTI over phone from Usti nad Labem.

"Although the competition features just about 18 teams, it is the quality of boxers which makes it tough. There are some excellent pugilists from countries like Russia, Italy and Cuba competing here," he added.

But there was disappointment for other Indians is fray, who lost their opening bouts.

The Olympic-qualified duo of Jai Bhagwan (60kg) and Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Sumit Sangwan (81kg), who will represent India in the Asia Olympic qualifiers, lost in the first round itself.

The women drew a blank in the event with Asian Games bronze medallist Kavita Goyat (75kg), Van Lal Duati (51kg) and Preeti Beniwal (60kg) losing in the first round of their competition.

The tournament, being organised by Czech Boxing Association, features over 130 boxers. — PTI

Sepang, March 23
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton needed less than an hour of the first free practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Friday to show that he will be one of the favourites for this weekend's race. The 2008 world champion scorched to the fastest time of the 90-minute session on a glorious sunny morning south of the Malaysian capital, clocking one minute, 38.021 seconds to beat the rest of the field by more than half a second.

World champion Sebastian Vettel was second fastest with a time of 1:38.535, marginally ahead of the Mercedes pair Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher, who were separated by just 13 hundreths of a second.

The drivers used the session to gauge tyre degradation around the demanding Sepang circuit and with times slowing by around a second after 10 laps, pit stop strategy for Sunday's race will be a key factor in determining the eventual winner.

McLaren locked up the front row in the season-opening race in Melbourne last week, with Hamilton's team mate Jenson Button going on to win comfortably, but the Briton had a far bumpier ride in Malaysia on Friday morning.

The 2009 world champion, who won at the circuit in the same year, struggled with an oil leak that limited his session to just 15 laps in which he could only post the ninth-fasted time, 1.302 seconds behind his team mate.

London, March 23
Wayne Rooney has apologised to a nine-year-old Manchester United supporter after the striker accidentally broke the boy's wrist with a stray shot before his side's 5-0 win at Wolves on Sunday. Rooney was taking shots at goal during the pre-match warm-up and one wild effort from the United star flew into the crowd and struck Jamie Thomas on the wrist as he tried to block the ball.

Thomas managed to watch the first half of the Premier League match, but was taken into the first aid tent after his arm "ballooned" at half time. Medics then sent the youngster to hospital where he had a plaster cast put on his injured wrist.

Rooney was not aware of the incident at the time, but he used his Twitter page to say sorry to the schoolboy and promised to send him a personalised gift. He said in a tweet: "I want to apologise to Jamie Thomas. I have arranged for a letter and a signed shirt to be sent to his home address." Thomas was watching his United heroes for the first time and his father, Andy, told the Shropshire Star: "It shook him up a bit but he's fine about it now and I don't think it's put him off going to other games. "I don't think Rooney realised what he had done, otherwise I am sure he would have come over." — AFP