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Sri Lanka to take on spirited Pakistan in semis
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Umesh, Varun should be groomed, says Akram
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Hockey team seeks camp venue
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Dhoni’s captaincy form of seniors under scrutiny
New Delhi, October 3 While Dhoni came under fire for some of his “tactical blunders”, some former cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar were not in favour of changing the captain or making too many changes in the team. India failed to qualify for the semifinals of World Twenty20 on net run rate and former cricketers said the team’s repeated failures in this format should be analysed and corrective measures should be taken. Former Indian captains like Gavaskar, Anil Kumble, Dilip Vengsarkar and Ajit Wadekar and a host of other ex-cricketers felt that a combination of factors led to India’s ouster from the World T20. Some of Dhoni’s decisions also evoked criticism from the former players. “Indian cricket is now at the crossroads. We have not been able to do well in the two shorter formats which we have dominated. We won the World Twenty20 in 2007 and then won the longer 50-over World Cup last year. After that we have been struggling. This is something we have to look into. We have to put our heads together and find out why this has been happening,” Gavaskar said. “I am not saying that there should be an inquiry or a report being sought from the coach. I am also not saying that heads will have to be rolled and there is need for change of captaincy. Absolutely, there is no need for all these things,” he added.. Gavaskar said that the coach and the captain alone should not be blamed for the debacle as they had taken decisions in the interest of the team. “We can’t blame the captain of the coach for this. They take the decision thinking that it would be in the interest of the team. No captain or coach wants to cut his own foot by taking wrong decisions deliberately. Sometimes, the decisions work and sometimes they do not,” he said. “So what I feel is we may have gone wrong in the tactical aspect. You need to tweak here and there. I feel we went wrong tactically in the tri-series in Australia and then Asia Cup and now World Twenty20. We could have done differently but I am not suggesting change in captaincy. There is absolutely no need for this,” he added. Former India opener Chetan Chauhan said that Dhoni had to take responsibility for the team’s failure and also felt that pacer Zaheer Khan should not play for India in T20 cricket. “The tournament is played in the sub-continent. We are used to these conditions. We have been to Sri Lanka, we played very well against them. Keeping this fact, I thought that we should have reached the semifinals. Unfortunately, we did not. A captain has to take responsibility, he is the captain. I would not blame him alone, I would blame the entire team. A captain is as good as the team. If you don’t perform, a captain could not do anything. Unfortunately, they did not perform there,” Chauhan said. “These are all the factors, plus at few stages, Dhoni did make mistakes in decisions, like against Australia, there was no need to rest Virender Sehwag,” he added.Chauhan said except for Virat Kohli, none of the batsmen were consistent in the tournament and that was one of the reason’s for India’s early exit. “We have Rohit Sharma, he did not perform. Leave aside Virat Kohli, few games Suresh Raina, the others were struggling.” — PTI
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Sri Lanka to take on spirited Pakistan in semis
Colombo, October 3 It will be a battle of attrition between the two sides who had met in the final of the 2009 edition of the tournament in England where Pakistan emerged victorious. The scene is entirely different this time around as Mohammed Hafeez and his boys will be facing a formidable Sri Lankan outfit in their own backyard.
While Mendis has roared back to form during this edition of World T20 having taken nine wickets in five games which also include an astonishing six for eight against Zimbabwe, Ajmal has been a consistent performer for Pakistan in the past few years.
However, Pakistan, which has the likes of Hafeez, Imran Nazir, Nasir Jamshed and the Akmal brothers, are better players of spin bowling. And it will be interesting to watch as to what tricks can Mendis pull out of his bag on a slow R Premadasa track that has been assisting spinners. Pakistan, on the otherhand, will be expecting the trio of Ajmal, Hafeez and young left-arm spinner Raza Hassan to ask difficult questions to Sri Lankan top order that has three world class batsmen in Tillekaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. Dishan, Jayawardene and Sangakkara all have been among runs and know the Premadasa track like the back of their hand. The only advantage that Pakistan will have over Sri Lanka is the number of matches that they have played at this venue. Having played three matches and won two, Hafeez and his men have an idea of what to expect from the Premadasa surface. The Lankans, on the other hand, have played all their matches at Hambantota and Pallekele, where the seamers got more help due to the conditions. On the slow Premadasa track, one would expect Lasith Malinga to bowl blockhole deliveries more often as length balls are likely to get punished. The only concern for Pakistan will be Shahid Afridi`s form. — PTI
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3 Brit women arrested from Gayle’s room
Colombo, October 3 Police bodyguards protecting players at the ongoing World Twenty20 arrested the three Britons at the deluxe Cinnamon Grand hotel in Colombo and handed them over to the nearby police station for further investigations. “Ministerial Security Division (MSD) guards assigned to protect the players carried out the arrest and the three women were handed over to the Kollupitiya police station for further investigations,” police said in a statement. Hotel sources said the women were guests of Gayle and his teammates Andre Russell, Fidel Edwards and Dwayne Smith. The sources insisted there was no breach of security at the tightly-guarded seventh floor reserved for players and team officials. “There was no wrongdoing on the part of the players or the women and we are surprised at the police action,” a hotel source who declined to be named told AFP. “It is not against the law to be a guest of a player.” There was no immediate comment from the ICC or the West Indies team which will play Australia in the semi-finals on Friday. Police sources said they were awaiting instructions from the International Cricket Council, the organisers of the World Twenty20, to establish if they should press charges. On September 24, a Sri Lankan broke into the rooms of two Australian cricketers at the same hotel and offered them sex. He was fined 1,000 rupees (around eight dollars) and handed a one-month suspended jail term. The ICC had described it as a “minor isolated incident”. The authorities had declared floors occupied by cricketers as out-of-bounds as part of security for players during the September 18-October 7 tournament that was billed as the same level as for visiting heads of state. Hotel security has been a key issue at international cricket tournaments since then-Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in his room during the World Cup in Jamaica in 2007. His death was initially treated as a murder case before police concluded he died of natural causes. — AFP
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Umesh, Varun should be groomed, says Akram
Colombo, October 3 “Where is Umesh Yadav? And Varun Aaron seems to be a forgotten name. With the new selection committee in place, both Umesh and Varun should be groomed to power India’s pace battery,” Akram said. Despite pulling off a one-run win over South Africa last night, India were ousted from the Super Eights stage of the ICC World Twenty20 on inferior net run-rate. “I hear Varun is injured. I think the BCCI needs to get after him and pull him out of his problems. At least Umesh should have been in the T20 squad,” Akram was quoted as saying by ‘espnstar.Com’. Talking about the team’s opening combination, Akram continued to back out-of-form Virender Sehwag. “India’s opening combination has been a problem off late. Gautam Gambhir was sketchy and Virender Sehwag unpredictable. No matter what, I am still a Sehwag fan. He is still a bombshell and till India have a definite replacement, Sehwag cannot be ignored.” The former Pakistan pacer was also not convinced with India’s combination in the tournament here. “After watching India in five matches in Colombo, I am not sure if the MS Dhoni-Duncan Fletcher combination was picking the right team in every match. “I am puzzled with the way the Indian team management has picked playing XIs. For example, I feel a wicket-taking bowler like Harbhajan Singh was missed against the ragged South Africans on Tuesday night.” — PTI
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KP signs ‘peace deal’, set to return to team
Colombo, October 3 Taking an exception to Pietersen’s conduct, the ECB had dropped the prolific batsman, who also missed the ongoing World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka. “ECB and Kevin Pietersen confirm that agreement has been reached concerning a process for his re-integration into the England Team during the remainder of 2012. Upon completion of the programme, the England Selectors will consider Kevin for future matches,” ECB said in a statement. The statement added that Pietersen has apologised to Andrew Strauss and regrets the impact the recent controversies have had on the England team. Pietersen, who appeared with ECB chairman Giles Clarke at a briefing here today, hoped he would play for England “as soon as possible”. “It’s been a horrible situation for all involved but it’s time to move forward,” Pietersen was quoted as saying by those present at the briefing. “All being well, I’ll be back in an England shirt soon.” — Agencies
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Chandigarh, October 3 Young batsman Mandeep Singh has been named vice captain of the team. The other members of the squad are Karan Goel, Jeevanjot Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Uday Kaul, Mayank Sidana, Amitoz Singh, Rahul Sharma, Siddharth Kaul, M Gony, Sandeep Sharma, Gurkirat Mann, Bipul Sharma and Rajwinder Golu. The camp will be overseen by Punjab bowling coach Harvinder Singh, with the help of other coaches and support staff. The selected players will play two two-day matches to assess their match fitness levels. The Under-25 squad will be led by Taruwar Kohli. Under-19 World Cup players Kamal Passi and Amit Prashar have been included in the team. The other members are Ravi Inder Singh, Simrat Bawa, Gurkirat Walia, Himanshu Chawla, Gitansh Khera, Gurinder Singh, Yogesh Kumar, Rahul Singla, Beant Singh, Deepak Bansal, Kamal Passi, Amit Prashar, Preet Kamal and Sharad Lumba. The squad will undergo a training camp at the Dhruv Pandove Stadium in Patiala on October 5-13 under the supervision of the coach Arun Bedi. — PTI
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Hockey team seeks camp venue
Patiala, October 3 As a result, Hockey India (HI) is yet to finalise the camp venue. The players are left guessing and wondering if they would get all facilities at the new venue. HI sources told TNS that a meeting between their officials and the SAI would be held on October 5 to finalise the venue for the camp, expected to start in the middle of October. “It is not such a big issue and things would be made public following that meeting,” they said. SAI centres in Patiala Pune and some other venues are likely to be shortlisted for the camp. Sources confirmed to The Tribune that the SAI centre in Bangalore was rejected due to the poor quality of the astroturf there. The Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala, however, refused to arrange for the stay of the men’s team, citing “official reasons”, though they have given a formal nod to host the women’s hockey team. The Bangalore centre had been shortlisted as the first preference for the camp due to the pleasant climatic conditions there. But the team’s support staff rejected the centre due to the poor upkeep of the astroturf there. “It is not in a good shape and needs a lot of repair,” said a player. NIS Patiala told HI that they have only two men’s hostels. “While one is under renovation, the other is yet to be completed and hosting the men’s camp would not have been possible, though we could have arranged food and playing facilities for them,” said Rajdeep Kaur, in-charge of camps, NIS. HI, however, rejected Patiala outright, though there was the option of finding hotel accommodation in the vicinity of the NIS. Funds would not have been a problem since HI now has an official sponsor. HI secretary-general Narinder Batra told The Tribune that he would discuss the matter with SAI officials. “We have other options available. It is not that if a few venues cannot be used, we would have no option,” he stated. But why not opt for Patiala by lodging players in a hotel? Batra said that the hockey staff does not like staying without proper facilities at their disposal. The first leg of the camp will have some prominent absentees, as coach Michael Nobbs and physiologist David John are still awaiting the Sports Ministry’s clearance to continue with their jobs. Sources in the Sports Ministry said that the file for the extension of their contract is with the finance department and would be cleared soon. “We have sent their files for approval, it is for the government to comment on it now,” Batra added.
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What will be the most interesting thing to see is battle between the top quality spin departments of both sides. The most intriguing of the battles will be between two mystery spinners — Ajantha Mendis and Saeed Ajmal. 
