Modi alone responsible for IPL fiasco: Pakistan cricket board

Published>Sat, Jan 30 10 12:59 PM

New Delhi, Jan 30 (IANS) Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ijaz Butt has squarely blamed the Indian Premier League (IPL) and its commissioner Lalit Modi for ignoring Pakistani players for the third season of India's Twenty20 league, but said it will not have any long term effect on sporting ties between the two countries.

'This (decision to keep out Pakistani players) has nothing to do with Indo-Pak relations in cricket. This is between IPL and us. They have made a mistake, whether purposefully we don't know. But I strongly feel it was a wrong decision on their part not to consider any of our boys,' Butt told CNN-IBN in an interview.

IPL franchise owners did not bid for Pakistani players during the auction for the IPL III, which has snowballed into a major spat between the two countries. In the latest move, the PCB has revoked its no objection certificates to players to participate in the IPL. This means that no Pakistani player will be able to play in IPL this year even if any Indian team seek their inclusion at a later stage.

Butt thinks 'the responsibility is solely with IPL and Lalit Modi'.

'IPL is giving statements against Pakistani players despite many people in Pakistan and India having asked us to move on. We still don't know any reason why has this not been entertained yet by IPL.'

The PCB chief also questioned Modi's 'motive' behind the controversy.

'You must ask Modi about the motive. Why he did this we don't understand. I don't think anybody in India or Pakistan understands this. I spoke to Modi in London during the T20 World Cup. He explained the reasons why the boys were not considered in South Africa (last year). I understood and then he assured me all would be playing in next IPL (IPL III).'

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Injured Manan not allowed to board plane

Published>Sat, Jan 30 10 12:53 PM

New Delhi, Jan. 29 -- Allrounder Manan Sharma, who was part of India's under-19 team that played the World Cup in New Zealand, could not make the journey home with the rest of the team on Friday. Manan, who suffered a broken thumb during India's penultimate match of the tournament, against England, had his hand in a cast, and the airline had apprehensions about allowing him to board with the cast intact. In long flights, like the 10-and-a-half hour Christchurch-Singapore journey, the routine practice is to split the cast, allowing some leeway for swelling that occurs due to water retention. When the team was due to board the aircraft, this was pointed out and there was insufficient time for the cast to be modified at the airport's medical facility. As a result, ICC staff accompanied Manan back to the city, and the cast was attended to. Manan, son of former Ranji stalwart Ajay Sharma, will now return home on Saturday. Speaking to the Hindustan Times, the PR Manager-India, Singapore Airlines, Deepa Sridhar said, "Singapore Airlines keeps the safety and well-being of its passengers in highest regard. We wanted to ensure that Manan Sharma, is not under any kind of discomfort during his flight back to India and, with the clear objective of his concern and safety, he was advised proper dressing before boarding the flight. He will be flying back to India with us tomorrow." Experts said that Manan should have informed the doctor who put the cast that he had to travel by air.

"Limb injuries are especially vulnerable because the arms and legs have to be kept raised, which is not always possible in a flight," he said.

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Leander makes 21st Slam final

Published>Sat, Jan 30 10 12:49 PM

Mumbai, Jan. 29 -- This is one story that keeps getting stranger as it unfolds. Leander Paes is 36 years old and has no business regularly figuring in the final stages of a Grand Slam. By now his forays into the last rounds should be few and far; they should be the final gasps of a great career coming to a close. Instead, the fellow notched up four Slam finals last year and two the year before - three of those ended with the trophy in his bag. On Friday he clawed his way into his 21st Slam final partnering Zimbabwe's Cara Black with a 6-7, 7-6 (5), 10-7 win against seventh seeded Lisa Raymond and Wesley Moodie. "It got tough out there. At one moment we were cruising at 5-2 in the first with two breaks in the bag and soon enough we were a set and 0-3 down in the second! "I just could not believe it as it was very similar to what happened in the Wimbledon final this year (Paes and Black blew away a 5-2 lead to cave in 5-7, 3-6)," Paes told HT after the match. The pair also squandered a match point at 5-3 when Paes did not put away a simple backhand volley. "I went for a bit too much as I tried to lob it over them. The ball landed out by the smallest possible margin." Down a set after being in command of it must have rankled. "That's the beauty of playing with Cara. She just does not know how to give up. Neither do I. So, we just dug in our heels and sure enough, the tide turned," said Paes. The partnership with Black is working well for Paes. "We have figured in four finals of the six slams that we have been partners.

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Comprehensive 'post-mortem' needed to find out reasons for Pak's Oz debacle: Qasim

Published>Sat, Jan 30 10 12:39 PM

Karachi, Jan.30 (ANI): Dejected over Pakistan's string of defeats Down Under, chief selector Iqbal Qasim has said that a comprehensive 'post-mortem' is needed to figure out the reasons for such a deplorable performance, and to prepare the team for the 2011 World Cup.

Qasim said Pakistan has some world-class players, but the current form of the team clearly suggests that they are not performing according to their potential.

"A post-mortem is needed because we have to find out the causes behind such a pathetic performance of our team in Australia," said Qasim.

"The reports from the team manager and coach will be very important. Then we will have to sit down with the captain and listen to his views. That will help us find what really went wrong in Australia," he added.

While the team management has its task cut out to prepare a formidable side for the 2011 World Cup, its immediate mission is to buckle up the team to defend its World T20 Championship scheduled to be held in May in the Caribbean.

Qasim is confident that the Shahid Afridi led T20 team will pocket the coveted title for the second consecutive time, but is more worried about the 2011 World Cup.

"Our Twenty20 team is pretty much in order. But the World Cup (2011) is a different matter. It won't be that easy to prepare a good team for it," The News quoted Qasim, as saying.

Coach Intikhab Alam has stressed on the need for including some young guns in the ODI squad, and seeing the way Pakistan's junior squad has performed in the under-19 World Cup, its almost certain that some of the junior's would get promotions into the senior squad.

"The national selection committee is open to all options. "The idea is to have a team that is capable of doing well in the World Cup and we will take all possible steps to make such a team," Qasim said. (ANI)

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Badrinath does it for South Zone

Published>Sat, Jan 30 10 12:29 PM

Indore, Jan. 29 -- There is a very thin line between confidence and overconfidence. S. Badrinath demonstrated it in ample measure as South Zone beat Central Zone by five wickets in the Duleep Trophy semifinal here on Friday. Resuming on 57 for one, a confident South came to bat on the final day but lost Abhinav Mukund (19) and A. Karthik (33) early to Pankaj Singh and Praveen Kumar respectively. That's where Central became overconfident and all their bowlers became ineffective. Manish Pandey (59) and skipper S. Badrinath (82) were crucial in stitching together a 108-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Pandey was especially harsh on Piyush Chawla and hit him to every corner of the park. Chawla proved costly in his very first over as he gave away 18 runs. Later, R. Ashwin (59) too hit him for three boundaries when the leggie bowled from the Media End. Though Pandey hit eight boundaries and a six in the 72 balls he faced, it was unfortunate to see him throw away his wicket to RP Singh, after settling down. R. Ashwin, who picked six wickets on the penultimate day, showed his talent with the bat scoring 59 off 44 balls and remaining unbeaten.

Mohammad Kaif, on the other hand, wished his spinner had clicked. "The first hour, when Praveen and Pankaj got wickets, was good. Had any of our spinners --Chawla or Jalaj -- picked three-four wickets, we would have won this match," he said.

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Mithun to play for BP XI only?

Published>Sat, Jan 30 10 12:25 PM

Kolkata, Jan. 29 -- Two rewards for the same accomplishment are perhaps as unusual as two punishments for the same offence. By a queer stroke of luck, Abhimanyu Mithun finds himself in the first category. A dream debut season in the Ranji Trophy has earned the Karnataka speedster not only a berth in the Board President's squad to take on South Africa, it has also pushed him into the squad for the first Test against the visitors. The decision defies logic because if Mithun - who is still an unknown commodity even in the domestic circuit - is to be unleashed against Graeme Smith's team in the Test match, why expose him against the same set of batsmen before that game? Common sense says it would reduce the bowler's surprise element and make him a known entity to the visiting batsmen. Usual war plan suggests when you have a special weapon, you hide it for as long as possible before the war so that you can catch the enemy unawares. So why isn't this strategy being followed when it comes to using Mithun? The answer is simple. He stands no chance of playing in the first Test. "Mithun is the fourth seamer in the Test squad and, at best, we will field two - Ishnat Sharma and Zaheer Khan.

So, on the face of it, even if it seems that it's double delight for Mithun, it's actually one. For now, he has to make do with how it feels like playing against a foreign team. For the real thing, he has to wait.

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Rooney is England's Maradona

Published>Sat, Jan 30 10 12:09 PM

London, Jan 30 (ANI): Manchester United ace striker Wayne Rooney is not the best player in the world at this moment, but his display against City confirmed to that he is the nearest thing to Diego Maradona these shores have ever produced, according to former great Terry Venables.

Sir Alex Ferguson hailed Rooney's display in Manchester United's Carling Cup semi-final victory against rivals City on Wednesday as "world class".

The Red Devils boss was right that Rooney is a cut above everyone on the park, Venables said.

"The way he took the game to City merely underlined what most of us have known for a while: He is a genuine world-class performer. But after his latest match winning display, I realise I cannot keep the genie in the bottle any longer... Rooney is our Maradona," The Sun quoted him, as saying.

Venables said just like Maradona, Rooney is a talisman to those who play with him at United and increasingly more so, England.

Cristiano Ronaldo's 80 million pounds world-record switch to Real Madrid has allowed Rooney to flourish even more at Old Trafford.

He is managing to lift players around him in the same way Maradona did at Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors and Napoli - not to mention at international level with Argentina.

"Great - and I mean truly great players - have a knack of inspiring and bringing out the best in those alongside them. On numerous occasions Maradona was able to haul his teams and team-mates to greater heights.

"Often his presence was enough to inspire those around him and deflate those against him. When that was not enough, he relied on outstanding skills, technique and goals. That is what Rooney is doing now. He has become the biggest player at the biggest club in the world," Venables said.

Like Maradona, he knows where the target is and like the Argy legend, he can score all types of goals," he added. (ANI)

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