Pawar admits to small stake in RCB

Former BCCI chief and current Union Minister Sharad Pawar has disclosed his links with the Royal Challengers Bangalore, where he owns a small percentage by way of having 51,000 shares in Vijay Mallya's United Spirits Limited (USL). The Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise is wholly owned by USL.

Pawar's links with City Corporation, who had bid unsuccessfully for the Pune franchise, had emerged via a report in the Times of India, upon which the Pawar family came out with strong statements denying their role or ownership of anything in the IPL.

Pawar, however, has a link with the Bangalore franchise, with the Pawars owning more than 51,000 shares (currently valued at about Rs. 6 crores) in USL, of which Royal Challengers Sports Private Ltd (RCSPL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Vijay Mallya, however, has defended Sharad Pawar, saying that USL was a public company and had lakhs of share-holders. He said it was absurd to connect the fact that Pawar had shares in USL with ownership of RCB, since by that logic every person who had a share in USL was an owner of RCB.

"It is absurd to say that Sharad Pawar owns any stake in the Royal Challengers Bangalore," Mallya told television channels. "USL has lakhs of subscribers, so are they all owners of RCB? By any yardstick does that seem feasible?"

The Pawars shareholding in USL, which is about 0.05 per cent of the company's equity came up through a merger of Baramati Grape Industries Ltd in 2006, where Pawar's family has a 'significant stake'. The Minister's brother is a director with USL.

The shares are largely held via Lap Finance and Consultancy Pvt Ltd, a family enterprise of the Pawars, which holds at least 13,950 shares of USL.

Lap Finance is fully owned by Sharad Pawar, his wife Pratibha and daughter Supriya Sule. Each of them holds one-third of the shares in the company.

© Cricbuzz

ICC says Sri Lanka World Cup venues on track

Sri Lanka's new venues for next year's World Cup are on track but the refurbishment of an existing stadium is behind schedule, the International Cricket Council said on Monday.

Sri Lanka, which is co-hosting the tournament with India and Bangladesh, is set to stage 12 matches at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo and at the newly built grounds in Pallekele and Hambantota, outside the capital.

"With the exception of the Premadasa stadium, others are on track to play a few first-class and international matches before the tournament starts next February," ICC's structural engineer, Eugene van Vuuren, said.

Sri Lanka Cricket is spending around eight million dollars to renovate and re-lay the pitch at the Premadasa stadium, an existing international venue.

"Premadasa is a worry for me," added ICC pitch consultant Andy Atkinson at the end of a three-day inspection trip.

"I would like to get some games in to try out the pitch conditions before the big show next year." Of the two new stadiums, the 10-million dollar Pallekele stadium in the central district of Kandy has hosted an under-19 match.

The Suriyawewa Stadium in Hambantota, in the deep south, is due to play its maiden first-class domestic match in July.

The Suriyawewa Stadium will host its maiden international game when Sri Lanka play Canada in the World Cup on February 20. The other match at the venue is between Pakistan and Kenya on February 23.

There are few hotels in the coastal Hambantota area and the authorities plan to charter a cruise ship to be anchored offshore to accommodate fans.

Dhiraj Malhotra, the ICC's World Cup co-ordinator, said it was heartening that Sri Lanka was preparing three venues in the short space of a year.

"I don't see much of an issue with the Sri Lankan facilities, everything is slowly falling into shape," Malhotra said.

Officials said they were installing high-intensity floodlights to enable high-definition television broadcasts.

The 43-day tournament will be played across 13 venues in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and ends with the final on April 2 at Mumbai's Wankhede stadium.

Pakistan, the fourth Test-playing nation in South Asia, were removed as co-hosts due to security concerns in the volatile country.

England beat Bangladesh in final Test

Steven Finn took five wickets as England thrashed Bangladesh by an innings and 80 runs inside three days in the second Test to wrap up a 2-0 series victory at Old Trafford here on Sunday.

Bangladesh, following-on, were dismissed for 123 in 34.1 overs with fast bowler Finn taking five wickets for 42 runs in 10 overs.

James Anderson took three for 16 in 10 on his Lancashire home ground.

Defeat meant Bangladesh have now lost 34 of their 68 Tests by an innings.

Anderson and Finn combined to reduce Bangladesh, who'd suffered a dramatic collapse in Saturday's final session, to 37 for five in the 13th over.

Only Mohammad Mahmudullah, with 38, offered much resistance.

England, after rain meant no play was possible before lunch, saw captain Andrew Strauss enforce the follow-on.

Bangladesh, dismissed for 216 after losing all 10 first innings wickets after tea on Saturday, were still 203 runs behind England's 419.

In overcast conditions, their top order struggled against England's new ball pair on Sunday.

England captured the prize wicket of Tamim Iqbal, who'd made hundreds in his last two knocks, including 108 in the first innings of this match, when the left-hander was caught behind second ball for just two fending at a rising Anderson delivery. It was the first time in six innings against England that Tamim had failed to pass fifty.

Imrul Kayes, the Tigers' other left-handed opener, then fell hooking Finn for the second time in the match, with Test debutant Ajmal Shahzad once more taking a catch at long leg.

Junaid Siddique was then caught by Kevin Pietersen in the gully off Anderson and when Finn had Jahurul Islam edging through to wicketkeeper Matt Prior for nought, after trying to cut a lifting ball that was too close to him, Bangladesh were 21 for four off eight overs.

The 6ft 8in quick had taken two wickets for 12 runs in four overs, including two for three in seven balls.

Mohammad Ashraful off-drove Finn for four in textbook fashion.

However, his innings of 14 ended when he couldn't keep down an Anderson delivery that moved off the pitch and edged to Jonathan Trott at first slip.

Bangladesh were now 37 for five, with Anderson having taken three wickets for 10 runs in 6.2 overs.

And the Tigers were 39 for six when Yorkshire quick Shahzad bowled Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan between bat and pad.

But four byes, conceded by Prior - nursing a finger injury - off the bowling of off-spinner Graeme Swann gave Bangladesh the consolation of surpassing their record lowest Test innings score of 62 against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2007. Mahmudullah several times hooked Finn to the boundary but, trying to repeat the stroke, he edged and was well caught by a leaping Prior to end a 52-ball innings featuring five fours.

Bangladesh were now 97 for eight and that became 119 for nine when Shafiul Islam was caught at first slip by Strauss off Finn.

And the match ended when Abdur Razzak holed out off Swann.

England's total saw Ian Bell make 128. Bell's third hundred in five Tests against Bangladesh took his average against the Tigers to 158.25.

Swann, with five wickets for 76 runs - his first five-wicket Test haul in England - did the bulk of the damage in Bangladesh's first innings, after they had been 153 for one.

Final scoreboard on the third day of the second Test between England and Bangladesh at Old Trafford here on Sunday:

England 1st Innings 419 (I Bell 128, M Prior 93, K Pietersen 64; Shakib Al Hasan 5-121)

Bangladesh 1st Innings 216 (Tamim Iqbal 108; G Swann 5-76, A Shahzad 3-45)

Bangladesh 2nd Innings

	Tamim Iqbal	c Prior	b Anderson	2
	Imrul Kayes	c Shahzad	b Finn	9
	Junaid Siddique	c Pietersen	b Anderson	6
	Mohammad Ashraful	c Trott	b Anderson	14
	Jahurul Islam	c Prior	b Finn	0
	Shakib Al Hasan	b Shahzad		1
	Mushfiqur Rahim	c sub (K Brown)	b Finn	13
	Mohammad Mahmudullah	c Prior	b Finn	38
	Abdur Razzak	c Morgan	b Swann	19
	Shafiul Islam	c Strauss	b Finn	4
	Shahadat Hossain	not out		4
	Extras	(b13)		13
	Total	(all out, 34.1 overs, 164 mins)		123

Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Tamim), 2-14 (Kayes), 3-18 (Siddique), 4-21 (Jahurul), 5-37 (Ashraful), 6-39 (Shakib), 7-76 (Rahim), 8-97 (Mahmudullah), 9-119 (Shafiul), 10-123 (Razzak)

Bowling: Anderson 10-3-16-3; Finn 10-2-42-5; Shahzad 7-2-18-1; Swann 7.1-0-34-1

England: Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior (wkt), Graeme Swann, Ajmal Shahzad, James Anderson, Steven Finn

Toss: England

Result: England won by an innings and 80 runs

Series: England win two-match series 2-0

Man-of-the-match: Ian Bell (ENG)

England man of the series: Steven Finn

Bangladesh man of the series: Tamim Iqbal

Previous Result

May 27-31: First Test, Lord's: England won by eight wickets

Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZL) and Asoka de Silva (SRI)

Match referee: Alan Hurst (AUS)

Tendulkar rested, Yuvraj dropped

Master batsman Sachin Tendulkar will not be a part of India's Asia Cup squad, after it was reported that he requested the BCCI not to consider him for the tournament.

The other major announcement was the axing of Yuvraj Singh from the ODI squad. Yuvraj has displayed indifferent form and poor fitness levels in the recent past.

Tendulkar had sought a break to spend time with his children, while Yuvraj's ouster was on the cards after a series of disappointing performances in recent times.

"Sachin Tendulkar requested the Board not to consider him for the Asia Cup, as he wanted to spend time with his children, in view of the hectic cricket season ahead," Srinivasan said in a statement after the meeting.

The squad will be led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who returns to take charge of the team.

Meanwhile, what will bring cheer to the Indian fans is the return of Virender Sehwag, who has recovered from his shoulder injury and forms part of the squad.

Also returning were Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra.

Amongst the surprise picks were Saurabh Tiwary and Ashok Dinda. While this the first time Tiwary has been picked, Dinda retained his place after being a part of the outfit that performed poorly in Zimbabwe. Dinesh Karthik and Yusuf Pathan are among the high profile names dropped from the side that went to Zimbabwe. Also axed was Murali Vijay who had a torrid outing, and Amit Mishra.

R Ashwin however retained his place after his good showing in the only match he played, along with Pragyan Ojha who had looked like the best spinner on view. They will partner Harbhajan in the spin department.

Squad: MS Dhoni (captain, wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Pragyan Ojha, R Ashwin, Saurabh Tiwary, Ashok Dinda.