NEW DELHI: In a fresh friendly gesture to Pakistan, India has decided to resume the bilateral cricket series which was put on hold in retaliation against the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai.
The decision was announced by foreign minister S M Krishna here on Wednesday, strengthening the growing estimate, including in the country's security establishment, that Pakistan may have been fully reprieved over 26/11.
The announcement came just after the disclosure that Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Pakistani expatriate who along with David Coleman Headley did the recce for the mass slaughter in Mumbai, had told a US court that he was acting at the instance of the Pakistani government and ISI.
Krishna said India would take up Rana's statements with Islamabad.
No window before March 2012
There's no way India can play Pakistan before March next year when the Pakistan team is anyway scheduled to visit India. Immediately after IPL ends on May 28, Team India flies to the West Indies for 5 ODIs, 3 Tests and a T20 match. It then flies straight to England (4 Tests, 5 ODIs and one T20). That tour ends on September 16; the Champions League begins some 10 days later. From October to December, India will host England and West Indies. A few days later, it leaves for Australia for a two-and-a-half month tour.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Pune Warriors beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala by 4 wickets
NAVI MUMBAI: Robin Uthappa started his innings with a reverse sweep and ended with a reverse sweep. His less celebrated teammate Mohnish Mishra scored one four and had just one dot ball in the first 17 he faced. But his last four balls were 4, 6, 0, 6 off Muttiah Muralitharan which gave a pulsating end to the match on Wednesday night.
Pune Warriors India won their second match in a row, this time against fellow dubutants Kochi Tuskers (who have lost both their games now) by four wickets with seven balls to spare. Kochi's 148-8 proved insufficient on a track which had something for the bowlers.
Uthappa's first reverse saw him hit Muralitharan for four and the last one proved to be his downfall. In between, he led Pune Warriors' mini massacre of Kochi bowling. Pune needed 34 off 33 balls with six wickets in hand when Uthappa attempted that stroke. The ball hit the top of off stump from behind his back.
At that point, it seemed Pune would lose the plot. But 27-year-old Mishra had other ideas. The Bhopal lad, earlier with Deccan Chargers, made it tragic for Kochi.
Uthappa's first had come after a team's boundaryless patch of 22 balls in which the 'hosts' lost two wickets. Graeme Smith (24 off 24), who had a collision with Rahul Sharma while fielding and had to bat with a runner, again got out against the run of play hitting a full toss to deep mid-wicket while Mithun Manhas holed out to long-on.
Pune seemed to be struggling when field restrictions were a bit lenient after six overs. They were 44-1 after six but could add only 17 runs in the next four. Captain Yuvraj didn't look comfortable and his attempted cut was plucked by Parthiv Patel behind the wickets.
Earlier, Aussie Brad Hodge (39 off 36) and Ravindra Jadeja (47 off 33, 3x4s, 3x6s) added 88 runs for the fifth wicket in 10.3 overs to give Kochi a fighting chance after being 24-4.
Pune Warriors again had a dream start to the match after losing the toss, led by Wayne Parnell who took three wickets in two overs. He had VVS Laxman play on for a blob, had captain Mahela Jayawardene (2) caught behind and got Parthiv Patel (21 off 19) caught at first slip.
However, Hodge and Jadeja took the score to 112 by the 16th over before Kartik took a brilliant low catch at long-off to send back Hodge and then Jadeja played a careless shot (high at extra cover) to hand back the momentum as Jesse Ryder's (2-0-8-1) neither-spin-nor-pace did the trick.
Left-arm spinners Murali Kartik, Yuvraj Singh and leggie Rahul Sharma went for 60 runs in combined nine overs and Parnell went for 20 runs in his last two overs after being 2-0-5-3 in his first spell.
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Pune Warriors India won their second match in a row, this time against fellow dubutants Kochi Tuskers (who have lost both their games now) by four wickets with seven balls to spare. Kochi's 148-8 proved insufficient on a track which had something for the bowlers.
Uthappa's first reverse saw him hit Muralitharan for four and the last one proved to be his downfall. In between, he led Pune Warriors' mini massacre of Kochi bowling. Pune needed 34 off 33 balls with six wickets in hand when Uthappa attempted that stroke. The ball hit the top of off stump from behind his back.
At that point, it seemed Pune would lose the plot. But 27-year-old Mishra had other ideas. The Bhopal lad, earlier with Deccan Chargers, made it tragic for Kochi.
Uthappa's first had come after a team's boundaryless patch of 22 balls in which the 'hosts' lost two wickets. Graeme Smith (24 off 24), who had a collision with Rahul Sharma while fielding and had to bat with a runner, again got out against the run of play hitting a full toss to deep mid-wicket while Mithun Manhas holed out to long-on.
Pune seemed to be struggling when field restrictions were a bit lenient after six overs. They were 44-1 after six but could add only 17 runs in the next four. Captain Yuvraj didn't look comfortable and his attempted cut was plucked by Parthiv Patel behind the wickets.
Earlier, Aussie Brad Hodge (39 off 36) and Ravindra Jadeja (47 off 33, 3x4s, 3x6s) added 88 runs for the fifth wicket in 10.3 overs to give Kochi a fighting chance after being 24-4.
Pune Warriors again had a dream start to the match after losing the toss, led by Wayne Parnell who took three wickets in two overs. He had VVS Laxman play on for a blob, had captain Mahela Jayawardene (2) caught behind and got Parthiv Patel (21 off 19) caught at first slip.
However, Hodge and Jadeja took the score to 112 by the 16th over before Kartik took a brilliant low catch at long-off to send back Hodge and then Jadeja played a careless shot (high at extra cover) to hand back the momentum as Jesse Ryder's (2-0-8-1) neither-spin-nor-pace did the trick.
Left-arm spinners Murali Kartik, Yuvraj Singh and leggie Rahul Sharma went for 60 runs in combined nine overs and Parnell went for 20 runs in his last two overs after being 2-0-5-3 in his first spell.
toi
Shaun Tait hurls fastest ball in India
JAIPUR: Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne had told Shaun Tait to bowl as fast as he could. The Australian pacer obliged, with a delivery of 157.7 kmph, easily the fastest ever seen in India. "It's always good to have a bowler like him in the team," Warne said after the Royals beat Delhi Daredevils by six wickets here on Tuesday.
"After the Delhi team had faced Malinga, we thought we should give them a taste of Tait," Warne added. That's like rubbing salt to injury and Tait responded by dismissing Virender Sehwag in the first over. Tait did flounder towards the end with David Warner going after him, but Warne would just term that as unlucky.
Tait wasn't the only one Warne reserved his praise for. Rahul Dravid'sinnings met with the skipper's approval as much as the wicket at the
Sawai Mansingh Stadium and Ashok Menaria's short but aggressive innings. "We have been working on Dravid," Warne said. "We have been telling him that his job is not just to block and run. He is one of the greatest players and he showed that today. He showed his class. He is a very nice guy and it's great to have him around." Warne added that Rajasthan Royals' psychological trainer Jeremy Snape too has been talking to Dravid.
The skipper is quite impressed with young Menaria and sees a bright future for him. "He has proved his worth at the under-19 level, but we had to get him to play in front of a crowd. The stage was just right for him to come in at number four." Warne compared him him Ravindra Jadeja of 2008 and finds the Rajasthan player much better. "He is a better batsman and excellent on the field. He is going to be a very good player." Menaria can be useful with his left-arm spin too.
Warne also found the wicket perfect for a T20 game. "All credit to Taposh," he said, referring to Taposh Chatterjee, the curator.
Even Daredevils skipper Sehwag praised the wicket, but expressed disappointment at the top-order failure. "If we lose wickets in the first powerplay, things get difficult," he said. He was willing to share the blame for yet another batting failure. "I need to give the team better starts."
"After the Delhi team had faced Malinga, we thought we should give them a taste of Tait," Warne added. That's like rubbing salt to injury and Tait responded by dismissing Virender Sehwag in the first over. Tait did flounder towards the end with David Warner going after him, but Warne would just term that as unlucky.
Tait wasn't the only one Warne reserved his praise for. Rahul Dravid'sinnings met with the skipper's approval as much as the wicket at the
Sawai Mansingh Stadium and Ashok Menaria's short but aggressive innings. "We have been working on Dravid," Warne said. "We have been telling him that his job is not just to block and run. He is one of the greatest players and he showed that today. He showed his class. He is a very nice guy and it's great to have him around." Warne added that Rajasthan Royals' psychological trainer Jeremy Snape too has been talking to Dravid.
The skipper is quite impressed with young Menaria and sees a bright future for him. "He has proved his worth at the under-19 level, but we had to get him to play in front of a crowd. The stage was just right for him to come in at number four." Warne compared him him Ravindra Jadeja of 2008 and finds the Rajasthan player much better. "He is a better batsman and excellent on the field. He is going to be a very good player." Menaria can be useful with his left-arm spin too.
Warne also found the wicket perfect for a T20 game. "All credit to Taposh," he said, referring to Taposh Chatterjee, the curator.
Even Daredevils skipper Sehwag praised the wicket, but expressed disappointment at the top-order failure. "If we lose wickets in the first powerplay, things get difficult," he said. He was willing to share the blame for yet another batting failure. "I need to give the team better starts."
toi
Tendulkar named Wisden's leading cricketer for 2010
LONDON: Wisden, regarded as the bible of cricket, has named Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar as the leading cricketer in the world for the year 2010.
The iconic batsman became the seventh recipient of the Wisden award after teammate Virender Sehwag, Australians Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne, England's Andrew Flintoff, Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan and South African Jacques Kallis.
The 148th edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack was launched on Wednesday and it was the first time that Tendulkar has won the award since it started in 2004.
In 2007, Wisden had identified Tendulkar as the player to have won such an award for 1998 - had it been instituted then.
Tendulkar, who realised his long-cherished dream when India won the World Cup earlier this month in Mumbai, has also been named in Wisden's 2009 Test XI, at his accustomed number four position.
Sehwag, who took the honour in the last two years, has also found a place in Wisden's 2009 Test XI, forming an attacking opening partnership with Bangladesh's Tamim Iqbal.
The 37-year-old Tendulkar scored more than 1500 Test runs, including seven centuries in the year 2010 averaging 78.
In February, he became the first in world cricket to score a double-hundred in One-day Internationals, while in December he became the first man to score 50 Test tons, both landmarks achieved against the best pace attack in world cricket -- South Africa.
Tendulkar's citation read: "Wisden acknowledges his greatness by naming him as the Leading Cricketer in the World for 2010."
Wisden, this year, named just four cricketers -- Eoin Morgan, Chris Read, Jonathan Trott and Tamim Iqbal -- instead of the usual five. Tamim became the first Bangladeshi to secure an honour that dates back to 1889.
Five Indian players -- Sehwag, Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, VVS Laxman and Zaheer Khan -- made it to Wisden's 2009 Test list.
For the first time since Wisden Test XI began in 2008, there was no room for an Australian while only two of England's cricketers -- James Anderson and Graeme Swann -- made it to the final eleven.
The panel that picked the Test team comprised of former players Ian Bishop, Ramiz Raja and Ian Chappell and Wisden's editor Scyld Berry.
The 2009 Wisden Test XI: 1) Virender Sehwag (India), 2) Tamim Iqbal ( Bangladesh), 3) Kumar Sangakkara ( Sri Lanka), 4) Sachin Tendulkar (India), 5) Jacques Kallis (South Africa), 6) VVS Laxman (India), 7) Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India, capt and wk), 8) Graeme Swann (England), 9) Dale Steyn (South Africa), 10) Zaheer Khan (India) and 11) James Anderson (England).
The iconic batsman became the seventh recipient of the Wisden award after teammate Virender Sehwag, Australians Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne, England's Andrew Flintoff, Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan and South African Jacques Kallis.
The 148th edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack was launched on Wednesday and it was the first time that Tendulkar has won the award since it started in 2004.
In 2007, Wisden had identified Tendulkar as the player to have won such an award for 1998 - had it been instituted then.
Tendulkar, who realised his long-cherished dream when India won the World Cup earlier this month in Mumbai, has also been named in Wisden's 2009 Test XI, at his accustomed number four position.
Sehwag, who took the honour in the last two years, has also found a place in Wisden's 2009 Test XI, forming an attacking opening partnership with Bangladesh's Tamim Iqbal.
The 37-year-old Tendulkar scored more than 1500 Test runs, including seven centuries in the year 2010 averaging 78.
In February, he became the first in world cricket to score a double-hundred in One-day Internationals, while in December he became the first man to score 50 Test tons, both landmarks achieved against the best pace attack in world cricket -- South Africa.
Tendulkar's citation read: "Wisden acknowledges his greatness by naming him as the Leading Cricketer in the World for 2010."
Wisden, this year, named just four cricketers -- Eoin Morgan, Chris Read, Jonathan Trott and Tamim Iqbal -- instead of the usual five. Tamim became the first Bangladeshi to secure an honour that dates back to 1889.
Five Indian players -- Sehwag, Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, VVS Laxman and Zaheer Khan -- made it to Wisden's 2009 Test list.
For the first time since Wisden Test XI began in 2008, there was no room for an Australian while only two of England's cricketers -- James Anderson and Graeme Swann -- made it to the final eleven.
The panel that picked the Test team comprised of former players Ian Bishop, Ramiz Raja and Ian Chappell and Wisden's editor Scyld Berry.
The 2009 Wisden Test XI: 1) Virender Sehwag (India), 2) Tamim Iqbal ( Bangladesh), 3) Kumar Sangakkara ( Sri Lanka), 4) Sachin Tendulkar (India), 5) Jacques Kallis (South Africa), 6) VVS Laxman (India), 7) Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India, capt and wk), 8) Graeme Swann (England), 9) Dale Steyn (South Africa), 10) Zaheer Khan (India) and 11) James Anderson (England).
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