Cricket-Skipper Dhoni claws India to modest total

By Jano
A patient 95 from skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni rescued India as they recovered from 82-8 to make a total of 188 against West Indies in the second one-day international on Sunday.West Indies seamer Ravi Rampaul responded perfectly to his recall by delivering a spell of 4-37 as India's top order crumbled.But Dhoni, playing a true captain's innings, put on a 101 partnership with tailender Rudra Pratap Singh (23 from 75 balls) to give his side something to bowl at.Wicketkeeper Denish Ramdin claimed five catches and Dwayne Bravo ended with figures of 3-26 from nine overs.Rampaul and Jerome Taylor (3-35) produced a devastating opening spell to have India reeling at seven for three.Yuvraj Singh, a century-maker in Friday's first ODI won by India, struck a sprightly 35 from 33 balls but his departure when caught behind by Ramdin off Taylor prompted a second slump.The shiny surface which had clearly been watered, offered more to the bowlers than on Friday when 658 runs were scored.Taylor found swing, Rampaul movement and Bravo lift as West Indies produced an excellent bowling performance
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The Celebiration After The Great Victory Of Pakistan

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Pakistan The Champion of Twenty20 World Cup

As comebacks go, Pakistan's turnaround from World Twenty20 whipping-boys to champions was as utterly unexpected as it was stirring to the soul. Phoenixes might want to consult copyright lawyers, soap opera scriptwriters think about upping their game.Battered by England by 48 runs at The Oval a fortnight earlier, comprehensively outplayed by Sri Lanka at this same venue nine days ago, Pakistan looked goners - disorganised in the field, toothless in attack and radars uncalibrated at the crease.That they could be raising the sport's newest trophy at the home of cricket, with thousands of their green-shirted supporters cavorting in the late afternoon sunshine, seemed scarcely believable.Oh we of little faith. We've been here before, of course. Pakistan's previous global triumph, the 1992 World Cup win, was pulled off in similar circumstances.Back then it was Imran Khan's famous talk of "cornered tigers" that inspired them to victory after just one win in their first four matches. This time skipper Younus Khan spoke of WWE wrestling. Enjoy yourself, was the message. Have some fun.And boy did they have some fun, no one more so than Shahid Afridi. Boom-Boom blew away South Africa in the semi-finals and did another demolition job in the final - 1-20 off his four overs, 54 not out off 40 balls to steer his side home with eight balls to spare.Pakistan celebrate their World Twenty20 winWhat made it special was the serious stuff that provided a backdrop to it all. Pakistani cricket has endured a dreadful few years, from the ball-tampering row which dominated their last trip to English shores to the untimely death of coach Bob Woolmer at the last World Cup. Just 110 days ago the attack by gunmen on Sri Lanka's team bus in Lahore threatened to make them outcasts of the international game.That they are now at the celebrating centre of it all is something that should give even neutral cricket fans a sense of pleasure.Two years ago in Johannesburg, Pakistan seemed to have the World Twenty20 trophy in their grasp, only for India to snatch it away at the death. Not this time. From the moment Mohammad Aamir dismissed the tournament's top scorer, Tillakaratne Dilshan, for a five-ball duck, Sri Lanka were wobbling. Abdul Razzaq's three wickets in 13 balls wiped out the middle order, and while Kumar Sangakkara's captain's knock of 62 not out gave the pre-match favourites hope, 138 always looked gettable on a pitch devoid of demons.It was fitting that Afridi was the man to dash the winning run. Here is a man capable of matching Imran's one-day deeds, of inspiring the same sort of fanatical devotion among his cricket-loving countrymen.For once, Sri Lanka's M&Ms melted away in the Lord's heat. Mendis, the most economical bowler in the tournament, went for 34 from his four overs; Muralitharan and Malinga could do nothing to halt the flow of runs.Umar Gul, the Waqar Younis of his generation, didn't need to have his greatest game. His 13 overall wickets were enough to top the bowling tables, an exact repeat of his deeds two years before. Just behind him was Saeed Ajmal, a spinner so inventive he bowls doosras as a stock ball.As both spectacle and commercial proposition, this World T20 was a success from almost-start to finish.PAKISTAN ZINDABAD :).

India Sends Its Cricket Riches to South Africa

Less than two decades after the end of its long isolation because of apartheid, South Africa has become the place to be for fans of international sports.Next year, it will stage soccer’s World Cup. This year, it is host to a tour by the British and Irish Lions rugby team, the game’s biggest event other than a World Cup. This weekend, the Cricket World Cup qualifiers come to their conclusion, while South Africa has recently seen a head-to-head contest for the de facto world championship of the sport as its team failed to displace Australia from the top of the International Cricket Council’s rankings.All of these are scheduled events, planned well in advance. But the bonus comes over the next few weeks as South Africa stages the 2009 edition of cricket’s Indian Premier League, which starts on Saturday in Cape Town.

IPL to impose fine up to $360,000 for slow over-rates

Heavy fines ranging from USD 20,000 to USD 360,000 await captains and teams which fail to bowl their 20 overs inside stipulated time during the Indian Premier League starting in Cape Town on SaturdayEach team will get 80 minutes to bowl its 20 overs with breaks of seven and a half minutes each after every 10 overs in the matches that will last for three hours and 15 minutes.Failure to complete the overs in time at first would invite a USD 20,000 fine for the captain, the 'Beeld' newspaper reported, quoting IPL chairman Lalit Modi.A second transgression would lead to a USD 220,000 fine for the entire team, while a third offence will mean a USD 360,000 fine and a one-match suspension for the captain.The IPL starts at Newlands on Friday with Chennai Super Kings taking on Mumbai Indians, followed by a clash between Bangalore Royal Challengers and defending champions Rajasthan Royals..

Zimbabwe must upgrade structure to make test return

Zimbabwe can nurture hopes of a return to the test arena by upgrading its domestic structure and introducing a more competitive first-class league, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Friday.A task force headed by ICC director Dr Julian Hunte, formed last year to help restore Zimbabwe to the test fold, has now submitted a report to cricket's governing body."The report presented a series of recommendations on how best to assist Zimbabwe to improve its performances so as to allow its return to the test arena as soon as appropriate," an ICC statement said after the first day of a two-day board meeting.Domestic structures needed to be upgraded and a longer and more competitive first-class league introduced, added the report.It also said a sustainable return was only possible when teams in Zimbabwe had satisfied reasonable performance criteria in first-class and other multi-day matches.In addition, the report said there needed to be an ongoing partnership between Zimbabwe Cricket and the ICC member services department to track the former's performance against the plan.Zimbabwe Cricket has accepted the recommendations and agreed to work with the sport's governing body to ensure they are processed, said the ICC statement.The troubled African nation has not played tests since January 2006 after the team were left depleted following disputes between senior players and the administration..

Ricky Ponting welcomes return of star players

Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has welcomed the return of some of his star players following the team''s 3-1 defeat in the one-day series in South Africa."We have sort of been stretched quite a bit in the last eight or 12 months with our bowling in both forms of the game, with Brett Lee not being around, and Stuie Clark not being around, Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle being rested from this (one-day) tour. It''s good that we''ve got a couple of the more experienced guys coming back into our group in the next little bit. They''ll add a lot of class and a lot of experience back to our bowling group again," The Herald Sun quoted Ponting, as saying.Ponting conceded the home side had "outplayed us in every facet of the game" and thoroughly deserved the prized top ranking."They have got a very good team. They are at their absolute full strength at the moment. We''ve played this series here with about half of our regular team. There have been glimpses of some good stuff in the last two games that we''ve played. But glimpses of good cricket is not good enough to win against a very good South African side," he said.South Africa''s series victory means Graeme Smith''s side now claim the ODI No. 1 ranking..

Harbhajan promises exciting fare at IPL

NEW DELHI: Harbhajan Singh has always wanted to slam the bowlers. He has long nurtured a dream of scoring a breezy Test century, a sensational stroke-filled show in a limited-over match, or best, swing a match with his bat in Twenty20 cricket.He is a bowler who would “love to be acknowledged as a batsman” worthy of making priceless runs when they matter. Most of his batting aspirations are visible at the ‘nets.’So, when he promises some explosive stuff at the forthcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa, Harbhajan needs to be taken ‘seriously.’He rightly opined on Wednesday that every player assumes a level of “explosive batting” in Twenty20 but added that “I am no less” even as he promised some exciting fare. His aggregate thus far from four T20 international innings is 30 runs.That he has no regard for batsmen is well known. The sight of a batsman stirs him into raising his game and Harbhajan, with 330 Test wickets to his credit, said that he would like to play the role of a match-winner with greater “consistency” now.“I want to win more and more matches and I am all charged up for the IPL,” he said.He had missed the inaugural edition of the IPL following the slapping incident with S. Sreesanth.“I don’t like to be reminded of that incident time and again. It is a closed chapter. There is no animosity between us,” said Harbhajan, who signed a deal for licensing his brand name at a function, here on Wednesday.Licence India would now ‘sell’ Harbhajan as a brand ambassador for setting up restaurants, sportswear and cricket academies.The 29-year-old off-spinner typically dismissed the multiple-captain theory of John Buchanan.True, the noted Australian coach’s theory was yet to be implemented, but it had not stopped reactions from all possible quarters.“I don’t care if they employ 11 captains. I wish them luck,” said Harbhajan, known to mock at anything that emanates from an Australian.On not being able to receive the Padma Shri award at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday, Harbhajan pleaded, “I had some important family commitments.”.

IPL chairman Modi receives death threat

Nicholls and Steyn, the South African security agency acting on behalf of the Indian Premier League, has confirmed it took "the necessary precautions" following reports of a death threat to Lalit Modi, the IPL's highly influential chairman and commissioner. The threat is alleged to have come from criminals in the Indian underworld thought to be unhappy at the effect the decision to move the tournament from India to South Africa has had on their illegal betting operations. "We are aware of it and we have taken the necessary precautions," Bob Nicholls, joint head of the agency, told Cricinfo. "I'm not going into any details on that."
Modi was equally tight-lipped, saying only: "I don't want to say anything on this issue." The news threatened to detract from a hectic build-up in Cape Town, where the tournament starts on Saturday and follows concerns about staging a match in the city on the day of the South African general elections – Wednesday 22 April – as well as the high levels of crime in the country. Mumbai police have been aware of the threat since March, and have stepped up surveillance at Modi's home in the Indian capital..

Ireland qualify for Cricket World Cup 2011

Ireland beat the Netherlands by six wickets in Pretoria on Wednesday to clinch a second consecutive appearance at the World Cup.The Dutch were all out for 222 at LC de Villiers Oval and captain William Porterfield made 78 and Eoin Morgan 76 as the Irish reached 226-4 with 5.3 overs to spare.Victory moved the Irish to the top of the 2011 World Cup Qualifier Super 8 table with 10 points and beneath them the other seven contenders still have a mathematical chance of filling the three remaining places.United Arab Emirates pulled off a shock five-wicket win over Canada, minnows Afghanistan defeated Scotland by 42 runs and Namibia hammered Kenya by 201 runs on a day when the bottom three countries triumphed.
Canada remain best placed with eight points, Kenya, Netherlands and UAE have six each and Namibia, Afghanistan and Scotland four apiece entering the final round of matches on Friday.With just two points separating six teams, net run rate could come into play before it is known which three countries accompany Ireland to Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka for the ODI showpiece.Opener Alexei Kervezee was the only Dutch batsman to trouble the Irish attack, scoring 77 off 112 balls during a knock spiced with two sixes and six fours.Alex Cusack took three Dutch wickets for 26 runs in six overs and Boyd Rankin also claimed three while conceding 48 runs in 10 overs. Peter Connell (two), Regan West and Trent Johnston were the other Irish wicket takers.Opener Porterfield scored his runs off 105 balls before being run out by Tom de Grooth and Morgan sped to his total off 62 balls, including four sixes and five fours.With the teams tied on 222, Kevin O'Brien struck the winning four and sealed a return to the World Cup for Ireland, who shocked top-tier nations Bangladesh and Pakistan at the last tournament in 2007..