Sports

Bangalore, January 11: The upcoming fourth season of cash rich Indian Premier League was embroiled in another controversy on Tuesday when, according to sources, batsman Manish Pandey refused to sign the binding contract with Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise.

Pandey was the first Indian to have hit a century in IPL T20 tournament till date and has been a part of the RCB team for two seasons. The reason for the snub is said to be the salary of the cricketer as he gets only a fraction of the money earned by his counterparts due to the fact that he is still an uncapped player.

New Delhi, January 11: Pakistan’s legendary fast bowler and Knight Riders bowling consultant Wasim Akram said the Kolkata outfit has gambled by picking Australian fast bowler Brett Lee in the team for the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“Injury-prone Lee is a potential risk but Knight Riders won’t mind taking it. Lee is part of Australia’s World Cup plans. He is playing Twenty20 in the KFC Big Bash. But there is certainly a risk involved with him or any other fast bowler for that matterm,” Akram was quoted as saying by ESPNStar.com.

Karachi, January 11: Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad has blamed the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Australia’s stunning downfall saying the money-spinning Twenty20 league has left their top cricketers completely distracted.

Miandad’s advice to international stars, especially from Australia, is to think twice before falling in the ‘cash trap’ again.

The Aussies, who till last year seemed to be almost invincible, have come crashing down following their woeful Ashes campaign. Australia lost the Ashes contest at home 1-3 and slumped to fifth place in the Test rankings.

New Delhi, January 11: The snub to Sourav Ganguly in the IPL players auction shocked his former team Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowling coach Wasim Akram, who said he expected any of the other franchise to pick the ex-India captain for his “experience and leadership qualities”.

In a major embarrasment for Ganguly, he was not picked by his home team Kolkata Knight Riders or any of the other franchises after two rounds of bidding last week.

Karachi, January 11: Pakistan coach Waqar Younis hoped that his team will be able to play some controversy-free cricket once a decision is taken by an independent tribunal that has finished hearing a spot-fixing case involving Mohammad Asif, Salman Butt and Mohammed Asif in Doha.

“I hope all goes well and I hope the outcome is what cricket requires. Hopefully things will settle after that and we can play controversy-free cricket for a while,” Waqar said Tuesday after a training session in Wellington.

Doha, January 11: The defense for three Pakistan players facing possible life bans if found guilty of fixing matches rested on Monday, and both sides have begun closing arguments at the International Cricket Council hearing.

Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif have made no comments since the hearing started on Thursday. Final arguments are expected to carry into Tuesday, and then a three-person panel will make a ruling soon afterwards.

The suspended trio have been charged under the ICC’s code of conduct. They have said they are innocent.

Mumbai, January 11: West Indies women thrashed hosts India by nine wickets with 13.1 overs to spare in the first ODI at the Mumbai Cricket Association’s BKC ground on Monday.

West Indies vice captain and off-break bowler Anisa Mohammed grabbed four out of the top six Indian wickets to help skittle out the hosts for a paltry 161.

The target was easily achieved by the visitors who rode on opener Stefanie Taylor”s unbeaten 85 in 122 balls with ten fours to cross the finish line.

Visakhapatnam, January 11: MUB Sriram, G. Chiranjeevi and K S Bharat of Andhra helped his team to take a sizeable score when they scored 87,741 with total reach 236 for 5 wickets against Assam in the first innings of the first day Match in the Cooch Behar Trophy for Under-19 group knock-out matches first four positions for winners of the match will qualify to play in the elite group in 2011-12.

Brief scores: Andhra First innings 236 for 5 Wickets in 90.1 Overs. Leading runs Scorers for Andhra Sri Ram 87 (4×9), G Chiranjeevi 47(4×6) and K S Bhart 41 (4×7).

Sydney, Januay 11:Former skipper Steve Waugh has endorsed embattled opener Phil Hughes as a ”long-term Test player” and offered to work with the youngster to help overcome his technical problems.

Waugh believes Hughes, who was disappointing when he replaced the injured Simon Katich for the Melbourne and Sydney Ashes Tests, posting scores of 16, 23, 31 and 13, could form an integral part of the Test team in the future, alongside fellow young gun Usman Khawaja.

”I feel a little bit sorry for Phil,” Waugh was quoted as saying by ‘The Australian’.

Doha,January 11:One of the three Pakistan players accused of spot-fixing has conceded the evidence against the players is convincing but has insisted he was not part of any plot to bowl deliberate no balls.

Mohammad Asif is understood to have told the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption tribunal in Doha on Monday that the evidence heard over the last five days suggests that there was corruption during the fourth Test against England at Lord’s last August.

Durban, January 10: Kolkata Knight Riders’ owner and Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan on Monday said he would try and find a role for Sourav Ganguly in his IPL team after the former India skipper remained unsold.

Ganguly, who led KKR in the last edition, was left red-faced as none of the 10 franchisees showed interest in buying him at the two-day auction in Bangalore.

“I would love it, I would love Sourav to be an integral part. You don’t have a team in Kolkata without him. So, I will speak to Dada when I get back,” Shah Rukh said.

New Delhi, January 10: Bollywood Badshah and Kolkata Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan wants the unsold Sourav Ganguly to be an integral part of his team for the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Ganguly, who led Kolkata Knight Riders in the last three editions, failed to get a buyer in the two-day IPL players’ auction in Bangalore.

Shah Rukh wants to get back his former captain in the team but in a different role.

Kolkata, January 10: After snubbing Sourav Ganguly completely in the IPL auction, Shah Rukh Khan, the Kolkata Knight Rider team owner said that he would like to have the former Indian captain in his team in a different capacity.

None of the teams vouched for Ganguly in the recently concluded IPL auction in Bangalore, not even his former team Kolkata Knight Riders. That undoubtedly, not only left the on-field King of Kolkata miffed, but also his supporters as they burned effigies of the Bollywood star.

Durban, January 10: Indian came up with an all-round performance against South Africa in the one-off Twenty20 match to register a comprehensive 21-run victory over the hosts despite a valiant effort by Proteas wicketkeeper-batsman Morne van Wyk, who scored a dazzling 67.

Bangalore, January 10: It was a day of surprises at the IPL auctions as several big names remained unsold while little-known Australian Daniel Christian fetched an unexpected deal.

Australian all-rounder Christian, whose base price was a mere USD 50,000, was bought by the Deccan Chargers for an unbelievable sum of USD 900,000.

Click here for a complete list of players

Bangalore, January 09: The ambiguity over payment for player-retention was the main reason why most of the IPL franchises could not retain the players, who played for them in the earlier IPL editions, RCB owner Vijay Mallya said today.

“Most of the Franchisees wanted to retain four domestic and four international players but IPL Governing Council came out with a formula that you can retain a maximum of four overseas players.

Bangalore, January 09:Indian Premier League (IPL) governing council
today dismissed reports that the ongoing player auction had been
fixed and some team managements had picked players of their choice
even before the auction took place.

Speaking to reporters IPL Commissioner Chirayu Amin dismissed asspeculation the reports in a section of the media that the teamowners had decided beforehand their choice of players and bid forthem accordingly.

Ranchi, January 09: Indian Cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be the guest of honour at the 34th National Games to be held here from February 12 to 26.

Dhoni is expected to be present during the inauguration on February 12.

Sudesh Mahato, the Deputy Chief Minister and the Sports Minister of Jharkhand, told PTI in an interview that the state government has invited Dhoni to grace the event either during the inauguration or the closing ceremony and it is expected that he will be attending the inaugural ceremony of the games.

London, January 09:England all-rounder and Twenty20 captain Paul Colingwood, who has been bought by Rajasthan Royals for the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League, was surprised that his Ashes team mates James Anderson and Graeme Swann had no takers.

Collingwood was bought for a modest $250,000 by the Royals Saturday.

Fast bowler Anderson and spinner Swann were instrumental in England’s victorious Ashes campaign down under after 24 years. Collingwood feels the duo can be equally successful in the Twenty20 format.

Doha, January 09:If past statistics are anything to go by, India should beat Australia in their Group C opener at the Asia Cup Monday.

Since independence, India has won both previous encounters between the two countries, scoring an astonishing 11 goals in the process.

However, if current form and rankings are to determine the outcome of the game in the Al-Sadd stadium, it will be Australia who come out tops.

All of that is of little importance to Australian coach Holger Osieck.

Banglore, January 09: He has bowled to some of the world’s best batsmen in his career, but speedster Brett Lee feels iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar and the legendary Sir Don Bradman are in a different league.

“It is always hard to compare players from different eras. I believe the best players in one era would compare with the best in others. That said, Bradman and Tendulkar are two players that stand out amongst all batsman. They are in a league of their own,” said Lee in an e-mail interview to PTI.

Bangalore, January 09: Kolkata Knight Riders might have dropped their favourite son Sourav Ganguly from the team for the Indian Premier League (IPL)-4 but Chief Executive Officer Venky Mysore said they are willing to take him on board as a mentor the way Royal Challengers Bangalore did with Anil Kumble.

This, of course, he said will depend on Ganguly’s inclination.

New Delhi, January 09: As hammers started coming down on player-auctions for the fourth edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament, the question again doing the rounds is: How much is this cricketing extravaganza worth and how is it financed?

But the question is neither easy to answer, nor is it possible to get a complete fix on the numbers as the web of financing involved for this much-watched blitz is complicated, and comprehensive information is extremely hard to come by.

Banglore, January 09: After creating new records and 15 new millionaires on the first day, the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction entered its final day where 71 players will be up for grab, including 18 Indians.

With only cumulative salary cap of $ 19.5 million left in the purse, owners will look to settle their teams by buying bits-and-pieces players on Sunday.

The remaining money could be used to buy uncapped Indian players during and after the auction. Franchises still have the possibility to choose among 53 overseas players.

Mumbai, January 09: The upcoming cricket World Cup being organised by the International Cricket Council in the Indian sub-continent is expected to rake in up to Rs. 150 crore from ticket sales.

According to industry sources, a total of about two million tickets will be available for the public in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh with the average price starting from Rs. 250 onwards.

The nearly 45 day long tournament will be held from February 19 to April 2.