Sports

New Delhi, April 27: Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today sought to steer clear of the raging IPL controversy but said the high-profile Twenty20 league has the capability to survive on its own.

Dhoni refused to dwell into the specifics of the raging controversy but hoped that things would be sorted out in time before the start of the next season.

“IPL as a brand can survive on its own. But you have to come up with some innovative ideas every time to make it better. No individual but few brains will work together to pull off sensational ideas,” Dhoni said.

Kolkata, April 27: A resurgent Mohun Bagan will face the challenge of leaders Dempo in a round 23 I-League match at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan here tomorrow.

Back-to-back wins over Air India (4-0) and title conteders Mahindra United (3-1), under new coach Biswajit Bhattacharji, have certainly brought smiles back on the faces of the green-and-maroon supporters.

Lahore, April 27: Rubbishing allegations of selling invitation cards of his wedding reception, former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has asked the media to reduce the hype over his marriage with Indian tennis star Sania Mirza.

Islamabad, April 27: Pakistan’s former cricket captain Shoaib Malik has pleaded with the media to stop the hype surrounding his marriage with Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and allow them to live like a normal couple.

Malik and Sania appeared together for the first time on a Pakistani channel tonight and the former said he was fed up with the hype over his marriage.

“I am pleased to know that people are happy with our marriage but I think now it is time to stop this hype and let us live like a normal couple. I would request the media to leave alone both families,” he said.

Chandigarh, April 27: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has assured members of the Indian kabaddi team that his government will soon provide them jobs.

India beat arch rival Pakistan in the final of the World Cup Kabaddi in Ludhiana city April 12 to win a cash prize of Rs.1 crore. A majority of the players are from Punjab.

Badal said in a statement that his government would lower the educational qualification bar to enable the team members to get jobs they would otherwise not be entitled to.

Johannesburg, April 27: Football World Cup hosts South Africa will play Jamaica on Wednesday evening in Germany in one of the team’s last warm-up games before the June-July tournament, the South African Football Association (SAFA) said Tuesday.

SAFA CEO Leslie Sedibe told Johannesburg’s 702 radio station that the federation had scrambled to secure a team to play against after China pulled out of a planned friendly at the weekend.

Jamaica’s team was already on its way to Frankfurt for Wednesday’s game in Offenbach Kickers’ Stadium, he said.

New Delhi, April 27: A day after Indian cricket board president Shashank Manohar raised questions about the ownership of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Rajasthan Royals, the franchisee shot back Tuesday saying that their ownership structure has been completely transparent and in accordance with regulatory guidelines issued by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

New Delhi, April 27: Shashi Tharoor Tuesday said his “work will speak for itself”, when asked about his future plans after quitting as junior foreign minister over his alleged links to the Kochi Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise.

He refused to elaborate. “I am not giving any media interviews. My work will speak for itself,” he told IANS outside parliament house.

Dressed in a white kurta-pyjama with a tricolor scarf around his neck, he looked relaxed and none the worse for the controversy that cost him his job.

New Delhi, April 27: Country’s top cricket authority BCCI may have suspended Lalit Modi as IPL Commissioner, but the suave former chief of 20-20 cricketing extravaganza can still be seen smiling on the website of Indian Premier League.

Moreover, the official website of IPL still mentions Modi as the Chairman and Commissioner of IPL Governing Council and lists out his achievements despite having been suspended by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Jamaica, April 27: Chris Gayle, West Indies’ controversial captain of cool, and wingman Ramnaresh Sarwan will be key if the home side are to win the World Twenty20 and secure the West Indies first trophy in six years.

Gayle, who once admitted he’d be happy to see Twenty20 supplant Test cricket, is made for the smash and grab of the game’s most revolutionary form.

The 30-year-old is only one of two men to have made a century in the format and the only one to have achieved the feat at the world championship.

New Delhi, April 27: The former champions are already without hard-hitting batsman Virender Sehwag due to a shoulder injury, but wicketkeeper-batsman Dhoni is second to none when it comes to striking the ball hard and clean.

The 28-year-old captain is known for holding his nerve under pressure and winning matches from hopeless situations with his power-hitting.

Leading Chennai Super Kings in a must-win Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Kings XI Punjab in Dharamshala recently, Dhoni proved why he was considered one of the best finishers in the game.

Jamaica, April 27: West Indies believe they owe it to their long-suffering fans to win the World Twenty20 and end a six-year wait for meaningful international silverware.

Not since 2004, when they lifted the Champions Trophy, have the Caribbean side, once the undisputed rulers of the game, had a title to celebrate.

The years since have been marked by chronic under-achievement, punctuated by cash-fuelled boycotts and ugly political strife.

London, April 27: The ECB is still awaiting communication from the organisers of the Champions League Twenty20 over the participation of teams from England for the tournament to be held in South Africa from September 10-26.

Wellington, April 27: New Zealand’s captain Daniel Vettori knows he will need to play a key role on the slow, low Caribbean pitches for his side to break its habit of falling just short of success in major tournaments. Spin is expected to be an important weapon at most of the venues for the ICC World Twenty20 and New Zealand have chosen a squad with several slow-bowling options.

Wellington, April 27: Australia crashed out in the first round of last year’s ICC World Twenty20 but they have a strong enough squad to win it this year, according to the batsman David Hussey. The selectors reacted to the 2009 failure by choosing a group featuring more short-format specialists, with five changes from last year’s 15-man outfit.

Lahore, April 27: Former captain Ramiz Raja said Pakistan is good enough to repeat its last year’s heroics and has the right blend of players to defend its World Twenty20 title in the West Indies this time.

Raja claimed that he had high hopes from Shahid Afridi as a captain of the team and claimed that it would the bowlers who could help Pakistan in its pursuit of title defence.

Karachi, April 27: Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad is not surprised by the mess the IPL finds itself in and wants the International Cricket Council to ‘supervise’ its organisation in future.

Miandad said keeping in mind the huge stakes involved in the so called domestic event of the BCCI, the world governing body of the game must intervene.

“Just to say the IPL is a domestic event does not work.

IPL has too much foreign participation and interest at stake.

ICC must supervise its organization from now on,” he said.

Chicago, April 27: Golfer Tiger Woods’ estranged wife Elin is holding “round the clock” discussions with lawyers regarding her divorce, which could cost Woods anywhere between USD 500 million to USD 600 million.

Elin Nordegren Woods has been in “round-the-clock” conversations with a battery of lawyers ? both in her native Stockholm and in the United States, where she actually would file for divorce, the Chicago SunTimes quoted a source close to Elin as saying.

“Supposedly, the Woods divorce settlement would fall into the USD 500 million to USD 600 million range.

New Delhi, April 27: Asian champion Vikas Krishan and silver medallist Devendro Singh Laishram led the charge as all three Indian boxers in action advanced to the second round of the AIBA Youth World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan today.

Devendro outpunched Dominican Republic’s Juan Gabriel Medina Herrad 17-8 in the light fly weight (48kg) opener.

Vikas, meanwhile, out-classed his Iranian rival Hamidreza Roomiani in the light weight (60kg) first round. The Indian was so dominant that the referee stopped the contest midway through the first round itself.

Mumbai, April 27: Sachin Tendulkar has assured that he will continue playing IPL in the next season too. Sachin is not playing T20 internationals as he has personally taken the decision to stay away so that fresh talent of the country can be utilized. Sachin has informed that except the final, total IPL3 series was good for him as well for his team, Mumbai Indians.

He enjoyed playing this year the most and moreover he always enjoys playing cricket irrespective of the format.

Mumbai, April 26: Undeterred by his suspension as IPL boss, a combative Lalit Modi today sought to put up a brave face by maintaining that he was still the chairman of the Twenty20 league and was merely suspended for the time being.

Lalit Modi and the IPL RowIn what appeared to be a veiled threat, Modi broke his silence since his late night suspension with yet another tweet which has been his mode of communication of late.

New Delhi, April 26: Suspended Indian Premier League chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi on Monday said he is still the chief, and by tweeting “we have just begun” hinted at a long drawn battle ahead.

Modi, who was suspended in the wee hours of Monday after the IPL final in Navi Mumbai, said he appreciates the overwhelming support he received from his fans.

“Thank you all for your message of support. It is really appreciated. I am still chairman of IPL. Just suspended. Wait – we have just begun,” Modi wrote on his twitter page.

Mumbai, April 26: IPL Czar Lalit Modi was today dethroned in a swift counter-attack by the Cricket Board (BCCI) which accused him of rigging bids for teams and a number of other serious financial irregularities during his three-year reign as IPL Chairman.

Suspended from his high-profile position in the middle of the night, ironically minutes after his third successful IPL concluded here, Modi was this morning replaced as interim Chairman by a virtual unknown, businessman Chirayu Amin one of the vice-presidents of BCCI.

New Delhi, April 26: BCCI CAO Ratnakar Shetty today said suspended IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi did not provide the Board with original papers of some of the contracts, including those of three losing bids in the inaugural IPL and media rights deal with Multi Screen Media.

Asked what are the documents he would be looking for, Shetty said, “The tax authorities and Enforcement Directorate are inquiring for a lot of papers connected with IPL and in some cases we don’t have original documents. We have only xerox copies which they feel is not proper.”

Lahore, April 26: The reception party of the newly married couple Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza at the Pakistani cricketer’s hometown Sialkot was marred by mismanagement with some 2,000 people turning up as against 1,000 invitees.

In their efforts to stop the “uninvited guests” who arrived to attend the reception held at a hockey stadium last night, private security guards did not even allow some of Shoaib’s relatives and friends to enter the venue.