Tendulkar in frame for India test team captaincy

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India’s Sachin Tendulkar is in the frame for a third term as test captain when the selectors meet early next month to name Rahul Dravid’s successor.

Dravid relinquished the post last month after the England tour saying captaincy was becoming stressful and that he wanted to focus on his batting.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 26, who led a young team to success in the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, was appointed captain of the one-day team for 12 matches concluding with the five-match series against Pakistan next month.

His ability as a leader was lauded during the home series against Australia which the visitors won 4-2.

India play three tests against Pakistan at home next month before touring Australia later this year for a much-anticipated four-test series.

A selector told Reuters on conditions on anonymity on Saturday that Tendulkar, 34, and Dhoni are in the frame for the top post.

The committee was originally to name the test captain on Saturday along with the team for the first two one-dayers against Pakistan, but delayed the captaincy decision until the first week of November.

“Tendulkar is a strong contender,” the selector said, hinting at an unprecedented two-captain policy in Indian cricket, one for tests and the other for the shorter formats.

The general consensus is that it is too early to make Dhoni captain, especially in the absence of a full-time coach to assist him, and that the team would benefit if the experienced Tendulkar leads during the two high-profile series.

Tendukar led India twice earlier without much success, winning just four of 25 tests before stepping down to concentrate on his batting.

Shoaib must fulfill responsibility as senior player: Ashraf

KARACHI: Pakistan’s cricket chief Nasim Ashraf on Thursday asked comeback fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar to fulfill his responsibility as a senior player and prove his critics wrong with a forceful performance during the all-important tour of India starting from next week.

“The tour of India is certainly the most important assignment for our team and is perhaps even more important than the World Cup,” the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman told ‘The News’.

“I expect that all the players including Shoaib Akhtar would be at their best behaviour and give their hundred percent on the tour because we have to deliver good results against India.”

Shoaib is all set to be a part of Pakistan’s touring party to India to play five one-dayers and three Tests during November-December.

He will complete a 13-match ban when Pakistan play their fourth one-dayer against South Africa in Multan today and will be available for selection for the final game of the series to be played in Lahore on October 29.

National selector Saleem Jaffer, who followed Shoaib’s progress in a domestic match recently, has cleared him for national duty and the pacer will be named in the squad for the India tour likely to be announced today.

However, earning a recall to the national side is not the only target facing the 32-year-old pacer.

He is still on probation after hitting teammate Mohammad Asif with a bat last month and has been warned that another breach of the PCB’s Code of Conduct would result in a life ban.

Ashraf agreed that Shoaib will be walking on thin ice but added that he is hoping the player has learnt his lesson.

“I hope that Shoaib will be a changed man on the tour of India,” said the PCB chief. “It is his last chance and we all hope that this time he would not waste it.”

Ashraf said that Pakistan will need Shoaib at his best on the tour of India.

“Shoaib has a role to play for Pakistan,” he said. “He also has a point to prove and should give his best to silence his critics who believe he is spent force.”

Ashraf was confident that Shoaib and the other senior players will turn out to be a positive force for Team Pakistan in India.

“I’m sure Shoaib and all the other experienced boys will fulfill their responsibility as senior players and act as a positive force to lift the morale of the national team,” he said.

The PCB chief was confident that Pakistani cricketers will excel both on and off the field in India.

“Our team will play positive and attacking cricket in India and we will win,” he concluded.

Young all-rounder Shoaib Malik will be leading Pakistan for the first time in an away Test series.

Pakistan are scheduled to fly out for New Delhi on November 1 where they play a warm-up game starting from Nov 2. They meet India in a five match ODI series starting from Nov 5 in the eastern Indian city of Guwahati.

The rest of the one-dayers will be played in Mohali (Nov 8), Kanpur (Nov 11), Gwalior (Nov 15) and Jaipur (Nov 18).

The three Tests will be played in New Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore.

Derbyshire sign Sri Lanka captain

COLOMBO (AFP) — Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene will play English county cricket for Derbyshire next year, the county’s official website said.

Jayawardene, 30, will turn out for the county from the end of April to mid-July before returning home for Sri Lanka’s Test commitments, the website said.

“Signing such a world-class player and current international captain is a massive boost for the club ahead of the 2008 season,” Derbyshire chairman Don Amott said.

“I can’t wait to see Mahela — as well as the likes of Rikki Clarke, Nayan Doshi, John Sadler and Wavell Hinds — in action in a Derbyshire shirt and I am sure the members and supporters share my excitement.”

Jayawardene, who leads Sri Lanka in a two-Test series in Australia next month, was voted the International Cricket Council’s captain of the year in 2006.

The 88-Test veteran has scored 6,630 runs at an average of 49.84 with 18 centuries, including a best of 374 against South Africa in Colombo last year.

He has also played 261 one-day internationals with 7,232 runs and led Sri Lanka to the World Cup final in the Caribbean earlier this year.

Derbyshire’s head of cricket John Morris said he was delighted that Jayawardene had signed.

“I knew that he was the right player after I had spoken to him and I could tell that he has the desire to play county cricket and contribute both experience and flair to Derbyshire’s batting line-up,” said Morris.

Everyone knows about his responsibility: Dhoni

Ranchi: Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Thursday said his team would continue to play with aggression even as Australia dared the Men in Blue to sustain the fire when they tour Down Under.

“Everyone knows about his role and responsibility. And if we can play aggressive cricket… If any player can play aggressive cricket… we should play that way,” the dashing cricketer told a press conference when asked about India’s on-field aggression that recently raised a few eyebrows.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting recently said it would be interesting to see if India could sustain the aggression which it showed in the just-concluded seven-match ODI series.

“Questions do arise, and play goes on,” Dhoni quipped to another query on Sreesanth’s aggression — an issue that had prompted Australia’s former fast bowler Glenn Mcgrath to say that Sreesanth needed to back up his aggression with performance.

“In cricket we have guidelines and so long as one plays within the frame work, it is okay,” he said.

Ducking a question on Andrew Symond’s racism charges, the wicketkeeper-batsman welcomed the much-needed breather before India takes on Pakistan in the five-match one-day series.

“We have enough time before the tough series against Pakistan. We have played cricket for over five months, perhaps the busiest cricketing schedule in Indian cricket.

“It is important to relax, regenerate energy and charge our batteries before the important series ahead,” he said.

He, however, quickly sidestepped a query whether India were playing too much cricket, saying, “I did not say that.”

Team performance

 

Asked how he felt playing under another captain in Test cricket, Dhoni said it was not important who was captain as the all-important factor was the team’s performance.

On senior players not playing in the ongoing Challengers Trophy that could have given a cue to selectors, Dhoni said seniors with over 15 years of experience did not have to prove themselves.

The Challenger Series, he said, was very competitive and great platform for juniors. “The matches are very high-scoring ones… It is a great platform for all those players who want to get a chance,” Dhoni said.

Dhoni did not attach much importance to Pakistan missing Inzamam-ul Haq who recently quit international cricket, saying the former captain had not been there on quite a few occasions earlier too.

‘No coach in the world can help West Indies’ - Dujon

Jeff Dujon, the former West Indies wicketkeeper and assistant coach, has said no coach can help West Indies cricket at the moment and believes it will take at least a generation for West Indies cricket to improve and get to the top.

“Regardless of where he [coach] comes from, he is not going to make this team better,” Dujon said in an interview with the Jamaica-based KLAS Radio. “No matter who coaches the West Indies team, they are not going to do better. They are playing as best as they can now.”

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) on Saturday announced John Dyson as the team’s head coach. Dujon said WICB had erred when they appointed Bennett King as coach and David Moore as his assistant as he believed they would have been more useful at the youth level.

“I was critical of Bennett King and David Moore because I think they should [have been] used where development lies, at the development level.

“I have being saying this for years now. As far as I am concerned, the next good West Indies team is probably about 13 years old right now. If we start working now, if we start to put a structure in place that would produce a better brand of player, and coach. These [present] players came from a structure that prepares them to do exactly what they are doing now.”

Sangakkara says tour success is target

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Sri Lanka vice captain Kumar Sangakkara believes off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan will be fired up to pass Shane Warne’s test wicket-taking world record in Australia but said a successful tour is the top priority.

Muralitharan, just nine wickets away from surpassing Warne’s world record test tally of 708 wickets, was heckled by spectators on his only previous full tour of Australia in 1995-96 after he was no-balled due to his controversial action.

The 35-year-old spinner boycotted a two-test series in Australia in 2004 but did play for a World XI in Sydney two years ago.

The first of a two-test series begins in Brisbane in November 8 and the tourists are hoping to win their first test in Australia.

“It means a lot to everyone in Sri Lanka that Murali is going to Australia and trying to break the record there,” Sangakkara wrote in his column on cricket Web site www.cricinfo.com.

“He’s going to be as excited as a schoolboy. But Murali also realises that his getting those nine wickets is only part of this tour. The bigger picture is to beat Australia; everything else is related to that.”

No touring team has won a test series in Australia since the West Indies in 1993.

“Murali knows his stats to the last detail and he’ll know his two other tests in Australia have produced only three wickets,” Sangakkara added.

“He’ll be devising plans and strategies to get wickets this time.”

21 teams for Under-15 National TWENTY20 Cricket

Chandigarh, Oct 25 : With a view to provide regular competitions to players and ‘non-stop’ entertainment to the cricket crazy spectators, the Chandigarh Twenty20 Cricket Association is organising the National Twenty20 Cricket Championship for Under-15 from October 26 to 30 at three venues of the ‘City Beautiful’.

The National Championship is being conducted under the patronage of the Association of Twenty20 Cricket (India), and the Chandigarh Olympic Association has granted permission to conduct the competition and use the banner of the apex sports body of Chandigarh.

Addressing newsmen at the Chandigarh Press Club here today, Organising Committee chairman ID Kamboj, who is also president of the ATC (India) said that teams from 20 States and Union Territories and an ATC XI would compete in the popular slam-bang version of the game.

The teams have been divided into seven pools and the leaders of each group will qualify for knock out quarter-finals. The best losers team in all groups will join the group qualifiers in the knock out stage.

Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu (group A), Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Pondicherry (group B), Maharashtra, Bihar, Rajasthan (group C), Hyderabad, Delhi, Vidarbha (group D), Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka (group E), Dadar Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh, Jharkhand (group F) and Mumbai, Association of Twenty20 Cricket and Goa (group G) have entered into the fray.

The matches will be played at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium, Punjab Engineering College in Sector 12 and DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8.

Replying to a question, Mr Kamboj said ”ATC (India) is an independent registered body to promote twenty20 cricket from the grass root level. We are not competing with any one. We are making sincere efforts to promote and encourage this game from mini to senior section.”

Won’t let Murali surpass Warne on Aussie soil: Ponting

Muttiah Muralitharan may be just nine short of overtaking Shane Warne as Test cricket’s highest wicket-taker but Australian skipper Ricky Ponting says he is confident his team can stop the Sri Lankan off-spinner from capturing the record in its backyard.

The task of taking nine wickets to surpass the record of Warne’s 708 wickets does not seem too hard for the wily bowler in next month’s two-Test series but Ponting says he is determined not to let it happen in Australia.

“He needs nine wickets to pass Warney’s world record and I want to make it pretty clear that it would be nice if he left Australia not getting those nine wickets,” Ponting was quoted as saying by ‘The Australian’.

“If that’s the case, then we’ve done a pretty good job. He’s also made it pretty clear over the years that he feels Australian batsmen play him better than any other team in the world. In saying that, and in our conditions, hopefully we can keep him under wraps,” he added.

Ponting also played down apprehensions that there would be crowd trouble when Muralitharan plays his first Test on Australian soil after 12 years.

The Aussie skipper said he was confident that spectators would behave themselves even if Muralitharan overtakes local hero Warne.

T20 cricket like chocolate, to be taken in small doses: Sidhu

Former India cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday said that Twenty20 cricket is like chocolate which is harmful for health and should be given in small doses.

“When one-day cricket became big in India I had said it was like fast food - buying a burger from outside when no one is prepared to cook at home. The staple home food will remain as the most important meal but occasionally one would go out to buy a burger and that is the difference between Test and one-day cricket,” Sidhu told PTI.

“When I say about T20 cricket, it is like chocolate which is bad for health and has to be given in small doses. At the same time chocolates are favoured by humans,” said the former batsman who played 51 Tests and 136 ODIs for India.

Comparing the various forms of cricket with music, Sidhu said, “Test cricket is like classical music which has survived since ancient ages. One-dayers are like film music that leaves people enthralled and T20 cricket is like disco and rap which provides occasional pleasure in short bursts.”

Kartik destroys Australia with 6 wicket haul

India’s Murali Kartik destroyed the high-flying Australian batting for a measly 193 with a devastating career-best spell of spin bowling in the seventh and final cricket one-dayer here on Wednesday.Kartik, who grabbed two wickets off successive balls to be on a hat-trick twice, sent the visitors to their doom in the dead-rubber tie with a six-wicket haul to bring back memories of a similar display against the same opposition in a similar series-winding Test contest almost three years ago.

Australia, choosing to bat first, were shot out in only 41.3 overs with Kartik grabbing a magical 6 for 27, his first-ever haul of more than three wickets in 33 ODIs, bettering his previous best of 3 for 36 against the West Indies at Jodhpur in November, 2002.

The bowler had taken seven wickets, including three at a crucial time in the second innings when the top team in the world chased 107 and were shot out for 93, on November 5, 2004 at the same venue and secured the man of the match award on that occasion.

The 31-year-old Railways bowler, recalled to the squad midway through the series at the insistence of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, removed Brad Hodge (16) and Andrew Symonds (0) off successive balls in the last two balls of his second over to bring the Australians down a bit after they went into the match aiming for a 5-1 score-line in the rubber.

After being denied a hat-trick in the first ball of his third over, Kartik struck three big blows in his eighth over, off the first, fourth and fifth balls, to get rid off Brad Haddin (19), Brad Hogg and Brett Lee, both for ducks, to leave the tourists gasping at 162 for eight in the 32nd over.