2007 ACC TWENTY20 CUP PREVIEW

Afghanistan are many people’s favourites for this tournament as well as being many people’s favourites in general. They play cricket with a single-minded desire to succeed comparable to that of Indians and Pakistanis from outlying districts.

Afghanistan have added grace and finesse to their fire and fervour and are now more than a team of big-hitting, stump-scattering individuals. They take instruction well and just need more top-class match experience to be a truly competitive force. Skill is what they are developing rapidly, match-savvy is what they need desperately.

Two of their players, Hamid Hassan and Mohammad Nabi, have represented the MCC this year, a remarkable achievement for players from an Affiliate country. “Nabi should be playing Test cricket,” said MCC President Robin Marlar in 2006 after watching Afghanistan tour England.

Should Afghanistan win the ACC Twenty20 it will be the country’s first ever international team victory. “The fans, the public will go wild,” says their coach Taj Malik, “cricket is the Number 1 sport in Afghanistan.” They’ve come close in past ACC tournaments, the Twenty20 could just be the one where they break through.

BCCI rejects Pakistan’s request for Twenty20 matches

The Indian cricket board Tuesday rejected its Pakistani counterpart’s request to replace one Test match with two Twenty20 matches during Pakistan’s tour to India starting next month.

Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI), said here Tuesday that the request from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was very late and could not be accommodated.

‘No match can be added at this juncture. Their request came too late to effect any changes in the itinerary,’ Shah told IANS here.

PCB wanted to replace one of the three Test matches with two Twenty20 matches and wanted to help the family of its late coach Bob Woolmer with the money generated from one of the matches.

Pakistan’s tour, which also comprises five one-day international matches, starts with a limited overs practice match in Delhi Nov 2.

I Don’t Miss Twenty20 Cricket, Feels Former India Skipper Sourav Ganguly

Despite his explosive batting exploits in one-day cricket, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly said on Tuesday that he doesn’t miss Twenty20 cricket.

‘I don’t think I miss Twenty20 cricket. I don’t know what it would have been if this kind of cricket was introduced during my younger days. But now I don’t think I would have really missed it,’ Ganguly was quoted as saying to IANS.

Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid – known as the ‘Big 3′ of Team India – skipped the Twenty20 World Cup and the Indian team under the leadership of wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni went on to lift the Cup.

Dhoni led a young team to victory at the inaugural world championship in South Africa last month, beating Pakistan in the final.

“I think this team has all the ingredients to be the world champions. The new guys are really good and they all are talented and will do the country proud in the coming days,” said Ganguly, who won the best captain in 75 years of Indian Test cricket award.

Harbhajan ready for Australian challenge

Off spinner Harbhajan Singh is keen to emulate his domestic success against Australia when India embark on their Test tour starting in December. Harbhajan, 27, proved a handful for the Australians on their last two trips to India, but has played just one Test in Australia.

He bowled 35 overs and took one wicket in the drawn first Test in Brisbane on India’s last tour in 2003-04 before a finger injury forced him out of the remainder of the tour.

The Sikh has an impressive haul of 53 wickets against Australia in his last six Tests at home over two series, but said outwitting them in Australia was his biggest goal.

“That’s the tour that people want to go on and do well,” Harbhajan told Reuters.

“They (Australia) play tough cricket and it gives you a lot of satisfaction when you do well against that sort of a side, especially in their conditions.”

India are scheduled to play four Tests in Australia from December 26 before a tri-nations one-day series also involving Sri Lanka.

Although India next host Pakistan for a one-day and Test series, there is already fevered anticipation of the Australia tour following verbal exchanges between the players during the current seven-match one-day series in India. Australia have secured the series 4-1 with a game to spare after the opening fixture was washed out. The final game will be played in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Harbhajan was dropped following the shock first round exit from this year’s 50-over World Cup in March, but featured prominently in last month’s Twenty20 win after a useful stint with English county Surrey to stage a one-day comeback. Although the most economical Indian bowler in the ongoing series, he has taken just three wickets in five games.

He rejected criticism he was more keen to restrict runs.

“I always look for wickets, but in one-day cricket a lot depends on the situation you are bowling in.

“(Captain Mahendra) Dhoni wanted a few overs of me during power play, in the middle-overs and at the end in most matches,” added Harbhajan, who has taken 238 Test wickets and 177 one-day wickets in a 10-year career.

Harbhajan, who captured 32 wickets in three Tests to spark India’s comeback home series triumph over Australia in 2001, was hopeful the team would draw inspiration from previous Australia tours when they travel there.

“The last time, I remember Anil (Kumble) had a great series there,” he said of the leg-spinner who took 24 wickets in three tests to help India draw the four-match series 1-1.

“Sure there will be some tough cricket on the field (this time), but they can expect the same from us.”

Harbhajan also took 21 wickets and Kumble 27 scalps on Australia’s 2004 tour, but the tourists won 2-1 to clinch their first Test series on Indian soil for 35 years.

“I did well in 2001 and 2004, and there will be a lot of expectations,” he said. “I hope I can repeat it in their conditions.”

Aussies aim to finish off India

Captain Ricky Ponting has forecast minimal changes for Wednesday’s dead rubber against India in Mumbai as Australia look to pour salt into the home side’s gaping wounds.

The tourists have shown their hand by planning to pick a full strength side for the day-nighter starting at 1430 local (1900 AEST) at Wankhede Stadium. Ponting said the Australians had adjusted better to the local conditions than the home side and hold a 4-1 series lead heading into the final clash.

There has been some ill feeling between the sides and the World Cup holders are not in the mood to let the home side off the hook before their return contests this summer in Australia.

“I don’t think there will be many changes, if we make any changes there might only be a change, we feel that we have built some really good momentum in this series,” Ponting said.

“With the way that we rested players during the Australian summer last season with the World Cup in mind we think it had a little bit of a negative impact on a few and we are very conscious of that now.”

The hot competition for spots at the moment, particularly in the pace bowling ranks, has meant that no player probably wants to hand a rival any extra opportunity. That mindset is expected to mean that Ben Hilfenhaus doesn’t play a match on tour unless one of the fast bowlers breaks down in the next 24 hours.

The home side landed home only three weeks ago as heroes following their Twenty20 world championship triumph. They bragged they were ready to overthrow the World Cup holders but despite some fiery exchanges they have been thoroughly outpointed.

Ponting said the decision not to rest players hadn’t spelt the death of the controversial rotation policy.

“It doesn’t mean an end to it, it won’t in Australia either,” he said.

“I think it is slightly different now because guys have come off such a long break and guys are still physically very good and very sound.”

Matthew Hayden is a 50-50 chance of returning after injuring his hip mid-innings last Thursday in Vadodara. Ponting said his side had adjusted better to the conditions than the locals, the comments throwing weight behind the argument that India’s home ground advantage is declining.

“Quite often coming here you make too much of the conditions and talk too much about the wickets and how slow they are going to be, how much they spin, and that India are going to play all their spinners,” said Ponting, who had an awful trot in India during the 2001 Test series.

“It does not matter we have all been here before and played in these conditions, we can adapt and adjust and play cricket that is going to win games.”

The Indian team is infamous for being lions at home and lambs away, although that has changed somewhat recently following their Test series win in England and the Twenty20 world championship triumph in South Africa the past two months.

There has been a move to make the Indian side more competitive overseas by bringing their pitches a little closer to those around the rest of the world. But perhaps in doing so they have reduced their home ground advantage.

Ponting said his players had learnt to better cope with the more challenging aspects of touring India.

“The culture and the way that people are around you, if you let that get down over here and get to you, you won’t play well,” he said.

“Every time I address the team before coming over here I just talk about embracing the culture and accepting Indian people for the way they are and trying to do things with a smile on your face.

“Sometimes you don’t want to do things and people jumping all over you for autographs but the better you handle that, the better you play.”

Shoaib Akhtar, Pollock, Oram join IPL: BCCI

Controversial Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, South African pacer Shaun Pollock and New Zealand all-rounder Jacob Oram have joined the $3 million Indian Premier League (IPL), taking the total number of players who have signed for April’s first edition to 25.

‘To have ‘Rawalpindi Express’ (Akhtar) play for an India club team, together with a cricketer as talented as Pollock will be a dream-come-true for the cricket loving Indian fans,’ said IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi here Tuesday.

‘It also once again reiterates our commitment to create a tournament that will showcase some of the best talent in the world. I am very excited about the inaugural season of the IPL, which now looks all set to kick off in April 2008,’ said Modi, who is also a vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI) and president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association.

The players who have earlier signed to play in IPL include Shane Warne, Glen McGarth, Justin Langer, Mahela Jayawardene, Graeme Smith, Herschelle Gibbs, A.B. de Villiers, Ashwell Prince, Albie Morkel, Mohammed Yousuf, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas, Daniel Vettori, Stephen Fleming and Scott Styris.

IPL will feature eight teams in the first season, with each team playing seven home and away games against one another, taking the total number of matches to 56.

This will be followed by the semi-finals between the top four teams and the final.

The matches will be played between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., which is expected to bring in lots of crowds.

Interest is bound to grow in IPL as India recently won the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa last month.

Besides Modi, the IPL governing council has former BCCI president I.S. Bindra, BCCI vice-presidents Chirayu Amin and Rajeev Shukla, Delhi and District Cricket Association president Arun Jaitely and former India captains Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri.

All BCCI office bearers are ex-officio members of the IPL.

The governing council, which has been initially appointed for five years, will run and operate the IPL as a virtual company. The IPL hopes to grow the number of teams to 16 by 2010. It expects each team to operate as a franchise.

IPL is becoming a worry for ICL: Pranab

While cricket enthusiasts in the country are closely following the ongoing recruitment war between the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Indian Cricket League (ICL), the latter’s coach Pranab Roy reckons that the BCCI’s counter-initiative is starting to give ICL a few worries. After the Zee-backed rebel project was launched amidst aplomb months back, the Indian Board came up with the IPL to counter Subhash Chandra’s rebel league. The IPL may be seen by many as no more than just a reactionary move, but Pranab feels that with the IPL, the BCCI could be biting into ICL’s targeted share of players.

“We are quite happy with the way the ICL is progressing so far. We have had two rounds of camps already, we have a good pool of talented players. Our only worry at this stage is the IPL’s rise. That is something that is a worry for us,” Pranab said.

The former Bengal batsman was recruited by the ICL as spotter-cum-coach for east zone. In fact, Pranab was in the news a few months back after some officials of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) allegedly misbehaved with him at the Eden Gardens and later debarred him from entering the CAB’s premises.

Pranab’s fears of the IPL giving the ICL some stiff competition comes amidst speculation in the cricketing community that the BCCI is using everything in its considerable powers to make things difficult for the Zee-backed rebel project.

The former Bengal stalwart however is not taking the ICL’s current roadblock too seriously. “There are some problems right now, the whole launch has been postponed for the time being. But it’s not going to be a big issue. The main point is, we have a solid pool of players. It’s now just a matter of time,” Pranab said.The player-turned-coach pointed out that after a season or two of Twenty20 events, the ICL will try out three-dayers and four-dayers as well. He also made it clear that the ICL is not going to approach domestic players on a random basis anymore. “The needs are now specific. Earlier, the management went for singing in as many players as possible. But now that we have a big pool, with enough players to split them into three teams, we are zeroing in on seeking specific needs, like left-arm spinners etc,” Pranab explained.The coach, who will go over for the ICL’s second round of camp in Chennai next week, countered popular belief that the new league only comprises BCCI discards.

“It’s wrong to assume that our pool of players includes ageing players only. There are many players who are quite promising and young.

Even if you take the example of the experienced players in the ICL, like Dinesh Mongia, you can’t call them ageing players or discards in any sense,” Pranab asserted.

Cricket is our Number One sport: Ponting

No wonder cricketers love coming to Mumbai. Especially from abroad. They are gobbled up by corporates as their brand ambassadors. It was, not one, not two, but three such occasions in  India’s Commercial Capital on Monday evening.

No sooner had the teams checked in at the team hotel than Australian captain Ricky Ponting was named brand ambassador of automotive products Valvoline Cummins Ltd. Both teams arrived late in the afternoon after their travel was delayed by a bird hit. The accident occurred 10 minutes after take-off from Nagpur. Five blades of one of the engines were damanged by the bird.

“I always love coming to Mumbai,” Ponting said. “Whatever product I am associated with, either on and off the field, I am associated with the best,” he said.

There was only one cricket question asked at what was a business press conference. And it was related to the alleged racism remarks made by Andrew Symonds after the Vadodara ODI.

Asked why so much hue and cry was made on the Symonds issue, Ponting said: “I don’t think Andrew Symonds has made a big deal of the racism remarks. It were the Indian journalists who made me aware of what happened. Andrew has dealt with it in the most sensible way. He did not run into anybody and tell what happened.”

Ponting also disagreed that cricket was not the number one sport in Australia. “Cricket is Australia’s favourite and number one sport. It is certainly a big business in Australia, and with our success in the last 10 years, the game is spreading not just in Australia but all over the world.”

Match referee’s report mentions racism

Melbourne: Match Referee Chris Broad has written to the ICC there were racial comments from the crowd during the fifth match at Vadodara last week, local media reported. An ICC spokesman confirmed that Broad had alerted them of his concerns.

Performance matters, not age: Sourav Ganguly

 Sourav Ganguly’s explosive batting style – which he rediscovered in the Nagpur ODI against Australia – would have made him a successful batsman in Twenty20 cricket, but the former Indian captain says he doesn’t miss the newest and fastest version of the game.”I don’t think I miss Twenty20 cricket. I don’t know what it would have been if this kind of cricket was introduced during my younger days. But now I don’t think I would have really missed it,” Ganguly told IANS in an interview.

Ganguly along with Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid – known as the ‘Big 3′ of Team India – made themselves unavailable for the Twenty20 World Cup. Their non-availability put wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on the hot seat of captaincy. Dhoni led a bunch of young players to victory at the inaugural world championship of the newest form of cricket in South Africa.

That win gave India some of its future stars, who rose to the occasion when it mattered the most. They beat Pakistan in a nerve biting finish at the final, and the squad is now tipped to be the future of Indian cricket.

“I think this team has all the ingredients to be the world champions. The new guys are really good and they all are talented and will do the country proud in the coming days,” said Ganguly, who won the best captain in 75 years of Indian Test cricket award.

Ganguly beat some of the biggest names of Indian cricket like Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Sunil Gavsakar and the late C.K. Nayudu and late Vinoo Mankad for the prestigious award.

“It is a great honour to be adjudged as the best captain of 75 years of Indian Test cricket. My best success as a captain, I think, will always remain beating Pakistan in their home in 2004,” said Ganguly.

India defeated Pakistan for the first time on their soil to win a Test series in March 2004. The series was also memorable because Virender Sehwag became the first Indian to score a triple century with a solid knock of 309.  Ganguly had words of praise for Dhoni and said the 26-year-old should be given more time to click.

“I am sure he will take India to new cricketing heights. The only thing he lacks is experience and he should be given more time to gain it,” said Ganguly.  On his role in the Indian team as a senior player, Ganguly said: “The only thing I have to do is to keep on performing. I have to keep on scoring runs.

“Performance and not age should be the criteria for selection in the team,” he said.

Brazil escapes with a point

BRAZIL struggled to an uninspiring goalless draw away to Colombia in their opening match of the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign today.

The only team to have played at all 18 World Cups, Brazil is likely to be happier with the point, achieved at 2600 metres above sea level on a slippery pitch, than its lacklustre performance.

Despite making wholesale changes from its Copa America squad and fielding an inexperienced team, Colombia had most of the pressure and Brazil became less adventurous as the game went on.

“Considering that we were playing away from home, at high altitude, on a heavy pitch, it was a reasonable start to the qualifiers,” Brazil coach Dunga said.

“The first half was evenly balanced and we had a few chances. In the second half, we lacked speed and strength and the players felt tired.

“If Colombia play like they did today against Brazil, they will qualify.”

Brazil forward Ronaldinho was also satisfied. “With the pitch and the altitude, it was a good point because I don’t think many other teams will come here and get a point,” he said.

The match kicked off 45 minutes late after a torrential downpour left puddles on the pitch but the water drained away quickly.

Backed by a passionate crowd at the El Campin stadium, Colombia took the game to Brazil and Radamel Falcao Garcia was close after a well-worked move from a free kick in the third minute.

Colombia striker Wason Renteria twice forced Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar to make difficult saves from headers and the visitors were so uncomfortable that Julio Cesar was booked for time-wasting in the 44th minute.

Brazil’s best first-half effort came when Ronaldinho had a shot from a narrow angle turned around the post by Agustin Julio.

Colombia continued to press forward after half-time and Julio Cesar was forced to parry a long-range shot from substitute Freddy Grisales.

Aldo Leao Ramirez also tested the goalkeeper with a low shot but Colombia was unable to find its way past a packed Brazil defence.

Midfielder Mineiro had Brazil’s only second-half scoring chance when his 25-metre drive was turned away by Julio.