West Indies equals the Equation

Test on Tests

LONDON: Looking to maintain the pre-eminence of Test cricket, the sport's governing body has paved the way for a day-nighter trial next year and
approved the use of video referrals in the five-day format. The International Cricket Council cast aside concerns that the authority of on-field match officials will be undermined, and will allow the batsman and fielding captain to refer decisions to the television official from October. They will be limited to two unsuccessful referrals per innings. On Thursday, the ICC Board will discuss the possibility of 2011 World Cup games being held again in Pakistan, along with Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. Co-hosting rights were stripped from Pakistan in April due to security fears in the wake of an attack on the Sri Lankan team by gunmen in Lahore. The first day of the ICC meetings in London said that a barrier to day-night Tests was finding a suitable replacement for the traditional red ball that is clearly visible under lights. It will wait for the results of an experiment in first-class cricket before taking a decision early in 2010 on an international trial later in the year. But former Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist, who played in such trials in the mid-1990s using fluorescent orange balls, said it created an "unfair contest". "Test cricket should be tampered with as little as is possible," Gilchrist said. "Its rules, customs and playing conditions, like Major League Baseball, should remain as close to how it has been played for the past 130 years. "Many of cricket's innovations should be applied only in the shorter forms of the game. This not only includes the expanded umpire referral system, but especially the mooted introduction of night Test cricket and a different colored ball needed to accommodate this." The main problem for Gilchrist playing for the Sheffield Shield in Australia was the imbalance in the matches. "Often it made for an unfair contest, especially when batting, which always seemed much more difficult late in the evening than earlier in the afternoon," he said. Retractable lights have recently been installed at Lord's to cater for night cricket, but the chances of the venue hosting the game will depend on the success of any trial. The ICC Board also agreed on Wednesday that captains of sides who are fined three times for slow-over rates in a year will be banned for one match in that format. Only umpires, not batsman, can decide when play should be suspended for bad light when conditions are "unreasonable or dangerous," rather than merely "unsuitable" as is currently the rule.

India Backing Up

Leaving behind their pathetic show in the Twenty20 World Cup, Indian batsmen came firing on all cylinders as they trampled the West Indies attack to reach an intimidating 339 for six after opting to bat at Sabina Park. Blogs: 1983: Memories of India's World Cup win To Pak, with love However, defending even such a massive total proved quite a task for the Indians as they just about managed to bowl the hosts out for 319 in 48.1 overs. It was a spirited chase by the hosts, for whom Shivnaraine Chanderpaul top scored with 63 and Denesh Ramdin played a sparkling 29-run knock down the order. Earlier, Yuvraj treated the host bowlers with utter disdain and clobbered them for seven huge sixes and 10 boundaries apart from sharing a crucial 135-run stand with Dinesh Karthik (67) to shape the Indian innings. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (41), Yusuf Pathan (40 unbeaten) and Harbhajan Singh (21 not out) also chipped in with useful contributions. With the wicket of Chanderpaul in the 36th over it looked all over for the hosts but their lower order batted with steely resolve and made it an edge-of-the-seat contest. West Indies required 21 off the last two overs with one wicket in hand but Ashish Nehra removed Ramdin in the first ball of the 49th over to bring a huge relief for his side. Ramnaresh Sarwan (45) and Runako Morton (42) did well and got the starts for the West Indies but could not convert those into big knocks. Jerome Taylor (21) and David Bernard (19), batting at number seven and nine respectively did their best but their effort went in vain in the end. For India, Nehra (3/49) and Yusuf Pathan (3/56) took three wickets each. It was raining sixes as 23 of them were hit in the match. Only thrice a One-dayer has witnessed more sixes. The West Indies chase began in the right earnest with Chris Gayle (37) and Morton quickly putting up 65 for the first wicket before comeback man Asish Nehra got rid of the skipper. Gayle miscued a pull off the left-armer and Harbhajan took a smart running catch at mid-on. Morton's entrainig knock in which he hit for fours and a six ended when Yousuf had him caught behind. The hosts maintained a good run-rate to keep their hopes alive but continued losing their settled batsmen. The big-hitting Dwayne Bravo (8) though was extremely unlucky as he got out on a high full toss of Ishant Sharma but umpires did not call that a no-ball. Chanderpaul and Darren Bravo, making his debut, added 36 quick runs wicket but just when the partnership had started looking threatening Yusuf separated the pair by dismissing the former, ending all hopes of the hosts. Chanderpaul had just hit Yusuf for a massive six but failed to do an encore hitting straight to Ravinder Jadeja at deep mid-wicket but not before hitting three fours and three sixes in his 59-ball knock. Earlier, Yuvraj hit a blazing century and Karthik smashed a brilliant 67 to resurrect the India's innings, which was rocked by short-pitched bowling, led by Jerome Taylor. Early dismissals of Gautam Gambhir (13) and Rohit Sharma (4) had left India reeling at 32 for two but Yuvraj and Karthik batted with patience to not only save India from more jolts but also laid a solid platform for a good finish. After guiding his side to a safe position, Yuvraj opened his arms to good effects and punished the host bowlers all over the park en route to his 12th ODI century. He hit both Taylor and Chris Gayle for two sixes each and also added 86 runs for the fourth wicket with Dhoni. Yuvraj batted fearlessly as he hit Lionel Baker for two fours and a six to reach 98 and then stole a single off Taylor to complete his magnificent century. The Punjab southpaw was looking unstoppable but Dwayne then dealt the visitors twin-blow by dismissing Yuvraj and Ravinder Jadeja (0) off successive balls in the 39th over. Yuvraj's brilliant innings ended while trying to work one on the leg side but just managed a nick and stumper Denesh Ramdin took a splendid diving catch on his right. Yusuf Pathan (40 off 38) hit the first ball of the last over for a six and Harbhajan Singh (21 off 13) smashed the last one into the crowd to provide perfect finish to India. Earlier, Gambhir and Karthik, who switched to the opener's role in the absence of injured Virender Sehwag, gave a steady start to India, adding 25 for the first wicket. However Gambhir's lean patch continued as he could not build on and fell to a short-pitched delivery from Taylor. Surprised by the bounce, the left-hander mistimed an attempted pull shot only to find Dwayne Bravo. Rohit Sharma (4) became the second victim of the short-pitched stuff as he tried to pull one off Baker but just managed a top-edge to Dwayne in the square-leg region. Yuvraj and Karthik relied more on ones and twos initially and steadied the rocking ship but once they got their eye in, and spinners were launched into the attack runs started flowing from their blades. Yuvraj first hoicked rival skipper Chris Gayle for a huge six over the mid-wicket then meted out the same treatment to spinner Suleiman Benn to bring up the 100-run partnership. Karthik hit six boundaries in his 77-ball effort before being done in by a paddle scoop.

Razzaq and Yousaf Returns to Glory

World Twenty20 champions Pakistan on Monday unveiled the 15-man squad to tour Sri Lanka next week, including in the line-up pardoned rebel
Indian league players Mohammad Yousuf and Abdul Razzaq. Both Razzaq and Yousuf risked their international careers when they played in the Indian Cricket League (ICL), which is not recognised by the International Cricket Council or the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The Pakistan Cricket Board
(PCB) banned all 23 players who joined the ICL, but in February this year the Sindh high court suspended the bans on all but two ICL players, paving their way to return to Pakistan's squad. Inzamam-ul-Haq and Saqlain Mushtaq, who are now retired, did not appeal against the ban. "Yousuf and Razzaq snapped their ties with the ICL so we have cleared them to play for Pakistan and have included in the squad," a PCB release said. Razzaq was the first ICL player to return to international cricket after he replaced injured all-rounder Yasir Arafat and appeared in the World Twenty20, which ended Sunday with Pakistan lifting the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup. They beat Sri Lanka at Lord's in London, and will now play three Tests, five ODIs and a Twenty20 match on the Sri Lanka tour. Yousuf, 34, was declared the best Test batsman in 2007 after scoring a world record 1,788 runs in the previous calendar year. Yousuf and Razzaq joined the ICL after being left out of the team which finished runners-up in the inaugural World Twenty20 held in South Africa two years ago. "I am happy to be named in the squad," Yousuf said. "I have not played a Test since December 2007 (against India at Bangalore) so it will be tough to stage a comeback but I will try to do my best." All-rounder Shahid Afridi, declared man-of-the-match in Pakistan's semi-final and final win in the World Twenty20, will skip the Test leg of the Sri Lanka tour but will be available for the limited over matches. Injury-prone paceman Shoaib Akhtar, who missed the World Twenty20 due to groin problems, was also not considered for selection for the Sri Lanka tour. Also axed from the squad was paceman Sohail Tanvir, part of Pakistan's winning team on Sunday. Rookie 17-year-old paceman Mohammad Aamir, easily the find for Pakistan in their World Twenty20 win, will supplement the attack along with the more experienced Umar Gul and Razzaq. Also returning to the squad is paceman Abdur Rauf, who played four One-day matches last year but was never selected for the Tests. Pakistan starts the current tour on June 29 with a three-day side match in Colombo. The first Test starts at Galle from July 4. The other two Tests will be played in Colombo (12-16 July and 20-24 July) followed by One-day series and the Twenty20 match. Squad: Younus Khan (captain), Misbah-ul-Haq (vice-captain), Salman Butt, Khurrum Manzoor, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamir, Danish Kaneria, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rauf, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam.

Security Terrors

KARACHI: Security
concerns have returned to haunt Pakistan cricket forcing administrators to shift a 'home' Test series against New Zealand in
December back to the same country. Sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board said that Pakistan would be going to New Zealand in early December for Tests before leaving for Australia for a scheduled Test and ODI tour. "New Zealand was supposed to tour Pakistan this winter but due to security concerns they informed us it would not be possible for them to send their team," one source said. "Instead they offered to host the Tests as 'home' Tests for Pakistan to which we have agreed in principle with minor details to be worked out. Depending on time we could play three Tests maximum and two minimum," he said. Meanwhile, New Zealand would also give dates for a One-day series that would be played in Abu Dhabi and Dubai this year or next year. "The Tests and One-dayers are part of the New Zealand team's tour to Pakistan which was not possible in existing circumstances," the source said. The source said the two boards worked out a compromise when PCB Chairman Ejaz Butt was recently in London for the World Cup meetings.

Important Reviews

Gilchrist teaches

Money drives

Much have been told about India's debacle in the ICC World Twenty20. Be it media, former players, Indian cricket board or the team management, all have their own set of stories regarding the blame game.
Barely three days later, India will fly to West Indies to play four One-day Internationals. But all seem to have forgotten if Dhoni's men will be able to regain the glory in the Caribbean.
While coach Gary Kirsten blames IPL for the players' fatigue and niggles, captain Dhoni says it's not fatigue but 'lack of playing as a unit for long' is responsible for the Twenty20 debacle. Dhoni admits India failed to perform as a unit and were "not up to international standards" in England and confessed the fall in India's standard in the game.
Fatigue, injury or lack of playing as a unit, the tiring six-week Indian Premier League schedule before the World Cup is to blame only. And, the Indian cricket board is supposed to protect the national team from any activity that spoils India's chances. But the huge money involved with the IPL2 silenced everybody.
While Mr Pawar and his men were busy with the general elections to protect their political fiefdom, Modi & Co went ahead with organising the IPL in South Africa. And the only gain of the BCCI was it got richer by close to US $ 1.75 billion, solely from the sale of TV rights.
Dhoni, after the defeat to South Africa, made clear even the 10 days in the Caribbean might also be hard to stay in the present and not think about what you would be doing afterwards. However, the long break after the series till the Champions Trophy in South Africa in September will come good for the side.
Let's hope for the same and pray "good sense prevails in the wise men of the BCCI" who seem to have one point agenda of making money, come what may. Or else, I won't be surprised to see the Board forcing the players to go for ad shoots and or, generate revenue in some other way than using the break to regain form.

Atlast Its Pakistan

All Asia Final