Cricket is a team game played between two teams of eleven players each. It originated in its modern form in England, and is popular mainly in the countries of the Commonwealth. In the countries of South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, cricket is by far the most popular participatory and spectator sport and is followed like a religion. Cricket is also a major sport in England and Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe and the English-speaking Caribbean.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) officials have postponed the preliminary its drug inquiry tribunal hearing into the case of Pakistan pacer Mohammad Asif but did not announce any fresh dates.

Asif tested positive for a banned substance twice.

The IPL had set the date of August 30 for the hearing but postponed it on the request of Asif and his lawyer Shahid Karim.

"We had sent them an e-mail requesting for the hearing to be later in mid-September as we are still waiting for some more documentation on the case regarding the procedures adopted to conduct the dope tests on Asif in the IPL.

"We have today got a reply from them saying the hearing will not be held on August 30 and they will inform us of a date later on," Karim told PTI.

Asif, who is under suspension from the Pakistan Cricket Board for having tested positive for the banned substance during the IPL and also in his "B" sample test, has decided to appeal after the two test results showed discrepancies in the amount of the banned substance found in his urine samples.

A leading sports medicine specialist Dr Pervez Rizvi believes that Asif can win his appeal on technical grounds because while the discrepancies is not much but in the past some athletes have been cleared because of the same reason.

"When such discrepancies occur in test results, an athlete can appeal and question the testing procedure," Rizvi said.

A senior PCB official said the board will not interfere in the Asif case.
Sanath Jayasuriya is like wine, getting better with time. The demolition man turned 39 on Monday, and celebrated his birthday with an innings that would put the youngest and best of batsmen to shame.

In a knock that only he could have come up with, the left-hander struck a sizzling century off just 55 balls, the sixth fastest in ODIs, making him the second oldest batsman to score an ODI century.

There's simply no need to describe how he played; suffice to say that his cuts and pulls haven't lost even the slightest of their ferociousness, and his drives raced through cover region and past the bowlers as swiftly as ever. All Bangladesh could do was watch in awe as he bludgeoned his way to an awesome century.

The knock also exemplifies his desire and dogged determination to do well for his country. It's not long ago that he was dropped from the Lankan ODI squad. At his age and the achievements he had under his belt, anyone could have called to call it a day and look back with huge satisfaction at what he has achieved.

Not Jayasuriya, though. He showed his insatiable hunger for scoring runs in the IPL and his superb performance for Mumbai paved the way for his return to the Lankan squad.

And how he has justified the recall. Yes, the wicket was flat, and the Bangladesh attack isn't a yardstick to measure greatness, but then so brutal was the knock that nothing seemed to matter.

The knock also brought to the fore the absurdity of the much-talked age theory, which is so much in vogue these days. He proved that age is merely a number as long as one can contribute to the team’s cause.

Kumar Sangakkara also struck a century, his third in the last four games. The elegant left-hander, after outscoring Jayasuriya in the early part of the innings, went to sleep once Jayasuriya whipped up the storm. And once the storm passed, leaving Bangladesh in tatters, Sangakkara picked up his innings, and duly completed another century.

Bangladesh actually did well to eventually restrict Sri Lanka to 332, for they looked set to amass many more when Jayasuriya and Sangakkara collected 201 for the first wicket in 28 overs. Farhad Reza and Mahmudullah checked the flow of runs after the initial onslaught, and Lanka kept losing wickets quite regularly.


Foreign players insensitive to Pak: PCB

Outraged by South Africa captain Graeme Smith’s opposition to the idea of having a tri-nation one-day series with Pakistan to compensate for the postponed Champions Trophy, the Pakistan Cricket Board said foreign players have been "insensitive" towards the strife-torn country’s problems.

“We graciously accepted the postponement of the tournament which is a big setback to our cricket because players raised a hue and cry over the security. But it seems as if these players just don’t understand the problems being faced by us,” one senior official said.

Smith said it would not be in the best interest of the team to play an unscheduled series at home against Pakistan next month as the team had many injury problems that needed to be put right before a packed season.

Pakistan has spoken to the Cricket South Africa to organise the series next month and apparently also got a favourable response from Sri Lanka but a senior official admitted lot of things needed to be finalised, including sponsorship and broadcasters for the proposed series.

“We are trying to play cricket anywhere. If we organise a tournament in Pakistan, India, West Indies and Sri Lanka will be available to tour as they said they had no issues on playing in Pakistan.

“India is coming to play in Pakistan in January and want their players to rest due to the postponement of the CT so India can be ruled out. We will be playing West Indies in a bilateral three-match series in November in Abu Dhabi so inviting them was out of question.

“We still have Sri Lanka as an option but we have asked a couple of nations to invite us in writing,” Shafqat Naghmi, the chief operating officer of the board, said.

“We have received favourable response from one of these nations and we are awaiting the response of their sponsors for a one-day series. It can be a bilateral series, a tri-nation or even a quadrangular, we don’t know but we are hopeful of getting cricket next month,” Naghmi added.

Qasim hits out

Some former players have also hit out at what they think is hypocrisy of some foreign players.

“Cricket Australia does not find it necessary to send a security outfit to India on a pre-inspection visit whereas India has also had problems with terrorist attacks in recent times,” former player Iqbal Qasim said.

“I think even these players know they can’t afford to offend the Indians because all the money now is coming from India. I would also love to see Graeme Smith’s response if India were in talks with South Africa to play a series next month instead of Pakistan,” he said.

Naghmi admitted that the PCB was under pressure from the cricket community to adopt a stronger line on security issues with teams refusing to play in Pakistan.

Decision in March

The ICC Executive Board will take a final decision on whether the Champions Trophy, which has been postponed till 2009, should remain in Pakistan or be relocated during a meeting in March next year.

Sources in the PCB said March is the deadline for confirming the venue of the tournament but has been postponed due to the security concerns raised by some teams.
India suffer humiliating loss in Colombo
29th Aug 2008 23:04 IST
Agencies

A spineless batting display proved anticlimax to a historic series win as India suffered a humiliating 112-run loss against Sri Lanka under Duckworth-Lewis system in the rain-affected fifth and final one-dayer at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo tonight.

Though India won the five-match series 3-2 but today's loss, their heaviest in Sri Lanka, proved a dampener to the series win.

Chasing a revised target of 216 from 44 overs after rain interrupted the match for 90 minutes when India were wobbling at 70/3 in the 15th over, the visitors were skittled out for just 103 from 26.3 overs, their lowest score in Sri Lanka after the hosts had put up 227/6 from 50 overs.

None of the visiting batsmen offered any resistance to Lankan bowlers Nuwan Kulasekara and Ajantha Mendis who shared eight wickets between themselves, with Virat Kohli top-scoring with 31 while seven batsmen were out for just 33 runs in 12.1 overs.

Kulasekara ran through the Indian top order claiming 4/40 from nine overs with the scalps of openers Gautam Gambhir and Kohli, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma while Mendis claiming 4/10 from 4.3 overs. Dilhara Fernando chipped two wickets for 24 runs.

The Indians began on a cautious note with openers Gambhir and Kohli scoring just three runs after three overs with the first and third overs bowled by Kulasekara being maiden overs.

But two fours by Gambhir off Thilan Thushara and a huge six by Kohli off Kulasekara eased off the pressure and India were 20 after the fifth over and the run rate of four was maintained till Gambhir was out in the last ball of ninth over after scoring a mere 11 from 16 balls which included two fours.

The senior of the Delhi openers nicked a Kulasekara delivery while playing away from the body and Kumar Sangakkara did the rest behind the wicket to reduce India to 38/1.

Kohli paid the price for playing across for too many as he was plumb LBW nine balls after Gambhir's departure though after making a useful 31 off 46 balls, which included three fours and a six.

India were at a spot of bother at 45/2 but Yuvraj Singh and Raina began the repair work with some lusty blows.

Raina, however, was to be blamed for getting out off a poor shot and the Uttar Pradesh youngster tried to play a pull shot off Kulasekara to a ball which was not short enough only to hole out at mid-off to Fernando for 10 (13 balls, 2X4).

Sharma, who came after the 90-minute rain intervention, did not last long and was out LBW to Kulasekara for 3 though he was unlucky to have got the verdict as the ball was outside the line at the point of impact.

Nine balls later mystery bowler Mendis claimed Yuvraj's wicket in his first ball which hit the stumps after having an inside edge and India were looking down the barrel at 79/5 then.

Any hopes of fightback went up in smokes after Mahendra Singh Dhoni was out for one in the 20th over with Fernando cleaning up the Indian captain's stumps for just one off seven deliveries to send the visitors to 85/6.

Irfan Pathan (7), Zaheer Khan (3), Rudra Pratap Singh (4) and Pragyan Ojha (5) went back to the pavillion like in a procession to complete the rout.
Champions Trophy postponement a big blow: Akram
29th Aug 2008 23:03 IST
Agencies

Postponement of the Champions Trophy, which was slated next month in Pakistan, is a huge setback for cricket in the trouble-torn country, according to former pacer Wasim Akram.

"I should say yes, the postponement of Champions Trophy is a big blow for Pakistan," Akram said today on sidelines of a seven-day cricket camp in New Delhi.

"I really don't know why the South Africa team refused to participate in the tournament in Pakistan, even after initially giving their nod. It is also unfortunate that Australia and England also raised security concern," Akram, who has served Pakistan in 104 Test matches, said.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) postponed the tournament till next year after some cricket boards voiced concern about the players' security in the volatile country.

Akram was equally disappointed with the scenario back home and said the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was struggling to put the things in order after its Chairman Nasim Ashraf resigned recently.

"The PCB is in shambles now. They have no Chairman, no direction. We are really struggling to recover," he said.

On Mohammad Asif, who is facing a dope charge, Akram said the pacer was young and he would give him another chance.

"He is only 23-year-old now. He has committed a mistake, but I would like to give him another chance," he said.

The former captain, however, was harsh on Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik and felt he needed to lead by example.

"Once I recommended his name as Pakistan captain to the PCB but he has not delivered. Malik should believe on himself and lead from the front," said Akram, who scalped 414 Test and 502 One Day International wickets in his kitty.

Dhoni back to top of ODI rankings

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni toppled his South African counterpart Graeme Smith to regain the top spot in the latest ICC ODI batsmen ranking.

By virtue of his consistent performance, including 76 and 71 in the previous two one-dayers of the on-going ODI series against Sri Lanka, Dhoni has 803 rating points in his kitty, 27 points higher than Smith who occupies the second spot.

Dhoni had previously occupied the number one position for a brief period in 2006.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting is in the third spot with 751 points followed by teammate Michael Hussey and England skipper Kevin Pietersen.

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar is placed the ninth while an out of form Yuvraj Singh is languishing at 18th.

Meanwhile, comeback man Zaheer Khan is the lone Indian bowler in the top 20 ODI bowlers chart in the 14th spot with 642 rating points.

Australia's Nathan Bracken leads the table, followed by Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori, teammate Shane Bond, England youngster Stuart Broad and Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan.

However, no Indian representation is there in the all-rounders chart which is being led by Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik. England's Andrew Flintoff and Kiwi Jacob Oram find themselves in the second and third position respectively.

Although India has already pocketed the five-match ODI series against the Lankans with one match to go, but it didn't help Twenty20 World Champions to move up the ODI championship table as they find themselves in the fourth spot.

Australia continued to lead the pack, followed by South Africa and New Zealand.

The worst series of the Indian middle order
It was not long ago that the Indian middle order was in such rip-roaring form that India won Test series in the West Indies and England, won a Test for the first time in South Africa and won a Test for the first time in Perth, Australia.

But in the just concluded Test series against Sri Lanka, India's quartet of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman averaged the second-worst for numbers 3-6 in Tests featuring the four.

Tendulkar was easily the biggest disappointment of the series. Looking to break the record of Brian Lara for most Test runs, Tendulkar failed to conjure up a single substantial score and disappointed in six consecutive innings, first finding odd ways to be dismissed, then falling twice to Chaminda Vaas with shots he could have avoided and finally making two errors of judgment in the final Test.

Dravid, done in by the reviews time and again, but somewhere in the middle of the second Test he began to come out of the shell that he has been in since he gave up the captaincy. Failing against Ajantha Mendis did not help matters, but by the final Test Dravid was batting with something approaching fluency and calm.

For someone who uses his feet better than most against the spinners, Ganguly was tied to the crease more than one could fathom and the only solace he can draw is that Mendis never dismissed him. This is somewhat countered by the fact that he fell to Muttiah Muralitharan on out five of six occasions and his scores show that he was the worst batsman in the Indian middle order.

Laxman was perhaps the only one batsman in the Indian middle order who came to grips with playing Sri Lanka's spinners early enough for it to make a difference but falling to Mendis five times in six innings did not help matters. His final innings of the series, on a leg with a twisted ankle, even though in vain, showed that he still has much to offer. And his catching was upto the mark as he went past 100 catches.

Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman have all enjoyed purple patches of late, and the real reason for India's batting being so rudderless in this series can be found in the decline of Dravid.

Dravid, once the most dependable batsman in the Indian line-up, hasn't found the high gears for nearly two years now, except for the match-turning effort of 92 in Perth.

The more these batsmen will struggle, the more their place in the team will be doubted and questioned.

But as Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said that the credentials of these stalwarts cannot be questioned, one finds a soothing calm in the saying that class is permanent and form is temporary.


..............................Tournament History ..........................


Asia Cup
2008-Asia Cup

India-Pakistan-Bangladesh Tri-Series
2008-India-Pakistan-Bangladesh Tri-Series


India-South Africa Test Series
2008-India-South Africa Test Series

India-Australia-Sri Lanka Tri-Series
2008-India-Australia-Sri Lanka Tri-Series


India-Australia Test Series
2007-India-Australia Test Series

India-Pakistan Series
2007-India-Pakistan Series


India-Australia ODI Series
2007-India-Australia ODI Series

Twenty20 World Cup
2007-Twenty20 World Cup


India-Scotland ODI
2007-India-Scotland ODI

India-England Series
2007-India-England Series


India-Pakistan ODI
2007-India-Pakistan ODI

India-South Africa ODI Series
2007-India-South Africa ODI Series


India-Ireland ODI
2007-India-Ireland ODI

India - Bangladesh Series
2007-India - Bangladesh Series


World Cup
2007-World Cup

India - Sri Lanka Series
2007-India - Sri Lanka Series