‘Cricket made me a better man’
Panaji: Former Indian captain Rahul Dravid on Sunday said that cricket's influence in his life was such that the game made him a better person. "One and half years after my retirement I have realised that cricket has made me a better human. I learnt from successes and failures," Dravid said, speaking at convocation ceremony of BITS-Pilani Goa campus on Sunday, in the presence of Dr Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chancellor of the institute. Dravid narrated several anecdotes from his career, starting from his school days, making a special mention of school principal, Father Coelho. He also said that his father was an ardent fan of the game. "After Australia tour I felt it is time to make way for the next generation. Now I am back to the little boy listening to cricket commentary in my father's studio," said Dravid, who dubbed himself as a boy from a middle-class family. There were millions of ways to be successful, he said. "You don't have to be number one in the world, you have to be number one to yourself by achieving all the height which you always aimed," Dravid said, receiving a huge applause from the students.
Pak's ClT20 presence in jeopardy
Karachi: The rising tension at the line of Control (lOC) has left the Pakistan Cricket Board worried about the participation of its team Faisalabad Wolves in the qualifying round of the Champions league Twenty20 to be played in India from September 17. A senior PCB official said they would start the procedure for obtaining visas for the Faisalabad team after the Eid holidays. "We have been reading reports about stories in the Indian media regarding the participation of the Faisalabad team in the Champions league and we want to be sure they will be no problems in their going to India," the official said. "We have collected the passports of the Faisalabad players and after the Eid holidays we will start the process for obtaining visas for them," the official said. "We will be in touch with the Indian board and we are hopeful there should be no problems in the team getting visas," he added. The official also confirmed that so far the PCB has got no advice from the government on sending the team to India. "Our government's policy has been clear on sporting ties with India," he noted.
PCB don’t want Whatmore
Karachi: Pakistan will have a new head coach for the Asia Cup and the ICC World Twenty20 Championships in Bangladesh next year as the PCB has no intentions of renewing Australian Dav Whatmore's two-year contract when it expires in March, 2014. "At the moment the present PCB management has decided to stay with Whatmore and allow him to complete his two-year contract," a source in the board said. But he confirmed that the Board was far from happy with the results produced so far by Whatmore since he took over in March, 2012 and also over a number of other issues. "Basically, the PCB does not want to pay any extra money/compensation to Whatmore which it will have to do if it terminates his contract before March, 2014," the source said.
‘Inzy was at fault in Oval Gate’
Karachi: Former Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan has finally opened up on the Oval Gate scandal and has blamed ex-captain Inzamam-ul-Haq for letting the PCB and Pakistan cricket down. The incident, known as the Oval Gate, became famous when Pakistan became the first team in the history of the game to forfeit a Test match at the Oval in 2005 under Inzamam's captaincy. The forfeiture came after umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove penalised Pakistan for ball tampering which was openly challenged by Inzamam and led to the Test being forfeited despite Pakistan being in a winning position. Shaharyar also disclosed about how relations between Inzamam and late head coach of the Pakistan team, Bob Woolmer had started to go wrong on the England tour of 2005. "Things began to go wrong at the beginning of the tour of England at the time. I remember very clearly, because I was there. I saw that player power was taking over," Shaharyar told the Pakpassion.Net website in an interview. "For instance, Bob Woolmer had asked one or two people to come in and coach...but Inzamam said no! He said he wouldn't have them," the former PCB chief said.