MSD to lead Kapil’s all-time XI
Greater Noida: He can walk into any Indian team on a given day but former captain Kapil Dev decided to keep himself “out” of the best-ever Indian ODI line-up which he feels should be led by another limited overs legend Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The World Cup winning captain’s team of 12 has young Saurashtra all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja while Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble are the other two spinners. Apart from Dhoni, the team has legendary Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Virat Kohli, Mohammed Azharuddin while Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath are the two fast bowlers. Interestingly, Kapil didn’t select a single member of the victorious 1983 sqaud.
‘Don’t doubt Khel Ratna panel’
New Delhi: In a veiled reference to disgruntled athletes Krishna Poonia and H N Girisha, former shooter Moraad Ali Khan on Thursday said no one should question the credibility of the Khel Ratna award selection panel. The recommendation of shooter Ronjan Sodhi for the Khel Ratna has sparked off a controversy as a member of the selection panel has raised questions about the selection process. The panel member has claimed that woman discus thrower Poonia and london Paralympics silver medallist Girisha were shortlisted for voting by 11 out of 12 selection panel members and Sodhi’s name was not considered initially.
4 Buchi Babu games rained out
Chennai: Seasonal rains played havoc as four of the five matches were called off without a ball is being bowled on the first day of the Buchi Babu cricket tournament at different venues, here on Thursday. In the lone match, where some play was possible, Uttar Pradesh scored 50 for four in 47 overs against Tamil Nadu XI on a heavy outfield. Indian Off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was the main strike for the hosts as he claimed three for 35. When day’s play was called off a 5.28pm, Akshadeep Nath (15) and Praveek Kumar (4) were at the crease.
Sasikiran holds Karjakin
Tromso: Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran kept himself in the hunt by holding Sergey Karjakin of Russia to a draw in the first game of the second round of World Chess Cup here. After beating Romanian Constantin lupulescu in the tiebreak games, Sasikiran took it easy in the first encounter of the two-game mini-match and gave little chance to Karjakin, ranked ninth in the world currently. Grandmaster B Adhiban, however, could not make use of a good advantage and drew with Brazilian GM Alexander Fier after an opening tussle. After a few surprises in the opener, most of the higher ranked players got off to a good start in the first game of second round in this USD 1.6 million knock-out event.
Pak for D/N Test against Sl
Karachi: Pakistan is keen to become the first Test playing nation to play a day and night Test match when it hosts Sri lanka for a full series later this year in the United Arab Emirates. Pakistan has proposed to Sri lanka Cricket to play one of the three Tests in the series scheduled in December-January to under lights either in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah or Dubai. “We were forced to hold our home series at neutral venues like the UAE for the past few years and we feel that having a day-night Test has lot of commercial viability to it,” a senior official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said.