Emerging Teams Cup: India beat Pak by 3 wkts
Singapore: Medium pacer Sandeep Warrier picked up three wickets, while opener Unmukt Chand struck a patient half-century as India’s Under-23 team got the better of arch-rivals Pakistan by three wickets in a limited overs Group ‘A’ match of the ACC Emerging Teams Cup, here on Sunday. Chasing 192 for victory, Indians got off to a fine start with Under-19 World Cup winning skipper Chand (61) and lokesh Rahul (46) providing the team a solid platform. And despite the middle-order batsmen not contributing handsomely, India could sail home with 13 balls to spare at Kallang Ground. Chand and Rahul shared a 84-run stand for the opening wicket. Apart from the duo, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav also made an useful contribution with 23 runs after Pakistan’s left-arm spinner Raza Hasan picked up three wickets to take the contest to the closing stages.
Gauti, Yuvi, Zak can make a comeback: Dada
New Delhi: Sourav Ganguly says the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan can still make a comeback to India’s national team but they need to be “hungry” for that. All the three players are along with Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh are out of favour these days as young guns such as Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Bhuvaneshver Kumar and R Ashwin have performed excellently in their absence. “No player is completely out of the team. In 2011, the Indian team looked incomplete without these players. And now they are out of the team. So you cannot say what will happen tomorrow,” Ganguly told Star Cricket. “They are all very good players. They have won India world cup, Test matches, Test series. So if they have hunger inside them, they can surely be back. They just need to focus on cricket, train hard, be fit and make a comeback.”
Panesar’s marriage ends in a divorce
london: England spinner Monty Panesar’s marriage with pharmacist wife Gursharan Rattan has finally ended after a bitter divorce battle, according to media reports. The 31-year-old spinner, who was recently in news for getting arrested for drunken misbehaviour and urinating in public, had managed to keep his separation from his wife a secret and their divorce was finalised only recently. Monty was dropped from the Ashes series as a result of poor form, which is now being linked to his personal turmoil. “Monty was devastated by the breakdown of his marriage and is still coming to terms with his recent divorce. His personal struggles have been a direct result of that,” The Sunday Mirror quoted a source as saying.
Umar Akmal recalled from CPl
Karachi: Pakistan’s wicketkeeper-batsman Umar Akmal has been recalled from the Caribbean Premier league by the PCB after he suffered a breakdown while playing for the Barbados Tridents. A PCB official confirmed that Umar has been called back from the CPl where he was playing with other Pakistani players including captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, Muhammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik. “The selectors have decided to send wicketkeeper, Sarfraz Ahmed to Zimbabwe in place of Umar for the T20 and ODIs,” he said. The official said they only knew that Umar was not well and had been called back for medical attention. But family sources said that Umar apparently suffered from epilepsy seizures while on a flight to Jamaica with the Barbados team. “He is not well at all and fell unconscious on the flight and has received some medical attention in Jamaica,” one source said. The Pakistan squad has already lost Test opener Imran Farhat for the Zimbabwe tour after he also withdrawn due to personal reasons.
PNS/Agencies