Revive india-pakistan ties: Akram
New Delhi: Pace legend Wasim Akram feels it is high time that the bilateral cricket ties between India and Pakistan are revived as the fans in sub-continent deserve to enjoy the historic rivalry which has produced some exhilarating action on the field. “I have always maintained that sports and politics should not be mixed. India-Pakistan matches have produced some of the best cricket in the world and it is very unfortunate that we have been denied this due to non-sporting reasons,” Akram told PTI ahead of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to India. Akram said inclusion of Pakistan players would add the sheen of IPl. Pakistani players have been barred from taking part in the IPl since the inaugural edition in 2008 due to the Mumbai terror attacks. “I am sure that a lot of the Pakistan players would have added value to the teams if they were allowed to play. Also, there is massive interest in IPl in Pakistan which would have only been far more if the participation of players was allowed,” said the bowling coach of IPl franchise Kolkata Knight Riders.
lanka’s tour of Pak hangs in balance
Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has already sent an official invitation to the Sri lankan Cricket (SlC) for a short series but the probability of the tour taking place is 50-50 chance. “The chances that Sri lankan board will accept our invitation is 50-50 to be honest. Because we know some of their leading players have reservations over playing in Pakistan at this time. “But the way we look at it even if they are willing to come for one match we will host them as it will be a breakthrough for us,” a senior official of the board said.
Sharif briefed on cricket relations
Karachi: The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Najam Sethi has briefed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Indo-Pak cricket relations ahead of the Premier’s two-day official visit to India. Nawaz Sharif will attend the swearing in ceremony of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister tomorrow and is scheduled to later have a meeting with him and the President of India. A source aware of the developments said that the Prime Minister had asked for a brief on the state of cricket relations with India from the PCB. “Najam Sethi briefed him in detail about the existing relations and also about a MOU signed with the Indian cricket board to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2022 with the first one expected to happen next year,” a source said.
Mudgal: haven’t discussed the player
New Delhi: The Supreme Court-appointed IPl probe panel headed by retd Justice Mukul Mudgal on Sunday met for the first time to discuss the modalities about their further investigation into the spot-fixing and betting scandal related to the sixth edition of Indian Premier league. “There wasn’t any discussion about the reputed cricketer who will be joining our panel for the investigative work. The reason we didn’t discuss any names is because we have not yet reached that stage in our investigation. It will be discussed and announced in due course of time,” Justice Mudgal said. About today’s meeting, the veteran legal luminary said that it was to discuss the “modalities”.
Srini set to chair ACC Meeting today
New Delhi: The Indian cricket board’s president-in-exile N Srinivasan is all set to chair a meeting of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in Chennai on Monday. The meeting has been kept a hush-hush affair as the Tamil Nadu strongman refused to divulge any information about it when he was contacted. Sources within the BCCI were not even ready to divulge about the venue of the meeting. However according to reliable sources within the ACC, this meeting is not one where the executive body is summoned. “This is not an executive body meeting of the ACC. This is a meeting of the finance and marketing wing of the Asian council. Various aspects of sponsorships and investments in tournaments across the Asian region will be discussed. Mr Srinivasan is the chairman of the finance and marketing wing,” a source preferring anonymity said on Sunday.
Ajmal wants to be part of ipl
Karachi: Pakistan’s top spinner, Saeed Ajmal has said he would definitely like to get an opportunity to play in the Indian Premier league in the future and hoped the BCCI looks into the matter. Talking about the continued absence of Pakistani players in the lucrative T20 league, Ajmal said the organisers and the Indian Cricket Board needed to review their stance on this situation. “They have to look to give Pakistani players a chance to play in the IPl. When there are former Pakistani players present as coaches and umpires why are the present players missing. If the IPl classes itself as the best T20 tournament in the world, than it should allow the best players from any country to take part,” Ajmal told Pakpassion website. “I just think this is something for the authorities to sort out and I hope there is a change of stance in the future as I definitely would like to have a chance to play in the IPl,” the spinner said.
youngest teen to scale Everest
Hyderabad: In a historic feat for Indian mountaineering, 13-year-old Malavath Purna today became the youngest female climber to scale the Mount Everest. Purna was accompanied by Sadhanapalli Anand Kumar (16), a Class IX student from the Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh, and completed the feat this morning. Anand and Purna are both students of Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Educational Society. “They climbed Everest at 6 am today after a 52-day long expedition,” he said. “Purna created a record by becoming by youngest girl to climb the Everest,” he said. The duo was selected among about 150 children who were initially chosen for adventure sports as part of the society’s initiative to promote excellence in the students of the society, he said.
India lose to Argentina
New Delhi: India fought hard before losing 1-2 to Argentina in their first practice game ahead of the hockey World Cup at The Hague, Netherlands on Sunday. Argentina scored a goal each in both the halves while India’s lone goal came in the second half from the sticks of Dharamvir Singh. India also suffered a big blow before the start of the mega-event as striker striker Ramandeep Singh was ruled out of the tournament after seriously injuring himself in the second half of the match against Argentina.
Bopanna-Qureshi ends runner up
Nice (France): Rohan Bopanna and his partner Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi ended runners up for the second time this season when they lost the final of the ATP 250 event to Martin Klizan and Philipp Oswald, here. The top seeded Indo-Pak pair were outplayed 2-6 0-6 to the Slovakian-Austrian pair in the clay court event. Bopanna and Qureshi had won the Dubai tournament in February but ended runners-up in Sydney in January. Klizan and Oswald broke serve five times for earn their first ATP World Tour team doubles title.
Gayle to Germany for back injury
Mumbai: Explosive West Indies batsman Chris Gayle is racing against time to get fit for his 100th Test match at his home country of Jamaica early next month and is set to fly tonight from here to consult t a specialist in Germany for his troubling back injury. “It was tough. It (injury) happened just before IPl at the end of the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh. It became even worse later. I thought it was a simple thing when I went back and then when I started training in UAE it became difficult bending and sprinting between wickets. It was a problem, but I tried my best and missed first 4 games,” said the 34-year-old left-handed batsman here after launching his own shoe brand (CG) designed by Shyam Kale.