Pak to use Akhtar book in court case

Pakistan cricket authorities said yesterday they would use confessions made by Shoaib Akhtar in his autobiography in court to justify disciplining the former pacer. 
 

Akhtar's appeal against a seven million rupee disciplinary fine imposed three years ago is pending in Lahore High Court. 
 

"In a writ case it is important to have clean conduct and in his book Akhtar has confessed to breach of discipline," PCB's legal adviser said.

Stats: Bravo is the first bowler to take 20 wickets in CL T20

# Chennai Super Kings' exciting four-wicket victory is their sixth in eight matches in the Champions League Twenty20 with a success percentage of 81.25 (Lost 1 and Tied 1).

Dwayne Bravo with Albie Morkel# Cape Cobras have won four and lost three out of seven contested in the Champions League Twenty20 -- winning percent 57.14.

# Jean-Paul Duminy [ Images ] (4/20) became the first bowler to claim four wickets in an innings for Cape Cobras in the Champions League Twenty20.

# Duminy's marvellous figures are his best ever in Twenty20 -- his second instance of four wickets in an innings.

# Albie Morkel [ Images ] has claimed 65 wickets at an average of 25 -- 50 scalps in 60 matches for Chennai Super Kings in Twenty20 -- the most by a bowler. Muralitharan [ Images ] (52) and Ashwin (51) are the next two for Chennai in Twenty20.

# Mahendra Singh Dhoni [ Images ] and Dwayne Bravo [ Images ] were involved in a partnership of 43 for the sixth wicket -- Chennai Super Kings' highest in the Champions League Twenty20.

# Albie Morkel and Bravo added 26 (unbroken) for the seventh wicket -- Chennai's best in the Champions League Twenty20.

# Dwayne Bravo is the first and only bowler to complete 20 wickets in the Champions League Twenty20 at an average of 16.10 in eleven matches.

# Bravo's match-winning unbeaten 46 off 25 balls is his best ever for Chennai in the Champions League Twenty20.

# Bravo has been adjudged the Man of the Match for the fourth time in the Champions League Twenty20.

# Jean-Paul Duminy's tally of 324 at an average of 54.00 in eleven matches is a record in the Champions League Twenty20.

# Duminy and Owais Shah [ Images ] (45) have shared 57 runs for the fourth wicket -- Cape Cobras' highest in the Champions League Twenty20.

Hussey to miss ODI games

David Hussey has missed out on the one-day international section of Australia's upcoming tour of South Africa.

The Victoria batsman has made the squad for the two Twenty20 matches but has lost out in the ODI's to New South Wales' David Warner. Victoria wicketkeeper Matthew Wade has been named in the squad for the two Twenty20 internationals.

National Selection Panel Chairman Andrew Hilditch said: "Unfortunately David Hussey has been omitted from the one-day squad. David was picked for Sri Lanka as we thought he would be very well suited to the conditions, being an excellent player of spin bowling and having the ability to bowl valuable overs of spin."

Wade has been drafted in as Brad Haddin has retired from international Twenty20 matches and Tim Paine is injured. Haddin makes the ODI squad. The injury to John Hastings has also allowed New South Wales fast bowler Patrick Cummins to claim a place in the squads for both the Twenty20 games and the three one-day internationals.

Hilditch added: "We did not think that David quite took his opportunity in Sri Lanka and his place has been taken by David Warner. David's form has been irresistible recently and he deserves this opportunity in the one-day squad.

"John Hastings is injured and Patrick Cummins has been added to the one-day squad. It is an extremely exciting time in Australian cricket to see such young talent forcing its way into the Australian squads. We consider we have picked an extremely strong Twenty20 squad, which has a good balance of experience and exciting young talent.

"There is flexibility in the squad to deal with conditions in South Africa as we continue to prepare for the ICC World Twenty20, which is only a year away. The retirement of Brad Haddin from International Twenty20 and the injury to Tim Paine, has given a well-deserved opportunity to Matthew Wade.

"Matthew is an extremely exciting keeper batsman who is very well equipped for Twenty20 cricket and we think he will have an immediate impact on the international scene. John Hastings was unavailable through injury. This has given a great opportunity to Patrick Cummins to come into the Twenty20 squad.

"Patrick is a very exciting fast bowler and was one of the youngest players ever to receive an Australian contract this year. We are very confident he will succeed at international level. The squad also sees the addition of Mitchell Marsh, an extremely talented and exciting all-rounder."

Hilditch explained the reasons for bowler Mitchell Johnson being left out. He said: "Mitchell Johnson was not selected for the Twenty20 squad. Mitchell has struggled in this format of the game to date. Most Twenty20 internationals have been at the start of tours and Mitchell has not always been at his best in these matches."

CSK face no additional pressure, says Fleming

Chennai, Sept 27: Despite their hopes of advancing to the semifinals hanging in balance after the loss to Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings' coach Stephen Fleming said his team will not face any extra pressure when they take on Cape Cobras in a Champions League T20 here tomorrow.

Fleming admitted that the defending champions, in any case, put themselves under pressure so that they can bring out the competitive spirit in themselves.

"We are always under pressure. We were under pressure in the first game. Nothing has changed. I don't know how many wins we need (to go through to the semifinals), whether it is two with a better run rate or it's three, we are always under pressure," said Fleming at a media conference on the eve of their match against the Cobras.

"We put ourselves under pressure as well because we want to win, especially at home. And we want to keep winning competitions, so we don't look to have easy games and there are no easy games. There have been some incredible, sensational results in the last two or three games, so that's where the competition is going to go," he added.

Fleming said that the team management has not yet pressed the panic button and would decide on the final playing XI only after watching the first match between New South Wales and Trinidad here tomorrow.

"We haven't gone back to the drawing board just because we have had one loss where one player hit 15 or 20. Up to that point, we had won about 95 per cent of the game. So we are not going to rush and change," the New Zealander said.

Indian GP is will be insane, says Lewis Hamilton

After the great response in Bangalore, McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton expects a great Indian Grand Prix.

“It’s great news for India and it’s great that we’re going to different countries. I must be honest, I didn’t think it would ever come here. Once I got the news, I went about telling everyone about how great India is and how brilliant and passionate the people are. By then, I had visited India many times.

 “If we have a crowd like the one at this event, the Indian GP is going to be insane,” he said, while advising children to keep working towards their dreams if they want to make it big in motorsport. Hamilton added that India should have more karting tracks and support for talented drivers.

The ongoing Formula One season might be all about Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel, but Hamilton is a hopeful man. He proved that he has got the stuff in him when he won the 2008 drivers’ title and became the youngest one to do so then.

The 2011 season has not exactly gone the way he, or McLaren, would have wanted. And they are looking to do their best in the remainder of the season.

“The season has been long and intense. The results in the last few races have been pretty shocking to me. Jenson (Button) has been doing a pretty incredible job. So, it’s not about getting ahead of him right now ,” said Hamilton.

Hamilton also played down his clash with Ferarri’s Felipe Massa. “It was a bit of a disaster for me and it was just one of those races you learn from. We had a coming together in the race. It was a racing incident and that happens. His reaction after the race was a bit angry and I was able to ignore it and move on.”

Saina sails to quarters of Japan Open, others disappoint

HYDERABAD: If Wednesday witnessed stunning and impressive performances, Indians came crashing down in Tokyo on Thursday as reality hit them hard in the second round of the Japan Open Super Series.

Barring Saina Nehwal, all the Indians were knocked out of the tournament, including the women's doubles team of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa who squandered five match points.

The Indian girls embraced defeat from the door step of victory against Jung Eun Ha and Min Jung Kim of Korea, losing 9-21, 21-18, 22-24. None of those who were either watching them live or following their match on the internet would have expected the Indians to lose when they were enjoying a four-point (20-16) cushion in the decider.

But the Indians failed to capatilise and allowed the Koreans to save four match points here and one more at 21-20 and win the game at 24-22.

As on most occasions in the past Saina was the saving grace for the Indian camp. The fourth seed looked comfortable in her 21-17, 21-16 victory against Mingtian Fu of Singapore. Saina will face another Singporean Juan Gu in the quarters on Friday.

Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi taught players how to fight: Ajit Wadekar

People saw Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi as a reserved person, but it was a wrong perception. He was a friendly guy who used to talk freely. And we were very good friends. In 1969, when selector Madhav Mantri named me captain, Pataudi supported me.

That was when I got close to him. He never had a problem playing under me and that, I thought, was very nice of him.

Hemade tremendous contributions as a player, batsman, fielder and, of course, captain. He always emphasised on fielding.

Tiger was a superb fielder and such was his power that his throw from the boundary line would land in the keeper’s gloves. He was nicknamed Tiger because of his quickness on the field. Normally, you wouldn’t see a person from a royal family being quick on the field while fielding or running between the wickets. They would have asked the diwan to do so (laughs), but MAK was different. He was athletic.
As far as captaincy is concerned, it wouldn’t be wrong to call him one of the most successful captains of India. He led India for 11 years, which is not a joke. You can’t compare captains of different eras, but he infused a fighting spirit in his players. He used to lead by example. And when I was the captain, he did not raise any issues. He obeyed whatever I said.

If I had a successful team and India had that spin quartet, it was because of Tiger’s initiative. Fast bowling was never our strength; hence he was the one who initiated the move to make spin our strength. I had a good stint as a captain because of him.

His playing with one eye is stuff of legends now. He changed his stance square to get a clearer view of the bowler. Even after the accident, he was as agile and quick as he was with both eyes.
Apart from being a fantastic cricketer, he was quite a prankster. Once we had gone to Bhopal to play a fund-raising game.

One day Vijay Manjrekar, Erapalli Prasanna, Vishy (GR Viswanath), MAK, myself, and a other players went hunting.

In the jungle, we were captured by some dacoits who demanded a ransom. Everyone was frightened, including Manjrekar, who said he was a worker in Kohinoor Mills, and Vishy, who said he had just come over to play cricket.

We all told the dacoits that MAK had brought us there, but they did not listen and demanded Rs2 lakh. MAK went and came back with a bag full of money. The next morning we saw the ‘dacoits’ at our breakfast table! That was one prank we still remember.

Wadekar succeeded Pataudi as India’s captain in 1969-70.
As told to Taus Rizvi