cricket stories

Taylor admits he was ready to bat with broken arm to save Wellington Test

Wellington, Mar 28(ANI): New Zealand Test team captain Ross Taylor has said he was ready to bat despite of having a broken arm to save the Wellington Test match against the Proteas.

Taylor raced to the Basin Reserve late on the final day after getting a call at his hotel, asking if he would pull on the pads if necessary. He battled Wellington traffic to arrive with five overs left.

A ball from Morne Morkel fractured Taylor's left forearm on the fourth day, and he was recovering from surgery on Tuesday when the call came to get to the ground.

"You don't often get a chance to save a Test match, so I drove down. The boys were looking pretty solid, so I didn't have to don the whites," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Taylor, as saying.

Taylor lauded the young pair of Kane Williamson and Doug Bracewell, who batted together for a long period to save the Test match for the Black Caps. Williamson scored an unbeaten 102, and shared in a seventh-wicket stand with Bracewell.

Ex-Kiwi star Cairns' mom expresses relief over son' s libel case win against ex-IPL chief Modi

Belfast (Ireland), Mar.28 (ANI): Former New Zealand fast bowler Chris Cairns' mother Sue Wilson has expressed relief over her son's legal victory against former Indian Premier League boss Lalit Modi in a match-fixing case.

During Cairns' bitter libel case against Modi, another former Kiwi bowler, Dion Nash, provided comfort to Wilson, in a bid to assuage her understandable anxiety.

It mattered little to Wilson that Nash did it after his own mother implored him to.

"It just meant so much to me to hear someone like him say that it just did not add up, that the testimony, much of it which was new to me and so hard to hear, just did not add up," stuff.co.nz quoted Wislon, as saying.

Just how much it didn't add up was revealed to her on Saturday, well before the news was broadcast around the world.

Wilson was one of the first people Cairns called to deliver the news he had promised he would; that "he'd won".

"He was emotionless but added he could not believe he had beaten such a big guy," said Wilson.

During the trial, Wilson instigated a self-imposed ban on talkback radio.

She said that the last month has been more difficult than she ever could have imagined.

She got through it thanks to calls from Chris Cairns after each day's proceedings.

His message was always the same: "things are going to be OK mum". Despite that she was "just so relieved" when she was told the news.

Wilson said she could now get on with her life but could not help wondering about Modi's motives. And more importantly, as a mother, whether "he has got children too and whether he would like to see his children go through the same thing I have". (ANI)

 

 

Sahara dumps BCCI, surrenders Pune franchise

Indian team's biggest sponsor pulls out from 'all cricket under the BCCI' over business grievances and the handling of Yuvraj Singh.

Sahara's managing worker and chairman, Subrata Roy.

A day after Sahara decided to cut its ties with the BCCI, withdrawing its sponsorship of the Indian team and ownership of the Pune Warriors India IPL franchise, it has emerged that Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance
Industries Limited (RIL) could fill the void.

“Assuming that Sahara’s decision stands, watch out for RIL... There’s a very good chance that it will extend its association with cricket in India,” a top source told The Telegraph late on Saturday.

The Ambanis own the Mumbai Indians, one of the top teams in the IPL, which is captained by Sachin Tendulkar. Moreover, the Ambanis are on excellent terms with the Board of Control for Cricket in India brass.

On Saturday, Sahara said the decision to end their partnership comes over long-standing business grievances with the BCCI and the IPL governing council's handling of Yuvraj Singh, who is the captain of the Sahara-owned IPL team, Pune Warriors.

'Rules were broken for other teams'

Yuvraj, who was bought by Pune in 2011 for USD 1.8 million, will miss the IPL this year as he seeks treatment for his lung tumour. Pune had asked the IPL governing council to let them increase their auction purse to help them seek replacement players. The council turned the demand down.

The timing of Sahara's announcement was critical. It issued a media statement about their disassociation with the BCCI only minutes before the start of the 2012 player auctions for the IPL in Bangalore. Pune were not represented at the auction.

Sahara has asked the BCCI to pass the Warriors set-up, and the Indian team sponsorship rights, on to any interested parties. It did however say that it will continue sponsoring the Indian team "for the next 2-4 months, till the BCCI finds a new sponsor."

Sahara had paid Rs 400 crore in 2005 for a four-year deal to sponsor the Indian team. In 2010, the deal was renewed at approximately 490 crore till December 31, 2013. 

Sahara's contention is that it has been flexible in its dealings with the BCCI and the ICC, but the courtesies have not been reciprocated. It cited the 2003 World Cup as an example (see graphic).

Can't make amendments for one team: Raman

BCCI vice-president and IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla, who fielded questions at a presser for the IPL auction, did not react to Sahara's decision saying the BCCI has not received any official communication to the BCCI.

“Unless we get an official communication from them, the BCCI cannot react to (the development),” Shukla said adding that the IPL will continue as per plan this year.

“The show will always go on. The auction is already on. The show will not stop,” he said. 

IPL chief executive Sundar Raman was more forthcoming saying that Sahara’s demands for amendments to the IPL’s rules and regulations suited them. “They were the team with the biggest purse. It is not fair to the other teams that these amendments be made for Sahara alone,” Raman said.

BCCI to meet Sahara

BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale said the board would meet Sahara officials soon and will clarify the issues.

"We understand that Sahara Adventure Sports Limited has issued a statement in which it indicates an intention to withdraw from its involvement in Indian cricket, including as regards the Indian Premier League. We intend to contact Sahara Adventure Sports Limited as soon as practicable to clarify its intentions," Jagdale said in a statement.

On the confusion surrounding Yuvraj, Jagdale said: "During the last few days, Sahara Adventure Sports Limited has requested that IPL vary its Player Regulations by allowing it to increase its Auction Purse from $1.6m to $3.4m in the light of Yuvraj's unfortunate illness."

"Whilst all within IPL and BCCI have a huge amount of sympathy for Yuvraj Singh and wish him all the best for a speedy recovery, it is unable to vary the Player Regulations," Jagdale said.

'One-sided emotional relationship'

“We requested the BCCI on the basis of the fact that we have only one Indian marquee player, that we be allowed to add price of Shri Yuvraj Singh in our auction purse, during the 4th February auction because we had later taken Shri Sourav Ganguly at 0.4 million. Again, we have been denied on the basis of the rule book,” Sahara’s statement read.

“We think this peculiar situation of Shri Yuvraj Singh is silent in the rule book because it probably talks only about players who are temporarily injured.”

“We really feel such one-sided emotional relationship cannot be dragged any further. We are withdrawing from all cricket under BCCI/ However, we don't want to give any problem to the BCCI and we also feel that the players should not suffer. BCCI will definitely take 2-4 months to get a new sponsor and we will continue paying the sponsorship money till then. All other IPL team players, coaches and other such associates will definitely get their due this year, in case they do not get a chance to play.”

Looking at the larger picture, Sahara has made its move at a time Indian cricket's stocks are at a low and its era of unprecedented success is coming to an end with the impending retirements of its ageing greats. The period also coincides with diminishing crowds at stadia, dipping TV viewership and corresponding withdrawals by other major sponsors.

 

Reliance Industries could be BCCI's new sponsor

The Ambanis own the Mumbai Indians, one of the top teams in the IPL, which is captained by Sachin Tendulkar.

By Lokendra Pratap Sahi | Yahoo! Cricket

Calcutta (The Telegraph): If there’s no change in Sahara’s stand on withdrawing as sponsors of Team India, then there’s a “very good chance” that Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) will step in.

“Assuming that Sahara’s decision stands, watch out for RIL... There’s a very good chance that it will extend its association with cricket in India,” a top source told The Telegraph late on Saturday.

The Ambanis own the Mumbai Indians, one of the top teams in the IPL, which is captained by Sachin Tendulkar.

Also Read:

Moreover, the Ambanis are on excellent terms with the Board of Control for Cricket in India brass.
Significantly, during patriarch Dhirubhai’s days, Reliance had sponsored the 1987 World Cup, jointly hosted by India and Pakistan.

 

Ashwin says India not embarrassed by performances

India are heading towards yet another whitewash overseas

Yahoo! Cricket – 5 hours ago

Adelaide, January 27, 2012 (AFP) - India were "extremely disappointed", but not embarrassed, by their inept performances against Australia, spinner Ravi Ashwin said on Friday.

The Indians face a humiliating 4-0 series wipeout and their eighth consecutive away Test defeat in the fourth Test in Adelaide, where they were trailing by 333 runs at 166 for six.

India have been thrashed by an innings in two Tests and lost the opening Test in Melbourne by 122 runs in a miserable tour of Australia. Australia will expect to mop up India's tail on Saturday with only forecasted storms likely to save the visitors from another embarrassing capitulation.

Ashwin, who once again was delegated by the team to face the media after another wretched day for the tourists, said: "We are extremely disappointed but there is no need for embarrassment.

"It's a sport and at the end of the day we have all competed hard at the ground, it's not like we've chucked it away," Ashwin said.

"We've given it everything we had, yes, we've come up short on occasions. We have not seized the initiatives and we've not enough reserves in the bank to do it, but at the end of the day we are extremely disappointed."