SPorT World
Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd November 2012
ICC gets innovative, allows day-night test matches
Cricket's traditional red cherry may soon be history. In a decision intended to boost the flagging popularity of the five-day game, the International Cricket Council gave its nod to day-night Test matches, leaving it to interested parties to choose the type of ball to be used. The world body's decision to okay proposals made by its own cricket committee in London in May could prompt a move away from the red ball, which is not clearly visible under lights. Day-night one-dayers and T20 Internationals are played with a white ball, while research on finding a suitable ball colour for day-night Tests has yielded mixed results.
The ICC has, therefore, left it to teams to go with any ball colour they can agree on. "Participating countries may agree to play day/night Test matches. The home and visiting boards will decide on the hours of play which will be six hours of scheduled play per day while the two boards will also decide on the precise brand, type and colour of ball to be used for the match," the
BCCI awards Hyderabad IPL franchise to Sun TV
Sun TV chairman Kalanithi Maran
Chennai-based Sun TV Network has bagged the Hyderabad franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament for an annual fee of $15.81 million, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said last week. Sun TV Network made a bid significantly higher than the second highest offer of $12.83 million, BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale said in a statement after an IPL governing council meeting in Mumbai. "This franchise fee represents a premium of over a 100 per cent above the amount paid by DCHL
(Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd) for the Hyderabad franchise in 2008," he added. Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara captained Deccan Chargers in the 2012 edition of the IPL but he and his players faced an uncertain future after the franchise was thrown out of league last month for non-payment of fees and other issues. DCHL, who paid $107 million for the franchise, made a legal challenge to the expulsion merely to delay their exit. The new owners, engaged in producing and broadcasting satellite television and radio software programming in south Indian languages, are yet to announce the new name for the franchise. Purists allege BCCI has milked the IPL to the detriment of test cricket and the Twenty20 league has also lost much of its sheen since its glitzy 2008 inception. Last year, the BCCI terminated the Kochi franchise's contract for defaulting on payments while DLF, India's largest real estate firm, ended title sponsorship of the league in August after a fiveyear association.
ICC said in a statement. The introduction of daynight Tests headlined a slew of other revisions to playing conditions for Tests, ODIs and T20 Internationals to be effective immediately. The new regulations include allowing two bouncers per over in ODIs and changes to the Decision Review System (DRS). Powerplays in onedayers have also been altered, with two blocks instead of three. Lunch and tea intervals for Tests, which are of 40 and 20 minutes duration respectively, may now be altered to 30 minutes each based on ICC approval, while the third umpire has been asked to check for a no-ball immediately after every dis-
missal and also been given the authority to advise the on-field umpire to recall a batsman if a delivery is deemed unfair. The first Powerplay in ODIs will continue to be restricted to the first 10 overs, with only two fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle. The second five-over batting Powerplay will have to be completed by the 40th over, with three fielders allowed outside the circle. Changes in the Eliminator in T20 Internationals, which is played out in case of a tie, include allowing the fielding side to choose from which end to bowl, and only allowing nominated players to participate.
Sebastian Vettel Wins Indian Grand Prix
Sebastian Vettel's seemingly unstoppable march to a third straight Formula One title took another stride with victory in the Indian Grand Prix on Sunday, though the Red Bull driver's nearest rival, Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, kept up the pressure with a second-place finish. Vettel won a fourth straight race in a season for the first time in his career completing a clean sweep of the Asian swing - and now leads the drivers' championship by 13 points with three races to go. He is trying to join Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher as the only men to win a hat trick of drivers' championships.
"It's pretty amazing (to win four straight races)," Vettel said. "It's very hard to target these kinds of things, they either happen or they don't happen." The one-two finish of the top two drivers in the standings meant the fight for the title had now boiled down to a head-to-head fight in all but the mathematical sense. Asked if he had one hand on the championship trophy, Vettel suggested it was too close to call yet. "The other one is probably Fernando's," Vettel said. "It's a big step for us but there is a long way to go and we know how quickly things can change."
Ashwin replaces Harbhajan in top bracket of BCCI contracts Rising off-spinner R Ashwin replaced out-of-form senior tweaker Harbhajan Singh in the top bracket of BCCI’s list of central retainership contracts, while struggling pacer Ishant Sharma was also demoted from Grade A to B. Harbhajan and Ishant have spent the better part of this year out of the team struggling for form in whatever chances they have been handed. The 26-year-old Ashwin, on the other hand, has played eight Tests since making his debut in November last year, grabbing 49 wickets. In the recent home series against New Zealand, he had taken 18 wickets in two Tests. In the ODIs, he has scalped 56 wickets in 40 matches. The Chennaibowler has 12 wickets from his 15 Twenty20 International appearances. The elite Grade A features nine players this year,
three down from the last season, according to a statement issued by the BCCI. With the retired duo of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman out of the equation Ashwin was only new name in the top bracket, the players in which are paid an annual retainership of Rs 10 million. The likes of veteran Sachin Tendulkar, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the struggling opening pair of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir and pace spearhead Zaheer Khan retained their Grade A contracts.
The in-form Virat Kohli, middle-order batsman Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh completed the top category, all three retaining their contracts. In Grade B, the BCCI has offered contracts to eight players, three more than last season with batsman Rohit Sharma being the only one to have retained his contract. Pacer Irfan Pathan, who is on a comeback trail after in the wilderness, has been given a contract along with young players such as Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Umesh Yadav, all of whom have been elevated from Grade C. The players in Grade B are entitled an annual retainership of Rs 5000,000. In the Grade C list, a demoted Ravindra Jadeja has replaced off-colour pacer S Sreesanth. All-rounder Yousuf Pathan, pacers L Balaji and Ashok Dinda have come in replacing the likes of
Jaydev Unadkat. In all, the BCCI has offered contracts to 37 players, which is the same as last year. The list of BCCI contracted players: Grade A: Sachin Tendulkar, M S Dhoni, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin. Grade B: Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav. Grade C: Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Vinay Kumar, Munaf Patel, Abhimanyu Mithun, Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, Parthiv Patel, Manoj Tiwary, S Badrinath, Piyush Chawla, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Sharma, Varun Aaron, Abhinav Mukund, Ashok Dinda, Yusuf Pathan, Praveen Kumar, L Balaji.
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Action at a Glance Pankaj Advani wins World Billiards title
Ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advani proved his class once again as he notched up his seventh World Billiards Championship title after comprehensively beating defending champion and seasoned Englishman Mike Russell in the final. The celebrated cueist stamped his dominance with a 1,895-1,216 win over the local favourite. Fresh from his resounding 881281 victory over compatriot Dhruv Sitwala in the semifinals, Pankaj raced into a lead with a century break of 147 and a double century break of 298 within the first hour of the five-hour long encounter.
BCCI's lifetime achievement award for Sunil Gavaskar
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar will be conferred the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award at the annual BCCI awards function. The BCCI's Col CK Nayudu Award Committee met last week and decided to confer the honour on the legendary opener, a release from BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale said. The award comprises a trophy, citation and a cheque for Rs 2500,000. Gavaskar will receive the honour at the BCCI Awards Ceremony, to be held shortly. Gavaskar represented India in 125 Tests from 1970-71 to 1986-87, scoring a record 774 runs in his debut series in the West Indies. He was the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in Tests, and the first to play 100 consecutive Tests. He was the first batsman to score hundreds in each innings of a Test thrice and was the first batsman to surpass Sir Don Bradman's tally of 29 Test centuries.
Saina Nehwal falters in French Open final
When top seed Saina Nehwal took to the court in the final of the French Open Super Series, in Paris on Sunday, against a relatively unknown and unseeded Minatsu Mitani of Japan, few would have bet against the Indian clinching another back-to-back title. But in a matter of 39 minutes, the Japanese demolished the Indian to script history by becoming the first player from her nation to win a Super Series title. The 19-21, 11-21 loss to Minatsu will surely hurt Saina a lot as this is the first time that she has lost to the Japanese, whose best career ranking so far has been 26.
Angelo Mathews to captain Sri Lanka T20 side
All-rounder Angelo Mathews was named Sri Lanka Twenty20 captain for the next 12 months in an appointment which could lead to him taking over as leader of the test side. Mathews, 25, the Sri Lanka vice-captain in all three formats of the game, succeeds Mahela Jayawardene who resigned as T20 captain after his side lost this month's World Cup final to West Indies. "We are giving Mathews a free hand to captain the T20 side for one year after which we will review his performance," said chief selector Ashantha de Mel. Mathews' first assignment will be to lead Sri Lanka in a one-off T20 international against New Zealand at Pallekele on October 30. Fast bowler Lasith Malinga has been named at the T20 vice-captain, also for a one-year term.
Del Potro stuns Federer
Juan Martin del Potro took Roger Federer's Swiss Indoors title on Sunday, beating the hometown favorite 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (3) in the final. Del Potro showed an impressive allaround game to help avenge a heartbreaking loss to Federer in the Olympics Games semifinals in August. "It's amazing for me," Del Potro, who never dropped serve, said in an on-court interview. "Always, playing against Roger is a pleasure. We know he's the best player ever in this sport."