Legends of Sports

India	MS Dhoni (c/wk)	Gautam Gambhir (vc)	Virender Sehwag
	Piyush Chawla	Yuvraj Singh	Harbhajan Singh
	Zaheer Khan	Virat Kohli	Ashok Dinda
	Manoj Tiwary	Rohit Sharma	Suresh Raina
	Irfan Pathan	Ravichandran Ashwin	L Balaji

Former team mates Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly, V.V.S. Laxman and Mahendra Singh Dhoni paid wealthy tributes to Rahul Dravid for his massive contribution to Indian cricket.


Ganguly called Dravid a "huge pillar" of Indian cricket and also a great ambassador of the gentleman's game. "He was one of the huge pillars through which Indian cricket went forward. He is one of the greatest batsmen not just in India but in world cricket," Ganguly said. “Dravid played in an age when Indian cricket went from strength to strength." Ganguly rated Dravid's 180 against Australia at the Eden Gardens, along with Laxman (281), in 2001 as his best.

Ganguly also admitted that he was lucky to have Dravid as his vice-captain when he led the Indian team for five years. "I was lucky to have you as vice-captain for five years. During my captaincy, you and John Wright did a lot of work behind the doors to build a strong Indian team. You are one of the best number three batsmen I have ever seen," said Ganguly.

* Dravid said that India's ODI World Cup last year was a "special moment" for him.


Kumble thanked Dravid for effecting his 55 dismissals. "It's been a great partnership with you Rahul. When we look back we can gladly say we will only remember the amazing memories”.


"It is a great occasion in the presence of the legends and the Indian greats of cricket to celebrate the end of the memorable career of one of the all-time greats of the game. A great friend and a colleague. "

Laxman called Dravid a selfless cricketer.

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Rahul Dravid's retirement from international cricket was announced at his home ground, the Chinnaswamy Stadium, in a function room filled with more than 200 people. Family, team-mates, friends, KSCA members, officials and reporters had gathered - as did fans watching a live broadcast on national television - to mark the end of an extraordinary career and a "reassuring presence" in the Indian team.

Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag - the only two double centurions in ODI cricket will give the main points of discussion when the selectors assemble in Mumbai today, to pick a 15-man squad for the Asia Cup. This selection panel led by Kris Srikkanth, during which the selectors are likely to axe an underperforming Sehwag and consider the ODI future of Tendulkar. Tendulkar has yet to inform the board about his availability or unavailability for the Asia Cup.

Previously, whenever Tendulkar had decided to opt out of a series, he had notified the board in advance, the situation with the expert batsman being what one board official described as "an unmanageable". MS Dhoni is likely to lead the team as opposed to being rested to Dhaka for the competition that begins on March 12. Zaheer Khan will be rested and a valuable cameo of 40 not out against Sri Lanka in Hobart may have given Suresh Raina a fresh lease of life following his disappointing tour of Australia.

It has been an incredible slump in form for Sehwag, whose last international innings, before landing in Australia was his record-breaking 219 against West Indies. "He keeps getting out to shots that he should not be chasing at all. His case is turning out to be a little awkward," the board official, who had allegedly had a word with the selectors, said. "Dropping him and asking him to take a break is an option."

Sahara Group will continue as the Indian cricket team's sponsor after winning a major stand-off with the BCCI. The BCCI agreed to consider most of Sahara's demands on Thursday ending the 12-day face-off that at one point threatened to disrupt BCCI's income and cast a shadow over IPL, one of the game's marquee events. On February 4, the Sahara Group walked out of the support deal for the cricket team and also pulled its team Pune Warriors out of the IPL auction.

Sahara will be the team's sponsor and the owner of the Pune Warriors, the IPL franchise. The auction purse for Pune Warriors has been reactivated and the trading window has been extended to February 29 from February 17. The trading window refers to the period when player can be transferred from one team to another. IPL chairman and Congress MP Rajiv Shukla told NDTV that Bollywood superstar and owner of IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders, Shah Rukh Khan mediated between the two parties.

Sahara CMD Subrata Roy thanked Khan for going out of his way to help solve the matter. IPL CEO Sundar Raman was unavailable for comment. The question of Yuvraj Singh's replacement is yet to resolve fully as the BCCI has asked Sahara to seek the permission of all franchisees for fielding five foreign players in the IPL. Yuvraj is being treated for lung cancer in Boston, US, and will not be available for IPL where he plays for Pune Warriors.

The 2012 World Twenty20 will be held between September 18 and October 12, 2012 in Sri Lanka the ICC has confirmed. Colombo, Pallekele and Hambantota will be venues for the men's tournament, while the women's group games will be played in Galle. The format will see four groups of three in a preliminary round. England, the defending champions, and India are in Group A and will be connected by one of the Associate or Affiliate teams that qualify.

The other qualifying team will be in Group B with West Indies and Australia. Sri Lanka, South Africa and Zimbabwe make up Group C, and Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh are in Group D. The top two teams in each group will make it through the first round, after which there will be a Super Eight stage, featuring two groups. The format is basically the same as the last edition in 2010, though there are four fewer teams this time.

The tournament will include two teams qualifying from the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2012, which will be staged in the United Arab Emirates from March 13-14 2012. Hosts Sri Lanka will play the tournament's opening match against Zimbabwe in Hambantota. England begins their defence against a qualifying team on September 21 and will then play India in Colombo on September 23.

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The name of Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar is one of the most suggested by various groups for the Bharat Ratna award. This has been definite by Information and Broadcasting minister Mrs Ambika Soni in a conversation with journalists at Shastri Bhavan in New Delhi."Various groups and individuals have written to the government and demanded that because of the services rendered by Sachin Tendulkar he should be bestowed with the honour of Bharat Ratna," Mrs Soni said.She said that names of some main individuals including Atal Bihari Vajpayee have also been forwarded to the government for bestowing this unique honour to the former prime minister.



"I do not know what is the thinking within the government circles. This is a matter to be decided by the prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh. "Some years back a aware decision was taken to open the Bharat Ratna award for the film personalities as well. I can't see why the same policy could not be extended to sports as well. I personally feel that Sachin Tendulkar does merit the honour. "Whether any name is under active consideration of the government only Prime Minister's office would be in a position to tell," Mrs Soni said.

Sources in the Prime Minister's office said that, unlike the Padma awards, which are conferred after a selection process through an appointed committee, the decision to confer the Bharat Ratna on someone is taken by the Cabinet under the Prime Minister's guidance.On Monday, Mumbai (North) MP Sanjay Nirupam had confirmed a strong case on bestowing the honour on the 37-year-old had already been made.The Master Blaster has scored 51 hundreds in Test cricket, over 17,000 runs in cricket and has 46 hundreds in One-Day Internationals.He would be playing what could be his last World Cup next month.