Legends of Sports

The West Indies' bowlers shot out co-hosts Bangladesh for a paltry 58 to set up a crushing nine-wicket victory in a Group B league encounter at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur’s, Dhaka, on Friday. The victory one of the most complete scored by the West Indies' in their 36-year history in the tournament. Last match hero Kemar Roach (3/19) continued his good form while skipper Darren Sammy (3/21) and left-arm spinner Suleiman Benn (4/18) skittled out the home team in only 18.5 overs to set up one of their easiest wins in recent times.

Chris Gayle then smashed his way to a 36-ball 37, including six boundaries, as the winners completed the formalities in only 12.2 overs, losing the wicket of Devon Smith. The duration of the match was only 32.1 overs. It was sweet revenge for the men from the Caribbean Islands, as Bangladesh had whitewashed a second string Windies team 2-0 and 3-0 in Tests and ODIs back in 2009.For the West Indies, huge back-to-back wins will be big confidence booster with matches coming up against some of the better teams.



Bangladesh's 58 was their lowest in ODI history as well as in the tournament, and the fourth lowest total in the history of the World Cup. The slide in progress with Roach inducing an edge off opener Tamim Iqbal (0) with an out swinger that was cheerfully accepted by skipper Sammy at second slip. The St Lucia-born Sammy then got into the act, removing Imrul Kayes for five, as he nicked one to Devon Thomas behind the stumps.Zunaed Siddique showed the real nature of the pitch with his drives and cuts that gave a glimmer of hope but a Roach yorker completed the job as the left-hander fell leg-before for 25 off 33 balls.

Sammy kept up the pressure by having Mushfiqur Rahim caught at mid-wicket by Ramnaresh Sarwan before bringing back the lanky left-arm spinner Benn for a second spell.Benn beat Shakib entirely in flight, as the Bangladesh skipper was completely deceived, falling for eight runs.Roqibul Hasan, Naeem Islam and then Mohammad Ashraful all fell between 51 and 58, to bust the myth about the Bangladesh batting which boasts of specialists till No. 8.Benn then took his third and fourth wickets by removing Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossain as the West Indies wrapped up the tail to give a flavour of their dominance during yesteryear.

Four former stars of world cricket unsuccessful to pick up a favourite but agreed that the best fielding side will take the title in the upcoming ICC World Cup. A panel comprising three former World Cup captains Kapil Dev, Steve Waugh and Sourav Ganguly and one of the game's most celebrated batsmen Sir Vivian Richards discussed a range of topics connected to the cricket World Cup, in a programme here on Sunday evening.“Whichever side wins this World Cup is going to be the best fielding side,” former Australian captain Waugh said.

Kapil Dev said the team under Mahendra Singh Dhoni has the form and the capability to win it. Sourav Ganguly reiterated his earlier stand that there cannot be a favourite in the present context. “The only two occasions when a team was called a favourite were the sides captained by Clive Lloyd (the West Indies of 1975 and 1979) and Steve Waugh (1999). I don't think any other team ever could justify the favourite's tag,” said Ganguly. Viv Richards said his country has not done anything notable in the run-up to the World Cup to be able to convince the pundits about it being a favourite but the team has enough talent to win the title.

Kapil Dev sounded dangerous when he was asked about the ongoing the campaign in the country that says ‘win it for Sachin'.Said, “winning the World Cup cannot be a single man's dream. It is more about realizing the combined dream of a team and a nation.“When everyone's saying ‘bring this World Cup for Sachin', I would say Sachin will bring the Cup for us,” he added with a note of humour.

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, has said that he is confident about having a corruption-free World Cup, especially after the anti-corruption tribunal's verdict that banned three Pakistan players on charges of spot-fixing."I am confident for two reasons," Lorgat told."The main one is that the huge majority of players are honest players. They do play the game in the spirit that it should be played. They are not seeking to make gains out of annoying means."Secondly, we are alive to what could come to the fore in terms of corruption.

We have measures in place, and people forget we had been tracking this long before the News of the World had broken the story. Lorgat said the ICC was having discussions at appropriate levels about whether gambling could be legalised on the sub-continent, where cricket has long been under the spectre of illegal bookies and betting."I agree with the notion that if it is regulated, it is a lot better than if it is not regulated.

We have made investigation, and these are the things we are working towards." Since the spot-fixing scandal broke last year, Lorgat said that the ICC had improved its anti-corruption staff, and were now "more watchful around leads we pick up." Lorgat has said that the punishments handed out were severe sufficient, and felt that it would deter players in future."I think it would take someone very brave not to take observe of what has happened.

"In legal terms, you have to be balanced when you mete out punishment. We must distinguish between match-fixing and spot-fixing. This is a very skilled group of judges. They contain huge experience and skill, and they are independent. They have applied their minds and determined on what is a balanced sanction."

The Uttar Pradesh connect in the upcoming ICC cricket World Cup doesn't end with just the players from the state in the Indian squad. The World Cup official theme song - 'De Ghuma Ke', which has already made cricket fans dance to its tunes, has been penned by songwriter Manoj Yadav who hails from Azamgarh district of the state."My lyrics being selected as the theme song of the World Cup is a matter of great honour for me and the work prepared by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is very beautiful," Manoj told .

I hope that the theme song will appeal to the audiences," he added. The song will be played during the opening ceremony as well as between the matches during the tournament starting February 19.Manoj, who now stays in Mumbai, said an effort has been made to highlight the anticipation associated with the game along with the minute details of its various aspects."The idea behind writing a song about cricket is very small and limited to ball, bat and bails, but the organisers of the World Cup required some freshness in the theme. Therefore each and every line of the song has been written after much thought," he said.

Manoj, who was born in Azamgarh and brought up in Mumbai, is not new to writing songs for cricket. Many may not know, but he also penned 'Ek Desh Ek Junnon', the title song of Indian Premier League (IPL) South Africa version held in 2009."The basic idea was to interlace the excitement and passion of cricket in words," Manoj said. "For instance, the lines aasman mein maar ke dubki is an attempt to create a visual effect of fielding and sarr se cheer hawa ka parda an attempt to stress thrill of fast bowling," he said. Despite all the success, Manoj still considers writing three songs for crossover film 'West is West', which were composed by Shanker-Ehsan-Loy, his biggest achievement.

The ICC today permitted BCCI’s proposal to hold the India-England Cricket World Cup tie at Bangalore after Eden Gardens was stripped of the right to host it and said the match will be held on the scheduled date of February 27.The Indian Cricket Board had yesterday recommended Bangalore as the alternate venue after the ICC decided to shift the match out of Eden Gardens after an check team of the world body had found the stadium to be under-prepared for the tie. “The ICC today confirmed its decision to relocate the venue for the India v England match in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, which had been at first scheduled for Eden Gardens in Kolkata on 27 February. It will now take place in Bangalore on the same date,” the ICC said.



ICC Chief Executive Officer Haroon Lorgat said with today’s decision to re-locate tie, the stakeholders can now start working on the logistics to hold the match in Bangalore.“The BCCI has responded to the ICC nominating Bangalore as its preferred alternate venue for the India v England match, a advice the ICC agrees to.“This decision now clarifies and gives us certainty over the fixture. We can now work with our various partners and stakeholders to make sure that match along with the rest of the tournament is all it should be,” Lorgat said in the statement. The world body said an inspection team will visit Eden Gardens to assess the readiness of the stadium for the remaining three matches of the World Cup.

“There will be an inspection of Eden Gardens on 7 February to assess progress ahead of remaining three scheduled fixtures in Kolkata,” the statement said.“In a letter to the BCCI yesterday, the ICC outlined a schedule of works that required to be carried out at Eden Gardens ahead of the ground’s other scheduled fixtures on 15, 18 and 20 March. As such, an inspection team will visit Kolkata again on 7 February to assess progress in line with that schedule,” it said. The three other matches alloted to Eden Gardens are South Africa vs Ireland (March 15), the Netherlands vs Ireland (March 18) and Zimbabwe vs Kenya (March 20).

The Delhi batsman was always known to possess special talent and a keen mind. He has added focus and grit to that to achieve admirable success at the international level. The ongoing ODI series in South Africa has cast him in good light. Virat has not played a big innings yet in the series, but his stints in the middle have shown him to be one of the better batsmen from the Indian side when pitted against hostile bowling and tough conditions. It is in situations like these that the true mettle of a batsman is known. It is much easier to amass big runs on flat sub continental pitches or against pedestrian attacks. But when Dale Styen and Morne Morkel are making it swing and fly past you, it's a different ball game altogether.



Virat has shown a refreshing attitude and a good technique while dealing with the challenge despite his inexperience of South African conditions. More importantly, he has not got bogged down and has kept the scoreboard ticking. Scores of 54, 22 and 28 in the first three matches have not exactly set stadiums on fire but he has looked maybe the most comfortable among Indian batsmen. He was unlucky to be run out in the second game and got a beast of a ball from Morkel in the third one-dayer in Cape Town. Otherwise, he has not flinched. What adds considerable value to Virat's role in the team is his fielding. He is one of the most accomplished fielders in the Indian team, probably the best, along with Suresh Raina.

The three catches he took in India's narrow win in the third ODI against South Africa highlighted his utility. The first catch was a reflex one at first slip where he pouched Colin Ingram inches off the ground off Harbhajan Singh. The reaction time he had was only half a second. The second one was a comparatively easier effort but a crucial one as Graeme Smith was proving to be a stumbling block. The third catch was again particular even though it looked easy. Faf du Plessis tried to hit Munaf Patel hard past point but could only top edge it. Virat made a perfect jump to pluck the ball as it was about to whizz past him. The degree of difficulty of this catch was higher because the batsman had fallen while playing the shot. Virat could easily have been distracted by the image of the stumbling batsman because du Plessis was right in the line of his vision.

The upcoming cricket World Cup being organised by the International Cricket Council in the Indian sub-continent is probable to gather in up to Rs. 150 crore from ticket sales. According to industry sources, a total of about two million tickets will be available for the public in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh with the average price starting from Rs. 250 onwards. The nearly 45 day long contest will be held from February 19 to April 2.“It (prices) can go up to Rs five lakh for corporate boxes. Proceeds from the World Cup tickets will be anywhere between Rs 125 crore to Rs 150 crore,” a source said.


When contacted, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO Neetu Bhatia of KyaZoonga -- the official ticketing partner for the mega cricketing occasion declined to share ticket sales expectations. She, however, said: “Gate proceeds (ticket revenue) are probable to be the second largest source of income for the tournament after sponsorships at the local level.”The three countries are co-hosting the tournament in which 14 cricketing nations will vie for the world cup in the 50 overs format of the game.



KyaZoonga had kicked off the first phase for the ticket booking in June last year through online platform in the three countries at the same time. While, KyaZoonga started the second phase of ticket sales in Bangladesh on January 2, the same would begin in India and Sri Lanka within this month.“In Bangladesh, around 150 retail counters sold tickets, while India being a larger country would see tickets being sold at around 400-500 retail counters very soon,” Bhatia said.

In Bangladesh, a majority of the tickets for the twelve matches to be held in the country have already been sold, she said without disclosing details.For India, she said, KyaZoonga will associate with ICC sponsors like Reebok, Hero Honda and money transfer company MoneyGram to make gate passes accessible at retail points of these companies.“Here in India it will be a city-by-city roll out,” she said, adding the response in Bangladesh has been hopeful and ticket sales in India and Sri Lanka are expected to a success as well.