England close to win

A double strike by off-spinner Graeme Swann in the penultimate over of the fourth day put England within reach of victory in the second and final Test against Sri Lanka on Friday.

England need to win the match to square the series and retain their world number one ranking.

Having safely negotiated the second new ball, Sri Lanka appeared to be relatively safe at 215 for four before Swann sent back Thilan Samaraweera (47) and nightwatchman Suraj Randiv for a duck in the space of three balls to swing the Test England's way.

At the close, Sri Lanka who trailed England by 185 runs on the first innings, were 218 for six, an overall lead of 33 runs.

Sri Lanka's hopes of saving the Test match rest on the shoulders of captain Mahela Jayawardene, who was unbeaten on 55 with Angelo Mathews on three.

Swann, who also dismissed Tillakaratne Dilshan (35) and Kumar Sangakkara (21), ended the day with four wickets for 82.

Dilshan, who was fined 10 percent of his match fee for excessive appealing, was unhappy after he was given out, caught at slip by James Anderson.

The batsman asked for a review but with no Hot Spot technology available, there was no conclusive evidence to overrule the on-field umpire's decision.

Swann then removed Sangakkara, who had struggled for nearly two hours before edging a catch behind the wicket to Matt Prior.

Sri Lanka lost both openers in the morning session when the English pace bowlers removed Dhammika Prasad (34) and Lahiru Thirimanne (11) but not before the visitors paid for some sloppy fielding.

Anderson got rid of the shaky Thirimanne, who edged a catch to Andrew Strauss at slip with the total on 23.

Prasad, sent in as a nightwatchman, justified his promotion and hung around for 87 minutes before he pulled Steven Finn straight to Tim Bresnan at deep square leg.

It was some relief for Finn, who had dropped Prasad at mid-off when the batsman was on 21.

The missed opportunity was a second heartbreak for Swann, who earlier saw Matt Prior gift Thirimanne a reprieve by wasting a simple stumping chance.

Bresnan also dropped Jayawardene on 20 when he lofted Samit Patel but the fielder, at deep mid-wicket, could get only a hand to the ball as it sailed over his head for four.

"Every single bloke in the dressing room wants to stay at number one," said England wicketkeeper Matt Prior.

"We want to prove we are the best team in the world. We want to win this match because you want to win every single Test."

IPL-5: Tamim Iqbal will make his debut for Pune Warriors

Tamim Iqbal

Tamim Iqbal will make his debut for Pune Warriors India in their IPL match on Friday against a buoyant Mumbai Indians side who thrashed reigning champions Chennai Super Kings in opener.

The dashing Bangladesh opening batsman enjoyed a brilliant Asia Cup where he scored four fifties to help the Tigers reach the final. He is only the fifth Bangladesh cricketer to feature in the competition thus far.

After starting their campaign with a comfortable eight-wicket win, Mumbai Indians are the favourites against a new-look Warriors outfit at the Wankhede Stadium.

Mumbai Indians have a 100 percent win record against the Pune Warriors India.

MI beat PWI on both occasions the teams clashed in IPL 2011. In the first meeting between these teams, at Mumbai, MI bowled out PWI for 118 and chased down the target off the last ball. In the second meeting, at Navi Mumbai, MI posted 160 for seven batting first and restricted their opponents to 139 for seven.

Mumbai's new recruit South African Richard Levi also started impressively with a 35-ball 50 on his IPL debut to clinch the man-of-the-match award.

The only worry ahead of Friday's game is the finger injury sustained by Tendulkar when he fended at a lifter from left-arm pacer Doug Bollinger and retired hurt.

The Warriors, on the other hand, have a tough task as their key player and last year's skipper Yuvraj Singh, will be missing, recovering from the treatment for a rare form of cancer.

The man-of-the-tournament in India's World Cup victory in 2011, Yuvraj had brought the much-needed balance to the outfit with his power-packed batting (343 runs in 14 games) and effective left-arm spin (nine wickets) last season.

Sourav Ganguly, 39, came out of retirement and played for Bengal in domestic cricket in order to prepare himself for the IPL.

He has one good option to fill in for the absent Yuvraj - West Indian Marlon Samuels - who had recently played in the ODI and T20 series against Australia at home.

The fans of Kolkata Knight Riders want rising star Shakib Al Hasan

shakib al hasan

Though the management of Kolkata Knight Riders is yet to say whether Shakib Al Hasan is playing in Thursday's match against Delhi Daredevils, KKR fans' proposal to keep the world's top all-rounder in the first 11 of team has almost made it clear that he is playing their opening match of Indian Premier League 2012.

Apart from greeting notes for Shakib, his name was seen in almost all of the first 11 of the team, proposed by the fans of the Shahrukh Khan-owned franchise in websites of ESPNcricinfo, IPL 2012 and KKR.

The mostly discussed issues in www.cricinfo.com and www.kkr.in were Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and Shakib, the best player of Asia Cup tournament.

The match previews also suggested Kolkata allowing Shakib to play in Thursday night's match against Delhi.

According to IPL rules, any team will be able to let highest four foreign players. Shakib had been given the chance to play for KKR, a team full of star cricketers, in only seven matches in last year's IPL, creating his fans' unhappiness.

Apart from Shakib, the foreign players of KKR are Eoin Morgan, Brendon McCullum, Brad Haddin, Ryan Ten Doeschate, Jacques Kallis, Brett Lee and Sunil Narine.

For Kolkata skipper Gautam Gambhir, who has been stripped of Indian vice-captaincy, the tournament would mean a lot personally as he would be eager to let his leadership skills do the talking, besides contributing at the top of the order.

The Knight Riders look a far more settled side this time around after roping in former player and New Zealand's explosive opener Brendon McCullum, and their $700,000 catch in West Indian off-spinner Sunil Narine, who scalped 10 wickets at a miserly 4.37 runs per over for Trinidad and Tobago in last season's Champions League Twenty20 .

McCullum is expected to partner Jacques Kallis at the top with Gambhir dropping to the No 3 position. The middle-order will have an in-form Manoj Tiwary, who would be desperate to be prove a point to the Indian team management after having denied a single opportunity during the entire tri-series in Australia and the subsequent Asia Cup in Bangladesh.

In Yusuf Pathan, the Knight Riders have one of the most feared hitters and the team would be hoping for his bat to do all the talking this time around after a fairly quiet outing last year.

Apart from Pathan, the Knight Riders also have a host of exciting all-rounders in Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Rajat Bhatia, Dutchman Ryan Ten Doeschate and Shakib.

The Knight Riders also have balanced bowling attack, which will be led by Australian speedster Brett Lee.

But Shakib's fight to be in the team is clearly against Doeschate and Naraine.

His fans advocated for his inclusion in the team by comparing statistics of performances of the players.

One of them wrote, "btw,who is sunil narine?? how on earth he became more efficient than shakib??!! shakib is the best all rounder in all formats and sunil narine not even in the playing eleven!!! how ridiculous the people are!!!"

Another one wrote in Cricinfo, "Who is the hell Sunil Naryan?? Does he has vast international exposure??I think sunil is not suppose to compare with number 1 all-rounder in the globe.."

"Shakib has to play. Narine is too overrated. Would you rather play the worlds best allrounder, man of the series from BPL and Asia cup, can bat and bowl excellent, from subcontinent or Narine who comes from carribeaans, no experience at subcontinent and cannot bat. KKR has to be stupid not to choose Shakib," wrote a KKR fan.

The move to 'disgrace' the Caribbean cricketer is nothing but to clear Shakib's entrance in the team.

A Shakib fan, Hasib Rahman, wrote to the other fans of the all-rounder, "please do not advocate on Shakib's behalf. He is a talented player. If he does well in IPL, his performance will speak for itself and everyone will know. P.S. i am a fan of Shakib too but no use writing good things about him before the game is over......"

Nazmun Nahar of Eden College wrote in the IPL's official website, "I watch KKR matches for only Shakib."

Rajshahi Medical College's Mitoon Roy greeted the Bangladeshi all-rounder while some others proposed to let him bat in the top order considering his performance in the BPL and Asia Cup.

The KKR website had 10 comments on Kallis' profile and 20 on Lee's while 47 on Shakib's on Thursday afternoon.

A report on Shakib had 100 comments.

Many of the comments carry dissatisfaction over use of a 'bad' photo of Shakib.

But the biggest request was to the coach. Farhad Islam Russel wrote, "I hope the coach will take the right decision as he (Shakib) is a tremendous all-rounder."

Some of the fans suggested Shakib to play better. He had brought KKR 11 wickets but only 29 runs in seven matches last year.

IPL-5: KALKATA has lost their 1st match

 Delhi Daredevils opened their IPL campaign with an easy eight-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday.

After knocking over Kolkata below 100, Sehwag's men raced to victory in 11.1 overs.

Although Kolkata removed both openers, including Sehwag for 20, but Irfan Pathan's lusty hits helped them cross the line.

Pathan struck an unbeaten 42 off 20 balls.

Aaron Finch added 30. He put on 49 runs in seven overs before being bowled by Jacques Kallis.

In the next over Sehwag was brilliantly caught in the deep. However Pathan closed the door on Kolkata hitting the winning runs with a well struck four.

Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders managed to score just 97 for nine wickets in their allotted 12 overs in the second match of the IPL at the Eden Gardens.

L Shukla top-scored for the home side who were never allowed to cause their opponents any threat after they slumped to 34-5 in 5 overs.

M Morkel took three wickets while van der Merwe and Umesh Yadev took two each for the Daredevils.

Delhi Daredevils won the toss and decided to field. The match was reduced to a 12-over-a-side game after heavy rain delayed play for more than two and a half hours.

Unfortunately, world's best all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was not picked in the playing eleven.

IPL-5 We hope SHAKIB will be rider for KKR in 2nd match

Shakib Al Hasan will be hoping to enhance his reputation as the world's best all-rounder when his team Kolkata Knight Riders battle Delhi Daredevils in the second match of the IPL 5 T20 tournament at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday.

The overworked Bangladesh all-rounder, who was retained for a second season by the Shahrukh Khan-owned franchise, is in the form of his form of his life having had a fantastic Asia Cup in which he was named player of the tournament.

In Bangladesh's stirring showing in the regional 50-over competition, Shakib made 64, 49, 56 and 68 before the Tigers narrowly missed making history.

The slow left-arm orthodox bowler was successful as a bowler in last season's IPL. He is hopeful of having a blast in the batting department this time though.

The world's best all-rounder's IPL bowling average was 15.91. But Shakib was unlucky with the bat as he got a total of 29 runs playing seven matches.

"I am confident of doing my best and aim to play in all the matches," said Shakib on his departure.

Both the Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils will be aiming to end their dismal record as underachievers in the past four seasons.

For Kolkata skipper Gautam Gambhir, who has been stripped of Indian vice-captaincy, the tournament would mean a lot personally as he would be eager to let his leadership skills do the talking, besides contributing at the top of the order.

The Knight Riders look a far more settled side this time around after roping in former player and New Zealand's explosive opener Brendon McCullum, and their $700,000 catch in West Indian off-spinner Sunil Narine, who scalped 10 wickets at a miserly 4.37 runs per over for Trinidad and Tobago in last season's Champions League Twenty20 .

McCullum is expected to partner Jacques Kallis at the top with Gambhir dropping to the No 3 position. The middle-order will have an in-form Manoj Tiwary, who would be desperate to be prove a point to the Indian team management after having denied a single opportunity during the entire tri-series in Australia and the subsequent Asia Cup in Bangladesh.

In Yusuf Pathan, the Knight Riders have one of the most feared hitters and the team would be hoping for his bat to do all the talking this time around after a fairly quiet outing last year.

Apart from Pathan, the Knight Riders also have a host of exciting all-rounders in Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Rajat Bhatia, Dutchman Ryan ten Doeschate and Shakib.

The Knight Riders also have balanced bowling attack, which will be led by Australian speedster Brett Lee.

The Daredevils, meanwhile, are keen on a turnaround after finishing last in 2011 with just four wins to their credit.

The Daredevils, however, will be without the services of big names like Mahela Jayawardene, Kevin Pietersen and David Warner as they are busy playing for their respective countries.

Besides Kiwi Ross Taylor is also unavailable after he broke his hand during the third Test against South Africa recently.

SHAKIB left DHAKA to start his IPL-5 mission

Shakib Al Hasan

 World's best all-rounder  Shakib Al Hasan left Dhaka on Sunday to play in the fifth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Shakib, 25, will play his second season for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

The experience of playing in the last IPL season for Knight Riders and England county cricket helped Shakib to reach a new height in international cricket, he said.

The slow left-arm orthodox bowler was successful as a bowler in the last season of IPL. He is hopeful of having a blast in the batting department this season.

The world's best all-rounder's IPL bowling average is 15.91. Shakib was unlucky with the bat in his first IPL season as he got a total of 29 runs playing seven matches.

"I am confident of doing my best and aim to play in all the matches," Shakib told reporters.

Meanwhile, Tamim Iqbal will fly out on Monday to play for Pune Warriors. 

 

Pakistan Cricket Board launching a Pakistan Premier League (PPL) T20

Premier League (PPL) T20 logo

The Pakistan Cricket Board will be shown presentations next week on the feasibility and possibility of launching a Pakistan Premier League (PPL) T20 competition this year.

The board had postponed a two-day moot on the feasibility of having the PPL last month due to the busy schedule of the board chairman Zaka Ashraf.

"But now these meetings will be held sometime next week. They are some parties who will make presentations to the board on how the PPL can be organised in Pakistan," a senior official said, Pakistan newspaper The Nation reports. 

Sources say besides a Dubai and Karachi based sports management group, a company with direct links to a well known international television broadcasting and sports management company will make presentations at the PCB meeting.

"We are dead serious about having our own PPL. But the reality is that we have to first study the modalities and feasibility of having such an event which would not be possible without input and expertise from a established company," the official said.

The PCB has been toying with the idea of launching its own T20 league with the involvement of foreign players for some time now but has never got down to practically implementing the event.

"The situation is different now we need to showcase an event in Pakistan with foreign participation and the PPL appears to be the best bet for us," he said.

The official said that the board was looking at a PPL model similar to the ones adopted by the Indian Premier League and Bangladesh Premier League.

He said the board had also become positive after a statement from the Lashings club chairman that he was ready to send his team to Pakistan and also from support assured by some former test players with links to foreign players abroad.

"It can be done but obviously it requires lot of groundwork and hardwork." The official admitted that the PPL will also allow Pakistani domestic players like their counterparts in India and Bangladesh to earn some good money.

"There is no doubt that the IPL and BPL have gone a long way in improving the status of domestic players in both countries," he added.

While large number of Pakistani players took part in the recent BPL in Bangladesh for the fourth year running, no Pakistani player has been signed on by any franchise in the IPL that begins from April 4.

Ashraful lost his annual deal of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB)

 Former Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful lost his annual deal on Sunday as the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) cut their list of contracted players from 18 to 15.

Ashraful, who was not involved in last month's 50-over Asia Cup campaign, Syed Rasel, Junaed Siddique, Raqibul Hasan, Shahadat Hossain, Naeem Islam and Suhrawadi Shuvo were omitted from the new list announced by the BCB.

Of the seven players missing out, Shahadat was the only one who played in the Asia Cup.

All-rounder Nasir Hossain, batsmen Nazimuddin and Shuvagata Hom and left-arm spinner Elias Sunny are the fresh faces to receive anuual contracts.

Pakistan beat Bangladesh by two runs in the Asia Cup final in Dhaka on March 22.

The list of contracted players are: Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Abdur Razzak, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Mahmudullah, Imrul Kayes, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Nazmul Hossain, Nasir Hossain, Jahurul Islam, Nazimuddin, Shuvagata Hom, Elias Sunnny