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Friday, August 8, 2008

Delhi boy is surprise face in squad

Leading India to victory in the under 19 World Cup has worked well for Delhi's 19-year-old all rounder Virat Kohli.

Not many expected the middle order batsman to make the senior grade so soon.

But that is the talent he has and the confidence the selectors have in him. Earlier the National Cricket Academy selected him to train in Brisbane for six weeks for the Gavaskar-Border Scholarship.

Kohli was expected to play a vital role in the Bangalore team's IPL campaign. In his teens, he was pitchforked to limited overs for his stroke play. But he could not translate the expectations into on-field performances. "I was over-ambitious and that was why I did not succeed," Kohli admitted to Hindustan Times on Thursday IPL skipper Rahul Dravid had already anointed him as a bright prospect. "You have got to be patient with Virat. He has got lots of talent and hits the ball cleanly," Dravid had said then.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com

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posted by PressMart Team at 11:40 AM 0 Comments

Monday, June 2, 2008

Jaipur Triumph

Too often and too loosely events in cricket are described as historic or epochal. When the Indian Premier League began, fans weren't sure what to make of it, cricketers weren't clear if they were making enough from it and the media didn't quite know how to cover it.

At the end, everyone agreed on one thing this will change the way cricket is governed and consumed around the world. Is that good? Is it the worst thing ever? Time will tell, but it's crystal clear that change is here.

When franchises sit down with their balance sheets after the dust has settled and the cheerleaders have gone home, we'll know more about whether the financial model is robust enough - profits in the first year may just be expecting too much.

For the tournament to be a hit, two things were crucial the players had to take the games dead seriously, and the fans had to buy into the concept.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com

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posted by PressMart Team at 12:13 PM 0 Comments

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Drug rap returns to haunt IPL boss Modi

The high profile commissioner of the Indian Premier League, Lalit Modi, was convicted of possessing drugs, kidnapping and assault in the US during his days as a university student. The conviction came after Modi confessed to committing the offences before a North Carolina court.

In his defence, Modi's lawyers say he did not serve the two-year jail sentence as he was let off on probation, and the Durham County Court did not give a final decision on his sentencing for drugs possession.

The Supreme Court has been hearing a petition challenging Modi's position as a cricket official since 2005. But the case has acquired urgency lately after the petitioner asked for a quick resolution, either way.

Despite repeated attempts to contact him for a response through calls and SMSes, and despite explaining the story to him on SMS, Modi, though polite, indicated he would not comment.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com

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posted by PressMart Team at 10:40 AM 0 Comments

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Jaipur beat Mumbai, help Delhi reach semis

Mumbai are hosting the climax of the inaugural IPL tournament, but they may have been shut out of their own party.

On Monday, an unbeaten sixth wicket stand of 69 runs between Niraj Patel and Ravindra Jadeja took Jaipur to a nail-biting last-ball win.

Even in the beginning of the league, Sachin Tendulkar's forced absence, compounded by Harbhajan Singh's ouster after 'Slapgate', had Mumbai reeling. Only after the Little Master returned that the team hit a purple patch and nurtured hopes of a final-four showing.

Before Monday's contest, with their fate hinging on the outcome of the last two matches, the one team Mumbai would have desperately wanted to avoid was Shane Warne's Jaipur Unbeaten in the fortress of the Sawai Man Singh stadium all tournament, Jaipur cut down Mumbai and confirmed that Delhi, on 15 points, entered the semis.

To read the full article, click here...
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posted by PressMart Team at 10:23 AM 0 Comments

Friday, May 16, 2008

At a tough time, we expect support and backing

Over this past week, there have been lots of things happening and it's not been a particularly happy time. While I totally understand that everyone's upset about the results (of the Bangalore team in the IPL) so far, as players and professional cricketers, we are all very upset too.

What's important though, is that at this time, you need all the support and backing you can get. You need the people around you, the people who matter, to understand what sport is all about, to realise that no one goes out there to lose.

What's unfortunate is that, invariably, every one starts pointing fingers at the captain. So it stands all the more to reason that people within the camp then stand up and say ‘we believe in you and your team'. That's what's most important in this kind of situation.

To read the full article, click here....
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com

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posted by PressMart Team at 10:53 AM 0 Comments