India to host Pakistan’s eight World Cup matches

Mumbai, July 14 (IANS) The Central Organising Committee (COC) of the 2011 World Cup Tuesday recommended that India should host eight of the 14 cricket matches that were scheduled to take place in Pakistan.

The COC met here to provide the ICC Board with a recommendation as to where, within Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, the 14 matches originally allocated to Pakistan should be staged.

Pakistan, which was removed as one of the host countries by the International Cricket Council (ICC) due to security situations, skipped the COC meeting here.

The COC said that Sri Lanka will host the remaining four and Bangladesh two. India will now hosts 29 matches, Sri Lanka 12 and Bangladesh eight.

The COC recommendations will now be forwarded to the ICC Board for final approval. It was also decided that Mumbai will be the secretariat of the tournament. Ratnakar Shetty, Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) chief administrative officer, was appointed the tournament director.

“We had a good, productive meeting. There is much hard work to be done but we are confident we are now well on the way, with operational plans in place to become effective from the start of August. Moving forward, the COC will meet on a regular basis with everyone committed to a successful event, something we are confident we can achieve,” Shetty said in a statement.

A total of 13 venues will be used for the tournament with eight of those in India, three in Sri Lanka and two in Bangladesh. All venues for matches will be announced in due course.

Bangladesh will now stage two of the four quarter-finals, and India and Sri Lanka one each. The two semi-finals will be staged in India and Sri Lanka, and the final in India.

The COC also recommended that a security directorate be formed under the chairmanship of BCCI president Shashank Manohar. It also said that a committee under the chairmanship of N.Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, will take charge of the issues of inspecting venues and pitches. Preliminary inspections are likely to take place in October. (IANS)

Vinod Kambli | Sachin Tendulkar | Vinod Kambli accuses Sachin Tendulkar of not helping him in Sach ka Saamna

Vinod Kambli accused Sachin Tendulkar of not helping him in reality TV show Sach ka Saamna. Vinod Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar have one of most enduring friendships in the world of cricket which has developed cracks. Vinod Kambli threw his friendship in vein by saying this in a TV show that goes on air this week.

There are insider reports of the show which indicate that Kambli said his childhood chum Tendulkar didn’t lend a helping hand during his downward spiral, which was also marked by self-destructive behaviour.

“We are very close… we were very close. He could have done a little more, but he didn’t” he said in reply to a query on his friendship with Tendulkar during a polygraph (lie detector) test which is part of the show.

Kambli last featured in a Test in 1995 (India vs New Zealand at Cuttack) when he was just 23. The maverick Mumbai left-hander’s ODI career, which included nine comebacks, lasted longer as he played his last match in 2000 at Sharjah.

Vinod Kambli replied YES when he was asked whether Sachin is embarrassed to accept him as a friend now. There were also questions about Vinod kambli’s first wife and his new wife Andrea Hewitt a Model who he married in 2008.

Kambli also made comment at the BCCI. “I always felt discriminated because of my caste and colour by the cricket board”

To Read entire article visit -

http://www.indiasummary.com/2009/07/14/vinod-kambli-accuses-sachin-tendulkar-of-not-helping-him-in-sach-ka-saamna/

Sourav Ganguly | Sourav Ganguly’s Birthday | Fans celebrate Sourav Ganguly’s birthday

KOLKATA: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly’s 37th birthday was celebrated with much enthusiasm as fans and school children sliced a cake lit with 37 candles near his residence in Behala.

With big placards, banners and balloons adorning the wall, Ganguly fans and school children sang choruses and wished him well in his life ahead.

“I am a big fan of Ganguly. It’s sad that he has retired from the game but he has left an impression among us,” a student of National Academy school said, while distributing cakes.

The organiser of the event, Ratan Haldar said he had been celebrating Ganguly’s birthday ever since the former India captain was ousted from Team India under coach Greg Chappell in 2004.

“We are doing this for the last five years. When he had the spat with Chappell, I brought together his fans and had organised various events to support Ganguly,” Haldar said.

“Now that he is retired, we wish him to do something for sport, especially for much neglected football. We want him to come into administration and work for the betterment of sport in India,” he added.

Haldar and other residents of Behala plan to present Ganguly with a bouquet when he arrives from Mumbai in the evening.

Ganguly in the morning attended BCCI’s techincal committee meeting in the western metropolis.

Another Ganguly fan present on the occasion, Bijay Banerjee, said Ganguly was still good in cricket.

“He would have played for India again. He is still good… look at his contemporary Rahul Dravid, who has been named in the ICC Champions Trophy probables,” said Banerjee, a businessman.

“I wish him luck, happiness and success in what he does. As he has forayed into commentary, I wish he becomes the all time great commentator.”

Source -

http://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Fans-celebrate-Gangulys-birthday/articleshow/4753824.cms

The Indian cricket board Wednesday finalised the seven venues for the one-day series against Australia in October-November.
The Tour Programme and Fixtures Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that met here to decide the fixture of the 2009-10 season at the Cricket Centre decided that Guwahati, Mumbai, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mohali and Nagpur will be hosting the series from Oct 25 to Nov 11.

The BCCI in a statement said that the schedule will be finalised after working out the logistics.

The fixture for the tri-series in Sri Lanka involving India and New Zealand will be finalised at the BCCI working committee meeting in August.

The committee also decided that the Duleep Trophy will be played on a knock-out basis while the inter-state Twenty20 tournament will be named the Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy.

There was some disappointment for women cricketers as they will not get to play any Tests in the 2009-10 season and would be concentrating on ODIs and Twenty20s.

In the junior group, both the C.K. Nayudu (under-22) and the Cooch Behar Trophy (under-19) will be played in elite and plate format on home and away basis.

IPL Final Match | IPL 2009 Final | DC vs RCB | RCB vs DC | Deccan vs Bangalore | IPL Final : IPL Royal Challengers Bangalore vs IPL Deccan Chargers – Johannesburg | IPL Final Live Score | Text Commentary of IPL Final

IPL 2009 Final is played between Royal Challengers Bangalore v Deccan Chargers, at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg.

For live match score and commentary of IPL Final Match 2009, visit following link of cricinfo.com

http://content.cricinfo.com/ipl2009/engine/current/match/392239.html