Australian board asked to cash in on Tendulkar

SYDNEY : Australian media and cricket followers believe that the next tour of India Down Under provides their board — Cricket Australia — to show not only its “maturity and awareness and worldliness” but also a “priceless opportunity to promote the Tendulkar farewell”.

Writing in The Australian over the weekend, noted cricket writer Mike Coward said: “The reception afforded Sachin Tendulkar this summer will be a measure of the maturity of the Australian cricket community.”

“While he will reject the very notion, Tendulkar can claim to be the greatest batsman since Don Bradman and his visit this summer provides us with a priceless opportunity to pay him homage,” Coward added.

The writer admitted: “Historically, Indian teams have not been greeted with the affection and enthusiasm reserved for visits by England and, for a period, the West Indies. However, the sphere of influence in world cricket has changed dramatically in recent years and India is now the game’s powerbroker and demanding the respect and recognition long denied it by the entrenched attitudes of traditionally Anglocentric legislators.”

The Indian cricket board, he points out, boasts considerable clout. “And there can be no doubt its greater say extends to programming. Cricket Australia had no option but to restructure this international season after the BCCI said its team would not be available until late December.”

Recently, when the Sri Lankans toured Australia, there was considerable criticism at the “lack of publicity and promotion leading into the inaugural Warne-Muralitharan Trophy series”.

Paying Tendulkar rich compliments, the paper noted: “Tendulkar is the most self-effacing of men and is always embarrassed when his name is linked with Bradman. Be that as it may, there is no doubting his genius and he was honoured rather than flattered when told that Bradman was an admirer.”

It may be recalled that Bradman called to his wife to watch 18-year-old Tendulkar in full cry on his first tour here in 1991-92. The Don is said to have told his wife, Jessie: “Doesn’t he remind you of me when I was young?”

On that tour, Tendulkar scored the first two of his seven hundreds against Australia — an undefeated 148 in Sydney and 114 in Perth a month later.

In 1998, Tendulkar was flown to Adelaide as a special guest at a major celebration of Bradman’s 90th birthday. Though Bradman did not attend the function, he received and was photographed with Tendulkar at his home in Kensington Park in Adelaide.

It is said the two talked more about the evolution of the game than technique.

If left to statistics, Bradman will always stay way ahead. But it also needs to be borne in mind that Bradman in 20 years from 1928 played his 52 Test matches on just 10 grounds in eight cities in Australia and England for his 6,996 runs at an average of 99.94.

The 34-year-old Tendulkar is now in his 19th year as a Test player and his 141 Tests have been spread over 43 Test match grounds in 13 countries — taking into account the different nations in the Caribbean. Tendulkar has gone past Australian Allan Border in terms of total Test runs and is second only to Brian Lara. With 37 hundreds Tendulkar has an average of just under 55 runs an innings.

The paper mentions that the threat of Australian skipper Ricky Ponting taking over from Tendulkar as the best batsman in the world will also spur the Indian to greater heights on the upcoming tour.

Indo-Australian cricket celebrates its diamond anniversary this Australian summer and so there is a great contest in the offing.

Finally, the writer notes: “These days the Border-Gavaskar Trophy resonates with enthusiasts the world over. And such is the Indian diaspora that Tendulkar is assured of an emotional farewell from thousands of expatriates who will bring a special vibrancy to the series. And it is to be earnestly hoped the public will be just as loud in their praise of the modern master. For it is a privilege to see him play.”

Kirsten likely to be named Team India coach

NEW DELHI, November 27: The race for the Indian cricket coach continues to throw up surprises with former South African batsman Gary Kirsten on Tuesday emerging as a front-runner for the high-profile job.

The former South African opener was interviewed in the capital by the Coach Selection Committee – comprising former captains Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and S Venkataraghavan, BCCI Joint Secretary M P Pandove, Treasurer N Srinivasan and secretary Niranjan Shah.

“Kirsten was interviewed by the committee yesterday in Delhi. The BCCI will make a formal announcement about the new coach in a week’s time,” board vice-President Rajiv Shukla told on Tuesday.

“BCCI President Sharad Pawar had said that the coach will be decided in about 10 days and in keeping with his wish, the coach selection panel has expedited the process. The Indian team will definitely have a coach before it embarks on the tour of Australia next month,” he assured.

Kirsten is now almost certain to get the post which has been lying vacant ever since Greg Chappell resigned following India’s World Cup debacle in West Indies in March.

Kirsten’s interview was kept a closely guarded secret unlike the media frenzy that had greeted former applicants Graham Ford and John Emburey earlier this year. Ford had backed out of taking over the job after being interviewed.

A highly-placed BCCI source said Kirsten’s meeting with the coach selection panel was kept under wraps as the board did not want a repeat of the Ford-experience.

“Kirsten is almost certain to get the job but the cricket board wants to be careful with all the terms an conditions before making a formal announcement,” the source said.

“The Graham Ford experience has made the BCCI a little more cautious this time and it does not want to make an announcement before all the nitty-gritties are worked out,” the source explained.

He said the BCCI was also interested in former Australian coach John Buchanan.

“The coach committee was also in touch with Buchanan but since Kirsten has already been called for the interview, it appears that he would ultimately get the post,” he pointed out.

Kirsten, who turned 40 on November 23, was a mainstay of the South African line-up with an average of over 40 in both forms of the game.

He bid adieu to his international ODI career after South Africa’s heart-breaking exit from the 2003 World Cup.

A year later, Kirsten decided to give up Test cricket as well. And the left-hander, if appointed, will come to India with little experience in coaching.

The Indians have been without a coach since Chappell’s controversial exit and Ravi Shastri, Chandu Borde and Lalchand Rajput have been stop-gap arrangement as cricket managers.

While Shastri accompanied the team to the tour of Bangladesh, Borde took over for the 80-day tour of the UK.

Rajput was with the team for the Twenty20 World in South Africa and was later retained for the ODI series against Australia and the ongoing series against Pakistan.

There has been intense speculation on Chappell’s likely successors. The job was initially expected to go to ex-Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore before South African Graham Ford entered the picture.

After he decided to opt out at the eleventh hour, the cricket board, in a bid to put an end all the speculations, formally invited applicants for the post.

It went on to receive 20-22 applications for the high-pressure job.

Among those who applied to succeed Chappell were former stumper and Maharashtra coach Chandrakant Pandit, former head of the Queensland Academy of Excellence Richard Done, Leicestershire coach Tim Boon, former Australia and South Africa international Kepler Wessels, Queensland coach Terry Oliver, Canterbury coach Dave Nosworthy and former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe.

Email ‘threat’ to Pakistan team creates flutter

Kolkata: An email received by a New Delhi-based news channel threatening to trigger explosions during the second India-Pakistan Test match in Kolkata caused a flutter on Monday. Kolkata Police said it was beefing up security measures to prevent any untoward incident.

While city Police Commissioner Gautam Mohon Chakraborty denied that police had “received” any email threatening the Pakistani team, he said that the police had “obtained a copy” of the mail from the news channel.

“We have received no such email threat from anywhere regarding any attack on the Pakistani team during the Eden Test (beginning November 30, 2007). TV channels might have received such things but not Kolkata Police,” Chakraborty told IANS late Monday.

He denied reports that the mail was forwarded to them by the news channel.

However, Deputy Commissioner (Headquarters) Vineet Goel said: “We have only heard about the email. We will take all pre-emptive measures, like beefing up security at the team hotel and at all entry points. The Pakistan team arrives as per schedule on Tuesday.”

The Kolkata Police and the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) authorities went into a tizzy over reports of the email sent to India TV news channel.  CAB president and former Kolkata police commissioner Prasun Mukherjee said: “The CAB has not been informed about this email so far.”

“We have not been informed about this. I really know nothing about it. But on the basis of what we have heard from the press we have asked our internal security to be on alert,” Mukherjee told IANS.

“We have closed all the gates of CAB and asked the contractor to identify his workers and the luggage they are carrying. No goods are being allowed to be kept under the galleries,” Mukherjee said.

According to TV reports, the mail was sent from a yahoo mail account (yes_boss@yahoo.co.in) on Monday.  The Kolkata Police top brass held an emergency meeting at the city police headquarters in Lalbazar after news of the mail spread.

Security was tightened at Delhi’s Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium during the first Test after an email threat targeting the visiting team was reported by media.

There is a place for everyone in ICL : Kapil Dev

I am so delighted! I am delighted to be back in Chandigarh, and back with some cricket to offer. Honestly, I never thought I would, some day, organise a cricket event of this magnitude in my city. Now that I am here, I want to share the best of my cricket with my people. If I was not born in Chandigarh, I don’t know if I would have gone on to play cricket for my country.

Chandigarh has been a fascinating place for many reasons. A great city, well-planned, modern, and yet retaining some old world charms, offering opportunities to many in every walk of life.

We have come to Panchkula, Chandigarh , with cricket as the priority. It is a great game that has given good life to many, including me, and to be associated with a venture like the Indian Cricket League has been an honour. It has been my privilege to have had an opportunity to serve the game in many capacities after I stopped playing.

It is now my turn to serve the game in a way that would bring joy and opportunity to those who could make a good life out of playing cricket. Earlier, parents would stop the kids from playing, but now they push you into sports, because you can make a career out of it.

Not everyone gets to play top-quality cricket. Just as not everyone gets to become a doctor, engineer, and technocrat. But there is a place for everyone, and ICL provides you just that. True, people would like to see the top ten cricketers of the world, but this is a platform that gives a chance to those who can dream of playing with the big stars. I am sure some of the new stars from ICL would some day go on to play for the country. Today, we have ten stars and may have many more in the future.

I began from this sporting city and went places because I got the right guidance. Chandigarh is a great city if you want to make a career in sports. The infrastructure here can match the best in the country. It has a stunning golf course, cricket academies and a desire among the youth to rise.

The city has produced five Test cricketers, and has the potential to give many more. I do feel disappointed that the ICL could not find a playing field in Chandigarh but I hope we would be able to conduct this exciting tournament in my lovely city sometime in the near future.

‘Cricket promotion’ is the sole aim of the ICL. As I said, it is basically a platform for hundreds today and thousands in the future, to be able to do justice to their talent. This tournament could well change the face of international cricket. The ICL will see more professional cricket, even though I must make it clear that we are not here to confront anyone.

I am honoured to bring some exciting cricket to Panchkula, Chandigarh , and I am expecting the people to come up with a warm response, because Chandigarh is known for being a very friendly and hospitable city.

Australians are better built to bowl strong, says Yardley

NEW DELHI, November 26: India might have won the first Test against Pakistan in Delhi courtesy their bowlers but its pace battery is a far cry from becoming a tour-de-force.

Pace bowling is all in the breeding, said former Australian bowler Bruce Yardley. The Indian bowlers are not quite strong I guess, he said. The South African and Aussie fast bowlers are generally big and strong than the subcontinent bowlers, Yardley said. That’s why the subcontinent bowlers struggle to find that extra pace, he added.

Yardley’s comments come in the wake of India’s pacers Sreesanth and Rudra Pratap Singh being ruled out of the second and third Test in Kolkata and Bangalore owing to injuries. Sreesanth is nursing a shoulder injury and might have to go in for a surgery. Rudra is suffering from a side strain. Yardley feels Sreesanth and RP Singh have to get stronger. They need to do more gym work to strengthen their bodies, said Yardley on a lighter note.

“India would love to have another Javagal Srinath to hit the pitch hard”, said Yardley. But then Javagal Srinath was lean and lanky yet he produced enough pace to rattle the best of batsmen in the world. Yardley thinks Zaheer Khan is bowling well but he is not extreme pace as Australias’ Bret Lee and Mitchell Johnson.

Yardley believes it is physique and the lack of it that determines the pace in bowling. And not hectic cricketing schedules, an opinion harboured by public and cricket novices. “I think all teams have pretty hectic schedules these days. If you compare, Australians and South Africans are born with a stronger physique. Physically Australians are built to bowl fast”, said the former Australian bowler.

Apart from physical strength Yardley attributes winning performances to a strong training programme in Australia. Yardley says, “That’s why they keep coming through. That’s why you see McGrath retires and Mitchell Johnson comes in and he can still bowl sharp.”

The Australians come in waves. “When Glen McGrath was injured, Stuart Clarke came in. He is not express but he gets extreme bounce. They have the reserves”, says Yardley.

Yardley feels Mitchell Johnson is the strongest in the Aussie attack. “Mitchell Johnson is extremely strong and fit. Brett Lee is strong as well with a magnificent bowling action. And with Stuart Clark too in their side, the three can bowl longer spells.”

Johnson, the tall and talented left-arm fast-medium bowler is full of promise. The 26-year-old made his Test debut in November 2007 and has managed to take a four-wicket haul in the two Tests he has played. From seven ODIs, Johnson has taken 14 wickets and all against India.

It is the wicket taking ability and not action that counts for Yardley. Among the Indian pacers, Yardley said, “Zaheer Khan appears to be the strongest built. RP Singh has a very lovely action, but obviously he is having back problems so young. I think he has to work on back strengthening. The physio should be able to target certain areas to bring them on as certainly strong and make them last long especially in Test cricket.”

Zaheer Khan is bowling well to spearhead the pace after the Indian attack has suffered from injuries since five years. While he is at the front of the attack he hasn’t played much. This year, the 29-year-old has only played just one Test – the recently concluded first Test against Pakistan in Delhi . But he has been able to prove his mettle by taking a four-wicket haul. Zaheer has taken 13 wickets from 11 One-dayers in 2007 so far.

So what is missing in the Indian pace attack? “They just can’t have that pace to trouble the Australian batsmen at home. In India, they get away with a little bit because the pitches are little slower and the ball doesn’t come on as much. But in Australia, if you bowl medium pace you have to swing the ball”, answers Bruce Yardley.

“As Brett Lee runs in, he bowls at 145-150 km/hr, he still swings the ball. So they (India) need RP Singh, Munaf Patel to start swinging the ball. Zaheer Khan can swing. He’s on his way, he’s okay. He can do quite well in Australia, as long as he thinks about swinging the ball. If you haven’t got pace and you don’t move it in the air in Australia, you really struggle,” the 60-year-old veteran added.

Zaheer will certainly swing the ball both ways in Australia. Sreesanth, if he is cleared for the Australian tour, will have to ensure he swings a little, advises Yardley while RP Singh will work out in the gym to strengthen his back and train to add pace in the hope he gets a berth. Even if they acquire all the necessary skills to sharpen their attack, they may not be able to destroy the Australian line up because they are not built the way the Australians and South Africans according to Yardley’s theory.

The Indian attack might want to prove that pace bowling is not just about breeding. After all, Javagal Srinath was not gigantic but when it came to bowling he was truly a giant.

Indian Cricket League to get 30 minutes on other Zee channels

Essel Group has announced that they would be broadcasting the first 30 minutes of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) matches on all Zee channels.

They are however excluding two of their movie channels (Zee Cinema and Zee Studio) from this plan.

This means that these domestic cricket matches would get telecasted on channels which are watchable in 125 countries around the world.

These matches were originally planned only for their Zee Sports.

Essel Group senior vice president Ashish Kaul said in a statement: “We have decided to put domestic cricket on a bigger platform and plan to make it available to a much wider audience. Zee Network is available in 125 countries and has a subscriber base of over 550 million. We believe this is a landmark decision for domestic cricket.”

ICL races against time to put up cricket show

Chandigarh: The Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex cricket stadium in Panchkula, a satellite town of Chandigarh located in Haryana, is nothing less than a battlefield these days.There is a frenzy of activity at the cricket stadium of the imposing sports complex, located 15 km from here, named after Haryana’s political patriarch and former deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal.

Except for the lush green outfield of the cricket ground and the square in the middle, there is a war-like atmosphere everywhere in this new stadium. The organisers are fighting against time to get things in order as the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) prepares for its maiden cricketing show from Nov 30.

The stands are being put up and trenches are being dug for erecting floodlight towers. The organisers are confident that everything will be in order by the D-Day.

An excited ICL chairman, the legendary Kapil Dev knows that a lot needs to be done as the day of the first Twenty20 tournament nears. “In a short span of time the ICL has undertaken significant revamping of the stadium. It has made various additions to the stadium to ensure an atmosphere of immensely enjoyable cricket carnival,” said Kapil Dev, who broke into the international cricketing arena from this city in 1978.

“We will learn some things from our experience here. But we are confident of putting up a good show to entertain the spectators,” he adds.

New stands are being put up to increase the seating capacity of the ground to 6,000. Floodlights are being installed for day-night encounters. A special media centre is being erected with modern facilities. The pavilion building is being upgraded to include individual lockers and dressing rooms for players, umpires and match officials. A hi-tech broadcast studio is also being readied.

A separate area will be set up in the ground for fun and frolic to pep-up the atmosphere. An electronic scoreboard has been installed. The production facilities will include 30-camera units with high technical specifications like hawk eye, zoomer, snickometer, speedgun and replays for third umpire.

The ICL – an Essel (Zee) group event – has taken the stadium here on a 10-year lease from the Haryana government. “We will provide world-class facilities here,” ICL chief executive Ashish Kaul said.  The organisers want to make the event a fun tournament. Ticket sales – Rs 100 for a single match and Rs 150 for two matches on the same day – have started here.

The state government is extending full cooperation to the ICL event with the state’s sports minister Kiran Chaudhary stating that the event would be made a success.  All matches of the T20 tournament, played between six teams, will be in the afternoon and evening. Five international players will feature in each team named after Indian cities. The remaining players in each team will be young cricketers who have signed up with ICL.

The teams are Chandigarh Lions, Mumbai Champs, Delhi Jets, Chennai Superstars, Hyderabad Heroes and Kolkata Tigers.

The matches will be telecast live on Zee Sports channel and Tony Greig, Dean Jones, Pat Symcox and Jeffery Thomson will be expert commentators.

ICL on backfoot as ads dry up; sponsors back off

NEW DELHI: It’s not just cricketers that are having a rethink about teaming up with Subhash Chandra’s ambitious Indian Cricket League (ICL). Advertisers, too, seem to be having second thoughts about the league.

On-air spots on group channel Zee Sports, which is to broadcast the tournament, are learnt to be selling at 50-60% lower than the asking rates of Rs 30,000-40,000 for 10-second spots. Worse, one of the league’s high-profile partners, beer company SABMiller, has opted out on the eve of the event.

ICL, which is struggling to sign sponsorship deals, has only five-six days left to seal its ground and team sponsorships. While an announcement of the ground sponsors is expected on Monday (November 26), sources told ET that the sponsorships, too, have been struck at rates lesser than what Zee had originally planned—Rs 3-3.75 crore for ground sponsors and Rs 2-2.6 crore for team sponsors.

When contacted, Zee Sports president Satish Menon said, “There will be some ups and down and hitches. At times these things happen at the last minute but it’s ok. The ground and team sponsorship details are being worked out.”

He added that while four ground sponsors were likely to be announced on Monday, it wasn’t yet clear whether the team sponsors could also be announced the same day. “Team sponsorships are in the contract stage; we are also reworking deals with affiliate partners,” Mr Menon said.

The group had intended to raise 15 crore from four ground sponsors and Rs 15.6 crore from six team sponsors. “The deals vary from sponsor to sponsor. Merchandise partner Provogue, for example, has paid Rs 50-80 lakh, besides which a revenue sharing arrangement has been signed for the merchandise it will sell,” an ICL source told ET. LG Electronics, Airtel, Maruti and Bisleri were among the contenders for sponsorships.

SABMiller’s sudden exit adds to ICL’s problems. The beer company’s officials had earlier announced that their brand Fosters would be a partner for the league. Without getting into the reasons of the exit, a SABMiller spokesperson confirmed, “The deal has not materialised with the ICL.” However, the beer major will be visible on stadia through a restricted presence, while Coca-Cola will be serving its packaged drinking water brand Kinley.

ICL’s other two affiliates include Microsoft as online partner and Travel Corporation of India as travel partner.
Meanwhile, advertiser interest for buying spots on Zee Sports isn’t red hot either. Zee has floated an asking rate of Rs 30,000-40,000 for 10-second spots, but media buying sources told ET that spots are being negotiated for as less as Rs 10,000-15,000 per 10 seconds.

The tournament was to be telecast on Zee group’s Ten Sports, but the management has decided to show the tournament on Zee Sports instead, which isn’t too well distributed.

Commenting on the developments, Essel Group vice-president Ashish Kaul said, “It would take us three-five years to fully develop the ICL. Hence our focus is not just on sponsors but also to develop this property; we want the country to first experience it.” var RN = new String (Math.random()); var RNS = RN.substring (2,11); b2 = ‘ ‘; if (doweshowbellyad==1) bellyad.innerHTML = b2;

IPL door open for Lara

NEW DELHI : The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today said that the door is open for Brian Lara to join next year’s Indian Premier League (IPL), but the West Indies batting great would have to first snap all ties with the Essel Group-backed rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL).

BCCI vice president Mr Rajeev Shukla said Lara was free to join the IPL but for that he would have leave ICL. 

“He would have to terminate his ICL contract in such a case,” Mr Shukla said when asked whether Lara, who is in the country to play in the ICL, could be part of the IPL.

However, the domestic players, who have joined the rebel league, have reached a point of no return, said Mr Shukla. 

“There is no plan to take them back. We’ve been approached by a number of players who have aligned with ICL. 

They want to play for their states and want to come back. But as of now, the Board has not arrived on a consensus about a general amnesty to them,” he said.

ICL bowls 30-min specials googly to woo advertisers

In a last ditch effort to attract television advertisers to the India Cricket League, the Subash Chandra-promoted breakaway Twenty20 cricket series, the Zee management has decided to simulcast the first 30 minutes of all the ICL matches live across its 25 channels within India and seven international feeds. 
 
ICL, which is primarily a television property for the Zee group, kicks off on November 30 and is yet to find advertisers. 
 
ICL was announced in April this year as an alternative cricket league to promote talent. However, with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announcing its own Twenty20 league, the India Premiere League (IPL), to be played in April next year, advertisers have adopted a wait-and-watch policy before committing money on either of the leagues. 
 
Terming it as a first-of-a-kind move to enable ICL matches to be viewed in over 125 countries, Ashish Kaul, executive vice-president, Essel Group said: “It has never been done before. The first 30-minutes of two matches, that would be played each day from November 30 to December 16, will be available live on all our network channels so that they can be sampled by almost everyone.” 
 
Within the country, the Zee network of 25 channels has a reach of about 100 million cable and satellite and direct-to-home subscribers. Outside India, the Zee bouquet of channels, through seven feeds, reaches Europe, North America, Africa, Australia among other countries. 
 
As a result of this decision, the entire Zee network of 25 channels will have to reschedule their programmes for 30 minutes, once at 2 pm and next at 6 pm to accommodate the league matches. 
 
Earlier, Zee had told advertisers that the matches will be telecast only on Zee Sports and gave no surety whether they would also be shown on Ten Sports – the channel in which Zee is an equal partners. 
 
Advertisers have been lukewarm to this offer as Zee Sports has a very limited distribution in homes (only 20% of the cable homes) unlike Ten Sports which is available in 70% of the cable homes. 
 
According to the format, two Twenty20 matches will be played between six teams each day. These teams feature international cricket stars including Brian Lara, Chris Cairns, Marvan Atapattu and a host of domestic cricket players.