Kirsten to be India’s cricket coach, to go to Australia

Gary Kirsten said in Johannesburg on Tuesday that he had accepted the BCCI’s offer to become the coach of the Indian cricket team. Kirsten, 40, will start his assignment by joining the team as a consultant on its tour of Australia starting later this month.

The former South African opener said his two-year contract would commence from March 1. The BCCI is set to publicise the appointment on Wednesday, two days after the deadline they had set to make the announcement.

A top board official, on condition of anonymity, told the Hindustan Times on Tuesday that the confusion between the board and Kirsten was sorted out. “It’s just a matter of making it official,” he said. “It will be made official on Wednesday.”

Kirsten, who met the BCCI special committee for appointing the coach last week, had agreed to communicate his final decision by Monday. However, there were reports suggesting that some senior Indian players were unhappy about being kept in the dark about the choice of coach. Kirsten, apprehensive initially about this, has now made up his mind.

Brett Lee to star in Bollywood film on cricket

SYDNEY: Paceman Brett Lee has long expressed his desire to act in a Bollywood film and now fans of the Australian cricketing legend can look forward to soon seeing him in action on the big screen.

Lee will star in “Victory”, a film on cricket to be produced by Vivek Aggarwal and Ajit Pal. Starring alongside Lee is Australian cricketing great Allan Border and fellow Australian cricketers Mike Hussey and Jason Gillespie.

“I am excited to be making my Bollywood debut in ‘Victory’ and I’m hopeful playing the role of a cricketer will come naturally to me!” said Lee, 31, who earlier this year released “You’re The One For Me”, a duet with Asha Bhonsle.

Not long ago, Lee had said: “I would love to appear in a Bollywood movie one day soon. I have had a couple of offers but my schedule at the moment is primarily focused on cricket and family. The time will come and I can’t wait!”

The shooting of the film will commence in Australia in January 2008 during the India-Australia cricket series and will feature more than 20 current and recent cricket stars from around the globe

“This is a huge boost to Indo-Australian film trade and follows the success of ‘Heyy Babyy’ and the anticipated release of ‘Love Story 2050’, both of which were shot in Australia,” said the film’s Australian producer, Anupam Sharma of Films and Casting Temple.

Cricket and Bollywood make a heady mix. The announcement of a film on cricket comes close on the heels of the recent sporting box office hit “Chake De India”, which was shot in Melbourne and Sydney.

Producer Vivek Aggarwal said: “This is a complex and ambitious project, but Australia was the natural choice. Not only because of the film-friendly culture but also because India and Australia share such a strong passion for cricket”.

In “Victory”, Ajit Pal makes his directorial feature debut. The film will be presented by one of the leading Indian production houses, AdLabs.

International cricket stars include Simon Jones and Saj Mahmood from England and New Zealand’s Craig McMillan, Daryl Tuffey, Nathan Astle and Martin Crowe.

The lead actor is Harman Baweja, who recently shot his debut futuristic film “Love Story 2050” set in South Australia. The film stars Anupam Kher, Amrita Rao and Gulshan Grover among others.

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Gilchrist’s fears about IPL

Melbourne: Cribbing about burnout and then making a beeline to play in the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) would portray cricketers as hypocrites, fears Australia vice- captain Adam Gilchrist.

Gilchrist said though cricketers had always played county cricket to earn extra money in the off-season, complaining about burnout and then making a dash for cash in the Twenty20 might project them in a bad light.

“I do see that, I think that’s definitely something Cricket Australia will feel, and that’s something we as a playing group have to consider,” Gilchrist was quoted as saying by The Age.

“(But) it has been going on for years and years. Players have been going to England in off-seasons and taking opportunities to play and learn the game and earn some good money over in England. But I do understand critics might say that we are trying to get less (cricket), but when something else comes up we want more,” he said.

Neil Maxwell, IPL’s Australian agent, however, argues that IPL’s shorter format would reduce the workload. “Players who have looked to make money in the past have tended to go to England, where they can be playing county cricket for as many as five months,” said Maxwell “This is an alternative to that,” he said.

Gutsy Younis saves Pakistan with century

KOLKATA, India  — Stand-in captain Younis Khan staved off a spin threat with a responsible century to help Pakistan draw the second Test against India here on Tuesday.

Younis scored an unbeaten 107 under pressure as Pakistan recovered from 78-4 to finish at 214-4 in their second innings chasing a stiff 345-run target off 81 overs on the fifth and final day.

Mohammad Yousuf played the supporting role and was unbeaten on 44 when the game was called off with four overs remaining.

Pakistan, trailing 1-0, now have a chance to square the three-Test series when they clash with India in the third match at Bangalore starting Sunday.

Younis, 29, reached his 15th Test century — fifth against India — in the closing session when he reverse-swept off-spinner Harbhajan Singh for a 13th four.

Indian spinners Anil Kumble (2-73) and Harbhajan made the batsmen struggle for runs on a slow turning track, keeping a tidy line and length with four men in catching positions close to the bat.

Pakistan were in trouble midway through the afternoon session when they lost four wickets for 78 in 40 overs, but Younis came to his team’s rescue as he added 136 for the unfinished fifth-wicket stand with Yousuf.

Younis, leading the side in the absence of unfit Shoaib Malik, never allowed the Indian spinners to dominate him as he took no risks during his 182-ball knock, patiently waiting for the loose deliveries to punish.

The tourists batted to save the match, making no serious inroads to achieve the target. They scored 37 off 20 overs in the morning and 89 off 32 in the afternoon.

Pakistan needed to survive 41 overs when Yousuf joined Younis in the middle, with only one specialist batsman (Faisal Iqbal) in the dressing-room. They were fortunate to find the right pair at right time to keep India at bay.

Leg-spinner Kumble, who shared the new ball with Zaheer Khan, raised visions of an Indian victory when he dismissed make-shift opener Kamran Akmal (14) and Salman Butt (11) before his side ran into a gutsy Younis.

There was no stopping Younis, who applied himself remarkably well on a last-day pitch to pull his team out of trouble after Misbah-ul-Haq and Yasir Hameed had fallen cheaply.

Misbah, who helped his side avoid a follow-on with an unbeaten 161, offered a sharp chance off the first ball off Kumble, but Dinesh Karthik failed to latch on to it at short-leg.

Misbah (six) did not last long as he was bowled by paceman Munaf Patel off a delivery which came in after pitching into the roughs.

India struck in the seventh over when left-arm seamer Zaheer held a return catch to dismiss opener Hameed, who drove a fuller-length delivery after making 14 runs.

Resuming at 141-2, India earlier batted 6.4 overs before declaring their second innings closed at 184-4.

Former captain Sourav Ganguly, playing on his home ground, completed 6,000 runs in Test cricket during his 46 before being bowled by fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar.

‘Insulted’ Azhar complains to Pawar, leaves Kolkata

CAB leaves out former captain’s name from souvenir highlighting great performances at Eden Gardens, despite his stellar showings

kolkata : For Mohammed Azharuddin, his recent visit to his favourite venue, Eden Gardens, didn’t quite turn out to be the honeymoon he was expecting this trip to be.

The former Indian captain was invited by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) as a special guest for the ongoing India-Pakistan Test.

However, after a spate of unsavoury incidents involving him, an irked Azharuddin cut short the camaraderie and the trip, and left the city in a huff, two days into the match.

It was learnt that 44-year-old Azhar was extremely offended to find that the CAB, despite having invited him as guest, didn’t make a single mention of him in the much-hyped souvenir that is being circulated among spectators, dignitaries and other high-profile guests.

Upset with this treatment despite his phenomenal record at Eden, Azhar had a serious word on this with the Board of Control for Cricket in India president Sharad Pawar, airing his displeasure at being ignored in the magazine entitled War of the Willows.

Pawar was present at Eden on the second day, on Saturday, when Azhar pointed out to him that he felt insulted with the CAB leaving him out of the souvenir. The magazine issue blew up a day after another embarrassment, when ICC’s anti-corruption officer NS Virk pulled up Azhar on the first day afternoon and cautioned him for talking to the Indian players in the dressing room.

Later on Saturday evening, the stylish Hyderabadi batsman of yesteryear left the city in a huff instead of sitting through all the five days.

A CAB insider told The Indian Express today that Azhar was livid when he flicked through the pages of the magazine but didn’t find his name. “Azhar was very upset when he saw they didn’t mention him at all in the souvenir. He straightaway went up to Pawar and told him that he has been insulted and that the CAB should have written at least something about him, considering his Eden connection. After all, Eden is where he has special performances, Azhar complained,” the CAB source said.

No wonder, the CAB top brass tried to play down the issue, and CAB joint-secretary Samar Paul later told this daily that Azhar was anyway invited over for only the first two days of the match.

A darling of the crowd here in Kolkata, Azharuddin boasts of a phenomenal average of 107.5 runs in seven Tests he’s played here, peppering his Eden chapter with five centuries. His last knocks at Eden, of 23 and 20, came against Pakistan in the infamous Test in 1998-99.

The CAB’s controversial souvenir comprises statistics of timeless performances at Eden from the past, and write-ups from cricketing bigwigs like Sunil Gavaskar, Ali Bacher, Sourav Ganguly, Michael Holding, Ravi Shastri and many others.