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Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former Pakistan captain, is the latest international star to have been approached by the Indian Cricket League (ICL).Inzamam, who announced his retirement from one-day cricket after Pakistan’sfailed World Cup campaign, confirmed that ICL officials had contacted him. “They have been in touch with me and I am considering their offer,” Inzamam told Cricinfo. “If the terms are right, I will play.”The parallel league has stirred the cricket world, evoking visions of aKerry Packer-style circuit. The players it has targeted so far, however, are those who have retired from international cricket in one form or another. Brian Lara has already signed on, while Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Stephen Fleming have also expressed an interest.The PCB announced recently that centrallycontracted players would be unable to join the league but kept the door open for ex-internationals or players not contracted.Nasim Ashraf, PCB chairman, told that any player joining the leaguewould be ruled out of future internationals. “Our position on the breakaway Indian league is clear and firm. Since it [league] is not approved by the ICC any player joining it will not be considered for future selection. No current player will be allowed to sign the league and all cricket boards of the world have this same stance.”Inzamam said he believed the league would ultimately benefit Indiancricket itself. “What harm is there if it means that more people willwatch cricket, come to the grounds and watch stars in action? It furthersthe profile of cricket.”Inzamam did acknowledge that ultimately the choice will come down to financialbenefits to the player. “Players who are out of favour, or not international cricketers, or who are nearing the end of their careers will rightly see this as an opportunity to benefit financially and I don’t see anything wrong with that.”For younger players too, there are rewards. Playing alongside playerssuch as Lara or McGrath can only be a good thing for your development as ayoung player.”Inzamam’s own international future is currently uncertain. Though he hasleft one-day cricket, he wants to carry on playing Test cricket “for as longas I feel I am performing.” Noises coming from the board in recentmonths suggest Inzamam may not be a part of Pakistan’s next Test squadagainst South Africa but the selectors have publicly said he will becalled to the probables camp for the series in September and October.Inzamam is currently Pakistan’s second-highest run-scorer in Tests, just 19 runs behind Javed Miandad and he plans to fight for his place. “I want to pass 10,000 Test runs and I believe I am capable of doing that, given the opportunity.”He has limited opportunities to prove his form and fitness to selectors,however. Pakistan’s domestic season is not due to start till December.Reports linked him to some county sides earlier in the season but thoseplans have fallen through. Until the season starts, Inzamam will play clubcricket for Lahore Gymkhana.

Cricket Kenya has secured a sponsorship deal worth Sh7 million (US$105,000) with East African Breweries Limited.The four-year deal, which runs to 2011, will mean the national side wearing shirts with the Tusker branding. In anticipation of this tie-up, Kenya’s players have been using Tusker-logos on kit since before the ICC World Twenty20.Although the official launch of the contract is not expected until next month, Tom Tikolo, the board’s CEO, told The Standard that some of the income from the deal would be used to pay players and the remainder for development, including an ambitious schools’ programme.Kenyan cricket has been without a major sponsor since before the 2003 World Cup.

The Indian Premier League, the BCCI-backed Twenty20 tournament, continues to gather steam – the eight cities in which the teams are to be based will be revealed when the bids for the franchises involved are opened on Thursday.A clutch of corporates are in the race to own a team in the tournament, which is slated to begin on April 18. Besides business houses such as Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), India’s largest private sector company, the Videocon group, a US$2.5 billion conglomerate, the UB group, the Hyderabad-based infrastructure major GMR, real estate giant DLF, media group Deccan Chronicle, and fast food chain Nirula’s, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and London-based betting firm William Hill are reported to be interested in owning a team.Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot, whose group is bidding for the Delhi and Mumbai teams, was enthusiastic about the prospect of becoming a franchisee. “It’s a great brand equity,” he told the business daily . “We see it as having great valuation.”The revenue streams for franchises include media rights (80% for the first two years, gradually tapering to 60%), IPL sponsorship money (60% for ten years), gate receipts, franchise sponsors and uniform merchandising. “Our clear focus in designing the league has been to maximise the value of the team owners,” Balu Nayar, the managing director of the International Management Group India, the sports management and marketing firm working with the BCCI on IPL, told .The base price for owning a team for ten years is US$50 million, but the intense competition and the fact that a large chunk of revenues from IPL’s lucrative media deal with Sony Entertainment and WSG will accrue to franchisees is likely to see much higher bids than the base price.Twelve cities satisfy the BCCI’s eligibility criteria – including having a stadium with floodlights and at least 25,000 seats – for hosting a franchise but the IPL is to initially have only eight teams. The twelve cities in the running are: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Cuttack, Gwalior, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Mohali, Mumbai and New Delhi.”The choice of cities is based on market forces,” Nayar told . “Cities having the highest value will be selected.” Bidders are not allowed to own more than one team. The IPL hopes to grow the eight franchises to 16 by 2010.The player auctions are expected to be held around February 7, when the franchises can choose from a pool of at least 78 players with international experience the IPL has signed on. Shane Warne is the most expensive player, costing US$400,000 for one year while the next highest fee, of US$350,000, is for Glenn McGrath and Stephen Fleming.The IPL, sanctioned by the International Cricket Council, is a Twenty20 competition whose inaugural season will feature eight franchises participating in a 59-game season. Each franchise will play the others on a home-and-away basis, with the top four sides going through to the semi-finals.

Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan captain, needs a further three weeks to recover fully from the ankle injury that curtailed his tour to India. It also means that he faces a race against time to be fit for Pakistan’s next assignment, an ODI series against Zimbabwe, which begins from January 26.Malik missed the final two Tests against India recently after injuring his ankle during a post-Test warm-up and now begins an injury rehabilitation programme at the National Cricket Academy.”Doctors have removed the plaster from Shoaib Malik’s ankle today and have advised him to undergo a rehabilitation programme for the next three weeks,” Ahsan Malik, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spokesman, told .Malik will be working with Sohail Saleem, the PCB’s chief medical officer, and trainer Abdul Saboor. “He (Malik) is feeling much better and is confident of regaining full match fitness ahead of the series against Zimbabwe,” Ahsan said.Another vital player, Mohammad Asif, also begins his comeback from the elbow injury that has nagged him over the last year. Asif underwent surgery in Australia earlier this month to rectify the problem and is now hoping to recover in time for the home series against Australia to be held in March-April.”Asif will work at the NCA according to plan prepared for him by David Dwyer (the Pakistan team trainer),” said Ahsan. He added that Asif will undergo physical training sessions for several weeks before he even begins to bowl. Fellow fast bowler Umar Gul has also recovered from his back problem and will start bowling in the nets at the NCA from January 1.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is planning measures, including staging additional Twenty20 internationals, to keep the country’s top players from being lured towards the Indian Premier League (IPL). England’s stars earn basic salaries of approximately ₤ 400,000, in addition to endorsement deals, but stand to gain enhanced win bonuses and appearance fees from additional Twenty20 internationals that the board plans to arrange, the reported.It is also believed that the 18 counties and leading venues, who have also been warned against hosting unofficial events, stand to gain financially. In an attempt to prevent players from flocking overseas to profitable Twenty20 tournaments the ECB has urged the counties to put their players on 12-month contracts rather than season-long ones. The ECB may also accept an offer from Allen Stanford, the American billionaire and brains behind the lucrative Stanford 20/20 in the Caribbean, who is reportedly willing to pay big bucks for a match between England players and his all-star XI.The ECB chairman, Giles Clarke, arrived in New Zealand after a meeting of the 12-man management board in London on Wednesday and is expected to brief the touring party on the details of the plans.The news came a day after Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, indicated that dates for future events could be altered to accommodate England players. Nobody from the country has joined the IPL yet because it clashes with their domestic season. The ECB however, has decided to prevent that scenario from cropping up.Another idea under consideration is that the ECB changes the one-overseas-player-per-country rule to four for the next year, where Twenty20 matches are considered.Kevin Pietersen has reiterated his commitment to England and Matthew Hoggard, who said the IPL was a topic of discussion within the team, followed suit. “There’s a lot of stupid money flying about and I understand why a lot of people have gone to India to ply their trade,” he said. “If you are getting four or five times your salary for six weeks’ work, it can’t be a bad job.”But I want to play for England and play as many Tests as I can. Most of the guys want to play as much as they can for England, so I don’t think it’s going to be a massive draw on talent. But the IPL has got a lot of clout and maybe the International Cricket Council has realised that fact.”

Brad Hodge will use Victoria’s one-day game against Western Australia on Wednesday to try and end his batting slump after he made 2 and 0 in the Pura Cup on the weekend. Hodge and Clinton McKay have been included in Victoria’s 12-man squad while the Warriors welcome their international trio of Adam Gilchrist, Michael Hussey and Brad Hogg.Hodge said the Bushrangers would need to put their comprehensive 288-run Pura Cup loss to Western Australia behind them. “It’s been a tough few days but we’ve all got to pick ourselves up and bounce back as best we can,” he said.”Naturally I’d like to get back amongst the runs, but it’s also important to stay focused on the game and helping the Bushrangers get the points. Tomorrow’s match is another opportunity for me and all the guys to play the sort of cricket we know we’re capable of.”Victoria have left out Andrew McDonald, who will miss two to three weeks as he continues to recover from shoulder surgery, and Mick Lewis. The Warriors have dropped Aaron Heal, Shawn Gillies and Matt Johnston, and have also included two wicketkeepers with Luke Ronchi likely to open and Gilchrist to bat in the middle order.Victoria squad Michael Klinger, Aiden Blizzard, Brad Hodge, Rob Quiney, David Hussey, Cameron White (capt), Aaron Finch, Adam Crosthwaite (wk), Shane Harwood, Clinton McKay, Bryce McGain, Peter Siddle.Western Australia squad Justin Langer, Luke Ronchi, Michael Hussey, Adam Gilchrist (wk), Adam Voges (capt), Luke Pomersbach, Shaun Marsh, Sean Ervine, Darren Wates, Brad Hogg, Steve Magoffin, Danny McLauchlan.

Gamini Lokuge, the sports minister, has expanded the interim committee of Sri Lanka Cricket from its present size of five members to seven. Sidath Wettimuny, the former Test opener, Premasara Epasinghe, a commentator, and Dion Gomes, president of the boxing association, have been added to the committee along with Lalith Wickremasinghe, a representative of the ministry.Prakash Schaafter and Damien Fernando, a representative of Jeevan Kumaratunga, the former sports minister, have been replaced. The replacement of Fernando was expected following the appointment of Lokuge, who replaced Kumaratunga as sports minister during a cabinet reshuffle in March.The top three members in the interim committee however remain unchanged, with Jayantha Dharmadasa as chairman, Kanganan Mathivanan as secretary and Sujeewa Rajapakse as treasurer. The new-look committee is due to have its first meeting on July 11. Sri Lanka cricket has been under interim administration since April 2005, after the elected body was accused of misappropriation of funds by Kumaratunga.

India were at the receiving end of two contentious umpiring decisions in the deciding match of the series but Rahul Dravid, their captain, didn’t think present-day technology was good enough to aid umpires in all situations.Both Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were disappointed with their caught-behind decisions and stood their ground after umpire Aleem Dar raised his finger, but Dravid wasn’t in favour of technology being used more often.”I don’t think the technology is good enough at the moment, especially for fine edges, snicks and lbws,” he said. “It is for line decisions and I think there it should stay.”Replays were inconclusive with regard to Dravid’s dismissal, suggesting that there might have been a faint edge after all. “I did not feel the snick at that stage,” he said when asked about the Andrew Flintoff delivery that cut him in half before he had opened his account. “The technology showed that I got a snick and I have to accept it. May be they were right as I did not feel it at that moment because generally, you feel when you snick it. May be this time I didn’t feel it. But I can’t argue with snicko, can I?”There were no doubts, though, about Tendulkar’s dismissal. The bat did not make contact with the ball and television replays indicated that the bat had brushed the pad.India’s administrative manager Rajeev Shukla had earlier said that the team were planning to lodge a protest regarding umpiring standards in this series. “We’ll lodge a complaint with the ICC about the decisions,” Shukla was quoted as saying in . Dravid was expected to furnish an umpires’ report, as all captains do at the end of the series, and said he will convey his thoughts in that report.England captain Paul Collingwood was satisfied with the overall quality of the umpiring despite the number of errors over the tour, starting from the Tests.”I think overall the standard of umpiring has been pretty high,” he said. “There’s been some decisions that probably haven’t been correct at times but we all make mistakes.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

A blazing 76 by Salman Butt led Pakistan to a comprehensive seven-wicket win in a rain-curtailed match at the Iqbal Stadium. Heavy rain after 48.2 overs in Bangladesh’s innings kept the players off the field for more than two hours and the target of 226 was reduced to 158 in 25 overs by the D/L method. Pakistan made easy work of the target, despite an asking-rate of more than six an over, and extended their lead to 2-0 in the five-match series.Despite the heavy defeat, Bangladesh had something to write home about, especially their lower-order revival. Mahmudullah’s unbeaten half-century pushed Bangladesh to a respectable score of 225 for 8 after a characteristic top-order wobble. Tamim Iqbal piloted the early charge with an attacking 60 but the excitement was rather shortlived, with half the side back in the pavilion by the 25th over. Mahmudullah then proceeded to add 37 with Farhad Reza, doubled that effort with Dhiman Ghosh, and those stands were significant in ensuring Bangladesh didn’t fold up before the allotted overs.Tamim set the pace with some gorgeous drives through extra cover and controlled flicks off the pads, making it fairly obvious from the start that the margin for error on this surface was minimal. The high elbows were a feature of his technique as he punched crisply through the off side and back past the bowler.Shahriar Nafees wasn’t as technically correct and like a repeat offender, perished in identical fashion to the Lahore game, swatting at a wide delivery away from the body. Aftab Ahmed’s dismissal was unfortunate as replays indicated the ball struck him above the knee roll off Gul, who picked up his 50th ODI wicket in the process.Ashraful walked in and went on the offensive with an exquisite cover drive off Tanvir to go past Habibul Bashar as the highest run-getter in ODIs for Bangladesh, before taking Gul to task with three fours in a single over. However, Bangladesh lost two quick wickets against the run of play – including Ashraful – and Tamim fell shortly after bringing up his fifty.Mahmudullah and Reza got together for damage control after Tamim’s wicket, and the pair brought some stability to the innings. With spinners bowling from either end, the pair grafted – staying back and waiting for the turn, pushing the ball into the gaps and fetching the odd boundary. The partnership was worth 37 before Reza lunged forward to Shahid Afridi and was trapped lbw just after a drinks break, in the 34th over.Luckily for Mahmudullah, he found an able partner in Ghosh and the pair strung together the most fruitful stand of the evening. In the five overs after Reza’s dismissal, Bangladesh added 34. Pakistan lost the plot, and the introduction of Younis Khan to break the stand only leaked more runs. Mahmudullah never got tied down at any stage, and shortly after the pair added 50 runs, he brought up his own half-century, giving Sohail Tanvir the charge and punching him through extra cover and then glancing one down to fine leg the following ball. Rain intervened with ten balls left, leaving Mahmudullah unbeaten on 58.The overcast conditions mattered little for Pakistan as the openers blazed away in a stand of 46 in just over seven overs. Butt took to Mashrafe Mortaza early, punching him through extra cover and followed it up with a pull over midwicket in the same over. His innings was a suitably classy affair, full of proper cricket shots, drives, cuts and the odd pull.The early pounding forced Ashraful to bring his slow bowlers on in the fifth over and the move worked as the left-armers, Abdur Razzak and Shakib Al Hasan, plugged the scoring for three consecutive overs. Nasir Jamshed fell after attempting one ugly heave too many, bowled by Shakib.Younis Khan walked in and carted Mahmudullah for a huge six over midwicket before a swing and a miss off Reza sent him back for 13. Yousuf joined Butt, and during his cameo knock of 32 became the second Pakistani to go past 9000 ODI runs behind Inzamam-ul-Haq. Butt brought up his fifty in the 18th over, launched Mahmudullah for a six over long-off before he was run-out off a direct hit for 76. His 72-ball knock had all but sealed the victory, with Pakistan needing just seven to win.

Scorecard

Uttar Pradesh shot Bengal out for 149 within the first two sessions at Eden Gardens and then their batsmen proceeded to knock off those runs in a hurry. Bengal, who opted to bat, had a 40-run opening stand before twin strikes from the Kumars – Bhuvneshvar, the debutant, and Praveen. The big wicket of Manoj Tiwary followed soon as Bengal found themselves down at 43 for 3. Wickets fell regularly after that and only a 39-run ninth-wicket stand between Saurasish Lahiri and Ranadeb Bose took them past 100. Praveen, Bhuvneshwar and Piyush Chawla took three wickets each. They didn’t even require the services of Praveen Gupta, the specialist left-arm spinner.Rohit Prakash and Tanmay Srivastava gave UP a brisk start, which was taken forward by Suresh Raina at the fall of Srivastava’s wicket on 30. By the time Rohit fell for 58, just before stumps, UP were only 28 behind Bengal’s total. Raina, who batted at a furious pace, was unbeaten on 55 off 67 deliveries.
ScorecardS Badrinath scored his third century of the season and M Vijay his second, as Tamil Nadu took the Rajasthan attack apart to finish day one in Chennai at 302 for 3. Badrinath joined Vijay after Abhinav Mukund was dismissed in the second over, and by the time they were separated, TN were at 242. Rajasthan, without Pankaj Singh and Mohammad Aslam in this match, suffered while the two made merry.Badrinath fell for 138, while Vijay was unbeaten on 112. Badrinath has now moved on to No. 2 on the run-getters’ list in this year’s Ranji Trophy, and Vijay follows him at No. 6.
ScorecardAmol Muzumdar missed a century and Ashok Thakur stretched his lead at the top of the Super League wicket-takers’ list as Mumbai squandered a good start, and then came back with lower-order partnerships to finish the first day in Dharamsala at 324 for 9. After Ajinkya Rahane and Vinit Indulkar took them to 82 for 1, Mumbai lost both of them at the same score. Muzumdar then scored a majority of the runs, as wickets kept fell consistently at the other end.When Muzumdar fell for 90, Mumbai were 254 for 7, after which they lost two wickets and added 70 more runs by stumps. Vinayak Samant, who ended the day unbeaten on 31, added 55 for the ninth wicket with Iqbal Abdullah. Thakur, the left-arm medium-pacer, took 4 for 99.
Scorecard
Sandeep Jobanputra and Ravindra Jadeja ran through the Maharashtra batting order to give Saurashtra the perfect start at Nagothane. After having skittled Maharashtra for 136, Saurashtra recovered from early strikes from Samad Fallah to end the day at 73 for 2.Maharashtra’s opening woes continued as Jobanputra took out Vishant More in the third over. This was followed by the wicket of Hrishikesh Kanitkar four overs later, and Maharashtra never recovered from the early blows. Sairaj Bahutule’s 46 down the order took them to 136. Jobanputra and Jadeja took four wickets each.Fallah, Maharashtra’s left-arm medium-pacer, gave them a good start with two early wickets, but Sitanshu Kotak and Cheteshwar Pujara ensured Saurashtra ended the day right on top. Fallah bowled eight overs, and took two wickets for 7 runs.
ScorecardAndhra played out a solid day at Visakhapatnam as they scored 214 for 4 against Baroda. LNP Reddy and Y Gnaneshwara Rao scored half-centuries to keep the Baroda bowlers at bay. Gnaneshwara Rao was unbeaten at stumps, while Reddy was run out for 67 in the 55th over. Baroda were without Irfan Pathan and struggled to take wickets, but they managed to keep the scoring-rate down.

Scorecard
Halhadar Das, Orissa’s wicketkeeper, scored his maiden first-class century as Orissa – reduced to 50 for 4 – finished the first day against Punjab in Mohali at 273 for 8. It was Rashmi Parida initially who stopped the rot with a 72-run fifth-wicket partnership with Pininti Jayachandra. Parida and Halhadar added 68 for the seventh wicket. Parida scored 52, and Halhadar fell to what turned out to be the last ball of the day to 17-year-old debutant Siddarth Kaul. Kaul took 4 for 58.Delhi 337 for 2 (Kohli 154*, Dhawan 148) v Karnataka
Scorecard Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli feasted upon a weak Karnataka bowling attack to put up 266 runs for the second wicket, as Delhi amassed 337 for 2 on the first day in Bangalore. Dhawan fell just short of 150, while Kohli, replacing Virender Sehwag, remained unbeaten on 154 at stumps. Both of them have scored a century each earlier in this season.Dhawan hit 24 boundaries in his brisk 148, which was scored at a strike-rate of 70.14. Kohli was more sedate, with 154 off 292 deliveries. The two had come together after the early fall of Aakash Chopra, who scored 6.