Why this Kolaveri? Outrage was seen everywhere when Sachin Tendulkar, India's cricketing god, decided to accept an invitation from the Congress Party to join the Rajya Sabha as a nominated member. We all know that outrage is our national pass time, and we spend considerable time outraging on anything and everything but never on things which we should really outrage upon. People are horrified at the fact that someone they worshipped as God could descend down to this level of accepting invitations to join politics. While I understand what they feel like, they cannot unfortunately make decisions in his life. It looks like people are so entitled that each and everything other people do should have their stamp of approval. It is his decision. You cannot dictate what he, or anyone else for that matter, should do or not do with their life. Who are you? So what I would say is, leave him alone. He is a mortal, who does his business (playing cricket) to make a living, has now has found another way to forward his career. India is a free country and he is entitled to do whatever he wants. He accepted the invitation because he must have thought it to be a natural progression for him as he is reaching the fag-end of his cricketing career. I think he has the right to go for what he considers best for him. Much like him, Ashok Dinda is the one, who is in the news these days, but for all together different reasons. He is in the form of his life and the last few seasons have been exceptional for this Bengali lad. Apart from the domestic season, he bowled pretty well in the Indian Premier League and is now tipped as the one, who is ready to spearhead India's bowling attack. Allan Donald, the bowling coach of Pune Warriors, is highly impressed with Ashok Dinda and has even compared Dinda to himself. Even Sourav Ganguly holds high regards for his state mate and wants continuous international action for this ever improving bowler. On the cricketing front, things have started improving between India and Pakistan, who have not played in a bilateral series since years. With India ready to include one of the Pakistani sides in the lucrative Champions League T20, things are looking more positive for the two neighbors. Apart from cricket, football world is gearing up for the Euros, the second best international football show after the World Cup. Spain is the team to watch out for while Holland and Germany might pose a threat to the reigning champions' crown. Have fun reading the issue. For day-to-day updates on cricket and cricketers join us on Facebook and Twitter. Or visit our website: www.cricketoday.in EDITORIAL BOARD Editor Manish Verma Managing Editor Rakesh Pandey Email : rakesh@dpb.in Sub Editor Mohd. Asim Contributing Editors S. Pervez Qaiser, Sreelata S Yellamrazu, Haresh Pandya Graphic Designer Lalita Adhikari Media Relations Officer Monica Bhardwaj Production Co-ordinator Sunil Chaudhary Photos A.P., Fotocorp, Narender Kumar, Raj Kumar, Rahul Gulati pressrelease@dpb.in BUSINESS OFFICE DIAMOND MAGAZINES PVT. LTD. X-30, Okhla Ind. Area, Ph-2, New Delhi-20, Tel 011-40712100 Fax (011) 41611866 Director (Mktg.) Manish Verma, E-mail : manish@dpb.in ADVERTISING OFFICES Delhi Vivek Parashar, M. P. Singh, Tarun, Mohd. Faisal (011) 40712100 Mumbai Praveen Chandra, C. Garima 9820129206 Kolkata Biswajit Dasgupta 9830092763 Bangalore Pratap Kumar 09845234036 Kanpur Sundhaya Tewari 09415291020 Indore Ramesh C. Nagar, Kanta Nagar 9302113401 Nagpur Mrs. Khisti 9822202082 Chennai Sathish C. Anand 9841023010 Hyderabad Vijay K Viswanadha 9246501841 Ahmedabad Madan Menon 9898002522 Bhopal S.B. Sharma 9425024386 Raipur V. Sridhar 9893309558 Punjab Puneet Arya 9316969911 Pune Prasad Datar 9822112674 Mangalore Sanjay Mudbidri 09880483130 Total Pages 108 with Cover Copyright 2005 "Cricket Today" is a registered trademark of The Diamond Group. All rights reserved. No Part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded or otherwise, without prior permission. Printed & Published by Manish Verma and Edited by Manish Verma on behalf of Diamond Magazines Pvt. Ltd. Printed at Best Photo Offset Printers, A-81, D.D.A. Shed, Okhla Industrial area, Phase-II, New Delhi-20 4 Cricket Today June 2012
JUNE 2012 CONTENTS From Sachin's new move to Ashok Dinda's rising stature, IPL happenings to Euro 2012, Cricket Today's June issue unfolds all the latest goings-on in the world of sports. 66 Top Story Sachin : From pitch to Parliament 90 Sports Safari Singles dream over. 60 The game of innovations and improvisation 100 Scoop of the Month Should Vanessa be surprised by cheating? new ball 104 Sports Round Up No Wedding Bells Last ball escapes to victory IPL s list of pet peeves IPL : The incredible India Stylemania in the IPL The league of bad boys middle muddle Ajit Chandila joins hat-trick club IPL 5 s cornered captains IPL : The costly miss View Point Ashok Dinda : The big league beckons India s four pronged pace battery Opinion The casualty of strained relations Chanderpaul : The unsung hero of West Indies cricket Taking Guard West Indies on the right track Face Off Shah likes Gujarati food death overs 70 View Point Uphill task for Robin Uthappa Hotel Shivakant s favorite hotel is Taj Krishna. Willowy Words Brian Scovell : Life dedicated to sports journalism Greats of the Game Peter Pollock : Torch-bearer of South Africa s pace bowling Cricket s Lighter Side When Greig mistook Bradman for a driver Euro 2012 The battle of giants 6 Cricket Today June 2012
NEWS ROUND UP By Girish Singh Comeback on cards Cricket is a passion and like any other sports, this gentleman s game too produces some unexpected happenings on and off the field. From records to milestones... Middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh, who has been forced out of action for the past few months following a rare germ cell cancer between his lungs, said he is eyeing a comeback by September this year. Hopefully, I should be back (in action) very soon. May be by next 3-4 months, said Yuvraj. The cricketer was honoured by the Punjab government recently for his outstanding contribution to the Indian team s win in the World Cup last year. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Member of Parliament Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa honoured the 30-year-old with a cash prize of Rs 1 crore. Viral on internet A short video featuring former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly s life, full of controversies and glorious achievements, in a typical Bollywood potboiler style has become a rage on the Internet. Within few days of the video going viral, the three-minute trailer of Sourav Ganguly - The Movie has had more than 2 lakh hits on YouTube so far. The video, which highlights Ganguly s leadership, man management and crisis management skills, has been uploaded by a private health insurance company that wants to develop elements of this movie later on in the form of short videos for the cyber world. Award for superb performance England cricket captain Andrew Strauss recently received the ICC Test Championship mace for leading the team, which finished on top of the ICC Test Championship table on the annual cut-off date of April 1. Clive Lloyd, chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee and former West Indies captain, presented the mace to Strauss, who also collected a cheque of USD 175,000 in a ceremony that was staged at Coronation Garden at Lord s. Happy days are back Former Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmood welcomed the BCCI s decision to invite a team from across the border for the Champions League Twenty20 and said it s now time for the PCB to take positive step to help resume bilateral cricket ties between the two countries. Sialkot will play here in CLT20 in October. It is a very good step from India (BCCI). Now Pakistan (PCB) too needs to take a step forward and join hands with India, said Mahmood. 8 Cricket Today June 2012
Twitter Outburst Kevin Pietersen has brushed off concerns that his latest Twitter outburst could land him in trouble with the England and Wales Cricket Board and has no plans to tone down his comments on the micro-blogging site. Pietersen launched an attack on Nick Knight, questioning the former England opener s credibility as a Sky Sports pundit. The 31-year-old wrote: Can somebody please tell me how Nick Knight has worked his way into the commentary box for the Tests? Ridiculous. The comment is not thought to have gone down well with the ECB, who two years ago imposed a set of guidelines which players must adhere to. But Pietersen, who was fined following an outburst against selectors in 2010, is not worried that his latest comments will lead to him being sanctioned. Tailor made for T20 Former Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram feels his game would have perfectly suited for the shortest format of the game. I missed on playing Twenty20 cricket; I only played two games for Hampshire in 2003 when the format was just introduced. I believe this format would have suited my game my bowling and batting, said Akram. He also emphasized on wicket-taking ability of a bowler as an important aspect in T20. If I have wicket-taking bowlers, I ll pick all of them because that s how you win games in T20. It is an entertaining format, but it kills the bowlers, especially on the subcontinent tracks. According to me, in T20, getting wickets is the key. Generally, the batting teams look to get to 100-110 in 15 overs with wickets in hand, and then, have a go in the last five overs, said the former pacer. In love with cricket Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar recently said that his 11-year old son Arjun is in love with cricket, which starts from heart and then travel up to brain when you grow up. Tendulkar said it was his son s own choice to start playing cricket and nobody forced him into the game. He want Arjun to enjoy being on the field instead of thinking about the number of hours he has practiced. As long as he is in love with cricket, it s fine. Then you don t look at your watch or count the number of hours you ve practiced. It s the sheer joy and satisfaction of being on the field. And that s what I want for him, said Sachin. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Nannes Secrets Dirk Nannes has been a professional skier most of his life. He started playing cricket by chance and this game is just a hobby for him. He is fond of places like India Gate and the Raj Ghat in New Delhi. He has worked at pubs for months to fund his skiing tours in the early stages of life. His nick name is Diggler. According to him, movies are a complete rip-off. He would rather buy a DVD and watch it at his own preferred time than have a scheduled start time. He thinks T20 is the best format of the game. Nannes is the director and founder of Global Snow Tours, an independent snow tour operator in Australia.