I DEDICATE MY CENTURY TO WOOLMER-YOUNIS

It was Younis Khan’s excellent batting that saw Pakistan level the five-match ODI series against India as the tourists successfully chased down 322 with one ball to spare.

It was undoubtedly, one of the best knocks in Younis Khan's career and he choose to dedicate it to his late coach Bob Woolmer.

"I want to dedicate my century to Bob Woolmer. The way he worked with us for so long was commendable. He always wanted me to do this. This is for him," said Younis after the second One-Dayer.

Elaborating on his brilliant innings off 117 off 110 balls, studded with nine fours and two sixes, Younis said modestly, "I can’t hit big shots so I score through reverse sweep and stuff like that. I have to steal my shots as I am not a big hitter of the ball, like Misbah or Afridi."

The day that saw about 640 runs being scored on a good track, the Pakistan vice-captain said that his team was always confident of chasing India's total.

"We always knew that we had a chance. Had India posted some 340 plus runs, it would have been a problem. But we knew that they had been 20-30 runs shorter and one big innings would get us nearer to the target. And we knew our middle-order was good and we had to give last 6-7 overs to Afridi," said Younis, who hit his third ODI century career in Mohali.

But he disagreed that it was him or Afridi who turned it around for Pakistan.

Giving credit to pacer Umar Gul, the 29-year-old said, "On this wicket, 350 would have been a huge ask. So I would say that Umar Gul’s second spell proved crucial. Getting the breakthroughs in the form of both the set batsmen - Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir at the right time did the trick for us. Had those two been there the score would have automatically accelerated to 350. And chasing another 20-30 runs would have been difficult."

Younis, meanwhile, refused to term Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s decision to bat first after winning the toss as a wrong one.

"The decision to bat first was a brave one and it was a positive decision. I don’t think there was anything wrong in that. They failed to get their partnership going in the middle and that ultimately went against them. Shoaib and Gul bowled really well in their second spell to restrict the Indians."

IS INDO-PAK MATCHES "A WAR WITH OUT WEAPONS"

he biggest series of the cricketing world about to kick off as Pakistan comes to India with a new Captain, with plans to take revenge on India, this time for the T20 World Championship loss. That was topic of discussion on the show Face The Nation with Bhupendra Chaubey: Is Indo-Pak cricket still a war without weapons?

On the panel to debate the issue was former cricketer and chief selector Kiran More, member of the editorial board of DNA Ayaz Memon and Pakistan Cricket Board spokesperson Ehsan Malik.

A decade ago, writer Mike Marqusee gave the title to his book that the Indo-Pak cricket is like war being fought without weapons. Does that comment still hold?

“Sport is supposed to be a substitute for war. But I would underplay this war metaphor where India-Pakistan cricket is concerned. In ’61, when Haneef Mohammed came to Bombay, his hand was slashed by a fan, in ‘89 Shreekanth was attacked in by fans in the Karachi stadium but a lot has changed since then. In 2004, the Indian team and fans could go all over Lahore with the Indian flag, which was unthinkable before and the Pakistan team in ‘98 got a standing ovation in Chennai. So the players have played each other a lot so it has become a far more open environment,” said Ayaz Memom.

Sporting war?

The fact is whenever Indo-Pak relations at a political and diplomatic level have hit a low, it has always been cricket that has been used as an platform to vent feelings.

“It was earlier so but not anymore. I think the media has done a great job. Even the Captains the teams have had in the recent past have not been very aggressive. Inzamam-ul-Haq, for example, and Shoib Malik have been great regarding building relations,” said Kiran More.

Could it be that since the average age of the team has come down, we see less of on-field tantrums?

“I would not like to disagree to that but there are more important reasons for it. I agree with Ayaz and Kiran that it can’t be called war. There is such an intensity because in both the countries, cricket is more than passion, it’s almost a religion,” said Ehsan Malik.

INDO-PAK SERIES

India-Pakistan series time table and Indian team

From 5th November onward cricket lovers can enjoy the exciting ODI and test tournament series between India and Pakistan. Pakistan will play 5 ODI and 3 test matches in India, which will start from 5th Nov and last with 8-12 Dec test match. In cricket, it is always an exciting experience to the watch any game between these two rival teams, therefore we can hope for great exciting tournament ahead. India has done surprise move by resting Rahul Dravid for the first two ODI matches. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir are now again back in the India attack. Also Praveen Kumar a pace bowler from Utter Pradesh is new induction in team, he is selected for the team because his good performance in the regional games.

Indian team for the first two ODI-

1) Virender Sehwag
2) Gautam Gambhir
3) M S Dhoni (captain)
4) Yuvraj Singh
5) Sourav Ganguly
6) Sachin Tendulkar
7) Robin Uthappa
8) Rohit Sharma
9) Murali Kartik
10) Zaheer Khan
11) R P Singh
12) Irfan Pathan
13) S Sreesanth
14) Praveen Kumar


Time table of the matches -

1st ODI Nov 5 at Guwahati
2nd ODI Nov 8 at Mohali (D/N)
3rd ODI Nov 11 at Kapur
4rth ODI Nov at Gwalior (D/N)
5th ODI Nov at Jaipur (D/N)

1st test Nov 22-26 at Delhi
2nd test Nov 30-Dec 2 at Kolkata
3rd test Dec 8-12 at Bangalore

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T-20 defeat is history

The Pakistan cricket team arrived in Delhi later on Thursday for five one dayers and three Test matches.

Talking to the reporters, Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik said that Twenty20 World Cup defeat against India is history and whichever team would handle pressure better will win the forthcoming series.

Alleging there is no tension between the two teams, he said Indian team is in great form, especially Yuvraj Singh.

Malik called cricket between India and Pakistan enjoyable and said his team wants the most of it.

He also said he had no problems with the senior players in his team, who give him their cooperation.

Frontline seamer Asif not in team

Unfortuntely for Pakistan, they are without their frontline seamer Mohammad Asif, who is most likely to miss the entire one day series due to continuing problems with his elbow.

Asif missed the recent one-day series against South Africa due to the same injury, after breaking down while bowling in the second Test against the Proteas at the Gaddafi Stadium last month.

The pacer had earlier undergone an MRI scan, and the report wasn't very encouraging.

An official confirmation of Asif's pull out is expected later in the day. The PCB hasn't announced any replacement so far.

Sri Lanka topple Warne's All-Stars at Hong Kong Sixes

An All-Stars team containing some of the greatest names in world cricket was beaten in the final of the Hong Kong Sixes on Sunday by a team of little-known Sri Lankans.

Over two days of carnival cricket, the All-Stars - featuring captain Shane Warne, Brian Lara, Glenn McGrath and Anil Kumble - had produced explosive cricket in the tournament's unique five-overs-an-innings format.

But their run of success came to end when the young Sri Lankans refused to be intimidated and posted 127 for three after five eight-ball overs, a total that proved too much for their illustrious opponents, who made 111 to lose by 16 runs.

Also in the All-Stars squad were Zimbabwe's Heath Streak, England's Geraint Jones and Craig McMillan of New Zealand, who won the man of the tournament award for his brutal batting, though he went for a golden duck in the final.

Sri Lanka's surprise star was captain Indika De Saram who, under the Sixes' quirky rules, scored 40 in the final after returning to the wicket having earlier retired not out for 32.

Kaushalya Weeraratne (32) and Jeewantha Kulatunga (28) also helped carry the side to its first-ever Hong Kong Sixes victory, which brought with it a winners' cheque of $100,000.

In the All-Stars' final innings, Test cricket's top scorer Brian Lara reminded the crowd of his glory days with four sixes lofted over the hospitality marquees.

Geraint Jones, currently out of favour for the England wicketkeeper role, was a late call-up but his fielding caught the eye and in the final he scored three huge sixes off his first three balls.

Former Australian strike bowler Glenn McGrath was on the subs bench for the title-decider after dislocating a finger while fielding earlier in the day.

The weekend saw nine national teams compete against the All-Stars in 21 matches that lasted fewer than 45 minutes each.

With the game's big hitters letting loose at the tiny Kowloon Cricket Club, 275 sixes were scored and at least 40 balls were lost.

England, who fielded Twenty20 specialist Darren Maddy and rising star Luke Wright, fell in the quarter-finals.

India had earlier crashed out at the qualifying stage to the disappointment of their vocal supporters and the Sixes' organisers, who are keen to boost the event's TV audience in the massive south Asia market.

New Zealand and Pakistan were the losing semi-finalists. Shane Warne, 38, said he had enjoying playing alongside some old friends and rivals.

"This has been my first Sixes and it has been a great couple of days. After we won the first few games, we really wanted to win the whole thing.

"Watching Brian (Lara) out there brings back some bad memories of bowling to him," he joked.

"Glenn (McGrath) is obviously an old mate and Anil Kumble I have total respect for. We talk a lot about leg-breaks."

The tournament, first held in 1992, produces frenetic cricket in which six-a-side teams bat for only five overs each and every fielder has to bowl, apart from the wicketkeeper.

Up until the final the overs are six balls each. It has a long record of attracting the game's greatest names, with Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar and Andrew Flintoff all appearing in past years.

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