Lee not to play against India today ..........

I would’ve taken call on my ODI retirement in next 7-8 months ........

No player can give up national duty for IPL: Hussey ...........

Mithun Manhas to lead Delhi Ranji team

NEW DELHI, Feb 16: Seasoned batsman Mithun Manhas was today appointed captain of the Delhi Ranji team for the domestic one-day tournament, beginning here later this month.

The selectors announced a 15-member squad which also includes former India pacer Ashish Nehra.

Apart from the 15-member squad, six players — N S Negi, Kuldeep Rawat, Yogeshwar Nagar, A Chandela, Pradeep Chawla, Anuj Kumar — have been asked to report to coach Vijay Dahiya and attend the nets from Monday.

The Squad: Mithun Manhas (C), Akash Chopra, Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Tehlan, Aditya Jain, Rajat Bhatia, Gaurav Chhabra, Sumit Narwal, Chetnya Nanda, Ashish Nehra, Punit Bisht, Amit Bhandari, Manan Sharma, Suhail Sharma and Parvinder Awana. (PTI)

Dhoni warns team against complacency

ADELAIDE, Feb 16: The Australians may have decided to rest their pace spearhead Brett Lee but Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today cautioned his batsmen against getting too complacent in their tri-series game.

"(Brett) Lee, of course, has been a top performer for them and has been in top form but it depends on how the bowler who replaces him perform. We wouldn’t be taking our sights off them," Dhoni told reporters at the pre-match press conference.

Dhoni also stoutly defended the beleaguered Yuvraj Singh, saying he still had a lot of confidence in him and that he could play a key role in the middle order.

"He (Yuvraj) has been a key performer for us and personally I would like to see him bat in the middle overs," Dhoni said.

"A lot has been said about good starts and how the finish should be provided in the final overs but for me, the key is how you bat in the middle overs and set up the game between 20th and 39th over. (PTI)

Yuvraj slides, Tendulkar rises in ICC ODI rankings

DUBAI, Feb 16: Yuvraj Singh’s form slump has seen him drop four rungs to 19th, while master batsman Sachin Tendulkar continued to be upwardly mobile, rising a couple of spots to seventh in the latest ICC ODI rankings issued today.

Indian ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has also lost ground dropping two places to 13th in the batting charts.

Among the others Indians, Gautam Gambhir has improved his position by two places and is currently placed 35th in the list which continues to be headed by Australian skipper Ricky Ponting.

In the bowling charts, Harbhajan Singh is the only Indian in top 20 after improving five positions to the 18th spot.

Teenage pace sensation Ishant Sharma continues to make significant improvement and the bowler who has claimed six wickets in four ODIs of the ongoing tri-series has shot up 96 places to 154th position.

Meanwhile, retiring Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist has climbed 10 places to second position after a superb 118 in Perth.

In the ICC ODI championship table, Australia is still at the top of the table leading South Africa by three ratings points. (PTI)

NCC clinches Twenty20 Cricket Tournament
Selection of players only on merit basis: Farooq

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Feb 16: Admitting Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) was not been able to precisely analyse the performance of the State cricketers in the domestic competitions last year, former Chief Minister and President JKCA, Dr Farooq Abdullah assured not to repeat complacency next time.

He was speaking during the prize distribution function of Twenty20 Cricket Tournament at Mini Stadium, Parade Ground today.

Dr Abdullah said "JKCA will now have to adopt a bold selection policy where the players would be selected only on the basis of their performance in the domestic competitions" adding "JKCA would keep a close watch on the performance of the players, who after being judged, will be selected to represent the State in national tournaments be it U/15, U/19, U/20 or Ranji Trophy".

He also disclosed that son of a former cricketer Mohinder Amarnath and Ajay Jadeja have shown their keenness to coach the J&K team.

He further said to meet Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and ask him to visit Bajalta site where JKCA has decided to built a cricket stadium equipped with all modern facilities.

Meanwhile in final, National Cricket Club (NCC) prevailed over Madan Mohan Cricket Club (MMCC) by 20 runs in a keen contest to clinch Twenty20 Cricket tournament organised by Laxmi Cricket Club (LCC).

NCC won the crucial toss and opted to bat first.

They accumulated 107/9 in the allotted overs with Hardeep Singh (Prince) top scored with 31 runs containing three hits to the fence.

Manish Dogra and Sanjay Mahajan also contributed their bit by playing cameos of 21 and 19 respectively. Both Manish and Sanjay pierced the ball twice to the fence.

For MMCC, Ram Dayal was the pick of the bowlers with four scalps while Raman Dutta and Ashwani Gupta grabbed two wickets each.

Shafqat Baba chipped in with one wicket.

In reply, MMCC bundled out for 87 runs in 17.3 overs to suffer a 20 run defeat which looked possible at one time with 38 required of last five overs.

After his heroics with the willow, Hardeep Singh (Prince) showcased his skills with the ball and emerged as the wrecker-in-chief with a four wicket haul.

Besides Hardeep, Raghuvansh Munish and Deepak fetched two wickets followed by Pranav Mahajan who took one wicket.

NCC bowlers maintained a disciplined line and length denying MMCC batsmen any chance to open up their shoulders.

Hardeep for his excellent all round performance was declared the man of the match.

The match was officiated by Ashok Gupta and Sunil Gupta. The scorer was Rajeev Pakhetra.

Shashi K of MMCC was adjudged the man of the series while Manish Dogra of winner team adjudged the best batsman of the tournament.

Deepak of NCC declared the best bowler of the championship.

Dr Farooq Abdullah former Chief Minister and President, JKCA was the chief guest on the occasion who gave away winner and runner up trophies to the teams.

Salim Khan, general secretary, JKCA, Suneet Sharma, joint secretary and Sham Saroop Kalsotra, vice chairman were also present.

Other members of Laxmi Cricket Club who were present on the occasion included Kewal Krishan (vice chairman), Anil Kumar Mahajan (president), Pawan Gupta (vice president), Vijay Sabharwal (general secretary), Sunil Gupta, Davinder Sharma, Rupinder Bedi, Arun Mehta, Harsh Nayyar, Raju Saini, Sanjay Bali and Anil Mehta.

Earlier, Anil Kumar Mahajan and Vijay Sabharwal briefed about the other tournaments being conducted by Laxmi Cricket Club (LCC) and also assured that the club would organise more such tournaments in future.

Winter Games ‘Mashaal’ reaches Srinagar

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Feb 16: Secretary Tourism, Nayeem Akhter, today received ‘Mashaal’ (Torch) of 5th National Winter Games 2008. The Mashaal taken by the only Olympian of the State Gul Mustafa at New Delhi and brought here after crossing various States including Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

Naeem Akhter said the Winter Games will start at Gulmarg. The inaugural ceremony included Sky Diving, March past by athletes, Snow Rugby, Skiing, Snow Scooter, Figure Skating, Alpine Skiing, Cross Country, Nordic Skiing , Ice Skating and Ice Hockey. In all about 500 sportsmen are participating in these events. The closing ceremony has been slated for February 22, 2008.

The Secretary Tourism said Mashaal traveled through various states will be taken to Gulmarg tomorrow. He said the first National Winter Games were held in 1998 and subsequently in 2004 and Gulmarg has again been chosen as the venue for the 5th National Winter Games 2008.

Referring to the games, Nayeem Akhter said the games are being held under the aegis of Indian Olympic Association. The participant sports persons are from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, New Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, GMVN, WHMI (Manali), BSF, Navy, Army Sports Control Board, ISS&M (Gulmarg).

Inter-School Kids Karate Championship concludes

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Feb 16: The two-day long Kids Karate Champi-onship concluded at Aglow Kid’s Playway School today.

More than 200 karatekas from different schools and clubs participated in the event.

MLA Raman Bhalla was the chief guest on the occasion who distributed prizes among the winners.

Sanjay Sharma, Principal, Aglow Kid’s Playway School, Anil Nanda, President, NSKS, Pooja Malhotra, Chairperson, TS Group of Institutions were the guests of honour.

Master Anil Nanda was awarded the best karate coach while Parth, Ankush, Amrit, Manu, Vashali, Areshey, Aanchal, Manika Singh, Asha, Ronika Nanda, Surbhi and Akshya were adjudged best officials.

Final Results:

Junior Boys:

Below 25kg: Arya Abrol (1st), Harsh Pandita (2nd) and Neel Sagar (3rd).

Below 30kg: Mohit Bhasin (1st), Priya Shu (2nd) and Ahiveer Sharma (3rd).

Below 33kg: Bhupinder Singh (1st), Shiv Chadha (2nd) and Anmol Sharma (3rd).

Below 35kg: Arjun Kalia (1st), Mohit Goswami (2nd) and Nitish (3rd).

Below 37kg: Aditya Jain (1st), Apoorva Lal (2nd) and Sadiman (3rd).

Below 40kg: Parth Sharma (1st), Manu Rathore (2nd) and Mudit Chadha (3rd).

Girls:

Below 40kg: Arshey Bhardwaj (1st), Vishali Raina (2nd), Reema and Neha Kumari (3rd).

Below 14kg: Vaibhav Raj (1st), Atharv Gupta (2nd) and Satyam Mehra (3rd).

Below 16kg: Om Borkar (1st), Achintya Musra (2nd) and Oram Thappa (3rd).

Below 18kg (A): Arya Arjun Partap (1st), Suryansh Sharma (2nd) and Arush Dubey (3rd).

Below 18kg (B): Ayushman Langar (1st), Madhaven Gupta (2nd) and Nityam Verma (3rd).

Below 20kg: Arham Ajaz (1st), Aaryam Sharma (2nd) and Anish Anano (3rd).

Below 22kg (A): Ojaswin (1st), Revat (2nd) and Saleem (3rd).

Below 22kg (B): Paviter Mahajan (1st), Vansh Kohli (2nd) and Raghav Kapoor (3rd).

Below 24kg: Saiyam Suri (1st), Abhey Chopra (2nd) and Rahul Bhat (3rd).

Girls:

Below 16kg: Annie Taggar (1st), Ananya Mahajan (2nd) and Simran Chopra (3rd).

Below 18kg: Manmeet Kour (1st), Paneeni Gupta (2nd) and Asmi Raina (3rd).

Below 20kg: Aditi Aryan (1st), Muskan Jandyal (2nd), Sachita Gupta and Saanya Kapoor (3rd).

Below 22kg: Pranika Sharma (1st), Ananya Gupta (2nd) and Nandini Mehta (3rd).

Below 24kg: Sakshi Aggarwal (1st), Prachi (2nd) and Payal Singh (3rd).

Below 35kg: Meh Reench (1st), Riya Tikku (2nd) and Rashmeet Kour (3rd).

SRTC wins opener

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Feb 16: SRTC team started their campaign in style by scripting a hard fought win over formidable Titanium (Kerala) team by a solitary goal in the ongoing All India Iron-Ore Gold Cup Football Tournament being played at Chhattisgarh today.

Shabbir Ahmed scored the all important gold for the winner team.

Ponting struggling with captaincy burdens: Gilchrist

SYDNEY, Feb 16: Australia captain Ricky Ponting may be struggling to cope with the demands of a long summer in the spotlight and a hectic schedule, according to his deputy Adam Gilchrist.

Ponting averages just over 10 with the bat in the current tri-series with India and Sri Lanka.

"I am sure he, like all of us, will have been worn down by a lot of the focus and a lot of the issues that have been around,’’ Gilchrist told newspersons.

"We seem to have jumped from one thing to another, whether they be highly controversial or just issues that need to be dealt with,’’ added Gilchrist, who made a century to lead Australia to victory over Sri Lanka in Perth yesterday. (AGENCIES)

Lee not to play against India today

PERTH, Feb 16: Concerned about the increased workload on pace spearhead Brett Lee, the Australian team management has decided to rest the speedster from tomorrow’s tri-series cricket match against India in Adelaide.

Lee will not travel to Adelaide with the rest of the Australian team and missing tomorrow’s match will give him almost a week-long break before the world champions plays their next match, against Sri Lanka on February 22 in Melbourne.

"Brett Lee will not travel with the Australia team to Adelaide and will not play in tomorrow’s match as his workload is managed heading into the second half of the Commonwealth Bank series," Cricket Australia said in a statement today.

Lee, who has been playing almost non-stop cricket ever since recovering from an ankle injury in the later half of last year, has been in terrific form in the series and has taken eight wickets in four matches at an impressive average of 19.

Cricket Australia had stated before the series that lee would be rested in a few matches to balance his workload which has increased substantially following retirement by champion bowler Glenn McGrath.

Australia has won two and lost one match in the series so far. (PTI)

I would’ve taken call on my ODI
retirement in next 7-8 months

NEW DELHI, Feb 16: Surprisingly sidelined for the one-day cricket tri-series against Australia, Sourav Ganguly has confessed that he was anyway considering retirement from the limited overs version in next 7-8 months.

Ganguly said he had realised that he would not play in the 2011 World Cup, to be co-hosted by the Asian cricketing nations, but when selectors asked him he had expressed his wish to play in odis for a few more months as there were not many limited overs’ games scheduled this year.

"They (selectors) just asked me whether I wanted to continue one-day cricket. I said, yes definitely, at least for the next 7-8 months," Ganguly said.

"There is not much of one-day cricket this year. This is Australia series then India goes to Sri Lanka for Test and one-day, so there is five one-days there and there is Champions Trophy in September and rest of the year is full of Test cricket.

"So I wanted to play till September then probably take a call because at some stage you would not have gone out to play 2011 World Cup," he told the ‘Times Now’.

Ganguly said although he did not discuss the issue with anyone else he felt he was not dropped on the ground of his form.

"I was a bit surprised because I didn’t expect it... But, all I can say for sure is that it is not on the basis of form," Ganguly said.

The former skipper said he was "irritated" by whatever was being written about him in the media in last couple of years, since he was dropped from the team and lost the captaincy.

"It’s very irritating. I need to be treated as a player and that is every player’s right. And, to be honest that’s the fact, for last.

"Since 2005, after I got dropped and I lost my captaincy, a lot of things have been interrogated which is not required for anybody whether it’s me or who hs played for 12-13 years or a newcomer.

"It is not required and does not happen anywhere in the world. I need to be judged on my cricket," he said. (PTI)

No player can give up national duty for IPL: Hussey

MELBOURNE, Feb 16: Joining the debate over Indian Premier League versus international cricket, Australian batsman Mike Hussey doubted if any player would relinquish his hard earned national cap to play in the Twenty20 tournament "for any amount of money".

"It’s time to set the record straight on the Indian Premier League. There are suggestions the golden eggs being laid by the IPL may force the premature retirement of Test veterans approaching the end of their playing days," Hussey said.

"(But) I have signed a short-form contract indicating I am interested in playing in the IPL, if i am available. The "if" is very important here.

"You don’t shake a tree and baggy green caps fall out. It takes a lot of hard work to earn one. It took me about 15,000 first-class runs," he wrote in his column for ‘The Daily Telegraph’.

Hussey, who is yet to sign an IPL contract, said representing his country was an honour while IPL would just be a bonus.

"It’s one of the greatest honours for an Australian sportsman and I wouldn’t retire any earlier just to play a few more IPL matches.

"My aim is to play as many Tests, one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches as possible for Australia and anything else that comes along will be a bonus. And no amount of money will cause me to think otherwise.

"Let’s be honest about that - Australian cricketers are very well looked after. We have nothing to complain about," he added. (PTI)