ICC World Twenty20
Fatigue India's worry
India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (L) and Harbhajan Singh arrive for an official team photo shoot yesterday in Mumbai prior to leave for England to play the Twenty20 World Championship scheduled from June 5-21.Tired limbs, jaded minds and a tricky draw have toughened India's path as Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men defend their World Twenty20 title in England next month.
The June 5-21 tournament is the latest event for Team India in a non-stop roadshow that began with a full tour of New Zealand in February-April before a five-week sojourn in South Africa for the Indian Premier League.
Dhoni's team returned home for just three days after the IPL before setting off again for England to defend the title they won in the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007.
Coach Gary Kirsten admitted the heavy workload was a cause for worry, but the former South African opener was confident his wards will rise to the challenge in England.
"The Indian players have been on the road for a long time and the biggest challenge will be mental fatigue," Kirsten said recently.
"But they have enormous pride when representing India and have become a tight unit over the past few months. I am sure they will look forward to reuniting and playing for their country."
The gruelling schedule has already seen aggressive opener Virender Sehwag miss some IPL matches due to a finger injury, while pace spearhead Zaheer Khan is recovering from a sore shoulder.
Skipper Dhoni has been nursing a back strain as a result of being one of the world's busiest cricketers, who keeps wicket, bats and leads his team in all forms of the game.
"I am not worried at all," said Dhoni. "One gets used to the modern day schedule and I am sure we will all be raring to go once the tournament starts."
The road to the semi-finals is no joy ride for the defending champions even though they are drawn with lowly Bangladesh and Ireland in the preliminary round.
Three of the toughest rivals in the 12-nation tournament -- Australia, South Africa and hosts England -- await them in the Super Eights round where the real battle for semi-final places begins.
India had beaten all three in the space of four magical nights in Durban in 2007 to advance to the final against Pakistan, but few are willing to take an encore for granted.
"You can't afford to look too far ahead, there is the first round against Bangladesh and Ireland to get through," said the Indian captain. "We all know what can happen."
During the 50-overs-a-side World Cup in the Caribbean in 2007, India were sensationally knocked out by Bangladesh in the preliminary stage, while Ireland delivered Pakistan a killer blow at the same stage.
"When you are defending champions there will always be added pressure," said Kirsten.
"That goes with the territory of high-performing teams. This team has played in many pressure situations and has shown what they are capable of.
"There is certainly no danger of complacency within the Indian team. We pride ourselves in taking each game as it comes and giving 100 percent on a daily basis."
India have a good Twenty20 record, with eight wins in 13 matches so far.
Gisela Dulko of Argentina plays forehand against Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova in the French Open third round match at Roland Garros in Paris yesterday. Defending champion Ana Ivanovic and top seed Dinara Safina moved a step closer to a quarterfinal showdown at the French Open on Friday as both brushed aside third round opponents.
The Serb trumped Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-0, 6-2 while the Russian blasted her way past compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova with a near identical score of 6-2, 6-0.
In three matches played, Safina has dropped just four games and Ivanovic 14.
One more win and they will meet in the quarterfinals setting up a repeat of last year's final won by Ivanovic 6-4, 6-3 for her first Grand Slam title.
There was heartache, however, for another of the tournament favourites as Venus Williams lost 6-0, 6-4 to Agnes Szavay of Hungary to continue her run of flops at Roland Garros.
Ivanovic, wearing strapping on her troublesome right knee but showing no signs that the injury was hampering her, had too much power and all-round skill for Benesova as she set up a fourth round encounter with either ninth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus or Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain.
The 21-year-old Belgrade beauty, who reached the world No.1 spot after her win here last year but who has struggled for form and fitness since then, said she had played one of her best matches of the year.
"I feel fit and ready to handle any kind of opponent," she said.
"My game is coming back and I feel more comfortable. I really missed competition last month.
"These kind of matches help for the tough matches ahead in the second week."
The 23-year-old Safina once again blasted out of the blocks peppering her younger opponent with her powerful groundstrokes down both sides of the court.
The Russian, who is the sister of men's former world No.1 Marat Safin, is on a mission here to win a Grand Slam as the No.1 status she took on April 20 has been discredited in some quarters for her failure to have won one of the four major tournaments.
She also is keen to bury the memory of last year's final when she allowed nerves to get the better of her against Ivanovic.
Williams, who had needed to save a match point on Thursday against Lucie Safarova just to get into the third round, was outplayed 6-0, 6-4 by Szavay to go out at this stage of the competion for the third year in a row.
It was a dismal performance from the reigning Wimbledon champion who has clawed her way back up the world rankings in parallel with sister Serena.
Szavay wrapped up the first set in just 30 minutes yanking her opponent from side to side and showing better footwork at the net.
Williams did grab a glimmer of hope by breaking the Hungarian's serve to lead 4-3 in the second, but with the gusting wind playing havoc with her service throwup, she lost the next three games to end her campaign.
Szavay, a quarterfinalist at the 2007 US Open, will next take on Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia with a place in the quarterfinals the prize for the winner.
Cibulkova comfortably defeated Gisela Dulko of Argentina 6-4, 6-2.
Portuguese teen prodigy Michelle Larcher de Brito meanwhile saw her dream of becoming the youngest ever women's winner in Paris bite the dust.
At 16 years and four months the youngest player left in the women's draw, Larcher de Brito went down 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 to France's Aravane Rezai in a bad-tempered clash that saw the players trading barbs over the Portuguese player's ear-splitting on-court vocals.
Rezai is one of only two Frenchwomen left after the early defeats of Amelie Mauresmo, Marion Bartoli and Alize Cornet. She will be Safina's opponent in the fourth round
Fernando Verdasco edged closer to another potentially epic Grand Slam showdown with Rafael Nadal on Friday after taking the hard road to see off Spanish compatriot Nicolas Almagro.
Eighth seed Verdasco needed nine match points to defeat the 31st seed Almagro 6-2, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (10/8) in their third round clash and will next face Russian 10th seed Nikolay Davydenko, a two-time semifinalist.
Serbian fourth seed Novak Djokovic reached the third round with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 win over Ukrainian qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky.
Djokovic will face German 29th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber who put out Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 2003 champion, for a place in the last 16.
Chilean 12th seed Fernando Gonzalez, twice a quarterfinalist and the junior champion in 1998, ended the hopes of French wildcard Josselin Ouanna, who put out Marat Safin in the previous round, with a 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 win.
Gonzalez will take on either French seventh seed Gilles Simon or 30th seeded Romanian Victor Hanescu for a place in the quarterfinals.
Davydenko, a semifinalist in 2005 and 2007, saw off Stanilas Wawrinka of Switzerland, another former junior champion, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal beat Australia's Lleyton Hewitt 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the French Open last 16 on Friday.
He will face either compatriot David Ferrer or Robin Soderling of Sweden for a place in the quarterfinals.
Sabuj Sena Club of Faridpur wiped out Football Player's Welfare Association 7-0 in the Bashundhara Champions Club Cup at the Gopalganj Stadium yesterday.
Nuromnol scored an amazing five goals in the 4th, 7th, 16th, 33rd and 72nd minute while Shahadat and Palon increased the margin in the 41st and 89th minute respectively.
Up north in Sherpur, Young Men's Club of Fakirerpul drubbed locals Ghagra Sporting Club 3-0, with Shanto (34th and 79th) and Babu (41st) sharing the team's success. To make things worse for Ghagra, Sohail was sent off in the 70th minute.
Purbani Tarun Sangha triumphed by a similar margin of 3-0 at the Feni Stadium against Laxmipur's Chowrasta Club. Roni, Jewel and Shyamol were the scorers for the winning team.
Brothers Union Club (Pabna) beat Shinga Upazilla (Natore) 2-0 while at the Rajshahi Stadium while in Tangail, Bipsnob Sangha (Gazipur) bettered Shonali Atit Club (Manikganj) 2-1. Two goals were scored in the space of ten minutes for the winners with Faruk (17th) and Rupom (27th) netting for the winners while Shonali's Bikash replied with the lone goal two minutes later for Shonali.
At the Habiganj Stadium, GRC Sporting Club (Narsingdi) sauntered past locals Young Tiger Nurpur 1-0 while Janani Sheba Sangha (Magura) defeated Crescent Club (Kushtia) also by a 1-0 scoreline in Meherpur.
Ummochon Club (Bagerhat) and BBS Player's Welfare Association played out to a goalless draw at the Narail Stadium in what was the only drawn match of the day.
Rain shortens Day Two:
Rain played havoc on the second day of Bangladesh A's four-day match against Maharashtra Cricket Asso-ciation at the Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra yesterday.
Only 22.1 overs of play was possible although Day Two began on time, but a mid-day shower storm dented hopes of a full day's play.
During the little play that was possible, the second-string side added just seven runs to their overnight total to be bowled out for 343 from 91 overs. In their reply, MCA made 69 for two.
When the visitors came out with the willow, Bangladesh A pacer Sajidul Islam removed opener Harshad Khadiwale for eight in the third over.
Rohan Bhosale, the other opener, added 52 for the second wicket with Amey Sirikhande. Talha Jubair stopped the threatening partnership when the tall paceman had Sirikhande caught behind for 23 in the 19th over. Bhosale remained unbeaten on 23 along with Kedar Jadhav.
Earlier, Samad Fallah added to his five-for, taking six for 108.
BRIEF SCORES
BANGLADESH A: First innings 336-9 in 89.5 overs (Kayes 4, Nafis 30, Imran 90, Hannan 39, Rajin 1, Mehrab 81, Sahagir 2, Dollar 79, Sajid 0, Enamul 6*; Samad 5-101, Aditya 1-68, Kiran 2-73).
MAHARASHTRA CRICKET ASSOCIATION: First innings 69-2 in 21 overs (Khadiwale 8, Bhosale 24*, Sirikhande 23, Jadhav 7*; Sajid 1-33, Talha 1-23).
Rubel strikes two blows:
Pacer Rubel Hossain picked up two wickets as Scotland were struggling against Bangladesh in the third practice match at the Wormsley cricket ground yesterday.
Scotland were perilously placed at 38-3 in 7 overs when the last report was received here.
Pace spearhead Mashrafe Bin Mortaza took the other wicket.
Nayeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Zunaed Siddiqui and Shahadat Hossain have been given rest for the final additional practice match.
Today is a rest day and on Sunday the Tigers move into their World Twenty20s base in Nottingham.
Javed weaves magic over Shingra:
Javed of Laxmi Narayan Cotton Mills scored a double hattrick to send Shingra Dum Dum Pilot School and College tumbling to a 8-0 loss in the Citycell National School Football Championship at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
The young striker weaved his magic in the 15th, 22nd, 35th, 48th, 68th and 80th minutes while Anik and Indrajeet contributed furthermore in the 70th and 76th minutes respectively.
Also at the Big Bowl, Town Secondary School beat RSKH Institution Mohammadia 4-2 and Victoria High School defeated Koyagola Hat High School 3-1.
At the Brother's Union ground, Koyra Madinabad Secondary School drubbed Younus Ali High School 3-0 while Government Nasirabad School edged past Netrokona Dutta High School 1-0.
Given Bangladesh's track record, few rivals will lose sleep over Mohammad Ashraful's men during the World Twenty20 tournament.
The Tigers have lost their last six T20 internationals, 13 of their last 14 Tests and 13 of their last 15 one-day matches, a record that will make even their most ardent supporters squirm.
But write-off Bangladesh at your own peril, as title hopefuls India famously discovered at the 50-overs-a-side World Cup in 2007 when they were knocked out in the first round.
Later the same year, the West Indies suffered the same fate when they lost to Bangladesh in the inaugural T20 Worlds in South Africa and failed to make the second round.
Those two wins in an otherwise dismal international record propelled Bangladesh to centre-stage and sparked a joyous frenzy in the cricket-crazy South Asian nation.
But success continues to elude Bangladesh and it will need a remarkable turn in fortunes for Ashraful's men to excel in the showpiece event of cricket's shortest format.
Bangladesh need to beat either defending champions India or Ireland in the preliminary round to make the Super Eights stage for the second successive time.
"We have a good team suited for Twenty20 cricket, so I am confident we can deliver if we play to out potential," Ashraful said. "We are not scared of taking on the best."
Bangladesh's chief selector Rafiqul Alam said his team's initial target was to repeat the 2007 feat and qualify for the Super Eights.
"I have a lot of confidence in this team which is a nice blend of youth and experience," he said. "The best thing is that the boys have played together for a long time at different levels and know their strengths.
"I am very hopeful that Bangladesh will play some quality cricket in England."
Desperate to see favourable results, Alam and his co-selectors have not hesitated to gamble with raw, young talent for the T20 Worlds.
Among the new faces are two hard-hitting batsmen in Shamsur Rahman, 20, and reserve wicketkeeper Mithun Ali, 19. Ali was picked in the 15-man squad despite the presence of frontline 'keeper Mushfiqur Rahim.
Bangladesh's fortunes will, however, still revolve around their experienced trio of skipper Ashraful, pace spearhead Mashrafe Mortaza and all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.
The Tigers will be based in Nottingham where they play India on June 6 and then clash with Ireland on June 8.
Ponting fires a shot:
Australia captain Ricky Ponting has warned England that playing Andrew Flintoff in the forthcoming Ashes series could be fatal if the all-rounder is not fully fit.
Ponting and his teammates flew into England this week ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 tournament which precedes the Ashes and the combative batsman wasted little time turning up the heat on the old enemy.
While Ponting claims he feels refreshed and ready for battle after four weeks away from the game, England are fretting over the fitness of Flintoff, who has been ruled out of next month's Twenty20 event as he continues to recover from knee surgery on an injury suffering during his stint in the Indian Premier League.
Flintoff was a key figure when England regained the Ashes in 2005 and, although he has rarely reached those heights, he remains a talismanic figure for Andrew Strauss's team.
Ponting, whose side won back the Ashes in 2007, believes that dependency on Flintoff could force England to throw him in when the latest series starts in July even if he isn't completely ready.
"That's going to be the great decision the England selectors are going to have to make come the First Test," Ponting said at Trent Bridge on Friday.
"Flintoff is obviously very important to their make-up and set-up. Maybe, as we saw in 2007, if he's not 100 percent fit then maybe that sort of impact he can have around the team is not there.
"2005 to 2007 we saw two completely different players and that had a lot to do with the level of fitness that he had under his belt going into each series.
"That's where they're going to have a tough decision to make.
"I don't know where Pietersen's at the moment, I'm not sure how bad his problem is, but they could face something similar there as well."
Flintoff isn't England's only fitness concern ahead of the Ashes.
Former captain Kevin Pietersen is also struggling to shake off an Achilles problem sustained during the IPL.
Although Ponting stopped short of condemning Flintoff and Pietersen's decision to play in the IPL, he believes he was right to stay away.
"There was obviously great incentive for those guys to go and play with the amount of money they went for and I guess they were always coming back from the IPL early for the Test matches," he said.
"For us it was a great opportunity to step away from cricket for a few weeks and make sure we're in the best shape we could be in.
"For me it was pretty simple, it was about how long our summer was and how much cricket we played.
"It was a good opportunity for me to have a couple of weeks off cricket and make sure that when I got here for the start of this tournament I was in the best physical and mental shape I could be."
England's Test side appear to be in good shape heading into the Ashes after a comfortable 2-0 series victory over West Indies, while Australia arrive with a slightly inexperienced team missing retired stars such as Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist.
However, the level of opposition offered by the West Indies was low and Ponting believes England will have to step up their game to have any chance against his men.
"From the England side, they played some very good cricket against the West Indies but the competition and opposition they'll be coming up against us is vastly stiffer than what they've faced in the last few weeks," he said.
Ponting is keen to put pressure on Strauss, who will be in charge of his first Ashes campaign and he added: "We haven't had the chance to see him against us as a leader and under intense pressure, and hopefully over the next few months we'll get to see that."
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