Indian Premier League News

FIVE Pakistani policemen were killed today when masked gunmen fired on the Sri Lanka cricket team’s bus in Lahore in an attack that wounded several of the players.

Six members of the Sri Lankan cricket squad were injured when around a dozen gunmen attacked their bus as it drove under police escort to a Lahore stadium, witnesses and officials said.

Australian Trevor Bayliss, who coaches the Sri Lankan team, a team official said.

Lahore Police chief Habib-ur-Rehman said five people were killed in the attack by the unidentified gunmen, who fired AK 47s and rockets and hurled grenades as the team bus drove to the 60,000-seater Gaddafi stadium in the eastern city.

Sri Lanka’s sports minister said five players and an assistant coach were wounded, two of whom were being treated in hospital.

“Police are chasing the terrorists,” police chief Habib-ur-Rehman said.

“They appeared to be trained men.”

Continued here

Indian Premier League will bat off on April 18 2009 in Bangalore with the match between Bangalore and Kolkata. Mumbai will host the semi finals and the final, which is scheduled for June 1 2009.

April 18, 2009 : Bangalore v Kolkata at Bangalore
April 19, 2009 : Mohali v Chennai at Mohali and Delhi v Jaipur at Delhi
April 20, 2009 : Mumbai v Bangalore at Mumbai; Kolkata v Hyderabad at Kolkata
April 21, 2009 : Jaipur v Mohali at Jaipur
April 22, 2009 : Hyderabad v Delhi at Hyderabad
April 23, 2009 : Chennai v Mumbai at Chennai
April 24, 2009 : Hyderabad v Jaipur at Hyderabad
April 25, 2009 : Mohali v Mumbai at Mohali
April 26, 2009 : Bangalore v Jaipur at Bangalore; Chennai v Kolkata at Chennai
April 27, 2009 : Mumbai v Hyderabad at Mumbai; Mohali v Delhi at Mohali
April 28, 2009 : Bangalore v Chennai at Bangalore
April 29, 2009 : Kolkata v Mumbai at Kolkata
April 30, 2009 : Delhi v Bangalore at Delhi.
May 1, 2009 : Hyderabad v Mohali at Hyderabad; Jaipur v Kolkata at Jaipur
May 2, 2009 : Chennai v Delhi at Chennai.
May 3, 2009 : Hyderabad at Bangalore at Hyderabad; Mohali v Kolkata at Mohali
May 4, 2009 : Mumbai v Delhi at Mumbai; Jaipur v Chennai at Jaipur
May 5, 2009 : Bangalore v Mohali at Bangalore
May 6, 2009 : Chennai v Hyderabad at Chennai
May 7, 2009 : Mumbai v Jaipur at Mumbai
May 8, 2009 : Delhi v Chennai at Delhi; Kolkata v Bangalore at Kolkata
May 9, 2009 : Jaipur v Hyderabad at Jaipur
May 10, 2009 : Bangalore v Mumbai at Bangalore; Chennai v Mohali at Chennai
May 11, 2009 : Hyderabad v Kolkata at Hyderabad; Jaipur v Delhi at Jaipur
May 12, 2009 : Mohali v Bangalore at Mohali
May 13, 2009 : Kolkata v Delhi at Kolkata
May 14, 2009 : Mumbai v Chennai at Mumbai; Mohali v Jaipur at Mohali
May 15, 2009 : Delhi v Hyderabad at Delhi
May 16, 2009 : Mumbai v Kolkata at Mumbai
May 17, 2009 : Delhi v Mohali at Delhi; Jaipur v Bangalore at Jaipur
May 18, 2009 : Hyderabad v Mumbai at Hyderabad; Kolkata v Chenna at Kolkata
May 19, 2009 : Bangalore v Delhi at Bangalore
May 20, 2009 : Kolkata v Jaipur at Kolkata
May 21, 2009 : Mumbai v Mohali at Mumbai; Chennai v Bangalore at Chennai
May 22, 2009 : Delhi v Kolkata at Delhi
May 23, 2009 : Mohali v Hyderabad at Mohali.
May 24, 2009 : Delhi v Mumbai at Delhi; Chennai v Jaipur at Chennai
May 25, 2009 : Bangalore v Hyderabad at Bangalore; Kolkata v Mohali at Kolkata
May 26, 2009 : Jaipur v Mumbai at Jaipur
May 27, 2009 : Hyderabad v Chennai at Hyderabad
May 28 and 29, 2009 : Rest days
May 30, 2009 : First semi-final at Mumbai
May 31, 2009 : Second semi-final at Mumbai
June 1, 2009 : Final at Mumbai

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Press Trust of India / Mumbai November 27, 2008, 12:14 IST

Seven British citizens have been injured in the terror attacks in Mumbai, British High Commissioner in India, Sir Richard Stag, said today.

Britain would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with India in countering terrorism, he told reporters outside the Taj hotel.

Sir Richard described as “appalling and unjustifiable” the terror attacks in India’s financial hub. He said that there was no information on any British hostages.

To a question on whether the English cricket team currently touring India would go ahead with the series, he said it was too early to say now as the time for assessment would be once the situation returns to normal.

Pacemen Rao Iftikhar and Umar Gul took seven wickets to overshadow Chris Gayle’s brilliant hundred as Pakistan beat the West Indies by 31 runs in the third one-dayer to wrap up a 3-0 series whitewash.

Gayle (122) reeled off his 18th one-day hundred and second of the series to keep Pakistan’s total of 6 for 273 within sight, until Iftikhar caused havoc in his second spell with four quick wickets in Abu Dhabi.

The Pakistan total revolved around good knocks from Younis Khan (101) and Misbah-ul-Haq (79no).

Iftikhar was punished for 25 runs in his first spell of three overs before returning to pick up four wickets for nine runs in one devastating burst as the tourists slipped from 1 for 168 to 1 for 193.

The slump began when Iftikhar broke the dangerous second-wicket partnership of 151 between Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, who made a flawless 62 from 73 balls before he misjudged a leg cutter.

In the 35th over Iftikhar struck a double blow, first having the in-form Shivnarine Chanderpaul (3) caught at deep midwicket by Misbah and four balls later he bowled Xavier Marshall for a duck.

He also dismissed Shawn Findlay (5) while Shahid Afridi, who was hit for three sixes by Gayle, had Brendan Nash caught behind for 1 to leave the innings in tatters.

Umar Gul struck the killer blow having Gayle caught behind with the Windies needing 42 runs from 37 balls.

Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik described the clean sweep as a big step forward for his team.

“We have been short of international cricket this year and to return and complete a clean sweep to improve our rankings is great,” he said.

Gayle lamented the missed opportunities blaming the inexperienced batting for the defeats.

It is the fourth time Pakistan has completed a clean sweep in a one-day series against the West Indies.

-Reuters

Source

Australia’s cricket team has avoided a major terror attack in Pakistan thanks to a decision by the international cricket council to postpone their tour of the unstable country until next year.

At least 60 people have been killed and more than 200 wounded in the blast at the Marriot hotel in the capital Islamabad, where the team often stay.

Australia was due to play in Pakistan against New Zealand and South Africa in the champions trophy from the 12th of September until next weekend, but after all three countries raised security concerns and threatened to boycott the tournament the ICC chose to postpone the tour.

The Australian Cricket team flew out to India overnight ahead of their Test series in that country, which has also been struck with recent bombings.

Captan Ricky Ponting and his team will be getting daily security briefings while in India.

And Ponting says the advice is no risks are being taken, but it’s very worrying.

“I’ve had a lot of discussions with my wife today about those exact issues, and I’m sure most other players would’ve as well,” Ponting said.

“But our advice was not to go to Pakistan, and the advice received had in the last couple of weeks to tour India has been positive.

“So that’s all we can focus on, all we can worry about.”

DAVID Hussey is hoping an Australian-based Twenty20 league becomes a reality soon.

“If we get all the international players from Australia playing Twenty20 — and possibly a marquee player as well — it’ll definitely be a massive hit for Australian cricket,” Hussey said. “Word on the street is that they’re looking at it. Imagine playing in front of 50,000 at the ‘G supporting a Melbourne franchise?”

Hussey, whose experience in the Indian Premier League with Kolkata was explosive, is training with his Victorian teammates and will go to the Australian training camp in Queensland next week.

He hopes to be part of Australia’s one-day team to play three matches against Bangladesh in Darwin from August 30.

And he is desperate to feature in the summer action against South Africa and New Zealand.

“I don’t want to be pigeon-holed as a Twenty20 player or a one-day player,” Hussey said.

Tickets for the 2008-09 season go on sale on August 27. For full details go to www.cricket.com.au

Source

IT didn’t take long for the game’s junior officials to catch on to the potential of Twenty20, with the success of the Indian Premier League and monumental sums of money now on offer for masters of “hit-and-giggle” cricket prompting action at teenage level.

For the first time, Cricket NSW’s high-performance unit will stage a junior Twenty20 tournament next month. The inaugural competition, for under-15s, is limited to northern NSW, but next year it is envisioned a state championship could be held. It shouldn’t be long before juniors across the country compete in national Twenty20 tournaments.

“The international landscape is changing, the product is changing and the opportunities are becoming more diverse,” said Alan Campbell, Cricket NSW’s high-performance manager.

More here

Close on the heels of Shane Warne’s plans to take Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Rajasthan Royals to his state Victoria, Australia, for friendly matches, Virender Sehwag is taking Delhi Daredevils on a similar jaunt to Dubai and England.

“We are in the planning stage, but we’ll most probably be playing some matches in Dubai and England” Sehwag told reporters on Tuesday.

Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab have also chalked out similar plans.

Talking at a promotional event in Delhi, Sehwag said: “It was good fun playing in the IPL. We had no pressure and we all gave our best. When you give your 100 per cent the result will take care of itself.”

“We had a very good bonding in our team. It was an honour leading greats like Glenn McGrath, Daniel Vettori and Shoaib Malik,” he added.

Asked if the six-week-long tournament would have any effect on India’s performance in the other two formats of the game, Sehwag said he did not think so.

“Over the course of 44 days we just played 14 matches, and that too for just three hours each. It cannot possibly cause any fatigue.

“On the contrary I believe it gave us good experience playing against the best players from around the world,” said Sehwag.

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