Krishna Chandran becomes second Keralite to play in World Cup Cricket

A Malayali has finally followed in the footsteps of S. Sreesanth to the competitive arena of cricket World Cup. Krishna Chandran, son of Ravindranathan and Shobha of Karat in Kollengode, Palakkad, realised a dream by featuring in the United Arab Emirates' playing eleven against Zimbabwe on Thursday.

Though the UAE lost the match by four wickets, Krishna Chandran, made an impressive outing. The right-hander scored 34 coming in at No. 3 and then took 1/59 off nine overs.

Krishna Chandran boarded the flight to Dubai after abandoning his dream of playing for India back home.

The first ever Malayali in the UAE team, Krishnachandran is an excellent all-rounder. He became a UAE national team member last April. Krishnachandran, who played Ranji for Kerala in the 2004-05 season, moved to Dubai to work for Global West Shipping Company there.

The young man who shone as the company’s executive and also the mainstay of their team later joined the firm DB Schenker. As he started playing for the team Fanatics, he became a regular in most of the cricket tournaments in the UAE.

He captained the Thissur, Palakkad teams in Kerala Cricket League (KCL) and Kerala Premier League (KPL) tournaments in the UAE. He was captain when Thissur became KCL champions last year. When Palakkad won the KPL championship in 2012, again he was the skipper.

Landing a job in Emirates’ Dnata Cargo, he became the Emirates team’s vice-captain in 2013. Meantime, he also bagged the best cricketer award.

Krishna Chandran's excellent showing in the domestic cricket matches earned him a berth in the national team. He made his debut in the ACC Premier League in Malaysia last year. He has appeared in seven ODIs and 16 List A matches for the UAE.

Apart from him, Goan native Swapnil Patil too plays in the UAE team.

World Cup 2015: Pak fielding coach quits after bust-up with players

Pakistan's World Cup campaign has suffered another blow following their defeat against arch-rivals India in the opening game. Three senior players were reportedly involved in a bust-up with their fielding coach who tendered his resignation On Wednesday. Ind vs Pak: Twitter Reactions | Fans Clash in Pub

Grant Luden, Pakistan's fielding coach-cum-team trainer, was reportedly unhappy over the attitude of some senior players during the practice session. He was also extremely disappointed with Pakistan's dismal performance during the 76-run defeat against India on Sunday.

According to media reports, the South African was at the receiving end during the team's fielding session on Tuesday. Senior players including Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad had a heated exchange with Luden during the session.

Following the misbehaviour by Pakistani players, Luden took the matter to Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan and tendered his resignation. However, the team management was unable to persuade Luden to withdraw his resignation.

The reports further suggest that the PCB chief has directed team manager Naveed Akram Cheema to resolve the matter between the Luden and the Pakistani players.

Luden, who was working with Bangladesh cricket team till May 2014, joined the Pakistan cricket team supporting staff on a two-year contract with the PCB.

The recent controversy only adds to the problems for the Pakistan cricket team that is already reeling with injury woes and suspected bowling actions in the coveted World Cup.

Agencies

Cricket World Cup: Zimbabwe defeat UAE in tight contest

Cricket part-timers the United Arab Emirates made a bold return to the World Cup after almost 20 years today, fully stretching Zimbabwe before losing by four wickets in a tight-finishing Pool B match.

Shaiman Anwar made 67 and 43-year-old veteran Khurram Khan 45 as the UAE scored 285-7 after being sent in to bat. After slipping to 167-5, Zimbabwe relied on Sean Williams' unbeaten 76 to win with 12 balls to spare.

Off-spinner Mohammad Tauqir, who became the World Cup's oldest captain at 43 and who works fulltime as an airline purser, took 2-51 as the UAE staunchly defended its total before Williams hit three consecutive fours for the winning runs.

We don't play childish tricks: BCCI deny reports of secret meeting without coach Fletcher

The Indian team management on Wednesday sought to deny a media report about chief coach Duncan Fletcher being ignored meetings and also not being kept in the loop about team strategy.

With the Indian team taking a day-off and players being left on their own to relax, there were reports of team's support staff led by Team Director Ravi Shastri having an impromptu meeting at the team hotel with Fletcher not informed about it.

"I can confirm that no such meeting was held. There is absolutely no truth that Duncan was not kept in the loop about a meeting of the support staff. I can only term this as a figment of imagination," team's media manager DR R N Baba said when specifically asked about about the rift among support staff.

The general notion since Shastri's appointment has been that it's a move by BCCI to clip Fletcher's wings after team's poor overseas record over a period of time.

In fact, according to team sources, bowling coach Bharath Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar, apparently went to meet their common friend in the evening during the time when the so-called meeting of support staff without Fletcher was supposedly held.

When contacted a senior BCCI official currently in India, said, "Do you people seriously think that Fletcher needs to be sidelined with these kind of childish tricks?"

"Fletcher has a contract till the end of the World Cup, which is only a month and half away. We don't think he will seek an extension. So if a man is leaving after the World Cup, do you need to do something like this?" the official asked.

PTI

Sachin Tendulkar cautions India ahead of South Africa game

New Delhi: Sachin Tendulkar has cautioned the Indian cricket team to guard against complacency ahead of its Cricket World Cup game against South Africa, saying the Proteas are a far better fielding unit than Pakistan.

India started their World Cup campaign on a winning note, defeating arch-rivals Pakistan by 76 runs at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday.

“It won’t be so easy to pick singles. They (South Africa) are much faster, their throwing arm is more powerful and their outfielding … they cover the area much better than Pakistan,” Tendulkar told ‘Headlines Today’.

Considering their sharp fielding, Tendulkar said India need to put up a strong opening partnership and have to be careful while taking quick singles.

Defending champions India clash with one of tournament favourites South Africa in their second game in Melbourne on Sunday.

The former India captain asked the team to watch out for Proteas pace spearhead Steyn.

“Without any doubt he’s their strike bowler. He’s bowled unbelievably well.

“You can’t pre-decide how to play Steyn, he could also have a bad day, you have to decide in the moment but you have to respect Steyn, you need to be watchful upfront but take your opportunities,” Tendulkar, who has played in a record six World Cups, said.

Tendulkar backed India opener Rohit Sharma to perform after his failure in their win against Pakistan and said opening will be the key for the Men in Blue in their next game against South Africa. He was also not worried about skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s form with the bat.

Sharma managed just 15 runs in India’s 76-run win over the arch-rivals at the Adelaide Oval yesterday, but Tendulkar urged people not to put pressure on the batsman.

“Don’t put pressure on Rohit, we should not put doubt in a player’s mind. Rohit doesn’t need to worry. Next time he will get it right,” Tendulkar said.

Regarding the captain, he said, “Dhoni’s form doesn’t worry me…there can be no perfect game. The dressing room must have thought we will get 320+ runs. 300 was a fighting total, if Pakistan had played better, it could have been close as 275-300 is a normal total now.”

Tendulkar also showed faith in the team and said it can match the best in the world.

“India needs to go step-by-step and don’t think about just the quarters but take it match by match.

“We can match the likes of Australia, South Africa. We can play even better then the way we played Pakistan. Our batting can do even better and our bowling needs to continue same way. The series in Australia will help us… playing against the top sides makes your game better.”

Tendulkar said he would favour to the same playing eleven who beat Pakistan to be fielded against South Africa also.

“I will stick to the same batting order and back our batting. The guys have started well, do not chop in too many changes,” he said.

Asked if Ajinkya Rahane should be brought at number four ahead of Suresh Raina if India lose a couple of wickets early.

“I would possibly look to do that if we lose a couple of early wickets. I would want to have Raina after 20th over or so. I would not want to see him in first four overs there. I would back Rahane there.

“I feel Raina is most dangerous in latter stages, post 20th over or so. He has got amazing shots and Rahane has temperament. If you have lost a couple of early wicket, then Rahane would play out those important overs and make sure that he lays solid foundation,” said Tendulkar.

Tendulkar also cautioned Indian batsmen against picking out spinner Imran Tahir and going after him.

“I do not think we should target any particular bowler as such before the game started. In your planning you definitely say that which are the areas we can attack and gradually start putting pressure on those areas. When you start taking things for granted, that’s where the red flag is, you might end up losing wicket.”

He said the Indian bowlers will have to bowl really against top class batsmen like Hashim Amla and A B de Villiers.

“South Africa has amazing batsmen, I am a huge fan of Hashim Amla along with A B de Villiers. Hashim is focused on to his game and there is no fuss around his batting, no drama, he comes he scores his runs, he gives his 100% and goes back to the dressing room. I have always admired him.

“AB is undoubtedly talented, very innovative and T20 has also taken his batting in a different level. He is definitely one of the top batsmen in the world. I do not think there is any weakness in him. He is a complete batsman according to me,” Tendulkar said about de Villiers.

Asked if the result of the India vs South Africa match would be decided by who bats better as both teams can score more than 300-run total, Tendulkar said, “They both can score 300 runs but I would not start the game thinking that I have to score 320 plus. Normally, you start the game and then gradually keep changing the gears.

“… if we have to do well in this tournament, we have to out-bat the opposition… so basically if you can go out and give your best in batting and score that extra run,” he said.

Tendulkar advised the Indian team to go step by step and not to think of quarterfinals now.

“I am the last person possibly to say everything has done now and think about quarterfinals. You need to go step by step, just about reaching quarterfinals you have to end well. Forget about all these things, just go match by match, look to win each and every match that you play.”

SBI set to take possession of Mallya’s Kingfisher House in Mumbai

State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender by assets, is set to take possession of Kingfisher House, one of the prime real estate properties of the group, intensifying its battle against Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines to recover its long-pending dues.

SBI has received a favourable court order to this effect from the Chief Metropolitan Court in Mumbai, according to a senior SBI official.

“CMM (Chief Metropolitan Magistrate), Mumbai has upheld our claim to take physical possession of Kingfisher House. We are proceeding with further formalities,” the official told News At Click.

The ruling came after SBI moved the court claiming the property under the Sarfaesi Act to recover at least part of its dues.

The grounded airline, which owes about Rs 7,000 crore to a clutch of banks, has an exposure of about Rs 2,000 crore to SBI alone, making it the largest lender to the firm. This includes an interest overdue.

Kingfisher House, one of the major properties of Mallya spread over 17,000 square feets, houses some of the key offices of Kingfisher. According to the SBI official, the bank has initiated the process to take control of the property.

To be sure, even if SBI manages to take possession of the property and sell it, that will help the lender to recover only a fraction of the total repayment obligations.

A consortium of banks, which lent thousands of crores to Kingfisher over years, have been struggling hard to recover their dues from Mallya.

The lenders have embarked upon a legal battle with the airline and its promoters across various courts after Mallya sought legal intervention on the matter.

Last year, Kolkata-based United Bank of India (UBI) had tagged Mallya as wilful defaulter, even though Mallya managed to get a stay from the Kolkata High Court on technical grounds. UBI is currently in the process of classifying Mallya as a wilful defaulter again.

A wilful defaulter is a borrower who does not pay back money to the bank even if he has the capacity to do so. Typically, such a scenario arises either due to the diversion of funds from the intended purpose or a case of financial fraud.

Once a borrower is tagged as wilful defaulter, the company, its promoters or directors, cannot access the financial system or take charge of operations in any other companies.

SBI too is going ahead with the process to declare Mallya as a wilful defaulter at the earliest even as the liquor baron continues to take on the lenders in court rooms seeking legal protection on the matter, the official said.

SBI had first issued a wilful defaulter notice to Kingfisher in September but since then Mallya has moved the courts seeking legal intervention.

Fans tweet their disappointment over Yuvraj's exclusion

KOLKATA: From lamenting how badly he will be missed at the 2015 World Cup to declaring that his career is already over, followers of discarded cricketer Yuvraj Singh showed a variety of emotions as they took to Twitter following the batsman's exclusion from the 15-man Indian squad for the quadrennial event announced Tuesday.

A disappointed fan, whose twitter handle read @abhijitmajumder, posted  "Yuvraj Singh's career is officially over. Dream while it lasted. Strongly feel Indian team will miss his spunk, experience in #WC2015. #Yuvi".

Rohit Srivastava, an ardent fan of the southpaw, could not understand why the prolific left-hander was left out, even though Ravindra Jadeja, who was reportedly injured, got the green signal.

"@YUVSTRONG12  Hard for me to understand, but good luck for future. #WC2015 #IndiaTeam" tweeted Srivastava.

Ashish Naik, another devoted follower of Yuvraj, posted that India had already lost the World Cup by dropping the talismanic all-rounder.

"No Yuvraj Singh in World Cup squad#wc2015 already lost. Poorest team and bowling attack. Most players failed in Aus," he posted.

When asked about Yuvraj's omission, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Sanjay Patel said his name emerged in the discussions but he wasn't considered worthy of selection.

Yuvraj was not among the 30 probables for the World Cup.

"Not only Yuvraj Singh, a lot of other players were also discussed apart from the 30, and after a lot of deliberation [the team was finalised] in the presence of all the five selectors as well as captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher, who were there on conference call."

Yuvraj has scored 8,329 runs in 293 One Day Internationals and pocketed 111 wickets. He was the man-of-the-tournament in India's triumphant run at home in the 2011 edition of the mega event.

Jadeja, Axar make cut for World Cup

MUMBAI: An injured Ravindra Jadeja and young left-arm spinner Axar Patel were Tuesday named in India's 15-member squad for the cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, beginning next month.

All-rounder Stuart Binny and batsman Ambati Rayudu were also included in the squad announced by BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel after a meeting of the selection committee here.

The selectors, however, ignored Yuvraj Singh, who was not in the list of the 30-member probables but had come into reckoning after his three back-to-back centuries in the Ranji Trophy.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan, who struggled in the test matches series against Australia, has been retained in the squad even as the selectors ignored Murali Vijay, Robin Uthappa and Manoj Tiwary for the high-profile event to be held from February 14 to March 29.

The 20-year-old Axar Patel, who has made a reasonably good impression in the few ODIs he has played, was expectedly picked in the squad, considering that Jadeja's fitness could be an issue.

The team, to be captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, has no major surprises with the selectors opting to go with four specialist pace bowlers -- Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav -- considering the pacy wickets in Australia and New Zealand.

"Jadeja at present is undergoing rehabilitation. He is doing wonderfully well. We had detailed discussion with BCCI pshyio (on his inclusion) and we are confident that he will return to training within 10 days," Patel said on Jadeja's fitness.

Patel said Yuvraj's name was deliberated upon but decided against selecting him.

"Not only Yuvraj Singh but other names were also discussed apart from the 30 probables. There were deliberations between five selectors and captain Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher were on the conference call," Patel said.

The selectors also announced the team for the tri-series to follow the Test matches in Australia. Apart from India and Australia, England will be the third team. Apart from the 15 selected for the World Cup, Dhawal Kulkarni and Mohit Sharma have been included.