Ronaldinho not for sale, say Barcelona

BARCELONA – Barcelona president Joan Laporta said Sunday that Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho was not for sale and quashed reports that the club was negotiating with English giants Chelsea or European champions AC Milan.

Speaking after Barcelona’s 2-1 win over Deportivo La Coruna on Sunday Laporta said: “We are not going to sell Ronaldinho. We are not in contact with Chelsea, Milan or any other team.

“We are counting on Ronaldinho and you could see tonight that he fought like all the rest of the players.”

Chelsea, bankrolled by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, have been mooted as potential suitors along with Milan who have several of Ronaldinho’s Brazilian international team-mates in their ranks.

Ronaldinho has cut a forlorn figure this season with the 27-year-old Brazilian, contracted until June 2010, struggling to recapture his form and Barcelona’s demanding fans have jeered their idol.

There have been reports that Ronaldinho’s penchant for late-night partying is behind his below-par displays although the club have tried to keep a lid on the whole affair.

Ronaldinho, the 2006 Ballon d’Or winner, started for Barca against Deportivo on Sunday and converted a penalty, his sixth goal of the season, as his team moved to within four points of leaders Real Madrid with a 2-1 win at Camp Nou.

Twenty20 a real test: Clarke

Stand-in Twenty20 skipper Michael Clarke says Australia is determined to take a serious attitude into tonight’s clash against New Zealand at the WACA ground in Perth.

Compared to their lofty standards in Test cricket and one-day internationals, the Australians have so far underperformed in the ultra-abbreviated form of the game.

Clarke says the players will face the Black Caps with the same intensity they take into all forms of the game.

“I think you’ll see Australia continue to take Twenty20 cricket as serious as one-day cricket and Test cricket,” he said.

“I think it’s a form of the game that now stands alone.”

That attitude comes in stark contrast to the relaxed approach taken into the Twenty20 World Cup earlier this year, in which Zimbabwe pulled off a shock early upset to topple the one-day world champions.

Australia bowed out of the tournament in the semi-finals with a loss to eventual champions India.

Meanwhile Clarke says a transition to the captaincy is by no means a certainty.

He lost his way at Test level by getting ahead of himself and does not plan to make the same mistake again.

“I am trying not to look past this game,” he said.

“I have been given a chance for one game and I am going to try to make the most of that. I don’t want to look too far ahead, Ricky [Ponting] is our leader and a fantastic one at that and I’ll just enjoy the opportunity.”

Get ready for another ICL

ICL is here to stay. Buoyed by the success of Twenty20 games in Panchkula the Indian Cricket League is planning to host another tournament in March next.An agency conducting survey regarding the viewership of programmes being run on various TV channels found out huge interest generated by the ICL matches among cricket buffs. “While the current Indo-Pak series got 2 rating points, the ICL matches got 1.8 rating points,” Essel Group’s executive vice-president, Ashish Kaul, revealed here.

“The tournament will be held at the same venue (Tau Devi Lal Stadium at Panchkula) in March next and possibly one more in October,” Kaul revealed here.

“The number of teams likely to participate the next time is likely to go up.” Kaul said adding that the focus, at the moment, was on the Tau Devi Lal stadium, where more facilities would be added to make it a better venue.

“The ICL matches will reach there in the households in Europe, the USA, the Caribbean, South Africa, Sri Lanka and other countries,” said Kaul, elaborating about a deal signed for the telecast of the ICL matches. The deal will enable its matches being available on TV sets virtually worldwide.

“Gateway, Astro and Siffy, all well reputed companies, will arrange live telecast of matches. Astro is one of the biggest DTH telecast provider.” The ICL matches are already available on a number of Zee channels across the country.

“Ideally, we would like that all big cities in the country have their own teams like Chandigarh Lions or Mumbai Champs competing among themselves.

“The successful launch of the tournament is like a dream come true. We did not have much time at our disposal to prepare for the 17-day tournament. There was a lot of skepticism about its launch. We have proved a lot of people wrong. Despite huge time restraints, I think we have managed to put up a decent show. The infrastructure has been put in the shortest possible time which in itself is a record of sorts.”

“Now that a beginning has been made, we are aware of the problems and the unexpected glitches which will be taken care of in the next tournament,” he said.

Asked about the offer made to host the matches at Eden Gardens, he replied that certain problems cropped up due to which Kolkata was not thought of as a venue.

He said that the ICL got a boost with former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav rallying for the success of the ICL. Besides Yadav, leaders like Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Amar Singh and Shatrughan Sinha have already visited the venue.

BCCI banning ICL unfortunate, says Lara

Panchkula : Brian Lara on Tuesday said that Indian Cricket League is an excellent platform for upcoming players and BCCI closing the door of national team for ICL players was unfortunate.
“I feel this (restraining players) is unfortunate. Individuals must be given options and doors should not be closed on them. For any cricketer the ultimate dream is to represent ones country,” Lara said.

“Many of those playing in ICL have been on national squads earlier. However, I am optimistic that this is just an aberration and the Boards will allow players the option to play for their country,” he said.

Lara, captain of Mumbai Champs, one of the six teams featuring in ICL’s Twenty20 tournament, said youngsters have learnt a lot in the company of former international players.

“The confidence and motivation of some of the Indian players playing in this tournament is something to watch for. It is great to see these players learn valuable things here and I am sure four or five years from now they will be playing international cricket,” 37-year-old Lara said.

Besides Lara, former international stars like Marvan Atapattu, Chris Cairns,, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Stuart Law and Craig Macmillan are captaining other teams taking part in the 17-day long tournament, finals of which will be played on Sunday.

Lara’s Mumbai Champs were ousted as they lost four consecutive matches and the West Indian himself in poor touch.

“I feel I am still adapting to the Twenty20 cricket. It has been the first tournament and I hope things will not be the same next time,” he said.

India near cricket Test series win over Pakistan

BANGALORE, India (AFP) — Misbah-ul-Haq relished India’s attack with a second successive century to boost Pakistan’s hopes of forcing a draw in the third and final Test here on Tuesday.

The middle-order batsman followed his second-Test 161 with a brilliant 133 not out as Pakistan warded off a threat of follow-on to post 537 in their first innings in reply to India’s 626.

India were strongly placed to clinch their first Test series against Pakistan at home since 1980 after reaching 131-2 in their second innings at stumps on the penultimate day for an overall lead of 220.

The hosts lead 1-0 in the series, with the final Test heading for a draw.

India lost openers Gautam Gambhir (three) and Wasim Jaffer (18) before former captains Sourav Ganguly (63 not out) and Rahul Dravid (35 not out) steadied the innings with an unfinished 105-run stand for the third wicket.

Ganguly, who smashed a maiden Test double-hundred in the first innings, raced to his half-century off 57 balls with a six off leg-spinner Danish Kaneria and nine fours.

The hosts needed a couple of early wickets in the morning to raise victory hopes after Pakistan had resumed at 369-5, but had to wait for two sessions to wrap up the innings on a track where the ball sometimes kept low.

“Our first target was to avoid the follow-on and we did that. If India set a target then we will go after it. The pitch surprises me as the odd ball keeps low, but it’s getting better and better,” said Pakistan’s coach Geoff Lawson.

“I think this needs to be a five-Test series. It’s little unsatisfactory to have three Tests because it’s tough to come back after losing the first. India and Pakistan deserve a five-match series.”

India also earned a dubious distinction of conceding a record 76 extras in a Test innings, surpassing the previous highest of 71 by the West Indies against Pakistan at Georgetown in 1988.

The sundries were the third-highest contributor in the innings after Misbah and stand-in captain Younis Khan (80).

Misbah, who had played just seven Tests before this series since his debut in 2001, was Pakistan’s find of the tour as he remained a thorn in India’s flesh with scores of 82, 45, 161 not out, six and 133 not out in five innings.

The 33-year-old played a key role in two useful partnerships to thwart India, adding 144 for the sixth wicket with wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal (65) and 93 for the next with debutant Yasir Arafat (44).

“It surprises me that he (Misbah) has not played much, but he has been outstanding in this series. It needs an unplayable ball to get him out. He concentrates hard and has shown he is a world-class player,” said Lawson.

India’s 19-year-old seamer Ishant Sharma, playing only his second Test, claimed the last four wickets to finish with 5-118, but Pakistan had already saved a follow-on at that stage.

Needing 427 to make India bat again, Pakistan achieved their objective in the second hour of the morning during the Misbah-Akmal partnership.

There was no stopping Misbah, who continued to frustrate the Indian attack with a solid defence and a flawless shot-selection. He hit 17 fours in his 322-ball knock.

It was the second successive time Misbah and Akmal helped their team avoid the follow-on, having already done so in the drawn second Test in Kolkata with resolute centuries.

With the pitch offering little help to seamers and spinners, India found wickets hard to come by as they got just one in the morning.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was the lone wicket-taker in the morning, when he had Akmal stumped by Dinesh Karthik.

Akmal executed some handsome shots and added 33 to his overnight score of 32. He hit 12 fours in his eighth half-century.

India 1st innings 626 (S. Ganguly 239, Y. Singh 169, I. Pathan 102; Y. Arafat 5-161, D. Kaneria 3-168)

Pakistan 1st innings (overnight 369-5):

Fall of wickets: 1-59 (Hameed), 2-149 (Butt), 3-221 (Younis), 4-227 (Yousuf), 5-288 (Iqbal), 6-432 (Akmal), 7-525 (Arafat), 8-527 (Sami), 9-529 (Akhtar).

India 2nd innings:

Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Gambhir), 2-26 (Jaffer)

Toss: India