PCB forms board to look for coach

Former captain Zaheer Abbas has been named in a three-man commission to look for a new Pakistan coach.

The unpredicted decision by Waqar Younis to resign from the coaching post took everyone in the organization by surprise. The former speedster has done wonderful work in uplifting Pakistan cricket and it came as a shock to all when he decided to take a break.

Waqar will give up the job after Pakistan's tour of Zimbabwe, next month. Waqar had exposed that the decision is based on personal and medical reasons and he will make a return and serve Pakistan cricket again. In the interim, the search for a replacement is on.

The Pakistan Cricket Board, in the group, has also built-in its development manager, Intikhab Alam, and ex-Test wicketkeeper, Naushad Ali, while former Test opening batsman and now observer, Ramiz Raja, will assist the committee.

The PCB also revealed on Monday that the board will "look for coaches, both from within and outside Pakistan", and will start its work next week.

Read more »

Lillee: Rough road ahead for Zaheer

Australian pacer Dennis Lillee feel Zaheer Khan, having gone through surgery on his wounded ankle, will find it hard to create the same impact on his return to the game.

“I think Zaheer's injury happen due to stress. If he was 18 years old, his revival would have been faster. But when a player suffer a fresh injury at 33, he of course takes more time to get back into action," Lillee, who is in the city overseeing the MRF Pace Foundation training camp, said on Monday.

The Aussie has a lot of faith in Zaheer and wants his ward to perform. "I'm not a doctor, so it's not probable for me to point out if his international career is all but over," he added.

However, Lillee was glad for rookie India speedster Varun Aaron, who has been draft into the Indian ODI side for the ODI series against England. Aaron, an MRF product, is critically quick and is full of promise, feels the Aussie legend.

"He is a rare talent. I'm enormously happy that Varun has made it to the national squad. He is young and needs some time before he flourishes at the maximum level. He came at the MRF Pace Foundation as a 16-year-old boy and we all have put in a lot of attempt to groom him. I am convinced he would excel against England if given a chance," TOI report the Aussie as saying.

There have been many instance in the past when young pacers have shown great possible, only to fade away after some time due to injury. Aaron, who every time bowls above 145/kmph, had suffer two stress fractures in his back.

"Varun is still very young and his injury is totally healed. But he should be more careful now and he has to learn how to defend himself in spite of playing a lot of cricket," he said.

Read more »

Another warm up Indians win

Indians 161 for 5 (Parthiv 40, Rohit 29, Joshua Cobb 2-22) hit Leicestershire 146 for 7 (Andrew McDonald 44, R Vinay Kumar 3-29, A Mishra 2-19) by 15 runs



India produced an inspiring presentation in the field to beat Leicestershire by 15 runs at Grace Road in their final warm-up game.

Leicestershire, field 10 of the side that won the Friends Life t20 final next to Somerset on Saturday, were peg back to 146 for seven as they chase a victory target of 162.

Put into bat, India post 161 for five in front of a capability crowd of more than 6,000. Opener Parthiv Patel top-scored with 40 off 31 balls to get better his chances of making the starting line-up next to England.

Australian Andrew McDonald was Leicestershire's top-scorer with 44 before fetching one of three wounded for Vinay Kumar, while Amit Mishra took two for 19 in four tidy overs.

Abdul Razzaq hit a typically forceful 37 off 24 balls for Leicestershire but it was not sufficient to keep them up with the rate and they were left require 25 runs off the final over, which prove to be well out of their reach.

India, without Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni, made a scorching start to their innings as Parthiv and Ajinkya Rahane put on 52 in less than six overs.

Parthiv was the leading partner with a succession of fine shots next to Matthew Hoggard and Razzaq, but the latter finally broke the opening stand when he had Rahane luminously caught at short third man by Jigar Naik.

The opening of McDonald saw Parthiv go with the total at 73, having hit six boundaries. But, trying for another big hit, he was caught at deep mid-wicket by Will Jefferson.

Rahul Dravid made an elegant 29 but, for the first time in the warm-up games, Virat Kohli failed to reach a half-century, caught at long-on off the bowling of Naik.

Rohit Sharma boost the scoring rate with 29 off 21 balls, including two successive sixes off Wayne White, before asset out to McDonald off the bowling of Josh Cobb.

India's total was a aggressive one and the early departure of Cobb, who had his middle stump knocked back by Praveen Kumar; put the county side on the back foot.

McDonald and Jefferson briefly look to have them back in the game with some big hitting until Jefferson was out lbw trying to sweep Mishra.

McDonald's removal from office when he was bowled by Vinay Kumar gave India the plan and, when Razzaq went, caught in the bottomless off Ravichandran Ashwin, it ended Leicestershire's hopes.

Vinay Kumar finished with three for 29 but Mishra looked the most imposing performer. Gambhir, still suffering problems after his head injury in the last Test against England, is to have a further test before deciding whether he will play in the Twenty20 match at Old Trafford.

Read more »

Ishant Sharma delay his surgery to next year

Speedster Ishant Sharma will delay his ankle surgery until the termination of India's tour of Australia early next year.

Sharma was ruled out of the England-India ODI series after he continued a muscle injury to his left ankle during the third Test at Edgbaston.

"It [the tour of Australia] is a very main tour and nobody wants to miss it," Ishant told.

"So I'll get the surgery after completed the Australian tour. I am going to the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, where I'll stay for a week or 10 days to suffer rehab and seek a proper schedule. At the moment, I've been told to do intensification exercises.

"I have a muscle tear in my left foot, and there is also a bone impingement in my left ankle. Surgery is the only way out. But if I feel that now, my foot will be in plaster for about three months and the treatment in all could take about 6-8 months," the 22-year old bowler added.

Once called by Steve Waugh as the "next big thing in Indian cricket", Ishant spearhead India's attack in England but his team failed to live up to the opportunity after his senior bowling partner Zaheer Khan was ruled out due to an injury.

"You can't say our confidence went down. We were always in the game. But if a bowler with 10 years of knowledge isn't there, it affects the performance. We had England on the ropes in the second innings at Lord's, and if Zaheer was there and had taken a couple of wickets, the result could have been dissimilar," Sharma reflect on the power Test series.

"Bowling in different venue in different conditions teaches you a lot. In India, you know that after the initial burst, you have to wait for the third or fourth day to get amazing like reverse swing. In England, if the sun is out and there is no dampness on the track, it gets really very flat and that makes it hard to bowl on," Sharma said.

However, Ishant's decision to delay his ankle surgery is certain to raise many eyebrows particularly after what happened with Zaheer Khan on the England tour.

Read more »