Harbhajan Singh failed to join in ODI return

Harbhajan Singh unsuccessful to make a reappear as the selection committee retains the same squad for the outstanding three ODIs, following a meeting at the Kotla on Monday.

With young spinners like R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who also is a honest bat, doing a good job next to England in this home series, the ignore is a clear sign to the senior off spinner to crush it out in the home circuit and recover form and fitness.

Harbhajan had a hot time in England newly before he came back home following an abdominal strain halfway throughout the tour. He appears to be slowly receiving back to wicket-taking ways in the Nokia Champions League T20, in which he led Mumbai Indians to victory.

Meanwhile, the T20 game on Oct 29th, though, sees changes with the out-of-favour Yusuf Pathan coming in and Robin Uthappa getting another chance to show his batting explosive, following an inspiring Challenger Trophy. Gautam Gambhir, meanwhile, has ask for a break to get married.


ODI squad: MS Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Parthiv Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Manoj Tiwary, Varun Aaron, Rahul Sharma, S Arvind

T20 squad: Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Raina, Rahane, Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Jadeja, Ashwin, Praveen, Vinay, Yadav, Tiwary, Aaron, Robin Uthappa, Sharma, Arvind.

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Pak cricket required to modify of guard: Wasim Akram

Previous Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram feels to alter of guard at PCB was "much wanted" and welcomed the appointment of Zaka Ashraf as the board chief.

"Ijaz Butt had lost the assurance of the cricket fraternity and to assign Zaka Ashraf is a good move. We must welcome change and Ashraf must be holding up well," Akram wrote in his column for a website.

"I have not met Ashraf but I consider he is very good organizer. The bank of which he is the president is doing extremely well. He should run Pakistan cricket as if he is running his office. You don't have to be a cricketer to run the PCB." Akram's proposal is that Ashraf must make a cricket group.

"But Ashraf must absolutely make a cricket group. That should be high on his program. It should consist of three or four ex-cricketers, who will make honest and impartial opinion and are not 'yes men'.

"The decision of the cricket committee must be appreciated and Ashraf must not poke his nose in everything. Ashraf's main challenge will be to put the house in arrange and I can only wish him well."

Akram, in his column, spoken his worry about the anxious times that Pakistan cricket is at present into.

"Pakistan cricket has gone all through a lot of disorder in recent times. It can ill-afford to have any more. The spot-fixing saga did not paint a good picture of Pakistan cricket and now the trial in UK is causing some discomfiture for sure. But sense must prevail as the media should not get approved away by the allegation Mazhar Majeed is making."

"Majeed is cause harm to Pakistan cricket. I hope better intelligence prevail as we are listen to a fellow who is not severe about his life. He has upset off names like Pervez Musharraf and Roger Federer. This is crazy. More than three-fourths of what he is saying is false!"

On the cricketing front, he said that senior cricketer Shoaib Malik necessary his selection in the national team during the series versus Sri Lanka.

"A Test series eternally provide the stage for players to show their worth. While someone like Umar Akmal will consider about his prospect and the wasted opportunity, men like Shoaib Malik must now try and validate the faith the selectors have put on him once more."

Akram feels that Malik is a helpful cricketer and should stay left from politics. "Shoaib has seen a lot of ups and downs in his career. He has been a former captain and understands the value of team spirit. I think Shoaib is a very useful cricketer as long as he knows that he wants to help out the youngsters and keep safe distance form politicking."

He also added: "Shoaib has been absent from international cricket for close to eight months now and this hole would have given him the time to believe about his future and how he must conduct himself.

"He must enjoy his cricket now. He still has concerning three-four years of cricket left in him, during which he must hold up his seniors, his captain and adviser the youngsters.

"Hopefully, he will do justice to his place in the young squad."

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Kohli, Gambhir power India to an forceful 8-wkt win

India 238 for 2 (Kohli 112*, Gambhir 84*) strike England 237 (Pietersen 46, Vinay 4-30) by eight wickets

World champions India worked up England once once more with bat and ball to win the second one-dayer by eight wickets on Monday and get a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Seamer Vinay Kumar return with his best international figures of four for 30 as a lackluster England were shot out for 237 in good batting circumstances at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground in New Delhi.

Virat Kohli then shattered a winning 112, his seventh one-day century, and Gautam Gambhir made 84 not out as the under-strength hosts surpass the unassuming target under lights in the 37th over.

Tempers flare in the second session between England's fielders and India's batsmen, forcing the umpires to interfere on at least three occasions.

India, exhausted by the nonattendance of seven World Cup-winning stars due to injury or poor form, will enfold up the series if they win the third match in Mohali on Thursday.

The hosts had won the first game in Hyderabad by 126 runs last Friday. A series win will help Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men make compensation for the unsuccessful tour of England newly where they were blanked 4-0 in the Test series before losing the one-dayers 3-0.

"I'm happy we're back to our winning ways, it's actually good," said Dhoni. "Of course the tour of England was not a good one for us, but the team show character to bounce back.

"We wanted a good start and Vinay and the other bowlers gave us that with usual wickets. Virat batted very well and Gautam played luminously.

"This was a good one-day wicket but I would have favored a bit more turn. I think a turning wicket is a sporting track in India."

Dhoni, ask if he was looking for a 5-0 sweep, said: "For us it's all about winning one game at a time and humanizing ourselves as cricketers, particularly with so many youngsters in the side."

Kevin Pietersen's 46 was the top score for England as wickets tumble at normal intervals after captain Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to bat on an easy-paced pitch.

Fast bowler Tim Bresnan gave England a lifeline when he detached both openers, Parthiv Patel and Ajinkya Rahane, by the seventh over to make India 29-2.

But Delhi team-mates Kohli and Gambhir delighted some 30,000 home fans with and 209-run attractive partnership that took India home.

England had made a catastrophic start, losing openers Cook and Craig Kieswetter before a run had been scored.

Cook admit the bad start exaggerated his team. "It's a long way back from zero for two," he said. "We got a lot of 30s and 40s but we know that does not win a game.

"Virat and Gambhir showed us how it's done. Credit to the way they played. There was one half-chance, but apart from that they gave us nothing.

"We prepared well in the practice games, but we have not translated that to the main games. We need to score more runs, and our fielding was not quite to standard."

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Kamran Akmal threaten to sue Zulqarnain Haider

Unnecessary Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal has exposed to sue another contentious keeper Zulqarnain Haider as he feels that the latter is malign his image.

Haider, who has made a comeback to first class cricket this period for the ZTBL team, suspected in an interview on Monday that Kamran and his brothers had twisted a lobby in the Pakistan team and were in charge for his ouster and that of many other players, as well as former captain Shahid Afridi.

Haider said that Kamran and his brothers had cause a lot of injure to the team and were concerned in intrigues and politics.

Kamran, respond to Haider's allegation, said he would not remark on the issue but had heading for his lawyer to file compensation next to the former Pakistan wicketkeeper as soon as probable.

"This time I am not going to go away him and I will be suing him. Either he has to verify his allegation or pay up," Kamran said.

The senior player insists that neither he nor his brothers had ever been concerned in lobbying in the team and were next to no player.

"If we were so great, would I be out of the team at the direct? Umar is also out of the Tests next to Sri Lanka. What is he talking about? I have always support every captain. Anyone can ask Shahid Afridi about this. Why should I be next to him?" Kamran added.

Critics pointed out that Haider's latest explosion might be due to the fact that Zaka Ashraf, the newly chosen Chairman of the PCB, is currently heading the ZTBL bank and might have understanding for him and this could pave the way for his (Haider's) return to the national team.

Presently, the wicketkeeper's slot in the national team has moved out to Adnan, the youngest of the Akmal brothers.

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