Indian cricket star being treated for cancer in USA

Yuvraj Singh is undergoing chemotherapy to treat a cancerous increase that may have been bothering him even while he twisted his World Cup heroics last year.

The growth in his chest was initially consideration to be benign, but has recently been diagnose as wicked, and he traveled to the United States on Jan. 26 to seek treatment.

"It is a rare growth and is cancerous, but it has been detect in stage-one," Singh's physiotherapist, Jatin Chaudhary, was quoted as saying Monday by the Press Trust of India.

"Doctors had to decide whether to continue medicine or go for chemotherapy, but since parts of the cancer are just above the blood vessel of his heart, there was a danger that while running it could rupture. But it is 100 percent curable," he said.

Dr. Nitish Rohatgi, an oncologist in New Delhi's Max Hospital who has been co-coordinating with Singh's doctors in the United States, said the cricketer had been respond well to treatment.

"His growth is curable and he has been responding well to chemotherapy that is being administered since the end of January," Rohatgi told a news conference in New Delhi on Monday. "The chemotherapy will continue till the end of March and we are confident he will be cured."

Yuvraj Singh's mother Shabnam said in November that her son perhaps carried the illness through the World Cup in March and April last year, saying that the all-rounder suffered from constant "bouts of coughing and vomiting" during the competition and medical tests exposed a "golf-ball size lump over the left lung."
India's sports minister Ajay Maken has promised help to Singh.

"Wish Yuvraj a speedy recovery! Asking officials to find the quantum and nature of help necessary. Government should and will help him," Maken posted on Twitter.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has wished Singh "a speedy recovery" in an e-mailed statement, in which it also asked the media to admiration the privacy of Singh and his family members.

The 30-year-old Singh, man-of-the-tournament during last year's home World Cup-victory, last played for India during a home test series against the West Indies in November.

Singh has played 37 tests, 274 limited-over’s internationals and 23 Twenty20 internationals.

He played a large part in India winning the World Cup for the first time since 1983, playing in all nine matches at the 2011 edition and causal 362 runs at a standard of 90 and taking 15 wickets at 25 with his left-arm spin.

Singh is also famous for outstanding six sixes in an over off England pace man Stuart Broad during the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007.

Singh's absence on India's current tour of Australia has been noticeable. India was trounced 4-0 in the test series and won just one of two Twenty20 matches before lose its opening one-dayer against Australia by 64 runs Sunday.

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The Victorious winning India T20 vs. Australia

India 2 for 135 (Gambhir 56*) beat Australia 131 (Finch 36, Praveen 2-21) by eight wickets

From fervently opposing T20s in 2006 to being asked to stop the T20 overkill, the irony the BCCI finds itself in is blatant.

India finally broke all the way through for their first win of the tour thanks to a dazzling display in the field. Ravindra Jadeja provide the spark - and did no harm to his probability in Saturday's IPL auction - with a pair of run-outs as Australia's batsmen were constricted by intense pressure from the fielders, and were dismiss in the 20th over for 131.

From being World Champs in 2007 to No. 7 in the T20 rankings, the slide has been alarming. In a format where the better team is not always definite a victory, India has won a little more than 50 per cent of their matches till date.

In 33 matches as well as the Melbourne T20 on Friday, India have won 17 and lost 14. Not figures that reflect brightness, but absolutely more than average.

However, if we put their performances post the 2007 T20 triumph into standpoint, the bald patches become ever more visible, In 24 matches since, they have a win percentage of less than 50, including the ouster from the group stages of the 2009 and 2010 edition of the T20 World Cup in England and West Indies in that order.

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England clutch into lead as wickets fall over

England 104 for 6 (Strauss 41*, Rehman 3-23) lead Pakistan 99 (Shafiq 45, Broad 4-36) by 5 runs

PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf has assured that temporary coach Mohsin Khan will not be left "jobless" even if the board decides to replace him.

"We are thankful for his giving and we always praise his good work. Even if we make a decision to replace him as coach he will not be left jobless, as we will utilize his expertise in other assignments," Ashraf told the 'Express' from Dubai.

Mohsin apparently avoided meeting Ashraf in Dubai, as he was unhappy with reports about the board wanting to put back him with Australian Dav Whatmore after the current series against England.

The newspaper reported that Mohsin it appears that was upset with the board for the way it was treating him and had avoided meeting the chairman while he had a communication with the players in the stadium.

Mohsin also didn't be present at the official dinner hosted by the PCB chief for the national team, the report said.

Ashraf, however, deprived of Mohsin had any grievances with the board over the coaching issue.

"I don't think he is distress with us. He didn't come to the dinner because he was not feeling well and had informed us about this. As it is, any decision about who should be the coach is completely up to the board chairman," he said.

The former Test opener has guided Pakistan to series win over Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and England in the last four months and is upset that in spite of his results the governing body has been negotiating with what more, who is scheduled to reach Lahore later this month to apparently sign an agreement with the PCB.

The chairman, meanwhile, established that he had a one-to-one meeting with captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, in Dubai in which the senior player informed him about the problems faced by the players and also request him to increase salaries of players in the new central contracts.

"Misbah convey some issues to me which I have certain will be looked into when I get back to Pakistan. He also request that the board should give increments to the players which we will look into before presentation the central contracts," Ashraf added.

The PCB, due to its financial condition, has not given any increments to players for the last few years and Ashraf said any decision on giving cash bonuses to the team for winning the Test series against England would also be taken after the series.

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Updated Cricket News - Suresh Raina counting on improvement in the ODIs

Dissatisfied to see the Test side being demolish by a revitalized Australia, Indian middle-order batsman, Suresh Raina is counting on varying his team’s fortunes in forthcoming ODI series Down Under.

In another one sided concern away from home, the Men in Blue were dishonored by a 4-0 margin, on the lines of the same script which saw them capitulating against England, six months back. Back then Raina feature in the Test series but was left out after his technique next to bounce, came under scrutiny.

However, the ODI format offers release for the World Cup winners and the left-hander is keen to put on a good show to make certain that his side quickly recovers from extraordinary criticism.

“The one-dayers and Twenty20 games will go in a different way to how the Tests went. Hopefully we will give you positive results. In the World Cup we beat Australia in the quarter-final and optimistically we will do well against Australia again," said Raina.

Changes have been made to the squad which sees Test specialists such as Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Wriddhiman Saha and Pragyan Ojha jetting back home, making way for the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar and Raina, to take the added task of humanizing their away form.

The team will first battle the hosts in two T20s before featuring in the triangular series against Australia and Sri Lanka. While the Indians have been inspiring in the limited over front in new times, their successes have mainly come on their own backyard.

Their last away performance next to the English side resulted on a winless note but the flamboyant middle-order batsman has strained the importance of the series for the younger group, gearing to take substantial experience, which in turn will help them get ready for the 2015 World Cup, staged Down Under.

“There are a lot of youngsters who have come from India. They have played good first-class cricket and done very well at home. I played three four domestic matches and got a double century," he said. “We will play 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and the same youngsters would advantage a great deal.”

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