Virender Sehwag pin hope on Ravichandran Ashwin

Virender Sehwag has hope that Ravichandran Ashwin, India's best cricketer in the Test series next to the West Indies, will carry on to present well and get more awards in future.

The BCCI had announced Ashwin's name for Dilip Sardesai Award after his series winning presentation next to the Windies.

Appreciating the Indian Cricket Board's choice to award Ashwin with Rs 5 lakh prize money, India's stand-in-skipper Sehwag said Ashwin was going in the right direction.

"It's truly good for him. I am truly happy for Ashwin because he has performed really well. It's good that his presentation is respected by the BCCI," said Sehwag.

"May he get more awards in future? When you get award from the government that's the biggest achievement. Getting a national award like Arjuna or Padma awards is the biggest achievement for a sportsperson.

"I hope in coming years he performs well. I am sure that Ashwin will get those also," he added.


Ashwin picked 22 wickets in his debut Test series, as well scoring a century in three matches against the West Indies and picked up two men of the match awards en route to being adjudge the player of the series.

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Ricky Ponting: Overhaul 10 years past due

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has back Cricket Australia's new renovate process saying "it was past due for last ten years".

Under force to hold his place in Australia's batting order, 36-year old Ponting said cricket was taking a more qualified track under the new regime led by chairman selectors John Inveracity and existing head coach Mickey Arthur.

Cricket Australia has announce series of sweeping changes in which turning round policy and selection process have come under huge scrutiny.

"I think it's great. I think it's the way the game should have gone a long, long time ago," Ponting told journalists.

"I think the way things have twisted out at the instant is what (former coach) John Buchanan was asking for 10 years ago."

"It's a much more professional move toward. "We've got quality people in and approximately the team and I think, even already now, we're starting to see just a somewhat different feel and a few different results as a result of that," he said.
"I think Australian cricket is absolutely on the right track."

Ponting also backed skipper Michael Clarke's comprehensive role in team selection and the new policy is bound to take Australian cricket to the top spot from the fourth position.

Ponting's thumbs up to the new CA policy comes after the former coach Geoff Lawson sharp criticism of the turning round policy in team selection.

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Oz director intersted to take cricket movie on India, Pakistan, Australia

 The world has suffer from fewer films being made on cricket, Australian film great Phil Noyce says, adding that he`s keen to make an India-Pakistan-Australia co-produced cricket film, if the money permit.

Noyce, who has been honored with a display at the 42nd International Film Festival of India (IFFI), was speaking to journalists Sunday at the festival venue.

"We need to make more movies on cricket. The world suffers from fewer films on cricket. The shine of the ball, the texture of the pitch, the swing, the strokes, all need to be captured in films," Noyce said.

Noyce, a self admitted cricket buff, said that the need of the times of a cricket movie featuring India, Australia and Pakistan, all three of which have global petition and are noted for intra-team competition.

"We must make a cricket film with co-production between India Pakistan and Australia," he said.

Noyce, along with French filmmaker Luc Besson, is being honored with a showing section devoted towards their films at IFFI.

A garland of films - "The Quiet American", "Clear and Present Danger", "Dead Calm", "Newsfront" and "Back Roads" - froms the part of Noyce`s demonstration being shown here.

He also wielded the megaphone for popular films like Angelina Jolie starring "Salt" (2010), "The Bone Collector" (1999) and Val Kilmer starring "The Saint" (1997).

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India can draw cheerfulness from the series

In the past, a player's seriousness was measured by his performance adjacent to the powerful Caribbean teams. A lot has distorted in the cricketing hierarchy over the last two decades and yet India can draw huge cheer from its 2-0 victory next to Darren Sammy's men in the three-Test series that finished with a exciting draw in the final match at the Wankhede Stadium here on Saturday.

The West Indies may no longer be the force it once was but during the series, the visitors show glimpses of talent and trust that tested the Indians and for M.S. Dhoni and the selectors, the visible gain are R. Ashwin's appearance, Pragyan Ojha's progress, Virat Kohli's recovery and the promise seen in men like Umesh Yadav.

Ashwin grab the opening and during these memorable three weeks, his life changed radically.

He set up victory at Delhi, flew to Chennai to shed his bachelor tag, re-connected with the squad at Kolkata, played his part in another success and notched a high here while bag five wickets in the first innings and scoring a 103 that helped India avoid the follow-on.

His bowling skills and batting calm were again visible during the second innings and the off-spinner with 22 wickets and 121 runs from his first appearance Test series has made the perfect start in cricket's most-demanding format.

Ashwin's spin-partner Pragyan Ojha, with a tally of 20 wickets, has learnt a lot over the last few months. A short period with Surrey bred belief within him and the left-arm spinner has worked on his expertise while sticking to his core strengths of a good line and length. Ojha is a spirited customer and his inborn violent behavior is a trait that he shares with Ashwin. The spin-duo may have walked away with the bowling honors and provisionally closed the door on Harbhajan Singh but the seamers led by Ishant Sharma, have played their parts. Umesh Yadav (nine wickets) and Varun Aaron showed that the probable seen in them is a reality, which should be nurtured.

The bowlers have sparkle while India despite its highly praised batting rare breed needed to find fresh batsmen with fiery hearts and steady willows. In the imminent Australian sojourn, the clapping that will trail Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman right from the time they step out to bat in the first Test at Melbourne, will reiterate respect and also reflect the plain fact of them being in their dusk zone.

The trio batted well in the series but there will come a time when they will bow out and it is very important for the junior crop to grab the imperfect chances now. Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina failed in that endeavor and the focus has shift to Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

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