Sahara to remain sponsor of Indian team

Sahara Group out bid telecom giants Bharti Airtel and Reliance to bag the Team India sponsorship. They have won the sponsorship rights at a staggering price of Rs 3.34 crore per match. The deal will continue till 31st December 2013.

The Board had fixed Rs 2.25 crore as the base price per match for the bids for all three formats for the men's outfit, Tests, ODIs and T20s, it was learned.

BCCI's marketing committee had met on Monday to wrap up the much-delayed team sponsorship details.

BCCI's deal with Sahara Group for team sponsorship is coming to an end next month-end and bids were invited from companies for sponsoring four Indian squads, including the much sought-after men's outfit.

Sahara had bagged the sponsorship for the Indian cricket team for Rs 400 crore for a four-year period ending December 2009, and agreed to continue for six more months as BCCI could not find any sponsors.

Source http://cricket.rediff.com/report/2010/may/31/sahara-to-remain-sponsor-of-indian-team.htm

Zimbabwe v India, Tri-Series, 1st match, Bulawayo

AP A file photo of Suresh Raina

On his captaincy debut, Suresh Raina won the toss against the other first-time captain, Elton Chigumbura, and chose to bat on what looked like a batting beauty. Given a 9am start, there might have been a case for bowling first and use whatever moisture might be available, but India chose to put runs on the board.

With a largely inexperienced squad to choose from, India went without Naman Ojha, Pragyan Ojha, R Ashwin and Pankaj Singh. Ironically, they went with a similar composition as the World Twenty20, in that they had in the XI two bits-and-pieces players, Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja. Not that they could be blamed: the selectors gave them only six specialist batsmen, that too only while considering both Dinesh Karthik and Naman Ojha as specialist batsmen.

While the batting line-up had few surprises, India handed out debuts to the fast-bowling trio of Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar and Ashok Dinda.

Zimbabwe's tournament didn't get off to a great start: they had to go in without Tatenda Taibu, who was out with an injured ankle. Craig Ervine was handed an ODI debut in his absence, and Brendan Taylor was to keep wicket.

India 1 M Vijay, 2 Dinesh Karthik, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Rohit Sharma, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Vinay Kumar, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Ashok Dinda, 11 Umesh Yadav.

Zimbabwe 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Charles Coventry, 3 Brendan Taylor (wk), 4 Andy Blignaut, 5 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 6 Craig Ervine, 7 Greg Lamb, 8 Graeme Cremer, 9 Prosper Utseya, 10 Chris Mpofu, 11 Ray Price.

Source http://www.cricinfo.com/zim-tri2010/content/current/story/461152.html

Games cars to have special number plates

Delhi is planning to release a VIP car registration number series for vehicles to be used by Commonwealth Games delegates.

This will help police and traffic cops to easily identify them, transport officials said.

The series is likely to start with the letters CWG, abbreviation used globally for the sporting event, followed by numbers, said a senior transport official.

The series will be exclusive to at least 2,000 vehicles which the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee plans to buy, the official added.

"Chief minister Sheila Dikshit proposed the idea so that we could mark the vehicles for easy identification. This way they will be offered priority services when security curbs are in place during the event," a senior officer said.

Transport officials said the department has asked the road and surface transport ministry to allow issuing a special registration number series which is permitted under the Motor Vehicles Act.

"The legislation is quite strict about maintaining continuity of registration number series. But Section 46 of the law allows exceptions in special cases," said a senior transport department official.

Another official said the department has already written to the ministry's joint secretary S. Dash for approval to the special series urgently.

A senior officer said some kind of identification for Games vehicles was required as heavy curbs would be under way for the general traffic during the event.

In the meantime, organising committee chief Suresh Kalmadi wants a heavy discount at the cost of Delhi's exchequer to buy the cars for delegates.

The organisers will get at least 2,000 brand new cars free of cost from sponsors for transporting delegates, a transport department officer said. But the sponsors will have to pay a value- added tax and registration fees on every car they buy.

Kalmadi wants the Delhi government to waive off nearly Rs 38 crore in such taxes and duties, said a senior finance official.

The tax holiday Kalmadi wants would dent the state exchequer that the government claims has already dried up in preparing for the Games. "Kalmadi has submitted a memorandum. The organisers have regularly sought such waivers, claiming it's our responsibility as the host state. We are fed up,"said an official.

Source http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/99058/Sports/Games+cars+to+have+special+number+plates.html

Indian cricket squad led by Raina leave for Zimbabwe

AP A file photo of Suresh Raina.

A second string Indian cricket squad, led by young Suresh Raina, today left for Zimbabwe where they will play a tri-nation series and two Twenty20 internationals against the hosts.

The team boarded a Jet Airways flight at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here for Johannesburg from where they will take a connecting flight to Harare.

India will begin their campaign in the tri-nation series, also involving Sri Lanka, on May 28 against the hosts at Bulawayo and then play Sri Lanka on May 30 at the same venue.

India's next two matches will be held in Harare -- against Zimbabwe on June 3 and Sri Lanka on June 5.

The final of the tri-series will be held on June 9 in Harare.

Anil Ambani eyes Team India sponsorship

Anil Ambani may not own an Indian Premier League team like his brother Mukesh yet, but the industrialist is vying for other things - Team India's sponsorship.

Reports suggest that the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group has bought the tender form floated by the BCCI for Team India's sponsorship. Though no BCCI or ADAG official spoke on record about Ambanis interest in Team India's sponsorship, sources said that the industrial house purchased the form paying Rs 5 lakh on Monday, the day it went on sale.

This is the second tender process initiated by the BCCI in six months. The last attempt in December 2009 evoked no response as the BCCI had reportedly put a high base price of Rs 3 crore for the sponsorship.

Anil Ambani is also one of the major sponsors for the International Cricket Council, having reportedly invested about $100 million for an eight-year deal. This time, however, the situation looks different as Team India's sponsorship means the logo of the company will be prominently flashed on Indian cricketers' jersey.

Before Anil, his elder brother Mukesh entered Indian cricket by buying the IPL team Mumbai Indians. Mukesh owned Reliance Industries Limited purchased the rights for the Mumbai franchise for a total of Rs. 441 crore during the first IPL auction in 2008.

The BCCI floated the tenders as Team India's sponsorship deal with Sahara is about to end in a month. It is not known if Sahara will continue its association with the Indian team as they recently bought the new Pune IPL franchise for Rs 1700 crore.

Earlier, they had bagged the sponsorship for the Indian team for Rs 400 crore for a four-year period that ended on December 2009. However, they had agreed to continue for 6 more months as BCCI could not find any sponsors. However, it is likely that the company will buy the form too.

Two-wheeler major Hero Honda are also reportedly in the fray. They have been title sponsors for a number of cricket series and also title sponsors of the IPL team Delhi Daredevils. Hero Honda officials were not available for comments, but industry sources said they are likely to bid for deal.

The BCCI has set a base price of Rs 2.25 crore per match while inviting bids to sponsor the team for a four-year period, beginning with the 2010-2011 season. The BCCIs tender notice, which also invited bids for sponsoring the India A, India Under-19 and the women's teams, opened on Monday while the deadline for bids closes on May 29. The bids would be opened and awarded at the Boards marketing committee meeting in Mumbai on May 31.

No ulterior motive behind help: Anand

Historically, politics and individual animosity marked world chess battles over the years. But in a marked departure from practice, world champion Viswanathan Anand and wife Aruna would like to stress that all the controversies that erupted before the world chess title match in Sofia were in fact figments of imagination.

Back in Chennai, the champion told in a chat with TOI on Monday that he never suspected any 'ulterior motives' behind the moves of Garry Kasparov or Magnus Carlsen to help him. On the contrary, he thought it was a 'generous gesture'.

History was made in Sofia when two former world champions Garry Kasprov and Vladimir Kramnik voluntarily helped Anand along with world No 1 Magnus Carlsen. About 15 years ago, the same Kasparov used 'intimidatory' tactics over the board, banging the clock and door after each move to rattle the Indian in the PCA title match in New York and it was quite unbelievable that he would come forward to offer advice to Anand against Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.

Magnus Carlsen's case is somewhat different as he is known to be Anand's friend ever since the Norwegian first offered him help before his Mexico World championship. Kramnik might have old scores to settle as Topalov had alleged during their face-off in 2006 that the Russian had access to external help while he was in toilet during the games.

However, the fascinating part of Anand's 'human cluster' of help is that it came without Anand asking for it. Has chess become too transparent so that the players get involved in a game, not looking at it just as a sporting encounter but a continuous debate between schools of thought? "I don't want to read too much into the help. I was pretty lucky that they all helped," said Anand, refusing to be drawn to the possibility that Carlsen, who is closely working with Kasparov, is fast emerging as a challenger to the Indian and he might have wanted to have a closer look at how the champion prepared.

Anand repeated that the trio coming forward to help is historic and he found no reason beyond the actual deed for it, which is typical of his philosophy. "I don't want to dwell too much on whether it was against somebody or completely for me but I am touched by it," he explained and recalled how during the world championship match in 1978 in the Philippines, Anatoly Karpov received the Russian govt's support and with it also the luxury of a couple of former world champions helping him against defector Viktor Korchnoi.

But that was a totally different scenario with politics playing the key role. The current world champion has not thought about whether he should return the favour to any of them, barring Kasparov, who is no longer active. "There is no clear understanding in the help that they offered me. Anyway, one thing is clear, in 2012 I don't have to help any of them. In future, I don't know," the world champion cleared the air.

The champion revealed that one of his decisions, months before the match started, was to shut himself out from all websites and news that did not help. "My team did a good job, They showed me only what I needed to see and the rest was filtered out. I basically stayed in a bubble," he said.

Aruna, who worked behind the scene, seconded him saying her job was made to look more difficult, especially by the Bulgarian media ever since she went there on inspection two months before the match. "When I asked for a curtain, which is normal in the contract, they all surrounded me focusing the camera and the websites reported Anand was scared of Topalov," recounted Aruna. "The atmosphere was heavy with each of my conditions attracting unwarranted attention: they saw more than what we meant."

Inter Chief Massimo Moratti Ready To Usher In Post-Jose Mourinho Era

Massimo Moratti has suggested that life without Jose Mourinho is not a cause for concern at Inter.

The ‘Special One’ is expected to quit the club to join Real Madrid after leading the Serie A giants to an unprecedented treble this season.

Speaking to Sky Sport Italia a day after his team were crowned European champions in Madrid, the Nerazzurri President insists that he has come to terms with the Portuguese's decision.

He said: “I had thought there was no such risk, because I know how professional he is.

“Of course, the timing was not the best and we have yet to speak frankly about this.

“I think it’s a decision, a temptation, which stems from the fact that he wants to prove how good he is everywhere in the world.

“I think he is really attracted by this challenge, that’s what really matters for him, even more than money.”

Inter have already begun the search for a new boss and Moratti confirms that former San Siro favourite Sinisa Mihajlovic is in the frame.

“There are two or three men who can manage Inter,” he explained.

“You have already identified them. They all have one thing in common and that’s courage.

“We must find a coach who has a strong personality and one who won’t be Mourinho’s puppet.

“Mihajlovic has character and is respected by his players.

“I also appreciate the man and he has maintained a good relationship with me.

“But it does not mean that this will be my choice, even though I would like to make it, out of sympathy and appreciation [for him]. But, honestly, I have not made a decision yet.”

Somdev makes main draw of French Open

Somdev Devvarman on Friday became the first Indian to make the men's singles main draw at the French Open in 13 years as he breezed past Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-1 here.

Leander Paes was the last Indian to play in the men's singles at Roland Garros in 1997 and he lost in the second round to Magnus Norman.

Somdev, whose only previous Grand Slam singles entry was last year's US Open where he lost to 24th seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber in four sets, failed to make it to the other three majors.

Somdev, who turned professional in 2008, however, qualified for the men's doubles at Wimbledon along with South African Kevin Anderson. As luck would have it, they ran into fourth-seeded Indo-Bahamian pair, Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles, and gave them a good fight before bowing out in four sets.

The 109-ranked Somdev, who had tought three-setter in the first round against Czech Jiri Vanek, had an easy outing against Mannarino Friday. After a keenly contested first set, lasting 58 minutes, the sixth-seeded Indian took the second set in a jiffy in 27 minutes.

Left-handed Mannarino, ranked 289, made the first round here in 2008 and 2009. He had problems with his serve in the first set and though he served a lot better in the second there was no stopping Somdev.

Shahrukh to perform at IIFA Awards 2010

Salman Khan had said that he would perform at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards 2010 to be held in Colombo from June 3-5. The latest we hear is that his arch-rival Shahrukh Khan is also performing at the event.

Rubbishing the reports that Shahrukh might not attend the film festival due his cold relationship with IIFA brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the organisers of the event revealed that Shahrukh would perform at the event. He would also captain the Indian celebrity cricket team that would play against the Sri Lankan cricket team.

The event will also witness Indian celebrities like Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Riteish Deshmukh and Vivek Oberoi perform. It is said that the award function would be hosted by Boman Irani, Riteish Deshmukh and Lara Dutta.

Spare Dhoni, he's still one of the best skippers: Murali

India's Twenty20 World Cup flop show notwithstanding, Mahendra Singh Dhoni remains one of the best skippers in international cricket and it is unfair to criticise him on the basis of just one bad tournament, said Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan.

World's highest Test wicket-taker both in Tests and ODIs, who plays under Dhoni in the Indian Premier League champion side Chennai Super Kings, said he was amused to see the outrage that greeted India's early exit from the showpiece event in the West Indies.

"He is one of the best captains. He won the IPL for Chennai Super Kings. A week later India were knocked out of the World Cup and in India when you win you are the best but when you lose you become the worst," Muralitharan quipped.

"But you cannot become the worst in just a week.

Friend Sachin's healing touch

Having been Sachin Tendulkar’s roommate as a 15-year-old schoolboy, Dalbir Singh should have been in the news for his exploits on the cricket field.

But a ghastly motorcycle accident in 2002 ended the sporting career of this Gandhinagar all-rounder. And he hit the headlines recently only after police officials rescued him from his tormenting wife Rajvinder Kaur who had allegedly kept him locked up in a small room in an apartment near InfoCity for a year.

While Dalbir totally dropped off the radar, Sachin went on to become the god of Indian cricket. But the god did not forget his old friend with whom he practised and played boyish pranks. Sachin fully sponsored Dalbir’s hip replacement surgery which he underwent at Shalby Hospitals on Wednesday.

The master blaster, who came to Ahmedabad for a promotional event, even visited his friend in hospital after the surgery. Dalbir was referred to Shalby by Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) medical advisor Anant Joshi at Sachin’s insistence. The 37-year-old Dalbir was a promising all-rounder in the domestic scenario. In 2002, Dalbir’s motorcycle collided with a tanker which left him in coma for eight months after suffering multiple brain injuries and he even lost the power to walk.

When Sachin learnt about Dalbir’s condition, he got in touch with him and got Joshi involved. "Dalbir Singh had a serious accident leading to head injury few years back due to which he was on a prolonged dose of steroids," hospital sources said. "This resulted in loss of blood supply to the hip bone. The surgery lasted two hours." Sachin spent about 10 minutes with Dalbir before catching a flight to Mumbai.

I am still learning: Dave Whatmore

He was at the helm when Sri Lanka won its maiden ODI World Cup title in 1996 and is also credited with making Bangladesh a competitive side but Australian coach Dav Whatmore still considers himself more of a "learner" then an "expert".

Whatmore, who is currently the coach of Indian Premier League side Kolkata Knight Riders, said he is still learning.

"I am not a total expert. I am still learning," Whatmore said in his inaugural address at a seminar on 'contemporary coaching practices' organised by the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) in Kochi.

Lauding KCA, Whatmore said the association was keen to make "contribution to Indian cricket by raising the standard of Kerala cricket."

"I am here to interact and share my knowledge and also gain one or two things from you," he said.

KCA Secretary TC Mathew said to tap the state's potential, the association would be starting cricket academies in all the 14 districts of the state. Two academies -- one at Thiruvananthapuram and the other at Ernakulam -- have already started functioning, he said.

Laxman bags gold in Commonwealth Chess

It was a big day for Grandmaster RR Laxman. The Chennai based player clinched his career best win and bagged the gold after beating GM Pablo Lafuente of Argentina at the Parsvnath Commonwealth Chess Championship. “This is my best performance so far,” said Laxman after the game. Playing with black, Laxman caught Lafuente off-guard in the endgame. The championship concluded on Tuesday.

In the open category, Grandmaster Maletin Pavel of Russia signed peace with International Master Lalith Babu on the top board to win the title. Both Pavel and Laxman had nine points after 11 rounds, but the former had the better tiebreak record on Bucholz count. The Russian was not in contention in the Commonwealth category.

Grandmaster and a former world junior champion, Abhijeet Gupta, finished third best overall, and second in the Commonwealth category, after settling for a draw with Russian GM Dmithry Bocharov. Gupta had garnered 8.5 points in the tournament. IM Lalith Babu won the Commonwealth bronze, with a fifth-place finish overall. He also bagged the junior (Under-20) title.

In the women’s category, D Harika outwitted IM Tania Sachdev on account of superior tiebreak. Tania entered the final round with a lead of half-a-point, but a draw in the final round saw Harika clinch the gold. S Meenakshi had to be content with the bronze. Grandmaster and second seed, Parimarjan Negi, was placed second in the u-20s, after playing out a draw with Tejas Bakre while the bronze in that category went to Ashwin Jayaram.

T20 winning captain Paul Collingwood back in team as regular trooper

AP England's bowler Ryan Sidebottom celebrates after taking the wicket of Australia's opener Shane Watson in the first over of the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup final in Barbados. England beat Australia on Sunday to win their first World Cup in any format.

England's Twenty20 World Cup winning captain Paul Collingwood will join the team as a regular player at Lord's on Monday for the first Test against Bangladesh.

Collingwood will not even be the vice-captain of the England cricket team. Andrew Strauss will be back as skipper, with Alastair Cook his No. 2.

Strauss has not led England for four months. In that time England played in Abu Dhabi, Bangladesh and the Caribbean, while he has been struggling to make early-season runs for Middlesex, The Sun reports.

"I don't think Straussy will have trouble going back into the dressing room, despite not being part of this victory. He is our leader at the moment.

"Colly has become a lot more confident. He has led from the front with his attitude," the paper quoted Flower, as saying.

Bangladesh on the other hand are confident that their captain Shakib Al Hasan will recover from chicken pox to face England in the first Test at Lord's.

BCCI issues show-cause notices to errant players

Six Indian cricketers who were involved in a pub scrap with fans (at Tequila Joe's in St Lucia) last Tuesday, were issued show-cause notices on Tuesday by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

BCCI secretary N Srinivasan will issued the show-cause notice to Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla and Zaheer Khan at board president Shashank Manohar's behest.

TOI has also learnt that four of these players Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra and Ravindra Jadeja are also to be omitted from the side that will be chosen to tour Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup next month.

The officials were however happy with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's handling of his team though they felt that he had erred in cricketing decisions.

"The board has no issue with the captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the president doesn't doubt his integrity," said a source.

Biswal, on Saturday, had submitted his report to the board detailing the happenings of St Lucia and also the reasons behind India's poor performance in the tournament. The manager's first-hand information of the brawl that happened between the Indian players and some fans from the US over dinner has led to strong action by the board.

Sources added that there were a few more players than those being show-caused at the pub but they had no role to play in the fracas and hence will be left with a warning for now.