Dhoni wants Test to end in 3 days: Eden curator

December 2, 2012
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Kolkata, December 2: After having single-handedly fought a 'pitched battle' with BCCI and CAB for five days, Eden Gardens curator Prabir Mukherjee 'retired hurt' on Saturday, but not before lashing out at skipper MS Dhoni's demand for a rank turner for the third Test between India and England starting here on Wednesday.

Mukherjee, 83, reluctant to oblige Dhoni's 'unreasonable demand', complained of uneasiness on Friday night and was advised by his doctors to take complete rest for the next few days. Bowing to family pressure, the octogenarian - who lost his wife and daughter earlier this year - requested CAB on Saturday morning to grant him leave on medical grounds. But by evening, Mukherjee was back tending the Eden Gardens pitch following a sordid day-long drama.


It started with the veteran curator's now-show at Eden on Saturday morning. Instead, he addressed the media at his home during the course of which he took pot shots at Dhoni.

"Dhoni has asked for a square turner. This is immoral because you (organisers) are selling tickets for a five-day Test. On a square turner, there's every chance of a match ending in three days. Why rob people of two days' play? It's immoral and illogical to tamper with the pitch. I've not done it in my life," Mukherjee, Eden's curator for 15 years, said.

Reminded about Dhoni's preference, an agitated Mukherjee shot back: "If he asks for the moon, is it possible to give him that? The players are contracted to the BCCI and get paid handsomely to play good cricket. Their contracts don't stipulate that they would get this (turners). Climatic conditions vary from state to state. What you get in Mumbai, you won't get in Kolkata because the conditions and soil content are different," he added.

Pointing out that tending to pitches was his passion, not profession, Mukherjee said: "I don't want to be a party to tampering with the pitch at Eden Gardens. If anything goes wrong, I don't want to be hanged."

Mukherjee felt aggrieved after the BCCI rushed East Zone curator Ashish Bhowmick to Eden to "assist" him prepare the pitch. Mukherjee made it clear that he had nothing against Bhowmick. "He is a good man. Unfortunately he can't say I won't do this because he's just starting off. On the other hand, I'm at the fag end of my life," said Mukherjee, who also took CAB to task for not backing his stand on the pitch issue.

"They're threatening to suspend me if I talk about the pitch. This is the treatment I get after more than two decades of service at CAB," Mukherjee lamented.

Sensing Mukherjee's belligerent mood, CAB rushed treasurer Biswarup Dey to Mukherjee's home in the afternoon to pacify him. Dey escorted Mukherjee to CAB president Jagmohan Dalmiya's residence. It required the former BCCI chief's considerable persuasive powers to convince Mukherjee to return to the Eden Gardens later in the day and resume his supervisory role. Mukherjee was seen interacting with Bhowmick, instructing the ground staff, signalling the end of the day-long drama.


"There's no issue at all. We've sorted out the differences. Prabir Mukherjee remains the Eden Gardens curator. He will be in-charge of the Test match against England starting on December 5 and the India versus Pakistan ODI on January 3 next year," Dalmiya told newsmen.

He blamed the media for creating an "unnecessary" controversy. "I've been hearing all sorts of stories everyday created by the media. He (Prabir) couldn't come to Eden Gardens this morning because he wasn't well. I've requested him to come at least for a few hours daily to supervise preparation of the pitch," Dalmiya said.




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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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News Network
May 13,2020

May 13: With the Olympics postponed due to the coronavirus, top Japanese fencer Ryo Miyake has swapped his metal mask and foil for a bike and backpack as a Tokyo UberEats deliveryman.

The 29-year-old, who won silver in the team foil at the 2012 London Olympics and was itching to compete in a home Games, says the job keeps him in shape physically and mentally -- and brings in much-needed cash.

"I started this for two reasons -- to save money for travelling (to future competitions) and to keep myself in physical shape," he told AFP.

"I see how much I am earning on the phone, but the number is not just money for me. It's a score to keep me going."

Japanese media have depicted Miyake as a poor amateur struggling to make ends meet but he himself asked for his three corporate sponsorships to be put on hold -- even if that means living off savings.

Like most of the world's top athletes, he is in limbo as the virus forces competitions to be cancelled and plays havoc with training schedules.

"I don't know when I can resume training or when the next tournament will take place. I don't even know if I can keep up my mental condition or motivation for another year," he said.

"No one knows how the qualification process will go. Pretending everything is OK for the competition is simply irresponsible."

In the meantime, he is happy criss-crossing the vast Japanese capital with bike and smartphone, joining a growing legion of Uber delivery staff in demand during the pandemic.

"When I get orders in the hilly Akasaka, Roppongi (downtown) district, it becomes good training," he smiles.

The unprecedented postponement of the Olympics hit Miyake hard, as he was enjoying a purple patch in his career.

After missing out on the Rio 2016 Olympics, Miyake came 13th in last year's World Fencing Championships -- the highest-ranked Japanese fencer at the competition.

The International Olympics Committee has set the new date for the Olympics on July 23, 2021.

But with no vaccine available for the coronavirus that has killed nearly 300,000 worldwide, even that hangs in the balance.

Miyake said the Japanese fencing team heard about the postponement the day after arriving in the United States for one of the final Olympic qualifying events.

With his diary suddenly free of training and competition, he said he spent the month of April agonising over what to do before hitting on the Uber idea.

"Sports and culture inevitably come second when people have to survive a crisis," he said.

"Is the Olympics really needed in the first place? Then what do I live for if not for the sport? That is what I kept thinking."

However, the new and temporary career delivering food in Tokyo has given the fencer a new drive to succeed.

"The most immediate objective for me is to be able to start training smoothly" once the emergency is lifted, he said.

"I need to be ready physically and financially for the moment. That is my biggest mission now."

But not all athletes may cope mentally with surviving another "nerve-wracking" pre-Olympic year, he said.

"It's like finally getting to the end of a 42-kilometre marathon and then being told you have to keep going."

As a child, Miyake practised his attacks on every wall of his house -- and he said his passion for the sport was what was driving him now.

"I love fencing. I want to be able to travel for matches and compete in the Olympics. That is the only reason I am doing this."

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Agencies
May 31,2020

London, May 31: "Jacques Kallis, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli," replied umpire Ian Gould when he was asked to name the three best batsmen he loved watching when he was officiating as an umpire.

The former ICC elite umpire said that he was unlucky to not watch Ponting bat as much as he would have liked to.

"Jacques Kallis. I loved watching Jacques. He was a very, very fine player. Sachin. And probably Virat. I was unlucky in some respects. I didn't see the best of Ricky Ponting. He was an outstanding character, outstanding captain, such a proud Australian," ESPNCricinfo quoted Gould as saying.

"But his career was just starting to wane as I came on the scene. But he was incredibly helpful, so I'm disappointed I have to leave him out. Jacques Kallis, I could sit and watch all day, Virat, the same. And Sachin, if you want someone to bat for your life, he was the man," he added.

Gould had retired from the ICC's panel of elite umpires in 2019, after standing in more than 250 international matches over a 13-year career.

Over the years, comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have been growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli has 70 centuries across all formats.

While, Kallis played 166 Tests, 328 ODIs and 25 T20Is for South Africa and he is often viewed as the greatest all-rounder the game has seen.

Many pundits of the game find it hard to pick between him and Sir Garfield Sobers.

Across his career, Kallis scored 25,534 runs in his career and he also managed to take 577 wickets.

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