After five years, Pakistan team in Bangalore

December 23, 2012

Pak_BangBangalore, December 23: Amid unprecedented security arrangements, the Pakistan cricket team arrived here on Saturday night for its first bilateral series since the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008.

Following the brutal carnage, India had cancelled all the bilateral engagements with its neighbours and had excluded Pakistan players from the cash-rich Indian Premier League.


More than four years after the horrific incident allegedly plotted in Pakistan and relations between the two countries seemingly on the mend, Pakistan will begin its Indian campaign with a T20 International here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, that has turned into a fortress for the December 25 match.

Pakistan is scheduled to play another T20 in Ahmedabad (December 28) followed by three one-dayers in Chennai (December 30), Kolkata (January 3) and Delhi (January 6).


The last time the two archrivals met was in Sri Lanka during the World T20 in October, a match India won comfortably. Prior to this, the M S Dhoni-led team had tamed Pakistan in Mohali in the semifinal of the 2011 World Cup which eventually it won in Mumbai, beating Sri Lanka in the final match.

This, however, is the first bilateral series after the visit by a Pakistani team towards the end of 2007. This was in fact India’s turn to travel across the border for a return series but there has been no international cricket in Pakistan since the March 2009 attack on a bus carrying the Sri Lankan team and India were reluctant to play in a “neutral venue.”


After months of discussions between the two cricket boards, India agreed to host Pakistan for a short series, squeezing it in the gap between England T20s which concluded on Saturday and ODIs that begin on January 11.

Notwithstanding the huge excitement that the rubber has generated, there have been a few fringe elements which are up in arms against India hosting the arch-rivals. Threats like laying siege to the stadium to digging the playing arena haven’t been taken lightly from those responsible for the security. The organisers at the Chinnaswamy Stadium have used iron railings to barricade an area of about 30 metres from the pitch as a precautionary measure.

While local outfits have made their disapproval clear, the Taliban, too, described the Pakistan team's tour as a “disgusting gesture” and held out threats of violence against India.

In a statement emailed to journalists, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan said the “visit of Pakistani team to India is a disgusting gesture. Pakistan's government is doing all this on the orders of their god America and in fear of India. God willing, mujahideen of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan will soon clear the debt of blood of martyrs with India.”




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News Network
June 18,2020

Jun 18: Sri Lanka "sold" the 2011 World Cup final to India, the country's former sports minister said on Thursday, reviving one of cricket's most explosive match-fixing controversies. Mahindananda Aluthgamage, who was sports minister at the time, is the second senior figure to allege the final was fixed, after 1996 World Cup-winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga. "I tell you today that we sold the 2011 World Cup finals," Aluthgamage told Sirasa TV. "Even when I was sports minister I believed this."

Aluthgamage, sports minister from 2010 to 2015 and now state minister for renewable energy and power, said he "did not want to disclose" the plot at the time.

"In 2011, we were to win, but we sold the match. I feel I can talk about it now. I am not connecting players, but some sections were involved," he said.

Sri Lanka lost the match at Mumbai's Wankhede stadium by six wickets. Indian players have strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Ranatunga, who was at the stadium as a commentator, has previously called for an investigation into the defeat.

"When we lost, I was distressed and I had a doubt," he said in July 2017. "We must investigate what happened to Sri Lanka at the 2011 World Cup final."

"I cannot reveal everything now, but one day I will. There must be an inquiry," added Ranatunga, who said players could not hide the "dirt".

Sri Lanka batted first and scored 274-6 off 50 overs. They appeared in a commanding position when Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar was out for 18.

But India turned the game dramatically, thanks partly to poor fielding and bowling by Sri Lanka, who were led by Kumar Sangakkara.

Sri Lankan cricket has regularly been involved in corruption controversies, including claims of match-fixing ahead of a 2018 Test against England.

Earlier this month, the Sri Lankan cricket board said the International Cricket Council was investigating three unnamed former players over alleged corruption.

Sri Lanka introduced tough penalties for match-fixing and tightened sports betting restrictions in November in a bid to stamp out graft.

Another former sports minister, Harin Fernando, has said Sri Lankan cricket was riddled with graft "from top to bottom", and that the ICC considered Sri Lanka one of the world's most corrupt nations.

Former Sri Lankan fast bowler Dilhara Lokuhettige was suspended in 2018 for corruption relating to a limited-overs league.

He was the third Sri Lankan charged under the ICC anti-corruption code, following former captain and ex-chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya, and former paceman Nuwan Zoysa.

Jayasuriya was found guilty of failing to cooperate with a match-fixing probe and banned for two years. Zoysa was suspended for match-fixing.

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News Network
January 2,2020

New Delhi, Jan 2: On the first day of the New Year 2020, Hardik Pandya announced his engagement with Serbian actor Natasa Stankovic.

The cricketer took to Instagram to share a photo with the actor and captioned the post: "Mai tera, Tu meri jaane, saara Hindustan. 01.01.2020 #engaged".

The 26-year-old shared three pictures and a short clip on the social media platform. In one photo, Stankovic can be seen flaunting her ring.

The couple got engaged in Dubai and were seen taking a ferry ride along with close friends.

On work front, Stankovic was last seen in a song from Bollywood movie The Body starring Emraan Hashmi and Rishi Kapoor. She had also made it to the finals of the TV show Nach Baliye with her ex-boyfriend Aly Goni.

Stankovic first became a household name after appearing as a contestant on famous reality show 'Bigg Boss 8'.

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Headingley, Jan 25: England have become the first team in the world to score 500,000 runs in Test cricket. They achieved the feat during the ongoing fourth and final Test against South Africa being played at The Wanderers.

On Friday - the opening day of the Test match -- England captain Joe Root's single through the covers took the Three Lions to a landmark 500,000 run-mark in the longest format of the game. They achieved the feat in their 1022nd Test match.

Australia comes second in the list, with 432,706 runs in 830 Tests. India, meanwhile, are third, with 273,518 runs in 540 Tests, followed by West Indies (270,441 runs in 545 Tests).

In the third Test played at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth, England had become the first team to play 500 Test matches on foreign soil. Australia are the second team to play the most away Test with 404 matches they have played so far.

India have played 268 Tests on foreign soil in which they have won 51, lost 113 and 104 have ended in a draw.

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