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Afridi likely to be recalled to Pak ODI squad for SA series

February 19, 2013

AfridiKarachi, February 19: Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi is likely to be recalled to the one-day squad for the forthcoming series against South Africa after a string of batting failures in the Test series.

Sources close to the national selection committee said that Afridi, who was dropped for the one-day series in India after playing in just two T20 matches, would be picked for the entire limited over series in South Africa.

“Pakistan plays the T20 matches first and than five one-day internationals. Afridi is likely to be picked in both squads,” one source told PTI.

Afridi, who has played 349 ODIs, has recently shown some good form in the Pakistan A series with Afghanistan.

The source said that the national selectors would be making plenty of changes for the limited over series after the test squad’s failure in South Africa.

“The selectors will be selecting Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Ahmed Shahzad, Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Shoaib Malik and Aizaz Cheema (if Junaid Khan does not recover from an injury), Umar Amin and Zulfiqar Babar for the limited over series,” the source disclosed.

He said the selectors were also disappointed with the performance of the Test squad and some of the decisions taken by the team management/tour selection committee in South Africa.

“If Junaid who is unfit right now is okay, he, Mohammad Irfan and Ehsan Adil will be retained for the one-day series as well but there is a debate going on sending back Umar Gul, Rahat Ali and Tanvir Ahmed from South Africa after the test series,” the source said.

Rahat and Tanvir were flown to South Africa as reinforcements before the first Test on the request of the team management.

Rahat played in the first Test and went wicketless while Tanvir played the second Test and picked up only one wicket.

The source said there was no chance of a comeback for experienced allrounder, Abdul Razzaq as he was not playing domestic cricket.

“The selectors are developing a clear consensus that they need to send some dashing and aggressive players to South Africa as it has been noticed that the Test players were pretty shaken against the South Africans even psychologically,” he said.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

New Delhi, Jan 16: Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Thursday dropped from the BCCI's list of centrally contracted players, raising fresh doubts on the future of the former India captain who has not played since the World Cup semifinal loss to New Zealand last year.

The BCCI announced the central contracts for the period of October 2019 to September 2020. Dhoni was in the A category, which fetches a player Rs 5 crore, until last year.

Skipper Virat Kohli, his deputy Rohit Sharma and top pacer Jasprit Bumrah were retained in the highest A+ bracket of Rs 7 crore.

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Agencies
August 1,2020

Colombo, Aug 1: Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has expressed his interest in playing the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), scheduled to start from August 28.

Pathan is among 70 foreign players to have shown interest in playing the LPL, ESPNcricinfo reported.

It is believed that Pathan has taken permission from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take part in the competition. 

BCCI doesn't allow active players to participate in other T20 leagues but Pathan announced his retirement in January this year.

Former swashbuckling all-rounder Yuvraj Singh also played in a foreign league last year. He played for Maratha Arabians in the T10 League in Abu Dhabi.

According to ESPNcricinfo, Pathan will now be put in a player draft unless one of the five franchises choose him to be a marquee player. The details of the draft, and the franchise owners, are yet to be finalised and announced. 

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is also waiting on some government clearances even as it decides on franchise owners. The five franchises will represent Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna.

On Monday, SLC Executive Committee granted approval for the tournament.

"The 23 match League will be played on the four international venues of R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, Rangiri Dambulu International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele International Cricket Stadium and Suriyawewa Mahinda Rajapakse International Cricket Stadium. Five teams named after the cities of Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna will participate in the League," SLC said in a statement on Monday.

Sri Lanka has controlled the spread of COVID-19 better than many other cricket-playing nations.

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News Network
June 25,2020

Jun 25: After asserting that the 2011 World Cup final was "sold" by "certain parties" in Sri Lanka to India, the island nation's former sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has now called his claim a "suspicion" that he wants investigated.

The Lankan government has ordered an enquiry into the matter and a special Police investigation unit recorded Aluthgamage's statement on Wednesday. He told the team that he was only suspicious of fixing.

"I want my suspicion investigated," Aluthgamage told reporters.

"I gave to the Police, a copy of the complaint I lodged with the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 30 October 2011 regarding the said allegation as then Sports Minister," he said.

Aluthgamage has alleged that his country "sold" the game to India, a claim that was ridiculed by former captains Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene who demanded evidence from him.

Set a target of 275, India clinched the trophy thanks to the brilliance of Gautam Gambhir (97) and then skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (91).

"Today I am telling you that we sold the 2011 world cup, I said this when I was the sports minister," Aluthgamage, who was the sports minister at the time, had stated.

Sangakkara, the captain of Sri Lanka at that time, asked him to produce evidence for an anti-corruption probe.

"He needs to take his 'evidence' to the ICC and the Anti corruption and Security Unit so the claims can be investigated thoroughly," he tweeted.

Jayawardene, also a former captain who scored a hundred in that game, ridiculed the charge.

"Is the elections around the corner...like the circus has started...names and evidence?" he asked in a tweet.

Aluthgamage said that in his opinion no players were involved in fixing the result, "but certain parties were."

Both Aluthgamage and the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa were among the invitees at the final played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Following his allegations, Aravinda de Silva, the former great who was the then chairman of selectors, has urged the BCCI to conduct its own investigation.

De Silva has said he is willing to travel to India to take part in such an investigation despite the current COVID-19 threat.

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