Pakistan cricket board wants India to be its 'home' for all international series

May 24, 2015

New Delhi, May 24: It’s still a game of glorious uncertainties. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) wants to make India ‘home’ where it can host all its international series. “We would like to make India our home,’’ PCB chief Shahryar Khan said from Lahore on Saturday.

Pakistan cricket

Khan said the PCB has offers from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as well but would prefer India. “India will be more cost-effective,’’ he added.

In international cricket, bilateral series are generally reciprocal so that revenues can be shared. Currently, Pakistan host their international matches in the UAE because teams are still wary of travelling to the country following a terror attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in 2009.

Asked if the PCB had security concerns given that the Shiv Sena has, in the past, strongly objected to the Pakistan team visiting India, Khan said: “We will cross that bridge when we come to it.”

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) did not rule out the possibility of offering its help to Pakistan, but said there were quite a few issues, some of them beyond the two boards’ control, which have to be looked into before things moved ahead.

“At the moment we are more concerned about hosting the T20 World Cup next year and a packed Indian international calendar. We really don’t know if we would be able to provide grounds,” a senior BCCI official said.

Cricketing ties between the arch-rivals cooled considerably after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, blamed on Pakistan terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba. Pakistani players have also been excluded from the money-spinning Indian Premier League.

Khan was in India earlier this month to meet BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya and discuss the revival of bilateral series between the countries. According to a memorandum of understanding signed between the two boards, India and Pakistan have agreed to play six bilateral series until 2022. The last time Pakistan played in India was a three-match one-day series in December 2012.

On Friday, Pakistan hosted Zimbabwe in a T20 match — the first time in six years that a Test-playing nation has toured the strife-torn country since the Lahore attack of 2009.

The International Cricket Council still does not consider Pakistan a safe venue for international matches and has not appointed international umpires for the two-T20 and three-ODI series in Lahore.

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News Network
March 27,2020

New Delhi, Mar 27: Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar on Friday donated Rs 50 lakh to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, which has so far claimed 17 Indian lives and wreaked havoc globally.

Tendulkar's donation is so far the biggest contribution among India's leading sportspersons, some of whom have pledged their salaries while a few others have donated medical equipment to fight the dreaded outbreak, which has caused more than 24,000 deaths globally.

"Sachin Tendulkar decided to contribute Rs 25 lakh each to Prime Minister's Relief Fund and Chief Minister's Relief Fund in his bid to join the fight against COVID-19. It was his decision that he wanted to contribute to both funds," a source privy to the development, told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

Tendulkar has been associated with a lot of charity work and there has been umpteen times, he has taken up social causes, helped people, which has never been brought to public notice.

Among other prominent cricketers, the Pathan brothers -- Irfan and Yusuf -- donated 4000 face masks to Baroda police and health department while Mahendra Singh Dhoni, through a Pune based NGO, made a contribution of Rs 1 lakh.

Among athletes from other disciplines, wrestler Bajrang Punia and sprinter Hima Das are some of the prominent names to have donated their salaries in the battle against the dreaded virus which has led to a 21-day national lockdown.

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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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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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