BCCI decides to revive India-Pakistan cricket ties

January 24, 2014

India-Pakistan_cricket_tiesJan 24: The cricketing ice between India and Pakistan is melting. The frosty diplomatic relations notwithstanding, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to renew the bilateral ties with Pakistan. The inevitable fallout of the decision is India's readiness to play Pakistan anywhere.

In other words, the BCCI, which has been steadfastly against going to a neutral country to play Pakistan, has climbed down from that hard position. It is willing to send the team to any country, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai. They might even say yes to Sharjah.

A decision to this effect was taken at the emergent working committee meeting of the BCCI in Chennai yesterday. The BCCI sent out a general press statement but specifically mentioned Pakistan. "The meeting has authorized the office bearers to discuss bilateral matches with other Full Members (including Pakistan) and sign formal FTP Agreements," the BCCI stated in a release.

The decision follows a telecon between BCCI president N Srinivasan and recently-restored president of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Zaka Ashraf. There is no immediate window for a series to be organised but the BCCI is open to play a short series against Pakistan in the next 12 months.

"There is no window till 2015 to accommodate a full-fledged series but we can squeeze in a short series if a proposal from the PCB comes through," Sanjay Patel, BCCI secretary, told Mirror. He was categorical that Team India will be ready to travel to any place that Pakistan suggests, including the venues in the Middle East where Misbah & Co play their home games.

India have not played a match the Middle East, particularly in Sharjah, since 2000 and the last bilateral series between the countries was a short ODI-T20 series in 2012-13. It is now India's turn to visit Pakistan. Given India's busy schedule, a window for a short series is not possible but the countries could work out a schedule between September and December this year.

"We welcome the BCCI decision. I've had a discussion with Srinivasan and we knew that the BCCI would take such a decision," Ashraf said.

Position paper

The focus of the meeting, however, was elsewhere. The meeting was called to discuss and authorise the officebearers to act according to the proposals on restructure of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The meeting welcomed the proposals pertaining to the distribution of the ICC revenue, the largest share of which should come the BCCI's way.

The members have also endorsed the 'Position Paper' containing the draft of the ICC restructure and empowered the office-bearers to take necessary measures. "The committee discussed at length the proposals of the ICC working group and felt that this proposal was in the interest of cricket at large. The committee unanimously authorised the office bearers to enter into agreements with ICC for participating in the ICC events and host ICC events, subject to the proposal being approved in the ICC board," the BCCI said in a release.

CASE AGAINST KIADB

The BCCI is worried that Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) is not returning Rs 50 crore that was given to them for the purchase of a piece of land where the board wanted to set up a state-of-theart cricket academy. Now that the land cannot be sold to the BCCI, for obvious legal and technical reasons, the BCCI wants money back from the KIADB. It has been learnt that letters have been exchanged with KIADB and at the working committee it was decided that the BCCI have to resort to legal recourse. Informed a member, who attended the meeting: "There was a detailed discussion over the matter. It was felt that the board should file a court case. We're awaiting an advice from the legal cell. We'll act upon their advice promptly."

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Agencies
January 6,2020

Washington D.C., Jan 6: 'The Irishman,' and 'Two Popes' were shut out from the winners list despite getting multiple nominations, the movies didn't win a single award at the Golden Globes Award held on Sunday (local time). Other movies in the list include 'Bombshell,' 'Dolemite Is My Name,' 'Harriet,' 'Jojo Rabbit,' 'Knives Out' and 'Little Women.'

According to The Hollywood Reporter, 'The Irishman' may have gone into the 2020 Golden Globes with the second-highest number of film nominations, tied with 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' with five nods, but Martin Scorsese's highly anticipated mob epic for Netflix was completely shut out at the award ceremony.

Netflix landed the most film nominations of any company with 17 mentions, but it won only one award which is the best-supporting actress for 'Marriage Story's' Laura Dern. Netflix's nominated films 'Dolemite Is My Name' and 'The Two Popes' was tied with 'Joker' with four mentions each and failed to grab any awards.

'Dolemite Is My Name' star Eddie Murphy was expected by a number of pundits to win for best actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy.

'Bombshell', 'Harriet',' Frozen 2', 'Jojo Rabbit', 'Knives Out', 'The Lion King', 'Little Women' and 'Pain and Glory' are among the other films that received multiple nominations but didn't win a single award.

On the TV side, Netflix's 'Unbelievable' tied in the race to most small-screen nominations with 'Chernobyl' and 'The Crown' with four nominations, and 'The Crown' won only one award, for star Olivia Colman.

The three-time nominees 'Barry', 'Big Little Lies', 'The Kominsky Method' and 'The Morning Show' also didn't grab any award. 'Catch-22', 'Killing Eve', 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' and 'The Politician' who were two-time nominees that were also iced out.

'Hustlers' star Jennifer Lopez failed to take home the best-supporting actress award as she was predicted to win the award by a number of pundits. Billy porter also failed to make history with the best drama actor win for his role on 'Pose,' if he would've won the award, he reportedly would have been the first openly gay African-American to win that award.

'Chernobyl' won two of its four nominations. Despite that, star Jared Harris didn't win the best actor in a limited series Globe which was predicted by many prognosticators. The award was bagged by Russell Crowe for his portrayal of Roger Ailes in 'The Loudest Voice.' But the star was absent from the ceremony.

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News Network
February 14,2020

London, Feb 14: Former Sri Lanka skipper and current Marylebone Cricket Club's president Kumar Sangakkara has said that the 2009 Lahore terror attack taught him about his own character and values.

His remarks came as MCC arrived in Pakistan to play T20I matches against Lahore Qalandars. This will mark his first return to the Gaddafi Stadium, where a shocking atrocity took place when the Sri Lankan bus was attacked by terrorists.

The Sri Lankan team was on their way to Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium for a Test match with Pakistan in 2009 when terrorists from the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) fired indiscriminately at their bus. The attack left eight people dead and injured seven Sri Lankan players and staff.

Ever since the incident, no cricket team toured Pakistan to play a cricket series, however, the landscape changed last year as Sri Lanka paid a visit to the country to play a series across formats. After that, even Bangladesh toured Pakistan and now there are talks of South Africa going to the country to play a series.

"I don't think I need any flashbacks, because I remember that day and those moments so very clearly. It's not something I relive or wallow in. But it's an experience you should never forget, because it gives you perspective in terms of life and sport, and you learn a lot about your own values and characters, and those of others," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Sangakkara as saying.

"I have no reservations about talking about it, it's not something that upsets me, but these sorts of experiences can only strengthen you. Today I consider myself very fortunate to be able to come back here to Lahore, and at the same time remember the sacrifice of all those who lost their lives that day," he added.

Sangakkara said that every human has his own way of dealing with such adversity.

"I think everyone deals with it in their own personal way. But at the same time, what really unites us is that you face adversity and you face challenges, and you have to get past it, and you've got to do that successfully. It's about moving forwards and upwards and being part of cricket. Being Sri Lankan you learn those lessons quite well, because, throughout our civil war, cricket was a unique vibe," Sangakkara said.

"We speak about the attack at various times. We even have a laugh about it, in terms of what we went through because it helps sometimes to look at it with a bit of humour, even though there was a tragic loss of life, and other serious injuries within that incident," he added.

MCC in the weeklong tour will take on Lahore Qalandars in a T20 match at the Gaddafi Stadium later today.

Kumar Sangakkara will lead the MCC's twelve-man squad for the tour, which includes Ravi Bopara, Roelof van der Merwe, Ross Whiteley among others.

Fixtures for the upcoming tour are as follows:

MCC vs Lahore Qalandars, T20I, Gaddafi Stadium, February 14

MCC vs Pakistan Shaheens, ODI, Aitchison College, February 16

MCC vs Northern, Aitchison College, T20I, February 17

MCC vs Multan Sultans, Aitchison College, T20I, February 19.

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News Network
January 8,2020

Indore, Jan 8: Former opener Gautam Gambhir is mighty impressed with the way K.L. Rahul batted during India's comfortable seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the second T20I and said it amazes him why the right-handed batsman can't play the same way in Tests. On Tuesday, Rahul top-scored with a 32-ball 45 as India chased down the meagre target of 143 with utmost ease at the Holkar Stadium.

"Rahul is in unbelievable form. It amazes me every time I see Rahul bat that why didn't he play the same way in Test cricket," Gambhir told the host broadcasters. "It's not about only white-ball cricket; it is about Test cricket too. He just got into a shell too much. With the kind of quality he posses, he is someone who can get you a 50-ball 100 in Test cricket as well. The kind of shots he has is superb," he added.

Shikhar Dhawan, who is making a return to the team after an injury lay-off, also contributed with a "rusty" 30-ball 32. Both Dhawan and Rahul are virtually playing for the second opener's slot for the World T20, with Rohit Sharma set to be one.

And Gambhir feels going by the current form, Rahul should be opening the batting alongside Rohit in Australia. "You can't compare IPL to international cricket. When you're playing for Delhi Capitals, you know there's no one waiting for the opportunity, but when you're playing for the country and you know there's someone who's actually can replace you, there'll always be pressure. And today it was shown who's in better form," Gambhir said.

The cricketer-turned-politician, however, exuded confidence that Dhawan will bounce back strongly in the next game. "Shikhar Dhawan looked rusty but it's a good thing that he got some runs under his belt. It will help him when he walks out to bat in the next game. Had he got out early, the pressure would have been more," he said.

India will play Sri Lanka in the final T20I in Pune on Friday before taking on Australia in a three-match ODI series beginning January 14 in Mumbai.

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