Cricket India

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar is looking forward to next year’s ICC cricket World Cup 2011 which will be staged in the Indian sub-continent after a span of one and a half decades.

“The Cricket World Cup is the ultimate limited overs competition for a cricketer as it happens only once in four years. The entire cricketing fraternity eagerly waits for this event and when it starts, everyone gets deeply involved,” said Tendulkar, who will become the most capped Test batsman when he plays against Sri Lanka in his 169th match tomorrow.

“It’s a completely different feeling to be part of a Cricket World Cup where the atmosphere and the buzz is very special and to be staged in the sub-continent for the first time in 15 years is a magnificent feeling,” added the Indian batting maestro.

With the World Cup to be co-hosted by India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said winning the the show-piece event on home soil is his biggest dream.

“It can’t get any bigger than the ICC Cricket World Cup in which the best of the best enter with just one objective to take home the Cup that counts,” the Indian skipper said.

“It’s not only my dream to be a Cricket World Cup winner but it’s the wish of every member of Team India to put his hand on the Cricket World Cup trophy. We’ll work as hard as possible to turn our dreams into reality,” Dhoni said.

“This trophy has been eluding us for the past 27 years and I think we have a very good chance at home to break the drought,” he added.

With 200 days to go before the first ball is bowled in the World Cup, the ICC today announced the event mascot’s name as ‘Stumpy’ at the P Sara stadium here ahead of the third Test between India and Sri Lanka starting tomorrow.

The mascot, an elephant, has been named ‘Stumpy’ after an online selection process that drew proposals from thousands of cricket fans around the world.

The lucky winner will receive a cricket bat signed by the all-star quartet of Dhoni, Tendulkar, Sri Lanka’ captain Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena.

“This is another milestone in the build-up to our flagship event and it’s great to see the game’s best players like Mahendra, Kumar, Sachin and Mahela looking forward to the ICC Cricket World Cup with such enthusiasm,” ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said in a statement.

“As the excitement builds over the coming 200 days, we will see Stumpy throughout the cricket world, promoting the event and generating enthusiasm,” he said.

This is the second elephant mascot. The first was Appu, the baby elephant, in 1982 for the Asian Games in New Delhi.

The International Cricket Council had launched an online competition to suggest names for the mascot of the next year’s mega-event to be held in the sub-continent.

ICC has tried to imbibe morals of an ideal player into the mascot’s personality by stating that the mascot believes in hard work and is always learning to master the art of concentration.

ICC had said the mascot is someone who is young and enthusiastic, and determined individual.

He is someone who thinks cricket is the most fun game in the world and loves playing street cricket. He worships his cricket heroes, their technique, skill and character and dreams of playing in the ICC Cricket World Cup one day.

The first match of the World Cup will be played in Dhaka, Bangladesh on February 19 next year and the final is scheduled to be held in Mumbai on April 2.

“Immediate ties between both countries is not possible. It is not in the hands of the cricket boards. It is a diplomatic issue. This is a decision taken by the Indian government,” Pawar said.

Asked about demands for the introduction of day-night Tests to save the longer format of the game, Pawar said the “issue has not reached his ear”.

“We are only administrators. If needed, I will let the experts take a call (on the issue),” he said.

To a query whether the ICC was mulling to shift its headquarters back to England, Pawar said, “In England, there are 40 per cent taxes while there are no taxes in Dubai. The moment England thinks similarly about cricket we will consider it.”

Pawar said he was confident about BCCI president Shashank Manohar’s integrity to handle the controversial Lalit Modi issue.

Cricket India

Tickets as low as 20 US cents for the Cricket World Cup 2011 were in the first phase of sales on Tuesday.

More than 100,000 tickets were released in the first phase for the event co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from Feb. 19 to April 2.

“The prices confirm the promise we made that the tickets would be affordable and accessible,” Sharad Pawar, chairman of the World Cup’s central organizing committee, said in a statement.

“I am sure that cricket lovers in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka as well as those from around the world will be excited at the prospect of being able to plan their trips to the matches …. and be a part of the Cup that counts.”

The International Cricket Council said that from July 1, technology will allow spectators to pick tickets for specific teams and venues and will even be able to see exactly where their seat is in a ground.

Tickets are available at www.iccevents.yahoo.com. After the first phase of tickets, more will be available from stadiums and tour operators.

“Further tickets will also be made available online,” the ICC statement said.

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat was pleased with the progress made in organizing the World Cup.

“While there is a lot of important operational detail ahead of us, I am pleased at the progress we have made to date,” he said.

Lorgat said in the next few months, safety and security aspects of the World Cup will be dealt with in detail by the tournament’s security directorate – headed by Board of Control for Cricket in India president Shashank Manohar.

Pakistan was stripped as the fourth co-host after gunmen attacked the Sri Lanka team at Lahore in March 2009, killing six police and a van driver.

Mr. Sharad Pawar, Vice President ICC and Chairman of the Central Organizing Committee bought the first ticket to the inaugural match between India and Bangladesh online. Mr. A H M Mustafa Kamal, President of the Bangladesh Cricket Board followed with his purchase to the inaugural match to be played in Dhaka.

Haroon Lorgat, Chief Executive of the ICC, said: “Our mission is to reach out to as many cricket fans as possible, both in the subcontinent and around the world. We’re thrilled to appoint KyaZoonga in this crucial role, as we have been impressed with their ticketing track record, world class ticketing services and previous experience with cricket ticketing in the Indian subcontinent.

Launching online ticket sales to thirteen venues across the three host countries, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, almost nine months prior to the largest international cricket event is a “first” for the tournament. We look forward to seeing a full house throughout the ICC flagship tournament.”

Professor R.S. Shetty, Tournament Director, ICC CWC 2011 commented on the occasion of the launch, “In order to make it easy for the spectators to buy tickets well in advance, we are launching the online sale of tickets for the event on June 1, 2010.”

Tickets are available by clicking on the ticketing link on the official ICC website www.iccevents.yahoo.com. Credit cards, debit cards and net banking will be the accepted modes of payment for the purchase and delivery of tickets. At the customers’ option, tickets booked online will either be delivered by courier or can be picked up at the venue pick-up counters nearer the tournament date. Tickets are available by team, by venue or by looking up the entire tournament schedule. Additionally, unique packages such as “Follow your Team”, “Love your City” or “Be a Great Host” allow the customer to access a combination of matches to suit their preferences. Detailed instructions on how to buy, schedule information, package descriptions, as well as Frequently Asked Questions are available in the Official Ticket Guide published and distributed at the ticket launch. This guide is also available for download online. Ticket purchase Terms and Conditions are also available online.

The ticketing site has several innovative and customer-friendly features such as multiple currency options (INR, LKR, BDT, USD) and View from the Stand, a first of its kind feature that allows customers to view the cricket ground from their selected stands before they purchase their tickets. Other unique features include automatic Facebook and Twitter updates to users’ profiles once they have bought their tickets.

Neetu Bhatia, Chairman and CEO of KyaZoonga said, “We are truly excited about going global with our partnership with the ICC. It is our honor and privilege to have Mr. Pawar buy the first ticket to the tournament. The World Cup is the final word when it comes to global cricketing competition and we are proud to have been appointed its Official Ticketing Partner. Cricket in the sub-continent is a uniquely fantastic experience and we are very excited about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of ticketing an international event of the stature of the World Cup at home. The ICC and each of the host country Boards – the BCCI, SLC and BCB have a singular goal of providing easy access to cricket fans to their favorite game. We will work closely with them to do what we do best – continue to provide customers and fans, both locally and globally, with seamless access to tickets for fixtures held in the sub-continent.

Dhoni slipped to third behind Australia’s Michael Hussey and South Africa’s AB de Villiers in the rankings for batsmen after deciding to skip the tour to Zimbabwe where Sri Lanka won the triangular series after defeating Zimbabwe by nine wickets in the final.

As a player loses half a per cent of his ratings points for every ODI he misses, Dhoni conceded 16 ratings points and slipped to third position, the ICC said in a statement.

However, he still has the number-one ranked Hussey and second-placed de Villiers firmly within his sights as he trails the Australian by eight ratings points and the South African by just two ratings points.

With India scheduled to play a minimum of three ODIs in Sri Lanka, a couple of good performances with the bat will help Dhoni regain his number-one position.

Also aiming to maintain his upward movement will be Virat Kohli who achieved career-best ranking to date after good performances in Zimbabwe last week.

Kohli scored 168 runs to jump to 13th position after a leap of seven places.

Also moving up the order after the Zimbabwe series was Rohit Sharma. Sharma’s series aggregate of 260 runs has given him a lift of 44 places and puts him in 47th position which he shares with Pakistan’s Kamran Akmal.

However, Suresh Raina, who captained India in Zimbabwe, had a disappointing series and he slipped to 20th after scoring 83 runs in four matches.

In the rankings for ODI bowlers, Sri Lanka boasts two bowlers inside the top 20 while Pakistan has two and Bangladesh and India have one each.

Harbhajan Singh represents India in the top 20 in 11th spot whereas Pakistan’s captain Shahid Afridi is seventh and his countryman Saeed Ajmal is in 18th spot.

In the ODI Championship table, India will start in third place after dropping behind South Africa following their three losses in Zimbabwe.

However, it can regain the number-two spot if they win both their matches against Bangladesh and Pakistan.

If they manage to achieve this, they will join South Africa on 119 ratings points but will be placed higher after the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.

Regular captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and senior players Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Gautam Gambhir and Ashish Nehra were rested as the BCCI senior selection committee, which met here on Sunday, named a young 15-member squad with new faces galore.

Dinesh Karthik has been named the specialist wicketkeeper for the tour which begins with a tri-series – also involving Sri Lanka – on May 28 while Madhya Pradesh batsman-stumper Naman Ojha is also part of the squad.

Once the tri-series is over on June 9, leg-spinner Piyush Chawla will join the squad for India’s subsequent two Twenty20 Internationals against Zimbabwe on June 12 and 13.

Apart from Karthik and Naman Ojha, the side includes specialist batsmen Murali Vijay, Raina, Kohli and Rohit Sharma, besides all-rounders in Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja.

Leg-spinner Amit Mishra, left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha and offie Ravichandran Ashwin will spearhead the slow bowling department in the tri-series, while the largely inexperienced pace attack will comprise Umesh Yadav (Vidarbha), R Vinay Kumar (Karnataka), Ashok Dinda (Bengal) and Pankaj Singh (Rajasthan).

The selectors also announced a 16-member India ‘A’ squad for a tri-series in England, naming Cheteshwar Pujara as its captain and Wriddhiman Saha his deputy.

Zimbabwe Tri-series squad: Suresh Raina (Captain), Virat Kohli (Vice-captain), Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Pankaj Singh, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Naman Ojha.

T20 squad: Suresh Raina (Captain), Virat Kohli (Vice-captain), Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Pankaj Singh, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Naman Ojha and Piyush Chawla.

India ‘A’ team: Cheteshwar Pujara (Captain), Wriddiman Saha (wk), Abhinav Mukund, Shikar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Sourav Tiwary, Iqbal Abdulla, Sudeep Tyagi, Dhaval Kulkarni, Abhimanyu Mithun, Kedar Jadhav, Manoj Tiwary, Jaskaran Singh, Bipul Sharma and Jayadev Unadkad.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Syed Ashraful Huq told The Hindu here that only the four Test playing nations of Asia – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – would take part in the event. Ashraful, in the city to hold discussions with BCCI Secretary N. Srinivasan, said The matches will be staged in Colombo and Premadasa Stadium is the likely venue. In all there will be six league games and the final.

In the last edition of the Asia Cup, we had Hong Kong and UAE in the tournament but we had to shorten the format this time because of the lack of time available for the major teams.

He admitted Malaysia was in contention to host the championship. Yes, Malaysia was in the running. Eventually, the ACC has settled for Sri Lanka.

This will be the fourth occasion Sri Lanka will be hosting the tournament begun in 1984. They played host in 1986, 1997 and 2004 and won the final on each occasion.

The 2010 version is the tenth edition of the Asia Cup. Sri Lanka are the present holders of the trophy having won it in 2008 when Pakistan hosted it. They beat India by 100 runs in the final played at Karachi. Sri Lanka has appeared in every final since the tournament`s inception except the first when it was decided on a round-robin league.

Sri Lanka and India have won the Asia Cup the most occasions four each and Pakistan once. Bangladesh, Hong Kong and United Arab Emirates have yet to lay their hands on the trophy.

India will host 29 matches at 8 venues, while Sri Lanka is hosting 12 matches in 3 venues and Bangladesh will host 8 matches. The final of the tournament will be played in Mumbai and 14 teams will fight for the prestigious cup.

The teams have been divided in two groups.

Group A: Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada, Kenya.

Group B: Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland South Africa, West Indies, Netherlands.

Cricket World Cup 2011 Schedule

Cricket India

Ogilvy & Mather has been selected as the official Advertising and Media Agency for the 50-over ICC Cricket World Cup to be co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh next year.

In 1948, David Ogilvy founded the agency that went on to become Ogilvy & Mather later. The company is eighth largest advertising networks in the world and has more than 450 plus offices in 169 cities.

The 10th edition of the World Cup will take place during February and March 2011, with the first match being played on February 19th in Dhaka and final in Mumbai on April 2nd.

It will be Bangladesh’s first time co-hosting of a World Cup and fourteen cricketing nations will complete in the quadrennial event.

The World Cup was also to be co-hosted by Pakistan, but in the wake of the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore, the International Cricket Council (ICC) were forced to strip Pakistan of its hosting rights.

The tournament will take place at 13 venues in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. The prize money for the prestigious event has been set by the ICC Board at a record $10 million in order to reflect the importance of the competition.

Tickets for the premium event will go on sale online from June 1, 2010 at www.iccevents.yahoo.com.