MP Sachin will be as good as the Master Blaster on the cricket field: MS Dhoni

As Sachin Tendulkar is about to take oath as Rajya Sabha member, Mahendra Singh Dhoni hopes India’s batting maestro will be as successful in the Parliament as he was on the cricket field, says a report in The DNA.

"I would like to wish him all the best. He has been contributing to cricket. He has done well in every field. This (Rajya Sabha) is a new avenue for him and I am sure he will do well and contribute there too,” Dhoni, who is also the honorary Lieutenant Colonel of army, said.

Meanwhile tainted cricketers Mohnish Mishra and Taduri Sudhindra banned by BCCI after being caught in a sting operation were predictably not allowed to take part in a domestic T-20 tournament starting from Tuesday, by the Indore Division Cricket Association, says a report in The Times Of India. “We have received information from the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) about the continuation of ban imposed on them following a sting operation by a news channel on the issue of match fixing. Therefore, both of them are not allowed to take part in the JN Bhaya Memorial Inter-Division T20 tournament,” IDCA secretary Amitabh Vijaywargiya told reporters.

Meanwhile the pace-spin combine of Shami Ahmed and Rahul Sharma shared six wickets as India 'A' bowled out West Indies 'A' for 252 on the opening day of their fourday unofficial cricket Test at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados. It took the Indians 87.3 overs to send the host team back to the pavilion and make a dominating start in the three-match series. Wickets tumbled at regular interval and had it not been for half centuries by wicketkeeper Devon Thomas (57) and lower-order batsman Veerasammy Permaul (66), the Caribbean side could well have folded up much earlier.

According to a report in The Indian Express, with Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) cancelling its licence for telecast rights of Team India's matches played at home, broadcaster Neo Sports has been forced to re-brand its exclusive cricket channel as an all sports channel.

The broadcaster has renamed its Neo Cricket channel as Neo Prime, so as to telecast other sports on the channel. "The reality is that we don't have the BCCI rights anymore. So long as we had the BCCI rights, we also covered domestic matches to some extent, so it made sense to have a dedicated exclusive cricket channel.

"But now we realise that it may not be useful to have a 24x7 cricket channel. Therefore, it makes more sense to position it this way," Neo Sports broadcast (TV operations) chief operating officer Prasanna Krishnan said.