Suresh Raina is the lone Indian to feature in the top 10 chart of the Reliance ICC T20 international player rankings, which were released on Saturday. According to a report in Indian Express, Raina is placed seventh in the list of top 10 batsmen with 734 points after dropping a place in the recently released charts. England's Kevin Pitersen is leading the batsmen list with 850 points, followed by Martin Guptill (791) of New Zealand and another Englishman Eoin Morgan (788). India's left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir, who was in sparkling form against South Africa has also moved up three places to 14th spot.
“However, no Indian could find a place in the top 10 T20 bowlers rankings with out-of-favour off-spinner Harbhajan Singh placed at a distant 20th position. The T20 bowlers chart is being lead by England off-spinner Graeme Swann with two other spinners – Ajantha Mendis of Sri Lanka and Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal closely following him in the second and third spots,” says newspapers reports.
Meanwhile, triumphant South Africa skipper Johan Botha conceded that the one-off Twenty20 match against India was evenly poised before rain stopped play even though the host team had set a mammoth target of 220 for the visitors here, according to a report in The Tribune.
South Africa won the by 11 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method here last night. Chasing 220 to win, openers Gautam Gambhir (49) and Robin Uthappa (18) gave India a blistering start, putting on 71 in just 7.5 overs when heavens opened up.
"It was evenly poised. Gauti and Robin started well but our guys also batted well on an excellent strip and I think going the way they did and getting 220 was excellent," Botha said after the match. "They were batting well, they played a few shots and it was going their way but still there was scoring around nine runs per over and we thought if we can string a few overs at eight or seven runs, I mean it is still plenty to get in 10 overs, we were still feeling comfortable," he added.
Other news (TOI, HT, Indian Express, The Tribune, The Hindu)
West Indies beat Australia by 14 runs: West Indies defeated Australia by 14 runs at Kensington Oval to win the second Twenty20 international and draw the two-game series 1-1. Chasing a modest 161-run target, Australia were well-set at 75-2 at the halfway stage, but their chase slowed with off-break bowler Marlon Samuels taking three crucial wickets to dismiss skipper George Bailey (24), Mike Hussey (14) and Matthew Wade (17) on Friday.
Four companies bid for BCCI rights: Four companies – ESPN Star Sports (ESS), Multi Screen Media (Sony), Bennett & Coleman (BCCL) and a consortium involving TV-18 and Reliance – have submitted their bids to BCCI for broadcast, internet and mobile rights in India for a period of six years starting from July 2012 till March 2018. According to BCCI sources, among the four prominent companies, BCCL, which owns leading daily Times of India, is likely to bid only for the mobile and internet rights after having procured the same for the Indian Premier League. It will then be an interesting three-way battle between MSM, ESS and TV 18-Reliance consortium for the broadcast rights of India's international matches at home, after the BCCI decided to cancel its previous contract with Nimbus Communications over payment problems. The bids are due to be opened on April 2.
BCCI to investigate JKCA scam, says report: The BCCI is all set to investigate allegations of widespread embezzlement of funds in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association, according to a website. The scam has become a political football in the state with the BJP demanding a CBI enquiry into the matter. “We are asking the auditors to check the JKCA accounts and report back to us,” Anurag Thakur, the BCCI joint-secretary, said. However, even as his name was featured in the scam, ‘whistleblower’ JKCA official Mohammad Aslam Goni accompanied the Indian team to South Africa for the one-off T20 as media manager.
