Masti 4 Cricket

Sachin Tendulkar is a great batsman but to suggest he is the best ever is demeaning to those former greats who survived the bodyline series and stood at the crease without any modern-day safety gears, feels former England skipper Mike Atherton.

To suggest that Tendulkar — or, indeed, any modern, armoured or, to use (Viv) Richards’s phrase, “pampered” player — is the best ever is demeaning to those former greats who stood at the crease in the knowledge that their next ball could be their last,” Artherton wrote in The Times.

Atherton feels modern-day protections have made life easier for current batsmen compared to those of the yesteryears and so it remains to be seen how Tendulkar’s career would have shaped up if these gears were not available.

“Images of Tendulkar have adorned newspapers and websites throughout the week. Images, mostly, of the ‘Little Master’ at the crease, compact and balanced. So compact and balanced, in fact, that Bradman said Tendulkar was the modern player whose method most closely resembled his own.

“There was, though, one crucial difference, which the image of Tendulkar on these pages on Monday highlighted. Perched on top of Tendulkar’s head … was a bright blue helmet and a grille to protect his features.

“Tendulkar was batting in a One-Day game, but had the image been of him batting in whites, there is a good chance that, along with a helmet, Tendulkar would have been wearing an arm guard and a chest guard, too. He is always amply protected,” he wrote.

“Which is not to say that Tendulkar lacks bravery. Indeed, he proved his ‘manhood’ in his first Test series when Waqar Younis bloodied his nose and Tendulkar refused treatment and carried on batting,” Atherton said.

Australian bowlers unleashed tight line and length to fold Pakistan’s innings at 207 in 46.2 overs in the second day-night international here at the Dubai Stadium on Friday.

Off-spinner Nathan Hauritz took 3-41, while pacemen James Hopes and Andrew Symonds chipped in with two wickets apiece as Pakistan’s batsmen struggled on a slow paced pitch after captain Younus Khan won the toss and decided to bat.

Pakistan leads the five-match one-day series 1-0 following their four-wicket win in the first match on Wednesday.

Opener Salman Butt top-scored with a resolute 57 while Shahid Afridi hit a 40-ball 41 to anchor the innings after Hauritz removed the middle order with some accurate off-spin.

Butt held one end intact after Pakistan lost debutant opener Ahmed Shahzad (four) in the third over. Younus (28) helped Butt add 53 for the second wicket before edging paceman Ben Laughlin to wicket-keeper Brad Haddin.

Hauritz further derailed the Pakistan innings by dismissing Shoaib Malik (seven) and Misbah-ul-Haq (12) in quick succession before removing a dangerous looking Butt in the 34th over.

Butt hit six boundaries during his snail-paced 112-ball knock.

Hauritz could have had a fourth wicket and blown away Pakistan for a much lower total had Ben Laughlin held on to a high catch from Afridi when the batsman was on only three.

Afridi, who was man-of-the-match for his career-best 6-38 on Wednesday, fully capitalised on the chance and hit five boundaries and a six to help Pakistan score 39 in the batting power play.

Shoaib Akhtar used the long handle effectively, hitting four boundaries and a six off to make a firey 14-ball 25.

Australia made three changes from their Wednesday line-up, leaving out pacemen Stuart Clark and Ben Hilfenhaus, and opener Shaun Marsh. They brought in David Hussey, Doug Bollinger and Ben Laughlin.

Pakistan included Shahzad in place of injured Nasir Jamshed.

Ravi Bopara scored 84 as Kings XI Punjab defeated Bangalore Royal Challengers by seven wickets Friday to claim their first Indian Premier League victory this season.

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen was out for a duck as Bangalore made 168-9 in their 20 overs at Kingsmead and Punjab reached 173-3 with an over to spare in perfect conditions.

England right-hander Bopara struck five sixes and four fours during a 59-ball spell at the crease and skipper Yuvraj Singh (30 not out) and Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara (26) offered good support.

Punjab, losers of two rain-affected games since the IPL extravaganza began last weekend, had 52 runs on the board before losing their first wicket and reached 80-1 by the 10-over ’strategy break’.

Pietersen deployed seven bowlers, including himself, South African Jacques Kallis and Indian Anil Kumble, but they could not stem the Punjab run flow before a large crowd in the Indian Ocean city.

Kings scored 19 runs off the 16th over to swing the game decisively in their favour and when Royals finally got rid of Bopara, caught by New Zealander Jesse Ryder off the bowling of Kallis, it was far too late.

Only veteran Kumble (1-19) impressed with the ball for a Bangalore team suffering their third loss in four outings as one-wicket Kallis conceded 51 runs in four overs.

Kallis fared much better with the bat, top scoring for Royals with a 62 that included two sixes and five fours, New Zealander Ross Taylor contributed 35 and compatriot Ryder got among the runs with a brisk 32 after two ducks.

Little known South African Yusuf Abdulla (4-31) and Irfan Pathan (3-35) took the bowling honours for Punjab, who were watched by co-owner and Bollywood star Preity Zinta.

India broke a 33-year drought when a six-wicket haul by Harbhajan Singh spun them to a 10-wicket victory over New Zealand in the first Test on Saturday.

Harbhajan’s 6-63 wizardry, following an iconic 160 by Sachin Tendulkar, formed the cornerstone of India’s first Test success in New Zealand since 1976.

They wrapped the game up with more than a day to spare after New Zealand were all out in their second innings for 279, and India knocked off the required 39 runs in 5.2 overs.

Brendon McCullum kept the Test alive longer than expected with a fighting 84 at the New Zealand tail, but it had been a lopsided match from day one when the hosts’ top order crashed to 60/6 on a benign wicket.

Maharashtra police want IPL matches in the state postponed. They say its impossible to provide security for the games when elections are on.

Polling in Maharashtra is on April 16, 23 and 30. As of now, 11 matches are planned in Maharashtra before April 30. Eight of them are in Mumbai - on April 10, 12, 14,15,17, 23, 25 and 26, and three are in Nagpur on April 19, 20 and 28.

Maharashtra’s director-general of police Suprakash Chakravarty has urged the IPL organisers to push the matches back till April 30 so that the forces can focus on the security of the Twenty20 tournament.

“We should not put extra strain on the police,” Chakravarty said. “IPL can be postponed till April 30 because the police will be better off by then.”

Home Ministry sources say states won’t be forced to provide IPL security.

“We will not force any state for providing security to IPL matches during elections,” Home Ministry sources told CNN-IBN. “The second reason we can’t force them is they have to do it with the forces available with them. We have already denied central forces to them.”

IPL Tournament Director Dhiraj Malhotra says that not all matches to be held in Mumbai will be affected, and that a resolution will be reached soon.

“Not all the matches will be shifted out of Mumbai, may be 4-5 matches,” Malhotra told CNN-IBN. “(But) That’s not an issue. We are working on a resolution - Modi is a very able man, thinks out of the box. We will go on only if security is fine.”

IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, however, remains hopeful of a way out of the latest problem.