A day after the controversial remarks that got India’s tour of Pakistan off to the worst possible start, Raj Singh Dungarpur, the former BCCI chief who is manager of the squad, emphatically denied that he had made disparaging remarks about Sourav Ganguly. Calling it “irresponsible journalism of the worst kind”, Raj Singh told Cricinfo that the footage shown had notinvolved live quotes, but merely indirect ones.”I have tremendous respect for Sourav, and he has tremendous experience,” he said. “My job is to make every member of the side as comfortable as possible. I have been manager of the Indian team four times and would never compromise on my integrity. I am really amazed. I’m sad and I’m sorry. I’ve made no such statements. My picture has been shown on the television channel and I’m not speaking anything, and they’re saying that this is what he has said.””This is not the first time I am managing an Indian team, this is the fifth time that I have been made the manager of the side. How could I have ever said that? Until now, I never had any such experience from any batsman whether from India or abroad. I think this puts a big question mark on the integrity of whoever is doing this.”On Friday evening, an Indian TV channel had quoted Raj Singh as saying: “Sourav is not a student of the game. He is also not a role model of a captain. A captain cannot be the laziest and possibly the worst fielder of the side.” According to the channel, Raj Singh had also spoken of John Wright’s unhappiness at Ganguly’s slovenly ways. He was reported as sayingthat Wright had expressed his frustration many times, but “he was a little mild. He had huge problems with Sourav.”Ganguly, along with Virender Sehwag, Anil Kumble and Parthiv Patel, arrives in Lahore on Saturday. After the furore over his non-selection for the Ahmedabad Test against Sri Lanka and the subsequent recall to the team for this tour, this was yet another needless incident ahead of a series that means so much.

India have said they would fulfill their commitment to host the Champions Trophy this year but were not in favour of the such a concept. “When the event began in 1998, it was a 12-day knockout tournament but it is getting bigger and bigger. The other point is that the event hurts the interests of India and Pakistan directly because it is held in October and November which is a cricket season for both the countries,” Niranjan Shah, the Indian board’s secretary, told PTI at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.”We have proposed that the ICC should only organise the Under-19 World Cup other than the World Cup. We have discussed this proposal with Cricket Australia, Pakistan and the Asian Cricket Council,” Shah, who represented the Indian board at the ICC meeting yesterday in Karachi, added.He said Australia and Pakistan had not yet confirmed if they were ready to support India, but vowed that he would raise the matter during the ICC meeting in March.On the India-Pakistan series, Shah said the two boards had mutually decided to have the bilateral series once in two years. “We have not signed any MoU or contract but it is a verbal understanding that while we cannot dilute the series, we cannot have it every year. It has to be on the same pattern as the Ashes that would keep the interest of the spectators alive and continue to attract major sponsors.”Shah also said when Pakistan tour India in 2008, he would like to see more matches being played. He said, “The tour is too far away but we would like to play more Tests and one-day internationals for two simple reasons: people want to see the two teams in action and India is a huge country and all the associations want to host Pakistan-India games.”

Australia will play the same side that beat South Africa by 57 runs last Sunday in the first final against Sri Lanka at Adelaide on Friday. Ricky Ponting confirmed the squad at his pre-match press conference today and he will marshall a pace attack including Brett Lee, Stuart Clarke, Nathan Bracken and the Supersub James Hopes.There is no room for the fast bowlers Brett Dorey or Mick Lewis, who has replaced Glenn McGrath as he spends time with his cancer-hit wife Jane. Adelaide will host its debut finals fixture as the MCG is prepared for the Commonwealth Games, but the match was still not a sell-out on Wednesday.”It’s a great opportunity for South Australians to get behind this match, the first final we’ve ever had in Adelaide,” James Sutherland said in . “I know that the SACA are very keen to make a success of it to prove that the Adelaide Oval is a venue worthy of more international cricket.”Australia 1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 Simon Katich, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Michael Clarke, 7 Michael Hussey, 8 Brad Hogg, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Stuart Clark, 11 Nathan Bracken, James Hopes (Supersub).

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How they were out

Muttiah Muralitharan became the second bowler in history to claim 600 Test wickets during the third afternoon of the Bogra Test as Sri Lanka seized control and paved the way for a certain 2-0 series win. Set a modest 120-run target after a disciplined allround display in the field, Sri Lanka finished on 77 without loss when, bizarrely, the umpires left the field for bad (but not dangerous) light with seven overs still to be bowled.When Sri Lanka return on Saturday morning, Upul Tharanga (48 not out) will aim to follow his marathon first innings century with another half-century, having unleashed a string of beautifully timed offside strokes in the final session. For the third successive night, he walked off the field unbeaten. His partner, Michael Vandort, was more crabish and uncertain on 22 not out when the umpires called it quits.As was the case in the Chittagong Test, Bangladesh wilted in the second innings having conceded an 82-run lead – not mountainous but useful on a pitch offering the kind of pace, bounce and turn that makes Muralitharan almost impossible to hold at bay. When the day started, he appeared destined to join Shane Warne’s 600 club and the only surprise was that he claimed only two more scalps to his five in the first innings, finishing with 7 for 141 in the series.His latest milestone came after lunch as Khaled Mashud (6) top-edged a sweep to Lasith Malinga at deep square leg. Muralitharan watched the ball like a hawk and then broke out into the widest of smiles as his team-mates – well-versed when it comes to the celebration of Muralitharan milestones – engulfed him. Muralitharan appeared delighted but not psyched. His jubilation at ending the Bangladesh innings, allowing him to put his feet up, was perhaps even more pronounced.Muralitharan’s bowling efforts (2 for 62) were overshadowed by the bowling of the new ball pairing, Malinga and Dilhara Fernando, both of whom finished with identical figures (3 for 51). Malinga Bandara, as he has throughout the tour, provided a steady supporting hand with two important wickets after lunch to break through the middle order and into the tail.

The only substantial Bangladeshi resistance was provided by Habibul Bashar, who led from the front, following his first innings 69 with another skilful and positive 73. Mohammad Rafique, a loyal servant for Bangladesh cricket with his complete commitment and allround skills, raised the spirits of the crowd with a swashbuckling 64 from 78 balls – a hard-hitting display that included three sixes and heavy punishment for Muralitharan.Unfortunately, for Bangladesh, Bashar and Rafique’s budding partnership of 52 was cut short by a poor lbw decision – not quite as bad as Sangakkara’s the previous morning but still sliding down the legside. The pair, after the fall of the prodigiously talented Mohammad Ashraful, were Bangladesh’s last realistic chance of setting a competitive target. Despite some late Rafique fireworks, they duly ended well-short of what was needed.Earlier, Bangladesh needed to dismiss Sri Lanka early in the morning and they did just that as Malinga fended off a nasty Shahadat Hossain bouncer to short leg. The breakthrough ended what had been a frustrating 42-run ninth- wicket stand for Bangladesh. It also enabled Shahadat to end with a five-wicket haul, the first by a Bangladesh fast bowler in Tests. Tharanga’s long vigil came to an end shortly after as he glanced down the legside and was acrobatically caught one-handed by a diving Khaled Mashud. Tharanga finished with 165 from 304 balls having hit 19 fours and two sixes.Back in the field, Jayawardene used Fernando instead of Farveez Maharoof with the new ball, adding extra teeth to the attack and putting the Bangladesh openers under early pressure. But it was Malinga, swinging the ball away, that struck first as Nafees Iqbal gloved a lifting delivery. Javed Omar was also surprised by the extra bounce and was caught down the legside.Muralitharan needed only two warm-up overs to take wicket- number 599 as Shahriar Nafees, for the second time in the match, threw his wicket away with a wild legside hoick, a dreadful shot that would have left his coach, Dav Whatmore, fuming back in the dressing room.After lunch, Ashraful edged low to slip where Jayawardene took a sharp reflex catch – the 100th of his career. Two balls later, Sangakarra clung onto a thick edge after a juggling act to dismiss Mushfiqur Rahim for a duck. Muralitharan was then drafted back into the fold, quickly taking his 600th scalp. After that, it was just a matter of time before Sri Lanka polished off the lower order.

Sri LankaLasith Malinga c Iqbal b Hossain 12 (305 for 9)
Upul Tharanga c Mashud c Hossain 165 (316 for 10)
BangladeshNafees Iqbal c Sangakkara b Malinga 2 (15 for 1)
Javed Omar c Sangakkara b Fernando 13 (29 for 2)
Shariar Nafees c Maharoof b Muralitharan 6 (46 for 3)
Mohammad Ashraful c Jayawardene b Banadara 13 (95 for 4)
Mushfiqur Rahim c Sangakkara b Bandara 0 (95 for 5)
Khaled Mashud c Malinga b Muralitharan 6 (110 for 6)
Habibul Bashar lbw Malinga 73 (162 for 7)
Shahadat Hossain b Fernando 8 (187 for 8)
Enamul Haq c Sangakkara b Fernando 3(198 for 9)
Mohammad Rafique c Muralitharan b Malinga 64 (201 for 10)

Sachin Tendulkar could be declared fit to tour West Indies next month, having made a rapid recovery after undergoing shoulder surgery in London, according to Dr Andrew Wallace, his surgeon.Tendulkar was ruled out of the seven-match ODI series against England after suffering a tear, and faces a long tour of West Indies, which includes four Tests and five ODIs.”The surgery was fairly straightforward,” Wallace told BBC’s Test Match Special. “He’s made an excellent recovery. I expect he will be back for India some time in the very near future.”Wallace stressed that Tendulkar felt discomfort only while throwing and that the injury had little to do with his batting. “His batting was not affected and most of the shoulder does not take too much of the force when bowling. It’s a common injury in baseball pitchers and tennis players – anyone who is doing a lot of overhead throwing. The rim of the socket had become a little bit frayed so the ball was sliding out the back of the joint a little bit. It opened up a small tear in the labrum. A little bit of fluid was escaping through that tear and created a cyst.”He added: “The main reason for operating was that the cyst was slowly enlarging so we felt it was timely to do it now before we felt there was any danger.”Tendulkar also had his left elbow – a case of tennis elbow had confined him to the sidelines in recent times – examined as a precautionary measure, and Wallace confirmed that there were no worries on that front.

Sourav Ganguly, the former India captain, is likely to represent Northamptonshire this season. He said he was in talks with the authorities and was hopeful that the contract would be finalised soon.”There is a possibility of me playing for Northamptonshire this season,” Ganguly told PTI, “but nothing has been finalised as yet.”Northamptonshire’s chief executive Mark Tack said, “We are certainly in talks with Ganguly and his agent. We are looking for a replacement for Chris Rogers who has been called for Australia A team. A final decision will be made in a week’s time.” Tack added that the contract would be for five weeks starting from the end of June.This would be Ganguly’s third stint in county cricket, having played for Lancashire in 2000 and Glamorgan last season. He was dropped from the Indian squad after the tour of Pakistan early this year and has been out of contention since. Anil Kumble and Kapil Dev have also represented Northamptonshire in the past.

India A 311 for 4 (Dhawan 127, Uthappa 116) beat Netherlands A 109 by 202 runs
ScorecardRobin Uthappa and Shikhar Dhawan stamped their authority with a century each for a record opening wicket partnership of 264 as India A thrashed the Netherlands A by 202 runs in the EurAsia Cup in Abu Dhabi.Uthappa, who made an impressive India debut against England at Indore, once again proved himself by scoring 116 while Dhawan smashed 127, as India A posted a mammoth 311 for 4 before bundling the Netherlands A out for 109 with more than 20 overs remaining.Dhawan, who made 127, also became the highest scorer for India A, surpassing his Delhi team-mate Gautam Gambir’s record of 122 against Pakistan A in Nairobi two years ago. He smashed 17 boundaries in his 142-ball knock before he was run out to a ball that ricocheted off Ernst van Giesen’s own bowling, ending the partnership after 44.2 overs.Uthappa, who hit 13 fours in a 132-ball knock, also fell to van Giezen delivery when he was caught at short fine leg. Uthappa and Dhavan shared the Man-of-the-Match award.For the Dutch, Giesen took three wickets and was instrumental in the fourth, a run-out.Atse Buurman was the only batsman who looked at all at home, making 53, but an inexperienced side – six of the players were making their international debuts – were completely outclassed.Legspinner Piyush Chawla, who played a Test against England at Mohali, claimed a wicket with his first ball and finished with3 for 11 to share the bowling honours with Vikram Singh (4 for 43)

Rahul Dravid has hailed the efforts of his inexperienced fast-bowling attack, enabling India to get within a hairs-breadth of pulling off a historic win. He added that a “gut” feeling had made him choose Sreesanth for the final over, adding that India had a number of positives to take with them into the second Test at St Lucia, starting in four days’ time.One could sense how shattered Sreesanth was at the end of the final over, when he even forgot his wristband on the pitch, but Dravid thought he’d done a “great” job nevertheless. “I hope he is feeling good,” said Dravid at the end of the day. “I had four options, but I was always going for Sreesanth. Sometimes captaincy is about gut feeling. He bowled great today in just his third Test. He struggled in the first innings, but he has lot of ability and is a fast learner. He didn’t have a great day in the first innings. It was a tough day but we have to be patient with them and let them grow.”Today, the bowlers showed a lot of heart. They’re young seamers and they need to get their lengths right. Sometimes when we, in India, see young bowlers we label them fast and quick, but we must remember our strengths. We are not going to bowl 150-plus, dig it in short and bounce people; we are good at what we do, we must get away from hype that gets portrayed around these bowlers.”Dravid was impressed with the way his youngsters in the team handled the pressure, saying that he didn’t have to do much to calm the nerves. “They showed composure, all of them wanted to have a bowl even under pressure. My job was to just tell them to stick to basics. One of the reasons for standing at mid-off was that we had young quicks, but I prefer to not keep talking too many times and make them confused. They know what to do because they have bowled at this level, I just gave reinforcements.”Wasim Jaffer, who was awarded the Man-of-the-Match award, got his share of praise as well. “Jaffer was brilliant. Some of the shots he played were tough to play on this pitch. Earlier, he was loose and would throw his wicket away but hopefully he will emerge consistent, because he has all the tools to succeed at this level.”Despite falling short by the smallest of margins, Dravid said India would use this as a learning opportunity. “It was a great game of cricket. I was happy that my team was part of this Test, we learn a lot from the mach. We had no chance at the end of the second day and most had written us off. Nobody would have believed we could have done this. The pitch also held up brilliantly. There was not much spin, but it had a bit of bounce. You needed to pitch the ball up and get the batsmen to drive. I thought our young seamers bowled spells of high quality, real Test-class bowling. Kumble was fantastic, plugging away, so we created pressure. That helped.”

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Cameron White’s brutal 141 went in vain for Somerset who were beaten by Worcestershire with an over to spare thanks to an equally destructive 97 from Graeme Hick at New Road. White’s hundred broke the Twenty20 record which he himself had previously held, jointly, with Hick. It took White just 55 balls to register his hundred with 11 fours and three mammoth sixes; the other five Somerset batsmen made just 55 out of their total of 198.Though Worcestershire continued to lose wickets, the start Hick and Vikram Solanki – who belted 33 from 12 balls – gave the home side ensured they were comfortable winners by three wickets.Click here for the report from Lancashire’s game against Nottinghamshire at Old Trafford.

While the British media could hardly contain their praise of Monty Panesar in the aftermath of the Old Trafford Test, it fell to Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach, to pour cold water on the celebrations.”Monty bowled very well, no doubt about it,” Fletcher told reporters. “The wicket really suited the spinner and quite often you get on a wicket like that and try too hard. He bowled a good line and length and spun the ball on occasions a great deal.”But he then made it clear that Ashley Giles, who has not bowled a ball in anger all summer, was not out of the Ashes reckoning. “Let’s have a look at Monty when he bowls on other wickets and let’s make a decision when Gilo is ready,” Fletcher said. “It was a good wicket for Monty to bowl on and he bowled damned well.”But what wickets are we going to play on? Would we need Monty on a green top? We have to look at the balance of the side and it’s very important that we look at Monty on wickets that don’t help him as much as it did today.””I think Monty is a very good bowler, but we have to produce 11 players who can produce two of the departments efficiently, whoever is playing for England,” said Fletcher. “I still have slight reservations about his batting and his fielding, but he’s an outstanding bowler and doing a job for us because there’s no-one else at the moment who can fulfill that role. He needs to work hard at it because if you work hard at your fielding you can really improve that a great deal. It’s not easy to turn you into a No.6 batter, but I just think you need to work at those two areas.” Giles, capable of taking some sharp catches in the gully, had developed into a handy lower-order batsman with an average just over 20.Fletcher’s remarks were in direct contrast to those of Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach and a former England allrounder. “I thought Panesar’s performance was terrific,” he enthused on Saturday. “He has loop, in-dip, spins the ball, beats people on both sides of the bat without actually having the doosra.”He is a very fine prospect. If he bowls like this, he could do well in Australia, too, because the wickets are more bouncy there. He’s the proper article, the bee’s knees.”Woolmer also dismissed claims that Panesar was something of a figure of fun. “The crowd might think he’s a bit of a joke but we don’t think of him like that. What the crowd should do is take him seriously because he’s right up there with the classic English spinners. People laughed at his fielding but that looks like it has improved.”Meanwhile Giles, speaking on BBC Radio’s Sportsweek programme, admitted he had a fight on his hands. “Monty is the man in possession and I have to get my place back – that’s the danger if you do get injured. My recovery is going OK, it is just frustrating. I cannot bowl and cannot run but the rehab is going well. It is going to be another four or five weeks until we reach that point.” Giles also paid a generous tribute to Panesar, saying: “Monty is a brilliant technician and works extremely hard. He is able to land the ball in good areas and put batsmen under pressure.”