Kolkata: The controversy over allotment of tickets for Kolkata Knight Riders’ home matches doesn’t seem to end: West Bengal Sports Minister Subhas Chakraborty Monday said his department was not satisfied with the ticket distribution.
As a mark of protest, the sports ministry has returned all tickets for the Twenty20 match to be held at Eden Gardens Thursday to the IPL franchise Red Chillies Entertainment of film star Shah Rukh Khan.”We have been deprived of our share of tickets. Red Chillies Entertainment, which is in charge of the ticket distribution of Kolkata Knight Riders matches, has given us a lesser share of tickets this time. So we have returned all the tickets for the Knight Riders match versus Bangalore Royal Challengers,” Chakraborty told reporters.
“Unless we have adequate tickets how will we meet public demand? And if the Kolkatans don’t get enough tickets they will accuse us and say that we have sold all tickets to Red Chillies for our profit,” he added.”This is the first time in my tenure that a private company is deciding how many tickets should be given to the sports department for sale. So far I had been keeping away from IPL but now I will make sure that nobody demeans us in any way,” he said.
New Delhi, May 5: Minutes after landing in the country, controversial fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar said he was looking forward to a fruitful stint in the Indian Premier League and thanked Bollywood actor ShahRukh Khan for his support.“I am happy to be in India. I am looking forward to play in the IPL and play my role for my team,” said Akhtar, who landed at around 1600 hrs at the Indira Gandhi International Airport from Lahore and was mobbed by reporters and shutterbugs to cause a melee of sorts.
“I am grateful to the people of India for embracing me, especially (team owner) Shah Rukh Khan who supported me. Eden Gardens is like my home ground. I am looking ahead to be there soon,” added Akhtar.The speedster is free to play for ShahRukh-owned Kolkata Knight Riders after the Pakistan Cricket Board temporarily suspended his five-year ban.Akhtar, who leaves for Kolkata by an Indian domestic flight in the evening, admitted he would have to train hard and acclimatise with the conditions though he had visited the country late last year.“I have not played cricket for four months. I have to acclimatise with the conditions and train hard. I want to do my bit for my team,” he said.While refusing to talk about his appeal pending before an Appeallate Tribunal in Pakistan.
“I don’t want to talk about the case, it is pending before a tribunal,” he said.
Source:expressindia.com
Sydney: After experiencing a fortnight of glitz and glory in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Australian cricketers say playing on the same side with Indian players has helped mend strained relations.
“It’s been an incredible experience. It’s been one that’s broken down the cultural barriers that perhaps existed through the course of this summer but also, more than anything, it’s been a hell of a lot of fun to play in,” Australia’s star batsman Matthew Hayden, who played for Chennai Super Kings, told reporters in Brisbane.After a summer of discontent which led to souring of ties between players from the two sides, Hayden was not having the last laugh at Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh’s suspension for slapping India teammate S. Sreesanth.
“I think it was a pretty disappointing thing. I just think we’ve all tried to move on from anything to do with taking a backward step in the way last summer went on,” Hayden said.Hayden was charged with a breach of the Cricket Australia Code of Behaviour for calling the controversial spinner “obnoxious little weed”.Earlier, Harbhajan was banned for three Tests after Australian players gave evidence that he called Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds a ‘monkey’ during the second Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground in early January. His charge was reduced on appeal.
As Australians switch to the Test mode, training at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane, Hayden said he needed to make “big adjustments” to be prepared for the West Indies tour that will have three Tests and five One-Day Internationals.Besides Hayden, other Australians who played in the IPL include Ricky Ponting, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken, Cameron White, Michael Hussey, Symonds and retired greats Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and spin wizard Shane Warne.
The Indian Premier League and controversy seems to go hand in hand. The latest issue to have now lead to a nationwide debate across Pakistan is Pakistani cricketer Misbah-ul-Haq’s association with Bangalore Royal Challengers.The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is in a fix after allowing Misbah-ul-Haq to play for liquor baron Vijay Mallya-owned Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL as it is in conflict with its policy of discouraging players from associating themselves with alcohol brands.
Mallya owns the United Breweries group, manufacturers of leading alcohol brands in India, and Royal Challenge happens to be the name of a leading spirit brand of the UB group. PCB CEO — Shafqat Naghmi said the board does not encourage its players to promote or endorse alcohol and tobacco products.”Players usually take prior clearance for endorsing or starring in any brand commercials. I am not sure whether Misbah has taken permission for the Royal Challengers and I am also not sure whether he is required to wear or market any brand of the UB group,” Naghmi said.
“But yes we do discourage our players from even sporting logos promoting alcohol or tobacco products,” he admitted. Naghmi said the board would look into the matter. Alcohol consumption is against the tenets of Islam and banned in Pakistan. Even tobacco advertising on television and in sports was banned by the government a few years ago.To complicate matters, the Indian Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss recently said the Bangalore team’s name amounted to surrogate advertising and promoted alcohol. Ramadoss said his ministry would write against the Bangalore team to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for its surrogate advertisement.
Senior Pakistan Journalist — Shahid Hashmi reacted to this move by the PCB and very strongly said that the Board is responsible for this issue and they should have taken a note of the same before the tournament began. He said, “I think the PCB should have taken a note of this matter earlier itself. PCB may take a lenient action because Misbah may not have known about the logo featuring on the jersey of Bangalore Royal Challengers.”
Misbah is the only Pakistani playing in the Bangalore team. Three years ago the PCB in a pre-emptive move to ensure that its players were not required to wear the Johnnie Walker whisky logo during the Super Series in Australia, had taken prior clearance from the International Cricket Council.
Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan and Abdul Razzaq were among those who played in the Super Series. Four years ago, former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram was also taken to court by a Pakistan citizen after he appeared in an advertisement for an Indian alcohol company.Akram was cleared after arguing that he was promoting the company’s cricket gear, and not the alcohol. South African batsman Hashim Amla, a devout Muslim, has also been given permission by his board to not wear the logo of team sponsors Castle Lager because of his religious beliefs.
Lady Luck finally seems to be smiling on controversial pacer Shoaib Akthar. A day after he was cleared for participation in the Indian Premier League, ‘Rawalpindi Express’ as he is also fondly known, also got respite in a defamation case filed against him.
In a further softening of the stance on the temperamental speedster, the Pakistan Cricket Board will no longer pursue the defamation lawsuit it slapped on the fast bowler last month.The decision comes following a meeting between Nasim Ashraf, the board chairman and Shoaib at the house of a top political official on Sunday night in Islamabad.Shoaib Akhtar, who was banned for 5 years by the PCB, had got the PCB ruling suspended for a month by an appellate tribunal on Sunday.
Nasim Ashraf had also slapped a Rs 220 million defamation suit against him. The suit has been filed against Shoaib for making allegations on a television show that the PCB Chairman had demanded money from him and other players for allowing them to sign contracts with the lucrative Indian Premier League.Shoaib later retracted his claims and also made an unconditional apology before the appellate tribunal hearing his appeal against the five-year ban imposed on him by the disciplinary committee of the board.
Shoaib apologised for causing “grief and pain in particular to the Chairman of the board with the unsubstantiated and damaging allegations against him”.