Kapil wants Sachin to call it a day
NEW DELHI: India’s 1983 World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev feels that the time has run out for Sachin Tendulkar and the batting maestro should immediately retire from international cricket.
Kapil believes that Tendulkar, who has scored 68 runs in four innings in the ongoing tri-series in Australia, should have retired after the 2011 World Cup, which India won on home soil.
“From what we have seen in the last three months, he (Sachin) should have announced his retirement after the World Cup or even earlier. It’s important to know that every cricketer has his time. Having served India for 22-23 years, there surely is no greater cricketer than him. But he should have announced his decision to retire from the shorter format soon after the World Cup,” Kapil was quoted as saying by Aaj Tak.
“May be his time has come. Every player has his time. He is 39-40 years now. Age is not on his side as it was earlier.” Kapil did not mince his words and accused Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni of favouritism in the team. Kapil said he was bewildered at Dhoni’s decision to not bowl Ravindra Jadeja in the crushing 110-runs defeat against Australia in Brisbane Sunday.
Sania fails to make main draw of Dubai WTA event
DUBAI: Sania Mirza squandered a one-set lead to crash out of the qualifying event of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, losing the first round match to Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak. Sania won the first set comfortably but lost steam as the match progressed to lose 6-2, 3-6, 2-6 in the opening round of the USD 2,000,000 hard court event. The Indian will now hope to do well in the doubles event, where she and partner Elena Vesnina are seeded second They open their campaign against Oman’s Fatma Al Nabhani and Slovakia’s Andreja Klepac.
Fly Kingfisher thrashes Dale Carnegie
MUMBAI: A fine overall batting performance by their batsmen’s enabled Fly Kingfisher beat Dale Carnegie Team by 49 runs in the Open Category of the 16th edition of the Vodafone Corporate Cricket 7s, co-sponsored by Alea International Consulting and Gulf Oil and managed by Saran Sports at the Western Railway ground over the weekend. Fly Kingfisher, made 130 for one in seven overs, while Carnegie replied with 81 fo loss of three wickets. In another match, all round performance by R Gajane (29 runs & 2 wickets) helped Vodafone-1 beat BMR Advisors by 20 runs.
Brief Scores: Open Category: Accenture 57 for 3 (R.Nikam 18, N.Gurav 2 for 12) lost to Motilal Oswal Securities 58 for no loss (S Khaire 25 n.o., J.Rafhael 24 n.o.); EMA Partners 76 for 3 (S Bhawsar 32 retd, J Shaikh 1 for 22) bt Elder Pharma, 71 for 2 (V.Shah 20, S Bahurani 27, P Suryakant 1 for 15, F Ashley 1 for 18); Vodafone (Corp) 75 for 3 (M Redker 24 n.o, M Padwal 21) bt.Exim Bank 70 for 5 (G Kolte 35 retd, V Raghwan 3 for 10); Rhodia 71 for 1 (S.Salian 35 retd) lost to PWC 73 for 2 (V Bhiwandikar 28, M Sawant 2 for 8); Enam 90 for 6 (K Doshi 32 retd, S Masrani 26, D Shetty 3 for 21) lost to HUL, 94 for 1 (M. Shekhar 35 retd, S Ashwat 29, K.Doshi 1 for 30). Seniors Cup: Indusind Bank, 70 for 3 (A Charaniya 32 retd, D Mazumdar 25, P Shetty 1 for 17) lost to HUL 72 for no loss (P Nadkarni 32 retd, B Guniyal 24).
State Bridge Championship
MUMBAI: The 32nd edition of the Maharashtra State Bridge Championship will commence from Feb 25 in Mumbai at the Mulund Gymkhana.To be played under the World Bridge Federation laws the tournament will see the participation of 45 to 50 teams from Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Thane and the other districts of the state. Their will be two events namely-Team of Four Duplicate and Progressive Pairs.