Kumble, Pandey, Balaji In Indian Sixes Cricket Team

Fans of traditional crowd favourites India will be eagerly anticipating this year’s Hong Kong Cricket Sixes with confirmation that Lakshmipathy Balaji and exciting youngster Manish Pandey will join the legendary Anil Kumble at the 2009 event, to be played at the Kowloon Cricket Club on October 31-November 1

First played in 1992, the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes is the longest-running international tournament of its kind and will this year celebrate its 15th edition. As such, the Sixes has been included by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as a ‘Catch the Spirit’ event to celebrate the global governing body’s centenary celebrations.

It was announced that Kumble would be a member of the India team, who have won the Sixes just once, back in 2005, when this year’s tournament was launched last month. However, the squad has now added plenty of power to Kumble’s experience and heading the way is the 28-year-old Balaji.

The eight-Test, 30 ODI veteran is one of the great stories of Indian cricket in recent years. Having being a regular member of the national set-up in 2004 and 2005 he was struck down with stress fractures, sitting out cricket for three years before returning to take 11 wickets in the IPL last year, including a hat-trick. His return was made complete earlier this year, when was called into the national team in February against Sri Lanka.

Said Balaji: “Playing against Sri Lanka earlier this year gave me a taste of being back with an Indian team, so I am thrilled to be playing at the Hong Kong Sixes. Any team that has Anil has a chance to do very well and I am sure we can be real contenders for the Cup final.”

Along with Kumble and Balaji, also representing India is Kumble’s Champions League Twenty20 team-mate from the Bangalore Royal Challengers – Pandey.

The just-turned 20 Pandey stunned world cricket when he became the first Indian to record a century in the Indian Premier League (IPL), smashing 114 off just 73 balls against the Deccan Chargers earlier this year in South Africa in the tournament’s second edition. With the innings including 10 fours and four massive sixes, the athletic right-hand bat will relish the chance to tee off at the Kowloon Cricket Club’s short boundaries.

Said Pandey: “I have heard great things about the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes from Anil, who is an inspiration for all cricketers in Bangalore and India. I am thrilled to be coming to what I have heard is a very exciting event for the spectators and look forward to trying to put on a show for the Hong Kong fans at the Kowloon Cricket Club.”

The 2005 Player of the Tournament at the Hong Kong Sixes, Retinder Sodhi, will return once again, while also on the Indian squad are Sridharan Sriram, who has played eight ODIs, Stuart Binny, the son of former Indian all-rounder, Roger, and Jagadesh Arunkumar, the leading run-scorer in the domestic Karnataka Premier League Cup.

Captain Shahzada Saleem Ahmed, President of the Hong Kong Cricket Association, said: “This is a stronger India side than the 2005 Sixes champion team. If you were putting together the ideal side for the Sixes, combining the leadership of someone like Anil Kumble and the youthful energy and hitting power of Manish Pandey would be a dream comes true.

“Along with those players, we will also have the opportunity to see Balaji, Sodhi and Sriram, who are great talents and will put on a show at the KCC,” he added.

In a new innovation for 2009, the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes pools will be divided into Northern and Southern hemisphere groups. As such, India will take part in showpiece matches against geographical rivals Pakistan and Sri Lanka on day one, along with a round-robin match against defending champions England.

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One bad game costs us semis berth:Kumble

Bangalore Royal Challengers captain Anil Kumble rued that one bad game did his side in.

Kumble said that one bad game, against Victoria Bushrangers, did his side in as they crashed out of the Airtel Champions League Twenty20.

Royal Challengers Bangalore lost to Victoria in their first League B Super Eight match on Thursday and despite Saturday's eight-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils, Kumble's side are out of semifinal contention.

"I thought we played really well in this tournament. The boys showed lots of commitment but one bad game made all the difference. We lost to Victoria Bushrangers and that match cost us a semifinal place," Kumble said after the match.

Kumble, who celebrated his 39th birthday on Saturday, praised Ross Taylor for the New Zealander's superb innings of 65.

"It's a great birthday present though we were playing for pride. Ross (Taylor) played an exceptional innings to take us to victory. Rahul (Dravid) and (Virat) Kohli chipped in," said Kumble.

"It was great to win before the home crowd who came out in large numbers though were out of semifinal contention before this match. We want to prove that this team can win matches," he added.

Delhi captain Gautam Gambhir felt his side were short of 30-40 runs short to put pressure on Bangalore.

"When Virender Sehwag was batting we thought we would score 170 but at the end we were 30-40 runs short. Ross Taylor batted superb and he took the game out of us. Their spinners also bowled really well," a disappointed Gambhir said.

Despite being out of the competition, Gambhir said his side will play for a win against Cape Cobras in their last Super Eight match at home on Monday.

"It's important for us to play well in front of our fans in Delhi. We have to give them something to cheer for," he added.

Man-of-the-match Ross Taylor, a popular player for the Bangaloreans, thanked the crowd for their support.

"When you get crowd support like this it's hard not to entertain. I don't get this kind of reception back home in New Zealand and so have thanks to them.

Kumble now on wildlife protection panel

Bangalore: Former Indian cricket captain Anil Kumble has been appointed as vice chairperson of the Karnataka state board for wildlife.

He has been appointed with immediate effect.

Kumble succeeds Ananth Hedge Ashisar, an official release said.

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Why drop Dravid, asks Kumble

Former India spinner Anil Kumble has questioned the decision to drop Rahul Dravid for the upcoming one-day series with Australia.

Dravid was recalled to the national side for the recent Champions Trophy in South Africa following an absence of two years as a replacement for the injured Virender Sehwag.

But with the explosive opener having recovered from a shoulder problem and hard-hitting batsman Yuvraj Singh also returning from a fractured finger that ruled him out of the 50-over tournament, the 36-year-old - who top-scored in India's disappointing campaign in South Africa - found himself surplus to requirements.

However former team-mate Kumble, who is set to once again wear the Indian colours at the Hong Kong Sixes at the end of the month, believes Dravid should have been retained for the seven-match series.

He said: "I don't know why they didn't continue with him. It's a call that the selectors made.

"I don't think someone who has played that long, of that stature, should have been dropped in that way after having performed in the Champions Trophy.

"I certainly would have wanted him to continue but probably the selectors thought that he came as a replacement for Virender Sehwag and Sehwag was fit so he had to go, maybe that was the reason."

India have failed to impress in their last two tournaments - they fell at the group stages in both the Champions Trophy and World Twenty20 - but Kumble believes any talk of a crisis is premature.

"People are reading too much into a couple of tournaments," he added.

"Twenty20 is a format where you can't really say who's going to win. Nobody ever thought that Pakistan would win, I don't think anybody gave them a chance.

"In terms of the Champions Trophy, it was disappointing that India didn't qualify (for the semi-finals) but if you look at the format, one loss in the opening game and you can't really recover. It's not that India has done poorly in the last two years."
Indeed with the emergence of players such as Gautam Gambhir, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel and Praveen Kumar, Kumble feels India now have the tools to dominate the world stage for the foreseeable future.

"It will all depend on the bowling strength India possess, they have a good fast-bowling unit, Harbhajan (Singh) and Mishra are really good spinners and the batting is obviously pretty sound so in that sense, we have a complete package," he said.

"In the recent ICC events, a couple of major players were injured and that probably cost us the tournament. Going forward, India has a great opportunity to dominate international cricket, I'm sure they'll at least be in the top two.

"It's going to be an interesting couple of years, I don't think one team will dominate like Australia did for 10 years but I see India being in the top one or two slots."

Kumble himself, meanwhile, revealed he has no plans to return to the game in a coaching capacity.

"Not in the immediate future," he said. "At some point in time I'd like to be a mentor, I don't really believe too much in coaching. I certainly feel that if I can share my experiences of playing at the international level, I'd like to be a part of that."

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Kumble wants 40-overs-a-side ODI's

Former India captain Anil Kumble has suggested that ODI’s be shortened to 40 overs a side to save it from extinction.
With the advent of Twenty20 cricket, the future of ODIs is in jeopardy. The England and Wales Cricket Board recently scrapped a 50-over competition from its domestic calendar in 2010.

"I don't think ODIs are going to get extinct, but there is a little bit of threat on the development of the format.

You need such innovations as Sachin (Tendulkar) suggested but my thought is is to shorten ODIs from 50 to 40 overs," Kumble said last night on the sidelines of Van Huesen India Men's Fashion Week here.

Tendulkar recently suggested that to infuse new life into ODIs, the format should be split into four innings of 25 overs a side.

Kumble is part of an ICC panel formed to resolve the ongoing deadlock between the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) and Indian cricketers over the whereabouts clause.
A new role for Kumble

In the ICC's International Registered Testing Pool (IRTP) working group, Kumble is working alongside BCCI secretary N Srinivasan, ICC principal advisor I S Bindra, ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat and Tim Kerr, the chairman of the ICC's Anti-Doping Panel.

Kumble, however, refused to comment on the players' concern on WADA's contentious 'whereabouts clause'.

"I am representing ICC in WADA so I can't really say anything," he said.

Incidentally, Kumble is also the cricketers' representative on WADA's Athlete Committee.

The talismanic former national captain , who guided Bangalore Royal Challengers to the final of the second edition of the Indian Premier League in South Africa, feels Rahul Dravid's inclusion in the Indian ODI team will add balance to the already strong batting order.
"Great to see Dravid back for the ODI's"

"It's good to see Rahul's comeback in the ODI team. I am sure he will do well and his experience will be of great help for the team," Kumble said.

The 38-year-old former spinner, who has 619 Test and 337 ODI wickets in his 18-year career with the Indian team, also said that the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side will face a transition problem once the trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman bids adieu to the game.

"They (Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman) are still young and keen to play, so I think it's to early to predict anything, but any team will find it difficult to replace them. It is never easy to replace a Sachin Tendulkar," Kumble stated.

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