Sports India

BCCI has announced the squad slated to tour Sri Lanka for a tri-series, begining from August 14. Sachin Tendulkar who has been sidelined owing to a shoulder injury has come back into the team after a gap of three months.

Dinesh Mongia, Punjab’s left-handed batsman, was also included in the series. Anil Kumble, who was the highest wicket-taker in the Test series against the West Indies was not included in the team. Zaheer khan was also not included in the squad.

The squad includes: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicket-keeper), Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Romesh Powar, Munaf Patel, Ajit Agarkar and Dinesh Mongia.

Sachin Tendulkar has been included in India’s one-day squad for the forthcoming triangular tournament in Sri Lanka, along with batsman Dinesh Mongia, who has been handed a surprise recall. The pair replace Venugopal Rao, the middle order batsman, and youthful opener Robin Uthappa following disappointing tours of the West Indies.

Tendulkar has been subjected to a four-month layoff due to a shoulder-injury, but received the all-clear to play in the tournament this week after a successful spell playing cricket in England for celebrity side Lashings. Mongia’s recall is based on strong domestic performances over the last few years, both at home for Punjab and for Leicestershire in county cricket.

The triangular series, involving hosts Sri Lanka, India and South Africa, will take place between Monday 14 and Tuesday 29 August, with all seven matches scheduled to take place in Colombo.

India Squad
Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar, Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel, Rudra Pratap Singh, Dinesh Mongia

Twenty20 Cup quarter-final, Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire v Northants
Match starts 1730 BST Nottinghamshire have their sights set on a Twenty20 finals day appearance on their home ground as they face Northants in the quarter-final.
But the Outlaws missed a chance to fine tune when Saturday’s Pro40 clash with Lancashire was rained off.

Northants could be without batsman Sourav Ganguly, who was hit on the chin against Pakistan on Friday.

The Steelbacks’ sparkling Twenty20 form is a stark contrast to that in the Championship, where they are bottom.

After Sourav Ganguly turned his back on him, Jagmohan Dalmiya may now find another friend switching camps—former ICC boss Ehsan Mani.

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The BCCI has persuaded Mani to provide some crucial documents related to alleged ‘‘irregularities’’ in the 1996 World Cup accounts—an issue on which the Board has been hoping to pin Dalmiya down.

BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah told The Indian Express today that a team appointed by the Board will fly to London in the next few days to have detailed talks on the issue with Mani.

Apparently, Mani has assured the BCCI that he will make available some key documents, ‘‘missing’’ all this while, which can help the Board tighten the screws on Dalmiya.

‘‘Mr Mani has informed us that he will help us with all possible documents. The Board’s treasurer (N Srinivasan) will arrange a short trip to London for a couple of people who specialise in scrutinising accounts and financial matters. Hopefully, it will work out soon,’’ said Shah.

According to another senior BCCI official, ‘‘Mani was at the helm of PILCOM affairs during the World Cup in 1996. We understand that the very documents that Dalmiya is saying he doesn’t have with him anymore are actually with Mani. If we get those accounts-related papers, the puzzle could be complete.’’

Dalmiya has already been summoned by the BCCI’s disciplinary committee for a hearing in New Delhi on July 26, where the Board intends to grill the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president over the PILCOM accounts issue.

However, it’s learnt that Dalmiya, busy with the CAB elections coming up on July 30, is planning to request the BCCI to defer the hearing till after the elections.

India’s Sania Mirza reached her first quarterfinals of the year at the Cincinnati Women’s Open on Wednesday by beating Finland’s Emma Laine 6-1, 0-6, 6-1.

The second-round match swung wildly according to how well they served. In the final set, Mirza still landed less than half of her first serves but won most of what she did put in.

Mirza improved her record for the year to 9-13. She was seeded ninth and handed a better draw after third-seeded Daniela Hantuchova withdrew injured.

Fourth-seeded Katarina Srebotnik matched Mirza in achieving her first quarterfinals of 2006, when the Slovenian put away Yuan Meng of China 7-6 (3), 6-1.

Srebotnik fought off three set points with Yuan leading 5-3 in the first set.

“(Yuan) didn'’t make many unforced errors in the first set,” Srebotnik said. “I didn'’t play my best, and I was lucky to be able to pull it off and get some momentum.”

The suspense is over. India’s Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan has announced his team for the 2006 JK Tyre National championship. It’s Ameya Walavalkar (Mumbai), Aditya Akkineni, Akhil Khuslani (both Hyderabad) and Aditya Patel (Chennai).

“This is my best bunch. They were selected based on their lap-times, consistency, natural ability and career performances. This will be the strongest line-up in the national championship. We are certainly going to set the trend this year and I mean it. I could have put others in the team. They are not bad but we need to show a strong performance,” says Narain.

Narain sees a great potential in his team. “They have different styles of driving. I found Akkineni and Patel very smooth. They certainly make a perfect pair. Akhil is aggressive but a very sensible driver. I feel this is the right combination.”

Surprise choice

Walavalkar’s inclusion came as a big surprise to many as his name did not figure in the list of 12. “The decision was purely mine. Since I will not be available for the entire championship due to my commitments with Williams, I wanted to have an experienced driver to guide the youngsters. Ameya has extensive experience in domestic racing. His knowledge of Indian racing cars from the past seasons will prove to be a great benefit for the team in its first year of operations,” says Narain.

Narain has also picked iAjay Kini (Chennai) and Kartik Shanker (Delhi) as the reserve drivers. “This was not in the scheme of things but I decided it will be an advantage for the team. Kartik is a little inexperienced but he exhibited class and so did Ajay.”

The reserve drivers’ duty will be to step into the shoes of the main drivers in the event of their inability to attend race weekends due to illness, injury and other commitments. “They will receive some financial support to pursue their racing careers in other categories of domestic racing,” says Narain.

Great feeling

Akkineni is thrilled about his inclusion. Speaking from Indonesia, he said: “I was quite confident but, it could have gone either way. I am thankful to Narain for giving me the opportunity and am proud to race for him. Now that I have bagged the chance, I will make the most of it.”

Patel made his pleasure obvious too. “I am really, really happy. I want to thank Amaron and Speed (BPCL) for this initiative and Narain for all the pains in running the programme. I have got my exams to write and once through, I will quickly get to work on my physical fitness.”

Speaking from Mumbai, Walavalkar said: “Feels great. I was always looking for such an opportunity and it came today. It has strengthened my confidence. Narain has given me the most responsible job. I will try to do my best in helping out my team.”

Khuslani wants to get the best results for Narain. “That’s the only way I can express my thanks to him. I am already working hard, and now that I am in the stable of the best Indian driver I will double my efforts.”

In his effort to give back something to the sport with which he rose to fame, fastest Indian on the wheels and the only to be a Formula one driver, Narain Karthikeyan is setting up an academy in his hometown Coimbatore to tap young driving talent.
Narain, who has selected four young prospects in Aditya Akkineni and Akhil Khuslani of Hyderabad, Ameya Walavalker of Mumbai and Aditya Patel of Chennai as the wards for his academy ‘Speed NK Racing’, said when he announced the idea of setting up the academy, he received more than 100 applications from all over the country.

“I also received e-mails from aspirants with detailed performances", Narain said, pointing out how difficult a task it was to select the final four trainees as per various parametres.

He picked 14 young drivers from a long list of aspirants and called them for the ’shoot out’ to pick the final four plus two reserves.

“I will take one step at a time,” he said when asked whether he would increase the number of drivers based on the success of the academy, adding “it is still in the early stage.”

He said the four trainees at the academy would be given full sponsorship this year’s JK Tyres National Racing Championship.

“It will be a unique opportunity for them to concentrate just on racing without any financial pressure and learn the art,” he added.

Buoyed about his venture Narain said, “I am really happy to give these young guns the opportunity to mould themselves into international standard professional racing drivers.”

He said the two reserve drivers - Karthik Shankar of Delhi and Ajay Kini of Hyderabad - would also be given some financial assistance to pursue a career in racing, in other categories of domestic competitions.

Besides, their job would be to get behind the wheels in case any of the main drivers was unable to attend the weekend race due to indisposition, injury or clashing educational commitments.

Narain said the team sponsors were continuing their association with him, supporting his vision of grooming young talent.

“The six round ‘Formula Rolon’category of J K Tyres National Racing championship in 120 BHP, 1.6 litre fuel enjucted engined single seater car will be the highest category of seater racing in India,” Narain said.

Ameya Walavalkar (Mumbai), Aditya Akkineni, Akhil Khushlani (both Hyderabad) and Aditya Patel have been handpicked by Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan for the NK Racing teams, which will compete in the Formula Rolon category of the JK Tyres National racing championships 2006, which will be held from August 20.

Kartik Shankar (Delhi) and Ajay Kini (Chennai) are the reserves of the team.

Narain, despite his busy schedule, spent almost four days before finalising the drivers for the teams - Amaron NK racing and Speed NK Racing.

The Williams F1 test driver had received nearly 200 applications and fourteen were shortlisted. Narain himself watched the boys, who had undergone trials at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore on Tuesday.

“I was solely responsible for the selection of these boys after a shoot-out in which twelve contenders participated. I have all the support from the sponsors Amaron, BPCL Speed and JK Tyres and all of them gave me a free hand,” Narain said.

He added that he had analysed the large amount of data collected during the shoot-out on Tuesday and also considered their past records and achievements and the teamwork skills before finalising the team.

He said he picked one driver with extensive experience in domestic racing as “His knowledge of Indian racing cars from the past seasons will prove to be a great asset to the team in it’s first year of operations. The others were selected based on their lap-times, consistency, natural ability, and their career performances to date.”

Ameya Walavalkar, the 23-year-old from Mumbai is the most experienced and the rest Aditya Akkineni (17 yrs), Aditya Patel (17 yrs) and Akhil Khushlani (16 yrs) are very promising drivers. The reserve drivers - Kartik Shankar (19 years) and Ajay Kini (17 years) will get the chance in case any main driver is unable to attend a race weekend.

Narain Karthikeyan has chosen former national karting champion Ameya Walavalkar to spearhead his racing team’s challenge in the 2006 JK Tyres National Racing Championship. The 25-year-old Khar resident’s chance to win the championship last year was foiled after his car was sabotaged before the final race.

“Narain’s trust in me is quite a morale booster. Now I will finally be able to drive upto my potential,” said Walavalkar.

Along with him, BMW Asia contender Aditya Akinneni, Aditya Patel and Akhil Khushlani round off the foursome. The interesting bit is that while they may be speed demons on track, all three are too young to even hold a driving license.

Narain has obviously chosen Walavalkar to make a strong bid for the overall crown in the Formula Rolon and keep the sponsors happy.

The Mumbaikar will also be expected to serve as mentor for the other three when Narain’s Formula One commitments make it difficult for him to be present at the races.

The credentials of both Khushlani and Patel are impressive. While the former is the only Asian to figure in the top five of the world finals of the Rotax Karting Championship, Patel has to his credit the distinction of being one of the youngest race winners in the Formula LGB category.