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The cricket icon, Sachin Tendulakar who have been a brand ambassador of soft drinks major Pepsi since 90s, was dropped by the company. The decision came on the backdrop of Pepsi axing the other two members of the Indian batting troika - Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly - earlier this year.

“The decision was also influenced in a big way by the premium amount demanded by the batting maestro,” the sources added.

The Pepsi contract with Sachin, who is earning Rs 3-4 crore from Pepsi every year through promotions and ads, was expired in May.

A company source said that he had not “got back” to a request to “lower his price” for renewing his contract, which expired around two months back.

Pepsi had made it clear its intention to go with youngsters as part of a new campaign for 2008, ‘Yeh hai Youngistaan Meri Jaan; and roped in Ishant Sharma and Rohit Sharma while dropping Dravid and Ganguly.

Other insiders said the Master Blaster had asked for a “huge” hike. “We went back to the drawing board to see if it made more sense to put money on young cricketers who fit into our Youngistan campaign than shell out a huge sum for someone like Sachin,” the source said.

Tags: Cricket, Dravid, Ganguly, Pepsi, Rahul Dravid, Sachin, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Youngistan

Former Indian Cricket captain Saurav Ganguly is honored with Asian Cricketer and Asian batsman for his magnificent return to team India at the Castrol Asian Cricket award in Karachi on Friday. Sahin Tendulakar bagged best ODI batsman award while the same award is fetched by Gautam Gambhir for T-20.

Ganguly has had a series of successful innings since his return to the Indian cricket team during the South African tour of 2006-07. Ganguly’s wife Dona took the awards on his behalf as he was not there in the ceremony.

“I am proud and happy to be his wife. I don’t think he needed to work so hard to prove himself. But he had a point to prove and when he wants to achieve something he does it. So these awards make me really proud of him as my husband,” Dona told reporters after receiving the awards.

She, however, refused to term the awards as redemption for her husband after his removal as captain and being dropped from the team in 2006.

“I don’t see it that way. I just knew that he would achieve what he wanted. He is an introvert sort of person but my job was to be there to encourage and support him. As a family we were there for him always,” she said.

Ganguly was also delighted to get the award and expressed his happiness on receiving the awards in a video taped message.

Sri Lankan Wicket Keeper Batsman Kumar Sangakkara is selected for best test batsman award while Farveez Maharoof from Sri Lanka again begged the Best ODI Bowler. Pakistan’s Umar Gul was named the Best Twenty20 Bowler.

While Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan took away the Best Bowler award, the Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh was given a special award for hitting six sixes in the Twenty20 World Cup against England.

The most surprising element was the Best Fielder award to Pakistan wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal, who has been dropped from the Asia Cup squad because of his poor form.

But former Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram, who along with Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya and former India skipper Rahul Dravid picked the winners, said that Akmal was selected for his overall performances throughout the last two years.

Akram said that Asian cricket had produced some great performers from Hanif Mohammad to Tendulkar and it was good to see them being recognised for their achievements in a systematic manner.

Pakistan greats like Hanif Mohammad, Zaheer Abbas, Asif Iqbal and Wasim Bari graced the ceremony that was hosted by Akram and Rameez Raja with all the teams, including associate member Hong Kong, in attendance.

Hanif Mohammad got a lifetime achievement award and said, “it was time for other companies and people to also come forward and recognize and reward the players.”

Tags: Asian Cricket, Asian Cricket Award, Castrol, Castrol Asian Cricket award, Gambhir, Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Indian Cricketers, Sachin, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly

IPL Twenty-20 is the latest cricket fashion which is rocking in the cricket world nowadays. After 56 matches, the semis of the league are going to start today with the battle between Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals. It is getting popularity among the cricket fans but the same is surrounded with lots of controversies and gossips since its start.

Before the start of the IPL, the issue of boycotting the coverage by the media gave a major jolt to this league. The IPL was reported to have sold the new media rights to the Twenty20 tournament to an unnamed US web company in a $50m deal. BCCI had said that all photographers covering IPL matches were mandatory required to upload photographs on IPL’s official website at their own cost which was later rejected to soften media norms for IPL.

After a lot of pressure mounted by the issue, the matter is resolved but it was just a starting. Eligibility of Shoiab Akhtar for IPL made the headlines after this issue. PCB has banned Shoiab Akhtar for 5 years to represent Pakistan but as a professional player he was likely to be eligible to play for Kolkata Knight Riders. BCCI didn’t want to create any problem so asked him to get permission from PCB failing which he was not allowed to play for KolKata Knight Riders. Only a week after PCB has stayed the order by a month and new enquiry will take place after that. Due to this he is now available to Knight Riders for selection.

Anyhow, these gossips were just trailers only. The big picture came into light with a new controversy. Harbhajan-Sreeshanth slap row was a biggest jolt to the IPL as well as to the cricket history. It was a shocking incident of slapping by Harbhajan after the Kings XI Vs. Mumbai Indians clash in Mohali on April 25 which left the cricketers embarrassed. The incident flamed up when the BCCI asked the short tempered Harbhajan to explain the action. Frustrated with his lose, Bhajji slapped Sreesanth and the incident is caught by cameras of media. The issue was bounced high by the media thereafter. Finally the issue came to an end on May 14 when Bhajji was banned for 5 ODIs and was warned by the Cricket Board of a life ban for any further misconduct on his part. That was one of the very toughest times for the career of the 27-year-old off spinner Harbhajan.

Later BCCI also banned an umpire to stand in a match on this topic. The umpire has made any comment on the Sreesanth’s behavior and he got the reward.

Sehwag was no more left away from controversies. The match between Delhi Daredevils and Deccan Chargers was stopped at a very crucial point in the 19th over when Shewag complained to the umpires that the crowd is throwing stones at him. Sehwag was very upset with the incident which wiped off the happiness of his victory in the match.

Shahrukh-Ganguly tashan was one more sensational gossip of IPL. A reported rift between Kolkata Knight Rider’s owner Shahrukh Khan and skipper Sourav Ganguly came in light after the team’s poor performance against the Rajasthan Royals which cost them their chance to feature in the top four teams. The two have also conflicts over various issues like team selection, team combination and player selection. Shahrukh Khan and Captain Sourav Ganguly had different opinions about team composition and players to buy during the auction. The other major reason for the rift is Shahrukh’s faith in coach John Buchanan that saw him giving more powers to the Australian in team issues surpassing Ganguly. The King Khan further upset Ganguly by announcing that Buchanan would be taking control of the team next season. Bid for the players in the auction was another issue between them. The two however now says that there are no differences between them and all issues are resolved now.

Shahrukh was also warned by the BCCI to follow Code of Conduct in cricket. The Anti Corruption Unit officials had cautioned the actor about going into the dressing room and the team dug out during the IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings. BCCI supported the law against Srk also. King Khan was highly disappointed by this issue and the warning. He even said that he would keep him away from IPL now. But later he was permitted to cheer the team from dug out.

Now come to the colorful part of IPL. Cheerleaders, which are new in Indian cricket, gave a new color to the game but on the same side it gave rise to a hot debate among the politicians and the officials. Vijay Mallya, the owner of the Bangalore Royal Challengers, started the trend of keeping the cheer-leaders with the team and others followed. There was a lot of hue and cry about the dressing of these cheer leaders. They were finally made to wear so called decent looking clothes by the moral brigade of Mumbai. Political leaders also gave their comments in the matter. Some protested it while others found nothing insane in the dancing of cheerleaders. But still the cheerleaders are cheering the viewers and fans of cricket in the play.

Another issue which rose on cheerleaders was the racial abuse directed towards two dark skinned cheerleaders hired by the Kings XI Punjab team. They have alleged that they were asked to sit out just before the April 19 match of the IPL played in Mohali because they were not white. Cheerleaders Ellesha Newton and Sherinne Anderson were banned from performing at a major cricket match in India.

Shane Warne and Ganguly’s views on field leaded a new controversy in IPL. Rajasthan Royals’ skipper Shane Warne lodged a complaint against his Kolkata Knight Riders counterpart Sourav Ganguly for resorting to time-wasting tactics during their IPL match and refusing to accept the fielder’s word on a “clean catch”. Ganguly dismissed the Australian’s claim that he had violated the spirit of the game by indulging in delaying tactics and refusing to accept the fielder’s words on a ‘clean catch’.  Later Shane Warne and Sourav Ganguly fined 10 per cent of match fees. Shane Warne fined for his comments in press conference. Ganguly fined for his on-field behavior.

Recently a complaint has been filed against Kings XI Punjab co-owner Ness Wadia for allegedly publicly insulting and using derogatory language against Mohali police chief Ranbir Singh Khatra during Friday’s IPL match between the Punjab team and Deccan Chargers at PCA stadium, Mohali.

The police officer lodged a complaint with Mohali deputy commissioner that Wadia had used “insulting” language on him. The complaint also encircled IPL commissioner Lalit Modi for smoking in the Long Room of the PCA stadium in an earlier IPL match.

One more issue is in the air. Despite loosing the semi final berth Mumbai Indians are hosting the semi finals and final in Mumbai, since the owner of Mumbai Indians has bid the highest value for the team. So this issue has created some sort of flame. Skipper of Rajasthan Royals Shane Warne is not happy with this. He was looking for hosting the semi finals in the top two teams place.

So these are a few colorful events from the cricketing world of India, but I am not sure where the cricket in between these issues is?

Tags: Controversies, Cricket, Ganguly, Harbhajan, Harbhajan Srresanth Row, India, IPL, Slap, Sreesanth, T 20, Twnty 20

Kolkata Knight Riders chief executive Joy Bhattacharya on Wednesday denied any rumors of differences between team owner Shah Rukh Khan and captain Sourav Ganguly. He said that there is no truth in reports and the rumors are all baseless and false.

According to media reports, the two have reported rifts on several issues including team selection and also on Coach John Buchanan being given more power by the owner in running the team.

“We have nothing to say because we think there is no problem in running the team. The reports of rift between Sourav and Shah Rukh are all baseless. The report doesn’t attribute to any source or official. It was an imagination of the reporter’s mind,” Bhattacharya told.

Captain Sourav Ganguly, while leaving Kolkata for his team’s match against Delhi Daredevils, said, “I have no problems with Shah Rukh.”

Bhattacharya admitted that the only problem for the team is “we are losing matches.”

The Knight Riders are already in a bad situation after their loss to Rajasthan Royals Tuesday night in the Indian Premier League, and it will need a miracle for the Kolkata team to get into the semi-finals. This created a lot of pressure on the players and left the owner in trouble.

Tags: Cricket, Dada, Ganguly, IPL, Khan, KKR, Knight Riders, Kolkata, Saurav, Shah Rukh, Shahrukh, SRK, Suarav Ganguly

Former Indian captain Saurav Ganguly after snatching the ‘Man of the Match’ in Kanpur test against South Africa is back in the top 20 players of ICC test batsman list. He is now 17th in the ICC Rankings which made him the fifth Indian in the top 20 list.

Ganguly scored 87 and 13 not out in the first and second inning respectively against South Africa in the Kanpur Test which helped him to ride 7 places and resched at 17th rank of ICC batsman list.

Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman are the other Indian batsmen in the top 20 players of the list. Tendulkar, who missed the last two Tests through injury, has dropped one place to 13th position while Dravid lies in 14th place, gaining one spot. Laxman, who scored 50 in Kanpur, stays at his earlier rank of 19th.

Sehwag who became India’s top ranked player on 12th position after hitting a triple century of 319 runs in Chennai, came down to 15th. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has climbed four places to reach 39th position.

South African captain Greame Smith who scored 69 and 35 at Kanpur test raises two places to reach 12th rank while Jacques Kallis slide three places to fifth position.

AB de Villiers falls five places to 26th spot while Ashwell Prince, Hashim Amla and Neil McKenzie have held steady in 23rd, 28th and 33rd positions respectively.

Sehwag may have slipped in batting rankings but he has climbed eight places in the bowling list and now sits in 51st position, two places ahead of Ishant Sharma, who took five wickets in his only appearance in the series in Kanpur.

Anil Kumble who missed the Kanpur test because of his groin injury remain India’s highest ranked bowler at position 7 despite of dropping one slot followed by Zaheer at 14th rank, the second highest ranked India’s bowler.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who won the player-of-the-series award for his 19 wickets, raised one place to 19th position, where just 13 ratings points separates him from 13th placed Andrew Flint off of England.

Tags: Ganguly, Saurav, Saurav Ganguly, Test Ranking

Indian team have finally written success story on Kanpur’s Greenpark pitch on the third day of third test against South Africa winning the test by eight wickets to level the series 1-1.

First test in Chennai was a dull draw followed by second test won by South Africa while the last and final test today is won by India to level the series.

After dismissing the rivals at a small score of 121 in second innings, India reached the target of just 62 runs for the loss of two wickets.

In the second inning of India, opener Virendra Sehwag gave 22 runs including two brilliant sixers off 12 balls. Wasim Jaffer was dismissed after making 10 runs. Suarav Ganguly (13) and Rahul Dravid (18) remained not out and took the team to reach the required target.

However the day started when Indian batsman continued from previous score of 288 for nine wickets of the first inning. Last wicket pair of India, Sharma and Sreesanth joined to frustrate the South Africans for a 46-runs partnership leading India to a score of 325, 60 runs ahead. South Africa had made 265 runs in its first inning.

In the second inning of South Africans, team is soon wrapped up at 121 as the Indian spinners dismissed the players one by one.

The pitch proved to be very favorable for the Indian spinners especially Harbhajan Singh. In 21 over of his bowling he gave away 43 runs at an economy of 2.04 taking away the four wicket giving India a serious chance of leveling the series.

South Africa remained under pressure from the very start of their batting. Harbhajan took 4 wickets while Virander Sehwag knocked out 3. Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth also took away 2 and 1 wicket respectively.

McKenzie was the first one to be knocked out by Sreesanth after making 26 runs. A hard blow came to Proteas when Amla is sent back to pavilion without opening his account by Harbhajan Singh.

Getting rid of Kallis(15) first and then bowling Smith(35) round his legs Sehwag proved how lethal he is.

Ishant Sharma took 2 wickets of Boucher (5) and Morkel (0). Sreesanth also dismissed Harris at no score.

Harbhajan took away the ninth wickets in the form of Steyn(7) while it was Virendra Sehwag who dismissed the last wicket of Ntini(0). Prince remained not out on the pitch with 22 runs.

It was India’s fifth win over South Africa in 21 Tests, their fourth at home, as against 10 losses and seven draws. It was only the eighth Test in Kanpur (out of 20) to have produced a result with India winning five of them and preserved the home team’s record of having not lost a Test match here. For complete update of the match please visit Cricket Updates.

Australian cricket player Shane Warne has now retired to be the new face of 888.com. Visit here to see if his cricket skills match his poker skills!

Tags: Amla, Cricket, Dravid, Ganguly, India, Jaffer, Sehwag, Smith, South Africa, Test

India leaded South Africa by 23 runs after the second day of third test on Saturday for Future Cup series in Kanpur. India ended the day on 288 at 88 overs for nine loses against the South African first innings total of 265. Ishant Sharma (0) and Sreesanth (9) remained on the pitch as the last wicket pair during the play.

Saurav Ganguly can be said the hero of today’s match giving 87 runs off 119 balls. It was his seventh fifty against South Africa while his 34th in test. Laxman also gave a satisfied contribution of 50 runs. Other players couldn’t contribute much.

India was dull at start as both the openers- Virendra Sehwag and Waseem Jaffar were sent to pavilion after a small score of 35. Sehwag (8) was dismissed by Dale Steyn while Jaffer (15) was sent back by Marckel.

Dravid and Laxman gave a partnership for 78 runs giving a little stability to the team. But soon the joint venture got disrupt when Dravid was catch out by Markel. Dravid gave 29 runs including 4 fours for 106 balls. Later Markel dismissed Laxman as soon as he completed his half century.

Yuvraj Singh contributed 32 runs to the team and was catch out by A.B. De Villiers on Harris’s ball. Captain Dhoni also gave an increment of 32 points to the team score.

Bhajji and Piyush were fragile at the ground with scores of 6 and 4 respectively.

Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel were the most successful South African bowlers with figures of three for 60 and three for 57 respectively.

Ganguly said that it was his best knock in difficult pitch like that of Greenpark stadium. He said, “There was pressure since I was coming back. In terms of difficulty of surface, it’s number one innings.”

“I wanted to play my normal game. On such surfaces, it’s how you think matters. If you think about the delivery that goes through the top, you will get out to normal deliveries.” Former captain Saurav Ganguly added after the day’s play. Watch the live proceedings of the third day of second test between India and South Africa.

Australian cricket player Shane Warne has now retired to be the new face of 888.com. Visit here to see if his cricket skills match his poker skills!

Tags: Ganguly, India, Ishant, Laxman, Sehwag, South Africa, Sreesanth

The Indian team for the third and final test has been announced today and it includes Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel and Ramesh Powar. Rudra Pratap Singh has been dropped from the team. Ramesh Powar has been included as the skipper and the leg sppiner Anil Kumble is not 100% fit.

Ishant Sharma was included in the third test though he was not fit for the first two test matches. India lost the second test match at Ahmadabad last night with an inning and 90 runs. The third and final test is scheduled to begin on 11th April at Green Park, Kanpur.

The team for the third test is consist of Jaffer, Sehwag, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Yuvraj, Kaif, Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, and Munaf Patel.

Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar is already announced unfit for the third test and after the defeat in Ahmadabad Team India really need to win the third and final test in Kanpur.

Tags: Dhoni, Dravid, Ganguly, Kumble, Sachin, Team India

The situation for Indian team at Ahmadabad is really tough, India is playing the second test match of the future cup against South Africa at Ahmadabad. Today is the third day of play and India is on the verge of the inning defeat.

At the tea India is batting at 191 for the loss of 4 wickets and Ganguly is batting at 59 along with Dhoni who is batting at 28. India is still trailing by 227 runs and only 6 wickets are left.

Today early morning South Africa decided to declare their inning at their overnight score and they give India a target of 419 runs to save the match by an inning. Then Sehwag started brilliantly by hitting two sixes in the very first over of Steyn.

Within a very short time Sehwag became the victim of Ntini and India moved to 31 for the loss of one wicket. After that Dravid felt at 64 while he scored only 17 runs. Then Jaffer got out at 19 and India reached to 3 down for 70 only. After that Laxman and Ganguly played some good cricket but Laxman too fell cheaply at 35 while at that time India were 125 for the loss of 4 wickets.

From then Ganguly and Dhoni are playing and they have scored a partnership of 66 runs. For complete coverage please visit Cricket Updates.

Tags: Ahmadabad, BCCI, Bhajji, Cricket News, Dhoni, Dravid, Ganguly, Harbhajan, India, Ishant, Kumble, Laxman, Live Score, live update, Motera, News Live, South Africa, Team India, Test Match

First test match of Future cup series in M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai ended after a dull draw between South Africa and India on Sunday. South Africa played cautiously in its second batting. At the end of the match South Africa scored 331 runs at loss of five. McKenzie with 155 runs and Boucher with 11 runs were remain unbeaten on the pitch as the match was finalized.

During the second batting of South Africa, the openers Smith and McKenzie gave a speed start. Smith was dismissed yesterday after making 35 runs and Amla joined McKenzie then. Before the team agreed to draw, McKenzie hit 13 boundaries and a six during his 445-minute stay at the crease. He hit a double century in his previous Test.

South Africa got its first stroke from India by losing Amla at Kumble’s ball. Amla delivered 81 runs to the team. Kallis and Prince couldn’t contribute much after Amla. Both were dismissed by Harbhajan after making 19 and 5 runs respectively. De Villiers gave his 11 and was claimed by Sehwag.

The pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium did not have any significant help for the bowlers on the first four days and was not expected to behave any different on day five.

The match will always be remembered for Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid. Sehwag, who smashed 319 in India’s first innings, was deservedly named man of the match. He broke his own record of 309 runs in 2004 in Multan against Pakistan, although he couldn’t cross Lara’s record of 400 runs. Sehwag had taken India to a mammoth 627 in reply to South Africa’s first innings total of 540.

Dravid who completed his 10,000 runs in Test, is the third Indian and world’s sixth batsman to achieve the milestone. With this, the former Indian captain has also completed his 25th century.

The second Test will be played in Ahmedabad from April 3-7, with the third Test in Kanpur from April 11-15.

Tags: Amla, Boucher, Chennai, Dravid, First Test, Future Cup, Ganguly, India, Kallis, Sehwag, South Africa, Test