Adslang Blogger

Sachin Tendulkar’s childhood friend, Vinod Kambli, and coach, Ramakant Achrekar, are hoping that the ‘master batsman’ overtakes Brian Lara’s record of most runs in Test cricket during the first outing in Sri Lanka.

“Knowing Sachin’s penchant for runs, I will not be surprised if he gets those 172 runs at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC), the venue for the first Test itself. Moreover, the SSC ground is one of his happy hunting grounds as he averages over 110 runs per innings with three hundreds and one fifty from three Tests. I sincerely hope he gets those runs,” former Indian batsman Kambli told Cricketnext on Tuesday.

“Another reason, I can think of for him (Sachin) to get those 172 runs at the SSC is, his current form and his hunger for runs when in good form. He top-scored for the Indians with a 60 plus runs in the only practice match on a difficult pitch and the SSC is relatively a batsmen-friendly wicket. My hunch is that he (Tendulkar) will go for it sooner than later,” Kambli, who has been in many partnerships with Tendulkar since their schooldays, added.

“Sachin loves to play without any pressure whatsoever. He also knows that the sooner he gets those (172) runs the better it will be for him as well as for his team.

“If he manages to get those runs in the first Test itself, then there will be no stopping him for the rest of the series. Mendis (Ajantha) or even Murali (Muralitharan) will have no effect on him and that will be a very good sign for the whole team,” the former southpaw observed.

Dronacharya award winner and the man who continues to shape many a Mumbai cricketer’s career, Achrekar, was not very sure of his former ward getting to the world record in the very first Test but hoped he would do so.

“Whether Sachin gets to the record in the forthcoming series or not is difficult to say even though everyone would be praying for him to do so. I wish he plays an important role for his team on this wicket, which has seen him score heavily,” Achrekar observed.

“When he called me up last week, like he does during foreign tours, he sounded very positive even though I did not ask him about the record. Thankfully, he has started the tour on the right note, top-scoring for his team in the three-day match and I am sure we can expect many more runs from his blade,” the coach added.

We’re excited to share a new feature for Google News India: you can now get the latest cricket scores right on the front page! If there’s a cricket match going on somewhere in the world (and there always is) you will have the latest information available. And if you want all the cricket news in addition to the latest scores while you’re on the Google News front page, you can personalize Google News by creating a custom section. In fact, even if you don’t read Google News India, but still want to get the latest cricket scores, simply add a custom section from the India edition to your edition, and you’ll be able to see the latest cricket scores on your Google News front page wherever you live. Be sure to check out our Hindi News edition as well.

We hope this gives you your fill of cricket scores and more, so let us know what you think.

Source: http://googlenewsblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/cricket-scores-in-google-news.html

An unknown cricket website (cricketnirvana.com) reports that the random testing carried out by WADA during the recently concluded Indian Premier League has resulted in one sample testing positive.

There’s a lot of conjecture over who that player could be. We can rule out Shane Warne, who actually only tested positive for a diuretic, since the report mentions a sub-continental fast bowler. Then there’s the Pakistani duo of Akhtar & Asif who first tested positive before the 2006 Champions Trophy. They were let off by a kangaroo court committee. But shortly before the 2007 World Cup, they were mysteriously declared unfit for the tournament. There’re also a few who’ve admitted in the past to using recreational drugs (Fleming, Gibbs, etc.)

But I have a sneaking feeling it wasn’t a player at all. I think it was Lalit Modi. I’m fairly sure he was smoking something when he kept talking about enforcing bans on teams which fielded ICL players and insisting that players would necessarily have to turn out for their IPL teams in the Champions League even if the team that they normally represented in their country’s domestic season qualified.

Source: http://cricket24×7.blogspot.com/2008/07/ipl-doping-controversy.html