Yuvi is best: Mortaza

The persistent rain left them with no choice but to pursue the option of practicing at ECB Cricket Academy in Loughborough University, some 40km away from Nottingham.

The temperature had dipped to 3 degree Celsius, the wind was icy but the indoor nets were a safe haven as Bangladesh looked to put itself in shape for tie against Ireland on Monday, a must-win game for them in the ICC World Twenty20.

The Saturday's defeat against India was accepted with good grace and there were words of compliment for the defending champions from all and sundry.

Mashrafee Mortaza was all smiles even though his customary dragon-slaying act against India didn't materialize on Saturday.

Mortaza didn't take a wicket from his four overs and conceded 29 runs and while batting smashed a six from eight balls but 11 runs was all he managed before losing his timbers to Pragyan Ojha.

It was Mortaza who had scuttled Indians in that seismic match of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, claiming four wickets for 38 runs and scaling down the target to just 192 runs for his batters.

Tamim Iqbal (51), Mushfiqur Rahim (56) and Shakibul Hasan (53) had then hit half centuries to guide their team to romp home by five wickets.

None of them made any impact on Saturday - Tamim (15) was out in the 3rd over; Shakibal Hasan's (8) mighty heave could only go as far as short midwicket and Mushfiqur Rahim limped to 11 from 11 balls.

Indians could thus get their even on probably the most humiliating loss of their cricketing history.

Yet Bangladesh was graceful in accepting the verdict.

"Indians played better cricket," started Mortaza "They were better in all departments."

Bangladesh had kept things firmly in check before Yuvraj Singh ran away with a blistering 41 off 18 balls and hauled India to safety.

Instead of cursing Yuvraj under his breath, Mortaza is all praise for the dashing left-hander.

"I have seen batsmen from all over the world but there is none to match Yuvraj Singh.

"Since I first saw him in the 2000 ICC mini World Cup in Kenya, and watched him smash 84 runs against Australia, my admiration for him has only grown."

Mortaza is similarly in awe of Zaheer Khan and rates Ishant Sharma as one of the most promising young men of international cricket.

"Zaheer is in a class of his own. He has everything under his armoury. Ishant is very promising but he has some way to go."

http://cricket.yahoo.com/cricket/news/article?id=item/2.0/-/cricket.yahoonews.com/b797f692e556d291673610992f40421d/

Shah Rukh slams Gavaskar for criticising Buchanan

.
.
.
.
Shah Rukh slams Gavaskar for criticising Buchanan

MUMBAI: Kolkata Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan took a dig at former India captain Sunil Gavaskar for ridiculing John Buchanan's multiple-captain theory saying he bought the team and would run it the way he wants.

Former Australia World Cup winning coach Buchanan, who is now manager of Kolkata Knight Riders, had suggested the four captain theory for the second season of the Indian Premier League that has ruffled a few feathers, including that of former India skipper Sourav Ganguly.

"I have great respect for Mr Gavaskar. I have grown up enjoying his performance as well as KR Vishwanath and Kapil's. We all respect him too much but having said that I would like to say that please give it (the multiple-captain theory) a breathing space to try now. If we fail we can always go back to the traditional way," Shah Rukh said at a media conference in Mumbai on Sunday to announce new initiatives with Team sponsors Nokia.

The Bollywood star said he has spent a lot of money in buying the team and would like to run it as he deems fit.

"I have spent lot of money on my team. If you have a problem then you buy your own team and run it the way you want," he said, in an obvious response to Gavaskar's comments.

India's batting legend Gavaskar, in a newspaper column, had criticised Buchanan's theory saying too much importance is being accorded to the Australian, who is a failed first-class cricketer and is only trying to get lucrative jobs for "his Queensland pals".

"To comment on his multiple skipper theory is to give it the importance it doesn't deserve but what does require comment is how he has got his Queensland pals lucrative jobs with KKR.

"They have a very big support staff which includes his son and most of them are from Queensland. The owners - poor souls - have little idea that they are being milked," Gavaskar had written.

Shah Rukh, meanwhile, said he would rather try the multiple captain idea and fail than not giving it a chance at all.

"Twenty20 cricket is a new format and last time we did not do well after going by the traditional way (one captain). This time Buchanan will try multiple captaincy in the practice game before the IPL starts in South Africa and see whether he succeeds or not," the Bollywood star said.

Buchanan's concept has generated lot of controversy ahead of the April 18 to May 24 IPL to be held in eight cities of South Africa.

Sourav Ganguly, who led the team last year, had expressed resentment to the multiple captain idea.

The former India captain and Buchanan have had lengthy discussions with Shah Rukh at his residence to thrash out the issues.

Shah Rukh on Sunday pointed out that the concept had been tried out last year itself by Kings XI Punjab.

"It was tried out last year itself by the Mohali team which had a fielding captain (Kumar Sangakkara), a batting captain, a bowling captain and an overall captain Yuvraj Singh," he said.

The Bollywood star gave the example of cricket's cousin baseball which has coaches giving instructions from outside the field to the pitchers, batters and others.

Shah Rukh also expressed hope that his team would perform much better than last year.

"All our players like Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Sourav Ganguly, Brad Hodge, Ajantha Mendis, Ishant Sharma, Mashrafe Mortaza are available," he said.

"Almost 97 to 98 per cent of the players are available and it's a strong line-up. I hope the team performs better than last year," Shah Rukh said.

Source: http://ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/SRK-slams-Gavaskar-for-criticising-Buchanan-/articleshow/4362502.cms

Mortaza credits IPL riches to consistent form

DHAKA: Fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza on Friday said his $6,00,000 buy by Kolkata Knight Riders in the second Indian Premier League auction was a reward for his consistent form this season.

"Obviously I am delighted because I feel this is a result of all hard work I have put in over the years and a reward for being consistent this season," an elated Mortaza said.

"I have lots of friends and fans in India and that's why I am excited. I love being there and it is a pleasure to play in India. Kolkata is just next door and I know how much people there admire Bangladeshi cricketers. My challenge is to go over there and prove my worth," said the 25-year-old Mortaza, number eight in the ICC ODI rankings for bowlers.

Mortaza's bidding started with a base price of $50000 but his figures kept climbing steadily with the Kings XI Punjab hot on the heels of the Knight Riders before the Kolkata side roped him for 12 times his starting price.

There was further good news for the Bangladeshis with Tigers skipper Mohammad Ashraful snapped by Mumbai Indians at his base price of $75,000 in the second round after most teams had exhausted their 10-player quota of foreign players.

Ashraful revealed that signing for Mumbai Indians would allow him to realise a childhood dream -- to play alongside batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar.

"Sachin Tendulkar has been an idol for me and as a youngster I dreamt of playing alongside him some day and now we are in the same team," he said.

Amid the euphoria, Mortaza and Ashraful, however, feel bad for teammate Shakib Al Hasan, number one all-rounder in ICC ODI rankings, who didn't find a taker in the auction despite his sensational run of form this year.

"I would have been a lot happier if Shakib had got a team. He has been sensational this year and he deserved to get a team," said Mortaza.

Echoing Mortaza, Ashraful said, "Shakib missing out was a bit of a shock because he is one player who has dominated in both forms of international cricket this season.

"Nevertheless I am very happy for Mash (Mortaza) as he been outstanding for us. The fact that two players from Bangladesh have been picked after an intense bidding was an encouraging sign for Bangladesh cricket also," he said.

Mortaza also revealed that Kings' XI Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh had promised him to induct in the Mohali-based outfit.

"I often had conversations with Yuvraj and he said he would take me in his side," Mortaza said.

The Kolkata and Mohali outfits were locked in a 30-minute tug-of-war over Mortaza and at the end of it, the Knight Riders had the last laugh as they agreed to cough up $600,000.

Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal, the other Bangladeshi cricketer in the auction, remained unsold.

http://ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/News/News/Mortaza_credits_IPL_riches_to_form/articleshow/4090046.cms