Lahore: There was no match fixing in the fourth one
day international which India won by five wickets, said
Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq here on Sunday night. According
to the News, Inzamam lost his cool when he was repeatedly
asked if the five-match ODI series against India was 'fixed."
To a question if the tie was a "noora kushti" and if the
series was fixed to be two-all, the skipper lost his cool
and said: "Just shut up and don't ask such questions. It
is not good for the game at all. Why can't you guys accept
that in cricket you can lose also." A disappointed Inzamam
criticized his bowlers. "They just didn't bowl on line and
length. Pace is not everything. Line and length is also
very important. I thought allowing India to score at over
seven runs per over in the first five and ten overs was
too much," an angry Inzi said.
The
same question was to put to Indian vice captain Rahul Dravid,
who played an anchor role in steering his side to a stunning
victory. He simply shrugged off the question saying that
such things should not come into the mind. Praising his
teammate Mohammad Kaif, Dravid said: "He rotated the strike
very well and it is not easy to come in and bat at number
seven. Initially when I went in to bat I had made up my
mind to bat through the innings because we were chasing
a big total."
Sami's
100 miles per hour thrill shortlived (Go
To Top)
Lahore:
Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Sami's joy at having bowled
the fastest ball at the speed of 100 miles per hour, was
shortlived even as the speed gun revealed that there was
an error in recording his bowling speed. It may be recalled
that after the third One-dayer against India at Peshawar,
the newspapers had quoted the TV speed guns saying that
Sami had bowled above 100 mph. According to the News, a
representative of the broadcasters of the Pakistan and India
series confirmed that there was some doubts over whether
the TV speed guns had accurately recorded Sami's speed in
that match. On TV, Sami's bowling speed was recorded at
100 miles per hour or 160.93 km per hour and 101 miles per
hour or 162.53 km per hour in the 11th and 17th overs, making
him the second bowler after Shoaib Akhtar to bowl at that
speed, the paper said. But Sami wasn't disappointed. "I
don't care much for such things. I would rather settle for
more wickets than going for speed records," the paper quoted
him as saying.
Cricket:
Sourav Ganguly missing Kumble and Bhajji (Go
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Lahore:
In a pre-match press conference on Sunday in Lahore,
Indian captain Sourav Ganguly said the team is hit by injuries
to key bowlers. "Yes, we are but hampered by injuries to
key bowlers, specially the two main spinners Anil Kumble
and Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh). They've been part of our team
for quite a long time. And when you miss four of your key
bowlers, obviously that's going to be difficult but obviously
that's not an excuse, we should have still pulled the game
out day before yesterday," he said. But Ganguly dispelled
the impression that he would be under extra pressure in
the fourth One-day match against Pakistan to be held at
the Gadaffi Stadium.
Ganguli
said every match had its own pressure but it was the same
on both sides. But when told that Sunday's match could be
the series decider, Ganguly said India can still pull it
off. Ganguly denied an incident involving Pakistani players
gesticulating at Indian batsmen during Friday's match at
Peshawar, had created bad blood as the stakes are high in
Sunday's match. "It's a stray incident and it's not much
of an incident because those things happen in a great fielder
and you expect those things from a fast bowler. And I think
that's good for the game. You just cannot have people running
after the ball and doing the job and being stereotyped.
Those sort of things just drive people into the game," he
said.
Ganguly
had words of appreciation for the Pakistani side but added
that the series is still wide open. "Pakistani batsmen have
done well, bowlers are OK and it's the same for both the
sides," he said. Ganguly denied India plays too much of
cricket throughout the year and it was created fatigue on
the players. "You should not bother about it because all
the countries in the world are playing. We had a month's
break before we started," he said. India would play the
last one-day international, again in Lahore on March 24,
followed by three Tests during the Pakistan tour.
