Dravid: We're cricketers, not diplomats
Lahore:
Let cricketers be cricketers only, don't expect diplomacy
from them, Indian vice-captain Rahul Dravid has said. "Players
don't try to take too much baggage on board. We cricketers
do what's in our hands, and forget the rest," the News quoted
"Mr. Cool" as saying here on the eve of the final match
of the ongoing Samsung Cup one-day series. The statement
has come at a time when much bonhomie is being read into
the ongoing cricket series between the two countries after
a gap of around 15 years. So far it has passed off smoothly.
Dravid further said that the goodwill nature of the ongoing
tour had not taken away the intensity of the matches, all
of which were keenly contested. He said the enthusiasm for
cricket in Pakistan was enormous, just as it was in India.
He added that the Indian team's focus was on winning the
series. "We had no illusions of the challenge we'd face
in Pakistan," Dravid said, adding, "Pakistan is a formidable
team and we never thought of ourselves as the favourites."
Meanwhile, thousands of Indian cricket fans have arrived
here to watch today's final. Special buses and trains are
being run for transporting the Indian fans.
Inzamam outburst: Pak manager apologises
(Go
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Lahore:
The manager of the Pakistan cricket team, Haroon Rasheed
has apologized to the media for the rude remarks of captain
Inzamam-ul-Haq at a press conference after last Sunday's
fourth one-day international against India. Although, significantly,
Inzamam didn't show up at Tuesday's news conference, Rasheed
apologized for Inzamam loudly telling a journalist to "shut-up"
when the latter was asked to comment on the possibility
of the match being fixed. The Lahore Sports Journalists
Association condemned Inzamam's rude behaviour and asked
for an apology from him, failing which they had threatened
to boycott his press conferences. But the matter was settled
when Rasheed came to Tuesday's press conference with vice-captain
Yousuf Youhana and coach Javed Miandad and regretted the
incident, the News reported.
"I
think perhaps Inzamam was very disappointed after the defeat
and not feeling right. Normally, he is a very soft-spoken
man. You should keep that in mind. We have no intentions
of spoiling our excellent relations with the media," he
said. A senior journalist did ask Haroon as to why Inzamam
had not come himself and apologized for his behaviour to
which the Pakistan manager said he had said what he had
to say on the issue, which was now closed.
Rashid
Latif: Let PCB prove fourth ODI was not fixed (Go
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Lahore:
In an apparent challenge to the Pakistan Cricket Board's
(PCB) reported move to file a show-cause notice against
him for suggesting that the fourth one-day international
between Pakistan and India at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium was
fixed, former Pakistan captain and wicket keeper Rashid
Latif has asked the PCB to prove that last Sunday's match
was not fixed. He claimed that he had enough reasons to
believe that Pakistan lost the match because the match was
fixed. He asserted that the manner in which his country
lost the match should be investigated.
"I
ask the Board they should first prove to me that the match
was not fixed. I have my suspicions about the match and
I am ready to prove to the board and the Anti-Corruption
Unit (ACU) the reasons for these suspicions," Latif was
quoted by the News, as saying. The paper further quoted
him as saying that he had made no direct allegations on
television, and had just said that he had his suspicions
about the way Pakistan had lost the match. According to
the paper, at least two Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) officers
- Martin Hawkins and Paul Reese - had met Rashid in Karachi
on Monday (after the Sunday's match). The former skipper
confirmed having told them that he had apprehensions about
match fixing. "I have my suspicions on the basis of the
body language of the players in the match and some other
information and I will not stand back and allow anything
wrong to take place in the Pakistan team," he added.
Meanwhile,
PCB chairman Shahryar Khan has taken strong exception to
Latif's remarks. "If we have proof of any wrong-doing then
it would be a criminal matter and would be taken very, very
seriously. But we can't sit back and allow anyone, including
Rashid, to come out with such damaging statements that can
ruin our image and will also badly affect the morale of
the players in the middle of such an important series. He
is entitled to his views but they become public when he
airs them on television or in the press," Khan reportedly
said. It may be recalled that Rashid was the first to blow
the whistle on former cricketer Salim Malik and other players
in 1995. Besides, he was reprimanded last year by the PCB
for writing directly to the ICC informing them that "fancy
fixing" was still going on.
Shoaib
corners Ganguly over 'chucking' row (Go
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Lahore:
Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar is reported to have
stormed into Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly's room to confront
him about the remarks he had made about his bowling action.
But a suave Ganguly is said to have pacified the `Rawalpindi
Express' by saying that he had simply told reporters that
they could watch his bowling action on TV in reply to their
question if he felt Shoaib chucks while bowling. "Shoaib
went to his room that night and asked him point blank why
he was raising doubts about his bowling action and creating
an issue out of it when the International Cricket Council
(ICC) and the umpires and match-referee had no problems
with it," the News reported on Wednesday while quoting a
source. "Ganguly told Shoaib that he had misunderstood his
statement made at a press conference after the second one-dayer
in Rawalpindi," the paper added. "Ganguly told him that
some journalist had asked him what he thought about the
beamer Shoaib had bowled to Ramesh Powar in the second match
and he had replied "You all saw it on television and can
judge for yourselves," the unidentified source reportedly
told the paper. "Ganguly explained to Shoaib that he had
never raised questions about his bowling action and his
remarks at the conference were not aimed at his action,"
the source said. Ganguly told Shoaib that he should instead
have a look at his media people (Pakistani) who were making
an issue of his statement.
