FOOTBALL | Page 2 TENNIS | Page 10 Bayern Djokovic To Advertise here fi ghtback Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621 cruises wows while Nadal Guardiola survives Friday, March 18, 2016 CRICKET Jumada II 9, 1437 AH South Africa GULF TIMES and de Villiers await callow England SPORT Page 5 CATCHING UP SPOTLIGHT FIFA reveals Blatter salary World football governing body says former chief received $3.6 million last Old pals Xavi Hernandez (L) and Valentino Rossi pose at Aspire Academy yesterday where they played a friendly football match. Spain and Barcelona legend year and it made a loss of $122 million Xavi now plays for Al Sadd while Rossi, the seven-time world MotoGP champion, is in Qatar to take part in Sunday’s opening MotoGP race of the year. See also page 11. PICTURE: Noushad T CRICKET Dilshan powers Lanka to win spare in their opening group match at the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata. SCORECARD Afghanistan, the only non-Test team left in the fray, paid the price for some Afghanistan: Sri Lanka: sloppy fi elding after an impressive ef- Mohamed Shahzad c Chameera b D. Chandimal c Shafiqullah b Nabi ............... 18 fort with the bat that saw skipper As- Mathews ................................................................................................... 8 T. Dilshan not out ....................................................................83 ghar Stanikzai make a fi ne 47-ball 62. Noor Ali Zadran b Herath .........................................20 L. Thirimanne b Khan .........................................................6 Dilshan gave Sri Lanka a fl ying start, Asghar Stanikzai c Chandimal b Perera 62 T. Perera run out ......................................................................... 12 AFP corruption crisis with 39 individuals smacking fast bowler Dawlat Zadran Karim Sadiq c Chandimal b Perera ............... 0 C. Kapugedera run out ...................................................10 Zurich and two companies facing US charges for two sixes on the trot, including one Mohamed Nabi lbw b Herath .................................3 A. Mathews not out ............................................................... 21 over more than $200 million in bribes. that came off his famous ‘Dilscoop’ Samiullah Shenwari c Perera b Kulasekara Extras (b4, w1) ...............................................................................5 Many of those charged are former top shot which typically sails over the ..................................................................................................................................31 Total (for 4 wkts, 18.5 overs) ................................155 IFA yesterday revealed the sal- members of FIFA’s executive. wicketkeeper’s head. Shafiqullah c Thirimanne b Perera .................. 5 Did not bat: Siriwardana, Jayasuriya, ary of its disgraced ex-leader And the governing body blamed the Dawlat Zadran not out .......................................................5 Kulasekara, Chameera, Herath Sepp Blatter for the fi rst time cost of scandal for the $122 million loss Afghanistan, the only non-Test Najibullah Zadran not out ...........................................12 Fall of wickets: 1-41 (Chandimal), — $3.6 million in 2015 — and a in 2015 after a surplus of $141 million in Extras $122F million loss as corruption scan- 2014. team left in the fray, paid the (b1, w6) ...............................................................................7 2-58 (Thirimanne), 3-85 (Perera), 4-113 price for some sloppy fi elding Total (for 7 wickets, 20 overs) .........................153 (Kapugedera) dals hit world football. The last loss in 2002 also followed aft er an impressive eff ort with Did not bat: Rashid Khan, Hamid Bowling: Sadiq 2-0-21-0, Hassan 3.5-0- The tainted world body said it will controversy as it was caused by the the bat that saw skipper Asghar Hassan 38-0, Dawlat Zadran 3-0-31-0 (w1), Nabi dig into its estimated $1.5 billion re- collapse of the ISL marketing company Stanikzai make a fi ne 47-ball 62 Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Shahzad), 2-44 4-1-25-1, Rashid Khan 4-0-27-1, Samiullah serves to cover the fi rst loss since 2002. which had also been paid huge bribes Sri lankan opener Tillakaratne (Noor Ali Zadran), 3-46 (Sadiq), 4-51 (Nabi), 2-0-9-0 Blatter always resisted publishing to football offi cials. Dilshan plays the ball on the on Off -spinner Mohamed Nabi briefl y 5-112 (Shenwari), 6-132 (Shafiqullah), 7-136 Result: Sri Lanka win by six wickets details of his compensation package FIFA blamed the loss on “expenses side yesterday put the brakes on Sri Lanka by dismiss- (Stanikzai) Toss: Afghanistan during his 17-years in charge of FIFA. and higher competition costs” but also ing opener Dinesh Chandimal for 18, Bowling: Mathews 3-0-17-1 (w2), Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Bruce But the 80-year-old is now serving “unforeseen costs such as legal fees AFP before 17-year-old leg-spinner Rashid Kulasekara 4-0-43-1 (w1), Chameera Oxenford (AUS) a six-year ban for a suspect $2 million and costs for extraordinary meetings.” Kolkata Khan accounted for Lahiru Thirimanne 4-0-19-0 (w2), Herath 4-0-24-2 (w1), Perera TV Umpire: Richard Kettleborough (ENG) dollar payment to UEFA boss Michel FIFA has a four year accounting (six). Wicket-keeper Mohamed Shah- 4-0-33-3, Siriwardana 1-0-16-0 Platini and the salary publication was cycle. It makes about $5.5 billion in zad then sent back Thisara Perera with a promised as part of reforms as FIFA television and commercial deals be- pener Tillakaratne Dilshan direct throw at the stumps as Sri Lanka seeks to redeem its name. tween each World Cup. It has still set smacked an unbeaten 83 off slipped to 85-3, but Dilshan held his show by the Sri Lankan bowlers who with a top-score of 61 in the qualifi ers, Blatter earned 3.6 million Swiss a revenue target of $5.65 billion for 56 balls to steer defending nerve to ensure a smooth fi nish for his let the Afghans off the hook after a lobbed an easy catch to Dushmantha francs ($3.7 million/3.3 millon euros) 2015-2018 and new president Gianni champions Sri Lanka to a six- side in the end. Earlier, Stanikzai led his promising start. New Sri Lankan T20 Chameera as he tried to pull to the leg- in 2015, FIFA said, while Jerome Val- Infantino said he was optimistic for Owicket win over a spirited Afghanistan side by example while Samiullah Shen- captain Angelo Mathews gave the is- side. Shahzad’s opening partner Noor cke, the former secretary general who the future. in the World Twenty20 yesterday. wari chipped in with a handy 31 to help landers the key breakthrough by hav- Ali Zadran smacked paceman Nuwan was placed under formal investigation “With the recently approved re- Dilshan, 39, hit three sixes and eight Afghanistan recover from a shaky 51-4. ing in-form opener Shahzad caught at Kulasekara for two boundaries in a row yesterday, received 2.1 million Swiss forms, I believe that we have turned fours as Sri Lanka overpowered Af- Paceman Thisara Perera picked up mid-on for eight. before being bowled by Rangana Her- francs. a corner and that FIFA is poised to ghanistan’s 153-7 with seven balls to 3-33 in an otherwise disappointing Shahzad, who came into the match ath (2-24) for a 23-ball 20. Football faces an unprecedented emerge stronger than ever,” he said. BOTTOMLINE India, Pakistan fans switch sides on Facebook AFP on Facebook ahead of tomorrow’s match, whose said he hoped the trend would make both gov- hid Afridi was criticised over his declaration India suspended bilateral cricket with Pa- New Delhi build-up has been mired in controversy over ernments realise that many Indians and Paki- that Pakistan’s cricketers receive more love in kistan after the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks security arrangements for the Pakistani team. stanis do not hate or mistrust each other. India than back home. which New Delhi blamed on militants based Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said he had “India and Pakistan need to have a conversa- The comments raised eyebrows as Pakistan’s across the border. ival cricket fans from India and Paki- been bowled over by the move. tion. How long are they going to keep this (ten- buildup to the tournament has been embroiled Ehsanullah Shah, a lawyer from Lahore, stan have switched sides on social media “Something pretty interesting is happening sion) going?” the 37-year said. in controversy over whether they would be al- said changing his profi le picture to India was a ahead of a hotly awaited World Twen- in India and Pakistan on Facebook right now,” Subramanian said he started a Profi lefor- lowed to travel to India because of security con- chance to promote peace. ty20 clash, in protest over long-running Zuckerberg said in a post. Peace trend last October after a right-wing cerns. They agreed to make the trip only after “I have a lot of friends who’re Indians, I love tensionsR between the nuclear-armed countries. “Hundreds of thousands of Indian cricket Hindu group forced the cancellation of a visit- negotiations with India over security arrange- them to bits, and I’m all for peace between us as Fans from the cricket-mad nations have fans are putting the Pakistani frame around ing Pakistani singer’s concert in Mumbai. ments and the shifting of their match against countries,” the 30-year-old told AFP. swapped support for their teams on Facebook, their picture. And Pakistani fans are doing the He changed his profi le picture to one of him- the hosts to Kolkata from Dharamsala. “So if I was given the opportunity to show with Indian and Pakistani users posting profi le same thing—showing support for India.” self holding a note that read “I don’t hate Paki- India and Muslim-majority Pakistan have these two things, my love for my friends and for pictures with their rivals’ colours. Mumbai-based artist Ram Subramanian, stan”. fought three wars since independence in 1947 peace; well I’m not one that lets these opportu- The hashtag “Profi leforPeace” was trending who changed his colours to those of Pakistan, The trend comes after Pakistani skipper Sha- and diplomatic relations remain tense.