EDITORIAL BOARD Editor Manish Verma Managing Editor Rakesh Pandey Email : [email protected] Sub Editor Mohd. Asim Contributing Editors S. Pervez Qaiser, Sreelata S Yellamrazu, Haresh Pandya Graphic Designer Lalita Adhikari Media Relations Officer Monica Bhardwaj Production Co-ordinator Sunil Chaudhary Photos A.P., Fotocorp, Narender Kumar, Raj Kumar, Rahul Gulati [email protected] Why this Kolaveri? BUSINESS OFFICE DIAMOND MAGAZINES PVT. LTD. utrage was seen everywhere when best for him. Much like him, Ashok Dinda is X-30, Okhla Ind. Area, Sachin Tendulkar, India's cricketing the one, who is in the news these days, but Ph-2, New Delhi-20, Tel 011-40712100 god, decided to accept an invitation for all together different reasons. He is in O Fax (011) 41611866 from the Congress Party to join the Rajya the form of his life and the last few seasons Director (Mktg.) Manish Verma, Sabha as a nominated member. We all know have been exceptional for this Bengali lad. E-mail : [email protected] that outrage is our national pass time, and Apart from the domestic season, he bowled we spend considerable time outraging on pretty well in the Indian Premier League anything and everything but never on things and is now tipped as the one, who is ready ADVERTISING OFFICES which we should really outrage upon. to spearhead India's bowling attack. Allan Delhi Vivek Parashar, M. P. Singh, Tarun, People are horrified at the fact that some- Donald, the bowling coach of Pune Mohd. Faisal (011) 40712100 one they worshipped as God could descend Warriors, is highly impressed with Ashok Mumbai Praveen Chandra, C. Garima down to this level of accepting invitations to Dinda and has even compared Dinda to 9820129206 join politics. While I understand what they himself. Even Sourav Ganguly holds high Kolkata Biswajit Dasgupta 9830092763 feel like, they cannot unfortunately make regards for his state mate and wants contin- Bangalore Pratap Kumar 09845234036 decisions in his life. It looks like people are uous international action for this ever Kanpur Sundhaya Tewari 09415291020 so entitled that each and everything other improving bowler. Indore Ramesh C. Nagar, Kanta Nagar 9302113401 people do should have their stamp of On the cricketing front, things have started Nagpur Mrs. Khisti 9822202082 approval. It is his decision. You cannot dic- improving between India and Pakistan, who Chennai Sathish C. Anand 9841023010 tate what he, or anyone else for that matter, have not played in a bilateral series since Hyderabad Vijay K Viswanadha should do or not do with their life. Who are years. With India ready to include one of 9246501841 Ahmedabad Madan Menon you? the Pakistani sides in the lucrative 9898002522 Bhopal S.B. Sharma So what I would say is, leave him alone. He Champions League T20, things are looking 9425024386 Raipur V. Sridhar is a mortal, who does his business (playing more positive for the two neighbors. Apart 9893309558 cricket) to make a living, has now has found from cricket, football world is gearing up for Punjab Puneet Arya 9316969911 another way to forward his career. India is a the Euros, the second best international Pune Prasad Datar 9822112674 free country and he is entitled to do whatev- football show after the World Cup. Spain is Mangalore Sanjay Mudbidri 09880483130 er he wants. He accepted the invitation the team to watch out for while Holland and Total Pages 108 with Cover because he must have thought it to be a nat- Germany might pose a threat to the reign- ural progression for him as he is reaching ing champions' crown. Have fun reading the Copyright the fag-end of his cricketing career. I think issue. 2005 "Cricket Today" is a registered trademark of The Diamond Group. All rights reserved. No Part of this he has the right to go for what he considers publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, For day-to-day updates on cricket and cricketers join us on Facebook and Twitter. Or visit our website: www.cricketoday.in electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded or oth- erwise, without prior permission. Printed & Published by Manish Verma and Edited by Manish Verma on behalf of Diamond Magazines Pvt. Ltd. Printed at Best Photo Offset Printers, A-81, D.D.A. Shed, Okhla Industrial area, Phase-II, New Delhi-20 4 Cricket Today June 2012 From Sachin's new move to Ashok Dinda's rising JUNE 2012 stature, IPL happenings to Euro 2012, Cricket Today's June issue unfolds all the latest goings-on in the world CONTENTS of sports. 90 Sports Safari Singles dream 66 over. 60 Top Story Feature Sachin : From pitch to The game of innova- Parliament tions and improvisation 100 Scoop of the Month Should Vanessa be surprised by cheating? 70 View Point IPL-5 Uphill task for Robin Uthappa Ajit Chandila joins hat-trick club IPL-5 IPL 5’s cornered captains IPL-5 IPL : The costly miss Hotel 104 View Point Shivakant’s favorite hotel is Taj Sports Round Up Ashok Dinda : The big league Krishna. beckons No Wedding Bells Willowy Words Feature Brian Scovell : Life dedicated to IPL-5 India’s four pronged pace battery sports journalism Last ball escapes to victory Opinion Greats of the The casualty of strained relations Game IPL-5 Peter Pollock : Torch-bearer of IPL’s list of pet peeves Feature South Africa’s pace bowling Chanderpaul : The unsung hero of IPL-5 West Indies cricket Cricket’s Lighter IPL : The incredible India Side Taking Guard When Greig mistook Bradman for IPL-5 West Indies on the right track a driver Stylemania in the IPL Face Off IPL-5 Euro 2012 new ball Shah likes Gujarati food The battle of giants The league of bad boys death overs middle muddle 6 Cricket Today June 2012 Cricket is a passion and like any other sports, NEWS this gentleman’s game too produces some unex- pected happenings on and off the field. From ROUND UP records to milestones..... By Girish Singh Comeback on cards Award for superb Middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh, who has been forced out of action for the past few months following a rare germ performance cell cancer between his lungs, said he is eyeing a comeback by September this year. “Hopefully, I should be back (in England cricket captain Andrew Strauss recently received the ICC Test action) very soon. May be by next 3-4 months,” said Yuvraj. Championship mace for leading the team, which finished on top of the ICC The cricketer was honoured by the Punjab government Test Championship table on the annual cut-off date of April 1. Clive Lloyd, recently for his outstanding contribution to the Indian chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee and former West Indies captain, team’s win in the World Cup last year. Chief Minister presented the mace to Strauss, who also collected a cheque of USD 175,000 Parkash Singh Badal and Member of Parliament Sukhdev in a ceremony that was staged at Coronation Garden at Lord’s. Singh Dhindsa honoured the 30-year-old with a cash prize of Rs 1 crore. Viral on internet Happy A short video featuring former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly’s life, full of controversies and glorious days are achievements, in a typical Bollywood potboiler style has become a rage on the Internet. Within few days of the video going viral, the three-minute trailer of ‘Sourav back Ganguly - The Movie’ has had more than 2 lakh hits on Former Pakistan all-rounder YouTube so far. The video, which highlights Ganguly’s Azhar Mahmood welcomed the leadership, man management and crisis management BCCI’s decision to invite a team skills, has been uploaded by a private health insurance from across the border for the company that wants to develop elements of this movie Champions League Twenty20 later on in the form of short videos for the cyber world. and said it’s now time for the PCB to take positive step to help resume bilateral cricket ties between the two coun- tries. “Sialkot will play here in CLT20 in October. It is a very good step from India (BCCI). Now Pakistan (PCB) too needs to take a step forward and join hands with India,” said Mahmood. 8 Cricket Today June 2012 Twitter Outburst Kevin Pietersen has brushed off concerns that his latest Twitter outburst could land him in trouble with the Nannes England and Wales Cricket Board and has no plans to tone down his comments on the micro-blogging site. Pietersen launched an attack on Nick Knight, questioning Secrets the former England opener’s credibility as a Sky Sports pundit. The 31-year-old wrote: “Can somebody please tell 1 me how Nick Knight has worked his way into the com- Dirk Nannes has been a mentary box for the Tests? Ridiculous.” The comment is professional skier most of not thought to have gone down well with the ECB, who his life. He started playing two years ago imposed a set of guidelines which players cricket by chance and this must adhere to. But Pietersen, who was fined following game is just a hobby for an outburst against selectors in 2010, is not worried that him. his latest comments will lead to him being sanctioned. 2 He is fond of places like India Gate and the Raj Ghat in New Delhi. In love with 3 He has worked at pubs for cricket months to fund his skiing tours in the early stages of Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar life. recently said that his 11-year old son 4 Arjun is in “love” with cricket, which His nick name is Diggler.