Younis fit for India game

Younis Khan will be available for the Champions Trophy fixture against India on September 26, the PCB said on Thursday. Younis suffered a minor hairline fracture on the little finger of his right hand during the warm-up game against the Warriors in Benoni on September 20 and had been advised rest by doctors.
Younis could have been available for Pakistan's opening Champions Trophy game against West Indies in Johannesburg on Wednesday but the team management decided against taking a risk so that he could be fully fit to play India in Centurion.
India suffered a setback even before their Champions Trophy campaign began, with Yuvraj Singh fracturing his finger during a practice session in Johannesburg. He has been ruled out for six weeks and, though Virat Kohli will replace him, his absence is likely to alter the roles of some of the main members of the batting line-up.
The last time the teams met in Centurion was in the 2003 World Cup, where India won by six wickets.

Younis aims for more major trophies

Younis Khan, the Pakistan captain, has targeted winning at least one of the next two big ICC one-day tournaments, the Champions Trophy or the 2011 World Cup. Other goals he has set for his side are beating India and Australia in Test series.
"Every captain has certain targets in mind, mine is that we must win either of these two major ICC events until I am captain," Younis said during Pakistan's conditioning camp in Karachi. "We also go to Australia later this year and we have never won a Test series there. I think we have the best chance of achieving this first time feat in the coming series."
He also hoped India and Pakistan would resume bilateral cricket, which was suspended after the Mumbai terrorist attacks last November. "I would love to lead the team in a full series against India as beating them would be a big achievement for me and a big plus in my career."
Younis has already led Pakistan to a major trophy, the World Twenty20 in England earlier this year, and was confident his squad was strong enough to achieve the targets he had set. "We have the players to win the Champions Trophy or World Cup and even beat Australia in Australia but we need to combine and click together."
Pakistan are drawn with India and Australia in the group phase of the Champions Trophy, but Younis was unfazed by the strong opponents. "When our team is clicking well and playing with confidence and on a high it does not matter how many teams we have in our group," he said. "Even if they are six we can still qualify for the semi-finals."
Another person upbeat about Pakistan's chances was Javed Miandad, who is coaching the team's batsmen during the five-day camp. He, however, warned that the batting needed to be more consistent. "I think Pakistan has one of the best bowling attacks in the world," he said, "and if they improve their batting they can win the Champions Trophy."
Miandad said that the problem with Pakistan batsmen was that some of them hadn't mastered the basics of batting yet. "Some of them play strokes while running at the crease and some leave the stumps to hit a ball which are flaws and I am doing my best to tell them the basics."
Pakistan kick off their Champions Trophy campaign against West Indies on September 23 in Johannesburg.

Younis wants to win Champions Trophy for Woolmer

kistan captain Younis Khan has said he wants to win the Champions Trophy in honour of Bob Woolmer, the team's former coach who died during the 2007 World Cup. "I'll go to Bob's home [in South Africa] and celebrate the Champions Trophy win with his family," Younis told reporters ahead of the team's departure for the tournament in South Africa.

Woolmer was present during the last edition in 2006, in India, when Pakistan were plagued by off-the-field problems. Younis, standing in for the banned Inzamam-ul-Haq, had resigned in protest at being made a "dummy captain". Middle-order batsman Mohammad Yousuf was appointed in his place, before Younis was handed back responsibilities a day later after a change in the PCB setup.

The problems continued into the day before their opening match against Sri Lanka, when Pakistan had to withdraw fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif after both failed dope tests conducted before the team's departure for India.

"Those were testing times and Bob was very disappointed, when after winning the first match, we lost the next two, because he wanted to win the Champions Trophy," Younis said. A year later, Pakistan unceremoniously exited the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies after losing to unheralded Ireland in the first round.

The next day, Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room in Jamaica, and after being initially treated as murder by the Jamaican police, the death was declared to be due to natural causes.

"Bob is the missing part of our cricket and we feel his absence," Younis said. "I have been in regular touch with his wife and when we won the World Twenty20 in England in June we dedicated the trophy to Bob. This time too we will dedicate the trophy to him, because he lived in South Africa."

Pakistan, who have never won the Champions Trophy, are placed in Group A along side defending champions Australia, India and the West Indies. They start their campaign against West Indies on September 23.

Salman Khan interested in buying IPL team

MUMBAI: Bollywood star Salman Khan wants to own a cricket team. The actor has met IPL chairman Lalit Modi in Mumbai to understand the bidding process.

Two new IPL teams are to be introduced in 2011. Early reports say Khan is interested in bidding for the Nagpur or Kochi team.

Last year, the average bid was 150 million dollars per team, so Salman will need a serious amount of cash.

Bidding for the new teams will take place in January. The big IPL players will also be back on the market next year.

Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta are the other star owners of IPL teams.

Shah Rukh Khan owns Kolkata Knight Riders, a team that has been at the bottom of the table in both the IPL seasons. The team is co-owned by Juhi Chawla.

Shilpa Shetty took over as co-owner of the Rajasthan Royals in the second season. Preity Zinta was seen cheering her team Kings XI Punjab through both the seasons.

PCB, ICC likely to end World Cup dispute today

KARACHI: Ijaz Butt is all set to settle Pakistan's dispute with the International Cricket Council (ICC) over the 2011 World Cup following a meeting with ICC chief David Morgan in Dubai on Thursday (today).

Butt, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, refused to predict the outcome of his meeting with the ICC President, but hoped that an amicable settlement will be reached between the two parties.

"I would be able to give proper details once I've met with the ICC president," he said on Wednesday.

The ICC, meanwhile, is planning a media at its headquarters in Dubai on Thursday following the Butt-Morgan meeting.

"The meeting has been scheduled with a view to reaching a resolution to the ongoing dispute between the ICC and the PCB over the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011," said a statement issued by the ICC.

"It forms part of the continuing process to resolve the disagreement over the location of the 14 matches originally scheduled to be played in Pakistan, as well as the venue for the tournament secretariat, which was set to be in Lahore," it added.

Morgan is hoping to close the matter as soon as possible.

"Although nothing has yet been agreed, there remains a strong will on both sides to conclude this matter as soon as possible without recourse to legal means, and with that in mind we will meet in Dubai with a view to reaching a resolution that is acceptable to both parties," he said.

"In the light of our previous discussions I remain confident we can achieve that goal, something that would allow all of us, the ICC and its members, to focus on our key objective - the staging of a successful ICC Cricket World Cup in the Asian sub-continent in 2011."

Pakistan had sent a legal notice to the ICC after the game's governing body took away its share of 14 matches of the 2011 World Cup because of security concerns.

However, following a series of meetings in London and Dubai earlier this summer, both parties showed interest in an out-of-court settlement.

It is expected, that Pakistan will be given financial guarantees if they agree to drop the court case against ICC.

There is a possibility that Pakistan can earn around 20-25 million dollars from the World Cup profits by retaining their status as co-hosts of the 2011 tournament.

Pakistan win T20 against Sri Lanka

COLOMBO: World champions Pakistan convincingly won the only Twenty20 International by 52 runs against Sri Lanka here at the Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday.

Chasing 173 to win, Sri Lanka were all out for 120 runs in 18.1 overs.

Off-break bowler Saeed Ajmal and seamer Naved-ul-Hasan bagged three wickets each for 18 and 19 runs, respectively.

For Sri Lanka, their captain Kumar Sangakkara was the top-scorer with 38 while veteran batsman Sanath Jayasuriya made 23.

Only three other batsmen could enter into double figures.

Earlier, winning the toss Pakistan’s new captain Shahid Afridi elected to bat and hit himself s magnificent half-century to help his team reach 172-5 in the allotted 20 overs.

Afridi made 50 from 37 balls with four fours and two sixes. He was well supported by opener Imran Nazir (40 off 28 balls with five fours and a six) and Umar Akmal (30 off 20 balls with four fours).

For Sri Lanka, Thilan Thushara claimed two wickets for 37 while Angelo Mathews, Lasith Malinga and Ruwan Kulasekara took one wicket each.