SA fined for slow over-rate
Melbourne: As if the embarrassing 130-run loss to India was not enough, South Africa were today fined for maintaining a slow over-rate during their World Cup group match against Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men at the MCG here. ICC Match referee Jeff Crowe ruled that the South Africans were one over behind required rate after time allowances were taken into consideration in the Group B clash yesterday and docked captain AB de Villiers 20 percent of his match fee. The rest of his teammates were fined 10 percent of their earnings. 31-year-old de Villiers now runs the risk of being suspended from one match during the World Cup if South Africa are fined a second time before the final.(PTI)
Ton-up Dhawan tops twitter chart
Perth: Fresh from his match-winning century against South Africa in the ongoing Cricket World Cup, opener Shikhar Dhawan topped the list of the most talked about players from India on Twitter. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (@msdhoni) and Ajinkya Rahane (@ajinkyarahane88) were the second and third most mentioned Indian cricketers. Dhawan smashed 137 to lay the foundation for India’s huge victory in Melbourne on Sunday. While Dhoni’s aggressive captaincy and field placements drew praise from cricket aficionados, fans were also impressed with Rahane’s 79 off just 60 balls in the outing against the Proteas, which India won by 130 runs. The moment Dhawan – later adjudged Man of the Match – reached his century, Twitter went abuzz with posts congratulating the left-handed batsman. A total of around 770,000 tweets were posted related to the match. (PTI)
Hiding wife in hotel during WC!
New Delhi: As the debate over whether wives and girlfriends should travel with players or not continues, former Pakistan spinner Saqlain Mushtaq has revealed that in the 1999 World Cup, he had sneaked his wife into hotels and hid her in the closet when the manager or the coach came knocking. “At the 1999 World Cup we’d been travelling with our wives and family, enjoying the tournament, but before the semi-final the management said that wives are not allowed. I said to Sana (wife): ‘I’m not going to send you home. I’m feeling comfortable. You’re going to stay here,” Saqlain said. “So I gave her a list of the hotels. She would check in before me, and I kept her in my room. Whenever the manager and coach came knocking, I told her to go and hide in the cupboard,” he told ‘ESPNcricinfo’ candidly. (PTI)