Sleep deprives Pakistan spinner a chance of Test debut
Karachi: Pakistan’s young left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar lost out on a golden opportunity to make his Test debut for the national team in the first Test against England in Abu Dhabi when he succumbed to his beauty sleep on Monday night. According to reliable sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board the logistics department had managed to get the visa and security clearance for Gohar to depart immediately for Abu Dhabi around Monday midnight. “But we kept on trying to call him to go straight to the airport to catch a available flight where a board official would have handed him over his travel documents but he didn’t answer,” one source said. “Later we found out he had fallen asleep and couldn’t attend any calls,” he added. “Everything was complete by midnight and we planned to have him in Abu Dhabi early morning to be available for selection if necessary for the first Test,” the source stated. Gohar, who recently played for Pakistan A against England in the two side matches in Sharjah and took five wickets, was named as a reinforcement for leg-spinner Yasir Shah, who was ruled out of the Test after suffering from a back spasm during nets on Monday. (PTI)
ICC CEO to meet IOC officials to discuss cricket in Olympics
Dubai: The ICC has taken a note of the growing demand to include cricket in the Olympics and their top officials will be meeting the representatives of the International Olympic Council (IOC) to discuss about the future course of action. T20 cricket has already been a part of the last two editions of Asian Games in Guangzhou (China) and Icheon (South Korea). “The Board noted that as part of cricket’s growing popularity, it had received several approaches from multi-sport organisations and agreed that ICC Director Giles Clarke and ICC Chief Executive David Richardson should meet with the International Olympic Committee next month to find out more about these opportunities,” an ICC release stated. (PTI)
BCCI write to DDCA for entertaining Azharuddin
New Delhi: The BCCI has shot off a letter to the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) for allowing some of the Vidarbha cricketers to flout the Anti Corruption norms by speaking to former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin during a Ranji Trophy match against Delhi at Feroz Shah Kotla. The players in question are veteran cricketers Wasim Jaffer and S Badrinath along with chief coach Paras Mhambrey, who were seen speaking to Azharuddin on the sidelines of their Ranji Trophy match against Delhi, where the former India captain had come on invitation of DDCA vice-president Chetan Chauhan. The BCCI has not yet lifted the life ban on Azharuddin, who was found guilty in 2000 for allegedly getting involved in match-fixing. Chauhan admitted that they have indeed received a communication from the BCCI in this regard although he termed it as “some kind of confusion”. (PTI)
