The obsession for the game of cricket proved fatal, for a teenaged boy on sunday when a cricket ball hit him in his chest during a match and later he died on the ground.

According to the police sources, Vinod Kumar, aged 19 years,son of Ramesh Chander, had gone to play a cricket match at the local CRPF grounds on Sunday.

While batting he was hit by a cricket ball in the chest. As soon as the speeding ball hit him, he got unconscious and fell down on the ground. Others players rushed to him and gave him some water. He gained consciousness after a while and resumed batt ing only to fall down again.

At this time, he was taken to a private hospital by his team mates, where he was declared dead by doctors. A pall of gloom descended on the family which resides outside

Zira gate here as the news of his death broke out. The deceased was working in a private company whereas his father was employed with the fire brigade unit.

Source:http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=Cricket&id=fd5a5ea5-3eb5-4293-aa63-05295428d74d&&Headline=Teenager+hit+with+cricket+ball+dies

Mohammad Asif, who opted out of the Indian Premier League at his own request, must still be cleared of doping

charges if he wants to play for Pakistan again, an official said today.

# Asif owed money by IPL team

# Life ban recommended for Asif

The controversial fast bowler, 26, was released from his 650,000 dollar-a-year IPL contract by Delhi Daredevils

late yesterday after serving just one year of his three-year deal in the Twenty20 tournament.

Asif is due to appear before an IPL drugs tribunal in Mumbai on Saturday after testing positive for the banned

steroid nandrolone during the tournament’s opening season last April-May.

“We have released him, but I suppose Asif still needs to have his name cleared if he wants to play official cricket,”

Delhi Daredevils chief operating officer Amrit Mathur told AFP.

Asif was detained at Dubai airport for 19 days last June after 0.24 grams of opium were found in his wallet. After

being deported to Pakistan, he was told he had also failed an IPL test.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has suspended Asif indefinitely from playing official cricket pending the IPL hearing.

The talented seamer has taken 51 wickets in 11 Tests, 36 wickets in 31 one-dayers and 12 wickets in nine

Twenty20 internationals since his debut in 2005.

Asif said in a written statement released by the Delhi Daredevils that he voluntarily opted out of his IPL contract to

concentrate on playing for Pakistan again.

“Due to personal reasons, I am having to take this step, and definitely it has not been easy as I still have a contract

valid for another two seasons, with lucrative financial benefits,” Asif said.

“I am going through a tremendous amount of pressure. My only purpose and wish is to play for my nation Pakistan

again, and for that I need to disengage from any other cricket engagements.”

The second edition of the lucrative eight-team, franchise-based IPL tournament, featuring many of the world’s top

cricketers, is to be held across India in April-May.

Source:http://www.thetimes.co.za/Sport/Article.aspx?id=921780

Details continue to slowly emerge about the set of circumstances that led to the sacking of both England’s captain and coach.

On the surface it is simple enough. Kevin Pietersen was unhappy with the coach Peter Moores and indicated as much to the England Cricket Board. The English media, had a field day with this nugget of news, with columnists, pundits and former players all agreeing that in a battle between the coach and captain, it was Moores who had to go. A number of names of possible coaches did the rounds, prominent among them Graham Ford, who had coached Pietersen in South Africa. This was all based on the fact that English cricket was now about keeping KP happy. In the end, the ECB decided that English cricket was not Kevin Pietersen’s fiefdom and fired both him and Moores.

The seeds of Pietersen thinking he could get his way were sown months ago before he was even captain. His unhappiness about missing out on a lucrative Indian Premier League contract was a major factor in the ECB getting into bed with Sir Allen Stanford and the silliness of the Stanford Super Series. Now captain, Pietersen was placated by the prospect of winning US$ 1 million for one match, but suffered a humiliating loss and went home empty handed.

The ODI leg of England’s tour of India was cut short by the terrorist incident in Mumbai, but England eventually returned for the Test matches. Pietersen drew plenty of mileage from the decision; something that allegedly did not sit well with team-mates who felt their captain was more interested in exploring his IPL possibilities than making any grand gestures in the wake of the Mumbai tragedy.

His insipid captaincy contributed to England’s inability to defend 387 in the first Test, with India romping home by 6 wickets. Some players like Monty Panesar have since complained of the team feeling ‘flat’ under Pietersen.

Having retained the captaincy for the West Indies tour starting later this month, Pietersen went on holiday to his native South Africa, from where he started his moves to oust Peter Moores.

The ECB have done well to recognize the seriousness of the situation and the ramifications of leaving either of Moores or Pietersen in their place.

Whether Pietersen is captain or not, he is still England’s best batsman and if he has serious questions about the coach’s methodology then the ECB has to take that into consideration. Moores’ case was not helped by the fact that there was no discernable progress under him and even Pietersen’s predecessor Michael Vaughan had been unhappy with Moores’ exhausting training sessions.

Pietersen’s gamble that as the team’s best player and new captain, the ECB would accommodate his whims has backfired spectacularly. Allowing Pietersen to have his way would have set a dangerous precedent. In sacking him, England has avoided the kind of drama that regularly plagues South Asian cricket, where star players hold their country’s cricket board to ransom, getting their way and undermining the system.

The selection of Andrew Strauss as new captain is a wise move. It is no secret that he has coveted the captaincy, yet unlike Pietersen who is unable to shake the tag of someone who’s just in it for himself, Strauss is widely respected. Unencumbered by the burdens of captaincy or by the politics of trying to win it back, stars like Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff are expected to flourish under Strauss.

Cricket boards around the world generally make some astonishingly bad decisions and in that light, the ECB deserves credit for its correct and decisive action in the Pietersen-Moores saga.

 Source: http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/570739

Kevin Pietersen has resigned as captain of the England cricket team after appearing to lose a power struggle with coach Peter Moores, Sky News reported on Wednesday. Pietersen, who was appointed last year following the resignation of Michael Vaughan, had been in dispute over the running of the team with Moores and said on Sunday that “it had to be sorted out.” The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) held an emergency teleconference for their executive board on Tuesday to discuss the rift and Pietersen, who is on holiday in South Africa following the recent test series in India, was reported to have resigned following that discussion. England set off this month for a test and one-day series in West Indies, face the West Indies again in May, then play the Twenty20 World Cup before taking on Australia for the Ashes. Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/UK_CRICKET/idUKL748608920090107