BCCI announces squad, 2 new faces in

The national selectors on Tuesday announced the squad for the three-match Test series in Sri Lanka, to be held later this month.

Struggling players Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan have been left out with the selectors including uncapped players Rohit Sharma and Pragyan Ojha in the squad.

Veterans Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan are back in the 16-member team, along with Munaf Patel. Opener Wasim Jaffer and injured medium pacer S Sreesanth have been omitted.

While Tendulkar had been recuperating from a groin injury that forced him out to sit out of the third and final Test against South Africa in April, Harbhajan was serving a five-match ODI ban for slapping teammate S Sreesanth during the Indian Premier League. Zaheer too has not played for India this year after suffering an injury during the Melbourne Test last year.

With Dhoni opting out of the series citing fatigue, the selectors included two wicket keepers in Dinesh Kaarthick and Parthiv Patel, who forced his way back riding on his splendid performance in domestic cricket.

Gautam Gambhir's impressive performance in ODIs and the IPL has won him the opening slot ahead of Wasim Jaffer.

Suresh Raina will join the India 'A' team for the Emerging Players tournament in Australia in Parthiv Patel's place. He will be the vice-captain of the side, and S Badrinath will be the skipper.

The team will be led by leg-spinner Anil Kumble while Virender Sehwag will be his deputy in Dhoni's absence.

India's first Test against Sri Lanka begins on July 23 in Colombo.

India squad: Anil Kumble (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Parthiv Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha.

The national selection committee has also short listed thirty probables for the ICC Champions Trophy, to be played in Pakistan in September 2008.

30 probables for Champions Trophy:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina, Piyush Chawla, R.P. Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ishaant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Manpreet Singh Grewal (Gony), Pragyan Ojha, Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Kartik, S. Badrinath, Mohammed Kaif, Manoj Tiwary, Abhishek Nayar, Pankaj Singh, Murali Kartik, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Yusuf Pathan, S Sreesanth.

ICC to invest $300m for globalisation drive

In an attempt to make cricket a global sport, the International Cricket Council (ICC) Tuesday decided to pump in $300 million.

"We can confirm that we are making the biggest-ever investment in the game from top to bottom over the next seven years. From 2009, the ICC will pump almost $300 million into our 94 Associate and Affiliate Members that make up the developing cricket world," said ICC's new chief executive Haroon Lorgat.

"That's at least $40 million per annum, compared to $18 million in 2008, a 120 per cent increase. We believe this is the biggest investment in global development by any sport outside football," he added.

Lorgat also said that the 10 Full Members will also benefit from substantial increases in funding from the ICC over the coming years.

Lorgat, who took over as ICC CEO Friday succeeding Malcolm Speed, said the investment was important as cricket is getting popular world over.

"This fresh cash injection highlights we are a not-for-profit organisation. All the revenue we generate from our events, broadcast and commercial agreements is ploughed back into the game. It is also an indication of how strong this great game is at present. Participation is at an all-time high in all our members at all levels," he said.

The ICC now has 104 Members, including 34 Associates and 60 Affiliates as well as the 10 Full Members. Turkey, Estonia and Bulgaria are the latest to join the ICC family having been granted Affiliate Member status at ICC Annual Conference in Dubai last week.

Charlesworth flays Olympic qualification process

India's hockey consultant Ric Charlesworth has lambasted the new Olympic qualification rules for preventing strong teams like eight-time champions India and Argentina from qualifying for the Beijing Games.

Charlesworth said the new rules will allow average and below-par countries to play in the Olympics and it was not good for the game.

The Australian said it was unfortunate that India and Argentina would not be there for the mega event.

The Olympic qualifiers were played at three cities -- Auckland (New Zealand), Santiago (Chile) and Kakamigahara (Japan) and the three top teams qualified. India played at the Santiago qualifier and were beaten in the final by Britain while New Zealand qualified from Auckland, beating Argentina.

Till the Athen Olympics in 2004,the qualifying tournament were played at one venue and the four semi-finalists used to qualify for the Olympics.

"Argentina and India would have rounded off an Olympic tournament of the 'best' teams in the world but unfortunately they will not be there. The new qualifying process might promote the game better but it creates anomalies and some ridiculous mismatches that benefit nobody.

Instead of three qualifying tournaments there should have been one Olympic Qualifying tournament so that all teams are treated fairly, Charlesworth wrote in his column in fieldhockey.com.

Charlesworth said Argentina are clearly among the best six nations now.

Charlesworth said given the current form, Australia and Spain would reach the semifinal of the Bejing Olympics without any difficulty. They were the most impressive teams in Rotterdam (Champions Trophy).

He felt It is hard to see the Netherlands not getting through from their pool as only Great Britain will challenge them in the pool, though they should not be underestimated. Pakistan is off the pace and perhaps will soon appreciate the difference that Oltmans made four years ago. Canada and South Africa will just make up the numbers while occasionally doing something.

"It is the other pool that looks harder to assess. Germany with Christopher Zeller fit would be expected to make it with Spain. Korea, China at home and New Zealand are all capable of surprises. It is a pity that for the second Olympics in succession the pools are unbalanced but this 'pool of death' should see any except Belgium and China join Spain. Korea's form in Rotterdam showed such a degree of uncertainty in defence that it may be hard to mend in a month," he said.

Cricket-mad India focussed on Beijing

India face the four-yearly dilemma of watching their favourite sport cricket or switching to the Olympics, and this time the Beijing extravaganza appears to be winning.

The Olympics clash with India's cricket tour of Sri Lanka with the iconic Sachin Tendulkar needing just 172 runs to overtake West Indian Brian Lara as the most prolific Test batsman.

Indians can't live without cricket but the younger generation, grown on a steady diet of live world-class sporting action on their television screens, regard the Olympics as a must-watch.

A recent poll conducted by one of the Games sponsors found that almost 70 per cent of city-bred Indians will closely follow the action in Beijing even as the cricket goes on in Sri Lanka.

"We may be a one-sport nation but it will be wrong to assume the new generation only follows cricket," said veteran sports writer Vijay Lokapally.

"They understand what the Olympics is all about and won't allow just cricket to dominate their mindset. You can't fool this generation."

It does not matter that India's returns from past Olympics have been minimal.

The last time India won an Olympic gold medal was in hockey at the west-boycotted Moscow Games in 1980. This time, the eight-time champions have not even qualified for the Games.

India have just four individual medals, the last three coming in each of the previous three editions.

The country is pinning its hopes on shooters, archers, boxers and tennis veterans to deliver a medal, a prospect that excites viewers as much as Tendulkar's impending record.

"It will be great if Tendulkar goes past Lara but his record will be broken one day by someone else," said sports enthusiast Pritam Sinha. "But an Olympic medal is for keeps and carries immense value."

Sharda Ugra, sports editor of the respected India Today magazine, said an early medal will enliven Indian interest in the Games.

"If we win an early medal, there will be a lot of interest," said Ugra.

"Anyway, we have always been a nation of great sports watchers. There has been good viewership for quality sports in the country since past so many years.

"Olympics is a visual treat and fans enjoy the atmosphere."

Boxing official Muralidharan Raja said the charm of the Olympics was unrivalled.

"The Olympics is in a different league altogether, it's the ultimate challenge," he said.

"India may be crazy about cricket but the Olympics have their own fans and following. Olympics will never lose out to cricket."

Raja's views were echoed by young tennis player Venayak Gupta, 16.

"We get to watch so much cricket, it gets boring after some time," he said. "The Olympics come once in four years, why would anyone want to miss them."

Major events at the Olympics will be shown live by state-run broadcaster Dooordarshan, while a large media contingent will make the trip to Beijing despite India's absence in hockey.