Sachin Tendulkar of India touched the unprecedented 13,000-run mark in one-day cricket during the second international against Pakistan in Rawalpindi yesterday. Tendulkar, 30, already the most successful batsman in limited-overs history, surpassed the mark when he reached his 67th half-century as India chased Pakistan’s mammoth 329-6. The 330-match veteran, who has also scored a record 36 one-day hundreds, is way ahead of the next man in line, Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq, with 9,607 runs from 309 games.
List of top-10 scorers in ODIs.
13,090: Sachin Tendulkar (India) — 330 matches; 9,607: Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan) — 308; 9,378: Muhammad Azharuddin (India) — 334; 9,284: Aravinda de Silva (Sri Lanka) — 308; 9,248: Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) — 313; 9,204: Saurav Ganguly (India) — 246; 8,823: Saeed Anwar (Pakistan) — 247; 8,648: Desmond Haynes (West Indies) — 238; 8,533 — Brian Lara (West Indies) — 229; 8,500: Mark Waugh (Australia) — 244.
Thackeray Thanks Zaheer Khan
• Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray yesterday expressed his gratitude to cricketer Zaheer Khan for describing him as a secular leader in Indian polity. Thackeray was reacting to Zaheer Khan’s interview in Pakistan’s leading newspaper “Dawn” in which the cricketer said that the Sena chief was not against Muslims and lamented that certain vested interests were bent upon tarnishing his image by describing him as “anti-Muslim”. Zaheer had also told the Pakistan media that patriotic Muslims in India had no difficulty with Thackeray or the Shiv Sena. Only those indulging in subversive activities were opposed to the saffron party, he said. Zaheer’s interview was carried by Sena’s mouthpiece “Saamna”. Thackeray said he was proud of Zaheer Khan and described him as a “real Hindustani Muslim”.
Musharraf Watches Pakistan Bat
• Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was on hand for an hour to watch the Pakistan run feast in Rawalpindi. Some 19,300 home fans at the heavily-guarded Pindi stadium came alive from the start as Afridi and Hameed plundered 81 runs in the first 10 overs.
Nehra Out of Pakistan One-Dayers
• India’s already depleted bowling resources on the Pakistan tour were hit further yesterday when Ashish Nehra was ruled out for the rest of the One Day series. The left-arm seamer received two stitches when he split the webbing of his bowling hand while fielding during the second One-Dayer and will not play for at least a week, team official Amrit Mathur said. “Nehra’s injury will be assessed next week to see if he can play in the Test series which follows the one-dayers,” Mathur said. Nehra was supposed to have missed yesterday’s match as well after an old ankle injury flared up again on the eve of the match and the team management declared his unavailability for the game. But the bowler was surprisingly retained in the team and finished with 3-44 in Pakistan’s total of 329-6. India are already without three injured frontline bowlers, seamer Ajit Agarkar and spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, on their first full tour of Pakistan since 1989.
Afghan Refugees Barred From Peshawar Tie
• Pakistani authorities have barred Afghan refugees from the Arbab Niaz Stadium in the border town of Peshawar as part of security measures for India’s third One-Day match against Pakistan, officials said. “Entry of Afghan refugees will not be allowed in a radius of one kilometer (less than a mile) around the stadium,” city Mayor Azam Afridi told reporters. The move is part of stringent security arrangements being adopted for the Indian tourists who play in Peshawar on Friday. Peshawar has a population of 1.2 million registered refugees who fled Afghanistan in the 1980s while an estimated half a million unregistered Afghans are living in private houses in the city. Officials promising tough security for the One-Day International said traffic would be diverted to prevent any incident. They said interest was high among fans and some 9,000 tickets had already sold at the stadium that can accommodate 14,300 spectators.
Millions Thrilled as TV Networks Put Aside Spat
• Millions of Indian cricket fans sighed with relief yesterday as a Dubai-based sports television network agreed to share live broadcast of the second ODI with India’s state-run Doordarshan station. Ten Sports, which holds sole broadcast rights to the five One-Dayers and three Tests in Pakistan, had cried foul when Doordarshan allegedly reneged on an agreement and aired Saturday’s cliff-hanging One-Dayer played in Karachi minus the logo of the Dubai-based network. Ten Sports, which now hopes to grab the Indian cricket board’s television rights scheduled to be auctioned next month, said it would comply with Monday’s interim Supreme Court order freezing its disputes over logo display and revenue-sharing and broadcast yesterday’s match in India. The court, however, ordered Doordarshan to deposit 100 million rupees ($2.2 million) for payment to the private channel.
Ten Sports chief Abdul Rahman Bukhatir, while complaining of judicial intervention, said he hoped to resolve its disputes with Doordarshan.
Fan Dies After First ODI Run Feast
• The excitement of the first ODI in Karachi, which India won on the last ball, proved too much for one India supporter who died of a heart attack during Saturday’s match, which recorded the highest ever runs scored in the history of one-dayers, it was reported in New Delhi.
Pakistan Want to Play in India This Year
• Pakistan are keen to play a limited-overs series in India later this year, Pakistan Cricket Board chief executive Ramiz Raja said yesterday. “If we are invited, we will be happy to go,” Raja said. “It will be a good preparation for our tour of Australia scheduled at the end of the year.” India are due to host world champions Australia and South Africa from September to December.
Australia have said they will play only Test matches in India, but Pakistan could be accommodated in a tri-series alongside South Africa in early November. “We could squeeze the trip to India after our home series against Zimbabwe in October and before we leave for Australia in late November,” Raja said. India and Pakistan are already scheduled to join world champions Australia in a tri-series in the Netherlands in August. “The Dutch event is on but provided England host the Champions Trophy in September,” said Raja.
Recent media reports have suggested the International Cricket Council (ICC) may shift the Champions Trophy out of England if the England Cricket Board decline to tour Zimbabwe this year. “It will be nice to play India on a regular basis, but we first need government clearance before planning anything,” Raja said.
