Injured Sehwag on way home, Dhoni a little hurt

The Board of Control for Cricket in India confirmed on Tuesday that Virender Sehwag would play no further part in the tournament, but the announcement came after the matter had snowballed into a full-blown controversy.

The BCCI press release said that the opener, who missed the two warm-up games as well as India’s 25-run victory over Bangladesh on Sunday, would return to India after consulting with specialists in England. Dinesh Karthik was named as his replacement.

Sehwag batted in the nets for the first time on this trip today, but his outing lasted just 12 deliveries, before he walked back into the changing rooms at the Lady’s Bay ground.

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Ojha adds to India’s aura

Sunday morning, sleepy Nottingham woke up to a steady drizzle. Dull, grey, windy and damp, the weather prompted faces to slip easily into fierce scowls, a complete contrast to the mood in the Indian camp.

India had beaten Bangladesh by 25 runs on Saturday night, a result as comprehensive as they come in this miniature format of the game, all but ensuring smooth passage to the Super Eights stage of the second edition of the World T20 championships.

In Robin Hood’s land, Bangladesh had threatened, briefly, to steal from the rich. Tamim Iqbal and Junaid Siddique had started off their pursuit of 180 in real earnest but then, in one over, Pragyan Ojha killed off their challenge.

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Malaysia probes charge its players tanked India match

Unnamed Malaysian hockey players have been accused by their own governing body of fixing a match against India in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup at Ipoh last month.

The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) has lodged a police complaint after Malay Mail published a report that several players had placed online bets on Malaysia losing the last round-robin game against India on May 17. India won the match 2-1 on their way to the final of the tournament where they lost to Argentina. Since October 2003, India have played Malaysia ten times, winning seven matches and drawing one.

The Malay Mail report has also been taken note of by the International Hockey Federation (FIH).

The Indians have strongly denied any involvement of their players in the alleged match fixing episode. Mohammad Aslam, convenor of the Indian Olympic Association ad-hoc committee running Indian hockey, said it was Malaysia’s internal matter.

“As far as we are concerned, neither our players nor our officials are involved. Our boys won the game playing good hockey. The allegations are against the Malaysian players and their federation has ordered a probe,” Aslam told The Indian Express from Hyderabad where India is preparing for the Asia Cup junior hockey tournament.

Indian coach A K Bansal said he felt the Malaysians had “played their hearts out” in the match. “From what I recall, the body language of the Malaysian players didn’t indicate that they were playing to lose the match. We dominated the proceedings and were leading 2-0 before conceding a late penalty-corner goal when the match was almost over,” Bansal said.

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