Tendulkar awarded Test Cricketer of the year at Castrol Awards

Mumbai: Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar was declared the Castrol Indian 
Cricketer of the Year as well as the Castrol Test Batsman of the Year 2009 
at the Castrol Awards for Cricketing Excellence held in Mumbai.

Sachin was also felicitated with a Special Award for his double record feat of 
becoming the first batsman to score a double century in ODIs and to score 
50 Test centuries.
Commenting on the Award, Sachin said, "The Castrol Awards for Cricketing 
Excellence are really special. The Castrol Awards are the premier awards 
for Indian cricketers for over ten years now and what makes them special 
are that they are based on recognition by my peers - fellow cricketers who 
understand the game and the pressures that go into every performance".


   Mohinder Amarnath, one of the key architects of India's 1983 World Cup 
win, was befittingly bestowed the Castrol Lifetime Achievement Award. 
Speaking on the occasion, Mohinder Amarnath said, "It is indeed an honor to 
receive the Castrol Lifetime Achievement Award which has been won by 
cricketing legends like the Late Vijay Hazare and Polly kaka and also my 
compatriots like Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev. The 1983 World Cup win 
was a great experience and I do hope that the current India team wins the 
World Cup in our own backyard this time!"


   Amarnath represented India in 69 Tests and 85 ODIs in a career that 
spanned two decades. His performances in 1982-83 are part of the sport's 
folklore; recalled to the Indian team after a three-year break, he scored 
1182 runs from eleven consecutive Tests against Pakistan and the West 
Indies, and was acknowledged as the world's best batsman against pace. He 
went on to win the Man of the Match award in the semi-final and final of 
the 1983 World Cup.
           Other winners included Virender Sehwag, who won the Castrol Batsman 
of the Year 2009 (for Test and ODIs combined). Harbhajan Singh won the 
Castrol Bowler of the Year 2009 and Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni 
won the Castrol ODI Player of the Year 2009.
                Veteran Rahul Dravid was bestowed with The Castrol Award for 
Special Achievement for becoming the first cricketer to take 200 catches in 
Test matches.
                Yusuf Pathan was given the Castrol Impact Cricketer of the Year 
for his centuries against New Zealand and more recently against South Africa 
where he almost won the final match for India.
             Jaydev Unadkat, who won the India Test cap this year, was declared 
the Castrol Junior Cricketer of the Year.


The Castrol Awards for Cricketing Excellence:

• Castrol Indian Cricketer of the Year: Sachin Tendulkar
• Castrol Test Cricketer of the Year: Sachin Tendulkar
• Castrol ODI Cricketer of the Year: MS Dhoni
• Castrol Batsman of the Year: Virender Sehwag
• Castrol Bowler of the Year: Harbhajan Singh
• Castrol Special Achievement Award for highest number of catches in Test : Rahul Dravid
• Castrol Special Achievement Award for 50 Test centuries: Sachin Tendulkar
• Castrol Impact Cricketer: Yusuf Pathan
• Castrol Lifetime Achievement in Cricket: Mohinder Amarnath
• Castrol Junior Cricketer of the Year: Jaydev Unadkat

Dhoni form major problem for India

Dhoni's Career average 48.80 and in south 

africa his average was 15.00. That was 

major problem as he is favorite batsman for 

all the supporter and as a captain he should 

come in form. Dhoni changed his attitude 

from hitter to defensive batsman, for world 

cup everyone wants dhoni should play as 

old one.

Indian palyers are in form for world cup

India have the combination to lift their first ODI World Cup trophy in 28 years but the form of temperamental batsman Yuvraj Singh and explosive all-rounder Yusuf Pathan will prove decisive, says 1983 World Cup winning team's member Dilip Vengsarkar.

Vengsarkar feels the team under Mahendra Singh Dhoni has the credentials to go 
all the way in the event commencing 19 February in the sub-continent.

"India is numero uno at present. It's one of the best teams in world cricket at 
present. India will be playing at home and that's a huge advantage. Unlike the 
team of 1983, India has been the number one team for the last four years or so 
and are the strong favourites to win the World Cup. We had a similar sort of 
combination in 1987 but failed in the semis," Vengsarkar said.

Asked about the x-factor in the team, he said it could be either Yuvraj or Pathan, 
both powerful hitters of the ball.

"It will be either Yuvraj or Yusuf Pathan," he said. Vengsarkar, a former chairman 
of the selection panel, said the Indian batting line-up has a settled look with a 
combination of youth and experience.

"We have a very strong batting line up with (Virender) Sehwag, (Sachin)Tendulkar
, (Gautam) Gambhir, Yuvraj (Singh), Yusuf (Pathan) all in great form," he said.

SL tour will help for world cup- Gibson

West Indies coach Ottis Gibson has said his team's upcoming tour of Sri Lanka will help the players acclimatise to the conditions for the World Cup that is being played in the subcontinent. West Indies play three ODIs against Sri Lanka at the SSC in Colombo, but while their World Cup warm-up games will also be played in Sri Lanka, they play their group games in India and Bangladesh.

"It is a good opportunity to put some of the plans in place that we are going to take into the World Cup," Gibson said. "When we went for the Test series we did really well as a team and we made progress. We also had a chance to get used to the conditions. The players are fresh out of the Caribbean Twenty20 and are ready for what we have coming up."

West Indies are part of Group B in the World Cup along with South Africa, Netherlands, India, Bangladesh, England and Ireland, and Gibson was positive about his team's chances in the tournament.

INDIAN SQUAD FOR CRICKET WORLD CUP 2011

Squad: 

MS Dhoni (capt & wk)

Sachin Tendulkar

Virender Sehwag

Gautam Gambhir

Yuvraj Singh

Suresh Raina 

Virat Kohli

Yusuf Pathan

Harbhajan Singh

Praveen Kumar

Zaheer Khan

Ashish Nehra

Munaf Patel

                                                       Piyush Chawla

                                                       R Ashwin

India's major concern ahead of the team selection was the injuries to four first-choice players - Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and quick bowler Praveen Kumar - but the selectors picked all four, confident that they will be fit in time for the tournament which starts on February 19.

India's bowling attack for the World Cup will be significantly different from their standard Test attack, with only Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh being named. The fast bowling pair of Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma, and Ojha are all excluded while Munaf Patel, who helped India to a series-levelling victory over South Africa on Saturday, has found a place as the fourth seamer.

EDEN GARDEN NOT GOING TO HOST INDIA-ENGLAND FIXTURES

   

               In a major embarrassment to the BCCI, the ICC has ruled out Eden Gardens as the host of the game between India and England on February 27. The ICC's inspection team, which included some of the leading experts in the field of stadium and ground preparation, felt that Eden Gardens would not be ready in time. No alternate venue for the match has yet been named. The Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and the three World Cup stadiums in Sri Lanka were all given the go-ahead by the ICC.

                              "Regrettably, Eden Gardens has not made sufficient progress to justify the level of confidence required to confirm that the venue would be ready in good time, " Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said. "This was no easy decision to take and while it is most unfortunate, it is absolutely necessary." The Cricket Association of Bengal is having an emergency meeting to discuss the development.

                                Kolkata was to host three other matches in the World Cup, but the status of those games is still unclear. "At this stage no decision has been taken on those matches," an ICC spokesperson said. The India-England clash was the only chance for fans in Kolkata to see the home side.

       

CRICKET WORLD CUP

Murali to end international career with 
World Cup

Muttiah Muralitharan has said he will 
retire from all international cricket after 
the 2011 World Cup. The 38-year-old
 offspinner, who had retired from Test 
cricket in July last year, will continue 
to play in domestic Twenty20 competitions.

"This World Cup will be my last outing," 
Muralitharan said. "My time is up. I have 
signed up to play for two years in the IPL. 
I am also looking at similar work in New 
Zealand and perhaps England."

Muralitharan, who holds the record for the 
highest number of wickets in both Test and 
one-day cricket was part of Sri Lanka's World 
Cup winning side in 1996. He is one of three
 spinners in Sri Lanka's squad for the 2011 tournament, the other two being left-arm spinner Ranagana Herath and Ajantha Mendis. "This is my fourth World Cup. We won in 1996 and came close in 2007 by reaching the final. This would be a memorable one for me and for Sri Lankan fans."