Take a cue from India, Younis tells team

Karachi: Pakistan’s senior batsman Younis Khan wants his team to take a cue from India’s aggressive attitude in Australia to beat the world champions when they tour the subcontinent in March-April this year.
“The Indians went at Australia aggressively during and after the Sydney Test and the attitude has paid dividends for them,” Younis said.
“I don’t think you can beat Australia by adopting a defensive or middle road policy. We will have to go full throttle at them to upset them.” The senior player also lauded India’s attitude despite two big defeats in Melbourne and Sydney.
“I think India had the edge over Australia because of their varied bowling attack and because of their spinners. We must also field a varied attack against them.”

Pak board committed

Hyderabad: Pakistan Cricket Board chairman says there is “no question” that the country will host the upcoming Test and one-day International series with Australia, despite reports of a possible switch. “PCB has only one position on this tour and that is Australia will play as per their commitment in March-April of 2008,” PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf said on Thursday.
Australian media has reported that there was a chance the tours would be swapped between the two countries. “There is no question of a neutral venue and there is no question of us going to Australia at this time,” he said.

Lanka offer

Colombo: Sri Lanka has approached Pakistan with an offer to host the upcoming Asia Cup, the island’s cricket chief said Thursday. The six-nation limited-overs tournament is scheduled to be played in Pakistan in June, but instability following last month’s murder of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has put sporting fixtures under threat. “We have written and asked Pakistan if we can host the Asia Cup,” Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) chief Arjuna Ranatunga said on the sidelines of a news conference to promote tourism.

Team faces ban

Calcutta: Kachrapara CCC faces a ban for cheating in a CAB junior (110-point) league match against Shilpashree Dum Dum CCC last week. Masrum Sarkar was listed to play for the Kachrapara team but they sneaked in Soumen Ghosh by changing pictures in the team list. Soumen went on to smash 301 in 126 balls in Masrum’s guise. “We have investigated the matter and found that both the club and the player are guilty,” a CAB official said on Thursday.

Jhulan to lead

Calcutta: ICC’s Woman Cricketer of the Year Jhulan Goswami will lead India A in the ensuing Women’s Challenger Trophy from February 9 in Mumbai, says A Staff Reporter. Besides Goswami, Rituparna Roy was included the India A squad while Priyanka Roy and Anyeesha Moitra were named in the India B and India C squads respectively. While Indian skipper Mithali Raj will lead India C, Rumeli Dhar was named captain of India B.