Cricket Buzz: PCB chief briefs Nawaz Sharif on Indo-Pak cricket relations

The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Najam Sethi has briefed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Indo-Pak cricket relations ahead of the Premier's two-day official visit to India.

-India-Pakistan cricket should be revived: Wasim Akram

Nawaz Sharif will attend the swearing in ceremony of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister tomorrow and is scheduled to later have a meeting with him and the President of India.

A source aware of the developments said that the Prime Minister had asked for a brief on the state of cricket relations with India from the PCB.

"Najam Sethi briefed him in detail about the existing relations and also about a MOU signed with the Indian cricket board to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2022 with the first one expected to happen next year," a source said.

Pakistan is due to host four of these six bilateral series.

India has not played Pakistan in a full Test bilateral series since 2007, following which the Mumbai terrorist attacks happened in 2008.

Sethi told reporters after the meeting today that he had also briefed the premier at length about the affairs of the board.

"The meeting with the premier was encouraging," he added.

Sethi confirmed he had briefed the premier on the cricket relations and developments which could help restore bilateral matches between the two countries.

Nawaz Sharif, himself a known keen cricket enthusiast, on assuming power last year spoken publicly about the need to use cricket to improve relations between the two nations.

- Please click NEXT for more...

The Supreme Court-appointed Indian Premier League probe panel headed by retd Justice Mukul Mudgal on Sunday met for the first time to discuss the modalities about their further investigation into the spot-fixing and betting scandal related to the sixth edition of Indian Premier League.

"There wasn't any discussion about the reputed cricketer who will be joining our panel for the investigative work. The reason we didn't discuss any names is because we have not yet reached that stage in our investigation. It will be discussed and announced in due course of time," Justice Mudgal told PTI on Sunday.

About Sunday’s meeting, the veteran legal luminary said that it was to discuss the "modalities".

"The committee had its first meeting today where we discussed the modalities of further investigations into the spot-fixing issue. The committee will not make any further comments on this issue. The media will be notified with press releases after each and every meeting," Justice Mudgal said.

The other members of the committee are additional solicitor general of India L Nageswara Rao, senior advocate Nilay Datta, deputy director general (narcotics bureau) B B Mishra.

The panel will be joined by a former international cricketer of repute along with three senior cops (not below the rank of ACP) from the Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai police.

The names that are doing the rounds are Mohinder Amarnath, Sourav Ganguly and Dilip Vengsarkar. 

- Please click NEXT for more...

The Indian cricket board's president-in-exile N Srinivasan is all set to chair a meeting of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in Chennai on Monday.

The meeting has been kept a hush-hush affair as the Tamil Nadu strongman refused to divulge any information about it when he was contacted.

Sources within the BCCI were not even ready to divulge details about the venue of the meeting.

However according to reliable sources within the ACC, this meeting is not one where the executive body is summoned.

"This is not an executive body meeting of the ACC. This is a meeting of the finance and marketing wing of the Asian council. Various aspects of sponsorships and investments in tournaments across the Asian region will be discussed. Mr Srinivasan is the chairman of the finance and marketing wing," a source preferring anonymity said.

While the Supreme Court diktat has kept Srinivasan away from discharging his functions as the BCCI chief, there has been no specific observation about his role in the ACC or the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Srinivasan is all set to become the chairman of the ICC's executive board next month.

The meeting will also be attended by ACC's Chief Executive Officer Syed Ashraful Haque.

The other members who are expected to attend the meeting are acting CEO of Bangaldesh Cricket Board Nizamuddin Chowdhury and finance committee chairman Afzalur Rahaman Sinha. From Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), Raju Babu Shrestha will be the representative. Nuski Mohammed and Badar Mohammed Khan will be representatives of SLC and PCB respectively.

The convenor will be Thusith Perera, the finance manager of the ACC.

- Please click NEXT for more...

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) want their English counterparts to take disciplinary action Stuart Broad after the Twenty20 skipper's remarks about the bowling action of Pakistani spinner Saeed Ajmal.

"We have sent a letter to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and we have enquired from them what action are they planning against Broad since he is a centrally contracted player," PCB's chief operating officer, Subhan Ahmad told Reuters on Sunday.

Ajmal's bowling action, which has been reported in the past but was cleared by the International Cricket Council (ICC), has come under scrutiny while playing for Worcestershire in English county cricket where he has taken a bagful of wickets.

"Bowlers can bowl very differently in a lab while being tested compared to needing wickets in the middle." Broad posted on his Twitter account.

The message was in response to a Tweet from former England captain Michael Vaughan, who had posted a photograph of Ajmal bowling with a bent arm in a county game and wrote: "You are allowed 15 degrees of flex in your delivery swing.... #justsaying."

Broad responded: "This has to be a fake photo?!"

Ahmad said that the Pakistani spinner had been disturbed by this unwanted controversy generated by the comments.

Ajmal, 36, is Pakistan's leading spinner with 169 Test wickets and another 182 in one-day internationals.

The Pakistani spinner said he had expected better from Broad.

"Broad's dig hurt me the most," Ajmal told a Pakistani website.

- Please click NEXT for more...

Pakistan's top spinner, Saeed Ajmal has said he would definitely like to get an opportunity to play in the Indian Premier League in the future and hoped the BCCI looks into the matter.

Talking about the continued absence of Pakistani players in the lucrative T20 league, Ajmal said the organisers and the Indian Cricket Board needed to review their stance on this situation.

"They have to look to give Pakistani players a chance to play in the IPL. When there are former Pakistani players present as coaches and umpires why are the present players missing. If the IPL classes itself as the best T20 tournament in the world, than it should allow the best players from any country to take part," Ajmal told a Pakistani website.

"I just think this is something for the authorities to sort out and I hope there is a change of stance in the future as I definitely would like to have a chance to play in the IPL," the spinner said.

Earlier this week, flamboyant allrounder Shahid Afridi also told reporters in Lahore that it was disappointing that Pakistani players were not being allowed to play in IPL.

- Please click NEXT for more...

The former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board Zaka Ashraf on Sunday dismissed reports about bookmakers making approaches to Pakistani players, Shahid Afridi and Umar Akmal during the One-day series played against England in the UAE in 2012.

The claim was made in a British newspaper and also partially confirmed by the present board Chairman, Najam Sethi at a recent press conference.

But Ashraf who is fighting a court battle to get himself reinstated as PCB chief said that he had no knowledge of an approach, to any Pakistani player, by bookies, during the series between Pakistan and England in the UAE in 2012.

"No information was brought to my knowledge. I don't think any such incident actually occurred there," Ashraf told a local television  channel, News One TV.

Pakistan whitewashed the English team in the Test series in 2012, followed by a crushing 4-0 defeat in the ODI series.

Mohsin Khan, the head coach and an integral part of the Pakistan team management in 2012, declined to comment on the subject but Ashraf, who was present in UAE during that series, also urged the present management of the PCB to initiate a probe into the matter.

"Why controversies arise mostly during Pakistan-England series? I think the PCB should hold a thorough inquiry into the latest allegation", concluded Ashraf.

But interestingly while Ashraf expressed his ignorance about the UAE happenings another incident and a more worrying one that happened in his tenure has been highlighted by a cricket website, Pakistanpassion.net.

According to the site, Umar Akmal was also approached to under-perform in return for favors during the Hong Kong Sixes tournament in 2012 in Kowloon.