Bradman is the greatest, Sachin comes only second: Steve Waugh

ABU DHABI: Sachin Tendulkar can come only second, after legendary Don Bradman in the list of all-time great cricketers, according to former Australia captain Steve Waugh.

"Don Bradman is the greatest, there is no debate. Don is the number one and then come the rest. And among the rest, Tendulkar probably is as good as anyone. So legitimately he may be the second best cricketer to have played the game," Waugh said.

"But then people will say the same for Gary Sobers and WG Wells too. So its difficult to say," added Waugh, who is here as a member of the Laureus Sports Academy.

Waugh also said it is dangerous that Test cricket doesn't have quality fast bowlers anymore as they are preferring the 20-over format over the game's five-day version.

"It is dangerous for Test cricket that we are losing the quicks. It is a Twenty20 influence. Fast bowlers definitely have a lot of stress and doing this is very demanding.

"I think they realise that they have few years of cricket in them. They get three times more money by bowling one-tenth overs in T20. So we had (Andrew) Flintoff, Brett (Lee) and (Shane) Bond deciding not to play Test which is a shame," he said.

1999 World Cup winning captain Waugh said India and Australia will start the favourites in the ODI World Cup next year, which will be held in Indian sub-continent.

"Australia have very good record. India is also very hard to beat in India. So they will be the favourites.

"Then there is also New Zealand. I think, there are probably five teams capable of winning the World Cup but India and Australia will be the favourites," he said.

Asked whether Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men were capable of retaining their number one Test team tag for long, Waugh said, "I don't think anyone will hold the number one ranking (for long) because we have three formats of the game.

"With niggling injuries and so many tours, it is very difficult to be consistent. May be they can hold on to Test ranking but it is very difficult to dominate all the formats of the game."

Waugh also has apprehension about the Decision Referral System and thinks still there is place for improvement.

"I'm at times very confused about it. I was initially against it but later I read about it and saw decisions going right but for the last 12 months some of the decisions didn't seem right, which showed the technology is not completely full-proof yet," he said.

"The technology have to be better than what it is now or may be it could go back to the umpires. They could ask for 2-3 referrals rather than the players.

"But then some will argue that we don't have enough good umpires to ask for a referral all times. So we have to get the umpires to the standard of Simon Taufel, who is very confident," Waugh said.

Another incident which has grabbed the attention of Waugh is the rise of Afghanistan who has qualified for this year's Twenty20 World Cup to be held in the West Indies.

"It is a great sporting story. It is a potential movie. It is a fairy tale, the story of the year. Players learning cricket in the refugee camps and doing so well. I think with the T20 World Cup coming up, this will be one of the future stories of the event," he said.

Rooney hits double as United crush Milan

MANCHESTER: Wayne Rooney scored twice again as Manchester United cruised into the quarter-finals of the Champions League after a 4-0 win over a feeble AC Milan sent them through 7-2 on aggregate on Wednesday.

Rooney, who scored twice in the 3-2 San Siro win, was on target with a 13th-minute header that broke the hearts of the seven-times winners.

He added his second at the start of the second half and in a virtual exhibition match, Park Ji-sung after an hour and a late Darren Fletcher header completed the crushing victory.

"We got the break with the early goal in the second half and after that we played very well. When we play at that tempo we are difficult to play against. With the team I've got it dosn't matter who we play next," said United manager Alex Ferguson.

Milan, without injured centre back Alessandro Nesta, striker Alexandre Pato and midfielder Luca Antonini looked off the pace from the start but few could have predicted their total capitulation.

Rooney shot wide after three minutes and even fullback Gary Neville was allowed to let fly just over the bar with his left foot soon after.

Milan should have scored from their first real attack though as an Andrea Pirlo free kick reached Ronaldinho but the Brazilian's header went just wide after eight minutes.

If Klaas Jan Huntelaar had managed to control Thiago Silva's through ball with the goal gaping things might have turned out differently.

With Daniele Bonera forced to operate at centre back Rooney was wandering free and when Neville found him on the penalty spot there was never any doubt that he would thunder his header beyond Christian Abbiati.

That left Milan needing three goals to progress and it appeared that nobody in their lineup had the confidence to find them.

BIGGEST CHEER Within a minute of the restart they needed four as more slack defending allowed Nani to charge forward down the left. He then sent in an inviting low cross with the outside of his right boot and Rooney made sure he reached it first to score his 30th club goal of the season.

Paul Scholes sent Park through to slide in the third as Milan just about went through the motions.

The introduction of David Beckham as a 65th-minute replacement for Ignazio Abate raised the biggest cheer of the night as the midfielder, who left United for Real Madrid in 2003, was given a standing ovation and even tested Edwin van der Sar with a sharp shot.

With not much of a contest to keep them occupied United's fans spent most of the last 20 minutes chanting anti-Glazer songs and displaying their green and gold protest scarves against the American owners of the club -- Beckham left the pitch wearing one at fulltime.

They were brought back to the action two minutes from time when Fletcher stretched well at the far post to head home the fourth goal and complete Milan's humiliation.

With Arsenal moving though against Porto on Tuesday, Chelsea can make it a hat-trick of English sides into the last eight if they can turn round their 2-1 deficit against Inter Milan at Stamford Bridge next week.

Younis, Yousuf out of Pakistan team indefinitely

ISLAMABAD: Bizarre things are known to happen in Pakistani cricket. But what transpired on Wednesday went beyond that.

First, the Pakistan Cricket Board dropped a bombshell by announcing life bans on captain Mohammad Yousuf and ex-captain Younis Khan over 'misconduct'. A few hours later, under attack from the media and the cricket fraternity, it made a U-turn saying the bans were open-ended and could be reconsidered "as and when PCB deems fit".

As a face-saver, PCB blamed the media for 'misinterpreting' its earlier statement. The two players have been the mainstay of Pakistan batting for many years.

In what many described as a medicine worse than the disease, the board also handed out stiff penalties to many other top players. Rana Naved-ul Hasan and another former captain, Shoaib Malik, were fined Pak rupees 20 lakh each and banned from the national team for one year.

Wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal and T20 skipper Shahid Afridi were fined Pak rupees 30 lakh each while Umar, Kamran's younger brother, was fined rupees 20 lakh. The three were also put on probation for six months during which time their conduct would be 'strictly monitored.'

The sweeping action was the result of a probe into Pakistan's crushing defeats during the recent Australian tour. The board felt indiscipline and misconduct led to the team's poor show.

"Both Yousuf and Younis were involved in infighting during the tour. Their attitude has a trickle-down effect which was a bad influence on the whole team," the PCB said in a statement.

While the PCB later released a statement to clarify that the inquiry committee has not recommended life ban on Yousuf and Younis, in the morning it announced that the two players would never again play for Pakistan in any format. They, though, were allowed to play domestic cricket in Pakistan and other countries.

Highly-places sources said the PCB's U-turn might have been caused by pressure from influential quarters.

"I will be talking to the board about this and see what happens," Younis told reporters from Australia. Meanwhile, Rana said, "I want to know what I did wrong." Former captain Inzamam-ul Haq questioned the credibility of the probe panel itself, saying, "The committee comprised PCB employees and there was no neutral person in it. You cannot ban someone from playing international cricket on just disciplinary grounds."

Later, PCB's changed stance immediately provoked an angry reaction from the chairman of the National Assembly's standing committee on sports, Jamshed Dasti, who has summoned the board officials next week to explain the affair. "This board is rubbish and the latest episode proves that it's time for Ijaz Butt (PCB chief) to go," Dasti said.

The inquiry committee said it had had passed the judgment "after careful and detailed analysis of the events, the personal accounts of the team management and players and examination of record, videos and statistics".

While most former Pakistan players expressed shock at the severity of the punishment, many said indiscipline in the team had reached unacceptable proportions. The Akmals, for instance, were fined for their behaviour after the Sydney Test.

Wicketkeeper Kamran insisted publicly that he would be selected in the run-up to the third Test after being dropped from the side. Younger brother Umar allegedly feigned an injury before the Test in protest, though he eventually played. Afridi was punished for the ball-biting incident in the Perth One-dayer, when he was leading the side. The ICC has already punished him by imposing a two-match ban.

Younis had twice given up captaincy last year and some senior players had revolted against him. His batting form had suffered as well as his image. The charges against Yousuf were less clear but he was anything but statesmanlike during the tough Aussie tour.

Former captain Rashid Latif blasted the board for mishandling the issue. "I don't understand why did it took them so long to realize the technical hitch in the statement. Why didn't the PCB officials in the first instance clarify that there was no life ban on the two players?" Latif asked.

Just finish the race, Karun's target on F1 debut

Day in Pics: March 10

BAHRAIN: Handicapped by limited resources, India's latest Formula One driver Karun Chandhok has set himself a modest target of just finishing the race when he makes his F1 debut on Sunday.

The 26-year-old Chennai lad landed a driver's seat with Hispania Racing barely a week ago and the outfit, bailed out of a financial morass by Spanish businessman Jose Ramon Carabante, arrived here without any pre-season tests which has already triggered safety fears.

Away from all these, Karun is focusing hard on the race alone and has no illusions about his Formula One debut.

"I am really looking forward to my F1 debut this weekend. Finishing the race will be a fantastic achievement for a team put together so late and the objective here will be to get as many miles under my belt as possible," said the Chennai lad.

Lack of test miles under his belt handicaps the youngster but Karun is relieved that at least the Sakhir layout is not alien to him.

"Fortunately I have driven here before in GP2 so that will help the learning process a bit. I was on the front row in 2008 and was very competitive when I was back here in 2009, so I've got pretty good knowledge of the circuit," he said.

"However, F1 is a completely different ballgame and we will have a tough challenge in front of us. I have spent time back in Europe with the guys in the factory and it is great to see that the whole team is very motivated about our first race together," added Karun.

We need more singles players of Somdev's calibre: Ramesh Krishnan

MUMBAI: Tennis ace Ramesh Krishnan feels that the need of the hour for India to do well in the Davis Cup competition is to produce more quality singles players to compliment Somdev Devvarman.

"We need two or three more singles players of Somdev's calibre to do well in Davis Cup which has four singles matches and only one doubles tie," the former Davis Cup skipper told reporters here today.

Ramesh, who was here to promote the TCS Corporate Tennis Cup event to be played at the Bombay Gymkhana on weekends from March 13, said during his time he got better exposure as he had the chance to play against top men like Premjit Lall, Jaideep Mukerjea and Vijay Amritraj even while in his teens.

"Exposure is a lot less now than it was 30-40 years ago. Now a 14-year-old is playing only against another 14-year-old," said the one-time touch-artist who piloted India to two Cup finals in his career.

Talking about India's comprehensive defeat against Russia in their World Group first round tie in the latter's backyard, Ramesh said it was always on the cards.

"Playing Russia in Russia was always going to be tough," he commented.

He was not willing to criticise the decision of young Yuki Bhambri to skip the clash. "It was a personal decision and I don't know the details," he said.

Bhambri missed the tie against Russia earlier this month by opting to play in a Challenger tournament in the USA.

Ramesh was not sure whether the "Indian Express" duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi would be around to lead the country's doubles campaign in the 2012 London Olympic Games.

"That's too far away. Though Leander has said he would like to play I'm not sure," he said.

Paying glowing tributes to India's best-ever doubles combination, Ramesh said what they had achieved in doubles since 1996 was "phenomenal".

"It will be very difficult to fill in their shoes when they call it a day," he said.

The former India number one felt that it was better for youngsters to start learning the game on clay courts and then graduate to faster courts.

"Playing on clay builds up discipline. Youngsters can learn better defence by playing on these courts. Injuries also happen if they play more on hard courts," he said.

India draw South Africa 3-3, finish 4th in Pool B

NEW DELHI: Shivendra Singh saved the day for India with a timely equaliser as the home team played out a 3-3 draw against South Africa in a controversial match to finish fourth in Pool B of the hockey World Cup on Monday.

Points Table | Schedule & Results

With this draw India ended their pool proceedings with four points, behind Australia, England and Spain.

The hosts will now face the fourth placed team of Pool A for the seventh-eighth play-off match on Friday.

Although South Africa have same points as India, they finished in the fifth position due to goal difference while Pakistan find themselves at the bottom in the sixth place.

Sarwanjit Singh (18th minute), Diwakar (24th) and Shivendra (66th) scored for the hosts while Lloyd Norris-Jones (seventh), Ian Haley (38th) and skipper Austin Smith (47th) found the net for the South Africans.

The result of the match could have been in India's favour if not for the newly-introduced video referral system, which ruled out a hosts' goal.

When teams were locked 2-2, the video referral played spoilsport as Sarwanjit's second goal of the match was disallowed after he was nicely set up by a beautiful one-two from captain Rajpal Singh and Gurwinder Singh Chandi.

The video umpire disallowed the goal after South Africa protested for a foot foul at the other end of the pitch and in turn awarded a penalty corner to the Proteas.

To make it for worse for India, rival skipper Austin Smith scored from the subsequent short corner to make it 3-2 in favour of South Africa.

From there on the Indians worked hard for the all-important equaliser and found it just five minutes from the hooter through Shivendra who chipped the ball past the South Africa goal-line from a close range to earn precious one point for the hosts.

Earlier, rejuvenated by their 3-2 win over Pakistan, South Africa displayed attractive attacking hockey early on, thereby putting Indian defense under immense pressure at the floodlit Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.

Indian could have been a goal down as early as in the opening minute of the match but for goalkeeper Adrain D'souza who tipped away Thornton McDade's powerful reverse stick shot.

South Africa's persistent pressure resulted in their first strike in the seventh minute with Indian defense yet again conceding a soft goal.

An unmarked Lloyd Norris-Jones scored for South Africa from top of the circle after dodging past a few Indian players with his fast-paced run from the mid-field.

However, that was all South Africa could manage in the opening half as from there on it all Indian as the home team pressed hard for the equaliser.

India's persistent pressure from both the flanks finally resulted in two goals in a span of nine minutes.

Sarwanjit drew parity with his first goal of the tournament in the 17th minute and nine minutes later, Diwakar made it 2-1 in favour of the hosts.

Indian earned their second penalty corner but failed to capitalise on it as Shivendra failed to stop the ball.

He, however, made amends for the mistake when he regained the possession of the ball and slammed a pass from outside the circle which was ably deflected home by Diwakar.

Trailing by a goal at the half way mark, the South Africans mounted pressure on the Indian citadel and leveled the scores three minutes into the second period through Justin Reid-Ross who pushed the ball over the goalline from close range.

Inspite of having three dragflickers in the side in Sandeep Singh, Diwakar and Dhananjay Mahadik, for the fourth consecutive day the Indians were off-colour with penalty corners as they failed to convert a single out of the three they earned.

However, what was heartening for the Men In Blue was the one-two passes between the mid-field and forwardline.

Still getting messages for double hundred: Tendulkar

MUMBAI: Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar said he was still receiving congratulatory messages for becoming first batsman in the history of one-day cricket to score a double hundred and he was enjoying the good time.

"It has taken many years for a batsman to get a double-hundred (in ODIs). I am still getting great feedback. It feels terrific," he said.

Asked when his fans would get to see a triple century from him in Test cricket, the master blaster said, "whenever it comes. It will be never late, I don't make big statements."

"I wanted to play cricket whole-heartedly for the country. I am living my dream and have played with two-three generations. I wanted to be a special member of the team and I have done it," he added.

IPL good platform to groom future India players: Dhoni

CHENNAI: Indian Premier League works as a good platform to find and groom talented youngsters, who may go on to play in the national team, according to India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

"I want to make more players for ourselves. We are grooming Indian players from under-19 or players on the verge of making debut for India. All those individuals rubbing their shoulders with international cricketers from India and overseas help them in learning cricketing skills," Dhoni said.

Citing an example, Dhoni said players who made a mark in the first edition went on to play for the country.

"We had Manpreet Goni, Murali Vijay and S Badrinath coming into the side. And Suresh Raina is becoming a great player. We are contributing a lot towards Indian cricket. Overall, we are trying to groom the Indian cricketers for the betterment of the game in India," Dhoni, who leads Chennai Super Kings, said.

Dhoni said that the current rule of having a limited number of foreign players in the side gives them a chance to try youngsters and was in favour of continuing with it.

"If the overseas players want to find a place in the playing eleven, they have to fight among themselves and not against Indian stock. It is perfect right now and I am quite happy with the system of only four players finding place in the final eleven," he said.

Dhoni's comments came after coach Stephen Fleming spoke about importance of overseas players doing duty in IPL teams.

"International players coming in to play for different franchisees is important. It is the mix of players that help a team perform well. We have good talented bunch of players from Tamil Nadu in CSK. It is good to have them," Fleming said

Dhoni is happy that players would not have to spend much time on road unlike the second edition.

"You compare it with last IPL in South Africa, we will not be travelling that much in India. We have a base and we will be playing most of the matches in Chennai.

"The facilities are great so I do not think it will be as tiring as last year's IPL. We will be enjoying much more in playing in India. Next 45 days we will be busy and lot of pressure will be on the cricketers," he said.

The skipper though said weather of the city would pose a challenge for the players.

"Chennai is hot and humid even at around 8.00 pm. Twenty20 is therefore very demanding in all respects, particularly on the body and also on the mental side."

Dhoni said his side was a balanced one with good batsmen and bowlers.

"As a team we rely more on our batting strength. We have strong options in bowlers like Manpreet Goni, L Balaji, Sudeep Tyagi and spinners like R Ashwin in our ranks.

"In the past they have done well for us. We will try to get the best out of these bowling options. We just need to play good cricket and more often than not when we do that, we will be winning games," he said.

On the availability of players for this season, Fleming said almost all the players would be available except for Kiwi player Jacob Oram.

He said Australia's Michael Hussey's would miss first few matches and would join the squad from April 1 since he will be busy with his national team in New Zealand.

"Jacob Oram of course is not available. I think the full squad should be available for CSK. There was a huge question mark on Andrew Flintoff's availability. Justin Kemp is the replacement for Flintoff," he said.

Dhoni also said player like Kemp with all round abilities would prove quite useful.

"When our main bowlers have an off-day, we have strong options to use others as bowlers and Kemp is one of them. Such options in the team for a 20-20 match, it is good for the team. Kemp is a big hitter. He can be an asset to the side."

On Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan, Dhoni said, "He is the best spinner in the world and still in international circuit. He can be useful in every format of the game. He is a great guy to have in the dressing room like Makhaya Nitini and others."

Liverpool's Champions League hopes take a battering

WIGAN: Hugo Rodallega scored the only goal of the game as Wigan dented Liverpool's Champions League hope with a 1-0 victory at the DW Stadium on Monday.

Points Table | Schedule & Results

Fernando Torres had already hit the post when Rodallega made the most of poor defending from the Reds to fire the hosts in front just after the half hour.

And there was little response from Rafael Benitez's side as they slipped to a ninth Premier League defeat of the season.

They are still just one point off fourth place but with nine games remaining, they are sixth in the table and Tottenham and Manchester City above them now have games in hand.

It was Wigan's second win of 2010 and their first in eight matches which sees Roberto Martinez's side move four points clear of the relegation zone.

Having beaten Chelsea earlier this season, it was also only the second time Wigan have ever beaten a "big four" team.

Javier Mascherano was once again asked to fill in at right back but Glen Johnson was back on the bench after two months out.

But Argentina captain Mascherano did not seem to mind the unfamiliar role and quickly got forward to good effect.

His cross was only half cleared by Gary Caldwell and Steven Gerrard thumped a shot over from just outside the area.

Liverpool began strongly and produced a threat again when Fernando Torres' volley flew wide off the post from Yossi Benayoun's deep cross.

Titus Bramble was forced into a fine block after Gerrard broke through midfield again and tried his uck from long range.

But struggling Wigan recovered from their early hesitancy and caused Liverpool plenty of problems.

A strong run from James McCarthy, who was a Liverpool target as a youngster, was only halted by a fine tackle by Jamie Carragher on the edge of the area.

And Wigan winger Charles N'Zogbia also sent over a couple of dangerous crosses after beating defender Emiliano Insua with ease.

The Reds produced a fine passing move with Maxi Rodriguez and Benayoun before Gerrard scuffed his shot wide from close range.

But Wigan made no mistake when Dirk Kuyt gave the ball away on the edge of his own area.

Emmerson Boyce curled a cross over and Rodallega fired in from close range to give the strugglers a shock lead.

And Torres failed to level when he headed over from six yards after he was picked out by a Rodriguez cross.

Wigan continued to pressure after the restart and Pepe Reina had to desperately grab an N'Zogbia cross at the near post.

And as Torres tried to get Liverpool on level terms, he fired over from a low Rodriguez cross.

Benitez had finally seen enough of Lucas and dragged the Brazilian off to replace him with Johnson.

Wigan almost doubled their lead when Carragher's clearance flew off Marcelo Moreno and was headed wide by Sotirios Kyrgiakos.

And Bolivian forward Moreno forced a fine save from Reina with a powerful drive after he cut in from the right.

N'Zogbia nearly created a second when his low shot beat Reina and Paul Scharner failed to touch in at the far post.

Liverpool pressed and pressed but failed to trouble Latics goalkeeper Chris Kirkland.

Substitute Victor Moses could have made the game safe for Wigan but shot narrowly wide as the hosts pressed hard on the break in added time.

They also survived a late goal-mouth scramble to grind out a first-ever victory over Liverpool and leave major doubts about whether the Reds can reach the Champions League.

No buzz as IPL-NBA impasse continues

NEW DELHI: With just three days to go for the start of IPL-3, the buzz around the T20 event seems to be missing, largely due to TV channels keeping away from the event due to IPL's stringent media guidelines. There have been no promos, no IPL-based programming and no coverage of even the practice games being played across the country.

For example, a practice game involving Delhi Daredevils here at the Kotla on Monday evening was largely ignored by the electronic media.

Obviously, this state of affair has made IPL team owners a bit jittery and they want a solution to the impasse. Sources said that some franchisees who have signed up deals with news channels had to postpone promotional events. Teams who were planning to launch merchandise and announce new sponsors and commercial partners are not able to organise any event.

While the National Broadcasting Association (NBA) is confident the tussle will be solved before the mega event begins on Friday, the BCCI is keeping itself at a safe distance. "This a matter between the IPL broadcaster and the NBA.

If the news channels are keen to solve this matter, they will have to sit with the concerned people and sort it our amongst themselves," a top BCCI official told TOI on Monday. Apparently, IPL chief Lalit Modi has the support of the board bigwigs on the issue.

The stand-off between the NBA and the IPL is over the restrictions imposed by the T20 League over the amount of footage that can be used by the TV channels during the March 12-April 25 event. "The footage restriction is unrealistic. How can we create a buzz when the norms are so strict. Till the time IPL doesn't make concessions, we'll keep boycotting the event," a news channel source said.

In this tug-of-war, the franchisees are feeling trapped. "This is something we can do little about. IPL organisers should understand this problem. They should do some adjustment so that the event is covered by all media," a team official opined.

While IPL says it's trying to safeguard the interest of its commercial partners and the official IPL broadcaster, the media feels it's been shortchanged in the process. The average fan is keeping his fingers crossed.