Sri Lanka will be looking for the elusive test match and series win when they tour India for a Three Test, five ODI and Two T20 match series from November to December 2009. The team arrive in India on November 8th for the 55-day tour.
Shoaib Akhtar burst onto the big stage in the 1999 World Cup with a long, hurtling run-up and blistering speed. His star status was sealed by a great flop of hair, a talent for show-boating and a vivid nickname - the Rawalpindi Express. But it was too much, too young. A huge ego and his blind ambition to break the 100mph barrier seemed to matter more to him than cementing his place in the Pakistan side. The authorities twice sidelined him over throwing allegations and although his action was cleared, courtesy of hyperextensible joints and the University of Western Australia, injuries created fresh doubts over his international future. However, he channelled his enormous resources far better in 2002, turning in two of the most blistering bowling efforts of the year, both against Australia. First, he blitzed them with a spell of 5 for 25 in a one-dayer at Brisbane, and then returned 5 for 21 in a spectacular performance in Colombo that all but won the Test for Pakistan. The 2003 World Cup was far more disappointing, though. He promised much, but came a cropper, especially in the needle encounter against Sachin Tendulkar . Dropped after the World Cup, Shoaib roared back to form on the tour to New Zealand, but soon after came a forgettable - and controversial - series against India. Not only did he struggle for wickets, he also left the field at a crucial stage of the third Test citing wrist injury and back pain, though neither injury seemed to bother him when he came out to bat later. Pakistan lost the Test, and Shoaib felt the heat, as his commitment to the game and his relationship with the captain and the team management came into question as well.
Full name : Shoaib Akhtar
Born : August 13, 1975, Rawalpindi, Punjab
Batting style : Right-hand bat
Bowling style : Right-arm fast
Test debut : Pakistan v West Indies at Rawalpindi - Nov 29-Dec 3, 1997
ODI debut : Zimbabwe v Pakistan at Harare - Mar 28, 1998
The 2009 ICC World Twenty20 is a Twenty20 cricket tournament scheduled to take place in England in June of 2009. It will be the second World Twenty20 and will consist of 12 teams, contested by all Test-playing nations plus qualifiers (Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland)
The Champions Twenty20 League, formed with the official sanction of ICC will kick off in October 2008. Eight domestic teams from four nations will participate. Cricket Australia will partner the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket South Africa (CSA). The champion team in the Champions Twenty20 league will get US $5 million, which is the highest ever prize money for a cricket event.
Shoaib Akhtar burst onto the big stage in the 1999 World Cup with a long, hurtling run-up and blistering speed. His star status was sealed by a great flop of hair, a talent for show-boating and a vivid nickname - the Rawalpindi Express. But it was too much, too young. A huge ego and his blind ambition to break the 100mph barrier seemed to matter more to him than cementing his place in the Pakistan side. The authorities twice sidelined him over throwing allegations and although his action was cleared, courtesy of hyperextensible joints and the University of Western Australia, injuries created fresh doubts over his international future. However, he channelled his enormous resources far better in 2002, turning in two of the most blistering bowling efforts of the year, both against Australia. First, he blitzed them with a spell of 5 for 25 in a one-dayer at Brisbane, and then returned 5 for 21 in a spectacular performance in Colombo that all but won the Test for Pakistan. The 2003 World Cup was far more disappointing, though. He promised much, but came a cropper, especially in the needle encounter against Sachin Tendulkar . Dropped after the World Cup, Shoaib roared back to form on the tour to New Zealand, but soon after came a forgettable - and controversial - series against India. Not only did he struggle for wickets, he also left the field at a crucial stage of the third Test citing wrist injury and back pain, though neither injury seemed to bother him when he came out to bat later. Pakistan lost the Test, and Shoaib felt the heat, as his commitment to the game and his relationship with the captain and the team management came into question as well.
