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Tennis ace Sania Mirza will get married to Sohrab Mirza of Hyderabad in the near future, Sania’s family confirmed after the news was broken by the media, here on Friday.

The exact date is yet to be finalised. The two families, although having the same surname, are not related but have known each other for several years.

The 23-year-old Sohrab, son of a businessman, is pursuing MBA.

The 22-year-old Sania became the first Indian woman to win a WTA tour title and break into the World’s top 50 in 2005. But thereafter, she has been plagued by injuries and fluctuating form.

However, she fought her way back and was able to win the Australian Open mixed doubles title along with Mahesh Bhupathi earlier this year.

The family has also confirmed that the marriage plans will not affect Sania’s tennis career and that she will continue to play in all major tournaments even after marriage.

Kevin Pietersen is on a serious mission after making his most shocking admission to date: “I’m not very good at Twenty20 cricket, am I?”

On the eve of the World Twenty20 in England, Pietersen made the searingly honest appraisal of his short form career so far, but has vowed to make amends next month.

Despite being one of the world’s finest batsmen in Test and one-day cricket, Pietersen’s Twenty20 career lags too far behind for his liking and he is determined to do something about it.

In fact, Twenty20 cricket hasn’t been particularly kind to him at all on the field and for a player of Pietersen’s talents and mindset, serial failure simply won’t do.

He has made just one Twenty20 50 for England, averaging just 26, and even though he became the most expensive player in the Indian Premier League his record there wasn’t much better.

Bangalore Royal Challengers paid $1.55million for him to be their inspirational batsman and captain, but he could only muster two wins from the six games he played, and when he returned home to resume England duties the team reached the final without him.

“I made a great captain didn’t I” chuckled Pietersen. “We won two out of six when I was there and then Anil Kumble took over and they got to the final.

“People are going to take pot shots at me over the IPL and the money I earned in two weeks, but it was such a great experience. I loved it.

“To captain the side four days after arriving and not knowing what some of the guys did and not knowing most of their names made it a huge task for me. I wasn’t as focused on my batting as I was on trying to learn guys names and what they did.

“The more you play T20 cricket the better you become and I haven’t played a lot of it, and I’m not very good at it.

“The more I play it though the more I’ll catch up with my records in Test and one-day cricket definitely. I just know that I will get much better at it. I’ve worked out some new theories about how to go about my batting in T20 and that will make a difference, hopefully starting next week!”

Thankfully for England fans it is rare for Pietersen to consistently fail and the World Twenty20 that begins a week today against Holland is the perfect time to put things right.

Usually when Pietersen puts his mind to something he succeeds, in fact he is probably guilty of switching off when the pressure and intensity is not great enough. He is a big match player and he knows this World Twenty20 will be as big as it gets.

It was less than two years ago that Pietersen called Twenty20 a ’silly game with silly shots’ but he admits his attitude to the game has since changed.

If he can start firing and the rest of the side can make their home advantage count, not even the missing Andrew Flintoff should dampen England’s chances of glory.

He added: “The way T20 has now turned into a huge, huge business and the way that it has grown into having World Cup T20 tournaments, playing for your country means that my opinion of it has changed hugely.

“You have to be serious about it. You’re playing for England in a World Cup at home, that is serious. It is no longer a silly game with silly shots, I want to win it full stop.

“The standard of cricket in the first tournament probably wasn’t as good, whereas now the seriousness with which the guys are putting their heads to it means that the standard is going to be really high.

“I’m so excited about this tournament, it is going to be huge. It is a massive event, and since we have never won one of these global tournaments, it is about time we did and that is why it is such a big thing for me.

“It is a shame that Fred is not available, but we can definitely win the T20 World Cup if we play good positive cricket consistently.”

PIETERSEN RECORD

Tests: 52 RUNS: 4494 AVE: 50.49 100s: 16 50s: 14

Odi: 92 RUNS: 3127 AVE: 46.67 100s: 7 50s: 20

T20: 15 RUNS: 379 AVE: 26.78 100s: 0 50s: 1

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s brilliant captaincy and Yuvraj Singh’s aggression make defending champion India the “strongest contender” to lift the Twenty20 World Championship title in England, feels former coach and Australian captain Greg Chappell.

“It is very hard to predict who will win the trophy. But I think India is the strongest contender to retain the title. Pakistan is unpredictable and Australia too has improved a lot in this format. It will be quite open this time,” Chappell told PTI from Brisbane.

“India has slight edge over other teams. It has trump cards like Dhoni and Yuvraj. Dhoni is among the best captains today. Yuvraj was out of colour in IPL but according to me he is one of the most dangerous batsmen in the shortest form of cricket. He will give headaches to rival captains,” opined the veteran.

Yuvraj smashed six sixes in an over of English pacer Stuart Broad in the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa two years ago.

Chappell said the Indian Premier League experience will be an added advantage for Indian players.

“Indian players are very well prepared after the IPL. But I don’t think that performance of players like Yuvraj and Dhoni, who have performed in patches during IPL, will get affected by this so called lean patch.” PTI

Pakistan on Friday accepted the resignations of Mohammad Yousuf and Abdul Razzaq from the rebel Indian Cricket League, clearing the way for them to be selected for the national team, an official said.

The pair were among 23 players who defected to the unrecognised ICL and were thus barred from playing in and for Pakistan at any level.

Following their resignations, they “are now eligible to be selected for Pakistan’s international series in future,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) director human resources Wasim Bari told AFP.

Twenty-one players had their bans suspended by Sindh High Court in February, making them eligible to play domestic cricket.Inzamam-ul-Haq, who is retired from international cricket and Saqlain Mushtaq, who now lives in England, did not seek to have their bans suspended.

The ICL, bankrolled by India’s largest media group Zee telefilms, said it would no objection if some players represent their country.

Several countries have announced an umbrella amnesty for players quitting the ICL by May 31, but the PCB said it would consider selecting players on a case by case basis.

Razzaq and Yousuf were part of Pakistan team until they were axed for the inaugural World Twenty20 held in South Africa in 2007.

As protest both signed for the ICL – which is not recognised by the ICC and the Board of Control for Cricket in India – and were immediately banned.

Yousuf rescinded his decision in 2007 but rejoined the ICL in November last year after developing differences with then captain Shoaib Malik.

Razzaq said he was delighted at the prospect of playing for Pakistan. “I am delighted,” said Razzaq. “I am keen to return for Pakistan and hope my performances at domestic level will earn me a recall,” Razzaq said.

Razzaq, 29, had played 46 Tests and 231 one-day internationals and was regarded as one of the leading all-rounders in the world.

The 34-year-old Yousuf had played 79 Tests and 269 one-day internationals and was declared ICC’s best batsman of the year in 2007. He scored a world record 1,788 runs – the most in a calendar year in Test cricket – in 2006.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni  retained number one position in the Reliance [Get Quote] Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after the West Indies’  big guns Chris Gayle  and Shivnarine Chanderpaul  failed to make an impression in the series against England , which ended at Edgbaston on Tuesday.

Gayle went into the series trailing Dhoni by 33 points but after aggregating just 42 runs from it, the Jamaican dropped one place to third while his team mate Chanderpaul moved to second spot after a series contribution of 95 runs.

Owais Shah, who was the leading run-getter in the series with 113 runs, climbed three places to 34th while Matt Prior, who scored 98 runs in the series, rocketed 22 places to 77th position.

However, former England captain Kevin Pietersen  dropped a place to 15th while Ramnaresh Sarwan slipped three places to 19.

There is no change in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders as Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh still leads the field.

Stuart Broad became England’s highest-ranked bowler in ODIs after a successful series against the West Indies.

Broad finished as the leading wicket-taker in the series with six wickets, including 4-46 in the second ODI at Bristol, and was rewarded with a jump of four places. The 22-year-old fast bowler now sits alongside Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi  in a career-best ninth position.

Broad replaced Andrew Flintoff  in the top 10; the Lancastrian dropped out after missing the series due to knee injury.

A player loses one per cent of his ratings for every match missed and, as such, Flintoff slipped two places to 11th.

Jerome Taylor , who was the most successful West Indies bowler in the series with four wickets, retained 14th place but three wickets apiece by James Anderson  and Paul Collingwood lifted the pair by two and seven places respectively.

Anderson is now placed 30th while Collingwood is 55th.

The bowling table is still headed by Sri Lanka’s Nuwan Kulasekara  while Kyle Mills  of New Zealand  is second and Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka third.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship table, England’s 2-0 victory earned it one rating point and it is now on 109 rating points, just two behind fifth-placed Pakistan.

The defeat, however, cost the West Indies two ratings points and it has dropped to 90 rating points, 15 behind seventh-placed Sri Lanka.

Australia  will play six Tests, 10 one-dayers and three Twenty20 internationals on home soil against West Indies  and Pakistan as per the 2009-10 International Program announced by the Cricket Australia on Wednesday.

The 2009-10 schedule again sees two separate five-match, head-to-head Commonwealth Bank Series against the West Indies in January followed by a series against Pakistan in February.

There will be another three KFC Twenty20 Internationals this summer, one against Pakistan and two against the West Indies in February.

Australia will play Pakistan on home soil for the first time in a Test series since 2004-05, when they won 3-0.

The Aussies will start on November 26 in Brisbane against the West Indies, with the subsequent matches in Adelaide (December 4-8) and Perth (December 16-20).

The Test series against Pakistan will start from December 26 with the traditional Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, followed by the second Test in Sydney (January 3-7) and the third at Hobart (January 14-18).

“The last time Australia played Pakistan in Hobart it was a thrilling encounter that saw a magnificent partnership between Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist  steer Australia to victory on the final day. It was a fine example of Test cricket,” Cricket Australia chief executive officer James Sutherland said.

“In addition to the 3 Mobile Test, Hobart will also host their first KFC Twenty20 International against the West Indies in February.

“Melbourne hosts back-to-back international matches in early February. A KFC Twenty20 International against Pakistan is followed by the opening Commonwealth Bank Series match against the West Indies two days later,” he added.

After the Tests, Australia will play Pakistan and West Indies in back-to-back five-math ODI series starting January 22.

England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff was ruled out of next month’s World Twenty20 tournament on Wednesday because he has not fully recovered from knee surgery.

The England and Wales Cricket Board had expected Flintoff to get over last month’s operation on a meniscus tear to his right knee but has now called up Adil Rashid to replace him.

The 31-year-old Flintoff had the surgery after he pulled out of the Indian Premier League, where he had tied with England teammate Kevin Pietersen as the most costly players in the pre-tournament auction.

The injury already ruled him out of England’s recent Test and One-day series wins over West Indies.

The ECB must now decide whether to gamble on his form and fitness for the Ashes series against Australia, which starts in July. Flintoff will only have games for county side Lancashire in which to earn a place.

“We had to name Andrew in the ICC World Twenty20 15 because we hoped he would be fit,” national selector Geoff Miller said, “but in reality the timescale was always optimistic.

“We have now obtained permission from ICC to name Yorkshire’s Adil Rashid as a replacement. There is a lot of cricket still to play this year and it is important Andrew is fully fit for it.”

Cricket South Africa (CSA) has dismissed allegations that the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Wanderers here Sunday had been overcrowded due to sale of fake tickets.

CSA said in a statement that its investigation followed a newspaper article on Monday which quoted the stadium’s CEO, Alan Khourie, as stating that the stadium had been dangerously overcrowded for the final because of the use of fake tickets.

The investigation findings were released Wednesday by CSA CEO, Gerald Majola, who said the ticketing and access control systems at the final were provided by national ticket outlet Computicket and CSA to the stadium respectively.

Majola said: “In 2003, CSA implemented an access control system at all major cricket venues through South Africa. This system has been upgraded since then, and we are very proud to say that we are the only sporting body in South Africa with such a comprehensive and effective access control system.”

“Computicket managed to recover the so-called ‘fraudulent’ tickets, to which the article referred, from the Liberty Life Wanderers Cricket Stadium – totalling 327 tickets. On checking these tickets it was discovered that 177 tickets were stolen from Computicket, 66 tickets were stolen from those allocated to the stadium and 144 were actually tickets for the semi-final.”

Majola said the official attendance at the stadium for the DLF IPL final was 25,418 as recorded by the access control system: “If the stadium did in fact have more spectators than this, these patrons would have had to access the stadium via entrances not controlled by the access control system.

“CSA’s investigation shows that if there was overcrowding, it could not have been caused by the use of fraudulent tickets. Illegal access could only have been gained through entrances outside of the access control system and these entrances fall under the control and jurisdiction of the stadium management.”

The stadium is managed by the Gauteng Cricket Board, of which Khourie is the head.

A magnificent bowling performance from its spinners helped Chennai Super Kings defeat Kings XI Punjab by 24 runs in a low-scoring IPL game at Kingsmead on Wednesday.

Although it suffered a batting failure, Chennai finished the league stage in style, moving to second place behind Delhi Daredevils. Despite the defeat, Kings XI Punjab, in theory, still has an outside chance of making the semifinals.

For Chennai, Muttiah Muralitharan (two for eight from four overs), R. Ashwin (two for 13 from four overs), and Suresh Raina (two for 17 from four overs) combined to keep Punjab to 92 for eight in 20 overs.

Chennai’s bowlers, led by Muttiah Muralitharan, exerted pressure on Punjab. The batsmen couldn’t escape the shackles. Muralitharan bowled Katich behind his legs and had Pomersbach caught smartly at slip before Raina bowled Yuvraj Singh to reduce Punjab to 49 for four. Off-spinner Ashwin then took two wickets, including that of the valuable Kumar Sangakkara. Ashwin forced Sangakkara into hitting a return catch before trapping Wilkin Mota leg-before. Raina had Brett Lee caught in the deep to all but settle the contest.

Earlier, Chennai had an opening partnership of 40 before Punjab’s bowlers crippled the innings. George Bailey and Parthiv Patel batted busily before their partnership ended in a run out. Sreesanth struck twice in the tenth over to hurt Chennai. He dismissed S. Badrinath before bowling Dhoni with a marvellous yorker.

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