Too early to predict the winner, says Ganguly

The Indian captain Sourav Ganguly said after winning the first one-day tie against Australia in Bangalore by 60 runs on Sunday that he was scared the team would succumb despite scoring a huge total of 315. "The wicket was flat and full of runs but we picked up wickets at regular intervals and that's what won the game for us," a beaming Ganguly said amid cheers from a packed stadium.

Talking to reporters at the end of the game, the Kolkata southpaw conceded that the youngsters deserved full credit for India's comprehensive victory and said, "I had told them to keep up the tempo even if we lost wickets." Ganguly added that "There was a lot of dew and the ball was slippery but we fielded better...but of course there is still a lot to improve upon." Lauding the all-round performance of man-of-the-match Virendra Shewag, Ganguly said, "he is a positive player and I hope he plays a long innings for India."

Ganguly also described the home side's victory in the first one day international as a 'good win' but said it's too early to predict the winner of the five match series. "It's a good win but it's too early to say about the series. Still a long way to go", Ganguly said after India's 60-run win in the day-night encounter.

Meanwhile, Australian skipper Steve Waugh said the dismissal of Matthew Hayden and Michael Bevan within a space of 21 runs was the turning point of the game. "We were in a position to win but we were under pressure throughout...We wanted to restrict India to 260-270 but they made good use of the excellent wicket," the skipper said.

Pakistan will not play India anywhere in future: Tauqir Zia

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Lieutenant General Tauqir Zia told AFP on Sunday that Pakistan will never play India again at cricket. This was in response to reports quoted as saying that India has pulled out of the Sharjah tri-series starting next month. "Pakistan will not play India anywhere in any event in the future and that's it," Tauqir Zia said. He added "Enough is enough and we now don't want to get bothered about India anymore."

Earlier, the PCB Director of Operations Brigadier Munawwar Rana said Pakistan was not averse to playing in the International Cricket Council (ICC) KnockOut tournament next year even if it was held in India. Talking to AFP in Karachi, Rana was quoted as saying that "As per the current policy, note current policy, Pakistan will surely go but what happens in a year's time is hard to forecast."

"India's anti-cricket stance no more bothers us, it's of little concern now. Pakistan will continue to be positive as per its current policy and will continue to play with all teams," He added that "Pakistan would have been happy had India been there but we are not much concerned about any team's pull-out. We want to play cricket and that's all. Moreover, the Sharjah event was not India specific and we will play Sri Lanka," Rana said. However, the Indian government spokesman denied reports on Sunday that they have refused permission to the Indian cricket team to participate in the tri-nation series.

Yuvraj, Ramesh and Das to play exhibition match in Dhaka

An international team with young Indian stars namely Sadagopan Ramesh, Shiv Sundar Das, Yuvraj Singh, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Reetinder Sodhi and Rohan Gavaskar apart from players from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Kenya will play Bangladesh in a day-night exhibition match in Dhaka on Tuesday. The match will be played this week to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Bangladesh's independence.

Bangladesh sports officials said the three Asian giants - India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have named their players for the match. The other members of the international XI expected to join the Indian youth players are Pakistan's exciting opener Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir and speedster Shabbir Ahmed. Sri Lanka's former Test player Hashan Tillekeratne is expected to lead the international team. Other possible players include Kenya's star batsman Steve Tikolo and former Pakistani Test spinner Mohammed Hossain. The Bangladesh side will be led by Naimur Rahman.

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