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PM hopes India win World CupNEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 16 (PTI): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday wished India all the luck in the cricket World Cup and hoped that Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men would be able win the coveted trophy. On what he thought about India's chances in the World Cup, Singh said "I am one with the wishes of my countrymen and countrywomen, I think that India should win this World Cup. Singh made the remarks during an interaction with televisions edi-tors at his residence. Asked whether he had any favourite player, the Prime Minister said "Well I wouldn't like to say or choose among the players but there is no doubt that I have some preferences which I would not like to mention". The cricket World Cup, co-hosted by In-dia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, will begin from February 19 with India taking on Bangladesh in Mirpur. The opening ceremony of the mega-event will be held in Dhaka on Thursday.

Sachin most accomplished World Cup player: Imran

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 16 (AGENCIES): Legend-ary Pakistani fast bowler Imran Khan on Tuesday refused to compare Sachin Tendulkar with Don Bradman but said the Indian maestro was the "most accomplished player in the World Cup". Imran declined to compare Tendulkar with Bradman as he had not seen the Australian playing. "Sachin is the most accomplished player in the World Cup. He should open Indian innings with Virender Sehwag. They can give solid start to the team which will be di� cult for other teams to match," Imran said. He said Mahen-dra Singh Dhoni's squad is the best ever Indian World Cup side and it has the most formidable batting line-up among the teams participating in this edition starting in the sub-continent on Saturday.

NEW DELHI, FEBRU-ARY 16 (AGENCIES): Players and officials have been barred from using so-cial networking site Twitter during World Cup matches as a precautionary measure against possible corruption, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said.

The move to bar team managers, along with play-ers and coaches, from tweeting follows a sugges-tion from the Anti-Corrup-tion and Security Unit of the governing body. “Dur-ing matches, team manag-ers are not permitted to use twitter on their phone,” the spokesman said by phone from Bangalore on Wednesday. “The players can’t use Twitter on phone anyway because they don’t have phones during match-es. It’s just the team man-ager’s phone, nothing else.

“It is only during the matches (that they cannot tweet). Before or after the matches are fi ne. It’s being

done only as a precaution.”Australian team man-

ager Steve Bernard drew a considerable following with his tweets during the recent Ashes series but he will not be allowed to publish his observations or opinions on match days once the World Cup begins on Satur-day. Earlier this month, the ICC banned three Pakistani cricketers on spot-fixing charges, which the govern-ing body hopes would serve as a deterrent. “The partic-ular verdict and sanctions contribute to sending quite a strong message. If you do transgress and if you do get engaged in corrupt activi-ties we will hunt you down and we will prosecute,” ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat told Reuters earlier this week. A large illegal betting syndicate operates in the subcontinent with Mumbai as its hub and the ICC favours legalising bet-ting in India where it is con-fi ned to horse-racing only.

No tweeting on WC match days, says ICC

Captains to ride rickshaws to World Cup openingDHAKA, FEBRUARY 16 (AGENCIES): The rickshaw, the common man's traditional trans-port in Bangladesh, will occupy the centre stage in Thursday's Cricket World Cup opening ceremony here. The captains of all participating teams will make a grand entry into a packed Bangabandhu Sta-dium riding these humble vehicles. "The rickshaw is our traditional trans-port. It is a part of Ban-gladesh's heritage. So, we want to present it before the guests. All 14 skippers will enter the stadium in rickshaws," tournament director for Bangladesh Ali Ahsan Babu told.

CHENNAI, FEBRU-ARY 16 (AGENCIES): It was a comprehensive display by MS Dhoni led Team India as they wrapped-up their sec-ond and fi nal World Cup warm-up match with an emphatic 117-run victory over New Zealand. With the certainty of an easy victory, right from the setting up of a 360-run total to taking all the wickets, Dhoni’s men were in bright mood, cleaning up the Kiwi ranks with ease.

Piyush Chawla was impressive again, his googlies were hard to pick and he was ably assisted by Yuvraj and Ashwin. Jamie How was the sixth man to walk back as India sni� ed victory in their second and fi nal World Cup warm-up match with the spinners proving their worth on the sub-con-tinental pitches.

It was Yuvraj who got into the thick of action on that occasion, registering his name as a wicket-taker in a match that saw the New Zealand batsmen crumble under the pressure of keeping up with the huge ask. He followed it up with the scalp of Jacob Oram (12) who was swiftly stumped by MS Dhoni.

There was some iota of an e� ort by the Kiwi tail, but all that was nipped in the bud by the dominance of the spinners, who were on top of their game.

Harbhajan claimed two wickets in the night. His victims were Jesse Ryder (32), the fifth NZ batsman to walk back and NZ skipper Ross Tay-lor. R Ashwin had spun the fi rst breakthrough for India, claiming Martin Guptil (38) with a superb tossed-up delivery. A terrible mix-up soon after saw Brendon McCullum walking back at a score of 58 runs, run out at a juncture when the game was poised evenly. McCullum was the danger-man from the Kiwi ranks who had to be claimed early-on to keep the pressure on the visitors. However, he had other plans as he slammed a fi fty in his true fast fashion, helping the team’s total race ahead. It was misjudgement on the part of Jesse Ryder that saw McCullum running short of crease.

Indian Innings – A blastIt was a day of fours and sixes in Chennai as the

Indian batsmen, led by skipper MS Dhoni (108*) unleashed a brutal assault at the New Zealanders, setting a huge total of 360 for the visitors to chase.

# This is the highest total ever made at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. Dhoni also hit the fastest century by an Indian* (*warm-up match and not an international).

Suresh Raina was in good form too as slammed his half-century in just 25 balls, drenching the Chennai Stadium with big hits, but fell in trying to send one into the orbit just after his feat. The good show by the Indian middle-order saw the team crossing the 250-run mark with over ten overs re-maining for the Indian innings’ quota. From there on, boundaries became a norm with Raina hitting

sixes and fours along with his skipper to take the to-tal past the 300-run mark in the 46th over. The run-rate only went up for the hosts, as the frequent boundaries rocketed the total beyond 350 towards the death. Before Dhoni let loose on the Kiwi bowlers, a momentary lapse of concentration cost Gautam Gambhir

(89) dearly as the southpaw edged Southee’s deliv-ery into the hands of McCullum behind the wick-ets. Virat Kohli and Gambhir had steered India out of early trouble as Delhi-duo shared a vital 100-run partnership for the third wicket in the fi nal warm-up match against New Zealand here at Chepauk stadium.

Gambhir found form against the Kiwis, slamming a fi fty in the process after Kohli was claimed by Jacob Oram at a score of 59 runs. Virat committed the felony of play-ing away from the body, nicking it into the hands of wicketkeeper Breandon McCullum who collected it brilliant-ly. Kohli hit seven boundaries in his well compiled 59 but then succumbed to a wide delivery as he attempted a wild shot and edged ball to wicket-keeper’s gloves. Openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar start-ed cautiously and stitched a first wicket partnership of 35 runs in the fi rst seven overs, but just when the duo looked to take control of the match, Kiwi pacer Tim Southee sneaked past Tendulkar’s defence, si-lencing the whole Chennai crowd. Tendulkar, who made 17 runs with three sweetly timed boundar-ies, was completely beaten by a well disguised slower ball from Southee and got clean bowled.

After Tendulkar’s dismissal, Sehwag too was not able to continue for long and was dismissed by Oram in the tenth over of Indian innings. Sehwag (23) scored four boundaries during his stay at the crease but was not able to con-tinue his assault for long and perished as he misjudged a fuller ball and got clean bowled. With the win, the Indians will go into the WC with their heads held high and would hope to repeat the same performance when they meet Bangladesh in the tournament opener on 19th of February.

India's captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni acknowledges the crowd after scoring a cen-tury during an ICC Cricket World Cup warm-up match against New Zealand in Chen-nai on February 16. (AP Photo)

India crush NZ in fi nal WC warm-up matchWC WARM-UP

India won by 117 runsInd: 360/5 in 50 ovrs

NZ: 243/10 in 43.1 ovrs

BANGALORE, FEBRU-ARY 16 (ANI): Austra-lian captain Ricky Pon-ting has tried to brush o�

another display of emo-tion by Indian bowler Shantha Sreesanth, say-ing that the pacer's antics

Sreesanth's antics are nothing new: Ponting

are nothing new. After beat-ing Ponting with a magnifi -cent short ball outside off stump, Sreesanth went up for a massive appeal, which was turned down, and then theatrically stood face to face with Ponting at the batting crease. Words were exchanged, the crowd made a lot of appreciative noises, and Sreesanth walked away making a "L" sign with his thumb and forefi nger, as if to signify he thought Pon-ting was a "Loser".

"There's very few games go by that Sreesanth doesn't have something to say to a few of us. That's just the way it goes," Ponting was quoted as saying. Sreesanth said he simply loves to show his emotions. "I'm a very real person, not an actor. In real life you can't have retakes. Maybe I could become a good actor. Though I am spiritual, I'm not sentimental."

India's Shantakumaran Sreesanth gestures as Austra-lia's captain Ricky Ponting, right, watches after an ex-change of words between the two during a warm up match for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup in Bangalore. (AP Photo)

India's Gautam Gambhir acknowledges the crowd as he walks back to the pa-vilion after scoring 89 runs during a World Cup warm-up match against New Zealand in Chennai, Wednesday, February 16. (AP Photo)

India's bowler Yuvraj Singh unsuccessfully appeals for a leg before the wicket decision against New Zealand's Brendon McCullum, during an ICC Cricket World Cup warm-up match in Chennai on February 16. (AP Photo)