Bhajji fined for breaking Chandigarh traffic rules with his Hummer

Driving his dream Hummer landed Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh in trouble on Tuesday, when he was fined by Chandigarh traffic police for using the vehicle without a valid number plate.

Singh had to pay a 3000-rupee fine for the offence, according to reports.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (traffic), H S Doon, told reporters that this episode would promote better traffic sense among the general public.

The off-spinner became the latest Indian cricketer to buy the American SUV after skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Harbhajan imported the car from England, which costs about 70 lakh rupees in India. After paying the duty, the cost of the vehicle has come to one crore rupees.

While Dhoni's Hummer is silver in colour, Harbhajan has opted for a "Black Beauty".

Harbhajan is also looking forward to shifting to a new home.

The house is under construction in the New Baradari area of the city. The plot was given by the state government for his outstanding performance in the 2001 home series against Australia.

However, he has no plans to sell off his ancestral home where he was brought up.

Sangakkara reclaims top spot in rankings

Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara reclaimed the top spot in the International Cricket Council's (ICC) test rankings for batsmen after his inspired knocks in the final test against New Zealand.

Sangakkara scored 50 and 109 in the home side's 96-run win for a 2-0 sweep on Sunday to regain his top ranking from India's Gautam Gambhir.

Sangakkara's team mate and man of the match Mahela Jayawardene moved up four places to a career-best third after scoring 92 and 96 in the same match.

England face Australia in 2nd T20 - Commentary (Last 5 Overs)

It is time for the second and final Twenty20 International between England and Australia as this match turns out to be a decider due to the first match washed out. The match is being played at the same venue and the weather is more or less the same as well. The pitch for the first match was slow and dry and the Aussie batsmen found it very difficult to score runs. They were bombarded with short stuff which rhey found difficult to handle. England bowled very well lead superbly by Paul Collingwood. Australia, however, did not get much chance to bowl on this track, but in the time that they bowled, they also managed to creep in a few doubts among the English batsmen. Australia are still to find an answer to the inconsistent batting that they have had of late. Their bowling has not been in great form either. England on the other hand, have a superb bowling attack, but, they too, are in a little bit of a worry with their batting. Both the teams have plenty to play for with England players going on air saying that they want to send Australia back home empty-handed while Australian players want an Ashes revenge. Sidebottom is back for England and Lee is back for Australia, both who looked in good shape in the first match. Should be another humdinger, if weather does not play spoilt sport with rain forecasted for the evening.

Scrap Champions Trophy, says Hayden

Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden has called for scrapping the Champions Trophy as there already is a World Cup in the 50-over format.

Hayden, writing about his vision for cricket, questioned why the tournament should be held when there is already a World Cup in 50 overs format. The Champions Trophy is scheduled to take place in South Africa Sept 22-Oct 5.

'There's too much cricket, too much of it is meaningless, and there are just too many different formats.' Hayden wrote. 'Playing the World Twenty20 every other year is too much. And why have the Champions Trophy (a 50-over tournament) when you've already got a 50-over World Cup?

'There are strong lessons to be learned from the success achieved in other sports, such as the quadrennial cycle of football World Cup and UEFA European Championships.

Cricket should follow this with a similar cycle of T20 World Cup and ODI World Cup. To maximize coverage these should be played in odd-numbered years - football major competitions, and the Olympics, are in even-numbered years. The Champions Trophy should be scrapped. '

Hayden also suggested a two-month window for the Indian Premier League to avoid overlapping of schedules.

'The main point of conflict between the IPL and the established game is in scheduling, particularly the subsequent clash of players' contracts. This can be avoided in the future by creating a two-month window each year. I'd hold it in March and April - when other forms of the game take a back seat, no Tests, no World Cup cricket and so on.

'We need to do this. The IPL has the ability to generate international fan bases in the same way as achieved by the English football's Premier League. I believe some IPL matches should go on the road each year and be played in other countries, to make it a global competition.

'The sooner the world of cricket embraces the IPL, the sooner everyone can find ways to benefit from its massive potential,' he said.

A courageous stand to save Sehwags of future

Delhi cricket is a world in itself. Here, laws are meant to be flouted, and anyone who sticks to rules is considered a lunatic fit for an isolation ward. Here, men stab each other in full public view and are not apologetic about it. Here, cricket is just a means to serve vested interests, to push mediocrity to the forefront, and to ensure that those with talent but no clout are dead before they can breathe. It is a world where everyone is guilty, be it an official who has never played cricket, or a player who plays ball with those in power. From time to time, people have raised their voice against this injustice but have not been powerful enough to silence those whose whispers can send a chill down the spine of even the most honest. Bishan Singh Bedi, cricketing iconoclast and fearless crusader of the cause he believes in, succeeded once in breaking this stranglehold of Delhi's cricketing thugs, but not for long. They were back again, and today they roam the grounds of Kotla without the fear of being punished, mocking at transparent selection with their brazen disregard of genuine talent. Young cricketers, no matter how much talent they possess, are not allowed a look in, unless they happen to be the sons of the mighty and powerful, who abound like ants in a sugar field in India's capital. The pressure to please those who matter is so much that the number of players in a Delhi junior team goes up to 25, sometimes even 30. You need not always be a powerful businessman, a politician, a bureaucrat or a cop to push your child into the team, or resort to bribery to have your son play for the state team; you can also get your way by hiring goons to threaten those in power. In this world, nothing is a secret. Every newspaper has, from time to time, published reports of how corrupt the DDCA edifice is. But this has not stopped the next selection having a large quota for players who have nothing but their parents' CVs to recommend them. It is a world where even those who play well have had to resort to backdoor methods of appeasing those whose approval is a must. Those who are wondering why Virender Sehwag, safe in his fame, riches and iconic status, all of a sudden raised his voice and created a chaos in this 'ordered' world, perhaps don't know this story: For two consecutive years a young lad from the suburbs of Delhi would go to the selection trials of Delhi cricket only to be shooed away after facing only half a dozen balls in the nets. The crestfallen youngster found a godfather in Satish "Neelu" Sharma, who recognised his potential and pitted him against the full might of a DDCA team. The boy smashed half a dozen sixes in his rampaging hundred, something that has become a signature of almost every Sehwag innings when he plays for India today. Maybe it is payback time for all the Sehwags who are regularly shooed away from the DDCA nets even today. We must all applaud the courage of a man whose rebellion has given a voice to all those meek, helpless players who clamour for a fair trial.

More than virus, Dilshan's batting contributed to Kiwi defeat: Vettori

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has said that more than the energy-sapping virus that stuck his team during the first Test match at the Galle International Stadium, it was Sri Lankan batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan's explosive batting which contributed to New Zealand's 202-run loss.

Dilshan scored 92 runs in Sri Lanka's first innings and scored quickfire 123 runs in the second to take Sri Lanka to an imposing target of 413.

"When you look at how well Dilshan played and how poorly we bowled to him, it was probably the defining moment of the game," Stuff.co.nz quoted Vettori, as saying.

"There were a couple of opportunities there to put pressure on them, but everything we did, he took it away from us. He played exceptionally well, he played very aggressive innings, and when you've got a player like that, it makes it very tough to captain," he added.

Vettori said that he wanted to take the game to the wire, however, failed to do so, as multiple players being ill in the team meant that they were bowled out for a meager 210 runs.

"I really hoped we'd take it down to the wire. I hoped that we could bat for long periods of time, but in some ways a few illnesses counted against us and the application wasn't quite there," Vettori said.

He further said that one of the most disappointing things in the Test was to lose as many wickets to the seamers as they did.

"Obviously Murali's a difficult customer to come up against but the way Thushara bowled was probably where we let ourselves down," Vettori said.

Ponting, Hussey fight back

Australia lost two wickets in the morning session but Ponting and Hussey were playing cautiously on Day 4 of the last Ashes Test against England.