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The ICL has dropped its legal action against Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf, according to the Pakistan board.The move brings to an end the protracted legal battle which began after Yousuf was lured out of playing in the ICL by the Pakistan board, with the promise of a lucrative contract in the IPL. But the ICL took the matter to an arbitration court in Mumbai, arguing that as Yousuf had signed up with them, he was ineligible to play for any other league.A stay order was passed against Yousuf’s participation in the IPL, and an appeal was later filed by the PCB on Yousuf’s behalf in the Bombay High Court.”The position now is that Yousuf himself appeared before the arbitrator and said he was withdrawing his counter charges against the ICL so that issue is now closed,” Tafazzul Rizvi, the PCB’s legal adviser, told . “Since Yousuf has become a ‘turncoat’ the board has nothing more to do with him or his legal battles. He is now a banned player for us.”Yousuf had joined the ICL last month and played in its second season for the Lahore Badshahs. The PCB had banned him soon after and sent a show-cause notice to Yousuf demanding that he pay them more than Rs10 million (US$ 125,000 approx) as costs incurred on litigation with the league.

Given that there were still 68 overs to be bowled when the teams finally took to the field, you could scarcely blame India for batting on. After a week when seemingly insurmountable targets have been achieved with ludicrous ease, there was no point taking any chances. An hour of batting made a lot of sense, and in that time Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir rattled off 82 in just 13 overs. At lunch, with the lead 367, there was no way England could win. Even Vivian Richards and Collis King would have struggled with such an asking rate.So when the Indian batsmen reemerged after lunch, the sense of disbelief was palpable. What was the purpose? To make the game safe, when it was more secure than a hilltop castle surrounded by 12 moats? To rub it in, when the two batsmen had done enough of it in the first hour of play? Or to lapse back to former Indian type and shamelessly pursue individual records?The 10 overs that followed told you what you needed to know. Only 35 runs were scored. Thankfully, neither batsman scored a century. Yuvraj was run out by a direct hit from short fine leg and Gambhir sliced one uppishly to point. At that point, the declaration was applied. England had 43 overs to get 403 runs. Piece of cake.There’s no guarantee that India could have bowled out England in 55 overs after lunch. But given the winning culture that’s taken root this season, and the fact that the last six English wickets added just 22 in the first innings, it was certainly worth a go.At Bangalore last December, Anil Kumble bowled seam-up and Pakistan were seven down within 48 overs when bad light saved their blushes.It came down to priorities. What mattered more? The chance, however slim, to win a Test match? Or utterly meaningless second-innings centuries for two of your batsmen? Of course, they would have mattered to Gambhir and Yuvraj, who have just seven hundreds between them, but in the context of the game, they would have meant nothing. Only someone obsessed with statistics would consider such a hundred worthy of consideration. Those that know anything about the game would tell you how a match-turning 83 [Sehwag in Chennai] is infinitely more valuable.It’s a shame that a team that has encouraged such selfless cricket fell into the selfishness trap in Mohali. Dhoni himself cares little for personal milestones. Time after time, when quick runs have been needed, he has come in and sacrificed his wicket in their pursuit. That attitude mustpermeate right through the team.Gambhir batted 577 balls in this Test match, almost as many as Rahul Dravid faced in Adelaide [616]. One match is unlikely to be remembered even 12 months from now. The other will never be forgotten as long as India plays cricket. That should tell you something. Centuries don’t matter.Victories do. By denying itself the chance to accomplish what mattered by pursuing what didn’t, Indian cricket let millions of fans down today. It wasn’t how such a great year should have ended.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will seek legal opinion before initiating an inquiry into fast bowler Mohammad Asif’s detention in Dubai last year, as signs emerge that the ICC might be taking an interest in the case.”We have asked our legal advisers to look into the report of the Dubai authorities and only then could we further investigate the matter,” PCB’s chief operating officer Salim Altaf told AP. Asif was detained at Dubai airport for 19 days in June last year on his way back to Pakistan from the IPL. Dubai authorities found 0.24 grams of opium in his wallet but decided, despite deporting him, the case was not worth pursuing. Asif admitted during an interrogation that he had used the substance earlier in 2008.It has now emerged that the ICC is taking an interest in the case as well, having recently announced a revamped and stringent anti-doping policy. Altaf said the board had received a copy of the Dubai authorities’ investigations – leaked to the public earlier this week from the ICC. “Yes, the ICC has inquired about Asif’s incident and have sent us the copy of the Dubai investigation. We will provide them with more information once we receive legal advice from our lawyers.”Earlier this week, Pakistani senators had also demanded that the board conducts a probe into Asif’s detention; the previous administration, under whom the incident took place, claims it carried out an internal inquiry and produced a report, which has not yet seen the light of day.The board has now accepted the need for an inquiry, where previously they had been apparently unwilling to act on the case, preferring instead to await the results of Asif’s other doping case with the IPL. “We will do whatever is necessary in this case, but we have to wait for advice from our legal experts,” Altaf said.Asif was due to leave for Delhi on Thursday to pursue money he claims he is owed by the Delhi Daredevils team in the IPL. He is currently suspended by the board, after he tested positive in the IPL last year. He will appear before the IPL drug tribunal on January 24 in Mumbai.

Uttar Pradesh 245 and 0 for 0 need 525 runs to beat Mumbai 402 and 367 (Samant 113, Rohit 108, Jaffer 85, Chawla 4-94)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Rohit Sharma played his second important innings of the Ranji Trophy final as Mumbai batted Uttar Pradesh out of the match. For a session and a half, the UP bowlers put on a spirited performance, but Vinayak Samant, at first, and Rohit kept them at bay with contrasting centuries. In truly khadoos manner, Mumbai didn’t declare even when the lead had gone beyond any reasonable proportions. But that’s how Mumbai play their cricket: when your opponents are down, grind them into dust.With three sessions to go, UP will need the highest successful chase in the Ranji Trophy (previous record: Assam’s 371 for 4 against Services earlier this season), and the second-highest fourth-innings score in the tournament’s history to win the match. Well that’s an academic thought.UP’s tough task was set by Samant, who scored his maiden first-class century after being promoted to open in the last league match of the season, and Rohit, who became only the sixth batsman to score two centuries in a Ranji Trophy final. The last to do so was Sachin Tendulkar against Punjab in 1994-95.On a personal level Tendulkar wouldn’t have enjoyed this final. In the first innings he scored his first duck in Indian domestic cricket, then spent the whole UP innings off the field because of a viral fever, and managed only 4 from No. 7 in the second innings. He was the last wicket of a middle-order collapse that had given UP a faint glimmer.But UP had bowled their hearts and their bodies out to reduce Mumbai from 130 for 0 to 241 for 6. After bowling 16 successive overs for one wicket in the first session, Praveen Kumar went off the field and was disqualified from bowling when UP were forced to take the second new ball after 100 overs (a rule in Indian domestic cricket).Although part-time medium-pacer Parvinder Singh and Piyush Chawla did a commendable job in the middle session, UP were always short of time and behind by too much. By the time the second new ball was taken Rohit had beaten them into submission with attractive strokeplay. And with RP Singh off the field throughout the day, Bhuvneshwar Kumar had to share the new ball with Praveen Gupta, the left-arm spinner.UP were not so deflated in the morning, though. A spirited effort from the Kumars, Bhuvneshwar and Praveen, who troubled the batsmen consistently by moving a semi-new ball, caused Mumbai to wobble. But Samant didn’t give in. He put behind him the edges and plays-and-misses, and nudged and late-cut his way to a satisfactory hundred. Samant started the day on 53 and got the majority of his runs through late-cuts. He played those shots with soft hands, made sure he kept them along the ground, and found the gap between two slips and two gullies regularly. Even in his 90s, he played two such strokes. Samant and his team-mates were overjoyed at his reaching the century: they knew he had taken them one session closer to the title.After Samant became part of the middle-order collapse, which included a pair for Ramesh Powar and an embarrassing 24-ball stay for Ajinkya Rahane, the second-highest run-getter of the season, Rohit took advantage of aggressive field settings.He was much surer than he was in the first innings and didn’t look hurried even though he had to wait 27 balls for his first run. Those first runs were three consecutive boundaries off Chawla – a flick wide of mid-on, a pull, and a straight loft. Rohit kept picking on Chawla, slog-sweeping every time the bowler tried a googly. He knew that UP had employed aggressive fields, and even mis-hits would fall safe. The elegance that separates Rohit from other domestic batsmen was on liberal display, with gorgeous drives and pulls decorating his century.Even after Parvinder took two wickets in two balls, Sairaj Bahutule and Dhawal Kulkarni frustrated UP for 17.3 overs and 20 runs. UP will have no ground for complaints, because they did the same to Gujarat two matches ago. After securing a 188-run first-innings lead in the quarter-final, they didn’t enforce a follow-on and went on to bat until they were bowled out – giving Gujarat 564 to chase in one-and-a-half session. What goes around comes around.

1950
Born in Texas. His grandfather, Lodis, had founded Stanford Financial in 1932 and with James, Allen’s father, he made a fortune during the 1970s and 80s buying up Houston real estate at the bottom of the market and selling when prices recovered.1983
Allen takes over the family business on the retirement of his father. He expands the firm from a 500-employee company, opening offices in Latin America and the Caribbean and diversifying into wealth management.1990
Leaves Montserrat after setting up his bank there five years earlier and sets up his business on nearby Antigua.1999
Becomes a citizen of Antigua and acquires dual nationality. He is later knighted on the recommendation of the Antiguan government. In the decade he invests heavily in philanthropic ventures on the island. Prime minister Lester Bird says that “the Stanford Group has invested almost EC$160 million in Antigua”.His company contributes generously to both Democrats and Republicans. According to a consumer rights group called Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, the Stanford Group’s sole interest is in blocking anti-money laundering legislation being introduced by the Bill Clinton administration. The group cites Antigua as a country with “a reputation as a money-laundering haven”.2003
Strenuously denies accusations by the then-leader of the opposition of Antigua that he bribed ministers, saying: “I have never in my life bribed or done anything illegal or unethical in my business endeavours.”2005
Builds his own cricket ground in Antigua and announces he will fund a pan-Caribbean Twenty20 tournament. Little interest is shown until the level of his investment emerges – US$28 million. He also sets up a group of so-called “legends” as an advisory board to oversee the project.2006
The first Stanford 20/20 tournament is held in July and August. Guyana win the final and the competition is widely regarded as a success.In August Stanford offers South Africa a US$5 million winner-takes-all match against West Indies. The WICB is uncertain about the idea and the plan falls through.2007
Antigua become the first professional Stanford team. He also announces an expansion of the Stanford 20/20 tournament, this time with the backing of the WICB who agree a five-year deal to back the event.In September, Stanford invites the winners of the ICC World Twenty20 in Johannesburg to play a one-off, US$5 million, match at Stanford’s ground in Antigua. Again, the deal falls through.2008
In January, Trinidad & Tobago win the second Stanford 20/20.In February, Stanford announces a US$20 million winner-takes-all game with England and Australia the targets. After four months of negotiations the deal is confirmed in a glitzy launch event at Lord’s when Stanford arrives by helicopter. The media response is mixed.As details of the match become public there is unease at what critics describe as the “vulgarity” of the event, coinciding as it does with the onset of the global recession. The week-long tournament attracts negative publicity, the nadir being personal attacks on Stanford himself when he is pictured with Matt Prior’s pregnant wife on his lap. The 20/20 for 20 game is a dreadfully one-sided affair, in which the home team, Stanford Superstars, bowl England out for 99.In December, he closes his cricket office in Antigua and winds up his board of legends. He intimates that he will be scaling back on his investment in the game, especially in the Caribbean.2009
As rumours grow about the state of Stanford’s financial empire, he announces a scaling back of his investment. Five days later the Securities and Exchange Commission instigates moves against him, alleging “a fraud of shocking magnitude”.

ScorecardMiddlesex romped to a 110-run win in their opening encounter of the Pro Arch Trophy, comfortably beating hosts UAE at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium.Having only landed in Dubai 48 hours earlier, two days later than his club-mates, Tyron Henderson proved why he was soon snapped up for the Indian Premier League by hammering 75 off just 34 balls in Middlesex’s impressive 324 for 8 – the highest score of the tournament so far.Henderson clattered six sixes and five fours in his blitz, following a more sedate 62-ball half-century from Neil Dexter and an impressive 93 from 79 balls by the talented Dawid Malan.UAE finished woefully short of their target as Shaun Udal (2 for 6) and Daniel Evans (2 for 43) restricted them to 214 for 6, with a top-score of 62 from Saqib Ali.

Nicholls & Steyn, the IPL’s South African security agency, have said that they have taken necessary precautions to protect Lalit Modi after reports surfaced in the Indian media of an alleged threat to the IPL chairman’s life from the Indian underworld, during the month-long tournament starting on Saturday.According to the media reports, an aide of Dawood Ibrahim, a wanted Indian criminal, has targetted Modi for a variety of reasons, including Modi’s refusal to pay an unspecified extortion amount, shutting the door on Pakistan players in the tournament and shifting the IPL to South Africa, a move that could reportedly cost the gang, commonly referred to as D-Company, millions of dollars in re-organising their betting operations.Bob Nicholls, who jointly heads Nicholls & Steyn, said the agency has moved to tackle the threat to Modi. “We are aware of it and we have taken the necessary precautions. I’m not going into any details on that,” Nicholls told Cricinfo.The reported that Modi’s name figured on a hitlist issued by Chhota Shakeel, Ibrahim’s aide, which was revealed to police officials after they arrested a gang-member in Karnataka last month. But , a Mumbai-based tabloid, reported that security agencies had intercepted a phone call from the gang, the transcript of which shows that orders have been issued to target Modi either in India or South Africa during the IPL.A copy of the intelligence report (which highlights the threat) has been forwarded to Mumbai police commissioner’s office on March 24 last month, claimed. Local police have also increased the security cover for Modi’s Mumbai residence, the reports said.”I do not want to discuss anything on this issue,” Modi was quoted by as saying from South Africa.Nicholls & Steyn have been entrusted with managing the IPL’s security in South Africa, and Nicholls had said last week that the lack of time, the crime rate in South African cities and the elections in the country on April 22 were some of their main challenges.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outSourav Ganguly took two wickets in three balls in his first over to set Punjab back•Getty Images

Sourav Ganguly made yet another comeback, this time with the ball, to help Kolkata Knight Riders keep Kings XI Punjab down to 158 for 6. Thereafter, Chris Gayle made the most of two dropped chances to dishearten Punjab and take Kolkata 11 ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis par-score when heavy rain ended the match in the 10th over.Ganguly had been quiet in the lead-up to this tournament; he had lost his captaincy and looked out of sorts in scoring 1 in 12 balls against Deccan Chargers. Today, though, he made his statement with the ball, taking two wickets in his first over and pulling Punjab back from a solid-yet-unspectacular start.When Ganguly came on to bowl, Irfan Pathan, promoted to No. 3, had just taken Ishant Sharma for 14 in his third over, and Punjab had moved along to 46 for 1 at the end of six overs. Thirty-two of those had come from Irfan’s bat, in 17 deliveries.And then Ganguly struck, fortuitously at first. Irfan went for a six to the deep midwicket area and was caught smartly by Murali Kartik at the boundary. Two balls later, Ganguly got Ravi Bopara, the opener, to edge to the new captain, Brendon McCullum. Both men were elated, the captain with his bowling change, the bowler having proved a point, and both ran in different directions to celebrate and eventually hugged each other.Punjab moved from 46 for 1 in six to 67 for 3 in ten overs before a rain interruption. Following that, Punjab enjoyed two of the best overs of their innings. Yuvraj Singh hit a six off Ganguly to take 14 off his third over. Yet, Ganguly ended with figures of 24 for 2 off his four. And just after the rain break, in perhaps a poor tactical move, McCullum brought Chris Gayle on, who had trouble gripping the wet ball and bowled three wides in his 14-run over.Yuvraj couldn’t quite manage a reprise of his six sixes in an over at the same venue, during the inaugural ICC World Twenty20. And once he top-edged Moises Henriques in the 16th over, falling for 38 off 28, caught by Yashpal, Punjab were always struggling.Thirty-six came off 26 balls after Yuvraj’s fall, thanks largely to Mahela Jayawardene, who scored 31 in 19, and took the last over, bowled by Ashok Dinda, for 16, the biggest over of the innings.But the hitting from Irfan, Yuvraj and Jayawardene paled in comparison with Gayle’s. He played the first two overs quietly, and enjoyed a dropped sitter by Karan Goel at short midwicket off Yusuf Abdulla. It was a forgettable day for Goel, who had earlier scored a seven-ball duck.Once Gayle carved Irfan over cover-point in the third over of the innings, the floodgates opened. From 4 off 8 balls, he reached 31 off 15 through a calculated assault on the left-arm opening bowlers. And then, in the fifth over of the innings, the game breaker came. Irfan was spanked straight and pulled square off the first two balls, and then Gayle showed him the greens, teeing off to over wide long-on.By the time Gayle was dropped again, by Kumar Sangakkara, off a Piyush Chawla googly, he had taken the match out of Punjab’s reach as the dark clouds gathered.For the second game in succession, Punjab have been curtailed by rain, but this time they succumbed to Ganguly and Gayle, as opposed to their first match, when Delhi’s chase was reduced to a six-over hit-out.

Worcestershire’s difficult start to the season gets no better with the news that opening bowler Kabir Ali has been ruled out for six weeks.It has been a troubled couple of weeks for the club who have lost their opening two Championship games heavily after being promoted last summer and suffered another injury blow to Simon Jones who is out until at least June.Ali picked up his injury against Hampshire in the Friends Provident Trophy, at The Rose Bowl, and it leaves Worcestershire’s pace-bowling resources looking thin despite the arrival of Ashley Noffke as their overseas player.However, Steve Rhodes, the director of cricket, was trying to look on the bright side. “The results are actually better than we expected but Kabir has got a small tear in his left hamstring,” he told the Press Association. “It is likely to keep him out of action for four to six weeks.”That should hopefully mean that for the second half of the season, we will have both Kabir and Simon Jones fresh and raring to go.”

Match facts

May 21, 2009
Start time 16.30 local, (14:30 GMT)

Big Picture

Ross Taylor, given his current form, may open for Bangalore•AFP

What could have been a potential quarter-final clash will perhaps be of less importance now that Kings XI Punjab’s defeat against Chennai Super Kings has made things easier for the other Southern Indian teams. Bangalore and Deccan both have a better run-rate than Punjab and should join last year’s semi-finalists Delhi and Chennai in the knock-out phase unless one of them loses badly today.The turnaround for the bottom-placed teams from last season has been remarkable. Today’s game provides the sides an opportunity to lock in their playing XI ahead of the semi-finals. While the foreign players in the Bangalore squad have been crucial to the team’s successes, it is the Indian contingent, barring Anil Kumble, that needs to stand up and be counted. Praveen Kumar’s performance during the win in the last match against Delhi Daredevils is just the inspiration that the domestic players need.Two successive last-ball finishes may have fatigued Deccan but expect no sympathy as they face their southern compatriots. Adam Gilchrist, who like Kumble, has handled the captaincy with aplomb, will not want to let the slightest chance go abegging. Deccan will look to avoid meeting top-of-the-table Delhi in the semis, having lost on both occasions this season.

Form guide (completed matches, most recent first)

Bangalore Royal Challengers: WWWLL
The opening partnership continues to haunt coach Ray Jennings. With Jesse Ryder not having made the most of his opportunities and Robin Uthappa proving a failure at the top, time and options may well be running out for Bangalore if they are to keep their three-match winning streak going.Deccan Chargers: LWLWL
Expect Adam Gilchrist to be back in top gear after a minor blip and along with fellow-Australian Andrew Symonds, provide stability to the side. Rohit Sharma will look to continue his good form, and pile on the runs after flawless cameos against Kolkata and Punjab.

Watch out for

Anil Kumble v Rohit Sharma/Adam Gilchrist: The wily Kumble has been shouldering most of the bowling for Bangalore and will no doubt look forward to matching his craft and guile against two of the most destructive batsmen in the IPL. Gilchrist gave in to temptation last time and was undone by Ramesh Powar; he will need to be on his guard if Deccan are to get off to a flier this time.

Team news

Expect a new opening combination as Bangalore look to iron out the glitches ahead of the knockout phase, with the in-form Ross Taylor likely to assist Kallis, and Uthappa featuring lower down. Vinay Kumar may be back, replacing Manish Pandey, as they look to add more bite to their bowling.Royal Challengers Bangalore: (probable) 1 Ross Taylor, 2 Jacques Kallis, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Robin Uthappa, 5 Virat Kohli, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Roelof van der Merwe, 8 B Akhil, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 R Vinay Kumar, 11 Anil Kumble (capt).Deccan would want to give their best XI a dummy run before the next few matches. Dwayne Smith may again be rested with Gibbs given another chance for a long overdue big score. Picking Chaminda Vaas ahead of Ryan Harris may give them the extra batting option. Harmeet Singh may take Jaskaran Singh’s place from the last match.Deccan: (probable) 1 Adam Gilchrist (capt & wk), 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 T Suman, 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Venugopal Rao, 7 D Ravi Teja, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 RP Singh, 10 Pragyan Ojha, 11 Jaskaran Singh/Harmeet Singh.

Stats and trivia

• With 24 sixes, Gilchrist has cleared the boundary the most times this IPL
• Not a statistic to be proud of: Bangalore jointly hold the record for the heaviest defeat (in terms of runs) with Kolkata – the 92-run defeat came against Chennai in Port Elizabeth
• RP Singh, the holder of the purple cap with 19 wickets, has the chance to break free of his nearest competitor, Delhi’s Ashish Nehra (18)

Head-to-head record

Gilchrist and Rohit’s power-hitting ensured Deccan romped to a 24-run win earlier this season, in Cape Town. Bangalore won both their matches last year: the first one a thriller by three runs, and the next comfortably by five wickets.