Pakistani Cricket Betting now on Muhammed Yousuf

But one thing is for certain, Former Pakistan Captain, Muhammad Yousuf will be returning to international cricket in October and November, during the tour of the United Arab Emirates. Pakistan will face cricket betting opponents South Africa for two Tests, five ODI’s and a Twenty20.

Yousuf wishes to feature in domestic tournaments, and stated that he will play as long as he is fit. According to an official statement released by the Pakistan Cricket Board, Yousuf was prematurely retired March 10th 2010, and the Board decided he would not be chosen again based on his initiation of disputes amongst team members.

Yousuf holds the cricket betting record of top scored during the 2002 and the 2003 seasons, worldwide for ODI matches and he has scored over 9000 One Day International runs and has the record for scoring the most runs without being dismissed in a One Day International match.

Named CNN-IBN’s Cricketer of the Year for 2006 Yousuf was also selected as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in the 2007 edition and also became the fourth recipient of the ICC ‘Test Cricketer of the Year’. Yousuf, along with teammate Mohammed Asif, was named in the 2007 Test Team of the Year and in the same year Yousuf broke two more world records. In 10 Test matches, he also achieved 1788 cricket scores with twelve centuries which became his second world record.

Yousuf’s technique is a hard hit and quick between the wickets, and occasionally is prone to running out. He has an ability to score runs and cricket scores at an incredible rate. His fielding is also exceptional and was ranked 9th in the world.

In 2007, Yousuf was planning to join the Indian Cricket League, but if he did, he wouldn’t be allowed to play for the Pakistani team. In light of this he changed his mind at the last cricket betting second, and signed up with the Pakistan Cricket Board. A few months later, he joined the IPL, who was in an ongoing battle with the ICL. This led to him being banned in November of 2008 by the Pakistan Cricket Board. He then quit the ICL, and was allowed back to the PCB for the 2009 Test series in Sri Lanka.

Said Yousuf in a statement back in March, regarding his involvement with the Lahore Premier League, “I plan to play domestic cricket this season but right now international cricket is not on my mind. If I do plan to return I will target the Test and one-day series against South Africa later this year in the UAE.”

I guess now that he has been accepted back into the PCB, his domestic game will be put on the back burner, but who can say what this great of a cricketer will do after November.

Hussey not keen on 40-over matches

Mike Hussey says he is no fan of 40-over cricket, confirming player concerns about Cricket Australia's (CA) mooted change of the domestic limited overs format for next summer.

The CA board of directors met in Melbourne on Friday to discuss the prospect of radically altering the domestic limited overs format to four 20-over innings, or possibly two 40-over innings as is the case in England and South Africa.

But players and coaches appear united in their concern about such drastic change so close to the 2011 World Cup - in 50-over format - to be held on the Indian subcontinent.

Hussey, having played the 40-over format in England, says it is no substitute for 50-over matches.

"I know in England they play a 40-over competition," Hussey told the radio station SEN.

"I'm personally not a fan of it.

"In international cricket you play 50 overs and with the World Cup it's 50-over cricket and in Australia we're hosting a World Cup in 2015.

"I'm really keen to stick with the 50-over format. It is a lot different.

"That extra 10 overs is a lot different in the way you go about the game and I'd like to see us stick to the 50-over format."

Backing up Hussey was Tasmania captain and Australia squad member George Bailey.

"I'd like to think that six or seven months out from a World Cup, they wouldn't tinker with one-day cricket too much," Bailey said.

"I think while there's a World Cup still to be played for we'd better keep practicing that."

Australian Cricketers' Association chairman Darren Lehmann has said there would need to be much discussion of the issue before anything new is put in place.

"We're certainly concerned about that, there will need to be some thorough discussion, obviously quite quickly since we're talking about next season," Lehmann said this week.

"We're happy they're talking about reviewing the game and improving it, as far as how far they go, that has got to be discussed at length.

"Maybe reducing the overs to 40 per side is not a bad start, whether we can do two 20 over innings is something we need to discuss.

"My personal preference is to go to 40 overs per side, but I'm open to all ideas to improve the game."

World Cup to sell football in cricket-mad India

Football is slowly taking off in cricket-mad India and the World Cup is set to give the game another lift in the country of a billion-plus people.

Global football bosses view the South Asian giant as a new frontier; the game is popular in a few pockets in the south and east, but in most of the country is eclipsed by the national obsession with batting and bowling.

There are signs that football is growing in popularity, however, and not just in city parks and the countryside, where kick-arounds can often be glimpsed alongside ubiquitous cricket.

Bill Adams, a former community coach in England, started a training centre in New Delhi 12 years ago with just eight children and now counts about 200 enthusiastic wannabees in his Super Soccer Academy at weekends.

"We never expected the kind of response that we got from children across various age groups," he says. "There is huge interest among the kids and most of them aspire to be professionals when they grow up."

Adams is also a regular at various city schools, which have started taking a special interest in the game, viewing it as a more physically demanding activity for students and one involving little or no extra cost.

Football's growing popularity is reflected in TV viewing figures which have risen steadily in the past few years, according to a recent report by TAM Media Research.

"Among non-cricket sports, football is at number one in India," says the report. "There are 83 million football viewers in the country and 55 percent of them watch domestic leagues.

"The game has attracted 60 percent more audiences in the last five years and three times the number of advertisers since 2005."

The numbers are encouraging considering India's national team is placed a lowly 133 in the international rankings, sandwiched between Fiji and Bermuda.

The team has at least mounted a string of promising performances of late and qualified to play in the Asian Cup in Qatar in 2011 after a gap of 24 years.

The news media report on the national team in major tournaments and follow the English Premier League with interest, although nothing compares to cricket and its biggest stars -- revered as celebrities and demi-gods.

The recent signing of attacker Sunil Chhetri by the Kansas City Wizards in the US Major League Soccer (MLS) has also raised hopes that other players will break through internationally.

"People outside are taking Indian players seriously now," says Abhishek Yadav, who plays for Mumbai FC in the I-League, India's top-tier professional league, which was launched in 2007.

"The Indian team has been performing well in the last two to three years. Most of our players have the requisite qualities. It is just that we lack international exposure."

Asia is a key market for the world's biggest clubs, with English Premier League sides regularly undertaking summer promotional tours to the far-eastern nations of China, Japan and Singapore.

India also had a taste of European football when Kolkata hosted top German side Bayern Munich in 2008 for a farewell match for former German international goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.

In another sign of the potential, Manchester United has opened a branded sports bar in Mumbai.

The game's bosses at FIFA have repeatedly stressed that football's future is in the east.

"The time to start is now," FIFA chief Sepp Blatter said on his first official visit to India in 2008. "I want to wake the sleeping giant."

A growing economy, burgeoning middle classes with disposable income and leisure time, and increasing numbers of households with televisions all add up to making the underdeveloped Indian market highly promising.

"FIFA and AFC (Asian Football Confederation) are very keen to bring India in the Asian mainstream," Jaydeep Basu, a noted football critic, told AFP.

"India are placed 19 in Asia and sidelined at the moment. But if they can manage to be among the top-10, they can start playing against countries like Japan and South Korea.

"Once this happens, it will bring a lot of revenue for everyone. More big-pocket sponsors will be willing to pump in money into the game in the form of club, title and FIFA sponsorship."

Cricket Australia considers new 40-over format

Cricket Australia is considering introducing a completely new limited-overs format as soon as next season, in what could be another nail in the coffin of the 50-over game. The Australian has reported that the CA board will this week discuss a domestic tournament of 40-over games, with each team to bat for two innings of 20 overs.

In effect, the format would resemble two Twenty20 matches played back to back, although wickets lost and runs scored would accumulate over the full 40 overs. The existing 50-over FR Cup is likely to be played at the start of the upcoming Australian summer with the new competition, if approved, set to take place in the new year.

Such a move would raise questions over the future of the World Cup, with England and South Africa already having reduced their domestic limited-overs tournaments to 40 overs. Making the change so close to next year's World Cup could also rob some players of practice in the 50-over format, although Australia's ODI team will continue playing the longer games.

"We're certainly concerned about that, there will need to be some thorough discussion, obviously quite quickly since we're talking about next season," Darren Lehmann, the president of the Australian Cricketers' Association, told AAP. "We're happy they're talking about reviewing the game and improving it, as far as how far they go, that has got to be discussed at length.

"Maybe reducing the overs to 40 per side is not a bad start, whether we can do two 20 over innings is something we need to discuss. My personal preference is to go to 40 overs per side, but I'm open to all ideas to improve the game."

While Cricket Australia are reluctant to discuss the idea in detail, a CA spokesman said there was no reason to be concerned ahead of Australia's World Cup defence. "Our view is that you can change the domestic format without affecting preparations for the World Cup," the spokesman said.

Sehwag continues to be number one Test batsman

Flamboyant Virender Sehwag maintained his number one position in the ICC rankings for Test batsmen and India also held on to its top spot in the latest chart.

Sehwag is leading the list with 863 points and is followed by South Africa's Hashim Amla (842) and Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene (836).

Left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir (824) and batting great Sachin Tendulkar (805) are the other two Indian batsmen in top-10 at number six and seven positions respectively.

VVS Laxman (14) and Rahul Dravid (16) also had their rankings unchanged.

In the bowlers list, India have two players in the top-10 with paceman Zaheer Khan placed at number six followed by spinner Harbhajan Singh.

In the teams' list, India are at the top with 124 points followed by South Africa (120) and Australia (119).

Cricket an easy target for match-fixers: Gilchrist

Former Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist has claimed cricket to be an easy target for match-fixers.

Even though Gilchrist denied coming across such an incident in his career, he said it would be “naive” to assume that match-fixing is not taking place in cricket.

The Australian is in England to play for Middlesex in the Friends Provident Twenty20.

“It’s been discussed among players in the IPL (Indian Premier League) — more wondering whether it goes on,” Gilchrist was quoted as saying in Daily Telegraph.

“There’s a strong thought that we’d be naive to think it’s not happening, because it’s a pretty easy target. There’s a lot of accessibility to players and it’s early in its governance.

“We all hope that it’s not there, but there’s a wide range of players who are exposed to those games. We’ve got to try and police it.”

Gilchrist, however, said there is no evidence that match-fixing or spot-fixing, where players are paid to influence a small aspect of the game, takes place. Last month Essex’s bowlers Danish Kaneria and Mervyn Westfield were arrested over alleged irregularities during a Pro40 game last season, and have been bailed out until September.

“I’d be concerned if it was happening, but I haven’t seen anything concrete to say it is,” he said.

“You need evidence, and I’ve not seen any. I hear suggestions and whispers, and this stuff that’s come out — police coming and arresting players — is pretty hardcore. But unless you get evidence and have something to back it up, it all means nothing. So all the speculation is not good for the game, either.”