Kolkata, Nov. 9 : As Sourav Ganguly’s glorious international cricket career camed to an end on Sunday with a duck in Nagpur, his retirement drove a Kolkata-based musical band to come up with songs as a tribute to him. 

Orchid, the musical Bangla band, has composed several songs to glorify Ganguly’s 13-year cricket career during which he put up a scintillating display and led India with aplomb.

The band members have given an everlasting salute to him through their music.

Their verses have eulogised his fighting spirit, his mental toughness and leadership quality.

London, Nov. 9 : England cricket captain Kevin Pietersen and his players can rake in the princely sum of 1,000-pounds-a-man when they face India in the first one-day international in Rajkot. 

It is 600 times less than England stars would have earned if they had won the Stanford Twenty20 extravaganza in Antigua last Saturday.

“We went to Antigua not knowing what would happen and we made mistakes. But we learned a lot from that trip. We’ll make sure the next week is a fantastic one for us — the boys are really fired up to play some great cricket in India,” The Sun quoted KP, as saying. 

Rajkot, Nov. 9 : Nearly 1500 security personnel will be deployed for the first one-day international between India and England at the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground here on November 14.

The security includes two superintendants of police and 60 State Reserve Police (SRP), Rajkot Police Commissioner Sudhir Sinha said.

He said spectators would be allowed water bottles and food packets only after passing through the scanner.

Sinha said that in view of threats from terror outfits to some players of the Indian team, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been asked to use the General Electric security system at the entry gate.

Karachi, Nov. 9 : Pakistan cricket team coach Intikhab Alam has expressed happiness over the return to form of speedster Shoaib Akhtar ahead of the three-match One-day International series against the West Indies that kicks off in Abu Dhabi from November 12.

Exuding confidence about his side, Alam said Akhtar has regained the sort of speed that once made him the most feared pacer in international cricket, while the rest of the team is also itching to get back into action.

Sydney, Nov. 9: The Australian press have lambasted India''s negative tactics in the ongoing Nagpur Test, saying that the overriding defensive approach could kill the game.

Australian cricket writers also accused India of treating Test cricket with contempt.

India, which is already one up in the series, needs a draw in Nagpur to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy from Australia.

Australia''s hopes of levelling the four-Test series suffered a setback when they were bowled out for 355 on Saturday in reply to India''s first-innings total of 441 on the third day and needing an extraordinary effort to win the match and square the series.

Nagpur, Nov. 9 : Australia centurion Simon Katich accused India of negative tactics in the fourth and final test after his own side''s defensive batting on Saturday (November 8) had marred their chances of forcing a series-levelling victory.

India''s bowlers operated successfully to a packed off-side field to restrict the runs when the tourists needed to post a commanding first innings total at a fast rate to get into a position to grab a result.

"You are kidding me, are you not? We were the defensive with an 8-1 field?" Katich asked reporters while replying to a query on sluggish run rate in the first session in central Nagpur city, hosting the fourth and final test between India and Australia.