Gift puts Kapil in a dilemma

Haunted by the car controversy, former Indian skipper Kapil Dev on Sunday appeared to be in a dilemma over whether or not to accpet a gift offered to him by a businessman at a function at Chennai.

"Should I accept it or not," Kapil asked mediapersons when Pentamedia's Chief Executive Officer Dr V Chandrasekhar, presented him with a momento after the Wisden Indian cricketer had inaugurated the "The Champ Sports Village" at Mayajal, about 30-kms from here.

This incident comes in the wake of the controversy over a Mercedez Benz car gifted to Kapil Dev by a Gujarat businessman who was later nabbed by police for alleged financial irregularities.

"If I accept this gift and this man (Chandrasekaran) does something wrong sometime later, then I should not be blamed," Kapil said pointing to Chandrasekaran, who for a moment appeared to be embarrassed.

"But if I don't accept it, it will hurt him," he said.

In a veiled attack on the media, the cricketer said "the responsibility of the media is to pull up the country and not pull down the country... We want to live happily".

Gough on verge of Test recall

Darren Gough has almost certainly played his way into England's Test side and on Sunday said he was ready for the rigours of five-day games against South Africa.

The injury-dogged 32-year-old Yorkshire fast bowler believes four weeks on the road with England playing one-day cricket has proved he can return to the Test game after a two-year absence.

"I am confident I can do it. If there was a Test match tomorrow I could play. Until I play a game like that I don't know what my body's capable of, but I am sure it won't be a problem."

And England chairman of selectors David Graveney has praised the role Gough is playing in guiding rising star James Anderson.

"Darren is a major influence. When he marks out his run you can feel the response from the crowd -- he is a hero," Graveney said.

"To be fair, 10 overs one day and a break and then 10 overs the next day in one-day matches is different to bowling 25 overs in a Test match and then have to do it all again the following day."

The first Test begins in Edgbaston on July 24.

International cricket to restart in Pakistan

The cricketing youth of Asia will be putting their skills to the test when foreign teams return to Pakistan for the first time in a year with the start of the Youth Asia Cup in the southern port city of Karachi on Monday.

The tournament contested by 10 non-Test nations from from Asia, is the country's first major sporting event involving foreign teams since New Zealand cut short its tour in May last year after a bomb blast outside their hotel in Karachi.

PCB is providing extra security to the competing teams to avoid any incident in the troubled port city where two people were killed in a bomb blast on Friday.

Last year Pakistan had to play two of its Test series on neutral ground after the West Indies and Australia refused to tour the country over security fears triggered by the US-led war on terrorism in neighbouring Afghanistan.

But big-time cricket is due to return to the country later this year with Pakistan hosting Bangladesh, South Africa and New Zealand between August and November.

The Youth Asia Cup runs from July 14 to 27 at seven venues in Karachi.

Singapore looks to Pakistan-India for cricket promotion

Singapore cricket coach Brendon Kuruppu has called on India and Pakistan to restore cricketing links for the benefit of the sport across Asia.

Kuruppu said previous one-day tournaments featuring India and Pakistan hosted by Singapore had generated precious funds for the city's cricket authorities.

"Singapore is a fledgling cricket nation and looks to Pakistan and India for the promotion of the game," said  Kuruppu, a former Sri Lankan Test player who is now coaching Singapore's team.

"We hope India-Pakistan revive their cricket as the deadlock is hurting cricket in the region badly," he said.

"Teams like Pakistan and India are huge draw cards in Singapore and by hosting one-day tri-series thrice we managed to raise good funds which were materialised in the development of the sport," said Kuruppu.

Singapore hosted tri-series in 1996, 2000 and 2001 before India refused to participate in off-shore events which it claimed harboured match-fixing.