“You should not be playing to break records,” Imran tells India

Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan feels that iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar should have retired after the “ultimate high” of India winning the World Cup last year.

“We all want to go with a big bang but you don’t always get it right. For Sachin the ultimate time to go was after that World Cup win. He had such a great World Cup. He is a great player and there is no replacement for him,” Imran said.

“He has to decide for himself and he must time it right. You don’t want to go having lost to Australia 4-0. If he had gone after that World Cup that would have been the ultimate high,” Imran told a TV channel here.

Imran said Indian players have the right to decide when they want to retire and the management should first get the replacement for them. “It’s a very difficult question for a sportsman to know when to leave…It’s a very difficult decision and many great players have not got it right,” he said.

“For Indian cricket it’s not one player now but three or four would have to take decision. But the big question is whether you have got their replacement. If the gap between the young and old player is too much then you have to stay with the old players.”

Asked about Tendulkar’s impending 100th ton, Imran said it doesn’t matter whether he gets that elusive hundred or not as statistic doesn’t matter for a great player.

“Records must be broken within the team winning. You should not be playing to break records. Records should be part of the win. Sachin is a great player. Would I think of Sachin whether he is of 99 hundreds or 100 hundreds! No,” Imran said.

“The greatest player I’ve played is Viv Richards. I don’t need to look at his records. He is great because he loves challenges. Records are after all statistics and statistics did not matter to great players,” he said.

The former fast bowler said that he would have hung up his boots if his team had suffered a similar consecutive overseas whitewash like Team India.

“I would have retired from cricket. I think if I was in a team that lost eight matches in a row I would have given up cricket. It’s not the West Indies of 80s. But see who India has lost to Australia and England. This Australia team hardly has won any series. You can’t blame the fans for feeling upset,” he said.

Imran said if India gives too much emphasis on Twenty20 cricket and the IPL then it might be reduced to a “walkover team in Test cricket”.

“India need to think seriously… have they put too much emphasis on the IPL, T20 cricket. It’s great entertainment but how to compare T20 with Test cricket. Test cricket is the ultimate test of the skills,” he said.—Agencies

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Malaga take honours in Andalusian derby as Valencia draw

MADRID: Ten-man Malaga beat Sevilla 2-1 on Sunday night in a fiery Andalusian derby to leap above their local rivals into seventh position in La Liga, one point behind a potential place in next season’s Europa League.

The Brazilian centre-half Weligton and Uruguayan midfielder Seba Fernandez got first-half goals for Malaga either side of an Antonio Luna strike for Sevilla.

Malaga lost Francisco Alarcon ‘Isco’ with 12 minutes remaining for a second yellow card after a bad foul on Alvaro Negredo but held out for the win that brought to an end a run of three consecutive league defeats.

Sevilla are now six league games without a win and drop into the bottom half of the league for the first time this season.

Earlier, Valencia substitute Aritz Aduriz came off the bench to score twice and help his side earn a hard-fought 2-2 draw at Racing Santander.

Santander went ahead in the second minute when Adrian Gonzalez turned home a delightful pass from Pedro Munitis from close range and the home team controlled the first half.

Valencia came into the game more in the second period and Aduriz netted on 66 and 79 minutes with a left-footed shot and a header that gave his side the lead.

However, in a match marred by injuries and cards, Bernardo Espinosa grabbed a leveller for Santander with a header on 88 minutes to set up a grandstand finish.

With seven minutes of injury time, the game descended into chaos as players from both teams clashed and Munitis for Santander and Valencia’s Ricardo Costa both received their marching orders.

The late equaliser keeps Santander just out of the relegation zone in 17th position, a point ahead of third-bottom Villarreal.

Valencia remain in third position and extend the gap to five points over city rivals Levante, who earlier missed a golden opportunity to bolster fourth position when they lost 2-1 at home to Getafe.

Dani Guiza, with a fortunate deflection, and Ruben Castro scored in each half for the visitors before Ruben Suarez got a kate consolation from the penalty spot.

The result means Levante remain fourth but are now level on points with Espanyol and two points ahead of Athletic Bilbao in sixth, after both teams won on Saturday.

Real Sociedad beat Sporting Gijon 5-1 in a game that opened in amazing fashion for midfielder David Zurutuza, who scored two goals in three minutes for the home team before being stretchered off in the fourth minute after a clash of heads with Gijon’s Gregory Arnolin, who also had to leave the field.

Miguel De las Cuevas got a goal early in the second half for Sporting before late goals from Gorka Elustondo, Mikel Aranburu and Antoine Griezmann wrapped the game up for the home team.

The defeat means Sporting remain in the drop zone.

Real Betis were beaten 2-1 at home by Granada, for whom Odion Ighalo and Carlos Martins bagged first-half goals, while Jonathan Pereira scored a late goal for Betis.

The result provides renewed optimism for Granada, under new manager Abel Resino for the first time, and keeps the side out of the relegation zone.

On Saturday, Barcelona dropped precious points in a 0-0 draw at Villarreal to slip seven points behind leaders Real Madrid.

Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Ozil had scored to help Real Madrid beat Real Zaragoza 3-1 and pile the pressure on Barca, who never convinced against a well-organised Villarreal.

Espanyol beat 10-man Real Mallorca with a Vladimir Weiss goal to remain fifth, level on points with Levante.

Meanwhile, Spain centre-forward Fernando Llorente scored a hat-trick for Athletic Bilbao in a 3-2 win at Rayo Vallecano to keep the Basque side in sixth.

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England bundled as Pakistan complete remarkable win

ABU DHABI: Pakistan defeated England by 72 runs on the fourth day of the second Test to win the series 2-0 at Abu Dhabi Stadium here on Saturday.

England were shot out for their lowest Test score of 72 against Pakistan in all Tests. Left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman took six wickets.

Pakistan won the first Test by ten wickets in Dubai. The third Test will be played in Dubai from February 3.

England captain Andrew Strauss top-scored with 32.

England earlier dismissed Pakistan for 214 to give themselves a target of 145 to win in Abu Dhabi, but Andrew Strauss’s men again failed to deal with the host’s triple spin threat of Rehman, Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez.

Ajmal finished on 6-25, while Ajmal’s figures were 3-22.

Pakistan, who play their home matches in the Gulf due to security problems at home, won last week’s first test in Dubai by 10 wickets.

Scores: Pakistan 257 and 214; England 327 and 72

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