Sachin Tendulkar at Madame Tussauds

LONDON: Cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar will be the latest sporting great to be featured at the internationally-renowned Madame Tussauds in London when a new wax figure of the Mumbai-born batsman joins the A-list line-up in April.

Tendulkar follows in the famous footsteps of Bollywood greats Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan and will join other cricket legends Brain Lara and Shane Warne to become the very first Indian sports personality to be portrayed, the waxworks museum said in a statement on Friday.

The cricketing legend has already had a sitting with the Madame Tussauds studios team who last week travelled to Mumbai to capture a catalogue of reference photographs and hundreds of precise measurements.

The information they collected at the two hour session at the Taj Lands End Hotel will prove invaluable as the sculptors and hair and make up artists get to work on his figure.

"We are delighted to confirm our next Indian superstar is going to be Sachin Tendulkar; his achievements on the cricket pitch are phenomenal and he is one of the biggest names in international sport," says Liz Edwards, Madame Tussauds PR manager.

"The Bollywood stars we have included over the past ten years have proved enormously popular with Asian guests and film fans from all over the world. We know Sachin will be just as popular for sports fans from home and abroad and are looking forward to introducing the real Sachin to his wax double soon."

Tendulkar, the Mumbai Indians Captain will be featured in typical celebratory "on the pitch" pose after another century marked in the scorebook.

He will be dressed in his cricket whites which he has donated. The figure will be created at Madame Tussauds studios in West London at a cost of 150,000 pounds.

The cricket star will join the ranks of sporting greats, including David Beckham, Mohammed Ali, Tiger Woods and Jesse Owens, in Madame Tussauds interactive Sports Zone.

There will also be a cricketing challenge around the introduction of the figure, where guests can test their cricketing skills against the 'masterblaster'.

Source:http://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Younis-replaces-Chanderpaul-as-No-1/articleshow/4194725.cms

Shah Rukh would not attend IPL matches

By Khabrein.info Correspondent,
Mumbai, May 23: Shah Rukh Khan has said that he would not attend the remaining matches of the IPL due to the bar set on him by ICC. The actor owns the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) Kolkata team. He was stopped from entering his team’s dressing room by ICC officials.

A dejected Shah Rukh who has paid more than 300 crore rupees for his team said, “The Indian Premier League (IPL) has its set of rules and regulations and I am a law-abiding person. But why pick on me? Other team owners are seen near their players. Is it because I am a celebrity and vulnerable?”.

His team that has failed to qualify for the semi finals despite having star players and initially being seen as the top contender for the tournament is also marred by rumours of rift between captain and owner of the team.

But Shah Rukh Khan seems to be more concerned over the behaviour of ICC and BCCI officials. “I have paid my players to win. Will I pay them now to lose? This is illogical”, said Shah Rukh Khan.

Shah Rukh Khan was banned from visiting the players’ dressing room and dug out. The BCCI had asked the actor not to violate ICC code of conduct.
The move comes after the ICC asked the BCCI to question Shah Rukh Khan for his on field conduct.

Shah Rukh Khan has been putting in extra efforts to prop up his team and also encourage the players. It has been observed that his team Kolkata Knight Riders lost all the matches when the actor was not present during the match.

SRK while commenting on the BCCI move said, “I like to hang around with the boys. I am very energetic. I am very disappointed that the ICC has stopped me. I don’t know the rules. I’ll tell only one thing. Nobody dare stop me from coming to Calcutta. I’ll be here whenever my team plays a match at the Eden”.

The Bollywood star says that he was not happy with the performance of his team. “But this is a game and if there is a winner then there has to be a loser too,” SRK said.