Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly to skip Castrol Awards

KARACHI: Top Indian cricketing stars Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly will not be attending the first Castrol Asian Cricket Awards to be held here on Friday as the trio is busy with their personal engagements.
    
Sources among the organisers confirmed that all three former Indian captains had sent their regrets over not being able to attend the ceremony, although Ganguly's wife is expected to come to receive an award on his behalf.
    
Sources said that Ganguly, Pakistan skipper, Shoaib Malik and pacer Umar Gul are among the players in contention for the main awards.
    
"Tendulkar is abroad on vacations while Dravid is attending a training camp of the Indian team in Bangalore while Ganguly is in London," one source said.
    
The Castrol Asian awards are being highlighted as the equivalent of the International Cricket Council annual awards and being staged in concurrence with the Asia Cup in Karachi.
    
The cream of Pakistan cricket, however, will be present at the award function to be attended by the top board officials.