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Dhoni to stay as T20 captain, says BCCI
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Hussey makes Pakistan cry
‘Blaming IPL a poor excuse’
NIS graduation ceremony held
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Dhoni to stay as T20 captain, says BCCI
The Indian team, knocked out of the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies, returned home today and will have to face some tough questions. The cricketers avoided eye contact at the Mumbai and Delhi airports with the waiting media and slipped into their vehicles without offering any comments. Dhoni chose to make a quiet back door exit. The team’s arrival came a day after reports that coach Gary Kirsten had spoken to seven cricketers individually and complained about their fitness and commitment. On his arrival in Mumbai, team manager Ranjib Biswal denied that the players had got any dressing down from Kirsten. “Nothing of this sort happened. We were all together at the team hotel’s swimming pool before departing for home,” Biswal said. Kirsten is believed to have held one-on-one meeting with seven senior players, including Dhoni, and is expected to give his inputs to Biswal who will submit his report to the BCCI. While the players returned home, Kirsten stayed back in London and would rejoin the side in Johannesburg when the team goes to Zimbabwe for a tri-series also involving Sri Lanka. Dhoni is under fire for his tactical blunders during the World Cup and according to a source, the selectors want to exert pressure on him by putting him on notice when they sit down to select the Indian team for the Asia Cup next month. The source said Dhoni would be given the captaincy on a tournament-to-tournament basis. Although he has led the team to the top of the ICC Test rankings and to the number two spot in the ODI rankings, Dhoni's captaincy has not been upto expectations in the Twenty20 format. — PTI
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Full credit to bowlers: Collingwood
Gros Islet (St. Lucia), May 14 “The guys have really been preparing well, analysing the opposition, and seeing where we can take wickets,” he added. Asked whom he will choose between Australia and Pakistan to play in the summit clash on Sunday, Collingwood said, “I think everybody would love to see an England-Australia final, but we've got to give Pakistan a lot of respect as well and we'll be watching the match with interest tomorrow.” Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara rued that his side did not have a good start and said they were 30 runs short after electing to bat first. “I don’t think it was anything to do with luck. Unfortunately we didn’t start too well, losing three wickets in the first six overs. Everyone has been hitting the ball well, but we didn’t make the most of our opportunities. 150 would have been a good total,” he said. — PTI |
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Bond quits international cricket
Wellington, May 14 “I know the time is right for me to step down. I have given it everything when playing for the Blackcaps,” he said in a statement announcing his retirement after returning from an unsuccessful Twenty20 World Cup campaign in the West Indies. “I will miss the camaraderie because it has been a privilege to play alongside such a great bunch of guys who are so committed to do their best for New Zealand. Playing with pride for the Blackcaps over the years has meant so much to me. I have experienced huge emotional feelings when I have pulled on the silver fern. I am going to miss a lot of this but I know now is the time to bow out,” he said. The right-arm speedster, who hails from Canterbury, was one of the fastest bowlers in the world during a career that has been littered with injuries following his international debut in 2001 against Australia. Bond ended his Test career with 87 wickets from 18 matches at an average of 22.09. In 82 one-day internationals he played, he captured 147 wickets at an average of 20.88 and in 20 Twenty20 matches matches he had 25 wickets at 21.72. In 2008, Bond, was ranked as the number one bowler in world cricket in ODIs and finished his international career ranked number five, with an average of 20.88. At his peak, he had the third best strike-rate in Test cricket and also ended his career as the third best with 38.7. New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan said Bond has been a "real match-winner" for the Kiwis. “We will all miss Shane (Bond) in the international arena. His speed and ability struck fear into batsmen from every team in world cricket. He has been a real match-winner. Shane has had an inspirational presence about him and has been a great role model for younger teammates,” Vaughan said. New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori said Bond's passion, and hunger to succeed would be sorely missed by his teammates. “Shane brought a burning desire to succeed. His grit and resolve to rip through a batting line up rubbed off on his teammates. When Shane was on board, we always felt so determined we could beat any team,” he said. — PTI
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Hussey makes Pakistan cry Gros Islet (St Lucia), May 14 Inclement weather and wet ground conditions had earlier delayed the start of the match by half an hour but that did not bother the Pakistan openers as they went about their business. After a watchful start to ensure no initial hiccups, Kamran and Butt went hammer and tongs, smashing Dirk Nannes, Shaun Tait, Mitchell Johnson and Shane Watson with casual disdain to reach 40 in six overs. Kamran set the ball rolling, hitting Dirk Nannes for back-to-back fours at cover and mid-off in the third over. Butt then used his bottom hand to good use to pick up his first four at cover before playing a striking square cut for another boundary in the third over off Shaun Tait. Butt meted out the same treatment to Michell Johnson in the fifth over when he danced down the pitch and slammed an outside off ball to point boundary. — PTI Runs 60, Balls 24, Six 6, Four 3, SR 250.00
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New Delhi, May 14 “I don’t think that is an excuse at all. I think that is a very poor excuse used by people to say that IPL parties were the reason for the team not performing. Tell me one thing, there were no parties in the West Indies were they? So how can you say that the team performed badly in the Caribbean because of parties in India,” said Gavaskar. Gavaskar also refused to buy the argument that the six-week-long IPL, which ended just five days before the World Cup, burnt out players and said on the contrary, it gave them the much-needed match practice before the big event. “If that was the case then Sri Lanka would not have been in the semifinal, the England team would not have been in the final. The Australian team also. A lot of Australian players were in the IPL so I don’t think that is an issue at all,” he said. “It’s just the fact that Twenty20 is a format where you have got to be good on the day and if you are not good on your day, you lose. I don’t think much should be read into the fact that the players were playing IPL, if anything playing in the IPL meant that they had a lot more practice than the other teams,” he argued. The legendary batsman, however, backed the under-fire Dhoni, saying he remains the best man to lead the Indian team. “I don’t think anybody should be complacent enough to think his place in the team is secure as a player or as a skipper. But having said that, M S Dhoni has done the best he could. I still think he is the best bet as far as captaining the country is concerned. He has not quite had the luck he had when he started with India’s captaincy,” Gavaskar said. He said the Indian batsmen, who were all at sea against the short-pitch stuffs on the hard and bouncy Caribbean tracks, need to go back to the National Cricket Academy to sort out their susceptibility to the rising deliveries. — PTI
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NIS graduation ceremony held
Patiala, May 14 Executive director LS Ranawat welcomed the chief guest and RK Kalley, in charge, Academics presented the annual report. He informed that in session 2009-10, 236 students successfully passed to qualify as coaches in 16 disciplines. Gurpreet Kaur and Joginder Singh of cycling were the overall toppers with 80 per cent and 76.2 percent respectively. The chief guest lauded the efforts of the coaches and students for the successful completion of the course. He also announced a grant of Rs 5 crore for the uplift of the NIS, Patiala campus and also announced the reservation of 5 seats for top sportspersons who passed out today to be sent for advanced training for 3-4 months in foreign countries. Talking about the decision of fixing of term of the Sports Federations to eight years or upto two terms, Srinivas said the Ministry had studied the functioning of few top nations and realised that this was a good way to improve sports performance. “Though such steps should not be imposed on federations but sometimes the Sports Ministry has to interfere in such cases for betterment of sports. I assure you that this has been done keeping the mind the larger good.” Commenting on India’s chances in Commonwealth Games and the preparations, he said the chances were very bright. The players have worked really hard and as far as the preparations are concerned they are complete.
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Amid speculation that Mahendra Singh Dhoni may be replaced as India’s Twenty20 captain
following the 
team’s dismal performance in the West Indies, BCCI today sought to clear the air saying though it was unhappy, there was no such move. 
Austarlia after trailing for the most part of the contest eventually beat Pakistan by 3 wickets in the second semifinals of the Twenty20 World Cup here today. Mike Hussey scored sensational 60 runs off meagre 24 balls including 6 sixes. 
Former skipper Sunil Gavaskar feels blaming the Indian Premier League or its post-match parties for India’s humiliating exit from the Twenty20 World Cup is a “poor excuse” to justify the dismal campaign. Gavaskar rejected skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s comments that IPL’s after-match parties and all the travelling during the inter-city league left the players drained ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies.
Patiala, May 14
