"123 Cricket World" - 5 new articles
When in doubt, turn south
by Suresh Menon Need a non-specialist to keep wicket in one-dayers? Get Rahul Dravid. Brian Lara beginning to look dangerous at the crease? Hey isn’t that the guy with the fractured jaw bowling to him? Where did Anil Kumble appear from? Is that a new record: the first man to dismiss Lara bowling with a broken jaw? Go back further. Viv Richards, playing his first Test in Bangalore. Like Bhagwat Chandrasekhar’s deliveries, he doesn’t know whether he is coming or going. Richards then makes only four and three, out both innings to Chandra. Yet, guess who is dropped for the next Test (after taking six wickets in Bangalore)? Chandra sits out to accommodate Venkatraghavan who is captain following injuries to Tiger Pataudi and Sunil Gavaskar. Thank you, says Richards, that was a thoughtful gesture, and proceeds to make an unbeaten 192. The West Indies win by an innings. And now it is happening all over again. We have taken three openers to Australia, and yet the cry goes around – Rahul Dravid for opener so Yuvraj Singh can play. In other words, sacrifice your best batsman to avoid the backlash should the popular Yuvraj be dropped. There is an old joke about a man asked who he would rescue if he saw both his wife and his girlfriend drowning. “My girlfriend,” he says, “Because my wife would understand.” Indian cricket plays around with Dravid for the same reason - because he will understand. The key to understanding Dravid is a statement he made many years ago: “When I was a little boy, all I wanted to do was play for India. Now that I am playing for India, I am constantly amazed that I am being paid to do so.” Such an attitude has meant that rather than being The Wall (a grossly inappropriate nickname), he has actually become the yo-yo of Indian cricket - sent up and down the batting order with little thought. He has opened, kept wicket, and, over the years, displayed such an intensity for the game that he appears ready to paint the stadium, water the outfield, prepare the pitch, handle the car park - anything to remain married to cricket (because his wife will understand). He has said from Australia that he is happy to open if that is what the country needs. But the country is mistaken if that is what it thinks it needs. For Dravid is one of the best-ever batsmen at No 3 and that’s where he is most effective. Unfortunately for him, just under two years ago, in the last series in which he opened, he put on 410 with Virender Sehwag, just three short of the Mankad-Roy record of 50 years. And now he has to open again, presumably to protect Sehwag who has been specifically chosen for the job. If the selectors got themselves into a mess by not picking the right openers or the Board showed an uncaring attitude by agreeing to play just one first class match to acclimatize, why sacrifice Dravid? In sport, there are two choices. You can be selfish, and hope that it helps the team, or selfless and pray that it doesn’t work against you. Let us hope Dravid doesn’t pay the price for his selflessness. Brought to you by 123Network - http://123net.blogspot.com  Boje denies link to 2000 match-fixing scam
South African bowler Nicky Boje on Tuesday denied charges of match-fixing under questioning by Indian police probing the scandal which hit cricket seven years ago, officials said.
"He denied his role in the match-fixing scandal and so questions on all relevant aspects of the case were asked," Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told AFP.
The police had issued a summons Wednesday, ordering Boje to "assist" detectives in the ongoing probe.
Brought to you by 123Network - http://123net.blogspot.com  Vengsarkar relents after Pawar intervenes
"I just spoke to Mr Pawar. He has assured me that we will have a meeting on 7 or 8 (December) either on Mumbai or in Pune and he will sort out all the issues," Dilip Vengsarkar said on Tuesday evening. "Kal mein ja raha hoon because he has assured me everything will be taken care of (I am going tomorrow because he (Pawar) has assured me everything will be taken care of," Vengsarkar said. After a day of high drama and intrigue the storm finally blew over or so it seems. Vengsarkar will chair the meeting to select India's Test squad to Australia and clearly the words of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sharad Pawar have comforted him. "Board is meeting on 16th of this month. Probably we will be able to take up a final view on all this and I feel we will be able to resolve this issue," Sharad Pawar had said on Tuesday. So are the warring parties coming together and what happens to the angry e-mail sent by Vengsarkar to Sharad Pawar where he said, "I am appalled at the way the BCCI has treated its selectors. The recent gag order has not only humiliated us for doing selfless service to Indian cricket but also shown us in a very poor light." "Another issue is that BCCI secretary, Mr Niranjan Shah even after finalising dates for selection of teams, changes them as per his whims and fancies The recent fiasco of shifting the selection committee meeting from Kolkata to Bangalore on 5th December shows his high-handedness. I was aghast when Mr Shashank Monahar told me over the telephone yesterday that Mr Bindra is the man behind all these happenings against the selectors," Vengsarkar wrote. "I would be glad to continue as the Chairman of Selection Committee but ONLY IF the restrictions imposed on me are revoked unconditionally and I am compensated for agreeing to not to write the columns in the newspapers," he wrote. But after days of hard bargaining and tough negotiations, the deadlock seems to have been broken. All it took was an assurance from BCCI chief Sharad Pawar to soften Vengsarkar who gave up on his demand of revoking the seven-point guideline and head to Bangalore for the selection meeting. Brought to you by 123Network - http://123net.blogspot.com  Kirsten signs deal to coach India
December 4, 2007 Gary Kirsten has signed a two-year deal to coach the Indian national team. He will start work on March 1, 2008, almost a year after his predecessor, Greg Chappell, resigned from the post. Kirsten signed the contract after clarifying a few last-minute details pertaining to his young family and also to the feelings of senior players in the team who had been anonymously quoted as saying that the appointment of a coach was "unnecessary." Sharad Pawar, the Indian board president, told Kirsten on Tuesday afternoon that all the senior players were looking forward to having him on board and agreed with Kirsten's suggestion that he meets up with the team before they depart for Australia. "I will go back to India soon to meet up with the squad before they fly to Australia on December 17 and then I will join them again in a transition phase for the third and fourth Tests against Australia in the New Year," Kirsten said. "It is a huge honour and I'm looking forward to the challenge with as much enthusiasm as any challenge I've ever faced. I'm not naive - I know how big the job is and I know it won't be easy, but it's also something I really want to do, and do well," Kirsten said. When Kirsten takes over full-time, his first assignment will be a three-Test series against South Africa. "That's exciting. I really don't think it will feel strange or odd. I will be doing everything I can to help India win. But Australia comes first and everybody's energy must be focussed on producing success on what is the hardest tour in cricket," Kirsten said. Brought to you by 123Network - http://123net.blogspot.com  The ICL as a viable option
November 30, 2007 About 15 years ago Kiran Powar was a bigger name in Mumbai cricket than his brother Ramesh. A left-hand batsman with a wide array of strokes, Kiran struggled to break into a powerful Mumbai batting order and switched allegiance to other states. He spent a number of seasons in Assam and Goa, during which time he made many long journeys by bus, and often, considering hotels were too much of a luxury, even spent nights in one. Frequently, with reimbursement hard to come by, he paid his own travel expenses. He even wasn't compensated when he was hospitalised once. Today Powar enjoys the comfort of the Taj hotel in Chandigarh. He shares the same dressing room as Brian Lara and Nathan Astle. When I speak to him, he's having lunch with Vikram Solanki, Johan van der Wath and Danny Redrup, a South African physio who is "showing me the sort of fitness a cricketer needs". For the first time in Powar's life he has a sense of security. "Tell me one reason why I shouldn't join the ICL" he challenges. Powar's isn't an isolated case. The general mood among the Indian domestic players who have joined the ICL is one of disgruntlement. "Until today none of us had an option," says a player who was picked for India a couple of years ago. "Now we have someone to take care of us. Wait for some time and players will just rush in." The BCCI's apathy is a sore point. A domestic veteran talks about a prominent state association. "They made a big din about introducing central contracts for players," he says. "Finally, we said, we've got some security. And they give us an annual contract of Rs 25,000 [US$ 500 approximately]. Is that any sort of money for a year?" Even more frustrating has been the handling of injuries. Shalabh Srivatsava, an Under-19 star who went on to do well consistently for Uttar Pradesh, travelled to South Africa for an expensive surgery. He is still waiting to be reimbursed. Rakesh Patel, the Baroda fast bowler who was selected for the Indian one-day side recently, underwent a similar fate. "The biggest problem is we can't play when we're injured," says Powar. "It means no reimbursement and no match fees. How do you survive?" Redrup chips in: "This is exactly how rugby used to be conducted in South Africa during the amateur days. But things changed with professionalism." The situation with the coaching staff who have signed up with the ICL isn't too different. Erapalli Prasanna, the former India offspinner, who was with the BCCI's ill-fated spin wing had had enough of being ignored. "By sending me to Nagpur and to Kolkata for short periods, the NCA [National Cricket Academy] sent a clear message that I was not required. The other signal I got was that the BCCI wanted to get rid of me. The spin wing is finished." Sandeep Patil, who is currently coaching the Mumbai Champs, echoes those views. ""I waited for the BCCI to give me a suitable job to serve Indian cricket. Twice I had written to the BCCI president, Sharad Pawar, expressing my interest to be a coach of the India A side. I was assured a two-year contract, but after waiting for almost one and a half years, nothing came of it." Hurdles, hurdles, hurdles It's not been easy for these players and coaches who have signed with the ICL. They are derisively referred to as "money whores". Reetinder Singh Sodhi, the former India allrounder, speaks about being refused entry into a ground in Patiala. "Imagine the scene," he says. "You've gone to a ground to practise almost every day of your life. And one day they stop you. As if I'm a criminal or something. I'm still playing cricket only, no?" Bengal's players faced a similar situation at the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club, though the Essel Group, which runs the ICL, had a corporate membership at the club. JP Yadav and Mohnish Mishra, two Madhya Pradesh players, were forced to withdraw from a club tournament in Bhopal for a similar reason. Three Hyderabad players with jobs in state banks were apparently transferred to Kolkata recently. They've to now choose between moving to a new city and losing their jobs. All ICL players have been banned from playing in corporate tournaments organised by the BCCI. Those who have jobs have had their terms of employment made more stringent. Madhya Pradesh batsman Abbas Ali, who works with Indian Oil, is required to work from 9am to 5pm every day and struggles to find time for practice. It is the youngsters who are hardest hit. "A young cricketer finds a job by telling his employees that he's a cricketer," says JP Yadav, the former India allrounder. "Now, since he can't play corporate tournaments, how is a company going to give him a job? That's a big worry." Another implication is that cricketers may have to give up the option of playing league cricket in England - since that requires a minimum qualification of four first-class games in a season. Positives galore Despite the ostracism the players remain upbeat. When JP Yadav walked into the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula, his first reaction was simple: "It's fine, yaar. You're talking to someone who's played cricket all his life at the Karnail Singh Stadium." That, incidentally, is the headquarters of the Indian Railways side, a first-class ground that's universally regarded as India's worst in terms of facilities. The players have been given 12 pairs each of coloured uniforms. They've been exposed to physios and trainers streets ahead of the ones they've been used to in Indian first-class cricket. They've received 25% of the yearly payment promised them (as the base price), and are happy to see sums being deposited every month in Axis Bank accounts that have been opened for them. Some foreign players have been impressed with the local talent and have spoken about recommending them to counties and provinces. "Abhishek Jhunjunwala has been noticed," says a senior player with the Bengal Tigers. "He was even asked if he would want to qualify to play for England." The ICL, for all the talk of being the poor cousin to the Indian board's Indian Premier League, is still an option that a number of Indian domestic players are seriously considering. As recently as September, a couple of players on the fringes were apparently seriously contemplating joining. Both made their India debuts subsequently and shelved the plan. A number of other players, though, are still in the loop. "I've got a call from so many domestic cricketers asking, 'What's happening, are they recruiting?" says Yadav. "People are definitely interested. It's just a matter of taking the leap." Like several others, he is convinced that the next 15 days will only reinforce their faith. 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