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After a none-too-impressive performance in the one-dayers, Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lanka’s legendary spinner, is keen to prove himself in the Test series against India beginning at Chennai on December 2.”It is a big challenge for me and I have to prove myself against a formidable side like India,” Muralitharan, who has 563 wickets from 95 Tests at an average of 22.15, said.Muralitharan said he was raring to have a go at the MA Chidambaram ground although he had never played at this venue. “I have never played here before but the bowlers, especially the spinners on either side, will have an impact on the outcome of the match,” he told reporters after the team’s net practice which lasted for nearly three hours.Muralitharan refused to term the series as a clash between him and Sachin Tendulkar. “Not only Sachin, India is a strong side having in its ranks players like Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly and [VVS] Laxman. We will strive hard to get their wickets.” Asked to comment on the nature of the pitch, he said “it looks like a flat one. It would take spin on the second or third day itself and will provide bounce as well.”Muralitharan did not want to go into the 1-6 debacle his team suffered in the recent one-day series saying it was a thing of the past. “We have to make things happen, it depends on how we bowl on the day.” Terming Test matches as the “real thing”, he said he was pleased to be playing a Test match in India after eight years. “I have always aimed to take wickets to help my country win matches. I am hungry for wickets.”

Tendulkar recovering from injury
The Indian Premier League is nearly half over but its biggest draw Sachin Tendulkar is yet to play a game because of a groin injury. However, he is optimistic of joining the resurgent Mumbai Indians soon. “I can tell you roughly that I’m targetting the next match [against Chennai on May 14], Sachin said while watching Mumbai play Rajasthan from the sidelines. “If I’m in the middle, I should be able to compete, for if I’m not able to compete, I’ll be letting the team down.”Charu out, Brijesh in
After five defeats, a visibly rattled Bangalore Royal Challengers are wielding the axe. The first victim is Charu Sharma, the CEO of the franchise, who was held responsible for the team’s poor performance. Sources close to the team claim he was asked to step down by Vijay Mallya, the franchise owner, but the team spokesperson however said he stepped down due to “personal reasons.” Sharma has been replaced by Brijesh Patel, the former India Test player and secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association. The players are reportedly shocked by this move. The question is, who’s next?Was slap-gate premeditated?
According to a report in the , Sudhir Nanavati, the BCCI’s commissioner to look into the slapping incident involving Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth, told its sources in the Indian board that the attack seemed to have been premeditated. This was supposedly based on the reaction of the Mumbai Indians’ coach, Lalchand Rajput, immediately after the incident. Navanati, however, denied making such a statement. “The report that appeared in a newspaper is completely false. I can tell you I neither saw him [Rajput] neither clapping nor laughing when Harbhajan slapped Sreesanth from the video footage shown to me yesterday”, Nanavati told Cricinfo.No more games for DY Patil?
The 40 km commute from the team hotel to the DY Patil Stadium in Nerul is getting to the Mumbai players and the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has stepped in, suggesting Mumbai’s last two matches – on May 14 and 16 – be moved to the Wankhede Stadium. The franchise owners, Reliance Industries Limited, are yet to confirm the move. Today’s game against Rajasthan Royals, however, stays at the DY Patil stadium.Fat wallets
Players can look forward to bigger earnings once the second season of the IPL gets underway, with the governing council deciding to scrap the $5 million cap on earnings. The move was prompted by the success of the current season, and players can look forward to an increase of upto a massive $15 million. “I can tell you that our players would already be the highest-paid across any sport in the world,” Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman and commissioner, was quoted as saying in .One more chance
Harbhajan Singh, who has been banned for 11 IPL matches for slapping Sreesanth after an IPL match in Mohali, has appealed to the Indian board to give him “one final chance” before taking further disciplinary action against him. “Along with accepting my most sincere and heartfelt apologies over this incident, I would like to appeal to the board’s sense of fairplay and ask for one final chance before taking any disciplinary action against me over this incident,” Harbhajan said a letter to the BCCI. The disciplinary hearing will be conducted commissioner Sudhir Nanavati, who was appointed by the BCCI, in Ahmedabad.

Pakistan A have bolstered their pace attack for the second Test against Australia A in Lahore with the return of Mohammad Sami, who has recovered from the viral infection which ruled him out of the first match in Faisalabad.Injuries to two fast bowlers has resulted in more changes to the bowling attack. Anwar Ali replaces left-arm seamer Najaf Shah, who is nursing a back injury while Abdur Rauf, who top-scored with 73 in the first innings in Faisalabad, is down with a groin strain. Offspinner Tahir Khan comes in for Atif Maqbool.In the batting department, the selectors have included opener Khurram Manzoor, who scored a career-best 200 against Mumbai in the Nissar Trophy last week. He replaces former Pakistan batsman Hasan Raza, who scored 0 and 3 in Faisalabad.Pakistan suffered a big defeat in Faisalabad, going down by an innings and 203 runs. The second and final match of the series begins on September 19.Squad: Faisal Iqbal (capt), Taufeeq Umar, Khalid Latif, Khurram Manzoor, Yasir Hameed, Naved Latif, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Mansoor Amjad, Tahir Khan, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Khalil, Mohammad Irshad, Anwar Ali, Adnan Raza, Rizwan Ahmed

Nayan Doshi, the left-arm spinner, has terminated his contract with Surrey with immediate effect, ending a three-year association with the club.Doshi, 28, who joined Surrey in 2004, cited a lack of opportunity as his reason for leaving. “I regard myself as a good spin bowler,” he said, “and I just didn’t feel that I had the backing that I should have had. It is for this reason that I have decided to step down. There are no bad feelings as this was my decision and I wish the club the best of luck for the remainder of the season.”However, Alan Butcher, Surrey’s cricket manager, was disappointed at Doshi’s decision, arguing that the club “need people who are prepared to take on a challenge”.”It’s not unusual for a professional sportsman to be left out of a team,” Butcher said. “They don’t enjoy it but on most occasions they take it on the chin and fight to regain their place as Alastair Brown has vowed to do.”It’s a pity that Nayan is unwilling to do this as he was part of our future plans but in the position we find ourselves in, we need people who are prepared to take on a challenge. This appears to be no longer the case and so I have accepted his resignation.”In all, Doshi took 120 wickets in first-class cricket at 34.10 apiece, but his main success came in the Twenty20 where he is the leading wicket-taker at domestic level.

Justin Langer has decided to play on for Western Australia next season in an attempt to lead the Warriors to their first Pura Cup title since 1998-99. And if Langer has his way, the man who captained that successful team eight years ago, Tom Moody, will be back in Perth as coach.Speaking at Western Australia’s awards night on Monday, Langer said his international goals had been achieved but he had unfinished business at state level. “One of the great highlights of my career was winning that first Sheffield Shield [in 1992],” Langer told .”When I stood here this time last year I had a burning desire to win back the Ashes with my mates, and for a long time the Australian cricket team have been my mates. I have felt in the last six months, I have started to develop some really good friendships, some mates, with the West Australian guys. And I have still got a burning ambition to win the Pura Cup back, so there’s your announcement.”Langer, 36, is scheduled to play county cricket for Somerset this season. He hopes by the time he returns to Western Australia after winter, his old mate Moody will have replaced Wayne Clark, who announced his retirement as coach in January.”I’m still fit, I am still enjoying the game … hopefully Tom Moody will be coach, and if that is the case that would be an added bonus,” Langer said. “I am sure if Tom wants the job he is a walk up start. We are all hopeful we see him coming through the arrivals gate at Perth airport in a month or so.”Langer said captaining the side was not a condition of him staying on as a player, but it was something he was keen to continue. “I’d like to think my experience, working in conjunction with someone like Tom, would be a great leadership group for WA cricket,” he said.

Send us your feedbackCricket Kenya is on the verge of offering its leading players one-year contracts.The board has agreed terms with the players, Roger Harper, the coach, hasgiven his views and the national selectors are now drawing up a final listof between 18 and 20 names who will be invited to sign the contracts. Theselectors also need to divide the players into three categories, based onseniority and ability, which will determine how much they get paid.”They will be offered one-year deals,” Samir Inamdar, the board’s chairman,told Cricinfo. “This has been made possible by the money we received fromwinning the World Cricket League and also from the Nimbus TV deal.”Those chosen will receive a regular monthly salary as well as appearancefees for ODIs. For four-day Intercontinental Cup games they will get theequivalent fee for three ODIs.”The board has also offered to share a third of prize-money and appearancemoney with squad players. And people can still be picked from outside those oncentral contracts, but they will be paid on a match-by-match basis.A few leading Kenya players have contracts overseas and Inamdar stressedthat these could continue subject to the prior agreement of the board.Their central contracts will be suspended for the period they are employedplaying cricket elsewhere.Inamdar said that at the moment the contracts were for one years and thesituation would be reviewed after that. Much depends on whether theboard is able to attract new sponsors and also how much the board’sshare of the new ICC media deal with ESPN brings in.

A nationwide siege programme has caused havoc in Bangladesh’s National Cricket league, with Dhaka’s match against Barisal being postponed for “an indefinite period” and Chittagong’s clash with Sylhet also under threat.A non-stop countrywide blockade has been enforced by a 14-party alliance headed by the opposition Awami League, and according to Dhaka’s Daily Star newspaper, the police have been directed to fire gunshots if the demonstrators attack them.The demonstration means that Dhaka will have to wait to take their five remaining Barisal wickets at the Fatullah Stadium, after Mohammad Rafique’s three-wicket burst gave them the upper hand on the third day’s play. Needing 247 to win, Barisal were shakily placed at 78 for 5.At the Chittagong Divisional Stadium, Sylhet were forced to follow-on after being bowled out for just 100 in their first innings, and though they reached 130 for 2 second-time around, the security situation is such that the match could be shifted to Monday, according to the match referee Rafiqul Alam.The entire day’s play at the Rajshahi Divisional Stadium was called off due to rain and later, bad light. The hosts were leading by nine runs on the second day.

Virender Sehwag blamed a collective lack of application from the Indian top order for the five-wicket defeat against England at Jamshedpur. “We didn’t bat well at all,” he said at the post-match press conference. “If even one of the top-order batsmen had been associated in a significant partnership with Dhoni at the start of the innings, it could have been an exciting game. The main reason for today’s defeat was our batting failure. There was responsibility on every single top-order batsman. You can’t criticise any single individual – if either of Yuvraj, Kaif, Raina, Venu [Venugopal Rao] or Sehwag had played for any length of time with Dhoni, things would have been a lot different.”While insisting that his team should have put more runs on the board Sehwag gave England’s batsmen credit for the manner in which they went about chasing the modest target. “They played quite well,” he said. “227 wasn’t that bad a total, but Strauss and Bell got them off to an excellent start, and they didn’t look back after that.”Inevitably questions were asked about the lack of form of Sehwag himself, and also Mohammad Kaif. “When the team is winning, you can afford to have one or two batsmen not in form because captains don’t usually change a winning combination,” said Sehwag. “At the end of the day, it all depends on the situation. Maybe it is best for me that I sit out a game, take a break. When you keep playing, it may not be possible to analyse things. Sometimes, rest is an option. Perhaps I will miss the next match, perhaps Kaif will. Rahul will be back as captain for the last match, it is up to him to decide what combination he wants to field.”Sehwag also came to the defence of his fast-bowlers, backing them to do well in the future. “There was a lack of experience in our bowling attack today. We were playing without Pathan, Agarkar and Sreesanth. RP Singh, VRV Singh and Munaf Patel don’t have a lot of experience, so they couldn’t deliver. I am sure if they play more regularly and pick up more experience along the way, they will definitely deliver the goods.”He was especially sympathetic to VRV Singh, who made his debut in this match but could not pick up a wicket and ended returns of none for 33 from five overs. “It is not easy to perform in your first international match. I remember when I made my debut, I only made one run. It is tough to perform on debut, you need to be lucky to be successful in your first match. Maybe VRV felt a little bit of pressure, maybe he was nervous. But he is a good bowler, and I am sure he will bounce back in time.”

“I don’t know what they are doing,” remarked IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi about Jaipur, his home team, after the first players’ auction in Mumbai on February 20. Of the nearly US$ 42 million that was spent by the eight teams on blockbuster names, Jaipur had spent only around US$ 2.95 million.On Tuesday, after the second auction, Jaipur spent just US$ 385,000 more but emerged with the biggest smile of them all.For a total of US$ 3.35 million – just half a million over what Chennai and Hyderabad spent for MS Dhoni and Andrew Symonds in the first auction – Jaipur’s Rajasthan Royals are looking quite formidable: Shane Warne, Graeme Smith, Younis Khan, Shane Watson, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Kamran Akmal, Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Kaif, Munaf Patel, Morne Morkel and Sohail Tanvir.”We have put together a great squad from the two auctions at our price,” Fraser Castellino, the CEO of the franchise, told Cricinfo. “I would call this a victory for us. Other teams have great squads too, but now I believe they may have overspent a bit. We believe we are well-placed now, as good as any of the other teams.”While spending just under three-fourths of the near US$ 5 million that the seven franchises have spent, Jaipur’s strategy of staggering their purchases across the two auctions seems to have worked.”We would like to be called a strategic franchise now,” Castellino said. “After today, few people will say we are a weak team. There were a lot of people who made fun of us last time. What they failed to understand then was we had a clear strategy, and we were as sure as they were that this was serious business.”On Tuesday, Jaipur started the ball rolling by picking up England allrounder Mascarenhas (US$ 100,000), with whom they had been negotiating for the last few days. Hampshire’s Twenty20 specialist was a last-minute addition to the auction after being cleared early on Tuesday morning by the county, which also has Warne on its rolls.Then, they bought Australian allrounder Watson (US$ 125,000), South Africa fast bowler Morkel (US$ 60,000) and Pakistan left-arm seamer Tanvir (US$ 100,000).Explaining the strategy, Castellino said, “Yes, there were good players in the first auction. But we also knew then that there were a lot of good Twenty20 specialists who missed out and who would come into play in the second auction. We targeted them this time, and our strategy has worked.”However, Jaipur could still run into some trouble with the second part of their strategy – tackling the minimum cap of US$ 3.3 million for the first auction in two attempts. While Castellino claimed that the cap covered the entire auction process and included the amount spent in the second auction as well, IPL governing council member IS Bindra told Cricinfo that the penalty for falling short last month “still stands”.”It was very clear early on that the first auction was just the first step,” Castellino said. “All the franchises knew then that there would be a second auction. And as far as we are concerned, we have crossed the minimum cap and adhered to the rules.”Jaipur now plans to rope in some more players from India, some of them through their Cricket Star talent hunt, steered by former India coach Greg Chappell.”We will be taking a few more players from India, especially through our Cricket Star programme through which we are currently talent-spotting across the country,” Castellino said. “If we find some exceptional talent we will fast-track him into the team this season, but there will be somebody from the programme in the team definitely next time.”

Johan Botha, the South African offspinner who had been suspended because of a dodgy action, has received support from his countryman and former offspinner Shafiek Abrahams. Abrahams, who played a solitary ODI in 2000, felt that the equipment used in England recently to evaluate Botha’s action was below standard and outdated.He also added that it was strange that Botha’s action was within the prescribed 15 degrees when he was tested in South Africa. “It is incomprehensible that Johan’s action has again been found to be illegal,” Abrahams told News24.com. “This is really laughable. He was tested several times in South Africa and his action was far under the prescribed mark of 15 degrees. However, in England it appeared well over the mark.”Even with the naked eye one can see his action looks good. A bowler’s action cannot change so much overnight. There are many other bowlers in world cricket whose action does not look as good as Johan’s.”There are many more cameras and other equipment at the Institute of Sports Sciences than at the ICC’s centre,” said Abrahams. “I know people at Cricket SA are unhappy about the test. They are drawing up a report. Much money has been wasted to have Johan tested.”Tim Noakes, head of the Sports Science Institute at Newlands, was also baffled by the result of the recent test. “The result of the test [done in England] shows that Botha now bends his arm more than he did when he was originally tested in Australia. This means all the work we did during the past few months has made his action worse,” Noakes was quoted as saying on the Supercricket website.Noakes was doubtful about the English test. “This is not a simple test in which the guy’s arm is measured while it is flat on the ground. You measure the movement in his bowling action, and that happens very quickly. You have a specific model that you have to use. The Australians in Perth use the same model as we do. The people in England use another model.”Noakes also claimed that when Botha was tested in Cape Town for the first time after the test in Perth, the result was almost the same. “The difference between the results was less than half a degree. In science, you try, as far as possible, to repeat tests in precisely the same manner to obtain the best results.”Botha’s action was reported in his debut Test against Australia at Sydney in January 2006 and he was suspended after tests in Perth. He will again be tested at Newlands on Thursday. If his action is shown to be legal, Cricket SA will request that he be tested again in Perth.