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Match facts

Thursday, April 5, Kolkata
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Fun and games can wait•AFP

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They are team-mates, opening partners and friends, but on Thursday, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir will knock gloves only at the toss, and will proceed to lead their respective IPL sides against each other. Personally, and internationally, if you were to take out Sehwag’s ODI double-century, the duo has had an ordinary time of it. Gambhir hasn’t scored a Test century in two years; Sehwag last managed one in November 2010. In that regard this could be a no-win situation: if they do really well as captains here, it won’t make any difference to their current standing in international cricket, but failure will add up.Sehwag’s team, Delhi Daredevils, knows failure well from last year when they finished last. Kolkata Knight Riders’ upswing under Gambhir, though, took them to the fourth spot. Daredevils, who have more ground to make, will have to do without Mahela Jayawardene, Kevin Pietersen and David Warner for the first few games, which will be a challenge. Knight Riders are more settled in that regard, and should start as favourites, especially given the home advantage of a traditionally tacky surface.

Players to watch

Australia may or may not be relieved at his absence in the Test series, but Knight Riders are sure elated with their new acquisition, the all-sorts fingerspinner from Trinidad, Sunil Narine. His economy-rate of under five and average of under 15 speak for themselves.Daredevils have tapped the West Indies Twenty20 freelance market to their advantage too, acquiring the services of the explosive allrounder Andre Russell. Like with Narine, there is no point holding back Russell either.

2011 head-to-head

Knight Riders and Daredevils played each other just once last year. Manoj Tiwary’s 61 off 47 balls took Knight Riders to 148. Daredevils never came to terms with the slowness of the Kotla surface, and lost by 17.

Stats and trivia

Hashim Amla is “unlikely” to bat again or field in the third Test between South Africa and New Zealand after undergoing surgery to his groin. Amla was hit off the inside edge by Chris Martin when he was on 33 and received treatment on the field but continued batting for more than an hour, until he was dismissed for 63.”Hashim underwent emergency exploratory surgery resulting from blunt trauma sustained to his groin region,” Mohammed Moosajee, South African team manager said. “The surgeon is satisfied with the outcome and expects Hashim to make a full recovery.”However, it is unlikely that he will be able to take further part in the current Test at the Basin Reserve.” Amla spent the night at a Wellington hospital and was discharged this morning.After the first day’s play, South Africa assistant coach Russell Domingo said the blow may have affected Amla’s performance. Amla was out after top-edging a pull off Mark Gillespie in the first over after tea. “It was a really un-Hashim like shot and maybe he was affected by the blow he took,” Domingo said. “It may have limited his movement a bit. I know it hit him in the nether regions and has affected his lower back a bit.”Amla is the second South African batsman to suffer injury in the third Test. Jacques Kallis was ruled out of the starting XI with a stiff neck on the first morning after an incident that took place in training on Thursday. “He went down for a catch and sprained something in his neck,” Domingo said. “He had good treatment with the physio but hasn’t responded. We were hoping it would have loosened up a bit but it hasn’t.”Domingo called Kallis’ omission a “major disruption” because South Africa had to restructure their team balance. “You have to replace him with two players, Domingo said. South Africa’s final XI included an extra batsman and an extra seamer in JP Duminy and Marchant de Lange but they had to leave out frontline spinner Imran Tahir.

The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA), the English player’s body, has significant worries about the organisation of the recently completed Bangladesh Premier League, including anti-corruption measures taken, and is also concerned whether county cricketers who have appeared in the tournament will be fully paid following a competition dogged by controversy.The final of BPL was played on Tuesday with Dhaka Gladiators crowned champions against Barisal Burners. Phil Mustard, the Durham wicketkeeper, and Hampshire’s Kabir Ali were involved for Barisal while other county players, including Gary Keedy, Jason Roy, Niall O’Brien and Darren Stevens, have been involved during the tournament for various franchises. Jos Buttler, the Somerset wicketkeeper-batsman, was due to take part but was selected for England’s one-day and T20 squads to face Pakistan.There is no suggestion that any English players have been caught up in controversy during the event, but Sajid Khan, a Pakistani citizen, was arrested earlier this week following a game between Chittagong Kings and Barisal Burners in Mirpur in relation to match-fixing claims. Before the tournament started Mashrafe Mortaza, the former Bangladesh captain who led Dhaka Gladiators, reported he had been approached over spot-fixing. There was also a huge confusion over which teams had reached the semi-finals.”We had concerns about the competition from the outset,” Angus Porter, the PCA chief executive, told ESPNcricinfo. “We’re not comfortable with what has happened from an anti-corruption point of view although we had done as good a job as we could to ensure our players, and other players from FICA [Federation of International Cricketers’ Association] countries, had briefings and were aware of lines of communication if they had anything to report.”Now that the BPL has been completed the PCA’s main priority will be to ensure the players who took part are fully paid before starting to learn lessons from the tournament. “The major question remaining is whether players will get paid what they’re owed,” Porter said. “We briefed them very clearly on what the contract was that had been agreed between FICA and the organisers.”It included a schedule of payments, including money before they went, another chunk during and the final payment afterwards. As I understand some players are still waiting for their mid-tournament payment. It’s early to press the panic button but I am concerned whether players will get paid what they are due.”FICA, led by former Australia offspinner Tim May, of which the PCA is part of alongside the player bodies from Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies, insisted on being involved in the player contracts but it was the only element that the representatives were able to control and Porter said consideration was given to advising players not to join.”We did think about whether recommending people shouldn’t go but in the end thought it should be a matter for individual judgement and we gave people a fairly clear briefing that they needed to go in with their eyes open and a few things to watch out for.”The PCA will undertake extensive debriefs with the county-based players who have been involved and expects the same from FICA before their recommendations are put to the ICC. “It’s highly likely that FICA will do some kind of structured feedback from all the players with a particular focus on minimum standards and lessons to be learned,” Porter said. “I think we will make a representation to the ICC about the establishment of basic standards for this kind.”

The BCCI’s technical committee, chaired by the former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, has recommended a revamp of the domestic calendar, including advancing the Duleep Trophy to the beginning of the season, playing the Ranji Trophy knockouts over five days and revising the points system in the case of incomplete matches where a team fails to take the first-innings lead.These recommendations will come into play only after the board’s working committee rubber-stamps them.Under the rejigged domestic calendar, the season will begin with the Challenger Series, followed by the Duleep Trophy, Ranji Trophy, Irani Cup, and the one-day tournaments (Vijay Hazare Trophy and Deodhar Trophy), ending with the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (domestic Twenty20).Playing the Duleep Trophy early will give it more relevance, it is believed. “The committee decided that tournaments should be played in the right perspective: playing the Irani Trophy immediately after the Ranji Trophy makes sense as the Ranji Trophy winner can play the Rest of India,” Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s chief administrative officer, said.Effectively, it will also help the selectors pick the Rest of India squad for the Irani Cup. At the moment, the Rest of India squads are picked on their performance in the previous season. In 2006, the BCCI had pushed the Duleep Trophy to the end of the domestic season because the administrators then felt that the Ranji Trophy was a better platform to select teams for the zonal tournament.Bengal coach WV Raman said bringing Duleep back to the start of the season, as it was during his playing days for Tamil Nadu, was a positive step. “What this will do is allow players to play the duration games together,” Raman said. “At the tail-end of the season playing Duleep gets a bit crazy. When the changes were made to push Duleep late in the season they were made with the view to make people play as a team to win and also play in a format where you learned to handle pressure. So if those objectives still remain then what better way than to get in to the Duleep Trophy straightaway.”Ganguly and his nine-man panel also discussed the BCCI working committee’s proposal of playing the Ranji Trophy league phase at neutral venues. The idea was in response to the unresponsive pitches around the country, which, according to some, favoured the home team. But the panel felt carrying on with the existing home and away format in both the Elite and Plate groups was still appropriate.Shetty said that more thought would be given to the matter before any decision was taken. “The technical committee will wait for the meeting of the captains and coaches sometime in March to collect more views. There is even a proposal to call coaches of the state Under-19 teams before arriving at a final decision.”Another talking point at the start of today’s meeting was whether there would be a rethink of the points system in the Ranji Trophy, which currently awards teams for their first-innings lead. Aakash Chopra, part of the reigning Ranji champions Rajasthan, had been asked by Shetty to suggest improvements in the domestic cricket structure. One of his suggestions was changing the points system.But the committee decided to retain the three points a team earns from gaining a first-innings lead. It did, however, recommend that the Ranji quarter-finals and semi-finals be played over at least five days instead of four to determine a winner. Under the existing rule, if no team gets a first-innings lead, the side batting second would have to play a minimum of 30 overs and then the run-rate would determine the winner. “That was a bit unfair. What was suggested was an additional day would be a better way forward,” Shetty said.”If a first-innings result is not obtained at the end of the scheduled play in a knockout match, the match will be extended into an additional day. If the two first innings are not completed even on this additional day, the winner will be decided by the spin of a coin,” the committee’s release said.Also revised was the rule in case of an incomplete match where no team takes a first-innings lead during the league phase. Currently, if there was no weather interference, teams got no points. But under the new rule, they would get one point each. In case of a weather interruption, currently teams got two points each but the panel recommended no points should be given to either team.Meanwhile it was decided to allow fast bowlers the use of two bouncers in an over in the one-day tournaments, effective from the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy, which starts from February 20. Kookaburra balls will continue to be used in the Duleep Trophy. In addition, host associations will be docked two points if its pitch is deemed “underprepared” by the match referee.

Ashantha de Mel, the former Sri Lanka fast bowler, has been named the chairman of the country’s new selection panel, which replaced the one headed by Duleep Mendis. The appointment, made by the sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage, could be the first in a series of changes in Sri Lankan cricket, which could include the axeing of the coach Geoff Marsh and captain Tillakaratne Dilshan after the poor performance in South Africa.Don Anurasiri, Amal Silva and Hemantha Wickramaratne are the other members of the new selection committee, which has a one-year term. Although the tenure of Mendis’ panel was going to end in February, the appointment of the new panel will come into effect on January 20.Anurasiri is the only member from the old committee, but de Mel and Silva have served as selectors before. Wickramaratne, a left-hand batsman who played in three ODIs in the early nineties, is new to the role.Mahela Jayawardene is also likely to be asked to take over the captaincy from Dilshan after the South Africa tour. When asked in Kimberley, on the eve of the fourth ODI, whether he would accept the offer, Jayawardene said, “I will have to think about it. I will need some time.”The news about the selection committee came less than two hours after Aluthgamage denied a report in the , a Sri Lanka newspaper, that changes to the committee, captain and national coach would be made. “No decision has been taken so far to replace or to change the selection committee and the management of Sri Lanka Cricket or the captaincy of the Sri Lankan cricket team,” he had said in a statement.Aluthgamage, however, said it was the “responsibility of the Sri Lankan government and the Sports Ministry” to take “stern and appropriate action” to ensure Sri Lanka becomes “the number one team in the world.” Upali Dharmadasa, the president of Sri Lanka Cricket, has already been asked to submit a report to the ministry on the team’s poor performances since the 2011 World Cup.Sri Lanka struggled since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan in July 2010, winning just one Test over the last 18 months, though that was a historic maiden victory in South Africa. They have also lost one-day series against England, Australia, Pakistan and now South Africa after being runners-up in the World Cup.

Scorecard
Punjab had the unenviable task of facing the top two teams in the table away in their final two rounds of a tightly contested group. They will be satisfied with how the first of those matches have gone, after taking three points on the basis of a first-innings lead against Karnataka at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The one point Karnataka earned though was enough to keep them on top of the table. They are now through to the quarter-finals.A draw was the overwhelming favourite at the start of the final day, and there were few surprises as Punjab batted till almost an hour after lunch to leave Karnataka an improbable 351 to get in 49 overs. Uday Kaul made his second century of the season before Punjab ended their innings but Man-of-the-Match Mayank Sidhana was run out for 73 after looking good to get to a hundred. The only chance of there being an exciting conclusion to the match was if Punjab scored quick runs early on and set Karnataka a challenging target in the hope of pulling off an outright win, but there was no such intent from the visitors.Karnataka, already hamstrung by the absence of bowlers S Aravind and Stuart Binny, generously spilled chances in the field. Ganesh Satish, substitute Syed Moinuddin and KB Pawan all put down catches as Punjab cruised on the final day. Sidhana began confidently with several crisply driven boundaries and soon brought up the 100 of his partnership with Kaul. It was through a sharp bit of fielding, though, that the breakthrough finally came, Amit Verma firing in a direct hit from mid-on to catch Sidhana short.With Karnataka not even able to use Robin Uthappa as a medium-pacer – he was filling in as wicketkeeper for the injured CM Gautam – left-arm spinner KP Appanna had plenty of work to do, bowling unchanged through a two-and-a-half hour morning session. Kaul didn’t look as assured as Sidhana had, but he preserved, profitably using the cover drive during his century. By the time he reached the landmark, after lunch, chances of an outright win were nearing zero.It was not all gloom for Karnataka, though; fast bowler NC Aiyappa finished his comeback game with seven wickets. He was on a hat-trick soon after lunch when he sent the stumps of both Rahul Sharma and Harmeet Singh flying out of the ground. He wasn’t able to get a third next ball, but his form was an encouraging sign for Karnataka, who are without their three first-choice fast bowlers for the next couple of matches.Uthappa, who had fallen for a golden duck in the first innings, came out and whacked the ball around to pick up a quick half-century. Most of his shots were down the ground, including five sixes, and around tea the only interest was whether he would reach a hundred. He was bowled for 68 by Rahul Sharma, though, and the remainder of the match was about cautious batting as Pawan helped himself to a half-century.

Shivlal Yadav named team manager

Shivlal Yadav, the former Test bowler, has been named India’s team manager for four-Test series in Australia, which begins from December 26.

An offspinner, Yadav played 35 Tests and seven one-dayers between 1979 and 1987, claiming 102 Test wickets at an average of 35.09. After retiring, Yadav became an administrator. He had a stint as a national selector, and is currently a vice president with the BCCI and the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA). A HCA media release confirmed Yadav’s appointment as national team manager.

The Test specialists of the Indian squad will leave early for Australia, even as the ODI team completes its home assignment against West Indies. A board official told ESPNcricinfo that Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha are likely to be on an early flight, the exact date for which is yet to be decided. They will leave either on December 8 or after the BCCI awards function on December 10. India’s first tour game begins on December 15, eleven days prior to the Boxing Day Test.Laxman, one of India’s Tests-only players, welcomed the development. “Luckily for us we are going ahead this time, so we will get a lot of time and opportunity to get acclimatised to those conditions,” Laxman told ESPNcricinfo. “I firmly believe that how much ever simulation you do in India, it’s always important to get to Australia and get used to the conditions. The net practices and training sessions will be very critical for us to get used to the conditions as early as possible.”Personally, because of past experiences, you know if you do certain kind of drills it will help you to get used to the bounce. But it is not the same as actually batting there.” Laxman, though, didn’t know when exactly he will be flying and who he will be flying with.Unlike India’s last tour of Australia, when the team left immediately after completing a Test series against Pakistan, this schedule allows the Tests specialists more flexibility in their preparations. The last time, the BCCI attracted flak for arranging only one warm-up game; this time, India will be playing two warm-up games before they face Australia in the first Test in Melbourne.Last year as well, the Test specialists left early for the tour of South Africa, while the ODI side played against New Zealand at home.

Kamran Akmal, the Pakistan wicketkeeper, has said he is in favour of having the PCB check the assets and bank accounts of all of its players every six months to ensure that the players are clean.”I would support any move by the PCB to regularly check player assets and accounts,” Akmal told . “I say it should be a six month exercise. Only such an exercise can clean up our image and end these baseless allegations made against us all the time.”Earlier this month, three Pakistan players – Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir – were given jail sentences after they were found found guilty of conspiring to bowl pre-determined no-balls in the Lord’s Test against England in August 2010. Following the spot-fixing trial, the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit said they were considering new investigations based on information that came out during the trial.”I would welcome any move by the ICC to have a fresh inquiry based on evidence allegedly given in the spot-fixing trial in London,” Akmal said. “I am ready to make myself available to any investigation. Because I want this stigma to go away for ever.”The ICC and PCB cleared me to play for Pakistan but yet the media keeps on mentioning my name in relation to spot-fixing stories.”Akmal has had a controversial time behind the stumps for Pakistan over the course of his career and has been criticised for his shoddy wicketkeeping. He was dropped after the 2011 World Cup semi-final in which Pakistan lost to India, and his place was taken by his youngest brother, Adnan Akmal. He subsequently lost his central contract for the second half of 2011 as well, but said he is determined to prove his worth in domestic cricket and make a comeback.

East Africa Premier League

Rwenzori Warriors put themselves in an almost insurmountable position at the halfway point in the 20-over competition with a six-wicket victory at Kongonis, their third win over their main rivals in eight days. Led by a fifty from opener Rakep Patel, Kongonis posted a useful 158 for 4, but a 51-ball 71 not out from Rwenzori skipper Roger Makasa led a well-paced chase and the visitors eased home with seven deliveries in hand.That result opened an eight-point gap over Nile Knights, who beat winless Coast Pekee by six wickets. Pekee, who are slowly beginning to find some king of form, made 121, a total that the Knights passed with ten balls to spare.In the mid-table battle, Nairobi Buffaloes were made to work hard for their three-wicket win against Rift Valley Rhinos

East African Cup

Kongonis finally beat Rwenzori Warriors, in what was their fourth clash in nine days, by 69 runs and in so doing moved to the top of a closely packed table where only four points separates the leading four teams. Kongonis recovered from losing Patel to the second delivery of the day to score 194, and then 18-year-old Emmanuel Bundi ripped through the Warriors’ top order to leave them 38 for 4. A partial recovery was ended when Bundi claimed his fifth victim, top scorer Ronald Ssemanda – he finished with 5 for 44 as Rwenzori were eventually bowled out for 125.Nile Knights completed a winning weekend with a four-wicket victory against Coast Pekee in Mombasa, but again the home side showed glimpses they are beginning to come to terms with the competition. Pekee managed 177 for 9 in their 50 overs, and when the Knights were reduced to 129 for 6 an upset briefly appeared on the cards. But Davis Arinaitwe (26*) and Deusdedit Muhumza (26*) put on an unbeaten 52 for the seventh wicket to see the Knights home and keep them in second place.Rify Valley Rhinos need to win against Nairobi Buffaloes in Mombasa to keep in touch with the leading pack, but slid to a 17-run defeat to leave them six points adrift in fifth position. The Buffaloes seemed well set at 109 for 3 before losing their way and being bowled out for 179. The Rhinos lost wickets steadily to limp to 88 for 6, and while Ramesh Mepani (47) kept them in the hunt he found little support and was last man out with plenty of balls in hand.

India’s chances of even sharing a trophy during their painful tour of England vanished amid scenes of confusion and gamesmanship at Lord’s. As showers arrived in the closing stages of the run-chase India were the first side to find themselves ahead of the rate, then it was the hosts who edged into pole position before the final blows were struck. So in the end a tie looked the right result because a question emerges: did both teams go against the Spirit of Cricket – that principle so notably invoked earlier in the tour?”We just saw the ugly side of cricket,” MS Dhoni, the India captain, said. “Whichever team has the upperhand does not want to play and whichever team is not on the winning side will try to stick there to try and change the result. It is a part and parcel of cricket and both the sides did that.”When the first brief rain break occurred England were two runs behind the D/L par score of 235, with six wickets down, after 44 overs. Ravi Bopara and Graeme Swann were desperate to get on with the game, but the India captain MS Dhoni was reluctant to let Munaf Patel start his over. Understandably, Dhoni was being fussy about getting his fielders in the right positions. You cannot deny him that right. The England fans trumpeted their boos loud and clear. Two minutes later the umpires decided to stop play. Bopara and Swann, unimpressed, were reluctant to walk off the ground. Suddenly the rain ceased as a flash of sunlight sparkled across the green turf.By then the entire Indian team had left the ground and were on their way to the dressing-room. Only the umpires, Marais Erasmus and Richard Illingworth, and the two England batsmen stood on the field. Munaf even sat in the member’s seat as a thick air of intrigue suddenly hung in the air. Moments later India trundled back and the match resumed towards a tantalising end.”You just expect the rain to go off and somehow you want to get on to the field. Nothing much I could have done,” Dhoni said. “We tried to get back to the dressing-room and waited for the shower to finish,”Nine runs came off the Munaf over, which ultimately proved crucial as by now England were two runs of the par score with 39 needed from the final five overs. Now came the second interruption. This time the drizzle transformed into proper rain, forcing the covers to be spread straight away. Bopara and Swann zipped into the dressing-room, but the India players gathered in a huddle about ten yards inside the ropes at the Pavilion End. It was as if they were performing some sort of ritual that would stop the rain. But the rain dripped hard, forcing the visitors to finally leave the field.”It is human nature,” Alastair Cook, the England captain, said. “When you are ahead of the game and you have got to go off you are obviously going to be happier than the other team. It was quite clear when we came out the first time we wanted to go back out because we were behind and when we came off for the second time we were ahead. To be honest, we would’ve quite liked it to rain for another hour so we wouldn’t have had the last few hours. That is because the desire to win is so huge in both sides.”Cook, though, was fully behind the umpires which perhaps isn’t surprising as England clinched the series. “The umpires have an extremely tough job to know what’s heavy rain and what’s light rain,” he said. “But they were consistent when we came off for the first time and when we came off at the end. I don’t think we should have any complaints about it.”Bopara, the man responsible for rescuing England’s chase from 61 for 3, revealed he was aware of the D/L par score “over-by-over but not ball-by-ball.” Until he decided to swing Munaf over deep midwicket, Bopara had played his shots with care, composure and confidence. But he said he had to take a chance to make sure England did not panic in the final over.What he did not know was his wicket actually changed the match scenario completely. According to the D/L tables the par score at 48.5 overs, with seven wickets down, was 269. Once Bopara was dismissed with seven deliveries before the finish, the par score changed to 270. However, most of the players were unsure what was happening because the scoreboard had already ticked over to show the end-of-over D/L par score of 271.”Some of the guys were confused,” Dhoni admitted. “Some of them thought we had won it, for others they were still like ‘what is the scenario right now?’ Most of us thought it is just another passing shower and we would be able to get back on the field in whatever time. But once back in the dressing-room we had the final sheet of paper which showed the D/L par score and after that it was pretty much sure that it was a tie.”And this time there was no gamesmanship. India’s wait goes on.