Cricket Fever

Bradman cap may break auction record.

2008-12-02T05:25:00.000-08:00

Bradman cap may break auction record
Indo Asian News Service, December 01, 2008

Sydney, Dec 1(IANS): The `Baggy Green´ cap won by legendary Don Bradman on the 1948 `Invincibles´ Ashes tour has been placed an estimated price of $600,000 to $750,000 by its auctioneer and could well break the auction record.

`I defy anybody who tells me anything in Australian sport that is more important or has a higher status,´ auctioneer Charles Leski was quoted as saying the Sydney Morning Herald. The auction is set to take place Dec 15.

`This is the single most valuable item we've ever auctioned - sporting, Australiana, across the board,´ Leski said.

The cap is accompanied by a memo signed by Bradman in 1996, declaring `on his twelfth birthday I gave Richard Robins one of my Aust. XI caps´.

Robins´s father, Walter, played 19 Tests for England and was described by Bradman as his `best pal in the cricket world´ - despite bowling the great man with a googly to which Bradman offered no shot in the 1930 Trent Bridge Test.

Serisier, a 47-year-old retired banker from Coffs Harbour, bought it prior to auction in 2003, amid a campaign to return it to Australia.

A Bradman bat was recently sold for a world record $145,000.

Legal action might be the only option - Kapil

2008-10-19T22:59:00.000-07:00

New innovations at ICL?

Kapil Dev said the umpire review system, which the ICC is now trialling, was started by the ICL. They also have some more innovations in the pipeline. "We also plan to award nine runs for a 90-yard hit," he said. "And we are thinking about abolishing overthrows if there is a direct hit while going for a run-out."

Kapil Dev, the ICL chairman, has said taking legal action would be the only option left if the ICC doesn't respond to the league's bid for official recognition at its next board meeting, possibly in November. The ICL had issued a letter to the ICC to convene a board meeting after the talks with the BCCI failed.

"I think we are on very good ground as far as a legal case goes," Kapil said. "Eventually we will do that [take legal action]. "We are not the ones who are enforcing bans on players or umpires."

Subhash Chandra, chairman of the Essel Group, which owns the ICL, and Himanshu Mody, the league's business head, had met BCCI president Shashank Manohar and N Srinivasan, the board's secretary, in New Delhi but the talks barely lasted 15-20 minutes and they failed to arrive at a common ground.

Manohar met officials of the ICL for the first time since the league was set up in April 2007 after its request for recognition came up for discussion at the ICC board meeting in Dubai earlier this month. It was decided at that meeting that Manohar would provide a written report to the ICC board "in due course" after discussions with the ICL.

Kapil said he was unhappy with the way the talks were conducted. "I wasn't there but I believe they said 'you shut down the ICL then we will talk'. There is no point in talking after that. We will now wait for 21 days to decide our future plan of action."

ICL 20-20 Indian Championship, 2008/09

2008-10-19T22:50:00.001-07:00

ICL 20-20 Indian Championship, 2008/09

TEAM	MP	W	L	NRR	PTS
Royal Bengal Tigers	3	3	0	+1.124	6
Hyderabad Heroes	2	2	0	+0.917	4
Chennai Superstars	3	2	1	+0.884	4
Chandigarh Lions	2	2	0	+0.313	4
Lahore Badshahs	3	1	2	-0.079	2
Delhi Giants	2	1	1	-0.550	2
Ahmedabad Rockets	4	1	3	-0.726	2
Dhaka Warriors	2	0	2	-0.719	0
Mumbai Champs	3	0	3	-0.725	0

Batting Records in ICL

2008-10-19T22:48:00.001-07:00

Batting Records in ICL

Statistics	In 20s	In 50s
Most Runs	Ganapathi Vignesh (697)	Jai Prakash Yadav (387)
Best Average	Shane Bond (50)	Dheeraj Jadhav (77.75)
Best Strike Rate	Azhar Mahmood (174.19)	Abhinav Bali (129.57)
Most 100s	Alok Kapali (1)	Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (1)
Most 50s	Ambati Rayudu (4)	Jai Prakash Yadav (3)
Most Sixes	Ganapathi Vignesh (31)	Hemang Badani (14)
Most Fours	Ganapathi Vignesh (79)	Abhinav Bali (33)
Most Ducks	Chris Harris (4)	Baburao Yadav (2)
Highest Individual Score	Alok Kapali (100)	Monish Mishra (122*)
Most Sixes in an Inning	Imran Farhat (8)	Abhinav Bali (6)
Most Fours in an Inning	Dinesh Mongia (9)	Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (9)
Highest Score on Debut	Wavell Hinds (59)	Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (104)

Published Date: Oct 19, 2008

ganguly's spectacular career

2008-10-17T01:49:00.000-07:00

The Ganguly story in numbers

After his 12-year international career, the stats indicate that Sourav Ganguly has largely fulfilled the potential that was obvious in his Test debut

S Rajesh

October 10, 2008

With more than 18,000 international runs under his belt, Sourav Ganguly is among the finest cricketers to play for India © AFP

When Sourav Ganguly first made his presence felt in international cricket, with two hundreds in successive Tests in England, there was every indication that Indian cricket had unveiled a batting giant. Twelve years later the numbers indicate that he has largely fulfilled his potential: as a one-day player he can easily be counted among the best, and though his Test record isn't as glittering, it's still one that he can be very satisfied about. Add his dynamic captaincy, which brought India unprecedented Test success, and it's clear that Ganguly has had an international career he can be mighty satisfied about.

If there's some regret, it'll be that in Test cricket he didn't quite shine with the same incandescence as two other big names he has always been associated with - Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. In his first 30 Tests, there was every indication that Ganguly was pushing towards greatness in Tests too, as he averaged more than 50 in his first three years. In the next 20 games, though, he slumped so badly that his overall average plummeted to 41, which is where it plateaued through the rest of his career.

Break-up of Ganguly's Test career
Period	Innings	Runs	Average	100s/ 50s
First 30 Tests	50	2281	50.68	7/ 11
Next 20 Tests	36	874	27.31	0/ 4
Next 59 Tests	94	3733	42.42	8/ 19
Career	180	6888	41.74	15/ 34

Around the time his Test form dipped, however, his performances in ODIs soared: between October 1999 and June 2002, Ganguly scored 11 centuries and 18 fifties in 76 games, averaging more than 49 at a strike-rate of nearly 80. After that, though, the numbers tapered off, with only four centuries in his last 116 matches, and none since the 2003 World Cup.

Break-up of Ganguly's ODI career
Period	Runs	Average	Srike rate	100s/ 50s
First 119 games	4255	40..52	69.81	7/ 28
Next 76 games	3446	49.22	79.71	11/ 18
Last 116 games	3662	35.90	73.26	4/ 26
Career	11,363	41.02	73.70	22/ 72

The ODI match-winner
When Ganguly scored runs in ODIs, India usually ended up on the winning side. Batting at the top of the order was a huge advantage, and Ganguly made it count, averaging more than 55 in ODIs that India won. Those are numbers that put him in elite company: among batsmen who scored at least 2500 runs in wins, only five have a higher average. Eighteen of his 22 centuries came in victories, which converts into an impressive percentage of 81.82.

Batsmen with highest averages in wins in ODIs since 1995 (Qual: at least 2500 runs in wins)
Batsman	ODIs	Runs	Average	Strike rate	100s/ 50s
Brian Lara	99	4701	66.21	90.84	12/ 29
Michael Bevan	144	4190	65.46	75.98	5/ 31
Sachin Tendulkar	159	8163	60.46	91.27	27/ 39
Shivnarine Chanderpaul	97	3575	57.66	76.70	5/ 27
Mohammad Yousuf	157	6218	57.57	78.57	14/ 40
Sourav Ganguly	149	6938	55.06	77.87	18/ 41
Nathan Astle	92	4254	54.53	77.41	14/ 26
Saeed Anwar	92	4308	54.53	84.57	9/ 30

Last-innings survivor
His Test stats are less impressive, but there's one area where he has topped Tendulkar, Gundappa Viswanath, VVS Laxman and Mohammad Azharuddin. In the fourth innings, Ganguly averages 36.43 - not a particularly remarkable stat in itself, but quite notable when compared to the figures that the other Indians have posted. Tendulkar only averages 33.12 in the last innings, and Laxman 30.04. Among Indian batsmen, Ganguly's numbers are bettered only by Sunil Gavaskar and Dravid.

India's batsmen in fourth innings of Tests (Qual: at least 20 innings)
Batsman	Innings	Runs	Average	100s/ 50s
Sunil Gavaskar	33	1398	58.25	4/ 8
Rahul Dravid	42	1288	47.70	1/ 9
Sourav Ganguly	31	838	36.43	1/ 3
Gundappa Viswanath	24	668	33.40	1/ 4
Sachin Tendulkar	44	1060	33..12	2/ 3
Mohammad Azharuddin	22	610	32.10	2/ 1
VVS Laxman	26	631	30.04	0/ 4
Dilip Vengsarkar	25	613	29.19	1/ 3

Partners in run-making
In his first Test, Ganguly stitched together partnerships of 64 and 94 with Tendulkar and Dravid, and these two batsmen remained his most prolific partners. Of the 38 century partnerships he was involved in, 21 came with either Tendulkar or Dravid.

Ganguly's partnerships with the big three in Tests
Player	Innings	Runs	Average stand	100/ 50 stands
Sachin Tendulkar	68	3990	61.38	11/ 16
Rahul Dravid	67	3245	53.19	10/ 12
VVS Laxman	38	1570	41.31	5/ 6

The story is similar in ODIs, though the numbers are even more impressive. The average partnership with Dravid was slightly higher, but with Tendulkar he amassed 8227 runs, which is easily a record for most runs by a pair. For the first wicket the two added 6609 runs, another record.

Ganguly's partnerships with Tendulkar, Dravid and Sehwag in ODIs
Player	Innings	Runs	Average stand	100s/ 50s
Rahul Dravid	88	4363	50.14	11/ 18
Sachin Tendulkar	176	8227	47.55	26/ 29
Virender Sehwag	65	2606	42.03	7/ 11

King of spin
Ganguly penchant for slow bowling, especially of the left-arm variety, is well known, and the table below bears out just how good a player of spinners he was. He averaged more than 48 against them in Tests since 2002, and almost 65 against left-armers. That figure would have been even higher had Brad Hogg not dismissed him four times when India toured Australia in 2007-08.

Ganguly against different bowling styles in Tests (since Jan 1, 2002)
Bowling style	Runs	Balls	Dismissals	Average
Pace	2295	4185	58	39.57
Spin	1403	2573	29	48.38
Left-arm spin	713	1198	11	64.81

Leading leader
Ganguly did plenty as a batsman, but arguably his contribution as captain was even greater. His record of 21 wins and 13 defeats in 49 Tests gives him a win-loss ratio of 1.61, which is the best among all Indian captains who have led in at least 25 Tests. Dravid is next with a ratio of 1.33.

Even more impressive, though, is Ganguly's record in overseas Tests: in 28 games he led India to 11 wins, which is almost 37% of all overseas victories by the team. (Click here and scroll to the bottom to see the entire list and here for his record as ODI captain.)

Comparing India's captains (Qual: led in at least 25 Tests)
Captain	Tests captained	Won	Lost	Win-loss ratio
Sourav Ganguly	49	21	13	1.61
Rahul Dravid	25	8	6	1.33
Sunil Gavaskar	47	9	8	1.12
Mohammad Azharuddin	47	14	14	1.00
Kapil Dev	34	4	7	0.57
MAK Pataudi	40	9	19	0.47
Sachin Tendulkar	25	4	9	0.44

The one glaring black mark in his stats is his record in both forms of the game against the leading team in the world: in ODIs against Australia he averages 25.43, with one century in 23 innings; in Tests the average is 31.73, with one hundred in 36 innings. He won't get an opportunity to rectify his ODI numbers, but over the next month he'll hope he can improve his Test stats significantly.

Cricket Masala: Harbhajan against Australia

2008-10-16T23:55:00.001-07:00

The Bad Boy of Team India

The turbunator of Team India Harbhajan Singh is looking forward to some quality pitches, quality balls and zero misbehaviour in the forthcoming Inda vs Australia cricket test series. The four match Test series starts on October 9.

"Yes, I'm sick of all the bad-boy crap," Harbhajan said.

"I've no interest in hearing about how controversies follow me wherever I go," he said. "I'm going to stay away from all that."

Harbhajan even mentioned about learning from past mistakes and trekking the road no taken.

"It's always important to learn from your mistakes. I've learnt my lessons, good and bad; the good things teach you stuff as well."

In case you didn't already know of Harbhajan Singh's hot temper, Harbhajan was was slappeda ban for the racial abuse of Andrew Symonds during the astoundingly ridiculous Sydney Test match in January 2008. Team India threatened walk away from the series if he wasn't absolved.

During the IPL series Harbhajan got into some more hot water after he slapped fast bowler Sreesanth. He was suspended for 5 ODIs.

Harbhajan also talked about his long rivalry and undeniable fear of Australian Captain Ricky Ponting.

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Ponting will struggle some more and keep his record in India intact. Otherwise, he is such a strong player that if he gets going, he just keeps going."

IPL pads up for Bangkok meet

2008-10-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

A possible player transfer window around December and a player auction in January may be on the cards ahead of the next season scheduled for April 10-May 29 © AFP

The future shape of the IPL will be decided in Bangkok over the next three days when league officials and representatives of the eight franchises meet to discuss several issues that will impact those involved. The issues include a possible upward revision in the US$5-million purchase cap for cricketers, a change in the limit of foreign players in a team and the fluctuating dollar rate that could affect player payments by some franchises.

While "kicking off the next season" of the hugely successful Twenty20 tournament, the meeting from October 17-19, the first of its kind after the hugely-successful first edition in April-June this year, will also finalise details of a possible player transfer window around December and a player auction in January ahead of the next season scheduled for April 10- May 29.

Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, said the meeting would "address a range of issues including a review of the last tournament and share the experiences of various stakeholders". He, however, did not discuss the details of the meeting, except to clarify that "nothing has been finalised on the salary cap" and that the franchises were bound to honour their contracts with players.

"At this point, all I can say is that there will be many suggestions and any decision will be taken only at the meeting," said Niranjan Shah, the previous BCCI secretary and IPL's new vice-chairman.

Franchise representatives said they would discuss a proposal to raise the salary cap by US$2 million to help them gain from the next player auction with the availablity of more players from abroad, notably England. "Most of the teams, except Jaipur (it spent only US$ 3.3 million and picked up most of its players in the second, lesser-value auction), have neared the US$5-million cap already and can't spend any more on new players. Besides, the transfer window could see a lot of action and teams will look to have some cash in hand to spend on players who are available," said a franchise representative.

Most wanted

Rise in salary cap for players by US$2 million, to help franchises gain from the next player auction by adding more value to their squad
Decision on the fate of 'unwanted' players - do they remain in the squad or are they moved to a transfer pool so other franchises can still buy new players?
A solution to the dollar-rupee situation which was originally pegged at Rs 40 to the US dollar and has led to an almost 20% difference in the value of foreign players
Increase in number of foreign players in a squad to 10 which may help accomodate players from England

Another proposal to increase the number of foreign players in a squad, currently around eight or nine per team, to 10, may also be considered.

The discussion on the transfer window will also decide the fate of "unwanted" players - those who have not performed in the first edition or those who do not fit into the franchises' gameplan for the next. "If a franchise tries to sell a player but has no takers, even at a reduced price, does he remain in the squad or is he moved to a transfer pool so other franchises can still buy new players?," a representative said. "The franchise will still need to pay the player as most players have three-year contracts."

Another concern for the franchises would be the exchange rate situation which has led to an almost 20% difference in the value of foreign players. Also, while some franchises have been paying their foreign players in rupees, converted later to dollars, with Rs 40 as the conversion rate, a falling rupee has meant those players getting less than the original guaranteed sum in dollars.

"The problem lies in the two sets of contracts are in force for the IPL. While foreign players have signed 'dollar contracts' the Indian players contracts' are in rupee terms. The contentious point is that the franchise-IPL agreement specifies US$ 40 as the basis of all payments, while the franchise-player contracts are silent on the conversion rate," a representative said.

Officials associated with the IPL, however, maintained that if the franchise had signed a dollar contract, it was bound to stick to the terms, irrespective of the rate. "Besides, this is an issue that can cut both ways. What if the dollar drops to Rs 36, won't the franchises stand to gain?" an official said.

Though the franchises dismissed talks of forming an association to put forward their views forcefully before the IPL governing council, they will be expecting a lot of answers in Bangkok which will be key to their strategies as they pad up for another season of the IPL.

Talks with ICL 'have failed' - BCCI

2008-10-16T10:21:00.000-07:00

Talks between the BCCI and the ICL have failed, a statement from the Indian board has said, putting a question mark over the league's bid for official recognition. The terse statement did not offer any reason but said there were no plans for any further meetings.

N Srinivasan, BCCI secretary, said the two sides "failed to arrive at a common ground" during their meeting in New Delhi.

ICL officials, however, could not be reached for comment. The league was represented by Kapil Dev, the chairman of the ICL board, and business head Himanshu Mody.

The Indian board agreed to meet officials of the unsanctioned ICL, for the first time since the league was set up in April 2007, after its request for recognition came up for discussion at the ICC board meeting in Dubai earlier this week.

Since its inception, the ICL has been strong opposition from the BCCI, which has banned players associated with the league from all forms of official cricket and barred them from using any of its facilities. The ICL has, meanwhile, been pressing the ICC unsuccessfully for official recognition of their venture for several months. Subsequently they requested the ICC for a meeting, and Subhash Chandra, who owns the league, met David Morgan, the ICC president, in London last week to present its case.

The ICC board adjourned a decision on the ICL at its meeting in Dubai, asking BCCI president Shashank Manohar to conduct talks with the officials from the league.