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6th May 2011
Shivnarine Chanderpaul straight-batted the West Indian Cricket Board (WICB) once more with his straight talk.
Speaking to Line and Length, a local radio station, the seasoned campaigner slammed the West Indian management as ‘interfering’.
“I think, given the opportunity, I might have got bigger scores. Every time I settled in and started to get runs, messages would come telling what to do and what not to do, how to bat and how not to bat.” said the Guyanese.
(An article on CricInfo highlights that Chanderpaul is among the top five batsman of his era to do well against the top team,Australia. I guess it’s much like telling Sachin Tendulkar how to bat.)
Chanderpaul complained that the executive members of the board had already arrived at a decision to get rid of the senior players.
“I see Christopher Gayle in the gym working, Sarwan doing extra work. All of us doing extra work and yet we’ve been cast aside just like that.”
It will be interesting to see if Chanderpaul is named in the Test squad following his latest outburst.
“Horses for courses” is the mantra English selectors have taken to heart while appointing skippers for all three formats of the game.
Andrew Strauss leads the Test side, Alistair Cook will whip the ODI team into shape and Stuart Broad will be the face of the Twenty-Twenty side.
Some time ago, the very idea of separate captains was considered heretical. It is, however, a sign of the changing times.
Modern cricketers have varied choices and no longer feel the need to prove themselves in all forms of the game.
Is the day far-off when teams have different coaches for Tests, ODIs and T20s? For all practical purposes, domestic players who play the IPL and just ODIs deal with three mentors; a coach for their state teams in the three and four-day version, the national coach for the ODIs and franchisee-appointed coaches in the IPL.
Shane Warne announces his retirement from the IPL. He may continue in the capacity of coach or advisor with the Rajasthan Royals.
Given his cricketing acumen, would Warne be a worthy successor to Duncan Fletcher? Is that looking too far ahead?
In the celebrations and rejoicing at Saurav Ganguly’s return to the IPL via Pune Warriors, what was conveniently overlooked is that the former Indian skipper is a director with Sahara Adventure Sports, the franchise owner.
Another clear conflict of interest—if true. Will A C Mutttiah take a hand? Isn’t that a bit like paying yourself, what’s that again, 400,000 USD?
Chris Gayle is proving his worth for Royal Challengers Bangalore with a vengeance this IPL summer. Another century against Kings XI Punjab ensure that the Mohali side are never in the game, post the first innings.
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7th May 2011
Dilip Vengsarkar announced his candidature for the post of President to the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA). He will challenge current incumbent Sharad Pawar.
Vengsarkar was chairman of the national selection committee prior to Krishnamachari Srikkanth. He is credited with the rise of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul will play a practice game on May 8 and 9 in Georgetown.Chanderpaul , however, will not turn out for Guyana against Pakistan before the Test series begins.
Kolkatta Knight Riders put it across defending champions, Chennai Super Kings, in a rain-curtailed game at the Eden Gardens winning on application of the (beleaguered?) Ducksworth-Lewis rule. KKR need another win to cement their place in the playoffs.
Mumbai Indians were ruthless in charging to the top of the points table, ensuring themselves a playoff spot. Delhi Daredevils were completely outplayed by a superior team on the day.
Unlike the previous three editions, interest in the final few games—for already qualified teams—will not abate.
The winner of the playoff between the top two teams makes the final. The battle continues.
8th May, 2011
South African cricket is not left untouched by sordid happenings in the running of the IPL under its former commissioner Lalit Modi.
Ousted Board President Mtutuzeli Nyoka returns to Cricket South Africa (CSA), victorious after being vindicated in a court battle. Nyoka was earlier dismissed for charging chief executive Gerald Majola with pocketing a large bonus as payment for holding the IPL in South Africa in 2009.
Is day-night Test cricket on the anvil?
Cricket lovers will soon learn when the ICC Cricket Committee meets this week at Lord’s. ‘A vision in pink’ is hardly how Test batsmen would describe a Dale Steyn thunderbolt in the changed circumstances, should the innovation be approved.
ODI followers and Ireland fans are more interested in the review of the decision to reduce the number of Associate nations in the 2015 World Cup .
A highly forgettable encounter (for Mahela Jayawardene) between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kochi Tuskers Kerala was salvaged somewhat by the environment-conscious (friendly?) fresh lime-green uniforms of the hosts and another exhibition of pyrotechnics by Chris Gayle that included a 37 run over off Prasanth Parameswaram.Those watching the game will never forgive me if I fail to mention A B De Villiers electrifying keeping behind the stumps.
For RCB, it’s five wins in a row; can they keep the momentum going?
Pune Warriors India ended their losing streak only to extend Kings XI’s string of consecutive defeats to five.
Robin Uthappa was the saving grace for PWI in their earlier games.
Adam Gilchrist must be wondering what went wrong. His side’s fortunes wax and wane with Paul Valthaty. Shaun Marsh is the other bright spot.
But then, all it needs is one high impact player to imprint his mark and the skipper can smile again. Ask Daniel Vettori.
Duncan Fletcher will be in Chennai to help the selectors arrive at a decision on the composition of the Indian team for the Windies tour.
Quote of the day:
Love is the difficult realization that something other than oneself is real. – Iris Murdoch
Make Time For Sports. 
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