"I Do get Frustrated", says MS Dhoni

The frustration does not show but Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Wednesday said he does get upset at times when a teammate makes a
fielding mistake.

"I do get frustrated at times when a mistake is made on the field. But I feel there's no point in abusing him there. I prefer to go back into the dressing room and point out his mistake. That helps him more," Dhoni said after unveiling the Indian team's new one day kit -- bold blue in colour -- along with other teammates.

Dhoni described the forthcoming tour of New Zealand as a tough assignment but said whether at home or away, international cricket was always a difficult proposition.

"It's better to start as underdogs (in a series). It's going to be tough, but international cricket is tough whether at home or away. We have heard how beautiful it (New Zealand) is. We would enjoy the tour and hopefully would come back with a couple of trophies.

"We don't bother whether we are playing Sri Lanka or any other country", he said.

Dhoni, meanwhile, made it clear that he did not intend to try bungee jumping in New Zealand as his contract prohibits him from doing so.

IPL Auction Rocks: Flintoff & Pietersen gets Millions

England players Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff fetched $1.55 million each at the Indian Premier League player auction Friday, setting a record for the highest amount paid for a player in the Twenty20 competition.

Flintoff was snapped up by Chennai Super Kings, which last year set the previous record of 1.5 million for Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Bangalore's Royal Challengers secured Pietersen.

Bangalore's owner Vijay Mallya said he was prepared to pay more for Pietersen.
``It was a very worthwhile investment,'' Mallya told reporters after the first round of bidding.``Team balance was important and Kevin was certainly important in maintaining that balance.''

Vinod Kambli into Politics

The Stylish Former Indian cricketer from Mumbai ,who has a quite proven record on his back and a close friend of little master Sachin Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli, the former cricketer is all set to start his political innings, on Wednesday announced that he will be joining the “Lok Bharti Party”.

“Education will be my main focus”, he said. He also has plans to float his own sports academy.

Related Story : Ex-Skippers into Politics

--Gopi

Harbhajan: Chappell didn’t want to listen

After Sehwag’s comments on former India cricket coach Greg Chappell’s trust worthiness. Now, India’s spin lead, Harbhajan Singh come out saying that he was now happy with many things when Chappell was there and he lost his self confidence during Chappell’s tenure as coach

"(Under him) our mind was not working properly. He put a lot of doubts in my mind and in other players' as well...that you know you are not good enough..." Harbhajan told a television news channel.
"Lot of things was happening and we were not happy with lot of things," he said, refusing to delve into the details.
"If you see the record, I think we have done wonders in the last two years. But if you see when he was around, we didn't play well at all. We hardly won anywhere," Harbhajan said.

Ref: IndianExpress

--Gopi

Sourav Ganguly: 200% Fit to play both forms of Cricket

Sourav Ganguly might have walked into the sunset of his cricketing career, but the former India captain today said he is still good enough to play both forms of the game at the international level for at least a year.

Asked if he is still good enough for international cricket at 36 years of age, Ganguly replied, "Two-hundred percent." "I think I am still good enough for both forms of cricket. I played my best in my last years. If I had played, I could have easily continued for at least one or one-and-half years more. "But that's not possible now, though. One has to accept the fact that retirement was part and parcel of a sportsperson's life," Ganguly said.

"I have Indian Premier League to look forward to. But turning out in the IPL could not be compared to playing for India," he added. Ganguly was speaking at a function to release 'Dada Tantra', a book based on him and authored by sports journalist Goutam Bhattacharya.


Ref : IBNLIVE

Modi : No Pakistani Players in IPL

As the player’s auction for next season IPL is nearing, Modi today confirmed that there would be no players from Pakistan will be part of second season IPL, which will start on April.

In the wake 26/1l case, Pakistan government has advised its players not to travel India for IPL season as the situation in both sides of the border is not conducive for Cricket, though earlier PCB has given "No objection" to the players to be part of IPL.

Modi also said they will not put any Pakistani player up for auction for the next edition of the twenty20 league which starts from April this year.

Five Pakistan cricketers--Yasir Hameed, Yasir Arafat, Asim Kamal, Danish Kaneria and Mohammad Hafeez--were due to appear in the IPL player auction at the Indian state of Goa on February 10.

The twenty20 extravaganza is starting from April 10 this year and top players from almost all Test playing nations are expected to participate.

Ref: TOI

--Gopi

Sourav Ganguly Becomes Judge in his new innings

The classic southpaw of West Bengal and a Most Successful Skipper "Dada" Sourav Ganguly is all set to become a judge for a reality show in NDTV Imagine to select a bunch of cheer leaders for his IPL team "Kolkata Knight Riders" along with the team over SRK (Shah Rukh Khan). The Cheer leaders team is named as "Knights and Angels". As we all know Ganguly is not new to Television , it is well known that during his primetime in Cricket he was part of many programs on ESPN-STAR Group.

Accepting all the compliments and wishes from his fans with his trademark smile he commented , "I am not starting on a career in entertainment. As the captain of my IPL team, Kolkata Knight Riders, I have been told to select a cheerleading team who will take part in the second season of IPL. Called the Knights and Angels, the show has selected girls from across the country to take part in the competition. We start shooting from the third week of February"
For Sourav's die hearted and crazy fans this will television program will be a treat to watch.

Ref : http://businessofcinema.com/news.php?newsid=11754

--Gopi

Ex-skippers all set to play their second Innings in political Field

As BJP already tasted the success of former "King of Cricket" Navjot Singh Sindhu’s Political charisma, Now Karnataka BJP is all set to rope in former Test Skipper, Spin Wizard, “Jumbo” Anil Kumble for the upcoming Lok Sabha Election, whether he can prove his mantle in political field is something that should be wait and watch.

When just retried people can get into politics then why not our old horses, a player and a captain who is well known for his wristy style batting and cool composure captaincy, our infamous Md.Azharuddin has showed interest to contest in his home land Hyderabad from a congress seat. These ex-captains can come into fray then why not the former captain and former selector Vengsarkar. Vengsarkar has met Shiv Sena leader Uday Thackeray to discuss about his plans on politics esp. on the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

“It is just a tip of Iceberg, more to follow”, general grapevine from political parties.

Ref : IBNLIVE

--Gopi