Sehwag Quits Delhi Captaincy! Gambhir to Take Charge!

In a surprise move, the Indian dashing opener Virendra Sehwag announced that he wanted to concentrate on batting and hence quit captaincy. He will not be the leader for Delhi Daredevils anymore.

"I would like to thank GMR for their understanding in accepting my request to step down. Personally, I would like to concentrate on my own batting and contribute to the team. Gautam did a great job of captaining Delhi and also during IPL-2 in South Africa this year. He has shown very good leadership skills and will bring fresh energy to Delhi Daredevils," Sehwag said.

Though GMR, the owner, tried various options, they decided Gambhir to the apt man for this job. Dinesh Karthick was appointed as his deputy.

"Viru has been a source of great strength and inspiration to the team. When he expressed a desire to step down in order to fully focus and concentrate on batting, we respected his decision and accepted his request," said Srinivas Bommidala, chairperson of GMR Sports.

On his selection as captain, Gambhir said: "I am delighted at my selection by GMR as captain of Delhi Daredevils and I am committed to deliver my best. I have always looked up to Viru. He has been a guide and friend for me. It is always difficult to fit into the shoes of someone as illustrious as him.

"I have led Delhi in the past in Ranji Trophy and we won the title. I have also had the opportunity to lead the Delhi Daredevils in IPL-2 when Viru was injured. It was an enriching experience and hopefully I can put into practice all that I have learned. I can always turn to Viru for any advice, as also to the other seniors in the team. We have had great camaraderie on the side and this will help reach greater heights."

So, for the Champions League and the next year's IPL, Gambhir will lead from the front for Delhi Daredevils!
(Image Credit: Internet)

Indian Team Announced for Tri-Series and Asia Cup!

The Indian Team for the tour to Bangladesh to play the Tri-Series with Pakistan and the home team Bangladesh and also for the Asia Cup was announced today.

With Sachin Tendulkar annoucing himself not available due to groin injury, Ganguly and Dravid did not make a come back. They are still not part of the one day squad.

Yousuf Pathan and left arm spinner Ojha have been included and it is going to be a very good opportunity for them. The performance of these young players in the IPL should have given the confidence to the selectors.

The team:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Gauam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, RP Singh, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha

First IPL Attracts People!

The first version of the IPL 20-20 is a grand success. The cricket lovers from all over the world are enjoying the game and it attracted big mass from the Indian citizens.

It would be the first time ever that a Indian cricket lover from Chennai or Hyderabad or Delhi wanted Sachin to get cheaply, if not in zero.

It also had the relationship built across cricketing countries like Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, etc. The Indian plyaers shared the hotel rooms with foreign players and it should have improved the relationship.

The young Indian players had the opportunity to learn the culture of other countries and also the art of cricket from the experiened players like Gilchirst, Ponting, Fleming, McGrath, Lee, Shoaib Akhtar, Jayasuriya, Ntini, Muralitharan, Pollock, Smith, Warne, Gibs, Watson, Hayden, Sachin, Ganguly, Dravid, Dhoni, etc.

Though fair play award was announced, there were few stray incidents that happened which no one liked:

Harbhajan slapped Sreesantha and was banned for the remaining IPL matches. When the incident happened, Mumbai had 11 more matches to play. He lost 3 crores of Indian Rupee which is the match fee. He was later banned for 5 ODIs by the BCCI.

Warne complained that Ganguly was not sportive after Ganguly made Warne and his team wait in the hot sun for five minutes. Ganguly also did not accept the umpire's verdict when he was caught at mid wicket. He forced the umpire to refer the third umpire which ruled in favor of Ganguly because the replay was not conclusive. Later, the umpire was suspended for one match for listening to the player and not taking his own decision; Warne and Ganguly fined 10% of match fee.

Bangalore Royal Challengers owner Vijay Mallaya fired his CEO Charu Sharma for the poor performance of the team. Brijesh Patel was brought in as new CEO. He openly critized both Charu Sharma and captain Rahul Dravid for not allowing him to pick the players he wanted during auction.

Mumbai Indians franchise owner launched an official complaint against the third umpire Suresh Shastri for the poor decisions. One run out was not given for Kings XI Punjab and a run out was given during Mumbai batting. Sachin mentioned that he those two runs could have saved the game for Mumbai Indians.

The media reported a rift between Kolkata Knight Riders owner Sharukh Khan and the skipper Ganguly over couple of issues. It was reported that SRK approached Ganguly to help him by talking to West Bengal CM on Entertainment Tax issue. The only ground in which entertainment tax is applicable is Kolkata and with Knight Riders playing 7 of their matches in that ground, forced to pay the tax, which SRK wanted to avoid. Ganguly did not help him. The other issue is about the decision of batting first or second in the match against Chennai Super Kings. SRK wanted Ganguly to bat second, but Dada batted first. Kolkata lost it by D/L method by 2 runs.

We have to wait and see how this tournament will be taken forward after the current T20!

Read: Man of the Match List

Read: Points Table

Read: IPL Scores Table!

No need to prove to anybody: Akhtar

After ripping apart the Delhi Dardevils top-order with a tornado-like opening spell in his maiden Indian Premier League outing, Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar said he had put everything into his bowling and had 'no points to make to anybody'.

"I just wanted to win the game. I have no points to make to anybody," he said.

Facing quite a few controversies for the last few months, Shoaib said "I was stressed but put everything behind me".

The Rawalpindi Express thanked his teammates, coach John Buchanan, captain Sourav Ganguly and team owner Shah Rukh Khan.

"Sharing the dressing room with SRK and Sourav was fantastic. They backed me. And I am really happy to perform. They put faith in me. And I am happy to deliver".

On his performance, Akhtar said "For me, my team is the most important thing. Kolkata is my home team. Eden Gardens is my home ground".

Akhtar said "Whenever I play I give hundred per cent". On whether he had expected success on his first IPL match, he said "I gave my best, thankfully the wickets came".

"It has been four months since I played my last game".

"Things were going the right way. It was a team effort, even the fielding was great."

Ganguly said "He came to the country with lots (of things) happening behind him. But he showed lot of character".

Delhi captain Virender Sehwag, who became Akhtar's first victim, also paid tributes to the fast bowler.

"This is the best spell of Twenty20 bowling I have seen. He is a great bowler".

He, however, denied that the Delhi side was done in by Shoaib's pace. "We are used to pace. We are all international players. I, Gautam (Gambhir), and (Manoj) Tiwary".

Sehwag said "Actually we batted too positively against Shoaib".

Meanwhile, asked bout his youthful exuberance in the field during the day, Akhtar replied tongue-in-cheek "I hope the national selectors are watching".

Dravid says, T20 may not help in longer versions

"Success in T20 may not automatically translate into success in the four-day Ranji or Tests," Dravid, whose team will take on Kings XI Punjab here tomorrow, told a pre-match press conference here.

He said batsmen scoring runs in T20 cannot be rated as better player because they will need to prove themselves in the longer version of the game.

"T20 is unique and lot of young Indian players are excelling in this format. Whether they can take this confidence to the next level is debatable. It's not going to be easy and the skills with which you achieve success in T20 may not help you give you success in Ranji and Tests," he said.

He also said, "It's hard to rate what is a good performance in this format."

"Whichever team you are a part of, you want to win and want to do well," he said.

Dhoni into Singing!

Dhoni will be singing for the first time in an album! He will be singing in Hindi for his IPL team, the Chennai Super Kings. He has been roped in to get more attractions into the team and also for selling the CDs and most importantly attracking the kids.

Already, Dhoni is the hero in the minds of many young Indians and kinds.

By entering into music, he will surely be a competition to others! Guys, get ready to listen to Dhoni!

IPL Kicked Off in Style!

The much awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) was kicked off yesterday. The first match was played between Kolkata Knight Riders and Bangalore Royal Challengers. The first match was played in Bangalore and the ex-captains of India were leading each side--Ganguly was leading Kolkata and Dravid leading Bangalore.

For complete schedule, click here!

The eight teams that are competing for the championship are:


Bangalore Royal Challengers
Chennai Super Kings
Deccan Chargers
Delhi Daredevils
Kolkata Knight Riders
Mumbai Indians
Punjab Kings
Rajasthan Royals

Prasad and Robin Singh Stay!

The bowling coach and the fielding coach of the Indian Cricket Team has been retained for the forthcoming series against South Africa. It was said that the BCCI was not happy with them because they have signed IPL teams as coaches without consent from BCCI.

Venkatesh Prasad was retained after the improved performance in the bowling department during the down under series against Australia. He was signed by Vijay Mallya's Bangalore team and Robin Singh was signed by Hyderabad's team.

The speculation was that the new coach Gary Kirsten wanted his own men to support the Indian team in all the departments and BCCI was supporting the new coach. The post of the interim coach Lalchand Rajput is also under danger. It may be noted that this series of India against South Africa in India is the first official series for Gary Kisten as coach.

The official news is that, both Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh stay as bowling and fielding coach respectively.