All posts by csb10.top

.

In the end, there was a tear in his eye, and he left to a warm round of applause from journalists, not all of whom had been always adoring. Brian Lara’s final press conference was a mammoth affair and, among many memories, it carried enough hints about the circumstances that hastened his departure.”At least I had the opportunity to say goodbye”, he said, “I saw Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge, all these guys wanted to go that little extra step. Unfortunately they were not granted the opportunity to.”Lara chose not to answer directly what changed his mind about touring England as a Test player, but he repeatedly made it clear it had been his plan to tour. “I sat with the selectors in Antigua to pick the team for England, and of course I picked myself.”What had changed then? “West Indies cricket is at a stage where change is necessary,” he said, “We are most likely going to have a young captain, someone under the age of 30 years, and he will need to mould this team with the support that he needs.”I just thought there is no need for me to be out there. Physically there is nothing much I can do to help at present. It’s just a matter of allowing the team that change that is needed. Maybe this is just one of it. Maybe there is a lot more to take place. But I just see no reason for me to carry on at this present time.”Lara sometimes cut a slightly lonely figure on the field during his last match. There was a hug with Chris Gayle as the two crossed paths when Gayle was returning to the pavilion, but only Dwyane Bravo, a fellow Trinidadian whom Lara has nurtured, demonstrated his affection enthusiastically. English players welcomed Lara with a guard of honour when he came to the crease but there was no such salutations from his own team at the end of the day. On his last day at Sydney, Steve Waugh had his final parade on the shoulders of his team-mates; Lara hurried through stairs, past his team-mates, and disappeared into the Garfield Sobers Pavillion.Earlier in the day, he had been run out when Marlon Samuels hit the ball to mid-on, charged off the blocks before retracing his steps. When asked if Samuels had said sorry to him after the game, Lara pursed his lips, fumbled for words, and said nothing. “It would have to be a yes, or a no. So I will leave it.”He wasn’t rancorous, but the warmth was missing too when the subject of captaincy and board came up. “I hold West Indian cricket dear to my heart”, he repeated often, and promised that he was “not lost to West Indian cricket”, but it was apparent that there was a lot he was holding back. “The time for that is not now”, he said every time he was asked what in his opinion was wrong with West Indian cricket.The subject of his captaincy came up more than once but Lara wouldn’t be drawn into a discussion. “What I have to do is just wish the team and the new captain all the best, and try to persuade the West Indies Cricket Board to ensure that the captain and the team have the support that is necessary from them.”You might see eleven individuals out there and of course we are criticised all the time after we have a bad performance. But West Indies cricket goes deep and unless we lay a proper foundation, you know you are going to get that sort of performance out in the middle. On one day we are spectacular and can score 418 runs to win a Test match in the fourth innings, and the next day we can’t score 60.

“About that captaincy thing, I have no reason to be worried about it anymore. I just want to move on. My support is always going to be there. I have had an open-door policy with the players. They all know my number and they can call me at any point in time, for anything at all and I will be there to support them.”His eternal regret, Lara said, was that West Indies remained an abysmal team for the last 12 years of his career. “The most unfortunate thing in cricket is not achieving what I set out to do from the very beginning: to be a part of a successful team over a long period of time. I had a little taste of it when I started in 1989, and up till 1995. The last 12 years have been very disappointing.”That in itself is the sort of disappointment I have had. I am just very thankful to be able to break all those records. It has been a great honour to play for the West Indies, to hold a bat and to spend 17 years in international cricket. That is something I am proud of.”Lara didn’t rule out the possibility of playing county cricket or getting involved with the game in some way. “Right now, I am going to take a break. Maybe a week, maybe two weeks. Then I will look at options. I not committing to anything, or ruling anything out.”But first of all, I just want to move back a little bit, relax and wake up tomorrow, or next week or two weeks from now, knowing I can do what I want. I can pick my daughter up and take her to school and do many different things that I haven’t been able to do in the past. The future is there and I will have a lot of opportunities in front of me. But there is no reason to rush into anything at this present time.”

The Ranji Trophy quarter-final match between Jharkhand and Mumbai is likely to be shifted out of the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore in keeping with the BCCI’s attempts to ensure none of the World T20 venues are “fatigued” ahead of the tournament.While none of the other six World T20 venues has been allotted a Ranji Trophy knockout game, the KSCA has requested the BCCI to move the quarter-final out of Bangalore. KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel said it was done with a view to give the curators enough time to prepare the pitch ahead of the World T20.”We are going to give rest to our wickets,” Patel told ESPNcricinfo. “There is also the junior team which wants to have a camp here. We don’t have enough time to prepare the wickets for the World Cup, so we have requested the board. We are waiting for the board to respond.”While the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore is slated to host three Super 10 matches, none of the other venues for the Ranji knockouts – Visakhapatnam, Valsad, Mumbai (Brabourne Stadium), Vadodara, Cuttack and Pune – has been allotted any World T20 games. The Chinnaswamy Stadium had also played host to ten matches in the Vijay Hazare domestic 50-over competition recently, including two quarter-finals, a semi-final and the final.A BCCI source said the board was keen to make sure the pitches didn’t suffer from the after-effects of a long cricketing season. “The World T20 begins after a whole season of cricket,” the source said. “The idea is to rest the pitches and let them recover from fatigue so that they are ready for Twenty20 cricket. The BCCI is very keen to make sure the pitches are fresh and ready when the World T20 begins. That is why centres that are not hosting the World T20 have been given the Ranji knockouts, like Pune for example.”On the nature of pitches for the World T20, the source said the BCCI was intent on preparing pitches that were “conducive for T20 cricket.” “It should allow for runs to be scored with good bounce and carry,” the source said. “That is the specific instruction from the BCCI.” It is understood that there have been elaborate discussions on the pitches and overall ground conditions, and preparations are expected to go on for the next two months.Patel, while indicating that the match between Jharkhand and Mumbai would be televised, said the KSCA hadn’t offered any suggestions of an alternative venue. The BCCI source, however said, Mysore was the likely replacement. Alur, another venue in Karnataka, hosted a number of matches in the Vijay Hazare domestic 50-over competition recently, but Mysore is considered better equipped to handle the logistical challenges involved in broadcasting a game.

Queensland have given Shane Watson a boost in his bid to be an international top-order batsman with Jimmy Maher dropping from opener to No. 4 in the first-class arena this season. Maher is in his final campaign as the Bulls captain and has reduced his duties further to encourage the state’s emerging talent and Watson, who has signalled his desire to replace Justin Langer in the Test team.”It will be a tremendous opportunity for Shane to state a case for international honours,” Maher said of the move. “It also gives the young guys in the squad – Ryan Broad, Greg Moller, Chris Simpson etc – better opportunities.”However, Watson will have to wait for his first match of the home season as he recovers from a hamstring injury sustained during the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa. He is expected to be available for the games against New South Wales starting on October 24.Watson’s unavailability means Maher will open with Broad in Wednesday’s season-opening FR Cup fixture against Tasmania at the Gabba. Maher, who intends to continue as a batsman for a couple of years, wants to ensure a smooth transition when the squad’s large group of experienced players starts to stand down.”When I came into the squad I knew what was wanted of me and the Mahers and the Loves may not be around for a long time,” he said. “It’s best while we’re still here that we’re able to offer advice.” Martin Love is due to come back in November following two knee operations.One player who will benefit from Maher’s move is Broad, who impressed when posting 111 against Stuart MacGill on a final-day SCG pitch at the end of last season. Broad will play his third one-day match against the Tigers and was relieved Maher was dropping down the Pura Cup order.”I’d heard the rumours,” he said, “but it’s great that it’s official.” The Bulls will announce the side for Friday’s Pura Cup match against the Tigers on Wednesday.Tasmania’s bowling attack has been struck by injuries to Damien Wright and Luke Butterworth while Ben Hilfenhaus is on national duty. “They have stitched us up a few times in the last few years and the boys aren’t happy,” Maher said. “Now with Hilfenhaus out, let’s see how good their depth is.”Mark Divin, the allrounder, is in line to make his one-day debut two seasons after moving from the ACT. Chris Duval, who is originally from South Australia, is eyeing a first-class debut on Friday as he joins Brendan Drew, Brett Geeves and Adam Griffith in providing cover for Hilfenhaus.Queensland FR Cup squad Ryan Broad, Jimmy Maher (capt), Clinton Perren, Aaron Nye, Michael Buchanan, Craig Philipson, Chris Hartley (wk), Nathan Reardon, Chris Simpson, Ashley Noffke, Grant Sullivan, Andy Bichel.Tasmania FR Cup squad Michael Di Venuto, Tim Paine (wk), Michael Dighton, Travis Birt, George Bailey, Daniel Marsh (capt), Dane Anderson, Mark Divin, Xavier Doherty, Brendan Drew, Brett Geeves, Adam Griffith.Tasmania Pura Cup squad Michael Di Venuto, Tim Paine, Michael Dighton, Travis Birt, George Bailey, Daniel Marsh (capt), Sean Clingeleffer (wk) Mark Divin, Brendan Drew, Chris Duval, Brett Geeves, Adam Griffith.

Shane Warne will be the Indian Premier League’s most expensive signing, at a cost of US$400,000 for the first season, set to kick off in April 2008. The finance committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India met in Mumbai on Friday and approved several decisions taken by the IPL’s governing council regarding payment of its players.The fee quoted for Warne is the signing amount for him to be part of the player pool from which franchises will bid for the rights to employ players within their ranks. With Brian Lara reportedly being paid US$1 million to appear in the Indian Cricket League, and the market heating up over the two rival leagues, Warne and similar big-ticket signings could rope in well in excess of US$1 million, sources revealed.The second-highest signing-on fee has, not surprisingly, been paid to Glenn McGrath, whose nifty line-and-length bowling see him join up for US$350,000. Stephen Fleming, whose agents flirted with the ICL but in the end held back – to the extent that Fleming was one of those present at the IPL’s launch – also nets US$350,000.Mohammad Yousuf, who had reportedly signed with the ICL before being lured away by the Pakistan board – which made no effort to stop Inzamam-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq or Imran Farhat from joining the unrecognised league – has signed up with the IPL for US$330,000. A surprise entrant in the top five – and at the moment the list does not include current Australian or Indian cricketers – is Shoaib Malik, who is guaranteed US$300,000.The ICL, which is nearing the end of its inaugural edition, will hand out approximately Rs 18 crore [approx. US$4.5 million] in total prize-money for its 16-day tournament.The fees have been decided for only 34 of the 49 cricketers signed up by the IPL, sources said, and, of these, only 11 have received [partial] advance payments. The only player to receive payment in full is Yousuf, not surprising given that he was once a dead certainty to join the ICL. It is understood that McGrath is among those who have been given a sizeable advance.The 29 others who have received contracts:[All amounts in US$]
Australia Justin Langer 175,000
Sri Lanka Farveez Maharoof: 150,000, Kumar Sangakkara: 250,000, Mahela Jaywardene: 250,000, Muttiah Muralitharan: 250,000, Sanath Jayasuriya: 250,000, Nuwan Zoysa: 100,000, Dilhara Fernando: 150,000, Chaminda Vaas: 175,000, Lasith Malinga: 200,000
Pakistan Mohammad Asif 225,000, Shahid Afridi: 225,000, Shoaib Akhtar: 225,000, Younus Khan: 225,000
West Indies Shivnarine Chanderpaul 175,000
New Zealand Daniel Vettori 225,000, Jacob Oram 200,000, Scott Styris 150,000, Brendon McCullum 175,000
South Africa Loots Bosman 150,000, AB de Villiers 175,000, Albie Morkel 200,000, Graeme Smith 225,000, Herschelle Gibbs 225,000, Shaun Pollock 200,000, Ashwell Prince 150,000, Makhaya Ntini 175,000, Mark Boucher 175,000, Jacques Kallis 200,000.

Adam Gilchrist was weary but not exhausted. His baggy green, sweat-lined and with a desperately faded coat of arms, was more ragged than its owner. Relieved and happy that his Test career was over, he had been sad enough at tea that he bawled his eyes out to his team-mates.At the back of the Adelaide Oval’s indoor centre his large family watched him say goodbye. A baby squawked a couple of times and Gilchrist choked up when thanking his wife and children for sticking by him. The extended members of the clan huddled beside the television cameras and were partly responsible for him walking away. Over the past couple of years the new additions made him understand how much his life had moved on.A simple dropped catch of VVS Laxman on the opening day was the sealer. The moment of clarity arrived between the ball hitting his gloves and the ground. He quickly looked up at the replay on the big screen.”It made me realise in the ensuing 10 or 15 minutes that that’s it,” he said. “I’m not moving quite as well as I have, not just on the field but in training and my fitness. I just realised I didn’t have the absolute desperation that you need to continue to maintain your standards.”Gilchrist’s wicketkeeping, which he felt he had to defend throughout his career because of the high-quality work of his predecessors, had slipped over the past month. “I don’t think anyone in this room has missed the fact that I did miss a few chances this series,” he said. “It was bugging me and I couldn’t understand why.”He was enjoying the team, the change in leadership, the new players and was thinking of retiring from one-dayers to extend his Test career. Everything changed with the sound of a ball bouncing out from two gloves. After 96 Tests, a world record 416 dismissals and 5570 runs, he has finished.There were so many groups of people waiting for him throughout the day that he must have felt like a bridegroom. India’s batsmen and Australia’s fielders lined up on the ground in the morning, allowing Gilchrist to run through them, a reception which was repeated for the final session. Two catches were added to his tally and he was ecstatic as his team-mates converged.Stumps were called early and there was no rush to grab a wicket, but there was an urgency to reach Gilchrist. He waved, he hugged and walked off first, his team-mates staying on the field and applauding in a gesture that was symbolic of the months ahead. They will miss him for many reasons.After speaking for 20 minutes about his highs and lows a group of first-aid workers cheered and waited for his autograph. He was looking forward to celebrating with his family, friends and team-mates, and trying to finish the dressing-room speech he had to stop when overwhelmed by emotion.The camaraderie, passion and pride of the side were the things that stood out most during his 12 years in international squads. “The way that legacy is passed on is the most glaring strength in Australian cricket,” he said, “and I’m certain I’m seeing it happen in other countries as well.”In a career of so many individual and collective medals he chose another group moment as his best. Australia hadn’t won in India for 35 years when he was thrust into the captaincy after Ricky Ponting broke his finger during the 2004 Champions Trophy. “From that moment on I started to get nervous and had a few self doubts and considered not taking it on,” he said. “To captain that team for the bulk of the series and be part of the leadership group that constructed that was the highest point and greatest achievement of my career personally.”The magnificent 149 in the 2007 World Cup final sealed a third successive trophy and the drawn-out nature of the tournament weighed heavily on Gilchrist. Five days before he left for the Caribbean his third child was born. As the event wore on he was lonely and a long way from home. “That was one of the most difficult parts of my career, getting through the World Cup,” he said. “To pick myself up [for the final] was very special.”Australian audiences have another six weeks to say their goodbyes as he joins the CB Series circuit. He wants to excite people, but when he sensed the crowd’s demand for something special in his final Test innings he fell to a loose shot on 14. “If I keep thinking I’m going to entertain,” he smiled, “I’ll get knocked over very easily.”Gilchrist’s international career began as a specialist limited-overs player and he was pleased it would wind down in the same format. “I’m thrilled the way it’s gone, that I didn’t pull out of one-day cricket and then extend my Test career,” he said. “One-day cricket gave me a chance to make a statement to the selectors and to the world. That filtered into Tests. To now play the last part of my career in one-day cricket, I am so excited about it.”Having thanked his coaches, a group of close team-mates and those who had supported him since he was child, Gilchrist was almost ready to go to his family. They exited first and he followed slowly, being interrupted at almost every step. In March he will re-join them for good.

If you were walking across a Burma bridge, clambering up monkey ropes, swinging on a Damdama jhula and jumping over a khadda; you could either be a cadet going through an obstacle course at an army camp … or a student at the Rajasthan Cricket Academy under the observation of former India coach Greg Chappell and biomechanist Ian Frazer.It’s been a month and a half since Chappell was appointed director of the Rajasthan Cricket Academy and the emphasis has been on training young cricketers to be athletes.”The cricketer of the future is going to look very different from the cricketer of the past. We are looking for athletes who can play cricket,” Chappell told reporters in Jaipur. “We have seen the short version, Twenty20, really taking off and playing a bigger part in the international scene. The cricketer of the future is going to have more demands placed on him than ever before. It is being able to find that athletic talent and training that to the needs of the future.”What attributes should a future cricketer have? “Firstly they have to go beyond fear,” Chappell said. “They have to be accountable and they have to take responsibility to what happens to them and the team.”When pressed for an example of a future cricketer from the current Indian squad, Chappell said that he would rather not name anybody in case it was taken out of context but said players such as Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and Andrew Flintoff fitted the bill.

“They [cricketers of the future] are going to be athletic, strong, impact players. If you want to stand out in the future game, particularly as the game appears to get shorter, you have to be an impact player; you’ve got to be somebody who can impose themselves on the game.”Chappell believed that cricket was going through an exciting phase with the growing influence of Twenty20 cricket and the advent of the IPL in 2008. He said that the format could change the face of cricket.”The basic talent demands of the game won’t change, the physical and mental demands will. The identification and training process are going to have to change. The demands will be greater because of the distinct formats at the international level. Players will have to be flexible more mentally and physically then ever before. The best players have always been mentally strong and will have to be in the future as well.”The obstacle course at the academy is an attempt to provide a simple, low-cost and easily reproducible means of training strong and flexible cricketers. Chappell stressed the importance of such a system to develop fitness for it is easy to implement even in the districts where facilities and finances weren’t as easily available as in the larger centres.Chappell said he did not believe that there was a scarcity of athletes in India and didn’t think the training process would take much time once the students were identified.”It is important to start with the vision of what we are looking for. Once you establish that then you can save a lot of time looking for that type of player. If I have to give you a good guesstimate [I would say] between 18 months and two years before we start players coming through to the first-class level from a programme like this.”

Experience prevailed over youth as the star studded ONGC team pipped PCAColts XI by two wickets in the 7th JP Atray Memorial cricket tournament atthe PCA Stadium in Chandigarh today.The PCA Colts piled up a huge total of 318 for the loss of four wickets inthe allotted 50 overs. However ONGC managed to overhaul this challengingtotal for the loss of eight wickets with one over to spare.The Colts team opened through Gaganinder Garry and Ankur Kakkar. Theopening pair started off slowly, scoring 45 runs in the first 10 overs.Garry was first to go as he has caught brilliantly at gully, trying to cuta short delivery.Yuvraj Singh and Kakkar were in good nick. Yuvraj, fresh from his inclusionin the Indian team for the Nairobi tournament, placed the ball neatly inthe gaps. His knock of 60 included 10 elegant boundaries. Trying to boostthe scoring rate further, he was stumped off the bowling of VirinderShewag. By then he had put his team in a strong position as they were 142runs after 26 overs for the loss of only two wickets.Kakkar carried on merrily at the other end and completed his 50 off 72balls. The brightest part of the innings came when Pankaj Dharmani andSanjay Kumar came together at the crease with the score at 190 at the endof 35 overs. The two added 96 runs off just 77 balls. Dharmani was in fullflow as he smashed an unbeaten 96 off just 76 deliveries. He hit 12powerful boundaries and a huge six. Sanjay Kumar gave him good support insmashing 50 runs off 45 balls.ONGC XI got off to a flying start as openers Gagan Khoda and Sandeep Sharmahammered 80 runs off just 56 balls. Sandeep was in fine form, slamming 50runs off just 29 balls which included nine hits to the fence. Khoda alsoscored at a run a ball for his knock of 34. After the fall of these twowickets, ONGC lost three more wickets cheaply and they were down in thedumps at 117 for five. Mithun Minhas and Shewag however took the team outof the woods. Both scored half centuries to take the team to the doorstepof victory. Towards the end Md. Saif took charge with an unblemished 52runs off 62 balls to clinch the issue in favour of his team. Yuvraj Singhand Vineet Kumar tried their level best to change the course of the matchin their favour, but despite capturing three wickets each for 47 and 66runs respectively, they could not. Shewag was declared man of the match.

Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, says he is “worried” about the addition of Paddy Upton to Gary Kirsten’s coaching staff for India’s home series against South Africa, since the mental-conditioning specialist possesses inside knowledge on his key players.Arthur hoped Kirsten, the retired South Africa opener and the team’s former batting consultant, would do well as India’s new coach “except against South Africa”, but suggested that he was not so sure about Upton.”I am worried about Paddy Upton,” Arthur told Cricinfo. “I hope that he will respect the confidentiality of his relationship with the players, which is similar to a doctor-patient relationship because he has worked on the mental approach of most of our top six.”Kirsten took over as India coach on March 1 and recommended Upton to the BCCI, which is finalising the paperwork for a full-time contract.Upton, closely associated with Kirsten’s academy in Cape Town, has worked with most of the current South Africa players, including Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis. He was also South Africa’s biokineticist and fitness trainer in the mid-to-late 1990s, and a fitness trainer with the team from 1994 to 1998.”Gary is a genuine cricket man and I wish him all the best except against South Africa,” Arthur said. “Coaches analyse their opponents anyway so I not worried about his intimate technical knowledge of our players.”Arthur is currently in Bangladesh with his team for a two-Test series and three one-dayers. South Africa is expected to reach Chennai a few days after their Bangladesh tour ends on March 14, for the first of their three Tests against India.Asked to assess India’s performance during the recent Australia series, Arthur felt they had played particularly well. “They put pressure on Australia and seem to have developed a ruthless streak,” he said. Arthur, however, hoped that unlike in Australia, the forthcoming Test series would be “tough and uncompromising but played in the right spirit”.On the Indian Premier League, which follows the India series, Arthur said that while it was good for cricket, “there must be a window period for it in the international schedule.”

More bad news comes the way of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) as an interim report by a governance committee, appointed by the WICB to examine the structures of cricket in the region, has recommended doing away with the board as it is currently constituted.In a wide-ranging report, the Patterson Committee, headed by PJ Patterson, the former Jamaican prime minister, and inclusive of noted Caribbean figures, Sir Alister McIntyre and Ian McDonald, observed that there were a number of negative perceptions about West Indies cricket, “which, whatever their validity, we consider it necessary to address”.The committee identified some of those perceptions as being that the WICB is administered inefficiently; sponsorship deals are perceived as flawed; finances are in shambles; and funding does not reach territorial boards.As a result, the committee said: “The West Indies Cricket Board should give way to a more representative body.”The report, the final version of which is due next month, proposed that such a restructuring could occur in one of two ways. The first was the replacement of the WICB with a West Indies Cricket Commission.This Cricket Commission, it was proposed, would include all the major interest groups – the territorial boards, players and officials, women, the Caribbean Community, the private sector and civil society and would have a chairman, selected after the Commission had been set up. It also recommended that there be a body of nominees – from the cricket boards, the governments, the West Indies Players Association, past players, the regional private sector and the media – to “identify, interview and nominate directors” of the Commission.It further suggested: “If final selection [of the directors] is to be dominated by the territorial boards, it should be limited to the list of names submitted by the nominating body.”The second proposal involved the WICB being run as a publicly-listed company on the regional stock exchanges, with directors accountable to shareholders, and with an annual general meeting. The committee noted this format would “help to raise much-needed capital and give the Caribbean public a sense of ownership”.However, the Patterson committee also warned that with such an entity, “there would need to be safeguards against appropriation of the board by special interests. Caps would have to be set, and the voting power so arranged as to avoid control ending up in the hands of a limited number of persons and corporations or result in a populist system which could stultify effective decision-making”. But it urged a clear delineation between the role of the board as a policy-making and monitoring entity and that of the management staff as the executing arm, regardless of the format.Additionally, the committee outlined ten steps it felt needed to be taken, “with immediate effect”, to give new momentum to cricket reform and development in the region. The steps, the committee said, could be introduced by mid-2008.Among the steps are the establishment of a cricket academy; the selection of a group of 15 players “for continuous retraining and development over the next 12 months”; and the drawing up of a business plan and budget for 2008-09.

Nagpur is yet to produce a world-beating cricketer. Prashant Vaidya is the only international player from this city – CK Nayudu is from here, too, but made his fame in Indore – and his four one-dayers don’t really qualify him for the moniker, ‘Nagpur’s most famous cricketing son’. But Nagpur has managed to snag a famous son-in-law.And Rahul Dravid hasn’t given his in-laws much reason to complain – he averages 110.33 in four ODIs at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, including one century and three fifties. Around 15 months ago, he started his captaincy stint here, a game when India surprised Sri Lanka and began a roll.Now he returns, with his plans somewhat in disarray after watching India stutter in the last few months. His own form has been patchy and his team-building plans would have received a jolt after the 4-0 thrashing in South Africa. The sprightly youngsters didn’t seem to have the wherewithal to handle the heat; the battle-scarred seniors who’ve returned can’t inject any youthful zest.He has six matches to figure out the World Cup jigsaw, before the final 14 are selected; he can’t afford to lose too many games, and he is going to be facing a side that has the “psychological edge”.Amid all this confusion, with everyone expecting the usual diplomatic talk at the press conference, he revealed a forthright side. First up, he announced the 12 for tomorrow; next he named the openers, something he’s rarely disclosed in the past; then he explained why; later, he candidly argued for Virender Sehwag’s exclusion, stating that being out of the side can have its benefits. No wishy-washiness, no verbal gymnastics, just a forthright session where he laid out his cards.”When I’ve got runs, it’s made a difference to the side,” he said without a second thought when asked about his lean patch. “I was happy with my form till I broke my finger in South Africa. But it was a strange tour for me. It’s not easy to miss four weeks in the middle of the tour and then to come back. Things didn’t go as well as I would have liked in the Tests as well. In a close series, one key innings can change the series. It’s not about the number of runs or averages. It’s about getting the critical innings when it matters. It didn’t happen but we need to pull up our socks and move on.”

The Virender Sehwag question wasn’t avoided. Did it make sense to not play Sehwag, when it was almost certain he’d make the World Cup squad? “Veeru [Sehwag] when playing well, when he’s in a good state of mind mentally and physically, is an asset,” said Dravid. “Sometimes, playing games helps but sometimes a bit of time off – switching off mentally – can be beneficial as well. The selectors have taken a decision and we need to respect that.”Veeru’s been playing quite a bit of cricket,” he continued, “and sometimes being away from the game can do you a world of good. As far as I see it, the best players must go to the World Cup – in terms of form and fitness. It’s not reputations that we need to go by. We’re very close to identifying key players for the World Cup squad. You must have a key group and we’ve identified them a while back. There have been a few form blips, a few fitness issues – obviously some spots available for selection – but we have a good idea of our plans.”He admitted that Robin Uthappa was unlucky to miss out, adding “Gautam’s been on the South Africa tour recently and did well. We thought he deserved an opportunity first.” He accepted that there were only two options with the bowling department – either five specialist bowlers or four bowlers and three part-timers in Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Suresh Raina. Listening to Dravid, it was tough to imagine that here was a captain in need of urgent solutions, trying to rediscover a consistent winning formula. But this was Nagpur after all.