Dhoni snubs media as India prepare for Kiwi series decider

Friday, 14 February 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: India cricket officials shut down any questions about a fixing scandal ahead of the series deciding second test against New Zealand with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni a no show for the traditional captain’s pre-match media conference on Thursday. A committee set up by the Supreme Court found Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of the country’s cricket board chief and an official of the Chennai franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL), guilty of illegal betting during last season’s Twenty20 competition. The scandal surfaced last year when former test bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and two other local cricketers were arrested on suspicion of taking money to concede a fixed number of runs. With India 1-0 down and facing their first series loss to New Zealand since 2002, Dhoni, who plays for the IPL’s Chennai team, was expected to attend the news conference by the local and travelling Indian press contingent. He was instead replaced by opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan for the team’s only media conference ahead of the match at Wellington’s Basin Reserve. A team official also refused to allow any questioning on matters other than the test and when one reporter tried to ask how the team had prepared for the match with reports of the IPL scandal swirling in India, he refused to allow Dhawan to answer and shut down the conference shortly afterwards. New Zealand won the first test in Auckland by 40 runs last Sunday though Dhawan said his side had drawn confidence from their bowlers’ third innings performance and better batting in the fourth innings of the match. Pacemen Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan ripped through New Zealand’s second innings, dismissing the hosts for 105 before India’s batsmen, led by Dhawan’s second test century, had pushed them to the brink of a remarkable victory. “The last test match, we fought back really nicely and that second innings we batted really nicely,” Dhawan said. “There are lots of positives to take from the last test match, so it is helping build our confidence. “We have got very good fast bowlers. Hopefully they can repeat that (performance) and get them out for a low score. “We are confident and looking forward to the match.” New Zealand enter the match riding high, having won their previous three tests, which started with an innings and 73-run rout of West Indies on a green Basin Reserve wicket last December. “It looks bit greener than what we had against West Indies,” New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said of the current wicket being prepared for the match. “It looks a bit harder as well. Hopefully with a bit of pace and bounce and some sideways (movement) too.” “Although what worked for us best against West Indies was the ability to swing it in the air.” “Hopefully we will be able to generate that swing and that will be key for us.” New Zealand enter the match with two debutants in batsman Tom Latham and all-rounder Jimmy Neesham having started the last three test matches with an unchanged lineup. Latham has replaced Ross Taylor, who has been released due to the impending birth of his second child, while Neesham has replaced leg spinner Ish Sodhi because of the pitch conditions. Neesham is more known for his batting than his bowling but with three front-line pace bowlers in Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner, McCullum has the option of two medium-fast bowlers in Corey Anderson and Neesham and he said he wanted to attack no matter what the match situation. McCullum has already said he would bowl if he won the toss, something he has been unable to do in six successive games against Dhoni, and the New Zealand captain jokingly believes he may call incorrectly again on Friday. “Yeah it is likely to go against me,” a laughing McCullum said. “We would obviously look at bowling if we win the toss. “We will play to our strengths and with a bit of luck we can generate some pace and bounce on this wicket.” Despite McCullum’s bad luck at the toss, New Zealand have managed to recover from horrendous starts in their first batting innings, battling back to post scores of 441, 349 and 503 in their last three matches. “We have found ourselves in some precarious situations quite a bit this summer batting first and we have managed to come through it,” McCullum said. “With Neesham at eight we have quite a bit of batting.”

Big bids for R Dhawan and Karn Sharma

Railways legspinner Karn Sharma and Himachal Pradesh allrounder Rishi Dhawan became the two most expensive uncapped players on the second day of the IPL player auction. Karn, who played for Sunrisers Hyderabad last season, was bought back for a startling Rs 3.75 crores (US $625,000) while Dhawan went to Kings XI Punjab for Rs 3 crores ($500,000). It’s been a good few months for Karn as this payday comes on the back of his being named the under-25 Indian player of the year for 2012-13. A total of 84 players were bought by franchises today making it an aggregate of 154 across the two-day auction. Today, franchises spent Rs 50.25 crores ($8.38 million) taking the total spend to Rs 262.6 crores ($43.8 million). The second day of the auction saw most franchises contest fiercely for the lesser-known Indian domestic players to build their squads after they had bought the core of the team on Monday. Maharashtra batsman Kedar Jadhav (Delhi Daredevils, Rs 2 crores), South Africa fast bowler and top wicket-taker in this season’s Ram Slam T20 Beuran Hendricks ( Kings XI Punjab, Rs 1.8 crores) Delhi allrounder Rajat Bhatia (Royals, 1.7 crores), Karnataka opening batsman Mayank Agarwal (Daredevils, 1.6 crores), MP and India fast bowler Ishwar Pandey (Chennai Super Kings, 1.5 cores), Punjab batsman Gurkeerat Singh (Kings XI, 1.3 crores), Gujarat fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah (Mumbai Indians, 1.2 crores), Mumbai seamer Dhawal Kulkarni (Royals, 1.1 crores) and Karnataka opener KL Rahul (1 crore, Sunrisers Hyderabad) were the biggest earners in the morning. This is was the first time uncapped players were brought into the auction - a move welcomed by all franchises who said it provided a level-playing field for everyone in the wake of the controversies in the past seasons when teams would lure players with under-the-table deals and offers.

IPL in India with SA as alternative

ESPNCricinfo: The IPL governing council today finalised a window of 9 April to 3 June for IPL 2014 and indicated that India remained the venue of choice. However since the tournament is expected to clash with the federal elections in India, IPL officials said South Africa would be the “preferred” alternative. A final decision will be taken only after a meeting between the organisers and officials of the Indian Government. “We are considering so many options with regards to the venue. We are waiting first for the home ministry to check the possible dates,” Sanjay Patel, the BCCI Secretary, told the media after the IPL governing council meeting on Thursday. “As far as possible our interest is to hold the IPL in India. Then, probably, South Africa is the preferred venue at the moment. The second option is also there and the third option is also there.” Last week, reports indicated that the IPL organisers had shortlisted Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa as potential alternative venues. Patel and Ranjib Biswal, the IPL chairman, clarified that as far as possible the BCCI wanted to hold the entire tournament in India but would consider shifting matches to South Africa if the need arose. Biswal said he was looking forward to meeting the federal government, possibly in the following week, to check on the feasibility of holding the tournament in India. “We will be speaking to the officials in the Government of India and the Home Ministry,” Biswal said. “We want to hold maximum number of matches in India and if we get the green signal (from the Government), then probably the whole tournament can be played here.” Asked what factors he was looking to address during the meeting, Biswal said it was mostly to do with availability of security and dates. Both Biswal and Patel stated that the IPL had kept all the eight franchises in the loop. This was confirmed by the franchises, who said they had countered the possibility of some matches being held abroad while assembling their squads.