BCCI Backs Players! Refuses to Accept Norms!

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has set the for a fight with the cricket's governing body--ICC on the doping norms for players.

Now, ICC has to wait till the next meeting with Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA), other World Players' Associations and officals of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Indian players are also not happy with the norms as it conflicts with the security policy of the players!

The Indian players in the list are: (Men) Dhoni, Harbhajan, Gambhir, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag, Yuvaraj Singh, and Zaheer Khan; (Women) Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj.

ICC Tries to Convince Teams!

ICC is trying to convince Australia, England, New Zealand about playing in the champions trophy. These teams were not ready to participate in the Champions Trophy 2008 stating the current situation Pakistan.

They were not convinced about the security of the players and all the players are worried about playing in Pakistan.

South Africa was considered as the second option, but ICC finally decided to stay with Pakistan. After this decision, Australia, England and New Zealand continued to say that they will not be participating and ICC is talking with each team.

Ponting is not sure about his team's participation. New Zealand continues to remain with their decision of not participating and ICC is not able to convince them yet.

Indian Squad: Sachin and Harbhajan in; Yuavaraj and Pathan dropped!

The Indian team Test Squad was announced. The team is touring Sri Lanka starting July for 3 Test Matches and 5 ODIs. As expected, Sachin has returned from injury. He played against South Africa in the first test and did not play the in remaining two tests. He has made another come back from the injury.

Harbhajan, who was banned for slapping Sreesanth in the IPL match, also made a come back.

Dhoni, who opted to take rest is also sitting out and will be back for the ODI. So, he is not available for half of the tour.

The other top stars of Indian cricket, Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman also part of the test side.

Yuvaraj Singh and Irfan Pathan were dropped for their poor form in Asis Cup. Also, they did not contribute in the South African tour.

Rohit Sharma and Ojha were given the chance this time.

The Squad:

Anil Kumble (Captain), Virender Sehwag (Vice Captain), Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Zaheer Khan, VVS Laxman, Pragyan Ojha, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, and Sachin Tendulkar

Players are Tired! Tight Schedule! - Dhoni

The Indian Skipper Dhoni has come out open during the post match presentation during the Asia Cup match against Bangladesh. The team dropped few catches and missed fielding few shots.

For a question the fielding lapses, Dhoni said the team is tired of playing back to back matches.

He said, "we were a bit disappointing, but one of the reasons for it is that we have played cricket for 36 of the last 84 hours."

He added, "back-to-back games make it really tough for the players. I am not really happy with the schedule: two teams are playing back-to-back games, and two teams are not. Under these conditions it is really tough, you are playing cricket throughout the year, and then you play back-to-back matches. You could make out from the start the intensity was not there. I was tired on the field," Dhoni said. "Not only me, every individual was tired."

Now it is upto the board to look into the genuine issue brought by Dhoni and address it properly! Will they do it?

PCB Unhappy with Pakistan Team!

The letter sent by PCB chairm Ashraf has clearly stated that the PCB is not happy with the performance of the team against India. The letter said that the defeat of 140 runs is a devastating defeat and should have never happened.

It questioned the committement, fire, dedication of the captain, coach and other team players.

They wanted the team to improve the performance in the next match.

ICC Seeks Explanation on Kanpur Pitch!

The ICC has received a copy of the match referee's poor report on the Kanpur pitch and is now waiting for a response from the Indian board on the same. But the BCCI played down the issue of what Mickey Arthur, the South African coach, called a "poor cricket wicket".

"It's a normal process where the match referee submits a pitch report to the ICC at the end of the match, a copy of which is also given to the board," said Ratnakar Shetty, the board's chief administrative officer.

South Africa beat India by an innings and 90 runs in Ahmedabad on a bouncy track but lost the Kanpur Test by eight wickets after their batting line-up crumbled on an under-prepared surface. Both matches ended in three days.

"This is not the first time that a match ended in three days," Shetty said. "Definitely there were suggestions for some corrective measures but I don't think it was a notice to the BCCI."

Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, said a letter had been sent to the BCCI seeking an explanation on the pitch.

Dhoni in trouble again!

Dhoni is into trouble again but this time for sacrificing an animal. The previous controversy was surrounding the swimming pool he was constructing. The people in the surrounding areas were against this because the swimming pool requires huge water. So, if it is constructed, the entire village would face water shortage. The case was referred in the court through a PIL (Public Interest Litigation).

Recently he sacrificed an animal in the temple and it was pictured and published in the media. The animal welfare organizations were against it and creating noise over this issue. It was said that he did it as a contribution for winning the Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia.