Munaf Patel fined!

In the Irani Cup final, on Day 3 Rest of India fast bowler Munaf Patel had an altercation with Chopra of Delhi. This forced Delhi skipper Virendra Sehwag to intervene who was also abused by Munaf.

Subsequently Sehwag lodged an official complaint with the match referee. It was said that Sehwag returned to Delhi at the end of day 3 though Delhi is still batting at 113 for 3 chasing 378.

Match Referee Jadeja enquired and said to have sent the report to BCCI. The unofficial news is that Munaf Patel found guilty and was fined 75% of his match fee.

This is not the first time the pacer is involved in an incident like this. He was found guilty of verbally abusing Gamini Silva after the umpire turned down the leg before wicket appeal.

Jadeja said, "Delhi was represented by coach Vijay Dahia, while Rest of India was represented by Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and Munaf."

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Kirsten and Kumble in Ganguly's Dropping?

It is rumoured that one more time the coach of the Indian team has played role in Ganguly's omisison in the team. This time, it was the role of Kirsten. It was rumoured that he proposed the suggestion to the skipper Kumble and he agreed to it.

Kumble was not ready to drop either Dravid or Laxman. So, he has to decide against Ganguly.

The tough compeition may have forced Kumble to take this decision...probably, not his fault!

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

Mallaya defends sacking Charu! Blames Dravid!

The owner of Bangalore Royal Challengers, Vijaya Mallaya has come out open and blamed skipper Dravid and defended his decision of firing the CEO Charu Sharma.

He said, both Dravid and Charu were not rejecting the players that he opted during the auction. He selected few players and both of them were scepital about those players. They wanted few players and made me take them, the frustrated owner said.

"My biggest mistake was to abstain from the selection of the team, "Mallaya has been reported as saying.

"Since Dravid is an iconic player, I trusted his judgment But after the final list my friends told me it looked like a Test team. But I bakced both of them thinking that they advised me properly. Unfortunately in cricket, unlike any other sport, the captain is the boss," stated Mallya.

He further added that, "at the end of the day, people need to understand that the IPL has a corporate side to it, and a very definitive corporate side. It is not at all cricket in the traditional sense."

The trouble started in the second auction. "When Rahul Dravid was not present in the second auction, I wanted to acquire some players but Charu Sharma was very tentative about them. I mean I bought Misbah-ul-Haq because I was determinded to do it. There were other players I was discouarged about," Mallya said.

In the first acton too, attended by all three-Mallya, Charu Sharma and Dravid, few players were not picked as per owner's wish. "I was very tempted to bid for players whom I wanted but they held me back."

On Charu Sharma's sacking, Mallya said, "He was appointed CEO because I thought he understood cricket and he would add value to the team and the entire Royal Challengers initiative. But when I was questioning the performance of the team, all I was told was that practice facilities are bad, then I was told there was no bonding in the team...so everything was balmed on a particular event or lack of infrastructure."

Once the failure hits the team, the differences of opinion and the gap in the team comes out open. This is anothe example where the owner has come out open lashing out at the skipper and former CEO. The new CEO is Brijesh Patel.

Hayden Not to Sledge Sreesanth or Bhajji!

In an interview to the online website, Hayden said the slapping incident between Harbhajan and Sreesanth is a stray incident and did hurt him. The game is bigger than any player and he loves the game.

He also said that he will not use this to sledge either Sreesanth or Harbhajan. He said that it is between them and it has nothing for him to comment on.

"I was very upset, I just think we play this great game, in a great competition and both these guys are young men with enormous responsibilities as two fine players and prospects for the country that adores cricket and its cricketers," he said.

He said, Australia has been branded as the master of sledging. But that is not true as every team has few players who also sledge other teams. He said, for India, Harbhajan, Sreesanth and Robin Uthappa.

For India, he surprised by adding Robin Uthappa to the list.

As far as sledging, he said, you choose the target. I never say anything to Sachin, Rahul, or Kumble or anyone like that. I believe they have marked the test of time. I have enormous respect for them. You start it with the player who is new, less experienced and you do not know whether that guy has the skills to deal with it.

He finished by saying, he entered the game like that, a guy not sure whether he will be able to deal it!