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.

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

Harbhajan Suspended for until Hearing!

A BCCI press release has just landed: "Based on prima facie video evidence as seen and reviewed by the match adjudicator and referee Mr. Farokh Engineer from the tapes provided by Sony & TWI. A decision has been reached to suspend with immediate effect Mr. Harbhajan Singh of the Mumbai Indians pending the inquiry into the incident on Monday, April 28th 2008"

After the match between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab, the televsion camera captured the live pictures of Sreesanth crying uncontrollably. He was bursting tears from emotion and Kings XI Punjba team members helped him to calm down. No one knew what had happened, but later the news channels flashed the news saying "Harbhajan slapped Sreesanth"

Both the players denied the incident during a quick invidiual interview. They both said they are brothers and a full stop can be put to the incident. Sreesanth does not want to complain, but his team was not ready to do that. They have launched the complaint.



The IPL is tournament of BCCI and hence BCCI has the right to investigate it and punish the players, if required. The official broadcaster Sony TV has captured the incident and based on that, suspension has been forced on Harbhajan. This means, he will not play the match against Deccan Chargers, which is a crucial tie, considering both the teams are trying to open their winning account.

During the post match interview, the captain of Kings XI described the incident as "ugly."

Harbhajan has been given time till Monday to respond to the notice issued by BCCI.