Michael Vaughan Quits!

England, the hosts lost the test series against South Africa in the recent tour. With his resgination, his five year term has come to and end. He is the most successful England captain in tests with 26 wins.

Pietersen said: "I am very thrilled and excited to have been given the opportunity to captain England. It's a huge honour for me and a terrific challenge for me at this stage of my international career."

He has captained the England ODI team against New Zealand during Collingwood's ban.

ECB has announced the test and ODI squad

Test squad:

Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen (capt), Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Tim Ambrose (wk), Andrew Flintoff, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom, Steve Harmison, Monty Panesar.

One-day squad:

Alastair Cook, Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen (capt), Owais Shah, Ian Bell, Samit Patel, Paul Collingwood, Matt Prior (wk), Andrew Flintoff, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom, Chris Tremlett, Luke Wright.

Harbhajan's Ban costs him 3 crores of Indian Rupees

Harbhajan Singh was banned for remaining of the IPL matches and also fined 100% match fee for the match against Kings XI Punjab. He slapped Sreesanth after the Mumbai Indians loss to Kings XI Punjab. The TV cameras captured live pictures of Sreesanth who was uncontrollably crying.

The match referee inquired the incident where Bhajji pleaded guilty and apologized for his behavior. Despite his apology and both Sreesanth and Harbhajan down playing the incident, match referee Farooq Engineer slapped him by imposing a ban on Harbhajan for 11 IPL matches.

This meant, he cannot represent Mumbai Indians in this version of IPL and hence he lost all the money that he was supposed to earn by playing these matches. It was estimated that the loss for Bhajji would be Rupees 3 crores.

A SLAP THAT COSTS 3 CRORERS! A COSTLY SLAP!

Probably, he can earn the money by playing for India in the future, but the reputation that he has lost, will be hard to win again!

Mumbai played without Harbhajan and Sachin!

Mumbai Indians have already lost all of their 3 matches in the IPL. In all the matches, Sachin did not play and Harbhajan Singh was leading the side.

It was a crucial encounter for Mumbai Indians when they take on Deccan Chargers on Sunday at 8 PM IST. They were eagerly waiting for opening their winning account.

But, to everyone surprise, Harbhajan slapped Sreesanth after their defeat against Kings XI Punjab lead by Yuvaraj Singh. It was their 3rd continous loss and sure that everyone was disappointed.

No one is clear on why he did that? Sure that he won't do it without any provacation from Sreesanth, but regardless of what he said, he should not have slapped him, if he did that. Only Sreesanth knows what he said until he comes out public!

With the proof from the offical broadcaster Sony, BCCI has suspended Bhajji from Mumbai Indians next match against Deccan Chargers. Sachin is not yet ready for playing Cricket and with Harbhajan also not playable due to the suspension, it would be difficult for Mumbai Indians! Sure their morale would be low! Can they pull out of this problem? Well, wait and see!

Harbhajan and Sree downplay the event fearing Punishment!

After the slapgate incident between Harbhajan and Sreesanth, match referee Farooq Engineer was asked to conduct the enquiry. Before that, both Harabhajan and Sreesanth downplayed the incident as if nothing had happened between them.

Sreesanth said:

Bhajji and him are like brothers; He is an elder brother and I have forgiven him;
He has the right to do what he did;
It was just a handshake in the wrong side
He need not apologize

Bhajji said:

He is like a brother;
He did not slap him;
They both will play together;
He spoke to Sreesanth after the match;
He is not sure about the complaint to be lodged by Kings XI Punjab!

After the scene and hype created by both the players and media, both of them were saying, everything is okay and nothing wrong happened. Looks like both of them fear about the action that would be taken against each of them. Something should have provoked Bhajji and hence both would be punished. Is that reason for going back on the statements?

Only official enquiry can reveal what has happened!