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Munaf Patel, the Mumbai Indians fast bowler, has been fined 50% of his match fee for making offensive gestures during the match against Kings XI Punjab at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Apr-2012Munaf Patel, the Mumbai Indians fast bowler, has been fined 50% of his match fee for making offensive gestures during the match against Kings XI Punjab at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, the IPL stated in a release.The incident happened during the third over of Kings XI’s innings, after Nitin Saini hit Munaf for two fours. Munaf had a word with Saini at the end of the over, forcing the umpires to intervene. His captain Harbhajan Singh then had to step in to calm him down. Munaf pleaded guilty to the Level 1 offence and was fined by the match referee Raju Mukherjee.This is Munaf’s second offence in this tournament, after he was fined 25% of his match fee in the game against Deccan Chargers in Visakhapatnam. Munaf was appealing for the wicket of Kumar Sangakkara, who was bowled off the inside edge, but was initially denied the wicket by the on-field umpires. Munaf and Harbhajan both argued with the umpires, who eventually referred the decision.

A potential side injury to Lancashire captain Glen Chapple added to another difficult day for the champions, as Warwickshire reached 289 for 4

Jon Culley at Edgbaston16-May-2012
ScorecardVarun Chopra made his second hundred of the season•PA Photos

After losing the three matches of their opening five least badly affected by the weather, the last thing Lancashire need is to lose their captain, talisman and lead bowler, all three of which descriptions apply to Glen Chapple.At the end of an opening day demanding the selfless commitment to the cause that has become his speciality, Chapple left the field early complaining of discomfort in his left side. “He’s had a bit of pain and he has had it iced but you never know with these things,” the Lancashire coach, Peter Moores, said. “He could wake up in the morning and it won’t be there or he’ll be stiff as a board. We’re hoping it’s nothing serious. Sides are a nightmare for bowlers. If it’s a bad one it could be six or seven weeks.”Lancashire are not short of seam bowlers. Although Tom Smith is currently sidelined, Kyle Hogg and Saj Mahmood offer experienced back-up and the arrival of Ajmal Shahzad from Yorkshire has provided Moores with an unexpected asset. The immediate problem, though, is Chapple’s fitness for the remainder of this match. Neither Hogg nor Mahmood is playing, Lancashire having chosen to play with two spinners. Shahzad could face an early test of his stamina as much as his discipline.Moores can rightly claim ‘so far, so good’ with regard to the latter. The England fast bowler’s move across the Pennines came amid accusations that he did not follow team orders playing for Yorkshire, suggesting that whoever decided they could benefit from his undoubted talent might face a challenge in making it work in their favour.”I take people as I find them and he has been great so far,” Moores said. “He is a high-energy bloke who wants to get stuck in and play some cricket. He has settled in really well, the lads have enjoyed having him around. You’ve seen him today, he has run in hard and chucked himself around in the field. He has always been that sort of cricketer and hopefully it is a good move for him and a good move for us.”You have all sorts of different players in a team but he has the energy and enthusiasm you want in a fast bowler. What has been impressive both here and at Hove last week on his debut is that he has run in hard, put a lot of balls in the right areas and asked a lot of questions. He deserved his wicket and on another day could have had more.”Shahzad was impressive enough, bowling the out-of-form Warwickshire captain, Jim Troughton, for the latest in a sequence of low scores, and having Varun Chopra dropped on 51, which was a costly mistake by Stephen Moore at second slip given that the opener more than doubled that score. And Moore was right to contend that, on a flat wicket, to have kept the home side to below three runs per over was a good effort.But there was no escaping the conclusion that two of the three sessions were won by Warwickshire and the last one was no worse than shared. Chopra and Ian Westwood both played exceptionally well against the new ball, judiciously leaving such threatening deliveries as they could safely avoid, and punishing the bad ones efficiently. Chopra, making his second century of the season, was especially good on the eye when he could cut or drive.Their partnership of 168 is the biggest opening partnership in Division One so far and Warwickshire’s biggest since they put on 202 together against Somerset at Edgbaston last July, when Westwood made a century. He looked set for another one this time and cursed himself when he missed out, pushing at a ball outside off stump from Luke Procter and edging to first slip.Chopra completed his, after a couple of handsome boundaries in the 90s, from 218 balls, but he too would have wished for a more glorious ending. On 113, having perhaps begun to feel that Lancashire’s two spinners were starting to tie him down, he went after Simon Kerrigan with an ungainly heave and was caught at midwicket.Kerrigan was Lancashire’s matchwinner at Edgbaston last season, taking 5 for 7 in the second innings, he and Gary Keedy sharing eight wickets for nine runs as Warwickshire were bowled out for 97, handing Lancashire a victory that ultimately decided the title. If Chapple’s injury is serious, they will have important work to do again.For the moment, though. Warwickshire will fancy themselves for revenge at the double, having beaten Lancashire at Liverpool impressively last month. Their early season form, comprising three wins from four matches, has established them as favourites to take Lancashire’s crown. The loss of Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott to England, moreover, is balanced by the return in this match of Chris Woakes, fit again after his ankle injury.Warwickshire slipped from 224 for 1 to 246 for 4 during Lancashire’s best phase of the day. Kerrigan had Will Porterfield caught at slip before Chopra holed out, and then, when the second new ball was taken, Shahzad bowled Troughton. But late runs for Darren Maddy and Tim Ambrose kept the momentum with Warwickshire.

Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, has said his team’s batsmen need to prepare better to take on Pakistan’s pace attack

Sa'adi Thawfeeq08-Jun-2012Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, has said his team’s batsmen need to prepare better to take on Pakistan’s pace attack. The trio of Umar Gul, Mohammad Sami and Sohail Tanvir have caused the hosts’ top order problems on the tour so far; Gul and Sami shared six wickets in Pakistan’s win in the first ODI in Pallekele. Sri Lanka were restricted to 135 for 8 in a rain-affected game after they had been reduced to 56 for 6 at one stage.”They are wicket-taking bowlers and are creating opportunities,” Jayawardene said after the game. “We discussed it is important we don’t give too many wickets upfront with the new ball especially to those three guys.”Once you expose the middle order, then they get some quality spinners and it’s going to be tough for the rest of the batsmen. That’s something we need to tactically tackle and see how we can combat properly.”Jayawardene said Tanvir, in particular, had improved since the last time Sri Lanka played him and his unusual action together with the swing and movement was a challenge. “We played Tanvir about three to four years ago but he wasn’t accurate at the time. We were getting a lot of loose deliveries. Now he’s got more control and a bit of pace as well.”We need to try and get a good rhythm going with him because he is unusual than the other bowlers, so we need to make sure we tackle that swing first of all and at the same time the variation he has.”Jayawardene defended his decision to bat in conditions that seemed favourable for bowling, given the track had been under the covers and had some moisture in it. “I don’t think batting first was the case,” he said. “It was just that we had to make sure we didn’t lose too many wickets in the first 20-25 overs, especially with the two new balls, and then try to set it up for the last 20 overs.”If we had batted a bit better and got somewhere to 190, it would have been a tougher challenge chasing. Pakistan’s track record in the last six months against us has been pretty good and it was up to us to try and change that but we didn’t play to our potential.”The game in Pallekele was Mohammad Hafeez’s 100th ODI and proved to be a good one for him. He picked up 2 for 20 in 10 overs and made 37. “As an opener and as a senior player my role is just to go there and spend more time on the pitch,” Hafeez said.

Lancashire completed a comfortable seven-wicket win over Middlesex at Old Trafford to round off a miserable night of Clydesdale Bank 40 action for the visitors, who were without Eoin Morgan due to travel problems.

16-Jul-2012
ScorecardLancashire completed a comfortable seven-wicket win over Middlesex at Old Trafford to round off a miserable night of Clydesdale Bank 40 action for the visitors, who were without Eoin Morgan due to travel problems.Glen Chapple’s side dragged themselves back into contention in Group A with their fourth win from six matches after restricting Middlesex to 97 for 8 in a match reduced by rain to 16-overs per side. Lancashire were then left to chase a further revised target of 97 off 15.Lancashire’s left-arm spinner Stephen Parry starred with career best figures of 4 for 21 from four overs before Steven Croft and Karl Brown, with 36 not out, anchored the chase with a third-wicket stand of 79 in 10 overs. Croft top-scored with 45 off 34 balls as the hosts moved to joint second with Middlesex on eight points having played one fewer match.Middlesex’s problems began before they had even taken the field because England one-day batsman Morgan failed to make it to Old Trafford in time for the start of the match after his train from London Euston had been cancelled. He had to take an alternative route via York but Ollie Rayner took his place when the toss was made at 4.20pm.The match was reduced from a 40-over match to 32 to 22 to 18 and then 16 due to numerous rain showers. Having been invited to bat first, Middlesex had reached 4 for 0 from two and a half overs when play, having started at 6pm, was halted approximately 15 minutes later. When play finally resumed two hours later, only opener Dawid Malan adapted to the bowler-friendly conditions as he hit a season’s best 48 off 36 balls, including two sixes off Glen Chapple and Ajmal Shahzad.Parry had Joe Denly stumped by Gareth Cross and Paul Stirling caught behind down the leg-side to leave Middlesex 45 for 2 after nine overs. He returned to bowl the last over of the innings, bowling Rayner and having Jon Simpson caught at long-off before Gareth Berg was run out with the last ball as he went for two. Shahzad, Tom Smith and Gary Keedy also struck as only two batsmen reached double figures.Lancashire made a shaky start to their chase by losing Stephen Moore caught at mid-on off Toby Roland-Jones. Smith was then brilliantly caught one-handed at mid-wicket by Berg off the bowling of Steven Crook.But Croft and Brown batted with caution before putting their foot on the accelerator after further rain accounted for the loss of one over. Both hit sixes over long-on – off Middlesex’s Tom Smith and Berg respectively – as the win was secured with 10 balls to spare.

George Bailey, Australia’s Twenty20 captain, has said he expects the 15 men picked for the Twenty20 series against Pakistan in the UAE to be the same 15 who will carry Australia’s hopes in the ICC World Twenty20 next month

Brydon Coverdale14-Aug-2012George Bailey, Australia’s Twenty20 captain, has said he expects the 15 men picked for the Twenty20 series against Pakistan in the UAE to be the same 15 who will carry Australia’s hopes in the ICC World Twenty20 next month. Australia must name their final squad for the World T20 by Saturday and although a provisional 30-man group included surprise choices such as Dirk Nannes and Ben Laughlin, there are unlikely to be any wild-cards in the final squad.That should mean a three-man spin attack including Brad Hogg, Xavier Doherty, and the uncapped Glenn Maxwell, while other exciting T20 performers such as Steven Smith, Mitchell Marsh and Aaron Finch are likely to miss out. The 15 men who will take on Pakistan have been in Darwin over the past week for a training camp and Bailey said he was pleased with the mix the selectors had brought together ahead of the World T20 in Sri Lanka.”Yeah I’d hope [it will be the same squad], all things being equal. Hopefully that group of guys performs and stays fit and I think that’s the 15 that will be best suited for us to go as far as we can in that tournament,” Bailey told ESPNcricinfo. “We’ve got all bases covered. If we want to go in with a spin-laden team we can, or with all-rounders, or we’ve got some genuine pace.”I think we’ve got absolutely everything covered for whatever conditions are thrown up in Sri Lanka. Also a lot of the games are played on the same venues, so we’re expecting towards the back end of the tournament perhaps some tired wickets.”That could mean plenty of work for the spinners and accurate seamers such as Clint McKay, although first Australia must get through their group matches against West Indies and Ireland. By the end of the group stage, Bailey will not even have played ten Twenty20 internationals, having been thrust into the captaincy from outside the squad in January.Since then, he has led his country to two wins and two losses from four games: two matches at home against India in February, and two in the West Indies in March. Until they convened in Darwin, his men have not been together for more than four months, with some having played in Australia’s one-day tour of England, others having enjoyed stints in county cricket, and others having spent the winter at home.The three T20s against Pakistan in the UAE early next month will therefore be priceless preparation for Bailey’s side, especially given that last time they played, in the West Indies, the T20 squad was augmented by ODI players due to the distance from Australia and the infeasibility of flying T20 specialists around the world for two games.”The back end of that Dubai tour will be really good,” Bailey said. “It will be the first time we’ve been able to get that squad together for an extended period. Even just the time in Sri Lanka for the warm-up games I think will be really important just to actually start to get a feel for our specific roles and just having the group together continuously. I think that’s been our biggest challenge as a cricket team, Twenty20 wise, has been just finding out about being a team rather than just a group of guys thrown together.”Gelling as a unit will be critical if Australia are to go one better than in the 2010 World T20, when they reached the final but lost to England. Despite that effort Australia are ninth in the ICC’s T20 rankings, with only Ireland and Zimbabwe below them, but Bailey reads little into the rankings and believes the World T20 will be wide open for almost any side to win.”I reckon there’s about nine teams that at this stage could put their hands up and say they can win the tournament,” Bailey said. “We firmly believe we’re one of those. Playing in the subcontinent means all the subcontinent teams will be pretty dangerous. England and South Africa have got great depth and consistency in their teams and the way they play at the moment they’ll be dangerous.”First and foremost our biggest worry is West Indies, who are in our group. They have a team that is absolutely made for T20, great balance of pace, good spin bowlers and some of the best hitters in the world. It’s going to be really tough and it’s going to be very much about gelling our team and getting our heads around the fact that if we can put our best cricket together for two weeks, something very special could be at the other end.”

MS Dhoni, the India captain, has said India have adapted to the change in nature of Sri Lankan pitches better than the hosts on this tour

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Aug-2012Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, has said he was “disappointed” with his team’s performance in the one-off Twenty20 game against India, that Sri Lanka lost by 39 runs. Sri Lanka’s bowlers managed to restrict India’s batsmen in the death overs to keep the target to a gettable 156, but their batsmen failed to capitalise.”It was very disappointing, the way we lost today,” Jayawardene said. “At the halfway mark, we had a chat. The plan was to consolidate in the middle overs and keep wickets in hand till the 15th or 16th overs. From there on, eight an over was not going to be tough on a good surface on which the ball came on to the bat nicely, so we could have accelerated had we had wickets in hand. But we didn’t execute our game plan well at all.”This loss capped off a poor limited-overs series against India: Sri Lanka lost the ODI series that preceded the Twenty20 game 1-4. However, Jayawardene said the scoreline did not reflect how the team had performed in the one-dayers. “I don’t think we were outplayed in the ODI series, I thought we played some good cricket,” he said. “We had our opportunities but unfortunately, we didn’t take them. Today, yes, we didn’t play to our potential and were well beaten, but while the scoreline will show 4-1 in the ODI series, I think the series was a lot closer than that.”Sri Lanka’s next assignment is the Sri Lanka Premier League that starts later this week. India play New Zealand before they return to Sri Lanka for the World Twenty20 in September and Jayawardene said there were no clear favourites for the tournament. “In Twenty20 cricket, anything can happen,” Jayawardene said. “It all depends on how you perform on the day. In the past, we have seen Ireland and Zimbabwe beat big teams in the World Cup. As far as I am concerned, all 12 teams are in a good position to win the tournament. It all depends on how well you start the tournament, and how well you can maintain the momentum.”The World Twenty20 begins on September 18, with Sri Lanka taking on Zimbabwe in Hambantota.

The board members will sit to discuss and finalise changes to the rules concerning the presidency, and the terms of office bearers

Nagraj Gollapudi14-Sep-2012The BCCI has convened a series of high-level meetings on Saturday that could have long-term implications on the way it is run. The board members from the marketing committee, working committee and the IPL governing council will sit to discuss and finalise changes to the rules concerning the presidency, and the terms of office bearers.The proposed change to the election process of the president was originally mooted by Shashank Manohar to the board members informally. But in the working committee meeting last month, current BCCI president N Srinivasan put it forward formally for discussion. According to the present rule, the person who is nominated for the president’s post should have attended at least two AGMs as a representative from the same zone.”That is being amended now to any person who is proposed and seconded by the zone without the nominee having attended the board’s AGM from that zone,” a working committee member told ESPNcricinfo. “That means if two representatives from the same zone propose and second the candidate from any other zone to be become the president that is acceptable.”There are six members from the east zone, with one vote each. If any two of them propose a name from outside East zone he would eligible to become a president,” the official said.The board presidents have so far been picked on a rotational zonal basis. By that system, it would be the turn of East Zone to recommend a representative to replace Srinivasan, whose tenure comes to end in September 2014. Reportedly, the board was concerned about the capabilities of some of the names doing rounds in the East Zone for the top position. But according to the official, there was another strong reason for push to change the rule. “It is to accommodate Arun Jaitley [the current vice-president from North Zone],” the member said.The second rule change in the constitution being mooted is to allow the office bearers to have an extra term. At the moment every office bearer, barring the five vice-presidents, sit in the office for a single term of three years; the vice-presidents have two terms of three years each. “The proposed change is for the office bearers have an extra term of three years,” the official said. “The main reason is to have the best people work for the board.”

Ehsan Mani, the former ICC chief, feels that though the two matches to be played this weekend will boost Pakistan’s reputation as a viable host for international cricket, they won’t be enough to convince Test teams to play in Pakistan yet

Umar Farooq19-Oct-2012With the arrival of a team led by former Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya in Karachi, international cricket of sorts is set to return to Pakistan. Ehsan Mani, the former ICC chief, feels that though the two matches to be played this weekend will boost Pakistan’s reputation as a viable host for international cricket, they won’t be enough to convince Test teams to play in the country yet.The International XI includes South African fast bowlers Andre Nel and Nantie Hayward, and West Indies players Jermaine Lawson and Ricardo Powell. They face a Pakistan All Stars XI team in Twenty20 matches at the National Stadium in Karachi on Saturday and Sunday. There has been no international cricket in Pakistan since March 2009, when the Sri Lankan team bus was attacked.”I do not think that these matches will have an immediate impact in persuading ICC Full Member teams to tour Pakistan but it is a step in the right direction,” Mani told ESPNcricinfo. “The International XI is a small but significant step in the confidence building process to assure overseas players and teams that Pakistan is open for cricket and it is safe for overseas players to come to Pakistan.”Without doubt Pakistan is desperate and in need of international cricket in their backyard; youth development is on hold as no team even at the youth level is ready to tour, the PCB has suffered a budget deficit for years, stadiums are getting rusty, fans are deprived. At a time when Pakistan is a no go-area for major international teams, though a side comprising international players have arrived in the country, the PCB has disassociated itself from the tour.They have stressed that the games are unofficial and are unsanctioned, and have left Sindh sports minister Dr Mohammad Ali Shah to deal with most of the arrangements.”I was disappointed to read that the PCB had disassociated itself from the matches; it appears that PCB is covering itself in case something goes wrong,” Mani said. “This gives totally the wrong message. The PCB should have been very much involved, including assuring itself that adequate security arrangements are in place. It is disgraceful that the initiative to convince players to come to Pakistan is not being led by the PCB but by the Sindh government.”The PCB’s approach to bringing international cricket back to Pakistan is flawed,” Mani said. “It tried to first persuade and then bully Bangladesh to tour Pakistan. The PCB does not seem to understand that before a full international tour can take place, teams such as the International XI should tour Pakistan to provide a degree of comfort to the ICC Member countries.”Pakistan cricket chief Zaka Ashraf, though, has said the revival of international cricket is his top priority but apparently accepted the goal is tough to achieve in the near future. While talking to ESPNcricinfo last month, he called the approach of the cricketing world towards touring Pakistan as ‘rigid’.Mani said the PCB needed to be fully aware of the steps necessary for the return of international tours to the country. “The PCB clearly does not understand the politics of cricket and the pressures on certain countries not to tour Pakistan by others with a different agenda.”The PCB also does not appear to have agreement with the ICC on what assurances the ICC will require before a team and ICC officials consider it safe to come to Pakistan,” he said. “It does not help that no PCB official or member of the security agency mandated to provide security to the Sri Lankan team in 2009 has been made accountable and punished for the disastrous lapse of security which put at risk the lives of players and officials and cost the lives of security personnel and destroyed international cricket in Pakistan.”

A round-up of the first day’s play in the fourth round of Group C matches in the Ranji Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Nov-2012
ScorecardA five-wicket haul by Andhra fast bowler Syed Sahabuddin helped his team take a stranglehold against Jammu and Kashmir in Jammu. After Andhra bowled the hosts out for 153, middle-order batsmen Amol Muzumdar and B Sumanth put on another century partnership, their third in a row, to rescue Andhra when they had been reduced to 8 for 3. They held the upper hand at 118 for 4 on the first day.Sahabuddin destroyed the J&K top order with the help of another seamer, Paidikalva Vijaikumar, who had taken 6 for 80 last week, and finished with figures of 5 for 53. When Andhra batted, Dayal and Sahil Sharma removed the first three batsmen cheaply, before the repair job. Muzumdar, who had scored two centuries in the previous two innings, remained unbeaten on 60.
ScorecardIn Malappuram, Goa ended the first day in a strong position against Kerala after a century from opener Sagun Kamat, his second in 41 matches, and a half-century from wicketkeeper Manvinder Bisla. After choosing to bat, Goa had lost two wickets for 55 runs, but Kamat and Bisla added 146 runs at 4.33 per over to lay the foundation for a strong innings. After losing two more wickets before stumps, Goa were 281 for 4. Bisla’s innings of 74 was his third half-century in four innings.
ScorecardThough Himachal Pradesh were effective as a bowling unit in the early half of the day, Jharkhand’s No. 3 Saurabh Tiwary and middle-order batsman Sunny Gupta put up a slow resistance to take their team to 176 for 5 at stumps.The pair added 120 runs for the sixth wicket at a run rate of 1.94 after seamers Rishi Dhawan and Vikramjeet Malik had reduced Jharkhand to 56 for 5 in the 29th over. Tiwary batted 247 deliveries to score an unbeaten 65, and Gupta took 201 deliveries to score an unbeaten 58.
ScorecardServices were in control of the contest against Assam on the first day as seamer Suraj Yadav’s four wickets helped them bowl Assam out for 182. A seventh-wicket partnership of 37 was the highest Assam could muster.After Yadav dismissed the top order cheaply, the lower-order batsmen put up some resistance when Assam were in trouble at 93 for 6. Though Services batted five overs without losing a wicket, opener Pratik Desai retired hurt in the first over.

The BCCI is looking to establish a “prime season” for the Indian cricket team at home much like it is in England and Australia, thus reducing the team’s touring commitments in the winter

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-2012The BCCI is looking to establish a “prime season” for the Indian cricket team at home much like it is in England and Australia, thus reducing the team’s touring commitments in the winter.BCCI president N Srinivasan said: “We are starting to look at and define our prime season, and during your prime season you should be playing at home.” Speaking exclusively to ESPNcricinfo, Srinivasan said formalising the Indian season would mean a structured calendar of teams touring India. “We want to have possibly one or two visiting teams during our domestic season, starting in September all the way up to March, and we’ll see the extent to which we don’t tour outside. Given the FTP that is there, we are going to see how we can adjust.”Domestic cricket would also be rescheduled to make home Tests the centre piece of the season, and encourage more international players to take part in the Ranji Trophy. Srinivasan said: “This year we also encouraged our big players and stars to play domestic cricket. This is a change from the last several years.” The Ranji format has been changed to three groups of nine teams each, the BCCI had been told by first-class players, that they wanted to play more cricket.The BCCI’s measures over the last few years, Srinivasan said, had sought to improve the quality of cricket particularly of the longer form of the game. “That is where the emphasis is. An uncapped player who has not played for India cannot play in the IPL unless he plays 60% of the Ranji Trophy games. So in more ways than one, we are pushing a player to the longer version.”In a wide-ranging interview, which will appear in full on ESPNcricinfo on Tuesday, Srinivasan spoke about issues concerning Indian cricket, the BCCI’s financial power in world cricket, its refusal to accept the mandatory application of the umpire’s Decision Review System (DRS), and the IPL’s growing influence on players all over the world and the longer form of the game.Srinivasan denied that the BCCI had taken an ‘obstructionist’ approach to the DRS. “We have not taken an obstructionist policy. We don’t believe in it, so after discussion members have agreed it should be bilateral. I don’t want to dictate to other people… our position has been clear from start. We don’t believe the technology is good enough.”He said the ICC’s statement that the DRS technology had “improved further” was in a way “acceptance that it was not good enough then” referring to the India tour of England last year. “But it was touted as being good at that point in time. Our problem is that when they say it is all right, then they say it’ll get better tomorrow, or an improved version now. So we concede the fact that there was less than adequate perfection. Which is our point, if you want to use technology it must be perfect.”Srinivasan also said that restricting the DRS to two referrals was in some ways a contradiction in itself. “If you don’t have faith in the umpire, which itself is a contradiction as in cricket the umpire’s verdict is final, if a player shows dissent you fine him. But now you’re saying that I have two attempts to question your decision. So the reconciliation between that is difficult. So if you take it to the end point of it, then you have two lampposts with coloured lights red, yellow and green, you don’t need an umpire at all, as you refer every decision, so let an automatic reply come from there after a review and you say red or green.”India’s unwillingness to use the DRS means that there are two officiating systems at work in world cricket, to which Srinivasan said: “It doesn’t bother me at all because, apart from all this, there is a cost to DRS and there are only one or two people involved. It’s a monopoly-area situation, which I am not going in to here. It doesn’t bother me if two other countries use DRS, they are happy, that’s okay.”The ICC he said had the right to use DRS in its own events, but the BCCI was very clear in its stand on its usage in any bilateral series featuring India. “We are clear in our mind, but I hope, slowly, people will see our point of view.”The IPL, the BCCI’s “showcase event” did not, he said, have a negative bearing on international cricket and the BCCI’s refusal to ask for a window for the event, was based on the acceptance of the overseas players’ packed international calendars. “The IPL management, the BCCI, franchise owners are aware that all the players won’t be available all the time, and we’ve sort of settled down with that.”The IPL he said was not putting “a strain” on other boards. The event’s popularity amongst overseas players were a reflection that, “it’s a free world. People and players make their choices and we can’t compel a person… I don’t think that it is all-consuming.” While the IPL attracts cricketers from all over the world, he said, “there are only so many players who can play in the IPL, because we have a cap on the number of players in the team. And from what I have seen, players may not be happy to sit out as we have a cap on foreign players. So squad size and the number of franchises have a limiting effect.”The BCCI he said was aware that there was “no real window” available on the international calendar for the IPL. “The BCCI has recognised that today you have ten Full Members, they play each other home and away once in four years. The number of ICC events has increased from ten years ago, so there’s a lot of clutter. So the BCCI accepts the fact that there is no real window and that whoever is available plays.”The BCCI’s reputation as a bully on the ICC board he said, was “not fair” – and denied that other boards would be wary of going against the BCCI’s wishes. “That is not a fact. In the ICC all members are sovereign. The ten full members are sovereign.”Despite India’s 8-0 defeats in England and Australia, Srinivasan said it was not fair to say that India got exposed when travelling abroad. “It’s not that we get exposed when we go abroad. Every country is used to its own conditions, whether it is England, South Africa, Australia, so they tend to play better in home conditions, which is what we also do.”He said the media in the other teams did not end up “berating their players for not doing well [abroad]” and that there had to be an acceptance and recognition of the “advantage of home conditions… So I don’t think we should run down our players by saying we did not do well abroad. Other teams don’t do well when they come to India. In the past, we have had teams that have done well both here and abroad, when players were possibly younger.”