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Trust the BCCI to remain silent just when you want it to speak up. The boards silence on crucial matters and its unprofessional handling of injury-related issues has again been highlighted by Zaheer Khans surgery in South Africa.
Zaheer injured his shoulder during the IPL, yet was selected for the World T20 in England. There was no subsequent update on the injury status. The tournament at best only aggravated the players problems and he was dropped for the four-match One-day series in the West Indies. Why was better care not taken to help Zaheer, the most crucial cog in Indias bowling wheel
Ever since the left-arm seamer fell on his shoulder playing for the Mumbai Indians in a game against Royal Challengers in May, the board has been silent. When we receive an update, well inform the media, is the usual line parroted by board officials. Well, heres the update: The bowlers shoulder has been operated upon and he is expected to be out of competitive cricket for the rest of 2009. Yet, there was no official word till late on Thursday night.
BCCIs official physiotherapist Nitin Patel had been monitoring Zaheer all the while and theres no word from him either. It is learnt that the physiotherapist has been asked to maintain silence on the issue till the BCCI deems it perfect to release the news. Even Mumbai Indians officials have no clue about Zaheers surgery!
TOI has repeatedly highlighted BCCIs unwillingness to hire world-class physiotherapists and trainers despite no shortage of finances. Recently, TOI had also pointed out how the Indian team doesnt have a full-time fitness trainer in their ranks following South African Greg Kings resignation in early 2008.
Creating mystery over injuries and maintaining secrecy is nothing new for the BCCI. They had kept everyone in the dark over the status of Virender Sehwags shoulder injury during the World T20 in England in June, leading to heated exchanges between skipper MS Dhoni and the media . Sehwag later underwent surgery in England.

Its ironic that the BCCI, the richest cricket board in the world, has not hired a fitness trainer for the Indian team for more than a year now, since February 2008. Its only now that, keeping in mind the hectic international schedule ahead, the Indian team management has requested the board for a fitness trainer. A reply, though, is still eagerly awaited, sources told 22yards.
Although the team currently has a physio in Nitin Patel and a mental conditioning coach in Paddy Upton , it needs a fitness trainer to oversee personalised fitness routines for the players, particularly the fast bowlers. The management is keen to see that players stay fit and are adequately trained to enable them to go through the grind of a gruelling season ahead, which starts with the Champions Trophy in September and goes on till the Twenty 20 World Cup in the West Indies.
They have to be fit and fresh for the challenges in the coming season. And in order to ensure that, the team definitely needs a trainer to make things better, a team management source told 22yards on Friday.
The team wants to make sure that key bowlers like Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma are fit and raring to go before crucial tournaments. So, it is important to have the right drills in order to stay fit. Even guys like Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra and RP Singh need to keep their fitness levels high, he said.
In other words, the team needs a trainer-cum-strengthening coach. Even the batsmen need to work around someone who can help them to increase stamina levels, he added.
Though the board is yet to respond to the request, sources suggested a hunt for a new trainer was on. The past two Indian team trainers were both from South Africa and a third could be in the offing, it is learnt. Gregory King was the teams trainer till February 2008 and there has been no replacement ever since he quit on personal grounds. King had replaced countrymate Adrian le Roux. These days, the teams fitness drills are taken care of by Upton.
Apart from Nitin Patel and Upton , the coaching staff comprises coach Gary Kirsten, Venkatesh Prasad (bowling coach) and Robin Singh (fielding coach).

Gautam Gambhir became the number one batsman , replacing Pakistani  Mohammad Yousuf in the latest ICC Test Player ranking.
Gambhir achieved the top when the ODI batting chart is also led by a Indian, Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Yousuf, who had returned to the batting table last week as the number one batsmen after his century in the first Test at Galle, failured in the second Test to drop to fifth position.
Accordingly, Gambhir became the sixth India batsman to lead the batting table in this version of the game.
The 27-year-old left-handed opener is the first Indian batsman after former captain Rahul Dravid to top the batting chart. Dravid had briefly become the No. 1 batsman in March 2005.
Dravid had first achieved the top batting ranking in January 1999 and has been number one for 36 Tests between 1999 and 2005.

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni will have to wait to realize his dream of becoming a graduate. The prominent St Xavier’s College here denied him promotion following his failure to appear in the BCom Part I examination.
  Last year, Ranchi University had bent its attendance rules to enable Dhoni to join the college. Following this, the cricketer continued his education after a nine year gap.
   Head of examinations (St Xavier’s College) AK Sinha said his institution had relaxed certain rules for the celebrity but would under no conditions promote him since he did not appear in the final examination.
   The college’s decision was welcomed by some students. Manish Kumar, Dhoni’s senior, said he is proud to be a student of a college that fastens to the rule book. On the other hand, Meenakshi, another classmate of Dhoni, was unhappy because she would not be able to attend college with the cricketing idol.

Induced that Sourav Ganguly was ailing for T20 cricket, former Kolkata Knight Riders coach John Buchanan had asked the left-hander to leave after the first edition of the IPL.

In his latest book The Future of Cricket: The rise of Twenty20, Buchanan revealed advising Ganguly to quit Twenty20 even though the then Knight Riders captain refused to oblige.

“At the end of the initial IPL tournament I told something he did not want to hear. ‘I really think your game was off the pace and the more you play T20, the more impairment you will do yourself,’ I told him.

“Sourav responded to my honest consideration by claiming he had at least one more year of 20-over cricket in him. He told me his main aim was to get into the Test side against Australia, an aim he did achieve before announcing his Test retirement,” Buchanan observed.

“He basically said to me: ‘Thank you for your apprehensions, but I don’t agree with what you are saying’.”

Buchanan felt the initiation of T20 was a bit late for players like him and that it would have harmed the brand that Ganguly himself was.

“…Ganguly had created an inconceivable brand for himself in India. It might seem strange, but this is why I question his appropriateness for and need to play T20. I am concerned that he will erode his brand, his stature, by playing in the IPL,” Buchanan said.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said that Indian batsmen make a mistake in reading the pitch and that effected in their poor batting show in the second ODI against the West Indies here Sunday.

Mahendra singh Dhoni

Dhoni (95) and Rudra Pratap Singh (23) added 101 runs for the ninth wicket to help India get to 188 after they were reduced to 82 for eight in the 22nd over.
“We should have paid a little more respect to the bowlers. The wicket was a bit difficult, it was swinging around a bit. We didn’t judge the wicket well and just went around playing our strokes which really bring our collapse,” Dhoni said.
Dhoni and Rudra Pratap’s partnership was the fifth century-run stand for the ninth wicket in ODIs and it saved India from the embarrassment of getting bowled out for less than 100 runs. West Indies openers Runako Morton (85) and skipper Chris Gayle (64) then fired off to a 101-run opening wicket stand as they achieveed the target in 34.1 overs with eight wickets in hand.
“Once you lose too many wickets then the only thing that you are doing is catching up. Rudra Pratap and me had a partnership, otherwise it would have been quite embarrassing,” Dhoni said.
Dhoni blamed the top-order for India’s failure to put up a challenging total.
“When you are batting first, initially you expect the wicket to do a bit and it is the first half an hour and after that you can capitalise if you get a good start,” he said. “Later on, the wicket became better for batting.”
Dhoni also defended Yuvraj Singh, who scored a match winning century in the first game, saying the left-handed batsman was not going to win them every match.
“Yuvraj is the man in form, he is getting the runs for us but we can’t expect one individual to score in every game,” he said.

India’s cricket fans are putting more pressure on the team with their emotional reaction to defeat and need to get behind the players during tough times, according to the batsman Sachin Tendulkar.

Sachin Tendulkar

As the winners of the first World Twenty20 two years ago, India were one of the favourites for the current tournament but a three-run loss to England, their second Super Eights defeat, left them with no chance of reaching the semi-finals.

 India’s captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, bore the brunt of fans’ anger and security at his home in the eastern city of Ranchi had to be beefed up after scores of fans burnt his effigy, shouted slogans and accused him of underestimating England. India lost all three of their Super Eights games.

 “I feel there is very high emotion among the people when they react. But do these reactions help us to play better? Not really,” Indian media quoted Tendulkar as saying.

 “These actually put more pressure on the players. We have got to be mature and be with the team.

 “No one can change the past but always can learn from it and do better in future. I think we should react to the success and failures with lot of responsibility and balance. If we do that it becomes easier for everyone.

 “I am also disappointed along with the nation. I am sure that the guys planned and tried well, but things sometimes don’t click.”

 Tendulkar does not play in Twenty20 internationals.

Saurav Ganguly

Former captain Sourav Ganguly has rejected coach Gary Kirsten’s claim that fatigue was a reason behind India’s early ouster from the Twenty20 World Cup and said Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men missed Virender Sehwag badly in the tournament. While Kirsten had blamed an overdose of cricket and Indian Premier League as the cause for the World Cup fiasco, India skipper Dhoni continued to differ with his coach, saying the team’s early exit has nothing to do with ‘fatigue factor’.

Ganguly bluntly disagreed with Kirsten on the cause of the debacle and said for a young team like India, fatigue can’t be an excuse. “I don’t agree with this because they are young boys. They are just 22, 23 years old and have just started their career. I know they have played a lot of cricket but not all of them. “Probably people like Dhoni, Yuvraj (Singh), Harbhajan (Singh) and Zaheer (Khan) have because they are part of consistent Test team and has done a lot of traveling on the road,” he said. “This is the age to play, they are 25, 26. Even if you are fatigued, you have to find ways out to get yourself up and going.”

New Delhi, June 17: Indian batting genius Sachin Tendulkar has come out in full support of Indian T20 team that failed to qualify for the semis in T20 World Cup.

Sachin said that it’s time to back the team in the hour of crisis.

Sachin Tendulkar

He expressed optimism that the team would come back with a bang in the coming days. “I am sure the team will bounce back with a bang”, said the batting master in an interview to a news channel.

He also said that this is the team which has brought laurels for the country over the last two years. “So a couple of bad games can not make the team bad,” said the master who watched the matches of Team India from the gallery.

“I am also disappointed along with the nation. I am sure that the guys planned and tried well, but things sometimes don`t click,” Tendulkar said.

“Disappointment will be there. But I am sure the team will put the best step forward to get the rhythm again. If everyone back home stands behind them, the team may become a formidable one,” he added.