Yonis happy to return as a captain

Yonis Khan has taken back his resignation, paving the way for his return to the Pakistan captaincy, satisfied that the environment in which he will continue leading the side is now more conducive than before.

Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, said on Monday that the board had rejected the resignation Younis handed in last week. At the same time he offered Younis the stability that he has wanted since becoming captain in February this year, saying that, if fit, he will captain Pakistan till the 2011 World Cup.

Younis said he was overwhelmed with the support he had received in the week after he handed in his papers at a National Assembly committee hearing in Islamabad. "I am very happy right now," Younis told Cricinfo. "The faith that the chairman and the board has placed in me again, it's good to know. The support that I have received from the board and the country through this time has been fantastic."

Younis kHanThere were believed to be various reasons behind Younis's resignation, though he never openly stated them. It is believed that as well as the suspicions of match-fixing raised in the aftermath of Pakistan's Champions Trophy semi-final loss to New Zealand, murmurs about factions in the team and management working to undermine Younis spurred the move.

Younis met Butt last week and it is understood that he set down some conditions which would have to be implemented before he could come back. Stability of tenure was one, though those close to Younis insist he didn't want an assurance till the 2011 World Cup. A streamlining of the selection process, as well as changes in the team management were thought to be the other conditions.

Younis refused to go into details, however, maintaining only that, "the environment is good right now and I am very happy with it. All that has happened over the last eight months, all the effort is worthwhile now." Younis said he expects to be fit for Pakistan's next assignment, an ODI and Twenty20 series against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

T&T unity lesson for Caribbean

the captain of the Trinidad & Tobago side that has remained unbeaten throughout an impressive Champions League campaign, believes that the unity and team spirit shown by his island nation must serve as a warning to the warring factions within West Indies cricket. Unless the players and administrators can resolve their differences, Ganga believes it is "inevitable" that the region's individual countries will seek to go it alone in the future.

Ganga, who stood in as West Indies captain on their tour of England in 2007 only to be dumped from the squad before the end of the summer, has encountered at first-hand the politics and factionalism that mar the region's cricket at international level. But such concerns could not be further from the thoughts of the band of brothers who have progressed to the semi-finals of the Champions League with a succession of never-say-die performances.

"The passion and the efforts that the guys have shown on the field of play have got us through to the semi-finals," Ganga told Cricinfo's Switch Hit podcast. "A lot of people never really expected us to go so far in the competition, but if you look at the framework of our cricket and of our club, and of all the other teams that have competed, one thing going for us is our national pride and patriotism.

"That is a hallmark of this team, being able to separate themselves, and realise they are not just representing the 11 players on the field or the 20 guys that are travelling, but all the rest of the people back in Trinidad, and by extension the wider Caribbean."

There was a time in the not-so-distant past when Trinidadian cricket was synonymous with one Brian Charles Lara, arguably the greatest batsman of all time, but a man to whom a team ethos did not come naturally. In recent years, however, Trinidad have swept the board domestically, across three formats, and they also trounced Middlesex in last year's Stanford Super Series in Antigua. With a pool of talented players such as Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, the Bravo brothers and Ravi Rampaul, the days of relying on a single star performer are long gone.

"In the years gone by, we've created an environment where competition is healthy," said Ganga. "We have guys on the side who want to be part of the action, and when they get their opportunity they come to the fore and deliver. That is the best position to be in, and as captain of the team I am very happy with the way things have gone. We have not had a smooth run [through this competition], there have been challenges along the way, but you have to make the right decisions."

Making the right decisions is a knack that the administrators of West Indies cricket seem to have mislaid long ago, but Ganga believes that, at a time when the regional side has been crippled by pay disputes and strike action, there are valuable lessons to be learnt in the cohesion shown by his Trinidad squad.

"There are a whole lot of different philosophies and schools of thought about our team compared to the current West Indies team," he said. "But ask any champion team, and they'll say that having the right chemistry - a togetherness and a team spirit - is essential for any sort of success. If you have a situation where everything is surrounding one or two individuals, you never get the sort of output that you want as a team, and that is one of the things we inculcate as a team.

"No one individual is bigger than the team, and to be successful it's not going to take the efforts of two or three individuals, it's going to take the efforts of all 15 guys here, plus our technical staff," he added. "That's been ingrained, and all the guys understand that this is the approach that will bring us success."From Dwayne Bravo's nerveless final over against Deccan Chargers, to Pollard's sensational 18-ball fifty against New South Wales, Trinidad's players have come up with performances that would have graced any international fixture. Which begs the question, would the island be able to hold its own as a bona fide full-member country? Ganga has no wish to incite a revolution, but he is nevertheless realistic about the state of the game within the region.

"West Indies cricket has a great legacy," he said, "and there's a great amount of pride and respect for it, because of what our great teams have accomplished in decades gone by. I am not one to jump on a bandwagon and say Trinidad & Tobago should go on its own, but there has to be some involvement on the part of all stakeholders to protect West Indies cricket. It has to be invested in, in the right manner, and some firm decisions need to be taken about moving our cricket forward.

"And those are issues that need to be addressed now," he added, "because I tell you, if that doesn't happen, it is inevitable that countries may go separately. That is a fact because West Indies cricket cannot continue to have the turmoil that it is in right now. I think it's very important for that to be seen. Looking down the road, if decisions are not made sooner than later, that may be the only direction that territorial boards have left to take."

Ganga, however, was careful not to get carried away by a version of the game that has not won the approval of all cricket-lovers. "A lot of people don't have a lot of respect for Twenty20 cricket and they are right in their approach to some extent," he said. "If you are looking at a nation competing, it's not just about assessing the performance from a Twenty20 perspective. A lot of countries in the world have a bigger population than the Caribbean, and more finances, and still they struggle at Test cricket. I'm not one to advocate going on your own. It's important to set things in perspective, to look exactly at where our cricket is at this time, and what needs to be done to start turning things around."

It is a measure of the incompetence of the various Caribbean boards that Ganga believes that the involvement of disgraced billionaire, Sir Allen Stanford, is still the best thing to happen to cricket in the region for years. Trinidad have certainly benefited from his largesse. They won his US$1million jackpot in 2008 after finishing as runners-up to Guyana in the original Stanford 20/20 in 2006, and went on to supplement that windfall with a further US$280,000 in last year's one-off victory against Middlesex. Regardless of the subsequent revelations about the man, Ganga still believes he and his ilk owe Stanford a debt of gratitude.

"We must thank Sir Allen for his introduction of Twenty20 cricket in the Caribbean, it has caught on and I'm sure it will continue to inspire a new generation of West Indian cricketers," said Ganga. "There's a whole lot of positives that he brought to the region, but then now when you reflect on the situation, you see all the different negatives that his actions have cost. We are not the ones to judge, but what I can say from a cricketing point of view is that we the players have benefited a lot, and I can surely say the WICB and all the territorial boards have benefited a lot in terms of infrastructure and facilities.

"He made a huge investment in WI cricket for years, and the dividends of that are showing now, and will continue for a couple more years. It's important for someone in the Caribbean to identify the huge and positive investment he made in West Indies cricket, and it is important for someone now to take up that slack now."

Tendulker Targets 15000 test runs

Sachin Tendulkar during a training session, Auckland, March 24, 2009
Sachin Tendulkar: "I am not pleased yet with what I have done"

Sachin Tendulkar has said he is not satisfied with his achievements and hopes to accumulate 15,000 runs and win the World Cup in 2011.

"I am not pleased yet with what I have done," Tendulkar, who has scored a record 12773 Test runs at an average of 54.58 from 159 matches, said in an interview with the Wisden Cricketer. "Sunil Gavaskar has told me that I have to get to 15,000 runs. He said he would be angry with me and would come and catch me if I didn't. I admire him so much and to score that many would be a terrific achievement, but that is not the only aim." His other big cricketing ambition is to "win the World Cup in 2011".

Tendulkar, 36, also spoke about how he has been consistently playing with pain. "I always play in pain, all the time. I played with a broken finger for the last three months, but you know when pain is manageable or not, and most of the time I can do it," he said. "I can still do what I did when I was 25 but the body is changing, so your thought process has to change too. I have had to change how I think, which is about taking less risk."

Tendulkar also disagreed with John Buchanan, former Australia coach, who felt Tendulkar had become susceptible to the short ball early in his innings because of a lack of footwork. "It is only his opinion; John Buchanan doesn't have to be right all the time. If I couldn't handle short deliveries, then I wouldn't still be scoring runs," he said. "Maybe he needs to change his opinion. There must be something very wrong with all the bowlers around the world that they have allowed me to score so many runs."



"I would say Virender Sehwag comes closest to my style."



Don Bradman had said Tendulkar reminded him of himself and the Indian batsman was the only modern player in Bradman's all-time XI. Does Tendulkar think the same way about anyone? "I would say Virender Sehwag comes closest to my style."

Tendulkar said he was not thinking about retirement yet but he would know when to quit cricket. "I will know when it is the right time, I won't have to be dragged away. I am the person who will make the decision and I will know whether I still belong."

He admitted life after cricket wouldn't be easy. "It's a scary thought. It has been there for my whole adult life, it will be difficult, I have been around for a long time, I can imagine when I finish I will long to face just 10 more balls but you have to move."

ICC Bowlers Rankings

1 N Kulasekara
2 K Mills
3 Shakib Al Hasan
4 D Vettori
5 M Muralidaran
6 N Bracken
7 M Johnson
8 M Mortaza
9 S Broad
10 A.Flintoff

ICC ODI Batmans Rankings

1 MS Dhoni
2 Yuvrav Singh
3 Michael Hussey
4 S Chanderpaul
5 Chris Gayle
6 AB de Villiers
7 V Sehwag
8 G Smith
9 H Gibbs
10 J Kallis

ODI Ratings

Team Rankings


POINTS
1 South Africa 127
2 India 126
3 Australia 119
4 England 111
5 New Zealand 110
6 Pakistan 107
7 Sri Lanka 106
8 West Indies 78
9 Bangladesh 54
10 Ireland 27

Murali To Retire from Test In Late 2011

Sri Lankan offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan has said he will retire from Test cricket next year. Murali, who is the highest wicket-taker in Tests with 770 wickets in 127 Tests, announced that the two-Test home series against West Indies in November 2010 would be his last.

Speaking at the end of the first ODI against Pakistan, in which he won the Man-of-the-Match award, the 37-year-old Murali said he would focus on playing one-day cricket until the 2011 World Cup, to be held in the subcontinent, and would thereafter stick to Twenty20 cricket.

"I am not going to play for a long time. Next year's West Indies series will be the last two Test matches I will be playing," Muralitharan said. "That's the right time for me because I will be 38 years old. The 2011 World Cup is my aim, but I will enjoy playing Twenty20 cricket for a few more years. "The hardest game in cricket is Tests. The hardest part is you have to take wickets and get batsmen out and sometimes you have to spend two days on the field. You have to mentally prepare yourself for every game. In Twenty20, you look to contain the batsmen and he tries some shots and gets out. Fifty-over cricket is also the same. In Test cricket you have to read the batsmen, set the fields properly and get the wickets."

Muralitharan missed Sri Lanka's 2-0 win in the recent three-Test series against Pakistan due to a torn tendon in his right knee, which could be one of the factors in his decision.

"I put in a lot of effort in the last one month to be fit," said Muralitharan. "I trained very hard with the physio Tommy [Simsek] and trainers Jade [Roberts] and Mario [Villavarayan] who helped me to get through the difficult period. I also enjoyed the rest. I trained hard although I knew my knee was not right.

Top Curve
Murali's milestones

* August, 1992 - Murali made his Test debut against Australia at the Khettarama Stadium and took 3 for 141.
* December, 1995 - No-balled by Darrell Hair seven times for a suspect action during the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.
* March, 1997 - Became the first Sri Lankan to reach 100 Test wickets.
* January, 2002 - Became the fastest to reach the 400-wicket landmark. It took him only 72 Tests.
* May, 2004: Went past Courtney Walsh's record for the most Test wickets when he claims his 520th wicket.
* July, 2007 Reached the 700-wicket milestone in his 113th Test. The last 100 wickets came in 12 Tests.

Bottom Curve

"The doctors said that I have to go through with it and train harder. I can't go for an operation because I will be out for six to seven months. That will mean my career is almost over and that I am not going to play for a long time.

"A torn tendon is a very big injury and it will take a long time to heal. The best suggestion was for me to rest for two to three weeks, train hard and play with a little pain. I was prepared to go through with it. The doctors said that I can definitely play with the injury for about one to two years but in the end when I finish I will have to operate on it."

Muralitharan, who once harboured hopes of becoming the first bowler in Test history to take 1000 wickets, said the lack of Test cricket for Sri Lanka had made it difficult for him to achieve the milestone.

"If I am to get 1000 Test wickets we have to play Test matches regularly," Muralitharan said. "These days we play fewer Test matches."

In 2010, Sri Lanka have only the two-Test series at home against West Indies to look forward to. However, Muralitharan said 800 wickets would be a more realistic target as Sri Lanka are due to play two home Tests against New Zealand starting next month, followed by three Tests in India at the end of the year.

Muralitharan made his Test debut against Australia in 1992, and became Test cricket's leading wicket-taker when he went past Shane Warne's record of 708 wickets against England in December 2007, fittingly on his home ground in Kandy. He achieved the grand double of being the highest wicket-taker in ODIs as well when he went past Wasim Akram's record of 502 wickets in 2009.

He currently has 507 ODI wickets from the 330 ODIs played, at an average of 22.74. He has also featured in eight Twenty20 internationals, picking up 11 wickets at 16.81.