Flintoff had drinking problems in Australia too

Andrew Flintoff’s drinking problem during the World Cup has been written about in detail, with Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, saying that Flintoff “let him down” during the tournament. Now, further details about Flintoff’s penchant for alcohol is expected to be revealed in Fletcher’s new autobiography, Behind the Shades, which is likely to claim that a practice session on the tour to Australia earlier in the year had to be cancelled due to Flintoff’s problem.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, the autobiography will provide details on a net session which was supposed to have been held on February 1, 2007, a day before England’s penultimate round-robin match of the triangular CB Series. The practice was eventually cancelled as Flintoff had been drinking.

Ironically, England creamed Australia by 92 runs the next day, breaking a run of nine successive defeats through the Ashes Tests and the one-day series that followed. Flintoff’s contribution wasn’t much - he scored 3 and took 1 for 47 off eight overs - but England were saved by a maiden one-day century by Ed Joyce, while Liam Plunkett and Sajid Mahmood bowled fine spells with the new ball. That win sparked off a spectacular run, with England qualifying for the final and then beating Australia twice more to lift the trophy.

According to the daily, Fletcher’s book is expected to detail the discussions that were held within the team management on February 1. There was the option of going public with the incident, but the management eventually decided not to take ay action. The decision seemed to have paid off when England won the CB Series, but in the World Cup the problem resurfaced in a major way, with Flintoff being one of six players fined after drinking in a nightclub after losing to New Zealand and 48 hours before playing Canada. But attention focussed on Flintoff who fell off a pedalo in the early hours of the morning. He was later stripped of his vice captaincy.

The autobiography is also expected to reveal that Flintoff stayed in the Australian dressing room till midnight after England had been beaten in a demoralising second Test in Adelaide. England made 551 for 6 in their first innings, but were bundled out for 129 in the second and ultimately lost by six wickets.

Younis set to replace Salman as vice-captain for Indian series

Younis Khan, who refused the captaincy earlier this year saying that he cannot handle the pressure, is now set to take over as the Pakistan team’s vice-captain for the tour of India.

Sources told ‘The News’ on Saturday that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to appoint Younis as the vice-captain in place of Salman Butt. The left-handed opener is set to lose the job after a string of unimpressive outings this season.

Younis was set to take over as Pakistan captain following the resignation of former skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq after a disastrous World Cup this March but stunned everybody by refusing to accept the responsibility saying that he was unable to cope with the stress that accompanies the job.

The PCB later picked Shoaib Malik as Pakistan captain.

In a major turn of events, Younis accepted Shoaib as his new captain and has now also agreed to become his deputy for the tour of India starting from November 1. The PCB will make a formal announcement about the appointment today.

Abdul Razaq returns

Pakistani all-rounder Abdul Razzaq has announced that he is taking back his decision of retirement from the International Cricket and is returning back to the International arena. He thought that upon his decision, Dr. Nasim Ashraf, the chairman of PCB would go delirious with joy, and Salahuddin Sallu, the chief selector would perform a “Bhangra” and the rest of team will throw a party, while nation will celebrate an Eid-like day.

Amazingly enough that didn’t exactly happen. Dr. Nasim Ashraf expresses his “utter” amazement at Razzaq’s decision and said that he thought perhaps Razzaq was somewhere out there fitting the CNG kits in the cars, and Salahuddin Sallu said indifferently that Razzaq cannot join the national team straight away and he would have to show his performance in the domestic cricket.

Abdul Razzaq has said that he made a mistake in haste, when he took retirement from the cricket after getting dropped from the Twenty20 squad, and now after much ponder and discussion with his coach and club, he realized his blunder and now want to play again for Pakistan. Now Abdul Razzaq will represent Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy, and if he succeeds in showing his form and fitness in the first class matches, then he might get a chance in the team.

Abdul Razzaq has always been a dumb thingie. He never was able to show any consistency in his performance. He was neither a bowler nor a batsman, rather a bizarre mixture of both. He only performed in some of the ODIs, where he used to slog in the final five or so overs. But now for quite sometime he had become a useless component of team. Then, he demanded that he should be made captain of the national team, after the ignominious departure of Inzi. Upon this dumb and ridiculous demand, everybody laughed and board just ignored him. He then went to Indian Cricket Leauge (ICL), and still his status is unclear in ICL.

Sehwag replaces Dravid for first two one-dayers

Rahul Dravid and Dinesh Karthik have been left out of the Indian squad for the first two one-dayers against Pakistan. Virender Sehwag makes a comeback, as does Gautam Gambhir, who recently recovered from a groin strain, while Uttar Pradesh allrounder Praveen Kumar is the only new face. The series kicks off on November 5, with the first ODI in Guwahati.

Niranjan Shah, the BCCI sercretary, annoucing the squad and said the 15 were picked in consultation with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian captain, who couldn’t be present at the selection committee meeting, which took place at Motera in Ahmedabad where the Challenger Trophy is being played.

Dravid missed out on the final one-dayer against Australia in Mumbai recently and there has been speculation about his spot being under threat. Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of the selection committee, said Dravid was “rested”. “We decided to give him a break. He’s a great player and he will be back soon.” Vengsarkar insisted the squad had been only been picked for the first two ODIs, thereby clarifying that Dravid would be considered for the matches ahead.

But Vengsarkar said Dravid, whose position has become uncertain for the first time in a decade, needs to prove his form and fitness. “Fitness and fielding have become very important in the one-day game so he will have to show it playing for his state [Karnataka].

Karthik, despite his fine Test form, has struggled in his last ten one-dayers, averaging 19.33 with a highest score of 44 not out. He replaced Dravid for the final ODI against Australia in Mumbai but ended the game with a duck.

Sehwag returns to the squad after a five-month break. He cracked a fiery 75 in the Challenger Trophy match today and played a part in India’s recent triumph in the ICC World Twenty20. “He has been among runs recently and even today he showed he was in good form,” Vengsarkar said. The squad now has five openers, including Gambhir, taking his spot ahead of S Badrinath, who had replaced him for the final leg of the Australia series Vengsarkar did not say what position Sehwag would bat at.

Kumar has been one of the most consistent bowling allrounders in the domestic circuit in the past few years. He ended with 30 wickets in seven Ranji Trophy games last season, which placed him eighth on the run-charts, and backed it up with some handy cameos as well. “Kumar gives us an [all-round] option. He has also played a crucial role for India A recently. Badrinath was brought in for Gambhir earlier, but he’ll get his chances, too,” Vengsarkar said.

Kumar was picked for the allrounder’s slot ahead of Joginder Sharma, who was part of India’s winning team at the ICC World Twenty20. Vengsarkar said Kumar was preferred considering current form.

Squad for first two one-dayersSachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik.

Dravid dropped for first two Pakistan ODIs

AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - Indian selectors have dropped experienced batsman Rahul Dravid for the first two one-day internationals against Pakistan next month.

Dravid, 34, averages less than 10 in his last 10 one-day matches and was dropped for the final one-dayer against Australia earlier this month.

"We wanted to give him a break for a while," chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar told a news conference on Saturday.

"He is a great player. He will be back very soon."

Pakistan will play five one-day internationals and three tests in India from Nov. 5.

Explosive opener Virender Sehwag, dropped for the England tour due to poor form, regained his place.

"He's back in form," Vengsarkar said of Sehwag, who was part of the team that won the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.

Dravid, one of seven batsmen in the world to score over 10,000 one-day runs, gave up the captaincy last month after the England tour.

He looked out of sorts in the one-day series against Australia, scoring just 51 in five completed innings. The visitors won the seven-match series 4-2 after the opening game was washed out.

"If they need him, he'll be there for the next few games," Vengsarkar said of Dravid, dropped from the one-day team for only the second time in his career.

"Fitness and fielding are very important. We have given him a break."

Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Rohit Sharma, Murali Kartik, Zaheer Khan, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar.

Dravid pushed to the wall, Viru in

The national selectors on Saturday sprung a major surprise by dropping former captain Rahul Dravid and recalling Virender Sehwag in the 15-member Indian one-day squad for the first two matches of the upcoming series against arch-rivals Pakistan. The 34-year-old Dravid, who struggled for runs right through the recent ODI series against Australia, was left out of the team which has Uttar Pradesh paceman Praveen Kumar as the lone new face.

Left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir, who missed the last four matches in the series against Australia because of an injury, expectedly made a comeback in place of S. Badrinath in the team announced by BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah after a meeting of the selection committee here.

Apart from Dravid’s exclusion, Sehwag’s recall was also a surprise as the Delhi batsman has not scored too many runs to justify his place in the team. Chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar said Dravid was being given a break and should be back in the team soon.

"We haven’t spoken to him yet. We wanted to give him a break for a while. He is a great player and he will be back soon," Vengsarkar told reporters after the meeting which lasted close to two hours.

Vengsarkar also said the selection committee had consulted captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni over telephone before finalising the squad for the first two matches to be held in Guwahati (November 5) and Mohali (November 8).

"We have consulted Mahendra Singh Dhoni over phone," Vengsarkar said adding that "those who have not been picked definitely have a chance to make a comeback".

On Sehwag, Vengsarkar said he had performed well in the current Challenger series and in the past against Pakistan.

"Sehwag has played a fine innings today and he has also performed well in the past. He is an experienced player," Vengsarkar said referring to Sehwag’s 57-ball 75 in the third match of the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy here.

The chairman of selectors said pacer Praveen Kumar, who picked a five-wicket haul on Friday, gave option to the team. "Praveen has also done well for India A and he give the team options," he said.

Suresh Raina was among the prominent name to have missed the bus despite his impressive 92-run knock in the ongoing Challenger Trophy and added abilities as a top-class fielder inside the ring.

Besides, wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik, Mohammed Kaif, spinner Ramesh Powar and pacemen Ajit Agarkar and Munaf Patel also failed to find a place in the squad.

The selectors also decided not to implement a rotation policy and retained seniors like Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.

Sachin set to be test captian

Sachin Tendulkar is set to be named captain of the Indian Test team soon. He is likely to get the formal nod for the Test series against Pakistan when the selectors meet again during the second ODI at Mohali on November 8.

Rahul Dravid, who held the Test and ODI job for over two years and till the tour of England last summer but who voluntarily stepped down soon after, now finds himself dropped from the ODI team for poor form. Mahendra Singh Dhoni continues to be the skipper of the ODI team and will also lead in the Twenty20 version. The split captaincy was always on the cards after Drvaid abdicated. The selectors had chosen Dhoni for the T-20 job even before the Indian team left for England. With his young team succeeding to the extent of winning the World Cup in South Africa, the committee has to continue to nominate him for the instant varieties.

The agenda of the chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar will be served best when Sachin is named to lead India again in Test cricket. It was his wok in the background as well as Sharad Pawar-led BCCI’s loud thinking that Sachin should take over the reins before the tour of Australia that forced Dravid to give up the reins even after leading India to a historic Test series win in England that had come after 21 years.

A West Zone orientation in cricketing matters became apparent with the nomination of several former players as cricket managers or coach of national teams. Dravid who was well ensconced in the hot seat, may have allowed his sensitivity to get the better of him when he gave up the coveted job.

Vengsarkar had initially brought Sachin in as vice-captain for the World Cup in the Caribbean because he felt the senior cricketer had grown distant from the younger elements of the squad on the tour of South Africa on which Virender Sehwag was the deputy to Dravid.

A disastrous World Cup meant that the pressures were on Dravid who felt quite isolated from the rest of his team that crashed out even before reaching the Super Eight stage. He may have tinkered with the idea of stepping down straightaway but Dravid ploughed on only to prove that he was no quitter and that success would come on the field if the national team stayed united.

Sachin who was a self confessed failure at leadership had stepped down to make way for Sourav Ganguly in 2001. The aura around the captaincy and the commercial stakes behind it subsequently became so humongous that there is no one who does not nurse an ambition to be India’s captain.