Economics and politics dominated an auction that left a pair of veterans counting their blessings

If you’re Mohammad Kaif, a lottery ticket would be a smart move, while Damien Martyn could do worse than contemplate the tables at Bellagio or Caesar’s Palace. Neither man has played international cricket for more than three years, and Kaif’s performances in the inaugural Indian Premier League – he didn’t even make the Rajasthan Royals squad for the second season in South Africa – were as ordinary as Martyn’s brief flirtation with the nearly forgotten Indian Cricket League.

The Royals, captained and coached by Shane Warne, bought out Kaif’s $675,000 (£412,000) contract before the auction to free up the space that they then filled with the classy 38-year-old batsman who was once Warne’s brother in baggy-green arms. If that raised eyebrows, there was bemusement when Kings XI Punjab, who have appointed Kumar Sangakkara as captain in place of Yuvraj Singh, splashed out $250,000 for Kaif, whose batting is usually conspicuously devoid of the power and pizzazz associated with Twenty20 cricket.

Many of the headlines in England on Wednesday will focus on the lack of interest in Graeme Swann, but the Twitter-friendly off-spinner’s IPL tale is far from over. The auction represents only the most high-profile route into the league. There are other ways. Both the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings have injured players that they can replace before the action begins on 12 March. In Mumbai’s case, they will have only the $100,000 that they spent on Kyle Mills last season, but Chennai have a whopping $1.55 million to draw on, having seen Andrew Flintoff go under the surgeon’s knife yet again. Don’t be surprised to see Swann or Doug Bollinger, another who attracted no interest, fielding a few calls from agents over the coming days.

With the auction taking place in Mumbai, a city subjected to the worst terror attacks ever seen in India, there was little doubt that the story of the day was the shunning of the 11 Pakistan players on the auction list. When Richard Madley, who usually helps sell antiques and Read more…

Administrator IPL Adam Voges, Andrew Flintoff, Blogs.CMDN.com, Chennai Super Kings, Cricket Blogs, damien martyn, Doug Bollinger, Eoin Morgan, IPL, Kings XI, Kumar Sangakkara, Mohammad Kaif, Mumbai, Richard Madley, Ricky Ponting, Royal Challengers, Shane Warne, Swann, Twenty20

India’s run-fest against Sri Lanka may not be the greatest entertainment, but the crowds in Kanpur will be content with a win for MS Dhoni’s men

What can you say about a series in which 2,133 runs have been scored in 19 sessions for the loss of just 25 wickets? What can you say of the 10 centuries scored already, of a bowler as accomplished as Muttiah Muralitharan being carted all around Green Park? And is Test cricket in India really on an intravenous drip if more than 25,000 take up vantage points in the dilapidated concrete stands in Kanpur?

Over the past 24 hours, I’ve fielded calls from two radio stations, one in the UK and the other in Australia, both wanting to know why pitches in India are so placid, and whether they are responsible for the decline in popularity of the five-day game. Sunil Gavaskar quipped during the Ahmedabad Test that the surface was like a road and, apart from the opening hour of the series when four wickets fell, the contest between bat and ball has been as unedifying as Muhammad Ali reducing Ernie Terrell’s face to pulp while hissing: “What’s my name, Uncle Tom?”

The facts are irrefutable. Over the past five years, nearly 50% of the matches in India [11 of 24] have ended in draws. And unlike a Cardiff 2009 or The Oval 1979, most of the stalemates have been mind-numbingly boring. In the same period, 11 of 35 Tests in England have been drawn. Leading the way in pitch preparation, as on the field, are Australia [two draws in 27] and South Africa [three in 29]. And just to prove that south Asia does not only do touch-of-grey Tests, Sri Lanka have had 18 results from 22 games.

Are Indian curators incapable of producing result-oriented pitches, or have they been led astray by idiotic guidelines put in place by the game’s administrators? The last time a Test was played in Kanpur, India beat South Africa by eight wickets just before the end of the third day’s play. There was all sorts of tripe about “dust bowls” and “sub-standard pitches”, strange when Read more…

Administrator IND vs SL Ahmedabad, Ashes, Australia, BCCI, Blogs.CMDN.com, Cardiff, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, damien martyn, England, Green Park, ICC, India, Kanpur, Muralitharan, Perth, Sachin Tendulkar, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman

For a coach who wanted 4, or was it 11, captains for his team, it is no surprise that he couldn't settle on a single title for his book. John Buchanan's literary offering on cricket appears to have two titles on the cover. The Future of Cricket comes on top, The Rise of Twenty20, follows. That apart, the cover also has a strap line: When money talks, cricket listens. How big money, administrators are powering a new cricket world: an inside account. Phew! Can't this guy keep anything simple?

The book's juicy parts have already made national headlines. When you write adversely about Gavaskar, Harbhajan and Yuvraj, you are sure to grab eyeballs. And when you write lines such as in T20 "you have to be inventive, fearless. And I don't see those qualities as part of Sachin's make-up at this stage of his career. Sachin Tendulkar is still a great player, but not in this arena of T20," everybody is eager to find out what you say next.  Buchanan may have led KKR to the bottom but the book demonstrates his genius for marketing himself.

Reading the book one gets the impression that Buchanan is a mastermind at predicting the distant future. But he is not so adept at dealing with the present or the immediate future. He certainly didn't know that KKR will finish last in IPL2.  And that he will get the boot Read more...

Avijit Ghosh Australia Ajantha Mendis, Australian, Blogs.CMDN.com, Buchanan, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, damien martyn, Dravid, Duckworth-Lewis, Ganguly, IPL2, KKR, Kolkata Knight Riders, McGrath, Pietersen, Royal Challengers, Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan, Stuart McGill, T20 World Cup, Warne

With less than a week to go before the Ashes series begins, perhaps both teams might do us all the courtesy of telling us whether they think they are well prepared for the series or not? Anyone can make excuses after the event – let’s hear the truth before it all starts so that we can then judge the final outcome with all grudges and platitudes aired beforehand.

The graceful Damien Martyn, he of silken touch and impeccable balance with bat in hand, appears to lack that poise in a recent interview that is as clumsy as it is ungracious. In dissecting the 2005 Ashes loss, Martyn appears to be keen to join the list of cricketers who now view the John Buchanan era in a far less favourable light than at the height of the Australian dynasty.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not here to defend Buchanan or any other coach for that matter. I’m firmly in the camp of those who think that this modern preoccupation with multiple coaches and support staff is a case of massive overkill. Read more…

Administrator Ashes Ashes, Australia, Blogs.CMDN.com, Brad Hodge, Buchanan, Cricket, damien martyn, England, Lord's, Pietersen, Ponting, Rajasthan Royals, Ravi Bopara, Shane Warne

Now while I do not necessarily subscribe to the ultra, in-the-hindsight theory of the first ball of the series deciding the fate of the Ashes on the past two occasions, I can relate to where the cricket pundits are coming from. In matches that involve the Aussies, where a lot of games are played between the two ears, and with the help of that thing below the nose, it is usually the team that holds its nerves the most that comes out on top; with psychological advantage counting for a lot more than otherwise.

This is why, if Stephen Harmison’s first delivery of the game between the touring Australians and the English Lions is anything to go by, the English selectors would be seriously contemplating getting the tall, pace bowler into the squad. Harmison had been left out of the pre-squad that was selected by the selectors, in all probabilities to fly down to Belgium for a paid holiday, and with the selectors having made it clear that it wasn’t a mandate to get the final 13 out of this motley, the Durham bowler stands a more than a decent chance.

And no, it was not only about Phil Hughes having to hop like a cat on a hot tin roof while taken aback with a surprise akin to having met your in-laws with another girl – off that auspicious first ball – but the entire package that Harmison delivered through the remainder of the day which would have made the selectors stand up and take notice. Hughes fell to the same bowler some overs later, off a ball that would have found better solace on the WACA pitch of the old; it would have made a Curtly Ambrose proud as it spat out of a good length, took the face of a hopping Hughes’ bat and offered a dolly within the ring on the off-side.

There were three others that would have warmed the cockles of most Englishmen’s hearts; a short ball that was pulled straight to the fine-leg and two pitched up to the bat, that swung and knocked the stumps all over the place. I do not quite know about the Aussies, but sitting in my drawing room and watching the Aussie batsmen flounder-in-parts, made me rub my hands in glee; this has all the makings of a closely fought series. Read more…

Suneer Ashes, CMDN.com, Suneer Chowdhary speaks... Ashes, Australia, damien martyn, England, john buchanan, stephen harmison