The BCCI has sent show cause notice to seven Indian players who were involved in the pub clash at St Lucia on the day when India was knocked out of the ICC World T20.

Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Ravindra Jadeja and Murali Vijay have been given one week time to explain their role in the pub incident and why the board should not take disciplinary action against them.

Out of the seven players, four of them will be touring Zimbabwe for the upcoming tri-series.

Ashish Nehra

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Former Indian Cricket Captain Rahul Dravid makes a return to India’s ODI team for the tri-series in Sri Lanka and for the Champions Trophy next month. Rahul Dravid replaced Rohit Sharma, who managed 15 runs in three ODI innings in the West Indies and 43 runs in three innings against major opposition in the World Twenty20.

Also the selectors did not want to take risk including Virender Sehwag, who is yet to recover fully from his shoulder injury. He was not expected to make it to the Sri Lanka tri-series and now has been left out for the Champions Trophy as well.

Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid who have made a come back to the ODI squad

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, who opted out of the West Indies series, makes a comeback. Suresh Raina, who was out because of a hairline fracture of the thumb, also returns. Amit Mishra makes it into the ODI squad, replacing Pragyan Ojha as the back-up spinner to Harbhajan Singh. Dinesh Karthik and Abhishek Nayar have retained their places.

India’s ODI squad: Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, RP Singh, Amit Mishra, Dinesh Karthik, and Abhishek Nayar

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The struggling form of Indian captain – and most versatile batsman – and how to compensate for it? Can we expect Dhoni return to his form against England?

India’s strength is that every one of their players is capable of winning a match through individual brilliance. Even the loss of one of the world’s most dangerous openers was overcome by a middle-order batsman making the transition to the top of the order seamlessly. They have tried to fortify that advantage with flexibility by attempting to shuffle the middle order according to how the openers fare.

Between Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir, Rohit has been the more aggressive batsman and so India have sent in MS Dhoni at No. 3 should Gambhir fall first to steady one end while Rohit attacks at the other. And if Rohit should be dismissed first, like against West Indies, Suresh Raina will take up the attacking role at No. 3. It’s an excellent plan, for a fluid batting order keeps the opposition guessing and batsmen versatile enough to slot into different roles are valuable in the Twenty20 format. The problem, however, is Dhoni’s loss of form.

Dhoni has batted in various positions from No. 2 to 8 and, when in form, he’s played different roles – from sheet anchor to aggressor – successfully. He even considered opening in the World Twenty20 before offering Rohit the job in Virender Sehwag’s absence. In recent times, Dhoni has taken up the responsibility of guiding the innings, holding one end up, scoring at a run-a-ball, letting the other shot-makers attack before joining them.

India have had to manage without a significant contribution from Dhoni so far in this tournament. He struggled during the IPL and carried that indifferent form to England, scoring 6, 9*, 26 and 14 during the warm-ups and group matches. Dhoni batted at No. 3 during those matches ahead of more in-form batsmen.

Teams:
England: PD Collingwood, JM Anderson, RS Bopara, SCJ Broad, JS Foster, RWT Key, AD Mascarenhas, EJG Morgan, GR Napier, KP Pietersen, AU Rashid, OA Shah, RJ Sidebottom, GP Swann, LJ Wright

India: MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, G Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, RA Jadeja, KD Karthik, Z Khan, P Kumar, PP Ojha, IK Pathan, YK Pathan, SK Raina, I Sharma, RG Sharma, RP Singh

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India’s opening batsman Virender Sehwag has been ruled out of the ongoing ICC Twenty20 World Cup in England due to a shoulder injury.

Sources said Sehwag was advised to undergo a surgery for his shoulder injury.

The hard-hitting batsman, earlier, had to skip the opening match against Bangladesh including all the practice matches.

After Sehwag’s initial injury, Dhoni gambled with Rohit Sharma as Gautam Gambhir’s partner to open the innings. Rohit played well in the opening slot, and now, Rohit Sharma is likely to open for India in all the matches of the Twenty20 World Cup in England.

The BCCI named Dinesh Karthik as his replacement in India’s 15-member squad. Karthik is expected to arrive in London ahead of India’s first Super Eights match against the West Indies at Lord’s on Friday.

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Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has described India’s warm up clash against Pakistan ahead of T20 World Cup as one of the best matches they have played but reckons that doing an encore in future would be difficult.

He said it was one of the best games but difficult to replicate it in future. The Team India thrashed Pakistan by nine-wickets at the Oval on Wednesday night.

Openers Rohit Sharma (80) and Gautam Gambhir (52 not out) nearly knocked off the required 159 runs between them alone, a performance which would send shudders down the spine of other teams.

Dhoni was not willing to confirm if Sharma has booked his place in the squad even if Sehwag recovers from his shoulder injury in coming days.

Dhoni also said the left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan is definitely out of the opening game against Bangladesh on Friday and could also be out of the final league game against Ireland on June 10.

Dhoni is keen to use the tall pacer Ishant Sharma in the middle overs.

On a brilliant day for them, Dhoni still found fault with his team’s performance in the field.

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The Second Edition of the Indian Premier League ended with a perfect fitting finale between the Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The Awards and honours for the concluded DLF IPL II are as follows:

The Winners: Deccan Chargers (Rs 4.8 crore)

Runners-up: Royal Challengers Bangalore (Rs 2.4 crore)

Fair Play Award: Kings XI Punjab

Man of the Match (final): Anil Kumble (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

DLF Golden Player of the League (Player of the Tournament): Adam Gilchirst (Deccan Chargers)

Orange Cap winner (highest scorer): Matthew Hayden (Chennai Super Kings)

Purple Cap winner (highest wicket-taker): Rudra Pratap Singh (Deccan Chargers)

Under-23 Player of the league: Rohit Sharma (Deccan Chargers)

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Kings XI Punjab lived to see another day in the IPL after a tremendous bowling effort – highlighted by Yuvraj Singh’s second hat-trick of the tournament – gave them a one-run win over the Deccan Chargers off the last ball of the game.

Chargers needed 11 runs in the last over but Pathan assured his homeside by dismissing Rohit Sharma (42) and RP Singh (0) for the much-needed victory.

Rohit Sharma was the last hope for Deccan Chargers after they lost three quick wickets to Yuvraj but Sharma failed to repeat the last night’s magic.

Kings XI Punjab skipper Yuvraj Singh took his second hat-trick, as Deccan Chargers lost quick wickets after the strategy break.

Yuvraj dismissed Herschelle Gibbs (26), Andrew Symonds (25) and Venugopal Rao (0), spread over two overs, to bring back Punjab in hunt.

Adam Gilchrist (23) gave Chargers a flourishing start until Ramesh Powar struck twice in the fifth over. Powar removed Gilchrist and T Suman (0) in consecutive deliveries.

Earlier, Kumar Sangakkara helped depleted Kings XI Punjab to 134/7 in 20 overs.

Sangakkara (56) and Wilkin Mota (12) stitched a valuable partnership of 53 runs for the fifth wicket to revive Punjab’s hopes after a poor start.

Sent to bat first, Kings XI Punjab lost wickets at regular intervals against roaring Chargers. Kings XI were desperately missing Jayawardene, as no batsmen found their feet on the ground in crunch time.

Chargers got rid of Yuvraj Singh (20) before the strategy break, as Kings XI got off to a worst possible start in the must-win game at New Wanderers Stadium.

Venugopal Rao shattered Yuvraj’s middle stump in the 9th over to pile misery on already struggling Kings XI who lost their three top order batsmen within five overs.

RP Singh dismissed opener Sunny Sohal (9) in the second over to become the highest wicket-taker in the tournament. Sohal tried all possible ways to get out and was finally successful when miscued one to Rohit Sharma at short fine-leg.

Luke Pomersbach also did not last long and was run-out by Herschelle Gibbs for 1 run.

Simon Katich played couple of good shots before being claimed by Andrew Symonds for 11 runs. Pragyan Ojha took a comfortable catch at the mid-on.

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High on confidence after the last-ball victory against Kolkata Knight Riders, Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist is now eyeing another win in their next outing against Kings XI Punjab on Sunday to seal a semi-final berth in the Indian Premier League.

Sent in to bat first, Kings XI Punjab lost three quick wickets against consistent Deccan Chargers at New Wanderers Stadium.

RP Singh dismissed opener Sunny Sohal (9) in the second over to become the highest wicket-taker in the tournament. Sohal tried all possible ways to get out and was finally successful when miscued one to Rohit Sharma at short fine-leg.

Luke Pomersbach also did not last long and was run-out by Herschelle Gibbs for 1 run.

Simon Katich played couple of good shots before being claimed by Andrew Symonds for 11 runs. Pragyan Ojha took a comfortable catch at the mid-on.

Adam Gilchrist won the toss and invited Kings XI Punjab to bat first in the 49th match of the IPL.

Chargers included Jaskaran Singh in their line-up, as Harmeet Singh was warming the benches.

Kings XI Punjab retained the same side which stunned Delhi Daredevils on May 15.

Punjab have the psychological advantage going into the match as they had beaten Adam Gilchrist’s men by three wickets in their earlier meeting.

Deccan Chargers took a stride towards reserving their semi-final berth as they pipped Kolkata Knight Riders by six wickets in a last-ball thriller on Saturday.

The teams

Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs, Tirumalsetti Suman, Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds, Venugopal Rao, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Ryan Harris, Jaskaran Singh, Rudra Pratap Singh, Pragyan Ojha.

Kings XI Punjab: Sunny Sohal, Simon Katich, Kumar Sangakkara (w), Yuvraj Singh(c), Luke Pomersbach, Irfan Pathan, Wilkin Mota, Brett Lee, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, S Sreesanth.

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Kolkata Knight Riders were once again defeated by the Deccan Chargers on the last ball of the game at the Wanderers on Saturday.

A 17-ball 43 by David Hussey took the Kolkata Knight Riders to 160-5 against the Deccan Chargers. Sourav Ganguly made a 41-ball 33 and Brad Hodge hit 48 off 41 balls as the Knight Riders were struggling at the half-way mark. But Hussey’s surge allowed the Knight Riders to put up a competitive total.

Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist elected to bowl against the Kolkata Knight Riders after winning the toss.

Herschelle Gibbs, who was dropped after making three ducks, came back into the Deccan eleven. Ryan Harris and Harmeet Singh also returned for the Chargers. Chaminda Vaas and Dwayne Smith along with Shoaib Maqsusi were excluded.

For the Kolkata Knight Riders, their prize acquisition of the second edition Mashrafe Mortaza finally was given a thumbs up and made his debut as a Knight Rider. Brad Hodge also returned for the Knight Riders as Ajantha Mendis and Angelo Matthews were kept out.

Scoreboard:

Kolkata Knight Riders innings (20 overs)
B McCullum     c Suman b Harris                20
S Ganguly         c Harris b Sharma               33
B Hodge             c H Singh b Harris                 4
D Hussey           run out (Gilchrist)              43
WP Saha            c Singh b Symonds                7
M Mortaza        not out                                       2
A Agarkar         not out                                      0
Extras     (b 1, lb 2, w 2, nb 2)         7

Total     (5 wickets; 20 overs)     160

Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-85, 3-117, 4-152, 5-158

Bowling: RJ Harris:2-20, RP Singh:0-30, A Symonds:1-28, Harmeet Singh:0-40, P Ojha:0-24, R Sharma:1-15

Deccan Chargers innings (target: 161 runs from 20 overs)
A Gilchrist           c sub (LR Shukla) b Hodge 43
H Gibbs                 c Hussey b Kartik                   28
T Suman                run out (Hodge/Agarkar)   31
A Symonds          run out (Mortaza)                   18
R Sharma              not out                                        32
Venugopal Rao  not out                                           7
Extras     (b 1, lb 2, w 2, nb 2)     7

Total     (4 wickets; 20 overs)         166

Fall of wickets: 1-68, 2-85, 3-116, 4-128

Bowling: I Sharma:0-23, Mortaza:0-58, M Kartik:1-12, B Hodge:1-23, A Agarkar:0-41, DJ Hussey:0-6

Man of the match: Rohit Sharma

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Rohit Sharma was the toast of Deccan Chargers’ victory on Wednesday with a hat-trick after playing a critical innings of 38 off 36 balls in his team’s 19-run win over Mumbai Indians.

The man-of-the-match said he was happy with his performance with the ball and said that he always had confidence in his bowling.

“I am happy that I scored and later took that hat-trick. I always had my confidence in my bowling and I am happy it came out good today,” he said. I had been bowling at international level but I haven’t been that regular with it,” he has been quoted as saying in the official IPL T20 website on Thursday.

Skipper of Deccan Chargers Adam Gilchrist said that the early strikes by R P Singh and fine bowling by T Suman and Rohit Sharma won the match for them.

“Harris took a brilliant catch off Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar falling off the very next ball put pressure on the Mumbai Indians. The impact was huge. Later Rohit and Suman bowled so well that we didn’t feel the absence of Ojha. He will be fine for the next game,” said the former Aussie stumper.

Meanwhile, R P Singh was ecstatic about the early wickets of the two explosive batsmen – Tendulkar and Jayasuriya.

“I am just sticking to my basics. I bowled in the right areas and my outswingers came out good. The South African pitches support bowlers like me who can swing the ball,” he said.

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