Source: PTI

India to persist with five-bowler theory: Chappell

Kingston (Jamaica): India will persist with their new strategy of fielding five frontline bowlers in Test cricket, according to coach Greg Chappell who believes the five-bowler theory is the only way his team can win more matches.

Chappell also sees a key role for his young pace battery in improving India's floundering reputation in the longer version of the game, which he says, is possible if the team "replicates the lessons of our one-day success in Tests".

"It's the bowlers who win Tests and we all know that. I am convinced that India need to persist with the five-bowler theory in order to win more Test matches," Chappell told PTI shortly after the Indiam team's arrival here.

The former Australian captain expects his young fast bowlers to step up to the task and excel in Tests as well.

"It's an opportunity for them to seize the moment and prove themselves in demanding conditions," he said.

Chappell's eyes looked blood-shot with the trip across continents, yet the importance of the series goaded him into summoning computer analyst Ramakrishnan and bio-mechanist Ian Fraser for an impromptu computer session within a couple of hours of checking in at the hotel.

Do not take the West Indies lightly: Dravid 

Kingston (Jamaica): Shortly after setting foot on Caribbean soil, Indian captain Rahul Dravid cautioned his young guns not to make the mistake of taking the West Indies lightly, saying the opposition has the strength to topple the best in business.

Dravid heaped praise on the quality present in the West Indies line-up as he brought over his largely young but successful team for an arduous two-month tour of the Caribbean.

"Any team that has players of the quality of Lara, Sarwan, Gayle and Chanderpaul got to be a serious batting line-up. They have some good fast bowlers too," Dravid said soon after the Indian team's arrival here.

Lara has played 13 Tests against India, scoring 791 with one century at 37.66. He has 794 runs in 31 one-day matches. Chanderpaul has the best figures of 1280 runs against the Indians, hitting five centuries at 85.33 in 14 matches. Gayle in eight matches has scored 366 runs while Sarwan has 455 runs in eight games.

"They are a very good team and we have been following their cricket. We expect good cricket against them," said, Dravid, whose status in world cricket bears little resemblance to his two previous trips of West Indies in 1997 and 2002.

Tendulkar will be missed: Lara

Kingston (Jamaica): Skipper Brian Lara says Sachin Tendulkar's absence would deprive the younger players in the West Indies team a chance to learn from the Indian batting genius.

The 37-year-old Lara said presence of a player of Tendulkar's class would have helped in the development of young West Indies players.

"As team members, we can only learn from a player like that," Lara said yesterday after nets at Port-Of-Spain ahead of the final two one-dayers against Zimbabwe.

Lara, at the helm of the beleaguered team for the third time, said Tendulkar would also be missed by the cricket loving public of the Caribbean.

"I think it is unfortunate because we are all entertainers. The public would have loved to see Sachin," he was quoted as saying in the 'Trinidad Guardian'.

"He is going to be here for the World Cup hopefully, but any opportunity to see him would have been great for the public.

"It doesn't mean that India, with a player like Sachin Tendulkar in the team, is actually going to beat the West Indies," Lara explained.

"Yes, they would have a player of high class (and) we would have loved to have him here playing against us." The West Indies take on India in a five-match one-day series beginning here on Thursday before locking horns in a four-Test series.

Tendulkar, recuperating from a shoulder surgery and ruled out of the one-dayers, is hoping to be fit in time for the Tests.

Dhoni is a hot property in polls 
 
Jamshedpur: Acclaimed as a murderer of bowlers for his scintillating strokeplay, Indian cricket’s latest pin-up boy Mahendra Singh Dhoni has now unknowingly become a hot issue in the Jharkhand State Cricket Association elections slated for Sunday.

As the no-holds-barred campaign for the biennial elections reached its crescendo, both the ruling combine and the challengers claimed credit for the dashing wicketkeeper-batsman’s inclusion in the national team.

The dragging of Dhoni’s name is the latest twist in the high-voltage contest at Bokaro that pits Jharkhand Home Minister Sudesh Mahato against the incumbent inspector-general of police Amitabh Choudhury for the president’s post.

Former Test cricketer Ramesh Saxena, with five ex-Ranji Trophy players from the state and some other members of the rival group, have shot off a questionnaire to Choudhury, pooh-poohing his claim that Dhoni’s induction into the Indian cricket team was his achievement,

Saxena has thrown his hat into the ring for the secretary’s slot against the incumbent B N Singh.

The challengers claimed that the then president of undivided Bihar Cricket Association, Sanjay Singh, had requested the selectors to include Dhoni in the state Ranji team following his performance in the under-19 final match against Punjab about six year ago, that subsequently paved the way for the player’s induction into the national side.

Choudhury, however, refused to attach any importance to the opposition’s posers. “I need not reply to questions put forward by persons without credibility as the questions are all based on falsehood,” he said.