Watson credits Warne and IPL for revival

Centurion, Mon, Oct 05 2009

Shane Watson credited his stint under Warne at the IPL for his revival.

Shane Watson credited his stint under Warne at the IPL for his revival.[© AFP]From an injury-ravaged struggler to being the hero of Australia's second consecutive Champions Trophy triumph, all-rounder Shane Watson has credited the turnaround to his Indian Premier League stint under talismanic spin wizard Shane Warne. "It (the IPL stint) got my confidence up as a player. It allowed me to come back to the Australian team. It was a massive turning point to play on such a big stage," Watson said after striking his second hundred of the tournament to guide Australia to the title with a six-wicket win over New Zealand. "The captaincy and coaching ability of Warne was a great learning experience. I learnt how to control my emotions," he added. The all-rounder played under Warne in the Rajasthan Royals team in the first edition and was the most valuable player of the tournament putting up excellent an performance with both the bat and ball. Watson rated the 105 he scored in Monday night's final as one of the best of his career. "In 2007 World Cup semi-finals against South Africa, I was really pumped up but didn't do so well. So it's great to be involved in such a great win. It's one of the real highs of my career and very, very special for everyone in the changing room," he said. As an opener, Watson has huge boots to fill with both Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist now retired but he has shown the spark in recent months. "Hayden and Gilchrist are huge boots to fill. They always got off to fliers and they nearly always came good in big events. Hayden was the top scorer in the 2007 World Cup and Gilly scored that memorable century in the finals. "I'm just trying to be as best I can be," he said.

Eden Gardens misses out yet again

Bangalore, Mon, Oct 05 2009

The Eden Gardens has been given step-motherly treatment yet again.

The Eden Gardens has been given step-motherly treatment yet again.[© AFP]The BCCI's internal politicking has ensured that once again, an international tour will go by without a Test match at the venue that has been called "the Lord's of India" - the Eden Gardens at Kolkata.According to a report on the channel CNN-IBN, the three cities that will host Test matches in the series between India and Sri Lanka are Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.The root of the issue lies in the fact that the Cricket Association of Bengal is led by Jagmohan Dalmiya, who has a long-running feud with the top brass of the BCCI.This has resulted in the fact that the Eden Gardens have not hosted a Test match since November 2007 when India played Pakistan.In comparison, since that date there have been 10 Test matches played in India, and the break-up of the cities that have hosted the matches is thus:Bangalore - 2 matches; Chennai - 2 matches; Mohali - 2 matches; Ahmedabad - 1 match; Kanpur - 1 match; Delhi - 1 match; Nagpur - 1 match.Even taking into account the rotation policy of the BCCI, it doesn't account for the fact that venues have received two Tests in the period when the Eden Gardens hasn't received a single one, and that all the venues chosen for the Sri Lanka series are from the venues above.The comparison would be more stark if ODIs were taken into account, since the Eden Gardens has not hosted a single ODI since February 8 2007. Since that time, there have been 22 One Day Internationals played in India, and not a single one at the Eden Gardens.The break-up of the venues that have hosted ODIs from February 9, 2007 is:2 matches each: Bangalore, Rajkot, Guwahati and Kanpur1 match each: Margao, Vishakhapatnam, Kochi, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Vadodara, Nagpur, Mumbai, Mohali, Gwalior, Jaipur, Indore, Cuttack and Delhi

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Pakistan team in fresh match-fixing controversy

Bangalore, Mon, Oct 05 2009

The Pakistan team is in yet another match-fixing controversy.

The Pakistan team is in yet another match-fixing controversy.[© AFP]In a fresh twist to Pakistan's exit from the Champions Trophy, claims have emerged that two of the matches that the team lost - to Australia in the league phase and to New Zealand in the semi-finals - were fixed.According to a report in the Ahmedabad Mirror, the International Cricket Council's (ICC) anti-corruption unit would be having a good look at the Pakistan vs New Zealand match of October 3.The report further states that although Pakistan displayed their usual up-and-down level of play by batting indifferently and missing chances in the field, the worrying aspect of this defeat was that a large number of Asian origin fans in the stands were placing bets on a New Zealand victory.Captain Younis Khan's dropped catch off Grant Elliot that proved to be match-turning, is particularly coming under the scanner.Younis had admitted that his fractured finger was the reason the catch was dropped, but he said he wasn't worried about anything - perhaps hinting at the fact that reactions in his home country have always been extreme.However, though the paper said that officials are guarded in their reaction at this stage, the tapes of the Pakistan-New Zealand semi-final match are on their way to the anti-corruption unit offices.In a separate report, the Chairman of the Sports Committee of the Pakistan National Assembly, Jamshed Ahmed Dasti, has alleged that the Pakistan team deliberately lost the game to Australia to knock India out of the Champions Trophy. According to a reports in CNN-IBN, Dasti told Pakistan TV channel Geo TV that, "We went with a pre-determined mind to lose the match against Australia. Our intention was to keep India out. It was a deliberate decision to lose the match against India."Dasti has not provided any evidence to back these claims, but has reportedly summoned the team management including the captain and the coach to discuss the matter.