Ashwin replaces Bhajji in Grade A list

NEW DELHI: Rising off-spinner R Ashwin on Friday replaced out-of-form senior tweaker Harbhajan Singh in the top bracket of BCCI's list of central retainership contracts, while struggling pacer Ishant Sharma was also demoted from Grade A to B.

Harbhajan and Ishant have spent the better part of this year out of the team struggling for form in whatever chances they have been handed.

The 26-year-old Ashwin, on the other hand, has played eight Tests since making his debut in November last year, grabbing 49 wickets. In the recent home series against New Zealand, he had taken 18 wickets in two Tests.

In the ODIs, he has scalped 56 wickets in 40 matches. The Chennai-bowler has 12 wickets from his 15 Twenty20 International appearances.

The elite Grade A features nine players this year, three down from the last season, according to a press release issued by the BCCI.

With the retired duo of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman out of the equation Ashwin was only new name in the top bracket, the players in which are paid an annual retainership of Rs one crore.

The likes of veteran Sachin Tendulkar, under-fire skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the struggling opening pair of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir and fading pace spearhead Zaheer Khan retained their Grade A contracts.

The in-form Virat Kohli, middle-order batsman Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh completed the top category, all three retaining their contracts.

In Grade B, the BCCI has offered contracts to eight players, three more than last season with batsman Rohit Sharma being the only one to have retained his contract.

Pacer Irfan Pathan, who is on a comeback trail after quite some while in the wilderness, has been given a contract along with young players such as Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Umesh Yadav, all of whom have been elevated from Grade C.

The players in Grade B are entitled an annual retainership of Rs 50 lakh.

In the Grade C list, a demoted Ravindra Jadeja has replaced off-colour pacer S Sreesanth. All-rounder Yusuf Pathan, pacers L Balaji and Ashok Dinda have come in replacing the likes of Jaydev Unadkat.

In all, the BCCI has offered contracts to 37 players, which is the same as last year.

The list of BCCI contracted players:

Grade A: Sachin Tendulkar, M S Dhoni, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin.

Grade B: Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav.

Grade C: Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Vinay Kumar, Munaf Patel, Abhimanyu Mithun, Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, Parthiv Patel, Manoj Tiwary, S Badrinath, Piyush Chawla, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Sharma, Varun Aaron, Abhinav Mukund, Ashok Dinda, Yusuf Pathan, Praveen Kumar, L Balaji.

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Sun TV buys IPL's Hyderabad franchise

MUMBAI: The city of pearls will continue to have its own Indian Premier League franchise. Chennai-based media and television group Sun TV Network, owned by the powerful and politically savvy Kalanithi Maran, bought the (IPL) Hyderabad franchise in an auction, on Thursday, for Rs 425 crore (approx $80m), payable in the next five years at Rs 85.5 crore (approx $16m) per year.

Sun TV's bid was one of the only two offers that came in for Hyderabad on Thursday, when the IPL Governing Council met in Mumbai to open the bids after floating a tender for 12 cities early this month. Hyderabad-based PVP Ventures, promoted by Prasad V Potluri, was the other bidder at Rs 69.03 crore (approx $13m), Rs 16 crore less than what Sun bid for the team.

Noida-based Jaypee Group were in race to bid for a franchise and had requested the BCCI to allow the team to be based out of Kanpur until a stadium could be constructed in Noida in due time, if they won. However, Jaypee's bid did not come in.

The bids for the new franchise had been invited by the BCCI through a tender floated early this month for 12 cities that included Ahmedabad, Cuttack, Dharamsala, Indore, Kanpur, Kochi, Nagpur, Noida, Rajkot, Ranchi and Visakhapatnam, other than Hyderabad.

Sun Network will now replace the debt-ridden Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd (DCHL) in Hyderabad, parent company of the franchise Deccan Chargers, which was terminated by the BCCI for delaying player payments and mortgaging the franchise with private banks, against the rules of the IPL. Sun paid the BCCI an immediate signing deposit of Rs 20 crore after winning the bid in Thursday's auction.

DCHL had bought the Chargers in 2008, IPL's first ever franchise auction, for a handsome price of $107m (Rs 421 crore), payable at $10.7m (Rs 42.01 crore) per year over a period of 10 years.

Until IPL 5, DCHL had finished paying the BCCI $53.5m (Rs 210.05 crore) and an exact amount was remaining to be paid before the franchise fell into financially troubled waters.

This means, Sun is paying almost the double of what the Chargers were going to pay the BCCI in the next five years as instalments for buying the franchise. However, it certainly does not mean anything positive to the overall valuation of IPL, in terms of franchise costs.

In 2010, when the BCCI had held the auction, the Sahara group bid a whopping $370m (approx Rs 1700 crore) for Pune, and a consortium of investors bid $333.5m (approx Rs 1300 crore) for Kochi, payable over a period of 10 years.

If those prices are considered, Sun buying Hyderabad for just Rs 425 crore (valuated at Rs 850 crore for 10 years) can only be termed a steal and a sharp fall in valuation.

Sun was speculated to be in the running to buy the Deccan franchise when DCHL had first floated a tender, under the aegis of the BCCI in September, stating its intent to sell the team.

However, despite the speculation, Sun did not turn up at the auction and maintained throughout that they weren't interested in bidding for an IPL team. PVP Ventures, who bid Rs 69.03 crore per year for the Hyderabad franchise on Thursday, were the only interested buyers who turned up to bid for Chargers back then.

The winning price, quoted by Sun, is being termed as a "steal" within the IPL fraternity, who despite having bought the franchise in 2008, are still paying similar money as installments for some of the teams.

A BCCI press release on Thursday said: "Sun TV Network has won the Hyderabad franchise for an amount of Rs 85.05 crore per year. This franchise fee represents a premium of over a 100 % above the amount paid by DCHL for the Hyderabad franchise in 2008."

Media reports quoted Sun Group CFO SL Narayanan as saying that "going forward the company will retain a lot of existing talent in Hyderabad franchise. The IPL team will create shareholder value from 2014."

The BCCI had floated a tender for a new IPL franchise after terminating Deccan Chargers on September 15.

However, DCHL had challenged it in the Bombay high court first where the plea was dismissed after they failed to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 100 crore. DCHL later approached the Supreme Court where once again their plea was dismissed.

Sun shines on BCCI's IPL fortune

Sahara paid 170 crore a year for Pune Warriors for 10 years, Kochi Tuskers was bought for 153cr a year and Sun is paying 85 crore a year (at 425cr for 5 years). Deccan Chargers were obliged to pay BCCI 210cr at 42cr a year for the next 5 years.

First BCCI franchise auction (2008)

Mumbai Indians 441cr (Reliance Industries); Royal Challengers Bangalore 440cr (UB Group); Deccan Chargers 421cr (DCH Ltd); Chennai Super Kings 360cr (India Cements); Delhi Daredevils 330cr (GMR Group); Kings XI Punjab 300cr (Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia, Dabur); Kolkata Knight Riders 295.6cr (Red Chillies Entertainment); Rajasthan Royals 263.7cr (Emerging Media Group)

Second franchise auction (2010)

Pune Warriors 1,702cr (Sahara Group); Kochi Tuskers Kerala 1,533cr (Rendezvous Sports Pvt Ltd)

What happens to DC players?

Their contracts with Deccan Chargers last until 2013, or IPL 6. Sun will choose the players it wants. BCCI will take a call on the rest. Current set could be sent to BCCI's fresh players' auction pool in 2014.

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We were bogged down by nerves: Mahela

Jayawardene said that since Kevin Pietersen had been assigned the anchor's role, he had no reason to play. (PTI Photo)

DURBAN: Livid after Delhi Daredevils went down meekly to Highveld Lions in the Champions League Twenty20 semifinal, skipper Mahela Jayawardene said his team did not have the "right attitude" and was bogged down by nerves and pressure.

Jayawardene dropped himself from the line-up to accommodate the aggressive David Warner in the playing XI but the move hardly paid off as Delhi fell short by 22 runs in a chase of 140 on Thursday.

"We play very good cricket throughout but when it comes to those big matches, we don't seem to find the right attitude. It could be put down to nerves and pressure. Because it has happened to us in the past, it probably goes through our minds when we're playing a big game," Jayawardene said after the match in which only three Delhi batsmen hit double-digit figures.

"This is my first season with the Daredevils and this is something that I want us to talk among ourselves. We've got a good senior group and we can rectify that. True, we're getting at this level because we're a good team and are performing well.

"We need to make sure that once we get to into a big game, the guys put up their hands and perform. After losing a game, it's tough to be critical of yourself and analyse people," he added.

The Sri Lankan defended his decision to drop out of the game.

"With IPL teams you face a unique situation where you can play only four foreigners and you have to ensure you are playing the right guys.

"It becomes especially crucial in our case, where we have four quality overseas batsmen and everyone plays a different role. Going into this match, we realised that against the two left-arm pacers - Dirk Nannes and Sohail Tanvir - we needed a left-hander to open the batting," Jayawardene explained.

Jayawardene said that since explosive Englishman Kevin Pietersen had been assigned the anchor's role, he had no reason to play.

"There was no point of me batting in the middle order as I'm used to opening the batting and Ross Taylor is used to batting at No.5. We have KP batting in the top order as well. For me to play, we'd have had to make several changes, which we didn't want," he said.

"We thought it would be wise to make just one change at the top. It was a tactical decision. I think it also paid off to a certain extent as David batted well against the two left-armers and gave us the start that we wanted," he added.

"...we put KP in that anchor role. His role changed today as we wanted David to go and play his natural game. We didn't see a point in KP and me, both playing the anchoring role. We were right with our tactics but we didn't execute them well."

Jayawardene said the failure to build partnerships and a few mis-fields cost his team dearly.

"Chasing 140, we just needed one more partnership, which we didn't get. With the ball, I think we were pretty disciplined on the whole," he said.

"But we dropped a few catches and that probably cost us 15-20 runs in the field. These are the mistakes you don't want to make in a big game like this," he added.

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Tendulkar gears up for England Tests

Sachin, the world's leading scorer in both Test and one-day cricket, was named Friday in a 13-man Mumbai squad for a four-day Ranji Trophy match against Railways starting in Mumbai on November 2. (AFP Photo)

NEW DELHI: Record-breaking Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar will make a rare appearance in domestic four-day cricket next week to gain match practice ahead of the home Test series against England.

The 39-year-old, the world's leading scorer in both Test and one-day cricket, was named Friday in a 13-man Mumbai squad for a four-day Ranji Trophy match against Railways starting in Mumbai on November 2.

Tendulkar, whose last Ranji appearance was in 2009, struggled in a home Test series against New Zealand in August-September when he scored just 63 runs in three innings.

Legendary Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar even suggested during the second Test against New Zealand in Bangalore that Tendulkar's reflexes were on the slide after the batsman was bowled in all three innings.

Tendulkar has made a record 51 Test centuries but has now gone 25 innings without a hundred in the five-day game since making 146 against South Africa in Cape Town in January 2011.

He has scored a world record Test (15,553) and one-day (18,426) runs and has also compiled an unprecedented 100 international centuries.

The selectors also named India's left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan in the Mumbai side.

England open their tour with a three-day practice match against India 'A' in Mumbai on October 30. It will be followed by two more warm-up games before the four-Test series starts in Ahmedabad on November 15.

The tourists, who also play two Twenty20 internationals on the first leg of their tour, will go home for Christmas and return for a five-match one-day series starting on January 11.

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Vaughan blasts India's 'pathetic' tactics

"India to play no spinners against England in the A team warm-up game ... if that's what the game has come to???? Pathetic tactics," Vaughan tweeted. (TOI Photo)

LONDON: The Indian selectors' decision to not include a spinner in the India 'A' team for the three-day warm-up match against the visiting England side has irked former English captain, Michael Vaughan, who described the tactics as "pathetic".

"India to play no spinners against England in the A team warm-up game ... if that's what the game has come to???? Pathetic tactics," Vaughan tweeted.

The former Test cricketer's displeasure came after the BCCI's new selection committee, headed by Sandeep Patil, decided against the inclusion of a spinner in the 'A' team.

Vaughan, in his outburst, said India was redefining the "home advantage" and warned that they were setting up a wrong precedent for other countries.

"I don't think its (sic) in the Spirit of game. Prepare wickets which suit your team (spinning tracks) that should be enough... Poor form!!!

"India's tactics are terrible for the game... It's taking home advantage to a new level... Other teams might follow."

The selectors' move to go ahead with an all pace attack for the November 3-5 duel is reportedly been intended to not provide the visitors with any chance of getting a feel of India's strength.

There has been a lot of talk about utilising the home conditions, and India would definitely not like the Alastair Cook-led side to get a hang of the things to come.

David Llyod, another former England Test cricketer, endorsed the views of his countrymate.

"No spinner in India A team vs England....totally lacking in class and style decision," Llyod tweeted.

England's tussle with the Suresh Raina-led India 'A' team will kick off the visitors' three-month long tour, which includes four Tests and five ODIs, apart from two T20 internationals.

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Viv to team up with Warne as mentor

Warne asked Richards if he was interested to come to Australia a bit early to be there at the time when Big Bash starts in December. (TOI Photo)

MELBOURNE: West Indian batting legend, Vivian Richards is set to team up with spin great Shane Warne as Melbourne Stars team mentor in the Australian Big Bash Twenty20 League this season, according to a report.

Richards, one of the most destructive batsmen of all time, was approached by Melbourne captain Warne to join the MCG-based team's support staff as he will be in Australia to commentate when the Caribbean team tours in January and February for an ODI series.

Warne asked Richards if he was interested to come to Australia a bit early to be there at the time when Big Bash starts in December.

A Melbourne Stars spokesperson said the deal could be a massive marketing and promotional coup.

"We're in conversations with Viv and his management about him joining the Melbourne Stars team as a mentor. If we're able to secure his services, he'd be an absolute asset for our team," the spokesperson was quoted as saying by 'Herald Sun'.

The Antiguan legend, 60, thrilled Australian audiences through the 1970s and 80s as a lynchpin of the swashbuckling world champion West Indies team. He scored 8,450 Test runs in a glittering career from 1974 to 1991.

Richards would add to an already big-name Melbourne Stars staff, with Ian Chappell on board as selection chairman.

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Sunil Gavaskar to receive BCCI's award

The BCCI's Col CK Nayudu Award Committee decided to confer the honour on Sunil Gavaskar, a release from BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale said. (TOI Photo)

MUMBAI: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar will be conferred the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award at the annual BCCI awards function.

The BCCI's Col CK Nayudu Award Committee met on Thursday and decided to confer the honour on the legendary opener, a release from BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale said.

The award comprises a trophy, citation and a cheque for Rs 25 lakh. Gavaskar will receive the honour at the BCCI Awards Ceremony, to be held shortly.

Gavaskar represented India in 125 Tests from 1970-71 to 1986-87, scoring a record 774 runs in his debut series in the West Indies.

He was the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in Tests, and the first to play 100 consecutive Tests. He was the first batsman to score hundreds in each innings of a Test thrice and was the first batsman to surpass Sir Don Bradman's tally of 29 Test centuries.

He led India in 47 Tests and his greatest triumph as captain was India's victory in the World Championship of Cricket, a limited-overs tournament featuring all the then Test-playing nations, in 1984-85.

Post retirement, he became a cricket expert. He was also the chairman of the BCCI's Technical Committee, and the chairman of the ICC's Cricket Committee.

Meanwhile, the committee has also decided to honour seven individuals posthumously with Special Award for their outstanding contribution to Indian cricket.

The yesteryear cricketers -- Vijay Merchant, Vinoo Mankad, Dattu Phadkar, Vijay Manjrekar, Ghulam Ahmed, ML Jaisimha and Dilip Sardesai -- will receive a trophy and cheque of Rs 15 lakh at the award ceremony.

It has been learnt that the ceremony will take place in Mumbai on November 21, two days before the commencement of the second India-England Test at the Wankhede Stadium.

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'All DC players available to Sun Group'

All the players who were contracted with the Deccan Chargers will be available for picking by Sun TV Network which on Thursday won the Hyderabad franchise. (AFP Photo)

MUMBAI: All the players who were contracted with the Deccan Chargers, whose IPL contract has been terminated by the cricket board, will be available for picking by Sun TV Network which on Thursday won the Hyderabad franchise for Rs 85.05 crore per year, said BCCI president N Srinivasan.

"All the players of Deccan Chargers are available to the new franchise. I think they have signed agreements and the new franchise will have time till October 31st to decide who they want to retain, but all the Deccan Chargers players are now with Sun Group," Srinivasan told reporters after the opening of the bids by the IPL governing council.

"The franchise now has a choice to retain whoever they want and decide by October 31st. As far as the player their interest is completely protected and they have also been paid for the last year," the board chief said.

Srinivasan also said that the value that the Board got from the new owners was twice of what Deccan Chargers paid in 2008.

"If you see, this is twice the value of Deccan Chargers (who had bid for Rs 428 crore). If you take into account the sharing of central rights compared to the earlier expansion of franchise, you will find that this bid represents a higher value; it is a very good value.

"That is because the original eight franchises have ten-year contracts; so five years is left. So after ten years the revenue sharing is that you don't pay a franchise fee but you pay 20 percent of your income. So that is consistent for all of them.

"More importantly it is a very credible franchise owner who is in the media so they will add a lot of value to the league so that is something to be very happy about," he said.

"It is not a question of how many bids came in but the fact is that we got a good bid," added Srinivasan.

There was only one other bidder, PVP Ventures whose bid amount was Rs 69.03 crore. Two other interested parties bought the Invitation to Tender, priced at Rs 5 lakh by the Board and non-refundable, but did not bid, according to sources.

"As far as the BCCI is concerned, it is a very good value and a good franchise coming so it will add luster to the league," said Srinivasan.

Sun TV Network CFO, S L Narayanan said that the new franchise had a fine set of Deccan Chargers cricketers to choose while forming their team like former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara and South Africa pace ace Dale Steyn.

"What BCCI has advised us is that at our option we could retain the entire team. We also have opportunities to get more players; there are outstanding cricketing names here like Dale Steyn, Kumar Sangakkara, Cameron White, JP Duminy, Shikhar Dhawan and Ishant Sharma," said Narayanan.

"It's a great team but we will decide on the actual composition of the team and support staff in the next few days. We are very excited," he said.

The team's new name will be decided in a few days' time, he said and termed the deal with BCCI as "very attractive".

"The price that we paid is a very attractive price because the last deal (Pune Warriors) was almost at 170 crore per annum and we got it for 50 percent of the last transaction price. It is a very attractive deal. We will create shareholder value and I have no doubt about that in my mind.

"We have a fair understanding of the inflow and what kind of expenses, so we have done our maths and this is going to be a very attractive deal for us.

"This whole thing fits with the whole theme of media and entertainment. IPL is a great property and for the foreseeable future cricket would be the sport of choice for so many Indians.

"I don't think we are going to suddenly start playing baseball or something. So it fits in with the overall theme of media and entertainment and it is a very good price that we are buying it for," he said.

"I think at the end of the day cricket will continue to be toast of audiences in this country. Cricket and films are religion in this country and we are very well positioned in both," Narayanan added.

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Yuvraj picked for England practice game

Yuvraj showed fine form in North Zone's Duleep Trophy match against Central Zone by getting a double hundred. (TOI Photo)

CHENNAI: Comeback batsman Yuvraj Singh was on Wednesday picked in the India A squad which will play England XI in their opening three-day practice game scheduled from October 30 in Mumbai.

Yuvraj, who has returned to cricket after recovering from a rare germ cell cancer, showed fine form in North Zone's Duleep Trophy match against Central Zone by getting a double hundred.

The 30-year-old left-hander will be the batting backbone of the 14-member India 'A' line-up, to be led by Suresh Raina.

Post-recovery from cancer, Yuvraj had returned to competitive cricket in the World Twenty20 and a good performance in the warm-up game would go a long way in getting him the selectors' nod for the four-match Test series against England starting November 15.

The squad, announced by the new selection panel headed by Sandeep Patil, features six batsmen in all, including upcoming names such as Shikhar Dhawan Ajinkya Rahane and Manoj Tiwary.

Wriddhimaan Saha is the lone wicketkeeper in the squad. The bowling attack of the side would be spearheaded by Irfan Pathan and he will have Ashok Dinda and Vinay Kumar to assist him.

The Squad: Suresh Raina (Capt.), Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh, Manoj Tiwary, Wriddhimaan Saha, Irfan Pathan, Vinay Kumar, Parwinder Awana, Ashok Dinda, Robin Bisht, Ashok Menaria, Abhinav Mukund.

Coach: Lalchand Rajput.

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'Doubt that India can replace Gauti, Viru'

The former pace legend laid his faith on Gambhir and Sehwag and said home conditions will help the Delhi duo to find its lost touch. (TOI Photo)

NEW DELHI: Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram on Wednesday questioned if the Indian team has the bench strength to replace opening duo of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag ahead of the England series at home.

"I doubt India have a Plan B to replace them. With Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman retiring, the middle order will be bereft of experience and under the circumstances, dislodging a time-tested combination at the top may not be very prudent," Akram said.

The former pace legend laid his faith on Gambhir and Sehwag and said home conditions will help the Delhi duo to find its lost touch.

"Starting mid-November, India will have a long international calendar at home. They will play quality teams like England and Australia and hopefully, Pakistan will tour in the winter.

I think this will give ample opportunity for men like Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir to regain their form," Akram said.

"Both showed glimpses of their touch in their last Champions League games and it's senseless to question their ability as international batsmen.

"I don't think India will experiment much with their opening pair of Gambhir and Sehwag. On Indian wickets, they will exploit the home conditions well," he added.

The 46-year-old former Pakistani cricketer also feels Delhi Daredevils have a good chance of claiming the Champions League Twenty20 trophy in South Africa and it would also be a big opportunity for Sehwag to redeem himself.

"While the South Africans, with plenty of home-bred talents, will fancy their chance to win the tournament this time, Delhi will be a strong contender.

Delhi have improved with every game and the fact that their top six batsmen are technically accomplished and truly international class will give them a lot of confidence," he said.

"Although this is T20 cricket, I still believe a batsman must be equipped to play on all conditions to excel. On this front, Delhi are blessed with men like David Warner, Kevin Pietersen, Mahela Jayawardene and Ross Taylor.

"Plus, Sehwag looked good against Perth Scorchers. His 44-ball 52 will give him a lot of self-reliance. And, this is time for Sehwag to prove his critics wrong," Akram added.

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