Faster Sreesanth suffering from Swine Flu

Opening fast bowler S Sreesanth was found to be suffering from swine flu, raising concerns about the health of both the Indian and Sri Lankan cricket teams with whom he travelled here from Nagpur for the 2nd T20 match.

S Sreesanth was admitted to hospital yesterday and late tonight it was confirmed after tests that he is suffering from Swine Flu.

Apart from Sreesanth, Indian cricket team manager Mayank Sekhar was also admitted to the hospital after developing flu-like symptoms last night.

"The manager has been admitted to the hospital only as a defensive measure after he developed cough and cold," Walia said.

Both the teams travelled to Mohali yesterday by a chartered flight from Nagpur where they played their 1st T20 match. S Sreesanth, who missed that match apparently due to a stomach upset, was on the flight.

No member of the Indian or Sri Lankan teams has so far revealed any symptoms of swine flu but all the players would be subjected to a medical check-up tomorrow morning, said Walia.

Indian Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni coughed a few times while addressing a press conference here previous in the day but sources said that there was nothing to point so far that he was having flu. Besides Sreesanth and Dhoni, other members of the Indian team who travelled here are Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Yusuf Pathan, R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Ashok Dinda, Sudeep Tyagi and Pragyan Ojha.

Ricky Ponting retires from International Twenty20

Aussie captain Ricky Ponting today announced his retirement from International T20.

Ponting, who will prolong to remain the captain of the Test and ODI sides, stepped away from the International T20 format in an effort to continue his playing career.

Addressing the media, Shipper Ponting said: "After much thought and careful consideration I have advised Cricket Australia of my decision to retire from international T20 cricket."

"I have also spoken to Andrew Hilditch, Tim Nielsen and Michael Clarke and I feel this decision provides me the opportunity to continue my Australian Test and one-day career, an opportunity I am really determined about."

"As I said after the 5th Test in London, I am hoping to continue playing Test cricket for as long as possible and retiring from the T20 format gives me the best chance of doing this."

"I will now have set periods of rest throughout the Australian summer and while touring which I feel will be very favorable," Ponting said.

"While I will no longer be available for Australian T20 cricket, I look forward to playing with Tasmania's KFC Big Bash team where possible and to satisfying my contract with the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League," he added.

CA Chief Executive Officer James Sutherland said: "We are very supportive of the decision Ricky has made and understanding of the reasons behind it."

"Needless to say he will be a big loss to the T20 side but it does present opportunities for the other players and leaders within Australian cricket to gain further experience."

"While we have not seen much of Ricky in Australia's T20 matches in recent times, his innings in the first ever Twenty20 International against New Zealand at Auckland was probably the best innings I have ever seen in the T20 form of the game."

A formal decision concerning Ponting's replacement as captain of the T20 side will be made later in the year.

Lalit Modi expects IPL franchisees to break even

Even as contradictory reports come in regarding the profits or losses made by various IPL franchisees, the IPL Chairman & commissioner Lalit Modi has said it is also early to talk of losses since the numbers for the 2nd edition that was held in South Africa have yet to be worked out.

In an conference to the Hindustan Times, Modi said, "It's too soon to say that the franchisees are making losses yet. Unless we give them the numbers, how can they say that they have incurred losses?"

Modi was also positive about the franchisees making profits soon, and even said some of them would have done so this year itself.

"This year most of them will break even. They say they won't, by their estimated calculations. Then they definitely will in a three-four year period. In any case, we have certain them that we will cover them for this in the first few years."

Modi also protected the pricing of $250 million for a new team in the 2011 season against accusations that it was impractical, saying "It's definitely most realistic, and in fact, will be in the $250 to $300 million range."

Twenty20 has rendered ODI irrelevant: Warne

T20 has rendered one-day cricket inappropriate and the 50-over format should be done away with, according to spin great Shane Warne.

"I'll say it again; one-day cricket should go. It has evolved into T20," said the Australian star, asserting the game would be better off with just two formats.

"Cricket only wants two forms of the game. Something needs to be done about scheduling: it's been going on for too long," Warne wrote in his column for 'Herald Sun'.

The leg-spinner, who led Rajasthan Royals to a legend triumph in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League, remains a halt supporter of the T20 format and believes one-dayers simply has no business in the international calendar.

Shane Warne was equally critical of Australia's post-Ashes schedule which pits them against the same English side for a 7-match ODI series.

"Unfortunately, Australia now plays a series of ludicrous limited-overs matches against England, and then more one-dayers in South Africa & India, before the next Test in Brisbane in November.

"It is a joke that any international team has to play 7 ODIs after a 5-Test series against the same team," Warne said.

"There are only 9 Tests between now and the next Ashes series in Australia at the end of next year, but a ridiculous number of one-day cricket in the same era," he added.

Richard Hadlee says T20 could destroy Test cricket

One of the great all-rounders the game has known, and indubitably New Zealand's greatest ever player, Sir Richard Hadlee has made a strong request to the game's rulers: Don't let down our game.

Hadlee added his voice to the rising concerns of Twenty20 cricket via-a-via the traditional Test matches.

Heaving match schedules, the growth of Twenty20 and the vast financial lures for players from the IPL demand firm controls being put in place by the International Cricket Council, he says.

Hadlee was not induced that the game's ruling body had the forethought and vision to put aside monetary gains for the overall benefit of the game.

"We are in serious danger of having the decision makers betraying the game of cricket," said Hadlee.

"Everything evolves and things keep changing, but this is a revolution within the game of cricket.

"It's new, profitable, successful and brings in massive money. The danger is overload, that you have too much of it, and it swamps other forms of the game and compromises them.

"If one format of the game like Twenty20 eats the game as much as it is doing now - and potentially in the future - it is destroying the game of cricket as a total concept."

"The IPL is franchise cricket, it's club cricket, it is not international cricket. We are two years into it and you can see potentially that there will be more and more of it. It will consume the game. Once it has gone too far and people have grown bored with it, it will have destroyed test cricket and probably 50-over cricket," he said.

Coincidentally, Hadlee's comments came just a day after Shane Warne had advocated scrapping ODIs, and providing a window for the IPL.