Ganguly retires from all forms of cricket

Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, who was snubbed at the IPL auctions, has retired from all forms of cricket.

His decision came after no team picked him at the IPL 4 players' auction held in January 2010.

On Friday, IPL's Governing Council, due to protests from Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore, hindered what could have been a back-door entry for Ganguly as the Kochi IPL team was keen on roping him in.

Sourav Ganguly, who announced his retirement from international cricket after the Test series against Australia in November 2008, continued to play for West Bengal and KKR.

Apart from being a brilliant batsman, Ganguly has been India's most successful Test skipper, having led the team in a record 49 Test matches, out of which India won in 21 matches.

England win thriller to set Twenty20 record

Debutant Chris Woakes guided England to a record 8th successive Twenty20 win as England inflicted more torture on Australia with a final ball one-wicket victory at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday.

Even with all-rounder Shane Watson's best efforts to single-handedly lift the home side to victory, 21-year-old Woakes (19 not out) was the hero as he hit the winning run from the final ball of the England innings.

After Australia posted 157-4, with Watson top-scoring with 59 from 31 balls, England wobbled in the chase as Watson picked up four wickets, but Woakes' cool head enabled them to reach 158-9 and snatch the win.

England previously shared the record for most successive Twenty20 international wins with South Africa and Pakistan and the result follows hard on the heels of their historic 3-1 Ashes triumph over the embattled Australians.

England skipper Paul Collingwood heralded the new record.

"Eight wins in this form of the game is very special," he said. "It was a great game of cricket, it had everything. I thought we probably should have seen it through a little bit easier, but Twenty20 cricket can get a little bit like that towards the end."

Watson took little solace from his own form and said the Australians should have posted a higher total.

With wickets falling at the other end, Woakes kept his cool when he found himself on strike with his side needing three runs from the last two balls from Watson with only one wicket in hand.

He slashed the next delivery to the cover boundary for two, then drove Watson through the infield for what would have been a boundary had he and number 11 Ajmal Shahzad not completed the winning run first.

Woakes' innings came after Eoin Morgan put England on the path to victory with 43, but the match turned when the left-hander holed out to Watson, who then removed Michael Yardy with the next ball to be on a hat-trick. Watson could scarcely have done more for the home side, with 4-15 from his four overs after his solo effort with the bat.

Big surprise that no one picked Ganguly: Wasim Akram

The snub to Sourav Ganguly in the IPL players’ auction 2011 shocked his former team KKR bowling coach Wasim Akram, who said he expected any of the other franchises to pick the former India skipper for his "experience and leadership qualities".

In a major discomfiture for Ganguly, he was not picked by his home team Kolkata Knight Riders or any of the other franchises after two rounds of bidding last week.

"Sourav is a dear friend of mine. I thought he would be picked up by some franchise for his experience and leadership qualities. But it was a big surprise when he was totally ignored," Akram told 'Mobile ESPN' from Karachi, hinting that KKR never had plans to hire the Prince of Kolkata.

If the ignore to Ganguly shocked Akram, the former Pakistan captain was more shocked when there were no takers for dashing West Indian batsman Chris Gayle.

"I just can't believe it. Gayle is a game-changer but probably never fit the scheme of things for many teams. Maybe, teams think that Gayle does not help youngsters in the side," said Akram.

India beat South Africa by 21 runs

An injury-hit India produced all-round performance to slash up an emphatic 21-run triumph over South Africa in the only twenty20 international.

Playing without regular openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, India ride on a brilliant half-century by Rohit Sharma (53 off 34 balls) and Suresh Raina's racy 23-ball 41 to post a competitive 168 for six after captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat.

The visitors then returned to contain South Africa to 147 for nine in the stipulated 20 overs to complete the victory at the Moses Mabhida Stadium here.

Ashish Nehra and Yusuf Pathan chimed in with two wickets each to contribute to the cause.

For South Africa, opener Morne van Wyk blasted a whrilwind 39-ball 67 comprising five fours and as many sixes but he didn't get support from the other end as the hosts fell short by 21 runs in the end.

van Wyk then sent one Ashwin delivery flying over the deep midwicket for a six to complete his half-century in just 24 balls, registering the fastest fifty by a South African in twenty20 cricket.

India and South Africa will next play the five-match ODI series starting here on Wednesday.

Michael Clarke retires from international Twenty20 Cricket

Michael Clarke announced his retirement from T20 international in the fallout from Australia's Ashes humiliation against England on Friday.

Clarke, standing in for injured captain Ricky Ponting, presided over an Australian team thrashed by an innings and 83 runs in the fifth Sydney Test and made the announcement during his post-match press conference.

Cameron White was later named skipper of Australia's side for their two T20 games against England next week, with wicketkeeper Tim Paine his vice-captain.

It was a personal series failure by one of Australia's senior Test batsmen, scoring just 193 runs at 21.44 in nine innings against the dominant English bowling attack.

"I'm retiring from international T20 cricket," Clarke said.

"I guess, looking back on this series, my Test cricket isn't where I want it at the moment.

"This gives me the opportunity to focus wholly and solely on Test cricket and one-day internationals and to use that time to play more domestic or first-class cricket for New South Wales and become a better Test player.

"For me, I've always said Test cricket is the ultimate for me. This gives me that opportunity."

Clarke admitted that even as captain he has struggled in the T20 format of the game, scoring just 419 runs in 23 innings at 22.05.

IPL players' auctions to be held in Bangalore on Jan 8 & 9

The much-awaited IPL players' auction will be held in Bangalore on January 8 and 9 and will see over 400 players going under the mallet, according to sources.

"The auction is to be held in Bangalore and a total of 416 playes would go under the auctioner's hammer," IPL sources said.

Under the Indian Premier Leaque Player Regulations, each of the founding franchises could retain up to four players in advance of the player auction - against fixed deductions from the USD 9 million salary cap.

Only Chennai Super Kings, the 2010 champions, and runners-up Mumbai Indians have retained the full complement of players.

CSK have retained skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay and Albie Morkel. MI held on to batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga and Kieron Pollard.

By retains four players, MI and CSK are each left with only USD 4.5m to spend either in the auction or in buying Ranji players outside the auction.

Delhi Daredevils retained blustering opener Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli was retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals decided to keep their two Australian stars Shane Warne and Shane Watson.

Rajasthan Royals will have USD 5.9 mn available to spend while Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore will each have a balance of USD 7.2mn available. The remaining franchises have the full USD 9mn available to spend.

BCCI loses appeal against Kings XI Punjab

A day after the Rajasthan Royals celebrated taking a step closer to returning to the IPL fold, it was the turn of Kings XI Punjab to feel the same elation today.

KXIP had much to celebrate after the divisional bench of the Bombay High Court upheld the order of the single bench that had stayed the termination of the Indian Premier League franchise by the BCCI.

The BCCI, which on Monday had filed an appeal against the initial decision, was also slammed by the High Court as it said the termination of KXIP was defective.

On Tuesday, the Bombay High Court had upheld the order passed by an independent arbitrator granting stay to the termination of the Royals' contract.

Justice SJ Vazaifdar had dismissed an appeal filed by BCCI challenging the stay granted by the arbitrator and permitted the Royals to participate in the IPL-4 auction that is to be held on January 8 and 9.

The Court has also imposed a condition on the Royals directing them to file confirmation before it by January 3 specifying full details of its ownership pattern and mode of control; apart from directing the IPL franchise to submit USD 2.83 million as guarantee to the BCCI for the contract and USD 18 million as bank guarantee for the players.

Meanwhile, a BCCI source said on Tuesday night that the Indian cricket board is likely to move the Supreme Court challenging High Court's decision regarding the Royals.

BCCI to fight High Court's Kings XI order

The BCCI followed an expected route, by challenging HC order, after Kings XI Punjab was granted temporary stay on their exclusion from the IPL by the High Court. The move comes just a few days after Kings XI were an established interim relief.

The BCCI will open its appeal before Justices DY Chandrachud and AV Mohta on Tuesday. The fate of the Rajastan Royals in also likely to be exposed later that day, by Justice SJ Vazifdar.

In its appeal, the BCCI have reportedly said that the team from Punjab "did not make out a strong prima facie case that its consortium members were always in control." The BCCI says that the franchisee's case did not meet the requirements in law to get the mandatory injunction that it did.

Last Wednesday, the court's ruling went in favour of the Mohali Indian Premier League team co-owned by Priety Zinta, Ness Wadia, Mohit Burman and Karan Paul. But the court also asked the franchisee to provide "security in the form of an unconditional bank guarantee of a Nationalized Bank for payment of the players' dues, initially for $18 million... and another guarantee of $3.5 million."

The HC order would have to wait until a new arbitrator, appointed jointly by BCCI and Kings XI, decides the dispute. It is expected that the arbitrator would take upto 2 years to give out the final orders, hence giving Kings XI an opportunity to be part of the next 2 editions.

KKR should retain Ganguly in IPL IV

Amidst the reports of Sourav Ganguly's possible release from KKR in IPL IV, former Bengal skippers Sambaran Banerjee and Gopal Bose have said that the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned franchise might lose its support base in Kolkata in absence of its most popular sporting icon.

"Sourav is the best option to lead KKR in the upcoming IPL. I don't understand the rumors about his possible release by the team management. It is really needless and unwanted. Team wants him the most," Sambaran Banerjee, a former national selector and under whom Ganguly made his first-class debut told PTI Bhasha from Kolkata.

There are rumors that KKR have decided to let Kolkata's favourite son be up for auctions and not retain him. More importantly, they won't retain any player although they are keen on retaining explosive West Indian opener Chris Gayle.

"If Sourav is not there, KKR will lose the sentimental attachment that people of Bengal share with the team."

"I doubt whether they will be able to attract good crowds during IPL matches if Sourav is not there. KKR will face a lot of problems in his absence," said the veteran who was instrumental in Ganguly's comeback in the Indian team in 1996.

Similarly another former captain and staunch Ganguly backer Gopal Bose, has said that the former India captain is to Bengal what like Sachin is for Mumbai.

"We cannot imagine the Mumbai team in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar. Similarly Sourav is the face of Kolkata. He is the biggest sporting icon Bengal has ever produced. People are emotionally attached with him. The team management can conduct polls and more then 90% people will vote for Sourav," he said.

"He played well in the previous season and the most amazing part was his fielding."

Banerjee has said that Ganguly does not need to prove anything to anybody. He also hoped that KKR can reach the semi-final in the coming season under his captaincy.