Today..

I must confess I have been a bit bewildered by some of the statements appearing in the papers and on news channels (one of which, an exclusive, I know to be patently false!). A lot of names of former cricketers are being thrown around and while that is not bad in itself, the reasons are strange, even poor. The two attributes thrown up most often are that a player has a good record and therefore commands respect. Neither of those is too useful beyond a point and if anything, deserve to be minor qualifications.

Harsha Bhogle on India's next coach

Anyway, let’s get the skipper to do the explaining himself: “We have gone down that road and we have tried that a little bit in Pakistan, but we have seen that sometimes it doesn’t really work for the team. Having me in that number three position seems to work a lot better for the team, especially in some of the big games and away from home.

“So yes, I could have done it (opened) here in this situation but would that have solved the problem for us for the England tour? Probably not. We would have probably gone back to me at three in England. So at least here, we can give someone else an opportunity to try and stake a claim. If he doesn’t, then somebody else will be given an opportunity.

Rahul Dravid speaks

Manoj Tiwary, who was operated upon by Dr Andrew Wallace in London on Wednesday, was discharged from the King Edward VII Hospital on Thursday.

“He is fine. According to Dr Wallace, he has made good recovery. His hand has been put in a sling. He will undergo a check-up after a couple of days,” a family member said.

Yay!!

This is what grooming new talent means to me. If we are to look for suitable replacements for Kumble, Ganguly, Tendulkar and Dravid, this is the policy we need to adopt.

India will find the going tough in England if the best team is not picked. And that means picking a player like Laxman, at the expense of dropping the superfluous elements.

Mohinder Amarnath

Ireland is more famously called the Emerald Isle. And that is because incessant, unpredictable rain is ubiquitous to the country that helps greenery stay all year round and manages to keep the locals tucked under the umbrella for most of the 365 days.

If this piece of information isn't bothering the BCCI yet, there's more specific information on way. It is precisely in June and July that the most fickle part of the year — in reference to rainfall — begins.

Eat that, Lalit Modi.

What has Virender Sehwag been doing ever since his quiet return from Bangladesh? Well, he’s been busy, manoeuvring his gleaming BMW through the lanes of Vikaspuri for daily practice at his alma mater to various grounds in the capital to play club cricket.

In between, he attended a meeting with his employers, ONGC and ensured five promising players — Ishant Sharma, Mayank Tehlan, Suhail Sharma, Sumit Nehwal and Joginder Sharma get full-time jobs.

G.S. Vivek reports