Chennai, (AFP): India can beat Michael Clarke’s struggling team and win their first Test series in Australia if they play to their potential, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said. “The team is looking good and can beat Australia,” Dhoni told reporters in Chennai ahead of the squad’s departure for four Tests and a triangular one-day series also featuring Sri Lanka.

“I will focus on our strengths and weaknesses and hope for results on the field. We are more concerned about where we need to work on and not worry about what kind of opposition we are playing.”

Dhoni’s comments came on the day when Clarke’s Australians lost the second Test by seven runs against New Zealand in Hobart, their first loss against the Kiwis at home in 26 years.

The defeat was also Australia’s third in eight Tests under Clarke’s captaincy.

India will be playing their first away Test series since losing all four matches in England in July-August that cost Dhoni’s men their number one Test ranking.

Dhoni hoped the players will remain fit for the Australia series, unlike in England when key stars like Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh were sidelined.

Zaheer and Sehwag are back for the tour, while Harbhajan was axed due to poor form.
The first batch of players – Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Umesh Yadav and Wriddhiman Saha – is already in Australia preparing for the tour.

The remaining players in the 17-man squad, including Dhoni, are due to leave early Tuesday.

India open the three-month tour on December 15, with two practice matches in Canberra ahead of the first Test starting at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 26.

The remaining Tests will be played in Sydney, Perth and Adelaide. The Tests will be followed by two Twenty20 internationals, before Sri Lanka join in for a one-day tri-series from February 5.

India’s Test squad for Australia:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag (vice-capt), Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun. Coach: Duncan Fletcher.
courtesy:-http://cricket.yahoo.com/news/india-can-beat-australia–says-dhoni.html;_ylt=Aj9oKcuaIghNGZaBwPQ_Tot_H6N4;_ylu=X3oDMTN0am9xNjJjBG1pdANIb21lIFBhZ2UgSnVtYm90cm9uBHBrZwM3YTMzMGMxYi1iYTdhLTMwYTctOTM2My00OTJjMzZhOTU2NjQEcG9zAzEEc2VjA2p1bWJvdHJvbgR2ZXIDNzk4ZjFkYzgtMjU4Ni0xMWUxLTg4ZGQtNzhlN2QxNjJlZjRl;_ylg=X3oDMTFvY3JuM2o0BGludGwDaW4EbGFuZwNlbi1pbgRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) Former India cricket captain Anil Kumble stepped down chairman of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) here Monday after Indian cricket board members at a meeting raised the question of a ‘conflict of interest’ in his wearing multiple hats.

Kumble, though, publicly defended his role as director of player management firm named Tenvic, and said it did not come in the way of his holding administrative posts either in the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) or in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

‘I had a three-year vision, a holistic approach for the NCA that was not in alignment with that of the rest of the committee. It didn’t make sense to me to just be a figurehead in this kind of a situation. So I thought it was better that somebody else take over,’ Kumble was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.com.

Critics pointed out that Kumble, who is the KSCA president, chairman of the NCA and a mentor with the Indian Premier League (IPL) team Royal Challengers Bangalore, is in a position to influence the selection of players managed by Tenvic.

At the meeting, Kumble apparently had a brush with senior board officials over the issue before he offered to quit and his resignation was accepted. Former BCCI treasurer M.P. Pandove, chairman of Specialised Academies, has been named interim NCA chairman.

The ‘conflict of interest’ was highlighted by Outlook magazine, citing that India medium-pacer from Karnataka Vinay Kumar and state new ball bowler Sreenath Aravind, who was in the India sqaud for the England series, were signed by Kumble’s management firm.

It was felt that as KSCA president, Kumble is in a position to appoint selectors who could be picking players who have been contracted by Kumble’s company. Also as RCB mentor, his decisions could benefit the players signed by him.

Kumble tried to clear the air when he spoke to TV channel CNN-IBN and said that if his company was an event-management firm out to make big money, it would sign top India cricketers, not promote budding players.

‘I would like to certainly clarify that I am no player-manager, nor is my company a talent management company. That needs to be very clear,’ he said.

‘If I was a businessman, if I was looking after a talent management company, then I would go after the top international stars. The job of Tenvic is mentoring cricketers and we don’t have all the Karnataka players. It’s those two (S. Aravind and Vinay Kumar). And as chief mentor of the RCB, we do mentor Indian players who represent Royal Challengers.’

Kumble launched Tenvic, coined after Kumble’s Perfect Ten in an innings in 1999, in January to promote not only cricket but all sports, along with his brother Dinesh and former table tennis player Vasanth Bharadwaj as its driectors.

Denying that there is any conflict of interest, Kumble said his positions with the KSCA and the NCA are honorary in nature and that he had to take care of his interests at this stage of his life.
Courtesy:-http://cricket.yahoo.com/news/kumble-steps-down-nca-chief-over-conflict-interest-170354923.html;_ylt=Atj3og_hmd1O9kzBRMx6EJ5_H6N4;_ylu=X3oDMTN0a3NraXBwBG1pdANIb21lIFBhZ2UgSnVtYm90cm9uBHBrZwNjYjZiYWRjNS0xZWQ2LTM0ZTYtYTVkYi1hZGZmM2NmNmExM2EEcG9zAzEEc2VjA2p1bWJvdHJvbgR2ZXIDZDQ1NjNlYzAtMjUzMi0xMWUxLWFkN2UtOGU1ZmQ3ZmMxYjdl;_ylg=X3oDMTFvY3JuM2o0BGludGwDaW4EbGFuZwNlbi1pbgRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

Chennai: India overcame an aggressive century by Kieron Pollard to defeat the West Indies by 34 runs in the fifth and final one-dayer in Chennai on Sunday to take the series 4-1.

Pollard smashed 10 sixes and four boundaries in his 110-ball knock before the tourists were bowled out for 233 in reply to India’s 267-6 in the day-night match at the Chidambaram stadium.

Pollard was last man out, caught in the deep off Suresh Raina, to deny his team a win in the last match of the Indian tour, where the West Indies also lost the Test series 2-0.

No killer instinct: Pollard
‘Australia series a different ball game’

The West Indies were reduced to 78-5 by the 16th over before Pollard and Andre Russell turned the game around by smashing 89 off 79 balls for the sixth wicket.

The pair pounded the Indian bowling with a flurry of fours and sixes before the hosts earned a lucky break when Russell was run out by a direct throw from Gambhir.

Russell hit 53 off 42 balls with five boundaries and three sixes.

Three more wickets fell in quick succession to leave the West Indies tottering at 213-9, but Pollard reached his maiden one-day century in the company of last man Anthony Martin.

Earlier, Manoj Tiwary smashed 104 as India recovered from a shaky start to post a challenging total.

The 26-year-old from Bengal, making his first appearance in the series, registered his first international century after India had lost two wickets in the first over of the innings.

Tiwary put on 83 for the third wicket with stand-in captain Gautam Gambhir and 117 for the fourth with Virat Kohli before retiring hurt in the 38th over due to cramps.

Kohli went on to make 80 off 85 balls.

India, already assured of a series win, rested three players, including skipper Virender Sehwag, who had compiled a world record one-day score of 219 in the previous match in Indore.

Sehwag, Ravichandran Ashwin and Vinay Kumar, who leave for Australia on Monday for the Test series starting later this month, made way for Tiwary, Irfan Pathan and Ajinkya Rahane.

The right-handed Tiwary, who had scored only 61 runs in five previous one-day internationals, seized his opportunity, hitting 10 boundaries and a six in his 126-ball knock.

Tiwary prevented a hat-trick when he came to the crease in the first over after Kemar Roach had trapped Rahane leg-before with his second delivery and bowled Parthiv Patel with his third.