NO RETIREMENT

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The former Indian captain, Ravi Shastri, has said that he doesn’t think Sachin Tendulkar will announce his retirement in near future.

There have been speculations that the master blaster will retire from all forms of cricket after the upcoming test series between India and West Indies which has been arranged hurriedly by the BCCI.

According to the reports, the series against West Indies has been arranged only to give Tendulkar the opportunity to play his 200th test match at home and after getting to that land mark, the little master will hang his boots.

But, Shastri has denied those reports and has said that he expects Tendulkar to be a part of the Indian team which will visit England next year.

Talking to the reporters after taking part in an event in Mumbai, Shastri said, “I don’t think Sachin will leave the game in near future. I expect him to go on the tour of England in 2014.”

Shastri is someone who knows Tendulkar pretty well and if he has made this statement, there must be some truth in it.

When Shastri was asked about the reported dispute between the cricket boards of India and South Africa, he said, “I think there was communication problem between the two boards. But, one thing that I am sure about is that we will see some cricket being played between the two countries.”

India had to go to South Africa to play 3 test matches and 7 ODIs. That tour had to begin from November. But, all of a sudden, the board for control of cricket in India (BCCI) decided to invite the West Indies team for 2 tests and 3 ODIs. As a result of that, the tour of South Africa will have to be shortened now. However, it’s not clear yet how many matches will be cut down.

According to the reports, Cricket South Africa is not very happy with BCCI’s decision to shorten the tour.

LEE BACKS AUSSIES

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The former Australian fast bowler, Brett Lee, has said that David Warner and Shane Watson should be opening the innings for Australia in the third Ashes test match which is going to begin from Thursday.

In the first two test matches of the series, Watson had opened the batting with Chris Rogers, but, the pair wasn’t that impressive and Lee reckons that the Australian team management should be bringing a change at the top of the order.

Lee was talking to the reporters at the 2015 World Cup launching event. When asked what should be the composition of the Australian team for the third test match, he said, “I think David Warner should be brought back into the XI and he should be slotted at the top of the order. He and Shane Watson can put the English bowlers under pressure with aggressive batting upfront.”

“I am not against Chris Rogers. He is a technically sound player. His numbers are quite good, but, Australia needs match winners at the moment and David is certainly one of them.”

“He has done well in South Africa. Yes, the conditions over there were completely different, but, getting runs against a decent attack always boosts a batsman’s confidence.”

“The Australian team is lacking confidence at the moment. One big knock or a great bowling spell can get the whole team going again and we have got the guys to do that.”

When asked about the performance of the England team, Lee said, “They are looking very strong at the moment. Especially, their bowling attack is world class. The guys like Graeme Swann and James Anderson are hard to negotiate on any surface.”

Anderson had taken 10 wickets in the first test match, while, Swann had got 9 in the second one at Lord’s.