After Dhoni and Raina, Ashwin takes a dig at a journalist

Of late, members of the Indian cricket team have taken a different route to answer questions asked of them at press conference.

After MS Dhoni's intended fun with an Australia scribe who asked about the Indian skipper's future plans following the semi-final defeat against the West Indies in ICC World Twenty20, Suresh Raina's 'marital' reply to a question around the next India coach also made heads turn. "Are you happy with your wife or someone else?" was Raina's retort.

But that's not where the series ends.
On Friday in Mumbai, Ravichandran Ashwin told a journalist that he should phrase his question better, finding it 'amusing' to be pointed that he struggled with the dew when he last bowled at the Wankhede Stadium.

Ashwin is part of the new Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rising Pune Supergiants, which will be captained by MS Dhoni in its debut season. He was holding the pre-match press conference ahead of the opening game of IPL 9 between Pune and defending champions Mumbai Indians on Saturday.

Here's how the conversation unfolded.

Journalist: You struggled a bit with the dew the last time you played here?

Ashwin: You mean with the ball?

Journalist: Yes. How do you plan to counter it?

Ashwin: When there was dew, I didn’t bowl, It’s better you ask the question to someone who actually bowled. To be very honest I don’t know how it felt with the dew on. It’s very amusing, because in the first 12 balls I bowled, I created a wicket-opportunity as well. It’s quite surprising how you phrase your question.

(Dhoni gave just two overs to Ashwin in the semi-final and had given dew as the reason for not bring back his premier spinner.)

Journalist: The captain said dew affected.
Ashwin: I don’t know what he said.
The media manager then intervened, asking the questions to be restricted to IPL. But Ashwin's reply had made it quite evident by then that he wasn't really happy at being under-bowled in the World T20 semi-final.

Star to telecast Bangladesh series

Suresh Raina will lead a depleted Indian team in the 3-match ODI series The 3-match ODI series between India and Bangladesh will be covered live by the Star Network.

There were fears that Indian viewers wouldn't be able to watch the action live after Gazi TV, the official rights holders of cricket in Bangladesh were not able to negotiate a deal for the coverage of the series.

Gazi could not get into a deal with either Nimbus or Ten Sports, who are involved in a legal tussle with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Sony Six, who are also telecasting the 2014 FIFA World Cup, showed no interest for the three ODIs while Star Sports had offered Rs 5 crore per match, a sum which was considered 'paltry' by Gazi TV.

Salahuddin Chowdhury, CEO and head of operations of Gazi Group, was quoted as telling a local newspaper: "The Star offer is too less in comparison to the cost of the rights." However, it seems that Star and Gazi group have arrived at a deal that will allow the Indian viewers to watch all the action.

The matches will be played on the 15th, 17th and 19th of June in Dhaka. India has named a weakened side having rested seven of its senior players including MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin.

Former India opener, Aakash Chopra, tweeted that Star would be telecasting the 3-match ODI series for the Indian audience.

India v Bangladesh ODI series will be on Star network. Commentary in both English and Hindi too. #confirmed
— Aakash Chopra

IPL Records - Raina 1 match away to complete 100 matches

Suresh Raina has played a record 99 IPL games

Here are the IPL Records
Batting Records

Most Runs - Suresh Raina (CSK) 2,802 - 99 matches (95 innings) 1 ton, 18 fifties

Most Sixes - Chris Gayle (KKR, RCB) - 180 sixes - 58 innings

Most Ducks - Amit Mishra (DC, DD, SRH) - 9 ducks (37 innings)

Most Sixes in an innings - Gayle - 17 in Bangalore Vs Pune Warriors

Highest Score - Gayle - 175 not out (66 balls, 13x4, 17x6) Vs PW

Most Fifty plus scores - Gayle and Gautam Gambhir (DD, KKR) - 20 each

Most runs in one edition - Gayle (2012) and Michael Hussey (2013) (CSK) - 733

Bowling Records
Most Wickets - Lasith Malinga (MI) 103 wickets - 73 innings - 5/13 best bowling

Most Wickets in one edition - Dwayne Bravo (CSK) (2013) 32 (18 matches, 62.3 overs)

Best Bowling in an innings - Sohail Tanvir (RR) 6/14 in 4 overs Vs CSK in 2008

Best Economy Rate - Sunil Narine (KKR) 5.47 (31 matches, 123.1 overs)

Most runs conceded in an innings - Ishant Sharma (SRH) Vs CSK 4-0-66-0 (economy rate - 16.50)

Most five-wicket hauls - James Faulkner (RR) 2 Other Major Records

Most Matches - 99 - Raina

Most Matches as Captain - 96 - MS Dhoni (CSK)

Most Catches - 52 - Raina

Most Catches in an innings - 4 each - Sachin Tendulkar (MI), David Warner (DD), Jacques Kallis
(KKR)

Highest Team Total - RCB 263/5 Vs PW (2013)

Lowest Team Total - RR 58 all out Vs RCB (2009)

Jadeja and Raina 'fight' over dropped catches

During the Indian Premier League this year (IPL 6), we saw Delhi boys Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir in an uglyon-field spat. However, both were in different teams and had some issues. But how does it look when two players in the same team clash? (see the video at the end of this article)

Such an incident was played out for millions to watch on TV and thousands at the ground when India and West Indies faced each other in the Celkon Mobile Cup tri-series here on Friday (July 5). The players involved were Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina.

Jadeja, who seemed to be unhappy with Raina dropping two catches off his bowling, was seen facing off with his team-mate. The 'fight' was not good for Team India.

Raina spilled two catches (in 26th and 32nd overs) and that might have not gone down well with Jadeja. In the 34th over of West Indies innings, both left-handers had a heated argument and it took captain Virat Kohli to calm things down.

Jadeja and Raina play for the same IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings. And it was not a good viewing when two team-mates clashed on the field.

5th ODI ,India vs England - Statistical Highlights

Suresh Raina

England beat India in 5th ODI and India beat England in 5 match series by 3-2. Here is statistical highlights of 5th One day which was played at Dharamshala.

#Virat Kohli' 2nd golden duck in his ODIs, his batting ave falls from 50, his next ODI likely to be on 6th Jun 2013, v SA in ICC CT. 

#Suresh Raina completes 4000 runs in his ODI career, the 13th Indian to reach the mark in that format.

#Ravindra Jadeja becomes the 299th batsman in ODI history to reach 1000 runs, the 33rd from India to do so in that format.

#For the 115 time India have been all out while batting 1st in ODIs, on previous 114 occasion, won 29, lost 81, Tie2 NR2. Next is Pak 97 

#Ian Bell completes 4000 runs in ODIs, the 8th England batsman to reach the mark in that format

4th ODI, India vs England: Statistical highlights

Rohit Sharma

The statistical highlights from India's five-wicket win against England at Mohali.

# Suresh Raina has received his ninth Man of the Match award in ODIs - his fourth against England.

# Raina is the first batsman to record three fifties - all in successive innings  - 50 at Rajkot; 55 at Kochi and 89 not out at Mohali. With 194 runs at an average of 97.00 in only three innings, he is the leading run-scorer in the present series.

# Raina's tenth half-century against England in 26 ODIs is his 27th in ODIs.

# Raina's supeerb knock is his highest against England in ODIs, eclipsing the 84 at Lord's on September 11, 2011.

# Under Mahendra Singh Dhoni's capaincy, India have won 77 and lost 46 out of 134 contested in ODIs (NR 8 & Tied 3) - winning % 62.30.  He has bettered Sourav Ganguly's tally of 76 wins in 147 matches.  Only Mohammamd Azharuddin has recorded more wins (90 in 174) than Dhoni as an Indian captain.

Raina's controversial tweet

India's Suresh Raina, disappointed with the team's ouster from World T20 as they failed to make it to the semi-finals of the mega event tweeted on his micro-blogging site in a controversial manner after Sri Lanka defeated the arch-rivals on Thursday.

Raina Tweets for Rival Pakistan

Raina, following the match at home, tweeted on his micro-blogging page, twitter as the arch-rivals would also return to their respective homes in a matter of two days after India failed to qualify for the semifinals.
According to a report on Mid-day, the tweet which had strong words that hit the Pakistan players hard, was removed later, as it would lead to a controversy.

"Ek do din late gaye ghar !!!! Woh bhi besharam ki tarah Gaye... Bye bye Pakistan!" Raina tweeted on his micro-blogging page.

However, on Friday he clarified that the tweet was posted by his nephew. He wrote: "Smart phones r dangerous. Discovered it last night after my nephew posted random tweets. I'm a sportsman and would never disrespect."

"Though I already deleted it, I felt its better to clarify. To all those who r upset, I'm sorry. I'm not one to show disrespect," the left-hander wrote in another tweet.

Moreover, Raina also tweeted that he is happy being back after a long time and his excited was quite visible in the tweet as he was thrilled to join his IPL team for Champions League T20 which starts from Oct 13.

"Back home after so many days.. Can't wait to Join The Chennai Super kings For CL.." tweeted Raina, who has been a crucial member of the Chennai team ever since the first edition of IPL.

India having won the last Super Eights clash against South Africa by one-run, couldn't qualify for the semifinals, as they had to restrict Proteas to 121 or less in the last game, in order to earn a semifinal berth as India's net run-rate was less than Pakistan.

Raina lone Indian to feature in top-10 of ICC T20 rankings

DUBAI: Suresh Raina is the lone Indian to feature in the top 10 chart of the Reliance ICC T20 International Player Rankings which were released on Saturday. 

Raina is placed seventh in the list of top 10 batsmen with 734 points after dropping a place in the recently released charts.

England's Kevin Pietersen is leading the batsmen list with 850 points, followed by Martin Guptill(791) of New Zealand and another Englishman Eoin Morgan (788).

India's left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir, who was in sparkling form against South Africa on Friday before rain ended the match with India stranded on 71-0 in 7.5 overs while chasing 220, has also moved up three places to 14th spot.

However, no Indian could find a place in the top 10 T20 bowlers rankings with out-of-favour off-spinner Harbhajan Singh placed at a distant 20th position.

The T20 bowlers chart is being lead by England off-spinner Graeme Swann with two other spinners - Ajantha Mendis of Sri Lanka and Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal closely following him in the second and third spots.

In the T20 player rankings for all-rounders, Australia's Shane Watson (438) has extended his advantage over number-two ranked Shahid Afridi (340) of Pakistan to 92 ratings points.

There is also sad news for India in the ICC T20I team rankings as Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men find themselves in seventh spot.

Defending ICC World Twenty20 champion England has been holding the top position since the introduction of ranking system from last October.

England lead second-ranked South Africa by seven ratings points while Sri Lanka, the host of this year's ICC World Twenty20, is placed third.

I bat at the most crucial phase: Raina

New Delhi, Mar 25: After suffering a whitewash and an early exit from the tri-series during the tour Down Under, left-handed batsman Suresh Raina isn't distracted by the criticism and says he knows his worth in the team.

The middle-order batsman has the backing of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and has told critics to have a look at his batting record.

"Critics can say a lot of things but I know that I have tried to perform the role assigned to me with utmost sincerity. People can say whatever they like but the senior members of the Indian team know my worth and that is what is important for me," Raina told PTI in an interview.

The 25-year-old is working hard to retain his place in the Test squad and will visit Australia for personal training and extensive fitness program.

"After the IPL is over, I will take a month's break and then start training again. In fact, I plan to go to Australia accompanied by current Chennai Super Kings physio Tom Simsek for an extensive fitness program. If possible, I might play a few club matches in order to get some good match practice on bouncy pitches," Raina said.

Raina feels that before criticising him, experts should carefully analyse the position where he bats.

"The kind of depth we have in our batting, I normally come out to bat in the 38th or the 40th over. That is the most crucial phase for the batting team where you need to step up the run-rate."