كشفت تقارير صحفية إسبانية، عن رد فعل رابطة الدوري الإسباني، على قرار المجلس الأعلى للرياضة، بشأن تسجيل الثنائي داني أولمو وباو فيكتور مع نادي برشلونة.

وقدم برشلونة طعنًا إلى المجلس الأعلى للرياضة يوم الثلاثاء 7 يناير، لتسجيل الثنائي أولمو وفيكتور، بعد رفض رابطة الليجا والاتحاد الإسباني لكرة القدم.

وأكد المجلس في بيانه قبول الإجراء الاحترازي لبرشلونة لتسجيل أولمو وفيكتور، لكن بصفة مؤقتة حتى يتم الفصل نهائيًا في الطعن الذي قدمه النادي واللاعبان.

صحيفة “موندو ديبورتيفو” الإسبانية، كشفت عن أول رد فعل لرابطة الليجا، حيث ترى برئاسة خافيير تيباس، أنه تم اعتماد القرار دون تحويل الاستئناف إلى الرابطة أو الاتحاد الإسباني لكرة القدم.

رابطة الدوري الإسباني أظهرت رفضها المطلق لقرار المجلس الأعلى للرياضة، وتعتبر أنه تم اعتماد القرار دون إخطار الأطراف (الرابطة، والاتحاد الإسباني)، وسيتم دراسة الطعن في القرار.

كشفت شبكة “سكاي ألمانيا” عن تطور جديد ومهم في صفقة انتقال جناح ومهاجم آينتراخت فرانكفورت، عمر مرموش، إلى مانشستر سيتي في الميركاتو الشتوي الحالي.

ودخل مانشستر سيتي في مفاوضات مع فرانكفورت في الأيام القليلة الماضية، ولكن ليس هناك اتفاق نهائي بين الطرفين ورغم ذلك من المتوقع الوصول لحل وسط.

وبحسب التقرير أن فرانكفورت يرغب في الحصول على 80 مليون يورو لرحيل مرموش في المقابل عرض مانشستر سيتي أقل قليلًا من ذلك.

اقرأ أيضًا.. ردود أفعال جماهير فرانكفورت ومانشستر سيتي على تألق عمر مرموش أمام فرايبورج

🚨🦅 As reported yesterday, Manchester City and Eintracht Frankfurt are not far apart. #SGE demand €80m. The current offer from England is slightly below that. As revealed #MCFC believe the deal can be finalised in the range of €70m fixed + €5-10m add-ons.

Man City with… pic.twitter.com/HfiHAzy5h9 — Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) January 15, 2025

ولكن مصادر الشبكة في مانشستر سيتي تفيد بأن الصفقة قد تنتهي بمبلغ 70 مليون يورو ثابتة بالإضافة إلى 5 إلى 10 ملايين أخرى كحوافز.

ويريد مانشستر سيتي من خلال المدير الرياضي، تكشيكي بيجيريستين، إنهاء الصفقة في غضون 48 ساعة القادمة، وذلك قبل مباراة فرانكفورت أمام بوروسيا دورتموند يوم الجمعة المقبل.

وأكدت الشبكة الشهيرة أن المفاوضات تسير بشكل جيد من جميع الأطراف، وبهذا تكون الصفقة قريبة للغاية من الانتهاء لأهمية مرموش بالنسبة لخطط المدرب، بيب جوارديولا.

Dhoni was mesmerised even at the press-conference. For every question demanding explanations for the defeat, he the same answer: Mendis

Sidharth Monga in Karachi07-Jul-2008
Yuvraj Singh was bowled off the second ball he faced from Ajantha Mendis © AFP
A tournament deserves the final it gets, it is said sometimes. On the surface, the Asia Cup, with its long-drawn format featuring as many minnows as regular teams, got the final it deserved: another one-sided contest. But scratch the surface and you find a match that ebbed and flowed, one with three individual performances of sheer genius which the tournament badly needed.”After the game it looked one-sided,” Mahela Jayawardene said. “Going into the game it wasn’t one-sided at all.”India appeared to have run away with both bat and ball at the start but Sri Lanka fought back. Ishant Sharma took quick wickets to reduce Sri Lanka to 67 for 4 and Virender Sehwag’s opening salvo tore their new-ball attack apart. However, while India’s bowlers recovered from Sanath Jayasuriya’s onslaught to restrict Sri Lanka to 273 their batsmen were unable to decode Ajantha Mendis and the run-chase never recovered from his mesmerising opening spell.”Sanath took his chances even when they were four down,” Mahendra Singh Dhoni said. “They took chances because they had in their minds that we were capable of chasing 300. It was a brilliant innings.” Jayawardene said that although Mendis deservedly stole the glory, it was Jayasuriya’s knock that kept them in the final.Virender Sehwag’s innings, a 36-ball 60 that would in most circumstances be enough to chase off 274, threatened to eclipse Jayasuriya before it was cut short. He flicked, glanced, pulled, drove straight and through covers, late-cut, and kept everyone rapt.”I had no option at that time [but to introduce Mendis in the ninth over],” said Jayawardene. “Virender was batting very well, and we needed to take a wicket. I knew the ball would be too new for Murali [Muttiah Muralitharan]. We just took a gamble.”The contest had a tantalizing build-up. Sri Lanka had rested Mendis in their Super Four match against India, which, if they had won, would have virtually knocked India out of the competition. Instead they chose to rest Mendis, perhaps in order to spring a surprise in the final. It was only his eighth ODI and the challenge facing Mendis was formidable: he had to try and end Sehwag’s aggression during the first Powerplay in a tournament final.Perhaps out of over-confidence or merely because he treats spin with disdain, Sehwag tried to step out to Mendis’ first ball but had to defend. He tried to do it again the very next delivery but this time Mendis beat him in flight and cut the leg break past the bat, leaving Kumar Sangakkara with an easy stumping.In the overs to come, as if every wicket that fell to Mendis’ guile enhanced his mystery in the Indian dressing-room, the batsmen played a succession of injudicious shots. Mendis’ simplicity prevailed over all of them. He stuck to an immaculate in-between length, which made the batsman uncomfortable playing on either on the front or back foot. His stock delivery remained the straighter one, and the Indian batsmen reacted like rats to the Pied Piper.Dhoni, whose innings stood out for its sensible approach, was mesmerised even at the press-conference. For every question demanding explanations for the defeat, he said the same answer: Mendis.”Most of our batsmen couldn’t pick him,” Dhoni said. “We had never played him before. We had only seen videos and you can visualise and all, but he was difficult to pick out there in the middle. We never had any real reply against him.”Why did they make the defensive move of playing an extra batsman? “The main reason to add one batsman was Mendis,” Dhoni said. “Our bowlers did well to restrict them to 273, and Mendis bowled well and that was the reason we lost.”It was like you were playing something else, and the ball was something else. I won’t really blame the batsman, we couldn’t pick the deliveries. If you see our bowling, it was the best bowling line-up we could offer when we wanted one more extra batsman in the side. They tried their best and we could have got 274 but for the Mendis factor.”

England were better today, although that isn’t saying much after their 158-run pounding in Rajkot

Andrew McGlashan17-Nov-2008

England were better today, although that isn’t saying much after their 158-run pounding in Rajkot. By some crude calculations they made a match out of it in Indore for approximately 20 overs – the time when Stuart Broad nipped out three early wickets and the five-over Powerplay between Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff. But that leaves fourth-fifths of the game where they were made to look second-rate again. Make no mistake, this was another thrashing.Two matches into a seven-game series and it is difficult to see how England can stop the Indian juggernaut. The 4-0 series against South Africa always needed some context and in the cold light of day England are still an average one-day side away from home. They lack two vital qualities which India have in spades; power-hitting at the top of the order and match-winning (or match-controlling) spin. That’s not to say the side doesn’t have potential, but both those missing qualities will have to be rectified if they want to make an impact at the 2011 World Cup which will be staged across Asia.The fifth-wicket stand between Pietersen and Flintoff, worth 74 in 12 overs, was fun while it lasted, but only served to emphasise the problems. When they came together England were 109 for 3 in the 26th over, chasing a target that was almost a run-a-ball before the innings started. The chase was so far behind the rate, that even a third Powerplay that resulted in 59 runs only brought it down to eight-and-a-half an over. With an asking rate of that level there is no room to
manoeuvre, because any new batsman is robbed of the right to play himself in. When Yuvraj Singh continued his one-man match-winning display with two wickets in four balls it was game over.England’s top three is constantly under the microscope – and there is no easy solution – but Ian Bell, Matt Prior and Owais Shah don’t pack enough punch to get the innings off to a flyer. Prior and Shah added 96 today, but it was never a stand that threatened India. Compare this to the progress of India who, despite being 29 for 3 after Broad’s new-ball spell, repaired the innings at such a rate that the innings was soon running away from England. It doesn’t help England’s cause that each of their chosen top three, for differing reasons, are still not entirely confident of their roles in the side. Compare that to the confidence that Yuvraj has displayed – he had no form whatsoever coming into this series, but plenty of happy memories of belting English bowlers to all corners of the world.Virender Sehwag failed on this occasion, but there are plenty of batsmen to carry the charge forward in this team. On this occasion it was achieved by clever batting and sharp running, but all the top order can hit boundaries and clear the infield. Bell is too much of a stylist to look entirely comfortable taking the aerial route, while Shah’s best innings have been at No. 6 – including his century against India in 2007 – and he was becoming one of the team’s best death-hitters before he was promoted. That leaves Prior, who needs to be told that his role is to attack and hang the consequences. The risk of getting out early comes with the territory of Prior’s role. Or at least it should.

It requires a change of mindset from England – and probably a change of order. They need to realise that it’s vital to set the pace early in an innings because playing catch-up against the spinners later on – even with the delayed Powerplay – is a tough ask. Pietersen is the team’s best batsman and it’s time he went back to the No. 3 spot he briefly occupied earlier this year. He says he is comfortable in his current home, but there seems little sense in a team’s major force only having half an innings to face.Even a brief glance at some of the world’s leading one-day batsmen of current and recent fame brings up a list of No. 3s, or those who batted in the top three – Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Matthew Hayden…it’s possible to go on. And it isn’t as though Pietersen hasn’t had success at No.3. He made a brilliant, unbeaten 110 against New Zealand in June.The England management will no doubt argue that there’s no point chopping and changing, and their players need to learn their roles. But one-day cricket is also about flexibility and adapting to conditions. There would be no disgrace if Pietersen and Peter Moores admitted that these two defeats have prompted a rethink. In fact, it would be quite refreshing.England’s thinking is also muddled further down the order. Having Ravi Bopara lurking at No. 8 is a waste, especially when it’s clear Pietersen doesn’t consider him a bowling option. In the long term, Bopara can be the No. 4 who splits Pietersen and Flintoff, but if the selectors don’t think he’s ready for that role yet, it means there shouldn’t be room for him and Samit Patel in the same side.England appear to be resigned to chasing huge totals, and therefore need all the batting they can muster. However, strengthening the bowling might make the batsmen’s life easier. Graeme Swann must be wondering what he has to do to get back into this line-up. He was one of the key components in the series win in Sri Lanka last year, but is now on the sidelines while Patel is shown up as the part-time bowler he is, despite Pietersen’s view that “he’s doing a good job.” England have suffered from an obsession with bits-and-pieces players for too long. India is the place for specialists. Patel is a batsman, so he can be the safeguard at No. 7 and let Swann show that his Sri Lanka success was no fluke.

A look at the far-reaching life of Learie Constantine, which successfully captures his extraordinary achievements

David Conn23-May-2009

The premise of this illuminating biography is to revive appreciation of Learie Constantine, the original West Indies cricket icon and pioneer in so many fields that he seems to have packed four lives into the one he was born into, in Trinidad in 1901. Readable, well-researched, admiring but not wholly uncritical, the book achieves its purpose, bringing to vivid life a remarkable man and period of history.Constantine’s journey was epic. The grandson of a slave in racially segregated Trinidad, Constantine bowled, batted and most notably fielded his “panther-like” way to a distinctively West Indian cricketing style. He fought endemic English racism, became a writer and broadcaster, was a key political figure in Trinidad’s 1962 independence, becoming the first black man in the House of Lords, his national-treasure status confirmed by an appearance on . Peter Mason delivers the facts, stats and details comprehensively and sums up authoritatively.In childhood Constantine and his brother, Elias, would practise throwing and catching by hurling crockery at each other while washing up, but adult life was a struggle and cricket became Learie’s escape. At 26 he determined to make his name on West Indies’ tour of England in 1928 and win a professional contract.He landed it with heroics against Middlesex at Lord’s; 86 in the first innings, 7 for 57 in the opposition’s second innings, then a match-winning 103 that had Lord’s members “hoarse from cheering” and boys dashing on to the pitch. Denis Compton, who joined Middlesex years later, found the old pros in the dressing room still talking about it.Constantine, his wife Norma and daughter Gloria then spent 20 years as the only black people in the Lancashire mill town of Nelson – surely one of cricket’s great stories. He was one of Britain’s highest-paid sportsmen and delivered consistently good value for it in the Lancashire League. They were objects of curiosity, but bore it well and made crowds of friends. Constantine even experienced his political awakening there, helping to finance the publishing of the , written by his friend and collaborator CLR James.There are many other achievements: Constantine’s landmark 1944 legal victory after his family was turned away from London’s Imperial Hotel by a manageress saying “We will not have niggers in the hotel”; his welfare work for Caribbean workers during the war; a career in island politics for which he was not ideally suited, his contribution important nevertheless.This fine account thoroughly justifies Mason’s concluding judgment of Constantine as “a great man”, or in James’ words, “a man of character”.Caribbean Lives: Learie Constantine
by Peter Mason
Signal Press, pb, 212pp, £9.99

In its third edition now, Steven Lynch’s book is a reliable and readable quick-reference tool for cricket over the next year

Steven Price23-Nov-2008
It’s been a tumultuous 12 months for international cricket, and the following year promises to be no less dramatic as the Test game tries to ward off the increasing dominance of Twenty20. It is therefore comforting to find something where you know what you are going to get.The latest version of follows the format of the two previous editions, and gives a rundown of all the players expected to appear at the top level over the next 12 months. Compact profiles, allied with extensive statistics from Cricinfo’s huge database, make for a valuable, quick-reference tool for anyone trying to keep up with who’s who.Products such as this don’t offer huge scope for development – the basic premise is simple – but with Steven Lynch at the helm one can be assured of a readable and high-quality product. With a crystal ball in hand, it is interesting to see who is being tipped for international honours in the near future. Kent opener Joe Denly is the biggest punt, and is one of only four players included who didn’t have an international cap when the book went to print. The other three are all Australians – Bryce McGain, Doug Bollinger and Peter Siddle. Siddle has since played a Test, McGain would have done except for injury.At the opposite end of the spectrum are those clinging to the hope for a recall, such as Michael Vaughan. Some, of course, have already departed, including Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly. One notable omission is Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif, so perhaps there is some inside knowledge on his future.The element of prediction and the constraints of the print format means there is always the risk of it being caught off guard. For example, there is no entry for India’s latest legspinner, Amit Mishra, who will be giving England few sleepless nights in the weeks ahead. Looking at the bigger picture, it remains to be seen how long books of this style will survive in an age where information is readily available online.The honour of the English cover this year goes to Kevin Pietersen as he prepares for 12 months that will define his career, and he also appears on the Indian version, while the Australian edition carries Ricky Ponting. The battle between the two cover stars is the most eagerly anticipated clash of 2009, and whoever comes out on top will have a new-look profile next year. The Cricinfo Guide to International Cricket 2009
edited by Steven Lynch
John Wisden £8.99; Rs350; Aus$19.95

Twenty20 is guaranteed its place in this money-obsessed age, but cricket can ill-afford to have Test cricket, the purest form, on the back burner

Mike King 14-Oct-2008
Twenty20 is guaranteed its place in this money-obsessed age, but cricket can ill-afford to have Test cricket, the purest form, on the back burner © Sportcel / Pierre Karadia
Twenty20 cricket, with its huge financial enticement, is coming to the West Indies in a few weeks’ time.The date is set for November 1 and the location for the drives and pulls is Antigua. But who are going to be the real stars for this blockbuster cricket match which is offering a prize purse of US$20 million? What is this Stanford 20/20 winner-take-all bonanza really about?There can be no player development in a three-hour exhibition match. This is really about entertainment, enlarging the bank balance of a few players and promoting the image of the sponsor.Sir Allen Stanford, the imposing Texan billionaire with a truckload of spare cash to invest in cricket, thinks the shorter format, and not the Test version, will help popularise and increase revenues for the game. He believes Twenty20 can generate revenue through television in a way that will allow cricketers to be rewarded as well as other professionals.He has got one thing right. Cricket needs more people coming through the turnstiles and Twenty20 has brought out the fans in droves.However, Sir Allen, first and foremost, is a businessman whose priority is promoting himself and his companies. The traditionalists among us know fully well that Test cricket is still the greatest form of the game, and the plan should be to make it more attractive to the public through having more sporting pitches and evenly-matched teams.The truth is, some Test cricket is boring and lacking in genuine quality. We can bite the bullet and introduce innovations such as day-night Tests. There is nothing new in the concept of floodlit Tests – Kerry Packer tried them out with limited success during his World Series Cricket revolution – but could it bring another dimension to the game where it seems only the Ashes series is still afforded five matches?At the end of the day, though, the game needs quality and bonafide stars more so than experiments.Twenty20 is guaranteed its place in this money-obsessed age, but cricket can ill-afford to have Test cricket, the purest form, on the back burner.Whether we refer to them as the Stanford Superstars or the West Indies, if they win next month’s millionaire stakes, all we will have when the script is written is a cast of cricketers with deep pockets and large egos but still short in quality and still ranked eighth in the world. No amount of millions will change that overnight.

After 79 ICL players decided to withdraw, it has become obvious that the league, in its original avatar, is no more

Ajay S Shankar02-Jun-2009It is a question that has been snapping at their heels ever since the momentous launch in Mumbai two years ago. And now, it’s a question they can no longer run away from. Will the ICL survive? Tony Greig, the face and voice of the private venture, says the battle is not over; Himanshu Mody, the brain behind it, says the league will emerge stronger. But after 79 of its Indian cricketers decided over the last month that they don’t want to be tagged as rebels any longer, it has become obvious that the Indian Cricket League, in its original avatar, is no more.Of course, cricket might still spring back to life under the ICL banner, possibly this October. But that would, at best, be a diluted version of what was once hailed as a revolution in world cricket. For now though, it looks like it will be a long haul back, if at all.What are the options?
ICL officials say that the current exodus of players is part of a larger plan where they will first trim the losses – running costs, including a wage bill that runs into millions of rupees – and then start with a clean slate. They say that they still have around 40-odd players on the rolls and can recruit new talent whenever they need to. In the meantime, they are hoping that the economic recession will let up, and that they will also succeed in getting the courts in London to force the ICC into granting the ICL recognition, citing restrictive-trade-practice clauses, as it happened in the famous Kerry Packer-versus-the-establishment tussle in the 1970s. Such an outcome, they claim, will lead to two things: sponsors will be back with money, and the players will only be happy to sign up for the official version.But for now this is just a scenario. The reality is that the official IPL, and the BCCI’s sponsors, are mopping up whatever money is left in the market; and the players are now wary of signing up for a league that will shut them out of all official cricket, thanks to the BCCI’s all-pervading ban. In fact, in the middle of the last ICL season, a senior player revealed the trauma and frustration he was going through, after even his local college refused to let him use net facilities. As for the players who are still with the ICL, only a handful are Indian; the rest are foreign players, most of whom, as Greig admitted, have retired from international cricket and so are driven by a “different motivation”.What went wrong?
The ICL claimed that their mission was to promote domestic Indian talent, and they did succeed to an extent, at least in shining the spotlight on talented players like like R Sathish, G Vignesh and Alfred Absolem, who may have slipped under the radar otherwise. But overall, the league’s cricket was inconsistent, and the foreign players failed to sparkle – Brian Lara, their biggest signing, failed to even turn up after a season. They were unable to sustain the initial buzz, having struggled with sparse crowds in the first season, and found comfort later only in Ahmedabad, a cricket-crazy city that was kept out of the IPL loop. Besides, the league, which was launched with a projected three-year budget of Rs 100 crore (US$ 21 million approximately), struggled to evolve a profit-making model.Then again, within months of the ICL’s launch, the IPL swept through cricket, with the full backing of the powerful BCCI and their sponsors, drowning whatever hopes the ICL may have had of carving a niche for itself in the business of Twenty20 cricket. More than anything else, it was the vindictive attitude of the BCCI that finally broke the ICL’s back. Players were banned, and the dues they were officially entitled to from the BCCI were kept on hold; sponsors were aggressively persuaded to stay away; and the ICC network was used to ensure that other national boards shut their doors on their ICL players. Not only did the Indian board ignore worldwide protests against their aggressive and monopolistic crackdown, they also pushed the ICC’s board to refuse recognition to the ICL, leaving the world body vulnerable to a legal challenge.The BCCI even led David Morgan, the ICC president, to believe that the issue could be sorted out amicably but ended up having two “compromise meetings” with the ICL that yielded nothing. The BCCI’s offer? Shut down the ICL and take up an IPL franchise instead, or similar variations, including a suggestion that the ICL operate as a veterans’ league. The ICL, not surprisingly, rejected these offers.Walking back into their state Ranji teams may not be so easy for many•ESPNcricinfo LtdWhat does this mean for the players?
Some of the ex-ICL players that Cricinfo spoke to were confident that they would be selected to play for their states again. This could be true for established players like Bengal’s Deep Dasgupta and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Hyderabad’s Ambati Rayudu and Uttar Pradesh’s Shalabh Srivastava. But it may not be such an easy road for others. Some state officials are still seething at the way these players walked out on them two years ago – the Hyderabad Ranji team was almost wiped out. Return tickets, obviously, will be at a premium. Besides, as one state association official asked: what will they do with the players who stepped up to fill the breach two years ago?Then there’s the IPL. The BCCI initially said that those who returned from the ICL would be eligible to play domestic cricket immediately (the IPL is a domestic event), but seems to have developed second thoughts since. They have clarified that the norms for IPL eligibility will be revealed later, and suggested that they may apply a year’s cooling-off period on these players before they are let into the official league. But according to some ICL players who have returned, the event that they are really hoping to be a part of is the BCCI’s soon-to-be-launched inter-corporate tournament, to be conducted in 50-over and Twenty20 formats – the winners will take home Rs 1 crore (US$ 213,000 approximately), and the runners-up half that amount.The word on the street
Naturally, the ICL’s willingness to release their players without much fuss, and the BCCI’s open welcome, have led to intense speculation in Indian cricket circles. An ICL official privately suggested that these moves are part of a compromise that could see Zee TV, ICL’s parent company, get a share of the official broadcasting pie when the BCCI’s TV rights come up for renewal next year. Zee TV is currently blacklisted by the Indian board, and one of the reasons why Subhash Chandra, the owner of Zee, started the ICL was that he was denied the opportunity to broadcast India matches in 2004, which led to a long-drawn legal battle with the BCCI. Incidentally, Chandra also shares a good personal rapport with Sharad Pawar, the former BCCI president, who still has the final say in Indian cricket matters.The buzz doing the rounds among ICL players, meanwhile, is that they will be part of an IPL auction now, with a cap of US$ 50,000 per player. But, of course, all these suggestions have been dismissed as “wild speculation” by BCCI officials who claim that the ICL is simply crumbling under its own financial burden.

The final nets are over, there are about 18 hours to the start of the Test. How do cricketers spend that time?

Aakash Chopra24-Sep-2009You may have wondered why Matthew Hayden sits on the pitch on the eve of a match. Does he meditate sitting there? Or why Rahul Dravid shadow-practises shots at both ends? Hasn’t he played enough in the nets? Chris Gayle also does the same thing, albeit in the middle of the pitch. What are these guys up to?All of them use an extremely important tool for preparation, visualisation. Hayden visualised everything, good and bad, that could happen in a match, so as not to be surprised during the match. All of us, knowing or unknowingly, do it.I had my formal introduction to this technique just before the first Test against Australia in Brisbane in 2003. John Bell, an Australian coach I had met in Holland, told me about its application and importance. He told me to walk out from the dressing room on the eve of the match assuming that I was walking out to bat on the first morning of the game.I had to psyche myself into seeing the packed stadium, the Australian team waiting in the middle along with the two umpires. I also had to imagine my partner, Virender Sehwag, was walking alongside me. Then I did my ritual, running a couple of mock runs, before settling in to take strike. To avoid looking completely insane, I skipped the part where I asked the imaginary umpire for a leg-stump guard. Apart from that, I did everything I would in the real match. I mentally drew a line just outside the off stump, to use as a marker for letting balls go. Anything pitched outside that line would be allowed to go through to the keeper and the rest were to be played. Then I’d stand in my stance and visualise all the Australian bowlers running in and bowling in different areas. It is a routine I’ve followed ever since.Ground reality

Every ground and track has a different feel and the earlier you get used to it the better. Batsmen identify certain shots for certain tracks. For example, on slow and low tracks you realise the need to get onto the front foot as much as possible and play with a straight bat. Similarly, on tracks with more bounce and pace, you prepare yourself to stay on the back foot and play horizontal bat shots. That’s exactly why players shadow-practise while standing in the middle. Bowlers also identify the areas they’ll be expected to bowl in, and do mock run-ups to get a feel of the approach to the stumps.Individual approach

Batting and bowling in the nets on the eve of the match is strictly according to each individual’s liking. No one tells you to bat in the nets if you aren’t comfortable, and the support staff does everything to help you get into the groove. Rohan Gavaskar wouldn’t play a single ball in the nets, while Viru likes a long hit. Similarly Gautam Gambhir needs his throw-downs before every match, while Sachin Tendulkar’s batting in the nets depends purely on how he’s feeling about his game at that point of time. While Sachin didn’t bat too often in the nets during the 2003-04 series, when he did, he made someone bowl at him from 15 yards most of the time.There was one extraordinary instance of Dravid and Viru missing the practice session and watching a movie instead. It was before the memorable Adelaide Test in 2003. Sometimes, simply unwinding is the need of the hour.

You often find cricketers sitting together till very late on the eve of a match. That’s to ensure that the moment they walk into their rooms they fall asleep. There’s also the tendency to get up a few times during the night to check if you have slept through the alarm, only to find that dawn is still a few hours away

At the end of the practice session, most batsmen take their match bats with them to the hotel. Some batsmen shadow-practise religiously in their rooms. Others just want the bat handy in case they feel like doing so.Sleepless nights
Sachin didn’t sleep well for 15 days leading up to the match against Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup. He would stay awake planning how to handle each bowler. He admits that he played the entire innings in his head way before it happened on the field. Gautam couldn’t sleep the night before the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup final.You often find cricketers sitting together till very late on the eve of a match. That’s to ensure that the moment they walk into their rooms they fall asleep. The anxiety doesn’t let your mind rest, and that makes it very difficult to sleep. There’s also the tendency to get up a few times during the night to check if you have slept through the alarm, only to find that dawn is still a few hours away.A common dream for batsmen is that a wicket has fallen and you’re slated to go in next. But you haven’t put on the leg-guards and panic sets in. You try your best to get ready but something or the other always goes wrong. In reality, gearing up is a two-minute exercise that has been done a million times, but dreams seldom follow a logical pattern.The morning of the match
Every player has his own routine on the morning of a game. Some, like Dravid, wake up well in advance, read newspapers and have breakfast before boarding the bus. Others sleep till the last possible minute and rush to the bus, grabbing a muffin on the way. Then there are those who indulge in incessant chatter all the way to the ground – and often occupy the last rows of the bus. Still others, like Sachin, listen to music. These routines depend a lot on temperament: some can’t handle the anxiety and hence rush through everything, while others want everything in peace.After reaching the ground
Almost everyone rushes to the square immediately after getting to the field. Although nothing dramatic can happen, since you’ve seen the track the previous day, you need to be certain. It’s like going through your notes one last time before an exam. You want to be 100% certain that you didn’t misread the pitch.Then there’s the eternal wait for the toss. While one part of you wants it to be delayed for another couple of hours so you can hit a few more balls against throw-downs, the other part wants to be done with the suspense. Openers and fast bowlers watch the toss with great interest, and depending on the result of the toss, either prepare or relax.Instead of warming up with cricket, most teams prefer playing a different, non-contact sport, like volleyball, just before the game. It lightens the atmosphere and helps you ease into the match day. Contact sports like football and touch rugby are generally avoided because the chances of getting injured are higher.Gary Kirsten gives Sachin Tendulkar throw-downs after a net session•Getty ImagesBatting first
The environment in the dressing room becomes a lot quieter if your team is batting. Even though the bowlers slip into a relaxing mode, they avoid making unnecessary noise. Both the openers and the batsman at No. 3 are left alone. Everyone wishes the openers luck as they go through their last little routines before stepping onto the field. But there are some batsmen who don’t like to be wished before walking out to bat. One such was Sunil Gavaskar.Some batsmen will watch every single ball being bowled, as they wait their turn, either on TV or from the balcony, and then there are others who’d read newspapers and magazines (Mohammad Azharuddin) or sleep (Sir Vivian Richards) while waiting for their turn to bat. VVS Laxman likes to listen to music, while Yuvraj Singh prefers chatting.I can’t stop myself from watching. Thank god I’m an opener.Bowling first
While batsmen relax, the bowlers are required to be on the field 10 minutes before the start of the game to warm up. But bowlers have the luxury of easing into the match, as they’re not absolutely required to be at their very best right from the beginning. One mistake doesn’t mean the end of the innings for them; an advantage that gets evened out with the heavy workload they have to bear. Their planning and plotting happens more on the field and during the match.The opening batsmen start their preparation again when the opposition loses its eighth or ninth wicket. You see them standing in their stance and looking down the pitch every now and then. They also tend to go quieter in the field after the loss of the ninth wicket.My endeavour through this three-part mini-series on preparation was to tell my readers what goes into the making of a good ball, a marvellous catch, an unsparing shot, a great cricketer. I hope that from now on every time you see a batsman fail or a bowler bowl a half volley, you remember that lack of performance is not necessarily because of lack of preparation. It’s just that, in the game of cricket, like in any other walk of life, it’s only human to err.

It was a strange game that saw the defending champions knocked out in an uncharaceteristic fashion. A sense of claustrophobia was in the air. The future strangled Rajasthan; the past threatened to haul in Kolkata

Sriram Veera in Durban20-May-2009Yusuf Pathan had just ran himself out and the big screen caught Shane Warne in a private moment of despair. He shook his head and stared at a distance, at nothing in particular. It was a image that one saw again at the end as Laxmi Shukla staged a brilliant match-winning partnership with Ajit Agarkar.It was a strange game that saw the defending champions knocked out in an uncharaceteristic fashion. A sense of claustrophobia was in the air. The future strangled Rajasthan; the past threatened to haul in Kolkata. Rajasthan were struggling to stay alive in the tournament while Kolkata were waging a battle against their losing habit.Until Shukla took control of the situation, the batsmen on either side were seemingly gripped with a sense of fatal attraction to doom. Rajasthan prides itself on winning the tight moments. They hadn’t lost a close game so far but the batting choked today under pressure. It’s a team that has dazzled the public with their control of nerves in big-pressure situations. Warne built his career on that trait and his boys were magnetically following their Pied Piper.Pathan had spoken about it earlier: “When you are fielding and the ball comes to you and you are in doubt whether to go for the catch or prevent the boundary, Warne has always urged us to go for the catch.” It’s that nerveless approach that set apart this team. But it wasn’t on evidence today when batting.Rajasthan’s top-order collapsed against Charl Langeveldt but their sorry tale of the day was best captured by their confused running that led to three run-outs. They walked like zombies into danger. Swapnil Asnodkar and Pathan set for singles after tapping the ball to silly point. They saw the bowler rushing past them and the non-striker retreating but they kept hanging on outside far too late. It can happen under pressure. You freeze and at times, move towards disaster knowing fully well what awaits you there. Ditto Tyron Henderson. He and Jadeja strolled across, hoping against hope that there won’t be a direct hit. It’s the kind of cracking underpressure that we have seen from Kolkata; not Rajasthan.You expected some one to stay out there and do the job. But no one did. Warne grew more desperate when he came out to bat. Suddenly, they were firing in yorkers and his intended big swings weren’t going anywhere; in the end he was just digging them out.However, they aren’t the defending champions by accident. Though they just made 101, Warne tried to lead his team to do the improbable. Kolkata aided him like only they can. At 45 for 6, Rajasthan seemed to have weaved a Houdini act again. And Warne had two overs left. Surely, he would do the job. He tried. In his third over, just after being slog-swept for a six by Shukla, he turned one in from the leg stump to hit Shukla’s pad in front of middle. But the decision didn’t go his way. He stood there for long, puzzled by the negation. It’s another Warne image that we have used to seeing over the years.A few overs later, he brought himself back with Kolkata needing 27 from 24. It was perfect timing. If he had held himself longer for his last over, it might have been too late. Warne is always there at your throat but he is extremely deadly when he senses some inhibition of mind from the opposition. Agarkar and Shukla didn’t give him the taste of blood. Agarkar stepped down the track to ping long-on; Shukla moved outside leg stump to play him with the turn. The over ended and Warne could play no more active role in the game.As ever, Warne kept running to the bowlers to keep encouraging them. Pathan came over to have a chat about the field placing. Very carefully, very deliberately, Warne kept changing his field. But nothing was working tonight. He turned gloomier by the minute. Naman Ojha, who did a superb stumping earlier to remove Hodge, missed two run-outs. Ravindra Jadeja gave an overthrow at the death. It was out of character for this team and hit them at the worst possible moment.