Dhoni wanted Patel as second 'keeper

NEW DELHI: The major bone of contention between skipper MS Dhoni and chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth during Friday's selection committee meeting was over who to pick as second wicket-keeper in the 16-member squad for the New Zealand tour: Dinesh Karthik or Parthiv Patel?

The Gujarat wicketkeeper should consider himself unlucky not to have made the cut for at least one of the three teams picked on Friday despite having the backing of the team and skipper MS Dhoni. Sources in the team management confirmed to TOI, however, that the selectors 'insisted' on picking Tamil Nadu's Karthik instead.

"Parthiv was the team's first choice as the second wicketkeeper and he did reasonably well in the last Test match he played in Sri Lanka. But Karthik made the cut because of the insistence of the selectors. Now, Parthiv will have to wait for a while and may come in the reckoning only after the IPL gets over," a team source told TOI on Saturday.

Apart from that one difference, the other new selections were unanimous choices. The team management expressed confidence in Balaji, Murali Vijay and Dhawal Kulkarni as the back-up players in the team.

"Balaji, in particular, has the right attitude and is willing to put a lot of hard work in the nets. Even though he wasn't impressive in the One-day match that he played against Sri Lanka, he showed hunger to succeed," the source added.

Another player whose comeback prospects were discussed was Sree Santh, but there was general agreement that the Kerala pacer, returning after a long injury layoff, would have to show some form before being drafted back into the national team.

http://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4130011.cms

Tendulkar played brilliantly in Chennai: Prior

Mohali: Still in awe of Sachin Tendulkar's sublime century in the Chennai Test, England stumper Matt Prior said opposition can do precious little when the Indian gets going.

"He is an awesome player and it was a fantastic knock," an awe-struck Prior said.

"He is one of the best cricketers ever and when he fires like this, there is little you can do," said the England stumper after the team's nets at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here today.

Tendulkar's magnificent ton, coming in the backdrop of the recent terror attacks in the city he hails from, has already led to an eulogy in the British press and "Little Lord" and "Mother Teresa of Cricket" were some of the sobriquets he earned from the English journalists.

More or less of the same view, Prior said keeping the wicket allows him to witness many a great knocks and Tendulkar's unbeaten 103 in Chennai would rank among the best.

Prior said the Chennai tie saw Test cricket at its best but it was "deflating" to lose the match after playing with so much of intensity.

"The defeat was hard. After five days of intense cricket, ending up on the losing side is really deflating," he said.

"But we have got huge positives from the match and coming so close (to a win) was a huge plus for us," added the stumper.

Prior despite the defeat, his teammates were high on confidence and also played down the rib injury of captain Kevin Pietersen.

"We have come here full of confidence and KP is absolutely fine. I mean I have not seen him squirm a lot. I'm not the doctor but for me, he seems fine and in top form, as always," he added.

Prior admitted Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma troubled them in Chennai with their grasp of reverse swing but felt England would blunt the threat in the second Test starting here on Friday.

"We knew reverse swing would play a crucial role here in India. We did as much we could have. We practised playing reverse swing in Abu Dhabi. Of course they (Zaheer, Ishant) are fantastic bowlers but I think we can really improve on and take huge amount of experience from the previous match," he said.

Only time the otherwise chirpy Prior looked embarrassed when asked about the Stanford Super Series match during which his pregnant wife Emile was seen sitting on the lap of Texan billionaire Allen Stanford.

"See lot of stuff are hugely blown out of proportion. I mean I know this is modern day cricket where every move you make and everything you do is under scrutiny. I think you have to get on with it and ultimately you need to play cricket," he said.

© Copyright 2008 PTI. All rights reserved.