Ansari's resurgence thrills Surrey and England

As Zafar Ansari led Surrey off, having bowled his side to a thumping final day win just as spinners are meant to, the moment was infused with catharsis for the man and his team.
In a split-second, September 15 last year went from being one of the best days of Ansari's cricketing life to amongst the most agonising. All it took was a rasping cut from the blade of Ashwell Prince: Ansari, fielding at cover point, shelled the chance, fell to the ground and immediately sensed he had damaged much more than just his pride.
And so a day that begun with his maiden Test call-up would result in a broken thumb ruling him out for six months - not merely the Test tour to the UAE, but also Surrey's first game of 2016.
When he has made it onto the field, Ansari joined a team who have been frustrated by the ever-growing chasm between Division One and Two. Besides a couple of dispiriting trips to the Lancashire and Yorkshire, Surrey have seldom been embarrassed, even as they threatened to mark the season's halfway point winless and marooned to the bottom.
But the pain of a one-wicket defeat at Taunton, in their last game, has now given way to an emphatic 228-run victory from which they will draw great strength, and none more so than Ansari. In 6.2 overs of bedlam, Ansari took 6-16: vindication for all those hours of solitude readying himself for his return.
This was high-class left-arm spin bowling, exploiting a pitch that was wearing, but far from turning square, with subtle variations in pace and flight. Still, that cannot obscure the distinctly self-inflicted element to Nottinghamshire's demise.
From the moment Jake Libby cut Ansari tamely to point, he was abetted by some rank shots; Samit Patel, who replaced Ansari in the UAE last winter, would not reflect gladly on chipping his eighth ball straight into the hands of cover.
Of all Ansari's wickets though, it was that of Brendan Taylor, who had batted with magnificent assurance for his 68, on which he could reflect with most pride: a slightly quicker delivery spun wide of Taylor's attempted drive and, with his backfoot having strayed from his crease, Ben Foakes completed a smart stumping.
It was enough to prompt the thought that, in time, caught Foakes bowled Ansari could be a mode of dismissal in a Test match - perhaps even on England's looming tours of Bangladesh and India.
"I feel as ready as I ever have done," Ansari said. "Going into Test cricket is a step up obviously and it's a challenge but I feel like my game's in a pretty good place now. I've been back for a couple of months to get back into the swing of things, and today will give me a lot of confidence going forward.
"I feel like I'm close to where I was at my best last year, which given that break is relatively surprising and nice. The expectation on my part is it would have taken a little bit longer."
If Ansari's bowling lacks any great mystery, he is a bowler gaining in cunning and self-assurance with every game. "It's just consistency of action - it's about being able to repeat the same things over and over again, especially when players come hard at you, as some of the guys started to out there. It's about being able to stay consistent in that approach and not start to unravel in that kind of pressured environment."
Not that Ansari even looks anything less than phlegmatic on the field. Perhaps his oft-remarked upon academic prowess enables him to view professional sport with a little more balance.
Ansari's bowling has also been aided by his shift down the batting order. While he performed admirably as an opener, albeit sometimes of the funereal variety - in a Championship game at Guildford last year, he went a full 50 overs without hitting a boundary, a feat that even the dark ages of English ODI cricket never approached - there has never been a Test cricketer in the history of the game who has combined regularly bowling 30 overs with opening the batting.
His move to six, facilitated by the unexpected blooming of Arun Harinath since his career was reinvigorated by a pair of centuries against Glamorgan one year and one week ago, allows Ansari to devote more time to his spin bowling.
"Six makes sense for me going forward," he reflected. "Going from bowling 30 overs to opening the batting puts you under quite a lot of pressure. it's not easy and facing the new ball is tough. It's given me a bit more space to enjoy my batting and not be put under the pressure that you are when you're opening."
Ansari has been aided, too, by his spin partnership with Gareth Batty: they are the premier spin bowling pair in the country, an accolade that speaks not only of the dearth of alternatives but also their skills as a duo. Surrey know plenty about spin bowling pairs - if they are not quite Laker and Lock, never mind Saqlain and Salisbury, Ansari and Batty will do just fine.
"We've managed to do it for the last three years now," said the junior by 14 years. "We know each other's games well, and do talk a lot about pace and field placements. I'm really lucky to have Gareth around - not many young spinners have someone to work with who's that good a bowler and has the cricket brain he does. I do owe a lot to him. We also enjoy having this partnership as a spin bowling pair - you don't get that often in English cricket."
Were he not self-effacing almost to the point of caricature - one cannot ask Batty about a fine personal performance without him belittling himself, on this occasion as a "very average player and captain" and "old geezer who just turns up every now and again" - Batty might even be of a mind to dare to advance his own international credentials.
Certainly he is a better and more accomplished bowler than when he played his seven Test matches, as a delivery that lifted to surprise Michael Lumb and induce an edge to slip was testament to.
Instead, Batty prefers to advance the claims of his team-mate. "Zafar bowled quite magnificently today. He's the best young spinner in the country, but we need to allow him to develop and go about his business," he said. "Samit Patel is supposedly England's third spinner, but I would be raising a glass to Zafar tonight." He will not be the only one.

Hameed and Parkinson keep Lancashire even

'Mutare vel timere sperno', as they rarely say in Horwich. And the Bolton School motto - 'I scorn to change or to fear' - carried a rich resonance on the third day of this game at Emirates Old Trafford.
For it was one Old Boltonian, Matt Parkinson, who displayed unwavering accuracy as he took five wickets on debut to give his side an advantage; and it was another, Haseeb Hameed, who exhibited no fear as he sought to preserve that advantage with an unbeaten 81 against a strong Warwickshire fightback led by the Manchester-born seamer Keith Barker.
By the close, Lancashire had extended their 45-run lead on first innings to 215 but they achieved that slight advantage only at the cost of five prime wickets. This quite marvellous game remains finely balanced going into the final day and perhaps it is only right that two 19-year-old cricketers have played important roles in the four-act drama.
For although thousands of children did not reappear at Old Trafford on Wednesday, a childlike simplicity lingered on. It was best expressed at 12.35 when Parkinson turned the ball through a gap between Olly Hannon-Dalby's bat and pad which was not so much a gate as a portico. That wicket completed the leg spinner's first five-wicket return at a cost of 49 runs from 23.1 beautifully disciplined and skilful overs.
The recent history of English cricket is strewn with the reputations of promising young leggies. Some are now specialist batsmen; others are selling VHS recorders. Leg spin can be a thankless calling. So let us murmur a quiet prayer as we say that Parkinson is one to watch. His accuracy, his economy and, more than anything else, his ability to turn the ball suggest he has a fine future.
On Tuesday he removed Jonathan Trott and Varun Chopra. On Wednesday he had Barker, who made 64, caught by Neil Wagner at short fine leg when sweeping and he then mopped up the tail. Each wicket saw him embraced by his team mates and the members rose to him as he walked off into the distant dressing rooms at Old Trafford, still clutching the ball with which he had become only the second leg-spinner to take five wickets on Championship debut since the war. In less than a day Lancashire supporters have gone from: 'Who's this lad, Parkinson' to 'Parky'. If he takes more wickets in the second innings, there may be folk songs.
But this game has been the finest entertainment because both Lancashire and Warwickshire have played excellent cricket, albeit spiced with occasional fallibility. Tim Ambrose's undefeated 70 in the visitors' first innings was a tribute to understated, professional efficiency and when Lancashire had progressed smoothly if slowly to 87 for the loss of Tom Smith, Ian Bell's bowlers proved for the third time in this match that this is a wicket on which one wicket often brings four.
In the third over after tea Luke Procter's defensive push merely edged a catch to Chopra at slip. Four overs later, Alviro Petersen came down the wicket to the same bowler but only chipped a catch to Rikki Clarke at a slightly short cover. Croft, perhaps knackered by leadership, his first-innings century and over a hundred overs' wicketkeeping, played a tired defensive shot to his first ball and nicked off to Ambrose. And when Patel had Karl Brown caught at the wicket for one just three balls later, Lancashire had lost three wickets in five balls and four batsmen had been swept aside for 17 runs in five overs.
Hameed watched all this from the other end with no doubt increasing concern yet his technique remained quite unaltered. At its most serene the Lancashire opener's batting is as calming as a Chopin nocturne, as reassuring as the late-night shipping forecast. There were boundaries in his innings, five of them, in fact, and not all of them behind the wicket. Pulled fours off Barker and Rankin provided evidence of attacking capability yet Hameed's first instinct is, as yet, to make his wicket hard to take. 'Something there is that doesn't love a wall' wrote Robert Frost. But then he never saw the great Rahul Dravid.
And in the last 90 minutes of play Hameed was joined by Livingstone, whose lovely ability to hit the ball very hard made him a perfect foil for his partner. This pair added 66 in an unbroken stand that left Lancashire slightly ahead in this game, if only because they have the runs on the board. Livingstone's 39 not out has already included cover-driven boundaries off Patel and a wondrous pick-up for six off Clarke which sailed deep into the crowd at long on.
Hameed, for his part has batted 268 minutes, faced 223 balls and is 19 runs short of what will be the first of many hundreds. When he returned to the dressing room, he no doubt received the congratulations of Parkinson, the happy courtesy of earlier in the day equally happily returned.
And perhaps it is not surprising that Parkinson and Hameed should join forces. This area has never been short of effective double acts: Jack Simmons and David Hughes, David Lloyd and Barry Wood, Minnie Caldwell and Martha Longhurst. And now they have Has 'n' Parky, appearing soon at a cricket ground near you.
Some would counsel caution, of course. They would say that to be a young cricketer is to receive a crash course in life's turbulence. They might echo the final words of another Boltonian, the grumpy and troubled Ezra Fitton in Roy Boulting's 1966 film The Family Way "That's life, son. At your age it'll make you laugh but one day it'll break your bloody heart."
But no. It would be better for both Hameed and Parkinson to pay no attention whatever to the words of that rather miserable old bugger. For the moment, they live in the green world of debuts, new grounds and first experiences. But maybe we all do, if we would only open our eyes…and look.

India coach likely to be announced on Thursday

BCCI president Anurag Thakur has told reporters in Dharamsala that an announcement on India's head coach will likely be made by Thursday evening.*
"The name of the coach will be announced by 5 pm," Thakur told the news channel ABP Live, after the captains and coaches meeting in Dharamsala on Thursday. "I will be meeting [Ajay] Shirke and [Sourav] Ganguly now and [will] study their report. By 5pm today, we will name the new coach." A BCCI press release in the afternoon stated that Thakur and board secretary Shirke would address a press conference at 5pm.
The BCCI had earlier indicated that the Indian coach would be announced on Friday, after the three-member advisory committee - comprising Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman - asked for more time.
On Tuesday evening, Ganguly had informed the media that they had finished interviewing the shortlisted candidates and would forward their pick to the board's secretary Ajay Shirke on Wednesday.
But Shirke said that the committee wanted to deliberate further on a few "finer points", and hoped that the new India coach would be announced on Friday in Dharamsala, where the inaugural BCCI conclave concludes with the working committee meeting. The BCCI also issued a press release to this effect on Wednesday.
It is learnt that Ganguly has been in favour of an Indian as coach and that he was appreciative of the work put in by the previous group of coaching staff led by Ravi Shastri.
Shastri is one of the finalists for the position of India head coach along with former India captain Anil Kumble. The others in contention are Tom Moody, Stuart Law, Lalchand Rajput, Pravin Amre and Andy Moles.
Ganguly was confident of selecting the right candidate and was thankful for the support he has received from the rest of the panel, which includes former India batsmen Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman and former BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale.
"I once had an opportunity to select the coach," Ganguly told the Hindu. "I thought I messed it up in 2005. I am given that opportunity again. To be honest, two-and-a-half years ago, I was thinking myself whether I would want this job. Now today, I am selecting one," said Ganguly. "Hopefully, we will do it right this time. Luckily, I have got support from Sachin, VVS, the BCCI secretary and the president. Together, we will pick the right person."
There had been speculation in the media that the delay was the result of the committee being unable to contact India's Test captain Virat Kohli for his inputs. But Shirke said the committee had not been given any instructions to talk to Kohli.

Uncapped Ihsanullah in Afghanistan's Intercontinental Cup squad

Ihsanullah in the squad for their upcoming Intercontinental Cup match against Netherlands. Ihsanullah captained the Afghanistan Under-19s team in the World Cup in Bangladesh earlier this year and had also played in the 2014 edition in the UAE.
Afghanistan have picked uncapped 18-year-old batsman
The Afghanistan selectors named a full-strength squad for the ODIs against Scotland and Ireland in July, which will be played before the Intercontinental Cup match - 12 of the 16 members in the squad played the World T20 in India earlier this year, while batsman Javed Ahmadi and allrounder Rahmat Shah were also named in the squad. Ahmadi's last ODI was against England during the 2015 World Cup, while Rahmat has not played in the format since July 2014. The squad also includes medium-pacer Mirwais Ashraf and fast bowler Yamin Ahmadzai, who were part of the limited-overs series against Zimbabwe in the UAE in December-January. The notable omission from both squads is middle-order batsman Nawroz Mangal, who is also Ihsanullah's older brother. Both teams will be led by Asghar Stanikzai.
Ashraf is also part of the 14-member squad for the match against Netherlands along with former Under-19 captain Nasir Jamal. Ashraf had missed the Intercontinental Cup match against Namibia in April this year, while Jamal played his only first-class match for Afghanistan in August 2014. Jamal's last international appearance was also in the 2015 World Cup game against England.
Ihsanullah has scored 294 runs in 12 Youth ODIs and all his appearances have come in the Under-19 World Cup. In 2014, he scored 175 runs in six games at an average of 35 and one fifty. His returns in the 2016 edition of the tournament were poorer - 119 runs in six games at an average of 19.83. Under Ihsanullah's captaincy, Afghanistan finished third in Group B, behind Pakistan and Sri Lanka and their only victory came against Canada.
Afghanistan will start their tour on July 4 with the first of two ODIs against Scotland in Edinburgh. The five-match ODI series against Ireland will be played between July 10 and 19 in Belfast before the team travels to Voorburg for their four-day Intercontinental Cup fixture, which starts from July 29. Afghanistan are third on the Intercontinental Cup points table, with two wins and a draw after three matches. They thumped Namibia by an innings and 36 runs in their previous match in the tournament, which was played in India.
Afghanistan ODI squad: Mohammad Shahzad, Noor Ali Zadran, Javed Ahmadi, Asghar Stanikzai (capt), Rahmat Shah, Mohammad Nabi, Samiullah Shenwari, Najibullah Zadran, Rashid Khan, Mirwais Ashraf, Gulbadin Naib, Dawlat Zadran, Hamid Hassan, Shapoor Zadran, Amir Hamza, Yamin Ahmadzai. Reserve players: Nasir Jamal, Imran Janat, Afsar Zazai
Afghanistan Intercontinental Cup squad: Mohammad Shahzad, Noor Ali Zadran, Ihsanullah, Asghar Stanikzai (capt), Rahmat Shah, Mohammad Nabi, Samiullah Shenwari, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Zahir Khan, Mirwais Ashraf, Nasir Jamal, Dawlat Zadran, Sayed Shirzad, Yamin Ahmadzai. Reserve players: Javed Ahmadi, Abdullah Adil, Afsar Zazai

Rahane 'excited' by pink-ball challenge

Ajinkya Rahane, India's Test vice-captain, has joined the chorus of pink-ball supporters, and suggested he was keen to try it out in the Duleep Trophy, which will be played as a day-night tournament this season. While Rahane has played with a pink ball of a different brand in the past, he felt the dynamics of playing with the Kookaburra ball were different and that the Duleep Trophy would help players get a feel of it.
"[I am] really excited about this pink ball," Rahane told ESPNcricinfo in Mumbai. "A long time back, I think, in an Emerging [Players] tournament we played with a pink ball, we played with fluorescent, green ball," he said. "But that was a different company - we played with Platypus ball [then], but this Kookaburra is different and we will get an idea in the Duleep Trophy [as to] how it is behaving, what the bounce is like.
"I saw this club match [Mohun Bagan v Bhowanipore] on TV. The ball was doing a bit, swinging [more] than red ball, bounce was slightly more than red ball, but once we play, once we practice with that, then only we will get an idea of how to go about it."
Rahane's observations come two days after former India captain Rahul Dravid told ESPNcricinfo that players needed to keep an open mind about day-night Test cricket with the pink ball. Other India players like Mohammad Shami and Wriddhiman Saha, who played in the country's maiden pink-ball game in Kolkata, have provided positive appraisals as well.
Rahane also gave a thumbs up to the BCCI technical committee's recommendation to play Ranji Trophy matches at neutral venues. While some former players, coaches and administrators have expressed reservations over the suggestion, Rahane felt playing at neutral centres would help players become mentally tougher.
"I think the decision which BCCI made is really good. It is challenging when you play at neutral venues," he said. "Players will learn about their game, they will get to know how to go about it. You are actually thinking more about your game, your preparation will be more [and] your strategies before the game will be slightly different. Because, when you play home games you know your home conditions, but when you play neutral games I think players will get mentally tougher."
On the personal front, Rahane used the downtime after the IPL to enjoy a brief vacation in Thailand before resuming practice a week ago ahead of the West Indies tour next month. He has been practising with wet rubber balls and tennis balls to get used to the varying pace found on different surfaces in the Caribbean.
"[A] few wickets [in West Indies], they have good bounce and pace. Jamaica has good bounce. Few wickets, there might be some turn, some help for the spinners," Rahane said. "It's rainy season in Mumbai, so we cannot practise outdoors so I am just practising indoors, but just simulating whatever conditions I am going to face.
"I was practising with wet rubber balls, just to get my reaction right, my hand-eye co-ordination right. Because sometimes wickets are softer, two-paced wickets, it [also] helps to practice with a tennis ball. The tennis ball comes [on to the batsman] slightly slower than a rubber ball. So I have been practising with tennis ball, rubber ball and leather ball."
Rahane also said he was excited and motivated by BCCI's decision to name him vice-captain for the tour. "Whenever I am on the field I always try and think that 'if I am the captain what should be my field, what I am going to do in certain situation, certain conditions.' I always think that way so that whenever opportunity comes I am ready for that," he said.
According to him, the camaraderie in the team helped the players get the best out of themselves. He said there was no competition among the likes of himself, Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, and instead there was a culture of looking out for one another. "Competing with each other would be the wrong word. I think we help each other. That's the right word," Rahane said. "During our fitness sessions, during our net sessions, we try and help each other to improve our game and improve our fitness. We motivate each other, that's the important thing. If you are willing to help your team-mate, if you are willing to improve your team-mate's game, eventually your team will go up and you are helping yourself also.
"This group has been playing together for the last two to two and a half years together. We have a good combination not only on the field but off the field [too]. We go out for dinner, go out for lunch, sometimes we just have some discussion not only on cricket but in general about what's going on in the world. I think that journey together is what we have. We enjoy each other's success in the team."

Future of Champions Trophy back in doubt

The future of the ICC Champions Trophy is back in doubt. It is understood that the tournament is highly likely to be scrapped after the 2021 tournament, in India, and could even be abolished after next year's tournament, in England, should a new ODI league be introduced from 2019.
The Champions Trophy was originally meant to be scrapped after the 2013 edition, but the huge commercial success of that year's tournament in England led to it being retained, at the expense of the World Test Championship that had been scheduled for 2017.
However, now the tournament faces being a victim of the ICC's ongoing review of the structure of international cricket. Under the latest proposals an ODI league, of 13 nations, is being planned from 2019, culminating in a play-off between the leading two sides in 2022.
It is felt that, with an ODI league alongside the World Cup, a third 50-over tournament would be superfluous, adding unnecessarily to the schedule and risking confusion among casual fans by creating three winners of 50-over international tournaments in the space of 24 months.
Although the Champions Trophy has proved hugely popular, in part due to its condensed nature - 15 matches will be played over 18 days in next year's competition - the ICC has never been enamoured with having two marquee tournaments in 50-over cricket alongside the World Twenty20, and had planned to scrap the tournament as far back as 2011.
Over seven editions, and despite the concise nature of the tournament, the Champions Trophy has struggled to build up a clear identity. An additional factor is the anticipated return of the World T20 to a two-year cycle. That proposal is likely to be ratified at the forthcoming ICC Annual Conference in Edinburgh.
As part of the ICC's proposals for reforms to the schedule of the international game, it is envisaged that structured competitions - ICC global events, and the leagues in Test and ODI cricket - would take up less than six months a year, creating ample time for countries to organise extra bilateral cricket, such as the Ashes, and for players to participate in domestic T20 leagues.
The commercial implications of scrapping the Champions Trophy are not a great concern. This is because the extra value of a biennial WT20 would more than offset the costs of its removal.
Indeed, it is understood that senior figures from the ICC have recently met with Star Sports in Dubai to discuss the future of ICC events and whether to retain the Champions Trophy.
It is possible that, as part of the negotiations for Star Sports to broadcast the two extra WT20s in this broadcasting cycle, scheduled for 2018 and 2022, they would agree for the 2021 Champions Trophy to be scrapped.
If it was agreed that the 2021 Champions Trophy would not take place, India, the scheduled hosts for that tournament, would be well-placed to host another WT20, in 2022 or 2024, instead.
An ICC spokesman told ESPNcricinfo: "The event has been allocated to India in 2021, but how things will pan out following discussions around international cricket structures, we don't know."

No animosity between TNCA and BCCI: N Srinivasan

N Srinivasan was away from the public eye for a while. But with a successful launch of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) president is back in the limelight. In a short span of time, Srinivasan, who is set to continue as TNCA president for another term, organized an auction for the state T20 league and had eight teams on board, Star being the media rights partner. A day after the launch, Srinivasan took some time off from his schedule to have a chat with TOI where he discussed a whole lot issues, ranging from the TNPL to his time away from BCCI to how the equations of the Board is with TNCA. Excerpts:
After a few months of hiatus, has the launch of the TNPL brought you back to mainstream cricket?
The launch of TNPL is an initiative to help assess and develop cricketers from the region. It should not be taken as anything personal for me, the association had thought about it earlier and we thought this to be the right time to go ahead with it. I am thrilled with the response I have got, the people who have bid are not necessarily the people who have been sponsoring teams in the TNCA first division league. So a new group of people have come to cricket and that is noteworthy.
There has been a dearth of topflight cricket in the state. Do you think TNPL will bring some life back for the fans?
May be for some reasons the World T20 matches that were supposed to take place here didn't happen. But other than that, there's a lot of cricket going on in the state. There are 22 or 23 centres now and you will only get an international game once in every alternate year. It's true that IPL was a steady source of cricket but for now it's not there. I don't want to go into the fairness of what happened, but yes, CSK would miss two seasons, but then it will be back. In the meantime, a tournament like TNPL will be able to highlight the talent that is there.
Chennai is missing out on games due to the problem with the three stands. You had earlier planned of having a stadium in the outskirts of the city. Is that a possibility?
I hope issues around Chepauk will get resolved. We will only think of some other option if the situation is hopeless and I don't think we are even close to that. We have our priorities, the state government has its priorities -in the midst of all that it has taken a back seat but we I am still hopeful.
You have been away from the BCCI for a while now and there's no immediate chance of your return. Where do you see yourself as an administrator?
At the moment, I am on leave from whatever you are thinking. I am very busy taking care of my business and trying to improve my golf. One of my habits is that I don't speculate, I look at the present and at the moment I am trying to ensure that we have a highly successful TNPL and between that my business, golf etc will keep me busy .
Can you just explain the economics of TNPL?
The success of a league depends on its income from media rights and sponsorship. We have got Star to come in as a media partner and they have offered us a certain amount of money. If certain milestones are reached and more teams are taken in that will increase substantially. The gate revenue will also increase and it will become a bustling league. The broadcasters, the TNCA and all the franchises want to make it an outstanding league. Games will be played in the districts and it will show that cricket is not Chennai-centric.
But it's the stars who bring the sponsors. Do you think you will be able to have the stars on board, given the hectic international schedule?
I don't know about stars, I think good cricket brings in crowds. If the BCCI allows players from other states, the competition will increase. The important thing is that all other competitions including IPL can source talent from a tournament like this.
There has been a lot of talk about Ashwin leaving India Cements for Chemplast. What do you have to say as the MD of India Cements?
It's possible. The biggest rivalry here is for the first division league championship and for that many changes happen and I am used to it.
In the past few months there has been a lot of animosity between TNCA and the BCCI. What is your take on that?
There is no animosity between TNCA and BCCI. That might have been the perception but in real terms it was never there. Over a long period of time, TNCA 's relationship with the BCCI has been good and there has been no change to that.
So what was the reason behind TNCA missing out WT20 matches?
Maybe bad luck. TNCA has always been a very loyal member of the BCCI. We haven't got a game but that's fine, we'll get one later.
There have been changes proposed in ICC since your departure which can lead to the reduction in BCCI's share. What's your take?
I have always maintained that in public bodies like BCCI or ICC you do your best during your turn. And I do not comment on what happens after. I think that is a good practice because public should evaluate me for what I did and if there is a successor he should be evaluated on the basis of his actions.
It's been a while since all the controversies happened in BCCI. In retrospect, do you feel you could have handled things a little differently?
I still believe that there was no wrongdoing on my part. On several occasions there was extreme media hype which was unwarranted. But it has made me a most recognizable face, people compliment me on what I have done, so I am happy with that.