Kohli was handed the Orange Cap for topping the batting aggregate with 291 runs, 24 ahead of batting maestro Tendulkar who plays for the Mumbai Indians.

“I had been keen to bat up the order in the last three IPLs. But I could get to bat only at five, six or seven. This time I got the chance to bat at three and I am happy that I have been able to score runs and contribute to the good showing of the team,” said Kohli, who also completed 1000 IPL runs during the course of his breezy 67.

“I am happy to don the orange cap. I would like to hold on to it for a while, but the competition is very tough as there are five quality batsmen who are there in the top five among runs. Let me see how long I can hold on to it,” added a beaming Kohli after RCB”s 26-run win over Pune Warriors last night.

Pune captain Yuvraj Singh, on the other hand, rued that his team conceded 20 runs too many during RCB”s innings.

“I think we gave 20 runs in excess and couldn”t score rapidly when we batted,” said Yuvraj after his team”s fifth consecutive defeat in the IPL.

The beleaguered Warriors” skipper felt that the road to the play-offs would get tougher from here on.

“It is really tough from now on. We have to win six out of six to have a chance. We will give our best. I wished I should have lost the toss today. I have won the toss five times and we have lost those matches. I don”t know what to say,” he said.

Yuvraj also felt that batting effort wasn”t good enough against RCB.

“It was a gettable target because it was a good batting wicket. In the first six overs, we didn”t lose many wickets but Manish and Jesse partnership didn”t yield many runs. If the runs had come at that time, me and Robin could have finished off things. We will look at ourselves on where to improve on.”

Did he make a mistake in not batting up the order?

“We didn”t lose early wickets and the batsmen upfront have to go at the bowling. Batting at four and five is the mainstay of the team. I feel today, we should have come up the order,” replied Yuvraj.

“Unfortunately, that partnership couldn”t get enough runs. It wasn”t that Manish was trying to hit and he couldn”t hit, Jesse was trying to increase the run-rate. At that stage we needed a few good overs and they bowled really well. Unfortunately, we couldn”t cash in on that.”

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The board has made several changes to the structure, reducing the total number of contracted players from 41 to 24, and doing away with Grade D. The annual retainers have been increased from Rs. 60 lakh to Rs. 1 crore ($135,594 to $225,990) for Grade A and from Rs 40 lakh to Rs. 50 lakh ($90,396 to $112,995) for Grade B. The fees for category C remain at Rs. 25 lakhs ($56,498).

Yuvraj has had a forgettable 2010, with indifferent form and fitness dogging him through one of the toughest phases of the career. He was disappointing at the World Twenty20 in the West Indies and was subsequently dropped for the Asia Cup but returned for the Tests in Sri Lanka. In the first Test, he scored 52 and 5 in Galle, before missing the second with fever. He was declared fit to play in the third but was passed over from the final XI in favour of Raina, who had replaced him for the second Test and scored a century on debut.

Gautam Gambhir has, on the other hand, been more fortunate and has retained his Grade A classification despite an indifferent year – he has missed three of India’s last six Tests with injuries, and has bagged ducks in the second innings in each of other three. Rahul Dravid, who has been out of India’s limited-overs plans since the 2009 Champions Trophy, also features in the A category, despite his recent dip in Test form.

Karnataka seamers Abhimanyu Mithun and Vinay Kumar, who forced their way into the national side through impressive shows in the 2009-10 first-class season, have been added to Grade C, along with Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored a fluent half-century against Australia on Test debut.

Dinesh Karthik, who has been in and out of the one-day side as a back-up wicketkeeper and a make-shift opener, has been axed from the contracts list, along with Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary and Dhawal Kulkarni. Shikhar Dhawan, Abhishek Nayar and Sudeep Tyagi also find themselves out of contracts.

Grade A: Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan

Grade B: Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Virat Kohli, M Vijay, Pragyan Ojha

Grade C: Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, R Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Abhimanyu Mithun, Vinay Kumar
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Australia made 239-8 and had Sri Lanka rattled at 107-8, with Xavier Doherty taking four wickets and a run-out.

But then Mathews (77 not out) and Malinga (56) put on 132 before Muttiah Muralitharan hit the winning run.

Australia will play Sri Lanka in two more one-dayers before taking on England in the five-Test Ashes series.

Mathews and Malinga’s ninth-wicket stand was a record in one-day international cricket, beating the previous mark of 126 set by India pair Kapil Dev and Syed Kirmani in the 1983 World Cup against Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells.

“It was a dramatic finish and the way Lasith batted was excellent,” said man-of-the-match Mathews, whose unbeaten 77 came from 84 deliveries.

606: DEBATE
Have the Aussies forgotten how to win?

Dilbert

“I gave the spinners to Lasith to deal with while I took on the pace. I’m still catching my breath and to do this against Australia is a great achievement.”

Until tail-ender Malinga joined 23-year-old Mathews at the crease, it seemed like the headlines would be stolen by debutant Doherty, who finished with figures of 4-46.

His left-arm spin clean bowled captain Kumar Sangakkara for 49, before Mahela Jayawardene, Chamara Silva and Nuwan Kulasekara – for a duck – also fell to the slow left-armer.

The 27-year-old had earlier removed Upul Tharanga with a superb flicked throw from mid-off.

Sri Lanka had collapsed to 107-8 and an early finish was on the cards, but Malinga had other ideas.

The pace bowler became a potent striker of the ball, smashing 56 from 48 balls and hitting six fours and two sixes.

HIGHEST ODI NINTH-WICKET STANDS
132 – AD Mathews & SL Malinga, SL v Aus, Nov 2010
126* – Kapil Dev & SMH Kirmani, Ind v Zim, Jun 1983
118 – JP Yadav & IK Pathan, Ind v NZ, Aug 2005
103 – SM Pollock & TM Odoyo, Africa XI v Asia XI, Jun 2007
101 – MS Dhoni & RP Singh, Ind v WI, Jun 2009

Unfortunately for the sprightly paceman, with the scores level and more than six overs to spare, Steve Smith made him pay for a dicey run with a direct hit, with one run needed for victory and one wicket remaining.

Mathews saw out the rest of the over to leave last man Muralitharan on strike.

One of the greatest bowlers of all time then became his country’s saviour with the bat, hitting Shane Watson for four with the second ball of the 45th over.

Earlier, Michael Hussey scored an unbeaten 71 although the home side were restricted to 239-8 thanks to a brilliant performance from 21-year-old Thisara Perera, who took 5-46 from eight overs.

Australia stand-in captain Michael Clarke paid tribute to Sri Lanka but admitted his side were finding it hard to buy a win – having now six consecutive matches in all formats of the game.

“We probably could have been better with bat, and with Sri Lanka at 107-8 we should have won the game,” said the skipper.

“All the boys are disappointed. We can’t seem to turn the corner and get over the winning line.

“Sri Lanka are a great example – you can always win the game from whatever position you are in.”

Clarke was deputising for skipper Ricky Ponting, who was on compassionate leave to attend the funeral of his grandmother in Launceston.

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Allott, who has been associated with the team for two years, had the responsibility to oversee the development of a long-term high-performance strategy.

But he developed differences with NZC over how the plan should work and said the 0-4 drubbing in Bangladesh last month only highlighted them.

“It became evident during my work on that strategy that New Zealand Cricket may require a different allocation of resources within high performance in the future,” Allott was quoted as saying by the local media here.

“This was reinforced to me during the recent review following the Bangladesh tour. I believe our elite athletes and teams need a combination of the best available high performance expertise and the knowledge of cricket experts who understand the technical aspects of the game,” he added.

Allott said his plans for Daniel Vettori’s men, who are currently touring India for a Test and ODI series, are different from NZCs.

“On that basis the High Performance structure that I consider is best for cricket’s future would be different to the current structure and with a different allocation of resources. I have effectively restructured myself out of a job, but I truly believe this to be in the best interests of cricket.

“This was a difficult decision for me to make because I am passionate about the game that has given me so much. After a break with my family, I will consider several other opportunities that exist, both inside and outside of cricket,” he said.

NZC CEO Justin Vaughan lauded Allott’s contribution in shaping the team.

“Geoff has made an enormous contribution to cricket in New Zealand. He was instrumental in the negotiation of the ground-breaking eight-year agreement with the NZ Cricket Players Association and has led the development of the high performance strategy with the unique insights that a former international cricketer can bring to the process,” he said.
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Reports this week said Indian corporations had already bought shares of around A$60m in some of the proposed franchises. However, Cricket Australia believes the value of the teams will rival the biggest sporting clubs in the country. The Brisbane Broncos rugby league team was priced at A$36m this year.

James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said private investment would be allowed from minority stakeholders, but the individual teams would be owned by the state associations. “The board has taken a position that it will be less than 49% [minority share], probably more likely to be 33%,” Sutherland said.

“We’re very excited and optimistic of the existing interest in these teams and the Big Bash League. Some of the valuations we have done recently put these teams immediately into the upper echelons of Australian sport in terms of value in sporting teams.”

The idea is unashamedly based on the India Premier League, but Cricket Australia is determined not to make the same mistakes over ownership that have plagued the competition this year. Two franchises, Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, have been struck out following broken agreements, while Kochi, one of the expansion teams, is on the verge of being dumped due to issues with investors.

When asked whether fit and proper testing of owners would occur, like what happens in the English Premier League, Sutherland said, “Under the licensing agreement, which each of the states and teams will be bound by, there will be a process of Cricket Australia maintaining the rights to vet or approve any investors in any of these teams.”

Sutherland said there was a lot to be learned from the IPL. “I mean that in a positive and negative sense,” he said. “There is a model there that exists that has been incredibly successful.

“It’s important to reflect that part of the reason this competition is already attracting investors here and abroad is the fact that it is extremely high profile, by virtue of Big Bash teams having qualified for the Champions League, and been very successful. It’s also because the game of Twenty20 is popular around the world, and it’s a unique opportunity for cricket.”

An IPL-style auction is not an option to distribute the playing talent but there will be a strict salary cap and a draft will be considered. There are hopes for a January window to ensure Australia’s international players and big-name overseas stars are available for the entire tournament, but that will not happen at least until the current TV rights deals run out in 2012-13.

“We see great merit in having Australian players playing in this competition but obviously that needs to be balanced with our commitments to international cricket,” Sutherland said. “We want Twenty20 to complement, not compromise, international cricket. Finding that balance is important.”

Six of the sides will come from the cities that already host domestic cricket, but the state concept will be abolished for the Twenty20 tournament. Expressions of interest will be taken from other areas of the country over the next couple of months and a decision on the final two teams will be made in February. The inaugural tournament will be held in December and January 2011-12.

Crowd numbers for the Big Bash, which started in 2005-06, increased by 80% last year to average more than 18,000 per game. Cricket Australia was initially reluctant to join the Twenty20 revolution when it began in England, but quickly swung behind it when realising how popular and lucrative it could be.

Cricket Australia has done modelling 20 years into the future and Sutherland is convinced the tournament will be a massive success. “It gives us a huge amount of confidence in how this competition is going to grow,” he said. “In the first couple of years, the cash flows are somewhat handicapped by existing media rights deals, so the marginal revenues may not be quite as large, but we would expect those to kick in from year three and beyond.”

While there are expectations the other two domestic competitions will be cut back, Sutherland said the Boxing Day Test was “safe”. “From an international programming point of view, our priority rests with international cricket,” he said. “But all of the research we have done very strongly indicates that the enjoyment that people get from the game of cricket can be spread over the three formats, or discreetly held with one format of the game.”
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Ram Jethmalani, who is representing Modi in the case, said that attempts to find a solution failed despite the best efforts of those involved. The next hearing will be held on November 11.

At the first hearing on October 21, the court had offered two suggestions for the compromise: to increase the size of the existing committee or have its three members stay away from the league’s governing council, which is authorised to look into the disciplinary committee’s report on Modi. The disciplinary committee currently comprises IPL chairman Chirayu Amin, BCCI vice-president Arun Jaitley and Jyotiraditya Scindia, the president of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association.

Modi had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking the removal of Amin and Jaitley from the disciplinary committee. Modi’s plea for the recusal of these two members, on grounds of bias against him, had been rejected by the Bombay high court in September.

The BCCI had suspended Modi immediately following the conclusion of IPL 3 in April and charged him with financial irregularities relating to the bidding process for IPL franchises, the mid-over ad sales and the sale of theatrical rights. He was also charged with colluding to set up a rebel league in England. Modi has denied all the charges and repeatedly accused BCCI president Shashank Manohar and the president-elect N Srinivasan of harbouring personal grudges against him.
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Kohli’s scintillating 118 (121b, 11×4, 1×6) coupled with Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina’s adept supporting roles, set up India’s five-wicket victory over Australia in the second ODI of the three-match series at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium here on Wednesday. After rains washed out the first game at Kochi, India now has an unassailable 1-0 lead in the series that will conclude at Margao on Sunday.

GOOD RECOVERY

Chasing Australia’s 289 for three in 50 overs, India needed a steady start but debutant Shikhar Dhawan froze against Clint McKay, who later scalped Murali Vijay. At 35 for two, Kohli and Yuvraj lent hope to the Indian dressing room where captain M.S. Dhoni paced nervously. The duo shared 137 runs for the third wicket off 152 balls and that laid the foundation for a productive pursuit.

Man-of-the-Match Kohli’s early impetus was gleaned from a pull off debutant seamer Mitchell Starc and Yuvraj (58) strode into his element while flicking another debutant John Hastings over mid-wicket. The southpaw’s confidence rubbed onto Kohli, who soon pulled and drove with élan and the two fashioned a partnership that was the right mix of industriousness and flair.

Yuvraj leant into his drive off debutant Starc and when Nathan Hauritz stepped in, the southpaw slog-swept the off-spinner. Kohli, meanwhile, moved back and forth at the crease, judging length to a nicety as his shots sped on the carpet. Kohli, who in the past had the propensity to fritter away starts, played his percentages well and watched Yuvraj lose his timber to McKay’s slower delivery.

The 21-year old surged ahead despite cramps in his legs that forced him, at 81, to requisition a runner in Dhawan. The moment Kohli noticed that Raina (71 n.o.) was busy carving up James Hopes all over the park, the centurion opted to play second fiddle.

He came into his own again after notching up his third ODI hundred with a brace off Hastings and while the adrenaline throbbed, he clattered McKay past cover, down fine-leg and over mid-wicket. Kohli eventually perished with a tired shot but he had done his job and Raina lent the final touch with verve. India finished with 292 for five in 48.5 overs.

LEADING FROM THE FRONT

Earlier, Australian skipper Michael Clarke put a fortnight of poor form firmly behind him after his unbeaten 111 (139b, 7×4, 1×6) helped his team post a challenging total. Clarke found allies in Michael Hussey (69) and Cameron White (89 n.o., 49b, 6×4, 6×6) and the trio helped Australia tide past the twin-blow of losing openers Shaun Marsh and Tim Paine after Dhoni opted to field.

Australia failed to breathe easy in the beginning as Ashish Nehra’s first spell of 4-1-3-2 prised out Marsh and Paine. Clarke and Hussey then etched a third-wicket partnership that yielded 144 runs off 172 balls. Clarke remained alert to the single while Hussey punctured the inner ring before succumbing to economical off-spinner R. Ashwin.

White then walked in and spread mayhem through an unbeaten fourth-wicket partnership of 129 runs off 81 deliveries with his skipper. White carted Nehra for four and inflicted agony on the seamers, especially Vinay Kumar.

Clarke too acquired an aggressive sheen and raced to his fifth ODI hundred, striking clean fours off Vinay. The skipper then watched White dent Praveen Kumar with two sixes and wade into the innings’ final over bowled by Vinay with three sixes and a four. The damage proved minimal for the Indians on a night when Kohli prospered.

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