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Pakistan cricketers will not feature in IPL 2010 as their board has failed to obtain their visas before the deadline for confirmation of participation, the league’s commissioner, Lalit Modi, has said. The franchises will now have to look for replacements for the Pakistan players they had signed, he said.”We have been informed by the PCB that they have not been able to obtain the visas as of now. So we are not able to extend the deadline,” Modi told the channel. “Today is the absolute deadline for confirmation of Pakistani players [to take part in the IPL]. The exchange window [ends] the day after tomorrow.”Unfortunately, the Pakistani players are out and they will not be allowed to take part in the next IPL because we are handicapped by the fact that the exchange window is the day after tomorrow. We are informing the teams that they now can go for the replacement of the Pakistani players.”However officials in Pakistan are emphatic their side of the deal was done. “The players have applied for visas but the clearance hasn’t come from the Indian side. The ball is not in our court,” Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, said on Monday.Wasim Bari, the PCB’s chief operating officer, told Cricinfo the board was in possession of all necessary NoCs and clearance letters from the Pakistan side but had not been given visas. “From our side everything was done and in order. Players had received invitation letters from the franchises as well,” he said.Pakistan are the reigning World Twenty20 champions, and several franchises had expressed their interest in signing on the country’s cricketers. Five Pakistani players – Kamran Akmal, Misbah ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir – are already on contract with IPL teams.Last week, it had seemed that they, and several of their team-mates, would be in next year’s IPL after Pakistan’s foreign ministry and interior ministry cleared them to play in the Indian league. That meant the PCB could issue the NOCs necessary for Pakistan’s players to be eligible for the tournament, but the inability to obtain the visas in time meant their players will have to sit out a second successive IPL.Pakistan’s players were absent from IPL’s second season, held earlier this year in South Africa, after their government did not allow them to travel to India – where the tournament was originally to be held – for security reasons. The decision came in the wake of the Mumbai attacks last year, after which relations between India and Pakistan deteriorated considerably. Eleven players from Pakistan had taken part in the first IPL, though after the Mumbai attacks, only four were retained by their franchises, though their contracts were suspended until further resolution. Razzaq was signed recently by Kolkata Knight Riders.The PCB has been keen on getting their players involved once again after Ijaz Butt, the board chairman, raised the matter on a trip to India in October and said after that the relevant government authorities had also cleared Pakistan’s players to play.

Graham Gooch, England’s new batting coach, has no concerns about Kevin Pietersen’s indifferent form and insists that Pietersen just needs more time after returning from injury.Pietersen has not played a Test for England since the second Ashes Test at Lord’s in July. He returned to the side for the second Twenty20 against South Africa on November 15 but did not make an impact in that match or in the one-day series that followed, failing to pass 45 in his five outings on the tour so far.Despite the poor run, Gooch is confident Pietersen will be back to his best soon. “I think, with any player – whatever their ability level – if you’ve been out of the game with injury, you’ve got to work hard to find your way back both mentally and physically.”Kevin has been a super performer for England since 2005. He’s been a match-winner – and I’m sure he’ll continue to be a match-winner. But, if you’ve been off for a while, it takes time. It’s not easy to just get yourself back into it.”But, in his case, he’s been the mainstay of the England batting over the last four years – and I would expect him to continue.”Pietersen has a maximum of four innings to rediscover the touch that brought him 16 hundreds in 54 Tests, in England’s two warm-up matches in East London before the first Test at Centurion on December 16.Despite missing Pietersen’s class and experience for the last three Ashes Tests, England managed to the win series and won the one-day rubber against South Africa 2-1 without a major contribution from him.For a player used to dominating, it is important for Pietersen and England that he reasserts himself but the constant pressure to perform is something Gooch feels separates international cricket from other forms of the game.”At international level, your career is on the line every time. Every time you walk out there with your international shirt on, across that white line, you’re putting your reputation and the reputation of your country on the line,” he said. “That is one of the exciting things, the challenges, of playing for your country.”Gooch admits that touring South Africa will be demanding for England but feels his side has the ability to topple the hosts. “South Africa are a high-ranking side in both forms of the game, so it’s a great challenge for England. What an opportunity this is for our players – very exciting – and I think this is a challenge they’re going to rise to.””Part of the pleasure of playing at the top level is to challenge your ability against the best. England have got a good line-up – and, if they believe in themselves, I don’t see any reason why they can’t have success here.”Gooch was last involved with England in 1999, when he and Mike Gatting filled in as the team’s managers between David Lloyd’s resignation and Duncan Fletcher taking charge, in a series England lost 2-1 to New Zealand. In the decade since, one of the major differences in the way the side is run has been the advent of central contracts.Despite being famous for his hard-working approach as a player and captain Gooch is acutely aware of the need for modern international players to rest. “On balance, [central contracts] are a good thing – as long as the players are handled in the right way, rather than a ‘one size fits all’ in terms of their individual needs and playing and resting.”With batsmen in particular, the thing that usually goes first is the mental capability of being able to get yourself up for each game. That’s the difficult bit when the games come thick and fast one after another, not so much the physical part of it. You have to have a strong mind and you can’t be jaded.”Gooch was asked by Flower to help coach the batsmen and will stay with the tourists until the end of the first Test this month.”It’s a great honour to be asked to come and help the England team, to help with anything to do with English cricket. When you’re a driven individual, you want your national sport and your national team – which you’ve given a lot of time to down the years – to be successful. I just want England to win cricket matches.”Despite this experience coaching at his former county, Essex, where he got to know Flower and was a mentor to Alastair Cook, Gooch admits that, outside of watching them on TV, he is unfamiliar with some of England’s current crop of players.”Although I know the players well, in terms of watching them through the media, I don’t know a lot of them well personally. It will be a case of observing, trying to get their trust – and seeing whether I can help in terms of experience.”Coaching is about getting people’s trust, getting to know them. You can’t just come in and say ‘well, you’ve got to do this, this and that’. That’s not the way it works. You have to build up a relationship over a period of time.”

The Olympic Stadium in East London has emerged as a potential venue for floodlit Twenty20 cricket, after the London Development Agency (LDA) claimed it had been in talks with the ECB, and two first-class counties, in a bid to firm up a “legacy” for the 80,000-seater venue once the 2012 games have finished.In a statement, the LDA said it had “engaged with two professional cricket clubs and the national governing body of the sport to explore opportunities for professional cricket (particularly Twenty20 cricket) to be played in the legacy stadium post-2012 and proposes to identify areas within the legacy park where cricket nets and recreational cricket can be played.”The organisers of the 2012 Olympics are determined that the stadium should not be rendered obsolete after the games, and a number of other sports – including London football clubs, rugby league and union, and athletics – have all been approached. However, the exponential growth of Twenty20 cricket, coupled with the current inadequate venue sizes that currently exist around the country, makes the cricket option an especially convenient fit.Lord’s is currently the largest venue in the country, but even it boasts less than half the capacity of the Olympic Stadium, and Middlesex, who play their home games there but lease the ground from the MCC, are excited by the possibilities that have been tabled.”I think it’s a fantastic notion, an absolutely brilliant idea,” Vinny Codrington, Middlesex’s chief executive, told Cricinfo. “We understand that two counties have been approached, but we are not one of those. However, now that it has been mooted, we might well go back to them and propose it ourselves. We can’t play all our matches at Lord’s for a variety of reasons, and a stadium of that size would be a real asset to cricket.”Codrington’s comments follow on from those of the MCC chief executive, Keith Bradshaw, who told told the Observer in July that cricket at the Olympic Stadium would be a “huge strategic advantage”. However, Bradshaw subsequently clarified those remarks in an MCC statement, and vowed that Lord’s would “hit the competition head on” if a rival venue came into existence in London.”There is a difference between considering an idea inevitable and lending support to it,” he said. “I believe Lord’s is the best place to watch cricket in the country and I intend to keep it that way irrespective of whether another London ground emerges or not. Lord’s may be the biggest ground in the country but MCC is determined to retain its intimate, traditional character even if capacity is increased through development. We are a ground and not a stadium, and no one here wants that to change.”When contacted by Cricinfo, the ECB denied any knowledge of the proposal, while Essex is also keeping tight-lipped. However, with an untapped Asian market on the doorstep of the stadium, particularly the vast Bangladeshi community in nearby Tower Hamlets, there are clear economic reasons to bring cricket to the East End.One London club, however, has already ruled itself out of further discussions. “We were contacted by the Olympic authorities six months ago, asking if the county would be interested,” Paul Sheldon, Surrey’s chief executive, said. “However we declined, saying that The Oval’s facilities were good enough and that such an arrangement would not make financial sense. “The response from Kent, on the other hand, was positive. “We haven’t been approached but we’d be happy to look at imaginative proposals if they were put forward,” Paul Millman, Kent’s chief executive, told Cricinfo. “Kent has a large catchment area that extends into London, and there is a huge opportunity at present to build on the success and interest in Twenty20 cricket.”Millman added that Kent’s immediate priority was to push the development of the St Lawrence Ground at Canterbury, as well as Tunbridge Wells and Beckenham which have proved popular for Twenty20 matches in recent seasons. However, he said that the prospect of hosting ‘London derbies’ at the Olympic Stadium, against the likes of Middlesex, Essex and Surrey, would be an avenue of particular interest.What is more, the shape of the stadium is perfectly suited to cricket, which – like athletics – requires an oval-shaped playing surface, unlike football and rugby, which are better suited to rectangular arrangements. The Melbourne Cricket Ground proved how versatile such venues can be when it was refitted for the 2006 Commonwealth Games. In November 2005, the outfield was stripped to lay down a new running track. Four weeks later, the turf had been re-laid ahead of the Boxing Day Test against South Africa; and in March 2006, it was stripped back once more for athletics to take centre stage.With the LDA increasingly taken by the notion, the chances of the plans getting the go-ahead are beginning to look more favourable. “Given that the public purse has paid half a billion pounds for the Olympic Stadium, it makes perfect sense to examine every possible sporting use in legacy mode alongside the athletics,” said the shadow sports and culture minister, Hugh Robertson, back in July.And more recently, Somerset’s chief executive, Andy Nash, delivered a scathing assessment of English cricket’s awareness of the possibilities of Twenty20 cricket, following his county’s early exit from the ongoing Champions League. “I think back to Twenty20 finals day and it was like watching Des O’Connor,” he declared. “It was very flat and very uninspiring. When you go to India and sit in a stadium that is full, the contrast between that and the way we offer up T20 cricket could not be more stark.”

Match facts

Sunday, September 27, 2009
Start time 9.30 am (730 GMT)With one loss and two games to go, New Zealand have no uncertainty left – they just must win•AFP

Big picture

Outplayed in their first match, New Zealand have a mountain to climb to stay alive in the tournament. Their competitors in Group B – England, Sri Lanka and South Africa – have two points each while New Zealand are yet to get on board. Sri Lanka, who already have one win, against South Africa, but lost to England, can’t breathe too easy even if they win. In that sense, the manner in which results have unfolded has meant that this tournament has virtual quarterfinals, even if the organisers did not design it thus.Sri Lanka will be confident of achieving a win after the way they beat New Zealand at home recently. The loss to England was disappointing for the way their top order collapsed, but Kumar Sangakkara took positives from the way a couple batsmen played and Ajantha Mendis bowled on an unresponsive track for spin.New Zealand are in a trickier position than Sri Lanka: lose and they’re out. One of their serious problems has been that their batsmen have failed to adapt to different conditions. Daniel Vettori admitted after the game that it wasn’t easy to come out of six weeks in Sri Lanka and prepare for seam-friendly tracks in South Africa. Barring Ross Taylor, none of the other batsmen have come up with anything sizeable. The Johannesburg pitch on view so far has been made for the grafters, not the banner-grabbing heroes. Quality players do adapt to different conditions, changing their game, making subtle adjustments, cutting out certain shots. The time has come for New Zealand’s struggling but talented line-up to do just that.”That’s the most difficult thing,” said Vettori. “If you talk about it [the batting] for long enough, it can induce fear. The key words we have been trying to emphasise is to play with no fear. There will be no excuses. We will have to play well to beat them.”If New Zealand win, then Group B turns into a cracker. Given their recent form they don’t stand much of a chance but, as this tournament has shown, it’s the underdog that starts games as favourites. Just ask England.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)New Zealand – LLLWL
Sri Lanka – LWWWL

Team news

To play two spinners would be a bit of a gamble, and the alternative approach would be to play the extra fast bowler. The big debate is whether Sri Lanka should drop Muttiah Muralitharan for Thilan Thushara. Murali went for 60 against England, and his form hasn’t been too promising lately. Mendis didn’t get a wicket last game but his three against South Africa should work for him, as well as New Zealand’s inexperience playing him.Sri Lanka: (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Thilina Kandamby, 7 Angelo Mathews, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Thilan Thushara/Muttiah Muralitharan, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Ajantha Mendis.Vettori’s got a bit of a job on his hands – getting the right combination on the park. There’s the pitch to consider and Johannesburg’s strips have played for the quicks. There’s the dew factor to consider too. New Zealand didn’t play a second spinner against South Africa and may not here either. James Franklin has replaced Jacob Oram in the squad and presents a good case for selection given his county form for Gloucestershire. He would replace Gareth Hopkins.New Zealand: (probable) 1 Jesse Ryder, 2 Brendon McCullum (wk), 3 Martin Guptill, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Grant Elliott, 6 Neil Broom, 7 James Franklin, 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Daryl Tuffey, 11 Shane Bond.

Watch out for…

James Franklin hasn’t played an ODI since the 2007 World Cup but now finds himself primed for a return. Franklin was called up as a replacement for the injured Oram while playing for Gloucestershire against Kent in Bristol. His form has been promising: in seven Friends Provident Trophy matches this season, Franklin has taken 11 wickets at 21.90 and scored 224 runs at a strike-rate of 82.05. New Zealand could do with his batting and left-arm medium pace.One of the bright spots for Sri Lanka has been the form of Thilina Kandamby, who has done well in ODIs this year after being recalled after a four-year gap. He has propped up their fragile middle order, and his substantial efforts have all been fluent and cool innings. Equally skilled at rescuing and biffing the ball, Kandamby is the new-age Arjuna Rangatunga.

Stats and trivia

• New Zealand have played Sri Lanka twice in the Champions Trophy, in the inaugural edition in 1998 and then in 2006. Sri Lanka won both matches while chasing.
• Vettori is New Zealand’s most experienced player in Champions Trophy matches. In 11 games he has taken ten wickets at 36.60 and scored 195 runs at 39.00.

Quotes

“If we don’t win one, then questions have to be asked.”

“We are probably firing at about 80%. We have a lot of homework to do before the next game and need to be flexible.”

Former India wicketkeeper Sameer Dighe has been appointed as a Mumbai selector. Dighe, 40, along with ex-Mumbai offspinner Kiran Mokashi were the two faces in the four-member committee, replacing Shishir Hattangadi, who resigned midway last season, and former Indian fast bowler Abey Kuruvilla, who had completed his term.Dighe played six Tests and 23 ODIs for India, scoring 141 and 256 runs respectively. He also scored 3958 runs at 35.98 in the 83 first-class games he played.The panel, appointed by the Cricket Improvement Committee of the Mumbai Cricket Association led by former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar, will be headed by former Mumbai left-arm spinner Padmakar Shivalkar, and also includes ex-Mumbai fast bowler Abdul Ismail. Pravin Amre, who guided Mumbai to their 38th Ranji Trophy victory last season, will continue as the coach.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has backed himself and offspinner Jeetan Patel to play a major role in the Tests, but has really put the pressure on his inexperienced batsmen. Vettori believed the series will be one of the toughest tests for New Zealand’s batsmen and expected them to spend long hours in the middle to wear down the home bowlers.”The way we bowl is going to dictate our fortunes in a lot of ways. You need to be patient at times,” said Vettori. “The Sri Lankan wickets can help you out if you are consistent. That’s where the Sri Lankan bowlers do really well. They hang in those areas and just give themselves a chance and can wear teams down as opposed to bowling through them quickly.”Vettori called on the primary batsmen, none of whom has played a Test in Sri Lanka, to adapt to the cauldron of local conditions and make sure they belonged at Test level. “The reason why we haven’t performed in Test cricket is because our batting hasn’t been as good as it should be. There are more opportunities for guys to consolidate their positions and put big performances on,” he said. “This is one of the toughest tests they can get. If they can come through this they know they belong in Test cricket.”We have been competitive in one-day and Twenty20 cricket. We have to find a way to improve our Test match performances.”Vettori felt it was important to get the services of former Pakistan offspinner Saqlain Mustaq to assist his batsmen to tackle the Sri Lankan spin bowlers. “It’s particularly important for us with an inexperienced batting line up just to get a feel for spin. In this part of the world there is a lot of guys touring with the New Zealand team for the first time and to get some insights and some understanding of some bowlers,” he said. “Saqlain is one of the pioneers of spin bowling since the doosra. It’s a nice learning curve for some of our batsmen. Each individual batsman is going to work out on how they are going to work their way through that.”

Former Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Zahid has urged the Pakistan selectors, captain and coach to handle young pace sensation Mohammad Aamer with care.”I’m very impressed with Aamer, he is a very talented cricketer, but I worry a lot about him,” Zahid told . “He’s a very young man, only 17 years of age, and he’s bowling at 90 mph plus. Also, physically he doesn’t look strong enough yet to be playing so much international cricket, especially Test cricket””They [the selectors] are selecting him for all three forms of the game, which I think is too much for him. I’d rather they didn’t play him in a lot of Test cricket at this stage of his career which is physically so demanding especially for a fast bowler.”Zahid’s reservations are justified after a serious back injury cut short his own international career. He represented Pakistan in five Tests and 11 ODIs, and was recognised as one of Pakistan’s quickest ever bowlers.Zahid, 33, was worried whether Aamer’s lean body could take the pressure of bowling fast “day in, day out”. “The skipper, coach and the selectors need to come up with a plan for Aamer for the next couple of years, take proper care of him and ensure he is still a potent force for years to come and not suffering from burnt out,” said Zahid. “They need to ensure that he is getting plenty of rest, maybe intentionally missing one-day matches and Test matches”.”Aamer is Pakistan’s ace as far as fast bowling is concerned and they can least afford to get this boy injured”.While former Pakistan captains Ramiz Raja and Waqar Younis have also expressed their concerns on Aamer’s workload on air as commentators during the ongoing series in Sri Lanka, Wasim Akram said Aamer would need to put on weight to add more power to his bowling.

Having been a quiet watchdog so far, the ICC has finally decided to clear its throat on the latest crisis that has enveloped West Indies cricket and offered its help as mediator, if needed.Dave Richardson, the ICC general manager, has expressed concern over the imbroglio that saw most of the senior international players deciding to boycott the ongoing series against Bangladesh after the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) refused to negotiate with the West Indies Players’ Associaton (WIPA) over various issues raised by the players including the retainer contracts.”The ICC is concerned,” Richardson told Cricinfo, but confirmed that the ICC has not liaised with the WICB. “We will be contacting them soon and ask them if we could offer any help.”Richardson was hopeful that the current stalemate would not affect September’s Champions Trophy, where West Indies could be forced to field a weakened squad. “Certainly if the West Indies [board] does not sort out their relationship with their players it is a concern because we need a strong West Indies team coming to the Champions Trophy,” he said.The WICB’s scramble to assemble a team to face Bangladesh has been widely viewed as a face-saving act; before the first Test the captain, Floyd Reifer, last played for West Indies in February 1999, and the rest of the squad is made up of a few players with international experience, such as Darren Sammy, and inexperienced domestic players.In regards to views expressed by certain prominent figures, including Michael Holding, about the ICC still recognising the ongoing series as official, Richardson said stripping it of Test status was not on the cards.Richardson was hopeful that West Indies, unlike Zimbabwe who were stripped of Test status primarily to the exodus of clutch players, would be supported by their board. “West Indies have had a proud record and it would be a pity if they cannot maintain it,” he said, “But cricket is a mirror-image of a bigger social environment – the islands in the Caribbean are finding it tough financially and that might be reflected in the cricket as well. Having said that the best performing countries are the ones that are best administered and the West Indies’ administration, I wouldn’t say is bad, but hasn’t been consistent. It keeps changing all the time and that is not good for the game.”Richardson’s comments come at a time when the WIPA has sought the intervention of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) to help solve the crisis.

England captain Andrew Strauss has issued a stern warning to Andrew Flintoff after the allrounder was disciplined for missing the team bus during a trip to the World War I trenches in Ypres. Strauss said he would be strong enough to drop Flintoff from England’s Ashes team.”Fred is always under pressure when he comes back and I feel for him in that respect,” Strauss said. “He’s obviously a big player for us and there’s this circus that goes on around him. He was very aware he had stuffed up, he took it on the chin and apologised to everyone concerned. It was a very sincere apology and we move on.””It is up to Fred what he does but I have no reason to suspect that is going to be an issue. He has been out of the side a long while and wants to do well in the Ashes. To me those are all good signs.”The trip to Belgium was organised as part of coach Andy Flower’s objective to broaden their horizons and learn more about leadership and team ethics. Flintoff was back with England for the first time last Friday after spending weeks recovering from knee surgery.Like the other 15 team members he visited Tyne Cot cemetery on Friday but missed the Saturday morning visit to the fields where the Battle of Passchendaele was fought. Flintoff reportedly had failed to meet the 8:10 am departure from the hotel in Flanders after the squad dinner the night before, even as he had been “working very hard” to avoid issues fuelled by drink.Asked about Flintoff’s relationship with alcohol, Strauss said: “I don’t know; that is something for him to answer. I think it is something he has been working very hard on and he generally recognises when is the time to drink and not to drink.”It is important career-wise he stays on the right side of that and the vast majority of the time I think he has done. As he has got older, I think he has become increasingly aware when is the right and wrong time to drink.”Strauss said that dropping Flintoff on disciplinary grounds would be no more or less an option than with any other player. “I am absolutely certain it is not going to come to that,” he said. “You give guys responsibility to act the way they know they have to act to play good cricket. It is vital to a team functioning properly that everyone is treated the same and we will do that.”Strauss also revealed yesterday that Flintoff is not the only player to have been punished for poor timekeeping. “Punctuality has been an issue recently with a few players and is something we are trying to iron out and we are taking steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said.Hugh Morris, the managing director of England cricket, said Flintoff’s problem was an “alarm-clock issue” and that the player took a “full part” in the team meeting. “This is about Andrew missing the bus on Saturday morning. The matter was dealt with,” Morris said.

Despite their handsome victory against Pakistan on Wednesday evening, India are still sweating on the fitness of their two key players Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan. Sehwag, who is yet to bat on the tour, is suffering from a niggle to his right shoulder while Zaheer is on the recovery path from the shoulder injury to his bowling arm, picked up in the IPL.Captain MS Dhoni sounded ambiguous last evening when asked about Sehwag’s fitness. “To be honest I don’t know. He could be [fit] for the second game, but we will see.”The Indians, having landed last Friday, had a couple of optional practice sessions before playing two warm-up games against New Zealand and Pakistan. Sehwag was present at the first nets session but did not bat and missed out on the practice matches. “The physio is still working on Viru [Sehwag],” a team source said.Dhoni was more straightforward in his assessment of Zaheer’s injury and was optimistic the strike bowler would be back in action soon. “We have seen improvement,” Dhoni said. “He has started bowling but I don’t know at what intensity. Hopefully he will be fit for the game on June 10 [against Ireland]. Even if he is fit for the June 6 game against Bangladesh, we don’t want to risk him for the first game.”Based on their mixed results in the two warm-up games, where the victory against Pakistan offset the initial defeat against New Zealand, Dhoni would look forward to the return of both key men eagerly.Talking about the grey areas, Dhoni pointed out the weak bowling in the death overs. Against New Zealand the pair of RP Singh and Irfan Pathan leaked 31 in the final two overs. Matters didn’t improve much in the Pakistan game too, when the two final overs from RP and Praveen Kumar went for 29.”We did not bowl in the last two overs once again very well (against Pakistan),” Dhoni said. “Weare trying to bowl yorkers and it didn’t work out.”Captains and coaches have insisted the initial six overs (the Powerplay) and the final few overs are the two critical points where teams have won or lost matches. In such a scenario, Zaheer’s presence becomes crucial with his proven ability to swing the momentum in India’s favour at any point in the innings. Ishant Sharma has shown similar potency to strike at all times, but he needs support if India have to stop the opposition from building large totals. Dhoni mentioned he would like to play two specialist spinners but not at the expense of a batsman as the slow bowlers were key on the flat pitches in England.Even if Rohit Sharma has slipped easily into the opening slot, Dhoni knows Sehwag remains the key with his ability to provide blazing starts, a big plus in Twenty20 cricket. Even if he is reluctant to concede, Dhoni knows only too well the consequences of pushing Sehwag into the middle-order. But he is too smart to reveal his cards and would be happy for the opponents to play the guessing game.”Frankly speaking, I don’t know. It’s better to have a problem of plenty than nothing. As of now, I dont know the batting order,” was his roundabout reply.