Patel to fight removal from BCA in court

Sanjay Patel, the BCCI secretary, has challenged his expulsion from the Baroda Cricket Association in court. Patel, who was removed as the BCA joint secretary on Saturday, has filed a suit in the Vadodara District Court.

"This act of the BCA managing committee is nothing but a premeditated act of vengeance by some of the BCA managing committee members, so I have challenged it in the court," Patel told ESPNcricinfo. "After consulting my lawyers, I am convinced that the managing committee has committed an unconstitutional move, so I will fight it out legally to be reinstated in my home association that I have been serving for over a decade."

The case will be heard on May 1.

On Saturday, the BCA managing committee cited Patel's unlawful co-option into the BCA managing committee in 2002 and ordered him to step down as an office-bearer and vacate his position from all sub-committees of the BCA. Patel was co-opted into the managing committee two years after becoming a BCA member in 2000. Since the BCA rules state a member cannot be co-opted for at least three years after his membership is approved, the managing committee removed Patel and three other members.

Amol Karhadkar is a correspondent at ESPNcricinfo

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Mushfiqur hopes for Jurgensen U-turn

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim hopes Shane Jurgensen will overturn his decision to resign as head coach. But he hasn't gone into more detail since he is bound by a BCB edict not to speak about the coach's resignation.

Jurgensen is scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh on Wednesday night, after which Mushfiqur is looking forward to talking to him in person. The captain said having Jurgensen around would be good for the team.

"I do have a lot to say but the BCB has asked us not to talk about the matter," Mushfiqur said. "All I know right now is that he has resigned but the BCB hasn't accepted the letter. To be honest, we have to wait until the BCB president returns to the country.

"But I will talk to him. I would hope that he returns, which will be good for the team."

Mushfiqur and Jurgensen had been in charge of the Bangladesh team since the winter of 2012 when they beat West Indies 3-2 in the ODI series. They have had more success in 2013 too, winning a Test match in Zimbabwe and beating New Zealand 3-0 in an ODI series at home.

But it has all gone wrong since January, and the pressure, as Bangladesh kept losing matches, fell firmly on the captain and coach. Mushfiqur did most of the explaining before and after matches throughout this time, when he was often grilled for selection and on-field tactical decisions.

Jurgensen felt the heat after the World T20, when he became the target of BCB directors who said they were looking for a more batting-oriented coach. Both Mushfiqur and Jurgensen were given two-year contracts till after the 2015 World Cup.

Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo's Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84

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Kamran Akmal, Malik omitted from training camp

Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik have been omitted from a pool of 36 probables who will take part in a month-long summer camp at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore starting on May 6. Pakistan's new selection committee recalled Taufeeq Umar and Yasir Hameed for the camp and the focus is on preparing for upcoming tours and the 2015 World Cup.

The camp will be supervised by the coaching staff of the National Cricket Academy, headed by Mohammad Akram, as the PCB is currently hunting for national coaches. Fast bowler Junaid Khan and offspinner Saeed Ajmal will not attend the camp due to their county commitments in England.

Pakistan are set to play seven Tests, 13 ODIs and two T20s in the next 10 months. However, with the next international series three months away, the PCB was concerned about the long layoff. The gap was originally seven months, before the PCB managed to strike a deal for a short tour of Sri Lanka in August. Pakistan will then host Australia and New Zealand from October to December in the UAE.

"We will have 36 players for the first phase of the training camp," chief selector Moin Khan said at the National Stadium in Karachi. "The World Cup (2015) is the ultimate goal as we have to prepare for that on a day to day basis. We are planning for the whole year so we need players who can survive with their fitness, as it has been a concern. We have to keep a zero tolerance on fitness."

The notable omissions of wicketkeeper Kamran and allrounder Malik were not surprising, after their dismissal performances in the recent World T20 in Bangladesh. Both were selected for the tournament despite being in ordinary form. Kamran managed only 48 runs in four outings while Malik scored only 52 runs in four innings and wasn't used as a bowler. Moin, however, said it wasn't the end of the road for both players.

"The recent performances by Shoaib and Kamran were not satisfactory but the doors aren't shut on them. Given the age factor (as both are 32) we have older players who are fit and performing so there is always a chance for a comeback. They are still in contention and with the upcoming (domestic) season they have to perform well to win back the selectors' faith."

Taufeeq, 32, had been out of contention since pulling out of the South Africa tour last year due to a leg injury. Among the current lot of Pakistan openers, he has the highest average (38.72) after Saeed Anwar (47.10) and has scored more runs than any other opener since 2001. Hameed, 36, made his debut in 2003 and was a regular member of the team for the next four years. He was dropped, then recalled for the tour of England in 2010 before being ignored again.

Openers: Ahmed Shehzad, Nasir Jamshed, Shan Masood, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Khurram Manzoor, Taufeeq Umar, Sharjeel Khan

Middle order: Misbah-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, Faisal Iqbal, Sohaib Maqsood, Haris Sohail, Fawad Alam

Allrounders: Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Anwar Ali, Bilawal Bhatti

Spinners: Abdur Rehman, Zulfiqar Babar, Raza Hasan, Atif Maqbool, Yasir Shah

Fast bowlers: Umar Gul, Mohammad Talha, Ehsan Adil, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Sami

Wicketkeepers: Adnan Akmal, Sarfaraz Ahmed

Umar Farooq is ESPNcricinfo's Pakistan correspondent. @kalson

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Royals win on boundary count after tie and Super Over

A few days ago, individual brilliance from Chris Lynn had given Kolkata Knight Riders a win from nowhere, which sparked wild celebrations. Today they experienced what it was like to be on the receiving end of such an unexpected result. Knight Riders needed only 16 off 12 balls with six wickets in hand, when their middle and lower order capsized against James Faulkner in the penultimate over.

Shakib Al Hasan forced the match into a Super Over and Knight Riders would have been confident of Sunil Narine defending 12. But with three needed to win off the last ball, Steven Smith played a smart dab into the vacant space at extra cover and ran an easy two, levelling the match again and taking Rajasthan Royals to a thrilling win on the basis of a greater number of boundaries scored in the match.

For Knight Riders, it should have never come to that stage. Faulkner hadn't had the best of times in this year's IPL and was benched for a match after ordinary outings in his first three games, but bowled an inspirational over to turn the game on its head.

Cameos from Suryakumar Yadav and Shakib had almost brought Knight Riders on the doorstep of a smartly constructed innings and a win seemed there for the taking. They had added 49 runs in 26 balls. Then, Faulkner's slower balls, so effective last year, made a sparkling re-entry.

Yadav, looking for a big hit, sliced the first ball of the 19th over to long-off to fall for a 19-ball 31. It was still Knight Riders' game, but Faulkner's fourth and fifth deliveries proved to be the icing on his birthday cake as Robin Uthappa and Vinay Kumar missed straight deliveries to be bowled. Six balls, three wickets and 12 off nine became 12 off 6. With Shakib still around, Knight Riders still had some chance - they kept up with the task as Shakib squeezed a boundary off the first ball off the last over. Kane Richardson did not bowl the best of overs, serving leg-side balls and half-volleys. Shakib failed to connect properly again in the over, but managed to tie the game. However, Smith's presence of mind off the last delivery of the Super Over that won them two points showed Royals were in no mood to spoil Faulkner's birthday party.

One of the heartening side stories for the Knight Riders to emerge despite the loss was Gautam Gambhir's return to form. Gambhir didn't set the stage on fire - the slower Abu Dhabi pitch was never going to allow that sort of strokeplay and that's not Gambhir's game anyway - but his 45 from 44 deliveries was the ideal platform for the middle-order strokemakers.

Such had been the drought that Gambhir would have been satisfied with anything of substance; he had hardly spent any time in the middle. He ended up playing the solid knock that was needed at the top of the order following the template Ajinkya Rahane, who top-scored with 72, had set in the first half of the match. A pull shot off the gentle medium pace of Stuart Binny didn't run to the boundary but was the ideal tonic for a sagging spirit.

Once he had played a few balls though, Gambhir was in familiar territory, comfortably nudging the ball into the gaps and using his feet to the slower bowlers. Familiar with Rajat Bhatia's tricks, Gambhir handled his Delhi teammate with ease, once using his feet to carve a slower delivery over extra cover in trademark fashion. But he was caught in the boundary to a sweep shot, five short of his half-century. His team's fate followed a similar course: Solid, but not being able to finish it off.

Devashish Fuloria is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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BCCI seeks new IPL probe panel

The BCCI has objected to the Justice Mukul Mudgal commission being asked to follow up on their findings into allegations of betting and spot-fixing in the IPL. The BCCI, at a hearing on Tuesday, said it wanted the Supreme Court to form a new panel as it had found the Mudgal committee's report "erroneous". At the hearing on Tuesday, the BCCI counsel also asked the court to reinstate N Srinivasan to his office as BCCI president while the probe was being conducted.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, reserved its order about the panel to investigate the allegations against 13 "very important personalities" in cricket. It is however, expected to issue an interim order regarding the composition of the second IPL corruption probe panel within a few days.

The next hearing of the case will only be in September, after the court-appointed panel has completed its investigation.

At a previous hearing on April 22, the Supreme Court when presented with the BCCI's selection of a three-member panel to look into the IPL corruption, had asked the Justice Mudgal committee to respond to the court's invitation to resume its investigation. The Mudgal panel had agreed to continue the investigation and on Tuesday, its counsel Gopal Subramaniam handed over a note from the panel detailing the assistance it would require and said that it would complete its investigations within four months.

The Mudgal panel also stated: "As this committee was appointed with the consent of the BCCI and the Cricket Association of Bihar, in the earlier order, the Committee requests that a similar consent may be obtained again." It is possible that the formation of an entirely new panel to investigate the allegations would be considered impractical because it would increase the potential for the information in the sealed envelope being leaked.

Mudgal commission seeks assistance for probe The Justice Mukul Mudgal commission has stated the assistance it would need to continue with its probe on corruption in the IPL. The panel sought help of the following individuals: - ML Sharma, former CBI special director - A senior officer ("preferably not below the rank of assistant commissioner of police") each from the Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai police, and - A former India cricketer "of repute and integrity". It also requested: - Further assistance from police authorities, the Sports Integrity Unit of CBI's anti-corruption branch and other departments or agencies of the central and state governments "as required." - Full co-operation of the BCCI during the investigation, including directions to abide by instructions, if any, issued by the panel. The commission also stated that all people working in and assisting the investigation, should "exercise their duties with utmost confidentiality" and act as officers of the court.

The request by Srinivasan's counsel that he be reinstated as BCCI president was not agreed to by the court. The counsel had argued that the sealed envelope only contained an allegation against Srinivasan that he had failed to act on a complaint made against an individual. To which Justice A K Patnaik said, "The contents of the sealed cover is not what you think it is." This has left Srinivasan's BCCI position in limbo as long as there an investigation on. Srinivasan had formally been removed from all BCCI duties from April 16 onward, Justice Patnaik saying that Srinivasan, "could not come back as BCCI president as long as the probe is on."

The court did not however hear the matter of Srinivasan continuing in the ICC, where he hopes to take over as its first chairman in June this year. According to Nalini Chidambaram, counsel for the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), the fact that the matter did not come in for a hearing was, "not really a setback. We only hope that the BCCI members will act fairly when a man is not fit to be BCCI president because under the ICC rules it is the BCCI who have to nominate their representative. So we only hope that good judgement will prevail on the BCCI members."

The case dates back to June 2013, when the Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) secretary Aditya Verma raised charges of a conflict of interest in the BCCI's original two-member inquiry panel for the IPL corruption issue. A Bombay High Court ruling later termed the probe panel "illegal". The BCCI and the CAB filed petitions in the Supreme Court against this order, with the CAB contending that the Bombay High Court could have suggested a fresh mechanism to look into the corruption allegations.

The Supreme Court then appointed a three-member committee, headed by former High Court judge Mukul Mudgal and comprising additional solicitor general L Nageswara Rao and Nilay Dutta to conduct an independent inquiry into the allegations of corruption against Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, India Cements, and Rajasthan Royals team owner Jaipur IPL Cricket Private Ltd, as well as with the larger mandate of allegations around betting and spot-fixing in IPL matches and the involvement of players.

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Lehmann reflects on racial outburst

Australia's coach Darren Lehmann has called his racial outburst against Sri Lanka in 2003 "the biggest mistake" of his life, and also offered an insight into how he manages the diverse personalities and egos present within the national team, from Mitchell Johnson to David Warner.

Lehmann has returned to work at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane following a long and wildly successful summer with the Test team, and is currently planning for the challenges ahead over the next two years, including the 2015 World Cup in Australia and the defence of the Ashes in England a few months later.

In an interview with the ABC's 7.30 on Tuesday, Lehmann reflected on the storm created by his bellowed rebuke of "black c****" in the dressing room after he was run-out in a Brisbane ODI against Sri Lanka 11 years ago, and what he said had become a cautionary tale he has shared with numerous players.

"It was the biggest mistake of my life. I apologised for it on the night, to the captain Kumar Sangakkara [Sanath Jayasuriya was captain] and the Sri Lankan team, and hopefully they've forgiven me and we can move on," Lehmann said of an offence that had him banned for five ODIs. "I speak about it honestly, it was a big mistake, and it was a big learning curve in my career and if I can impart anything on other players along the way, then so be it."

A decade later, Lehmann took on the job as Australia's coach on the eve of the 2013 Ashes tour of England, following the sacking of Mickey Arthur. Among Lehmann's most vital tasks was to regain a sense of unity and fun among the players, who had splintered into cliques during Arthur's time as coach amid a general atmosphere of fear and mistrust.

The suspension of four players - Johnson, James Pattinson, Usman Khawaja and Shane Watson - in India for failing to follow team instructions was a fiasco for the team in the midst of a 4-0 hiding, and Lehmann said the matter should not have been allowed to reach the public eye. "From my point of view it was a case of it should have been dealt in house, and shouldn't have gotten out to be perfectly honest," he said. "But that's been dealt with and done, so we move on."

In repairing the damage caused by that episode among others, Lehmann showed an ability to relate to the various personality types within the team, as defeat in England was used as the platform for a rousing Ashes sweep at home and then another triumph in South Africa. He highlighted Johnson and Warner as examples of how to handle players differently.

"Mitchell is a beautiful quiet guy who just goes about his business, so for me it's just about keeping him up. He'll have times when he's down, but not to let him get too down on himself," he said. "Players are their own harshest critic, as you would imagine, there are times when they're going to get a rocket from me. But I'm making sure they're in a really good place to play the best cricket they can. And knowing each player, they're all different.

"I wouldn't talk to David Warner too long, because he wouldn't understand, he'd lose it. So I keep it really short for guys like that, Glenn Maxwell, and that's fine, that's when they play their best cricket. But if I have to talk to Shane Watson or Mitchell Johnson or Michael Clarke, I might take it more in depth because they'll get it easier."

Australia's most recent assignment was far from successful, as they failed to make the semi-finals of the World T20 in Bangladesh. Lehmann said he was prepared to wear that result, so long as it was learned from.

"We were riding high on the back of beating England and South Africa, and then we struggled in Bangladesh. Albeit it all of those games were winnable and we were in winning positions when we let ourselves down," he said. "That's a good learning curve for us.

"I know it's not great when you're out of the World Cup, but as long as the players learn from that, and then don't make the same mistake - I'm okay with players making mistakes, don't make it twice."

Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @danbrettig

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Can't disrupt world cricket for own interests - IPL COO

Sundar Raman, the IPL's chief operating officer, has said India will have to accommodate the interests of other countries while planning its international schedule as the BCCI cannot "disrupt world cricket" to protect its own interests.

The scheduling of the international calendar has become an important issue after an ICC revamp proposed by the BCCI, ECB and Cricket Australia, suggested that the Future Tours Program (FTP) system be replaced with bilateral agreements between boards. Raman formed part of the "working group", along with officials from Cricket Australia and the ECB, behind the ICC's financial and administrative restructuring and he told a media gathering that the focus was on "reinventing" the FTP.

"If India say, 'forget everything, we will play at home December-January-February', my exaggerated view is that world cricket will collapse," Raman said. "Australia will not have a Boxing Day Test, South Africa will not have a season, Sri Lanka will not have a Test. So you are treading on a territory … India has to be accommodative.

"We can't disrupt world cricket so much at the cost of our own interest. Truth is, Australia don't tour for more than four weeks at a time except for the Ashes. India is happy to go on long tours. We want to have minimum two home seasons every year, but it's tough with the different weather conditions.

"We are trying to figure the best way out so that all 26 stadiums in India get a game. It's got to have Tests and one-dayers every year and we are planning in such a way that we prepare better for big events. Before the World T20, we'll play more T20s. Before the World Cup, we'll play more ODIs. We're trying to reinvent the whole FTP. And you know every year there's IPL and Champions League T20."

Raman also praised the "robust" IPL model despite the controversies surrounding the league. Brand IPL was hit last year after three Rajasthan Royals cricketers and Gurunath Meiyappen, the team principal of the Chennai Super Kings, were arrested on allegations of betting and spot-fixing.

A Supreme Court-ordered probe, conducted by the Justice Mukul Mudgal panel, stated that Meiyappan was found to have indulged in betting and passing on information, and in subsequent hearings, the court asked N Srinivasan to step down to ensure a free and fair investigation into corruption in the IPL. Srinivasan's reluctance to resign as BCCI president and act against Super Kings, a team owned by his company India Cements, had put the tournament under a cloud, especially when the first phase was moved to the United Arab Emirates.

The conduct of the event in the UAE has, however, led Sunil Gavaskar, the court-appointed BCCI interim president for the event, to reveal that the BCCI is considering hosting the Champions League T20 in UAE later this year.

"The success of the IPL here will make the BCCI look at this in a much different way than it has in the past," Gavaskar said. "Champions League here is definitely on the back of our minds."

Following the exit of the Sahara Pune Warriors franchise last year, the IPL returned to an eight-team format, which had been successful in the first three years of the tournament. Ranjib Biswal, the IPL chairman, said the BCCI has decided not to add any more franchises at least until 2017. The 2011 edition of the IPL featured ten teams, with two franchises drafted in, while the last two editions saw nine teams competing in the league after the Kochi Tuskers franchise was ousted on technical grounds.

The IPL governing council will take stock of the UAE leg which ends on April 30, Gavaskar said, at a May 3 meeting in Mumbai. Deepak Parekh, a leading banker, was named advisor to the IPL and he is expected to give his feedback on the matches he has seen so far, and present his suggestions on improving the IPL brand.

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