Talented Gautam Gambhir has expressed his option that Gary Kristen’s contract should be renewed as the coach of the Indian team once it expires at the end of next year after the World Cup.

Gambir has stated “Gary is the best coach India has ever had. I have often said that and I keep on stressing that we need Gary. I don’t need to speak much about him. His fabulous record speaks for itself. He has been a great man-manager. So I believe that he should be retained after the World Cup also”.

Gautam Gambhir is just one of the few Indian cricketers who has requested that Gary Kristen be retained especially after reports surfaced saying that Cricket south Africa was planning to hire him once his contract with the Indian team expires.

Kristen’s idea of sending top batsmen to South Africa seven days in advance in order to get the batsmen adjusted to the bounce and pace of wickets in South Africa was openly supported by Gautam.

“We haven’t played much cricket in South Africa of late. So it will be a great idea if we go there a bit early to get used to the conditions. If such a thing happens, it may just work in our favour,” Gambhir said.

He also stated that there is bound to be ups and downs and that one cannot continue his blazing form for the rest of his life.

“Right now I am coming back from injury. It’s always a difficult thing when you come back from injury. Only when you spend considerable time out there in the middle, you get to know how it’s shaping up for you,” he said.

He also stated that just because New Zealand was whipped by Bangladesh cricket team 0-4 in the one day international series, it does not indicate that the match would be an easy one for the Indians when they would play against the Black Caps on November 4^th 2010.

“You can never take any international opposition lightly. Just because Bangladesh beat them 4-0 doesn’t mean that we can take it easy against the New Zealanders. Their team consists of some proven match-winners who can turn a match head on. So we need to be very careful and can’t take things for granted,” Gambhir said.

The decision taken by the board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to give Team Kochi a 30 day breather was not taken very well by everyone. Several members feel that no resolution is available for this situation unless Rendezvous Sports World Pvt Ltd (RSWPL) which is one of the members makes a climb down from the aforesaid position of 25 per cent equity.

Sources have confirmed that there is not going to be a compromise between the partners of the Team Kochi consortium. The partners are also not keen on working with RSWPL after the turn of events.

“They’ve been creating controversy after controversy, the latest one being taking the name of Sunil Gavaskar. It has further strengthened our belief that these people are not capable enough to handle the team. There was no need drag a man of Gavaskar’s stature into this.”

However RSWPL was pleased with the decision and Satyajit Gaekwad said “We wanted 10 days time and the BCCI gave us 30 days. We’re confident of resolving the matter”. However Satyajit Gaekwad has firmly indicated that Rendezvous would not step down from its claim of 25 per cent equity in the team.

Shashank Manohar has received a letter from RSWPL claiming that some of the investors in Team Kochi are willing to comply with their 12.5 per cent equity paid part; however investors have shot down these propositions and the claims made by RSWPL in the letter.

“If it was the case, we would fall in line immediately. If Parinee or Anand Shyam has actually agreed to their proposal, there would not be a dispute,” said the sources.

According to the MoU, Memorandum of Understanding with BCCI, RSWPL has 10 percent state of which 5 per cent is paid. A company called Kochi Cricket Pvt Ltd was formed a few months back in Maharashtra and only Rendezvous has to take the share from the company yet.

The receipt of a letter from RSPWL with the claims has been confirmed by an IPL governing council member but there has been no validation from the investors. However most investors’ have met top board officials and expresses their unwillingness to work with Rendezvous.

The judgment day for Team Kochi has arrived. Today, BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) will decide the fate of the Kochi IPL franchise. Team Kochi has gathered immense publicity with several hours of television footage and several news prints even before the team had a chance to take shape. Signs of the outcome seem to be gloomy.

Most of the members of BCCI were quiet unsure if the warring members of the consortium should be given more time even as they were going into the meeting. However it is clear that the decision will be taken by BCCI depending on the legal opinion that BCCI had sought over the replies that the team owners had produced to the board further to the show cause notice issued to the team on October 10^th. Various popular legal personalities are also said to have gone through the opinion.

In the meeting that will take place in Nagpur, a close look will be taken on the memorandum of understanding (MoU) and the share holding structure and a thorough analysis will be done to indentify if any IPL rules have been flouted. The contracts of Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals were earlier cancelled by BCCI as they had not adhered to the IPL rules.

The share holding of Rendezvous Sports World Pvt Ltd has been reduced to 10 per cent by the investors of Team Kochi in the MoU under question. In the earlier and original unincorporated joint venture, UJV, the share of Rendezvous Sports World Pvt Ltd was 26 per cent. The main hurdle and problem that BCCI is facing is to ensure that IPL Kochi team survives a minimum of three years and once IPL commences no changes could have made as the players would be auctioned for tenure of three years.

The members of Kochi IPL team are unsure of their fate and both factions said “It’s 50-50”. None of the members are willing to change their stance from the current stated position.

In the mean time, a member of the Gaekwad group has stated that Gavaskar was approached only after his exit from the governing council.

. “If he was still part of GC, we would have approached Aunshuman Gaekwad, Geoff Lawson or may be another reputed player from Mumbai,” he said. Gavaskar was being looked at to head the team’s cricketing operations.

Speedster Ashish Nehra is ready to make a comeback to Test Cricket after having played his last test cricket match six and a half years ago. He will be participating in the upcoming Test series in South Africa, this December.

Nehra said “I had never said that I will not play Test cricket again. It was just that initially after my comeback, I wanted to concentrate on the ODIs and Twenty20s. Now that I am back in the national side for one and half years, I feel confident to make a comeback in the Test fold. I will like to make myself available for selection during the South Africa Test series”.

He played against Pakistan in 2004 and this senior pacer has taken 44 wickets from 17 Test matches which is apart from his 146 ODI scalps from 108 matches.

He would not be playing against New Zealand, but would be travelling to NCA to continue with his strict fitness regime.

The 31 year old said “I am planning to play one Ranji Trophy for Delhi before the New Zealand ODI series to check how my body is holding. I am enjoying my cricket at the moment and I don’t see any reason why I can’t make a comeback”.

The pacer has gained confidence ever since he made a comeback where he played against West Indies in 2009 and he has not missed out on a single game due to injury.

He said “For me the top-most priority is the World Cup next year.

That is why I have been so choosy about playing in the longer version. But after World Cup, there is lot of Test cricket to be played as India would be playing against England, West Indies. I will like to again play Test cricket with the same intensity that I used to at the start of my career”.

This availability of the speedster spells good news for Zaheer Khan who has not always received the support from the other end, especially with Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma being erratic some times.

Nehra also said “Although I have enjoyed a good phase during 2002-03, I am also enjoying this phase as I have been injury-free. I have been bowling well and have been training hard. So things look good at the moment”.

He refuses to get drawn into comparing Sourav Ganguly’s team and Dhoni’s team when he was asked which side is the better one.  All he had to say was “Each side had its share of strengths. That was a great side under Sourav and this side under Dhoni is also showing tremendous results. It helps when you are winning as you start enjoying the game”.