Vengsarkar warns of 'cricket overkill'

	All members of India's World Twenty20 squad played in the IPL © AFP

Dilip Vengsarkar, the former India captain, has warned of a possible "cricket overkill" in India because of the long IPL schedule and fears that many players in the Indian team may be mentally tired as they leave on Friday for the ICC World Twenty20 in England just four days after the Indian league ended in South Africa.

Vengsarkar, who headed the selection panel that picked the World Twenty20-winning team in 2007, also said Gary Kirsten, the India coach, and his support staff now face a huge challenge in re-energising the team in the short period of time available. The only way to avoid such situations in the future, he said, was for India's cricket administrators to rework the IPL format and reduce its length - all the 15 members of India's World Twenty20 squad play for the eight IPL teams and Zaheer Khan, their strike bowler, is still recovering from a shoulder injury that he suffered during the IPL.

Vengsarkar's comments on mental fatigue are similar to those made by Kirsten and Sachin Tendulkar on the subject over this month. While Kirsten pointed that his players have been on the road from the New Zealand tour that started on February 20, Tendulkar, who is not part of this Twenty20 team, warned that the fatigue factor could affect the team's opening pair of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.

"The Indian players are now in a situation where they play two high-pressure Twenty20 tournaments, back-to-back and that's never ideal," Vengsarkar told Cricinfo. "It's the job of administrators to ensure that the players are fresh and ready. Otherwise, there is the possibility of a cricket overkill in India."

The IPL's schedule and format, he said, will have to be revised first to correct the situation. "The IPL schedule [37 days this year and 44 days last year] is simply too long and I feel very strongly about it," Vengsarkar said. "It affects the fitness and form of players for major international events. And there are always chances of mental fatigue creeping in. One possible solution is have 10 teams in the IPL playing nine matches each for a maximum of around 25-30 days. I think that's the way to go about it, from the players' perspective."

Vengsarkar added that Kirsten has a tough job on his hands to lift the Indian team mentally in time for their first warm-up game at Lord's against New Zealand on June 1. "It's a big challenge for Kirsten and his support staff to manage this task," Vengsarkar said. "I hope they can pull it off because resting the players completely can't also be done at this point of time. There are just a few days to go and the players have to practice to maintain their form, fitness and match rhythm, which is so important in Twenty20 cricket."

India play Pakistan in their second warm-up game at the Oval on June 3 before moving to Trent Bridge to play their preliminary matches against Bangladesh on June 6 and Ireland on June 10.

Ronaldo: United tactics ''not good''

Cristiano Ronaldo has said ''everything went wrong'' in Manchester United's 2-0 defeat by Barcelona in the final of the UEFA Champions League and said their tactics were ''not good''.

GettyImages

Ronaldo shows his disappointment.

United set out at the Stadio Olimpico with the same formation which overcame Arsenal in the semi-finals, with Ryan Giggs replacing the suspended Darren Fletcher. However, after a positive start, the Premier League champions failed to recover from conceding a 10th minute Samuel Eto'o goal and were outplayed for the remainder of the game.

Sir Alex Ferguson altered his tactics at half-time by bringing on Carlos Tevez for Anderson, but the change failed to improve United's performance.

Ronaldo started the match up front before moving out to the wing and the Portuguese ace felt 'everything went wrong'.

"I cannot explain," he told RTP. "We, the players, were not well, the tactics were not good... everything went wrong.

"We have to give credit to Barcelona, but they were a bit lucky to be here because Chelsea did not deserve to lose and no-one has mentioned that.

"I have to congratulate Barcelona, they were better, but football is just like this: only the winners get talked about."

The former Sporting Lisbon man also refused to comment on his future amid fresh reports linking Real Madrid with a renewed interest in his services.

He added: "My future now is the national squad, so that we can win, so that we can be in a good position in our qualifying group.

"About clubs, I do not want to talk about that, I want to rest, go on holiday, I am very tired, I have played a lot of games, a lot of pressure. The future, we will see."

ICC World Twenty20 Teams- 2009

• Australia
• Bangladesh
• Bermuda
• Canada
• England
• India
• Ireland
• Kenya
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Pakistan
• Scotland
• South Africa
• Sri Lanka
• West Indies
• Zimbabwe

West Indies labour in huge chase

England's batsmen took their turn to set up an emphatic victory as the home England has scored 328 for 7 wickets prior was played excellent perfumes in the team total game his performed was good and its amazing shots are played some time is played a some shots in this game and is career-best 87 and is given a good partnership with Owais Shah and shah also played a greate shots in this game and is playd 75 runs. powered England to an imposing 328 and once Chris Gayle fell early there was never any chance of West Indies getting near.

England can't be blamed for making it a one-sided contest and a one-sided series They have done all that could have been asked of them in the opening weeks of the season, following up their convincing Test wins with efficient displays of one-day cricket and strauss is played good game wit shah and prior and batting first was a useful experience as it meant they had to pace the innings and assess what a decent target would be.

end of the game 328 was the highest ODI total at Edgbaston, and their sixth highest of all time and westindies players was really underpresser afetr Andrew Strauss,in his last international outing before the Ashes, and Ravi Boppara was opend with a stand of 81.England's use of the batting Powerplay has often come under scrutiny, but here they made full use of it by adding 55 in five overs as Prior and Shah cut loose and clean late striking meant 98 off the last 10.

if they were to have any realistic hope of chasing down for 329 score, West Indies needed a big innings from their captain and good score required from the power play, but after two early boundaries Gayle fell in the third over when he spooned an attempted pull to mid-on. After a brief shower, Sarwan opened his account with consecutive fours off Stuart Broad only to fall in the next over when he miscued a drive to cover where Strauss held a smart one-handed catch jumping to his left this is a greate catch for strauss.

Bravo at least provided a momentary spark with two sixes off Dimitri Mascarenhas, but his fun ended when the deserving Tim Bresnan trapped him on the back foot. From there the game drifted towards a soporific finish, a suitable climax to a tour that won't linger long in the memory. It must be hoped that the ICC World Twenty20 can spark the summer into life.