Virat Kohli has had a tough few months. Facing up to an inspired Australia attack aside, he’s not been on good terms with the fans and has had to man difficult press conferences. If he was looking for some light entertainment to take his mind off things, he might just have got it from an unexpected quarter: he has been named one of the ’10 best dressed international men’ by men’s lifestyle magazine GQ.

The latest issue of the magazine, which says that Kohli is as famous in India for his style as he is for his batting, puts the batsman at No. 3 on the list. Others on the list include the likes of actors Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling and Vincent Cassel, US President Barack Obama, and business tycoon Ratan Tata.

Maybe it’s the spirit of the season, maybe it’s age, maybe it’s just empathy, but when Harbhajan Singh asks critics to lay off Ricky Ponting, it does raise eyebrows. "I don’t think Ponting is finished and I think people are making a big mistake by writing him off," Harbhajan said in response to calls for Ponting to be dropped for the upcoming Test series against India. "Australian fans should not put pressure on Ponting. He is only one innings away from finding his top form."

Bowler and batsman have previous, of course; Ponting was Harbhajan’s bunny when they were both in their prime and the offpsinner was at the centre of the controversial Sydney Test four years ago that almost led to the tour being called off. Now they are in almost the same boat - Harbhajan is out of the side, dropped for this tour because of poor form, and Ponting’s career is clearly in its last few overs. The true test of the new-found love will come when the festive season is over - or if Harbhajan and Ponting come face to face in the ODIs.

Sachin Tendulkar may be the India batsman who constantly draws comparisons with Don Bradman, but it is Rahul Dravid who has been asked by Cricket Australia to deliver the speech at the annual Sir Donald Bradman Oration in Canberra – a function in which a prominent figure speaks about Bradman’s career and cricket's place in their own lives. Dravid will be the first Indian to deliver the speech at the function, which will be held on December 14 at the Australian War Memorial this year, and joins the likes of John Howard, the former Australian prime minister, Richie Benaud, Ricky Ponting and Greg Chappell.

"Cricket is a noble game, and has a noble appeal. We wanted a distinguished individual with a high acumen level who would participate in the Test series between India and Australia,” CA's General Manager of Public Affairs, Peter Young, said.

Dravid will want to save some of that acumen for the Test series too, which begins with the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.

A century is worth its weight in gold for any team, some people say. The Mumbai Cricket Association has taken that literally. "MCA President Vilasrao Deshmukh has decided that the association should give [Sachin] Tendulkar 100 gold coins if he completes his 100th international century at his home ground," Nitin Dalal, Joint Secretary of MCA, said on Saturday. India play West Indies in a Test at the Wankhede Stadium from November 22.

Tendulkar's 100th century has been highly anticipated but the wait has been a long one. His last hundred was during the World Cup and he went through the entire tour of England without reaching the landmark. The anticipation has taken on a slightly ironic tone on Twitter where the topic #ThingsThatCanHappenBeforeSachins100thCentury recently trended worldwide. A 100 gold coins is a tempting incentive though and should Tendulkar achieve the feat it should make for an interesting presentation ceremony. What quip will Virat Kohli have for this bizarre show of appreciation?

It’s been eight months since Sachin Tendulkar last got to the three-figure mark. While his fans have been obsessing over that elusive 100th international century, those in charge of the cricket museum at Eden Gardens now have an extra reason to egg Tendulkar on.

"Sachin has told us that he would donate the bat with which he scores his 100th international hundred to the cricket museum," Cricket Association of Bengal joint secretary Biswarup Dey said on Thursday.

The museum had already gathered a small booty after the Kolkata Test against West Indies, which marked India’s 75th Test win on home soil. Tendulkar’s jersey and gloves, and India captain MS Dhoni’s bat – with which he hit a century during the Test – have been gifted to the museum, and will be displayed in an exhibit commemorating the the team's achievement.

The modern trend is for batsmen to celebrate their centuries in a way that, through accident or design, gives prominence to the back of the bat – and the sponsor's logo on it. Trust VVS Laxman to buck the trend. When he pointed the back of his recently sponsored bat on reaching his 17th century, at Eden Gardens, he wasn’t doing it for any financial gains. At the toe end of the reverse of the bat was the lettering “sisj.in” – a reference to the website of Virender Sehwag’s new school-cum-sports-academy near Delhi, the Sehwag International School at Jhajjar.

“Viru came to me with the request to promote his school,” Laxman told the Indian Express. “I readily accepted. I am just trying to promote his venture.” It was a typically canny choice by Sehwag: despite a 15-month century drought Laxman, with an average of 111 in Kolkata, was the likeliest man to raise his bat at Eden Gardens.

Sachin Tendulkar’s passion for Formula One is well known and as India hosts its first Grand Prix in Delhi at the end of the month, he could likely be waving the chequered flag. When Brazil staged its first Grand Prix in 2002, the football legend Pele was given the same honour.

The organisers, Jaypee Sports, have put Tendulkar’s name forward to the F1 management, who will take the final call. “Sachin's love for motorsport is well known, and he is also the biggest sporting icon of the country,” Jaypee's vice-president of communications, Askari Zaidi, told the Hindustan Times. “It’s only logical that we nominate him.”

After launching a massive six over long-on to complete India's victory in the World Cup final, MS Dhoni twirled his bat nonchalantly and tucked it under his arm. It was an iconic moment: India's captain cool maintaining his air of composure even as the rest of the team let their emotions take over; a matter-of-fact way of saying "job done", from a man under so much pressure.

Or ... maybe he was just making sure the bat did not get damaged so he could auction it for charity later. The bat fetched £100,000 (Rs 7,170,135) in an auction at a London hotel on July 18, according to PTI and the proceeds will go towards Dhoni's wife's charitable organisation, Sakshi Foundation, for under-privileged children.

It’s almost become a part of the experience of watching cricket in the subcontinent to see a dog saunter onto the field right in the middle of a match. It gives the fans a bit of comic relief and the photographers a chance to get some offbeat photos. But the dogs at the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi, could, apparently, have had a more telling influence on matches during the 2011 World Cup. The BCCI pitch and grounds committee had ordered balloons, which were to be used to bring on the covers in case of any rain. However, according to a report in the Hindustan Times, the groundstaff noticed the balloons had been torn up by stray dogs even before tournament had started. Luckily, the balloons were fixed in time, and it didn’t rain during any of the matches.

The balloons themselves have caused a stir as the Kotla curator, Radheshyam, said they take 10 minutes to inflate, which would delay the covers being brought onto the pitch. He also said that when filled the balloons cover a part of the advertising hoardings on the ground, which are an important revenue stream. The BCCI pitch and grounds committee chairman, Venkat Sundaram, though, said the balloons were an effective method and the ground staff just needed to be trained in how to use them. And of course they have to be kept out of the way of hungry dogs.

Rajasthan’s IPL franchise may be called the Royals, but the Prince of Udaipur’s loyalties lie with the Ranji Trophy team, and he was there to witness them being crowned kings of India’s premier domestic competition. He was joined by the Yuvraj of Baroda in Moti Bagh’s ‘royal tent’. That’s right; no corporate boxes, podiums for cheerleaders or stages for Bollywood stars at this ground, but a tent to host the royal families of Baroda and visiting teams. The tent used to be bigger, according to Yuvraj Samarjitsingh Gaekwad, who is a member of the Baroda Cricket Association and grew up watching cricket at Moti Bagh. “It got eaten by termites,” he told the Indian Express. “Probably, if this match was played 50 years ago, we would have had elephants and caravans surrounding the ground.”

Rajasthan and Baroda’s cricketing histories have both been heavily influenced by their royal families, and Prince Lakshyaraj Singh, who is also the president of the Udaipur Cricket Association, was ecstatic after Rajasthan attained their first-ever Ranji title. “For 30 years, Rajasthan cricket has been struggling to make a significant impact,” he said. “While the win against Mumbai was very special, this is the perfect dessert after a grand feast. I am sure the souls of the past greats from my state, including my grandfather, will be popping champagne bottles as we speak.” There’s an old adage that only two men and a dog show up for Ranji Trophy games. But as long as those two men are princes, the players have something to play for.

The Parsis are about to make a comeback on the cricket field. Parsis, India’s Zoroastrian community, dominated the game in Mumbai for over a hundred years. But the sport has waned in the community over the last half-century. Farokh Engineer, a genuine star behind the stumps in the 1970s, was the last Parsi to play for India, and there has not been a Parsi in the Mumbai Ranji Trophy side since Zubin Bharucha in the 1990s.

Dinshaw Mehta, head of the Bombay Parsi Panchayet (BPP), the community’s legal body, blamed the malaise on the internet, saying today’s youngsters spend more time on Facebook than they do on sports grounds.“Once upon a time, we had cricketers like [Nari] Contractor and [Rusi] Surti. Now, there is not a single Parsi cricketer on the horizon,”

That could change in the near future. The Parsee Gymkhana, the Parsee Cyclist Club and former India captain Contractor have come together to revive the sport in the community, according to the DNA. The BPP will provide grounds at its housing colonies and Bharucha will coach the trainees, the first batch of whom will be chosen at a selection camp on Saturday morning. The Rustomjee Group, the sponsors, have created pitches and training enclosures and also provided kits and nets.At the project’s inauguration on Sunday, Contractor said, “The long-cherished dream of providing some facility to the young generation has come true, which we were planning for past seven years.”

If you were to enlist the numerous challenges of being India captain, you certainly wouldn't have included having to deal with a mobile phone (also being used as a voice recorder) going off in front of you during a press conference. That's exactly what happened during MS Dhoni's pre-match conference in Mohali when a phone went off with a Bollywood song as the ring tone. Dhoni, known for his unique way of dealing with situations, answered the call, suggesting – for a second – that it could have been his own phone that was ringing. “Sir, thodi der baad phone kariyega [Please call in a bit].” Little would the caller have known that the India captain would be answering the call. Also, here's hoping the reporter whose phone it actually was, will put the offline mode to use next time.

A rare day when rain stayed away from Mumbai’s monsoon tournament, the Kanga league, was livened up by some outrageous umpiring according to a Times of India report.

The first incident was when the ball was ‘lost’ in the grass following a shot from a Koli Combined XI batsman. With the fielding side Amar CC searching for the ball, the batsmen completed four runs and were attempting the fifth when the ball was ‘found’, and a run out effected. Amar CC’s joy was cut short by umpires Vishwasrao RM and Anil Pawar who recalled the batsman, judging the fielders had deliberately delayed the throw after finding the ball. They also awarded Koli XI four runs. Amar CC protested, demanding a dead ball as a neutral verdict.

After twenty minutes of commotion, the game resumed. Three overs later, so did the chaos. Devidas Koli defended a delivery and then used his bat to stop the ball from rolling onto the stumps. A loud appeal followed and Pawar raised his finger. A livid Koli refused to budge, and Pawar cancelled his decision. After some time, Pawar declared Koli out and cancelled his decision once again. Koli was at the receiving end for one last time, as Pawar adjudged him caught behind off a turner that Koli didn’t edge. An exasperated Koli walked up to Pawar and touched his feet. “There was enough space for a football to pass between the bat and ball. Thank you,’’ Koli said. For the record, Amar CC progressed after taking the first innings lead.

There aren’t many recognitions that have eluded India’s favourite sporting hero during the course of his high-flying career, and now he has made another addition to that list. Sachin Tendulkar has become the first sportsman to be conferred with the honorary rank of Group Captain by the Indian Air Force (IAF).

“I'm extremely proud to be a part of IAF,” said Tendulkar, who lauded the Air Force’s commitment, concentration and dedication, during his induction ceremony. “All that I can do to come as close as looking like an air warrior, is wear my Aviator sunglasses.”

Tendulkar recalled his previous experience on a fighter plane - a ride on the Italian-made Aermacchi MB-326 'Impalla' military jet in South Africa - and hoped to relive that memory by flying in a combat jet. Indications are that he will not have to wait for long – Air Chief Marshal P V Naik, who welcomed Tendulkar into the force, said he was scheduling a training flight on a Sukhoi jet for Tendulkar to ‘earn his wings’.

Former India opener S Ramesh is set to appear as the protagonist in his second Tamil movie. Ramesh's character in Patta Patti 50-50 is forced to coach a cricket-obsessed village team for a match to decide which captain wins the hand of a girl they are both interested in.

Ramesh is not the first Indian cricketer enter the movie industry, and follows in the footsteps of Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble, Ajay Jadeja, Sandeep Patil and Vinod Kambli. Ramesh told the Indian Express he found the experience of shooting in a South Indian village interesting. “These guys were like typical Indian fans and kept asking about my former team-mates, mainly Sachin Tendulkar,” said Ramesh, who made an impressive entry into international cricket in 1999 before fizzling out due to injuries and technical shortcomings.

He decided to enter movies after losing his place in the Tamil Nadu team, and played the brother of the protagonist in his first film.

"I wanted to do something I was comfortable doing. And though there aren't many serious romantic scenes in this movie, having to attempt them with 300 random people watching you was intimidating," Ramesh said.

Following India’s disastrous performance in the ICC World Twenty20 criticism and advice have been coming from all quarters, from former players to filmstars. And from Sehwag’s mum, who has picked on India’s new Public Enemy No 1, the post-match IPL parties. Something of an urban legend since a series of ads that played on her son’s homespun image, Krishna Sehwag has some typically straightforward advice. “"[The players should] Stay away from girls, partying and fights," she told the Indian TV channel Headlines Today. "They have their families' image to protect”. The solution: don’t organise such parties. ”The players go to such parties because they are organised." Not that she’s worried about her son - "Sehwag stays away from women and is happy with his family".

While Sehwag may welcome mum’s endorsement of his family values, he may not be so happy to hear her speak on the national team captaincy. Amid speculation that Dhoni might be removed as India captain in the shorter formats, she has a replacement in mind: "I will be very happy if Virender becomes captain.” While reports suggest that Sehwag is not really interested in the captaincy – national, IPL or otherwise, his mother sings a different tune. “He [Sehwag] does not want to be vice-captain, “she says. “He wants to be the captain of all teams, not just Ranji or IPL."

This is another juicy bit of trivia for fans of Sachin Tendulkar who keep track of the various tributes coming his way. An Indian farmer has named a new hybrid variety of mango after the star batsman, in honour of his cricketing achievements. "There is no player like Sachin Tendulkar in the whole world and that's why I have named this mango Sachin," said Kalimullah Khan, the elderly farmer from the state of Uttar Pradesh, who is responsible for the new variety and its innovative name.

Mangoes are very popular in India, which is the largest producer of the fruit in the world. Sachin is a combination of two of the finest Indian varieties of the creamy sweet-tasting fruit. However, it will not be up for sale. "Our Sachin is a world hero and he is priceless and not a saleable commodity," said Khan, who plans to donate a tree of Sachin mangoes to the cricketer "so he can enjoy them with his friends."

Khan has produced nearly 300 new mango varieties and won India's top civilian award for his work on mango grafting and cultivation. He is currently working on a new hybrid to be named after the legendary Bollywood singer Lata Mangeshkar.

Tendulkar who turned 37 earlier this month, continues to go strong at an age when most cricketers call it quits. He recently scored the first double hundred in ODI history, and followed that up with a stellar performance in the IPL, where he emerged the top run-getter, in a format expected to favour youngsters. The mango tribute is unlikely to be the last of his fruitful career.

Sachin Tendulkar's record has united a nation © DC Thomson & Co Ltd

Only Sachin Tendulkar, perhaps, can unite India’s often fractious, bitterly divided members of Parliament. His record-breaking ODI double-century has prompted the MPs to put aside their differences over budget deficits and spiraling inflation and their concerns over terrorism and armed insurgency to demand that Tendulkar be awarded the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian honour.

The award – which translates as “Jewel of India’ - has been conferred on 41 people since it was first instituted in 1954, and has seen only three recipients in the past decade. It’s also an award more associated with age and experience – the average age of a Bharat Ratna is 60-plus, though Rajiv Gandhi’s posthumous award came when he would have been 47. No sportsman has been given the award but it’s fair to say that, as in most other spheres, Tendulkar has a shot at creating history. He even has the public backing of his former team-mate Sourav Ganguly, who said only a Bharat ratna deserved the Bharat Ratna. The man himself, typically, says he would prefer to focus on his game. No rest for bowlers, then.

Delaying tactics by Indian captains are not new. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly famously angered his Australian counterpart Steve Waugh when he kept him waiting at the toss during the 2001 Test series in India. And now it’s the turn of India’s current captain MS Dhoni to adopt such tactics. Only this time it’s well-known Bollywood filmmaker David Dhawan who has been kept waiting. Dhawan’s film Hook Ya Crook, starring John Abraham, features a cricket match between India and South Africa in its climax, which is yet to be shot. And the reason for the delay? Unavailability of Dhoni’s dates. The climax was slated to be shot last year, but had to be delayed due to the recession. And while everybody seems to be ready now, it is Dhoni who is apparently unavailable for the time being.

	'All this is great, but wait till you see my personal photo gallery' © AFP

When it comes to public speaking, Indian cricketers take the blandness of their tribe to new levels – there isn’t even offbeat humour to compensate for the vanilla statements - so there’s some anticipation over the launch of “official” personal websites by four top players. MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma launched their websites in New Delhi on Monday and took a volley of questions. To one, on whether what was posted on his website could be taken as an official statement, Dhoni’s reply was succinct: what the need was for journalists to go to his website when he spoke at a press conference every second day?

It’s a captive market; unlike in the west, Twitter has not caught on with Indian players either, so these four sites could be the players’ mouthpiece to the fans. Nonetheless, there is always hope that some of their off-record earthy humour – or even a bit of the wit from their better TV commercials – finds its way to their websites, even if they lack the obvious colour of a Warne, Pietersen or Gayle (whose tweets during the West Indies players’ strike were always worth a read).

The four websites are currently live but require tweaking before fully completed; Harbhajan’s looks the most entertaining. The only player to post a gallery of images, some captured by team-mates, Harbhajan looks set to keep fans updated with his off-field leisurely activities. Sample his lying in the middle of a road in Wellington or posing by the dockyards in Auckland. Will the fans like it? The eyeballs will tell the tale.

	The platform is well and truly deserved for Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly © AFP

Their ‘track’ records seem to keep getting better. Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly have been presented with lifetime golden family passes by India’s railway minister Mamata Banerjee for their achievements and contribution to Indian cricket.

Presenting the AC first-class passes at a function in Kolkata, where Tendulkar was honoured for completing 20 years in international cricket, Banerjee congratulated the duo for their achievements. She also hoped that Tendulkar would win many more laurels for the country.

"We are giving Sachin a lifetime achievement card from the Railways,” said Banerjee. “He and his family can now travel free all over India throughout their lives in AC first-class coaches.”

Describing Tendulkar as a "genius" and "champion of champions", she said: "Players may come, players may go, but Sachin will go on for ever. The country will forever remember what he has given the country all these 20 years.” The platform is well and truly reserved.

With sixes flying around at an alarming rate in the India-Sri Lanka series, spectators and fielders alike already have their hands full in trying to stay clear of danger. Those attending the third ODI at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack will be relieved to know they have one less peril to worry about during the game. The stadium has been cleared of bee hives by experts. It’s a chronic problem that first made its presence felt during a Ranji fixture in 2007, forcing the players to lie face down on the ground as the bees passed by, before interrupting the India-England ODI last year. The menace is now a thing of the past - the Orissa Cricket Association assures us that the sting has been removed from their attack.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, and Sourav Ganguly will arrive late. His aversion for punctuality made news when he kept Steve Waugh waiting at the toss during Australia’s 2001 tour and, in Bengal’s ongoing Ranji Trophy match against Saurashtra, Ganguly kept his team-mates waiting at Eden Gardens for over an hour.

This time, however, it was not to irk anybody for Ganguly was receiving treatment for a back spasm he suffered in the morning. The umpires did not allow a substitute and Bengal fielded with ten men for an hour and were even reduced to nine at one point when bowler Ashok Dinda went off the field for an over.

Though not quite in the league of the legendary Tendulkar-Kambli school partnership, two junior cricketers from Delhi made sure they grabbed headlines when they added 349 for the second wicket in an Under-16 match. The LB Shastri club batsmen Nitish Rana and Siddharth Sehwag hit 185 and 134 respectively in the Delhi & District Cricket Association tournament on Monday.

Rana’s innings consumed 226 balls and included 24 fours, while Sehwag faced 215 balls and hit 23 fours to beat Malik Sports on the basis of a first-innings lead. Rana, 15, was joined at the crease by Sehwag, 14, on the second ball of their side’s innings and forged a mammoth partnership.

"We eat from the same plate … we understand each other enough," Sehwag, the Delhi Under-16 captain, told the Hindustan Times. “We like to bat together.”

Their stand was broken by an act of sportsmanship, something rarely seen by international players. Rana looked set for a double century but walked on 195, even after the umpire ruled him not out. "I knew I was out and I did not want to score a double-century with the feeling that I was out," he said.

Irfan Pathan may have receded to the fringes of Indian cricket but if he’s moping about missing out on the Champions Trophy, his mood has just got better: His brother Yusuf, who has made the trip to South Africa, gave him a Ford SUV for the Eid festival. A report in the Indian Express said their father gave Irfan the car keys on Monday morning, after the traditional prayers. Irfan’s star has dimmed since he first burst on the scene in 2004 but Yusuf has been publicly championing his brother’s cause. In July, shortly after the initial squad for the Champions Trophy was announced, Yusuf offered this sharp comment on Irfan’s exclusion: “Irfan's performance was always up to the mark. He has not been left out because of his performance. Everybody has seen what is happening.” Irfan, who will play in the Irani Cup next week, is slowly returning to centre-stage – maybe the SUV will make that a smoother journey!

Imagine not taking the call, when Sachin Tendulkar is on the other end of the line. Well, you could afford to do it, if you happened to be Arjun Tendulkar. Papa Tendulkar recently spoke about how he was troubled by his son's refusal to come on the phone when he went away on tour. "It was tough initially because my son didn't like it when I left home," Tendulkar told a TV channel. "For the first five-six years of his life, he wouldn't speak to me on the phone. That was difficult for me." Happily, young Arjun eventually appreciated just what his father was doing on tour - and what it meant to cricket at large. So much so that he's now started playing cricket too, which Tendulkar says was of his own choosing.

	Sachin Tendulkar: The elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about © AFP

Sachin Tendulkar doesn’t get criticised much, and almost never in India. So when Sanjay Manjrekar called him “the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about” in February 2008, after a string of poor performances in ODIs, people took notice - and not a few hurled back brickbats on their idol's behalf. Manjrekar, though, remained unfazed and on Thursday he reiterated - not once, but twice - that he stood by that opinion in that context. Asked first at a press meet whether he would revise that opinion, Manjrekar didn't budge. "I stand by the comment I made at that phase. He is a great player but he is also a human being. I have seen him from close since he was 14 and I could see he was afraid of failure and getting out." He added, though, that that seemed to have disappeared and he was playing with more freedom." For good measure, he repeated the sentiment in a TV interview the same evening - before presumably being smuggled out the back door to avoid irate Tendulkar fans.

Sourav Ganguly is the Prince of Kolkata but he could be looking elsewhere for a way to become the Badshah of the BCCI. A report in Hindustan Times suggests that Ganguly is looking at the eastern state of Tripura as a means of getting nominated to the national cricket board, the first necessary step to being elected BCCI president. The rotating presidency comes to the East Zone – to which Tripura and Bengal are both affiliated – in 2014, and Ganguly needs to put in some time on the national board before that. He already holds a post with the Cricket Association of Bengal – as chairman of its development committee – but is unlikely to get a nomination from the relatively high-profile state. And, as the report mentions, Tripura is on better terms with the current BCCI establishment than is Jagmohan Dalmiya, the confrontationist, controversial Bengal chief.

Meanwhile, the Tripura Cricket Association (TCA) has reacted strongly to the speculation. "There is not even a fraction of truth in this...it's purely baseless and without any logic," TCA secretary Arindam Ganguly told PTI. "I will represent our association in the BCCI AGM. I don't understand why everybody is speculating about Sourav."

Ganguly the captain never set much store by parochialism – looks like he’s in the same groove as an administrator. Which leaves just one question – whatever will Kolkata do without its Prince?

	A new innings for Kambli © AFP

While most cricketers turn to commentary, coaching or the game’s administration following their retirement, there are some who look to serve the people.

Vinod Kambli, the former Indian batsman, is going to contest the state elections from Mumbai, following in the footsteps of Mohammad Azharuddin, Navjot Sidhu and Kirti Azad.

Kambli will contest from Vikhroli constituency, a suburb of Mumbai, for the Lokbharati Party, one of 21 parties to form the Third Front in Maharashtra. He attended a rally at Shivaji Park, where he played as a youngster before joining the Indian team. "This is the same ground where I practised day and night to get an entry into the Indian cricket team. Now, I am launching my political career from here and will definitely hit fours and sixes in the field of politics,'' Kambli said.

Kambli recently announced his retirement from first-class cricket. After the end of his international career, he also tried his hand at acting and featured in some television series.

As if the Fake IPL Player didn't do enough damage to the image and sense of well-being among India's elite cricketers, now comes news of "fake" Twitter accounts that claim to be voicing similar thoughts in the first person. And not just any old person: MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh and Gautam Gambhir.

The "views" expressed are far removed from the anodyne comments usually trotted out by the stars. In one tweet, Dhoni - or his alter ego - regrets the unfulfilled potential of Vinod Kambli, saying he could have been as great as Tendulkar or Lara.

Yet even pseudo-Dhoni - the real man's brother Narendra has officially denied any family link with the Twitterer - seemed to have got cold feet for within hours there was another tweet reaffirming that Tendulkar was indeed the greatest batsman ever. How predictable...Bring back the Fake IPL Player, we say!

Roses and candle-light dinners are passe; here's the latest way to woo your fiancee - get your photograph clicked with Indian captain MS Dhoni. Ravindra Singh Saini, a 23-year-old, die-hard fan of Dhoni did just that, and it's wedding bells for him now.

Saini's parents had fixed his marriage with a girl from Himachal Pradesh, in an attempt to quell his craze for Dhoni and cricket. But a locket with Dhoni's picture around Saini's neck annoyed his fiancee, who issued an ultimatum: "Meet Dhoni, get a photograph clicked with him and then come for marriage."

And then there was no stopping Saini. He sold off his small shop of CDs and cassettes in his home town for Rs 15,000, left home and arrived in Ranchi on July 23. He set up camp at a hotel, tried to gather every possible detail about Dhoni and his friends, and visited one of the captain's contacts every day hoping his dream would be fulfilled. But as luck would have it, his money soon ran out and it was time for him to head back. But then a glimmer of hope - news that Dhoni could soon be home. Saini decided to give himself a couple of days, going hungry and even sleeping on the pavement.

And in the end his love triumphed. When Dhoni heard about the story he didn't waste any time in getting ready for the shoot. The light of the flashbulbs then captured Saini's dream: the photo that would hopefully capture his fiancee's heart.

How much would you pay to be coached by Sachin Tendulkar for a day? Hopefully quite a bit since it will all go to charity for underprivileged children. “I will spend time with the guy who auctions generously, I don't want kanjoos [miserly] people,” Tendulkar told Daily News & Analysis. But Tendulkar said bids would be measured by the passion with which people gave and not just the amount. The idea to organise the charity event, Tendulkar said, came after his daughter Sara decided to spend her last birthday organising a fair for underprivileged children in a Mumbai suburb. “She felt good and I was extremely proud of her,” Tendulkar said. “What goes on in-between those ears in that small head is what matters, and I know she's on the right track.” Time to dig in to your pockets to learn how to mess with Shane Warne’s mind.

MS Dhoni may be on more television ads than Sachin Tendulkar these days but it hasn’t quite made him the most recognised face in the country. Film director Ram Gopal Varma, known for his Indian mafia and horror movies, failed to recognise Dhoni when the Indian captain walked up to greet him at Bangalore airport. Though Varma denies reports that he mistook Dhoni for a wannabe actor and asked him to drop off his photographs at his office, he did confirm he did not know who it was. “Yes, it’s true,” Varma was quoted as saying in the Times of India. “I’m hopelessly ignorant about cricket. Only after he left, the people with me told me that he’s Dhoni. I'd like to apologise to him the next time I meet him.”

Sourav Ganguly, also known as the-one-who-really-wound-up-the-Aussies, has disappointed fans of mental disintegration by revealing that he arrived late for a toss with Steve Waugh during the epic 2001-02 series merely because he had left his blazer behind.

"There is a tradition that both team captains have to sport the team blazer while going for the toss,” Ganguly said on a television show. “On that particular day, I did not get my blazer and it took time to get hold of it. That was the reason for the delay.”

Waugh had criticised Ganguly for repeatedly turning up late for the toss during the Tests and one-day series. Ganguly had said at the time that there was a lot to do in the mornings. “... knocking up, talking to the selectors, that I may have been late by a few minutes."

The economic recession is finally having an effect on Indian cricket. No, next year’s IPL is not being cancelled but the salaries of players employed by Air India, the national carrier, are not going to be paid on time. The airline announced wage cuts for its employees earlier this week and this will affect the salaries of international players like MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, RP Singh, Sreesanth and the women’s captain Jhulan Goswami. “Frankly, we are still not clear on the status but yes, the salary has been deferred by a fortnight,” Shekhar Guha, the head of Air India’s Sports Promotion Board, said. So... tough times loom for Indian cricketers.

The recession spares no one. That’s what three of India’s rising young players learnt ... the hard way.

On Wednesday evening, Saurashtra batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, Mumbai spinner Iqbal Abdulla and Gujarat batsman Bhavik Thaker were going to the airport after their West Zone team won the Deodhar Trophy tournament. But euphoria soon turned to fear as their car was blocked and stopped by two men on a motorcycle on the Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar highway. One of the men got into the car and started driving while the players were still in the car. The players feared the worst, but the situation turned out to be slightly different.

Pressed for answers, the men said they were recovery agents repossessing the car because the owner had turned defaulter. Sensing a glimmer of hope, the players hastily explained that they had nothing to do with the owner of the vehicle, and were in fact unsuspecting cricketers caught in a mess that wasn’t of their making. Following a 15-minute discussion, the men finally relented and dropped the players, with bag and baggage, on the highway. Another car was summoned from the Orissa Cricket Association and the players reached the airport, without further incident.

Th end result? A blacklisted travel agent and a dose of ‘economic’ reality for three young Indian aspirants.

A report in the Wisden Cricketer magazine says that India’s coaches are becoming increasingly worried by parents buying their children cheap but heavy bats because they last longer. The net result is that children are using equipment too big and weighty for them, with the result that they are suffering injuries and acquiring dodgy techniques.

“If [a parent] buys a bat he knows the boy is going to grow taller, so he buys a bat that is at least one size bigger than what suits him,” said coach Sandeep Dahyad.

With bats made from English willow lighter but more expensive than their Kashmiri counterparts, it is the latter which many go for because of price and durability.

The report also quotes Dr Rene Ferninands, a Australian bio-mechanist, who said that the heavy bats cause serious technical problems as the children “don’t have the top-arm strength to hit the ball … hence they lift with the bottom hand and find it difficult to play straight. And what about the cut and the pull shots? What happens to them?”

	Tendulkar has sat with the world famous museum who took over 200 measurements © Madame Tussauds

Sachin Tendulkar will never be forgotten, not by a generation of Indians and certainly not by cricket. But if anyone wants to find out just how diminutive the “little master” really is, they can come face to face with him at Madame Tussauds who are to spend £150,000 ($USD 215,000) on creating his waxwork.

Tendulkar, famously modest and private in spite of his achievements, might have discovered the perfect solution in combating his insatiably adoring fans. Tussauds’ waxworks are world renowned for their lifelike realism, and Tendulkar becomes the third cricketer after Brian Lara and Shane Warne to be converted into a wax statue.

“We are delighted to confirm our next sporting superstar is going to be Sachin Tendulkar; his achievements on the cricket pitch are phenomenal and he is one of the biggest names in international sport,” said the museum on Friday.

Tendulkar has already had a seating with the museum, in London, where they took 200 precise measurements of his face and body, giving his fans further reason to wax lyrical over his genius. The wax figure is expected to take three months to complete.

In India, cricket and films are often the quickest way to arrive in life. Having watched the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, where a poverty-stricken teenager makes it big, Allan Border thinks it’s possible for underprivileged kids to improve their lives through cricket. In Mumbai, coaching children rescued through an anti-child labour campaign, Border said he’d like to see a “Slumdog cricketer” come through the ranks.

“We understand the kids we work with in Mumbai have had a very tough upbringing,” Border told the Daily News & Analysis. “So we want to bring some fun back into their lives and have some fun doing it as well.

"When you come as a cricketer you stay in five-star hotels and get looked after incredibly well and play at great stadiums. On those trips you don't see the real India but through these programmes you get to see the real India or a different side of India. It's different from where we come from.”

As a result, Border said he had a "great appreciation for the story line”. Here’s hoping real life emulates the reel life.

Batsmen alert: He may look like he’s after your blood but he really isn’t and he may look beastly in his run-up but he’s really a beauty. And while cricket fans make up their mind whether they like Sreesanth or not, veggie lovers voted him the Sexiest Indian Vegetarian Alive, along with Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor, in PETA India’s annual online poll.

The website describes him thus: “as easy on the eyes as he is hard on his opponents. “A young and exuberant player who has got the moves on the pitch and on the dance floor, it's no wonder that 'The Prince of hat-tricks' has been crowned our king of veggie Valentinos!” With his new buffed-up look, it won’t be long before Sreesanth leads the Indian version of the Men of Cricket calendar.

When he retired from the game, many thought Sourav Ganguly’s next avatar would be as a TV commentator. He will be on TV this June but not as a commentator – he will be the host of a reality TV show called ‘Dadagiri’, according to a report in the Kolkata daily Anandabazar Patrika. The show’s name (loosely translated as bullying or bravado) is a pun on Ganguly’s nickname from his playing days; that’s one of the few “facts” known at this stage. “So far I know, I have to conduct a quiz show," the paper quoted Ganguly as saying, before adding that there would be other elements to it. It does cut a broad swathe, though; the “theme” is to restore Bengal’s glory, the sub-theme is to perform “dadagiri” in front of “Dada” (a third may be to spot the link between the two). There’s no singing or dancing but there will be chats (the perennial Bengali pastime of adda) with fellow celebrities - and, budget and ratings permitting, a trip to Lahore to interview Imran Khan. The report says the initial run will be 52 episodes; the commentary box can wait.

	No language issues here © Getty Images

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is surely not of the ilk to be flustered easily, nor the kind to shy away from a challenge, and the India captain seems to have found an ingenious way to handle a few language issues.

"In countries like Australia or England, people speak English in such an accent that it is very hard to understand. So, at parties when locals come to us and start talking, even if we are not getting anything, we say yeah,” Dhoni joked during a show on NDTV. "Or if I have a drink in hand, I excuse myself by saying, 'I'll just get a drink' but never show up in front of that person again.”

The expectations were also high when he was signed for US$1.5 million by the Chennai Super Kings. "I played for Chennai but didn't know any Tamil [what most people would speak in Chennai]. But people there thought that since I was part of the team, I had learnt it. So I just picked up a few words and for the one-and-a-half months I played there, I relied on those to break the language barrier.”

Greg Chappell didn't make too many friends during his rough tenure as India's coach. And he definitely didn't impress Virender Sehwag, who has said he lost trust for the Australian legend.

"The thing with him was that whatever you shared with him, it was promptly disclosed to media and selectors," Sehwag told PTI. "He talked and that hurt the trust. I wasn't comfortable with him."

Neither was Sehwag pleased with the psychologist Rudi Webster, whom Chappell employed for sessions with the players. "I never went alone to Webster. In a session with Webster, we all had our chunk of time," said Sehwag. "I am one who believes that if you open up your thoughts to someone you trust, you feel lighter and thus better. But I found out that Webster couldn't keep things confidential."

According to Sehwag, the current coach Gary Kirsten was the "best" he had seen. "He doesn't force things on you," said Sehwag. "His basic premise is: you all are international cricketers and you know how to succeed and how important it is to succeed. So I won't thrust myself on you. But whenever you need me, for practice, throwing balls, sharing ideas, worries, I am always there."

Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president Sharad Pawar will award Rs 60 lakh to the Mumbai team which won the Ranji Trophy, an amount equal to the winner's purse. He met all the team members at the MCA office ahead of the special AGM on Saturday.

“Mumbai dominated the games right through the season, except for a one-off bad game against Saurashtra at Rajkot,” said Dilip Vengsarkar, former chairman of the Mumbai selection committee and vice-president of the MCA.

The double-sided bat used by New South Wales batsman David Warner in a domestic match against South Australia was not the first experiment with such an innovation. Double-sided bats were trialled in India in 1982 to enable batsmen to play unconventional shots as forcefully as possible. The bat, first made in Meerut, was compressed from both sides, while its handle was built thin to provide balance.

“There was a lot of demand for special bats even later for Sixes tournaments. There was a craze for six-a-side tournaments held in Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok, and we made the bat specifically for those tournaments,” Rakesh Mahajan, the owner of bat-maker BDM told the Indian Express. “Before going for mass production, we gave away bats to players for practice. In fact, during the Singapore tournament, players like Kapil Dev, Arjuna Ranatunga, Joel Garner, Rumesh Ratnayake used those bats at the nets.”

However, the bats fell out of favour with players. “It wasn’t liked by players because they wanted something more conventional. There was very little scope for experimentation back then.

“These bats have one major drawback — there’s no meat on them. It’s good for players who prefer to time the ball, but this version of cricket [Twenty20] is all about force. In fact, these days players come to us with the demand of increasing the meat on the bat to 15 inches - which is not easy because the imported willow doesn’t have that much width.”

Sachin Tendulkar, though not worried about the survival of Test cricket in the wake of Twenty20 and ODIs, has said the declining attendance for Tests in India is an area of concern. “Test cricket has its own place. There is no threat to Test cricket from IPL or T20 World Cup or even 50-over matches. But I am only concerned about the falling attendance for Test matches in India,” he said.

However, he had a potential solution for the problem. "I have a suggestion for the BCCI. Whenever Test cricket is played, local school and college students should be allowed free entry on weekends so that 10 years down the line these children will become lovers of Test cricket,” Tendulkar said. "I remember when I was a 10-year old, I went to the Wankhede stadium and watched the West Indies in action. I still remember Michael Holding's bowling in that match."

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been provided with extra security after reportedly receiving an extortion letter demanding Rs50 lakh (US$ 103,091). News reports say his security has been upgraded to ‘Z’ category – the highest level in India - and he has a 45-strong team protecting him. Police officials said Dhoni's family received the extortion letter on Monday. Earlier this month, Dhoni travelled unescorted to the Ranchi airport after seemingly being unsatisfied with the level of security given to him. He also applied for a licence for a .9mm pistol.