MS Dhoni rubbishes his retirement plans in 2013, says his comments blown out of proportion

India skipper MS Dhoni rubbished talks about his retirement plans in 2013, saying comments made during the Australia tour were “blown out of proportion”, says a Hindustan Times report. Dhoni had said he may retire from Test cricket to be fit to play in the 2015 World Cup. “If I have to see through the 2015 (World Cup), I would have to retire from one of the formats,” he had said.

However, Dhoni said he will take a call depending on his fitness. “By the end of 2013, I have to see where my body stands, whether I can play the 2015 World Cup. If I'm not fit enough, then I will have to make way for youngsters.

Meanwhile, Pune Warriors India captain Sourav Ganguly, no stranger to slow over-rate penalties as India skipper, has been fined after the team maintained a tardy over rate in their match against Deccan Chargers in Cuttack on Tuesday.

According to a media release issued by the Indian Premier League, Warriors were found to be one-and-ahalf overs behind the required rate after allowances were taken into consideration. Warriors lost their match against Deccan by 13 runs. “Since it was his first offence of the season under the IPL'S Code of Conduct relating to minimum overrate offences, Ganguly was fined $20,000,” the release said

Chris Gayle in his column in The Times Of India writes that it was a disappointing loss to Kolkata but once they had got to 190 they knew they were up against it. “It was not as if we bowled badly, instead it was a superb display of artistry by Gautam Gambhir that took the game away. The loss means that we remain on nine points and in the middle of the points table, knowing well that a couple of successive wins can change things around very easily,” Gayle writes.

“While it wasn’t a track where shot-making was easy, Kolkata bowled well. They did not pitch too many up to the bat and made strokeplay against those on the good length very difficult. By the time I found my timing, the game was well beyond us. Sunil Narine’s spell was going to be crucial for us but his mystery ways are always difficult to read.  If in a chase of 190 one bowler concedes only 11 off his four overs, life is not going to be easy. Even Yusuf Pathan bowled well, and those eight overs went for only 30,” writes Gayle.

Meanwhile Ravi Shastri writes in TOI that one of their worries of RCB has been to their inability to accommodate the legend Muttiah Muralitharan. “The off-spin magician ought to have been an automatic starter, not the least because of the form he has shown in his four matches. Still, it hasn’t been the case. Skipper Daniel Vettori finds his hands tied on the matter as only four foreign imports are allowed in a playing eleven. With Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan, along with Vettori himself, being the natural starters, the door has been shut on Murali. It’s been a disastrous decision since Murali has eight wickets from four matches at an impressive average (14.00) and economy (7.00) rate.”