Hours after commenting on how "a strong Indian team" was the reason behind skipper MS Dhoni's remarkable success, opener Virender Sehwag took to Twitter, claiming that his comments had been misinterpreted and "twisted" by the media to make it "newsworthy", says a report in The Times Of India.
Sehwag tweeted, "Unfortunate when a comment is twisted to make it newsworthy. Gist of what I said: we had a great team and thus we have won two World Cups under MSD. MSD is a good captain and one of the most successful captains we have had. To imply anything else from my statement was irresponsible."
Meanwhile reflecting on the India ‘A’ team’s tour to the West Indies, where some fancied youngsters failed to make an impression, Sehwag observed, “It can’t be a concern. I remember some ‘A’ tours in the past when not all youngsters did well. That certainly did not mean they were not good. You can fail but then you must learn from the failures. You have the domestic cricket to rectify those mistakes,” says a report in The Hindu.
Sehwag also insisted that Test cricket’s future was not under threat from the popularity of the shorter version of the game especially the T20 variety. “Most youngsters want to play Test cricket. How many cricketers have you heard quitting Tests to play in ODIs but you will have cricketers quitting ODIs to prolong their Test careers!”
Meanwhile a report in Indian Express says after being suspected of deliberately under-performing and having links with suspicious people, Pakistan's wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal has now also been given a final warning about his conduct in the dressing room. Well-placed sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board said that when Kamran appeared before the integrity committee of the board two days back, he was told in clear terms that any attempts to create groupings in the team or indulge in politics will not be tolerated at all.
"Kamran got a final warning with reference to past complaints about his conduct that he encouraged groupings in the team," a source said.