India hold their nerve to beat Australia

India held their nerve in the final moments to snatch a dramatic eight-run victory over Australia in the fourth One-Day International in Chandighar on Monday.

The victory cut Australia’s lead to 2-1 and kept the Indians afloat in the seven-match series.

India’s batsmen came good, after Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat, and rattled up 291 for four. Their bowlers then did a superb job by restricting the mighty Australians to 283 for seven.

The Australians were cruising comfortably at 268 for 5 till the 46th over when two wickets in the span of two balls completely changed the complexion of the match much to the delight of a vociferous home crowd.

Needing 22 runs from the last two overs, with three wickets in hand, Australia could just manage six run from R P Singh’s over after comeback man Murali Kartik compounded problems for the visitors by giving away just two runs in the previous over.

In the final over with the Australians requiring 16 runs, Zaheer conceded a four off the first ball and gave four more runs off the remaining five balls, sending capacity crowd into a frenzy at the Sector 16 stadium which was hosting an international match after a gap of 14 years.

India owed their total to some lusty hitting by Robin Uthappa (30 runs off 18 balls) and captain Dhoni, who slammed 50 off just 35 balls, after Sachin Tendulkar (79) and Sourav Ganguly (41) provided a solid start.

For the visitors, the in-form Matthew Hayden hit a 92-ball 92 and Andrew Symonds  scored 75 but the late order batsmen succumbed to the pressure to give the home team a sensational victory, their first over the Australians since January 2004.

The teams now travel to Vadodara for the fifth game, to be played on Thursday.

India innings:

Having made mess of their chases in the series so far, Dhoni did not think twice before opting to bat after winning the toss. Though the early morning dew lifted the spirit of the Australian pacers, India, to their credit, got off to a sedate start as Ganguly hit the straps even though Tendulkar looked at sea, especially against Brett Lee.

Ganguly got off with a third ball glance off Lee that raced to the boundary and then creamed Nathan Bracken for two fours in the sixth over to show why he is considered such a good player on the off-side.

He later stepped out to hit the pacer over mid-wicket for a boundary.

While Ganguly looked fluent, Tendulkar was fumbling. The right-hander in fact had a traumatic start to his knock and was clearly uncomfortable against Lee.

Going by the snickometer, the Mumbaikar was actually out caught behind for a duck off Lee. Tendulkar survived two leg before appeals, including in the first ball he faced from comeback man Nathan Bracken, twice changed his bat, but things remained same.

Lee almost caught him off his own bowling when Tendulkar’s ugly fending looped up only to land in no-man’s land.

Ganguly, who looked in silken touch, often came down for those mid-pitch conversations but there was no end to Tendulkar’s miseries and it took him 42 balls before he could hit his first boundary off James Hopes.

Despite Tendulkar’s struggle, India crawled to 50 in 12.2 overs without any setback, thanks to the largess of a surprisingly generous Australian attack which bled 14 extras at that stage.

And they had forged the best opening stand for India in the series by then, while Tendulkar overtook Desmond Haynes to become the highest scorer in ODIs against Australia. The run rate was not sky-rocketing, but the opener at least ensured that India did not lose early wickets.

The half-century was up for grabbing when Ganguly’s stay was cut short in the 20th over. The left-hander went for a wild pull and managed a nick off James Hopes to perish caught behind. The former captain took 59 balls for his 41 that included six delectable hits to the fence.

The opening stand featuring two of the most prolific scorers in one day crickets thus fell nine runs shy of yet another century partnership.

Son of the soil Yuvraj (39) walked in amid roar across the Sector 16 stadium and cut Brad Hogg for a four to get going.

In the spinner’s next over, the left-hander slog swept and cut the bowler for two more fours.

Tendulkar battled to a 91-ball 50 to clock up his 84th half century, again a personal milestone eclipsing Inzamam-ul Haq’s record of 83. Tendulkar also scored his 1000 run in the calendar year.

Yuvraj was just opening up when Hopes struck again when the left-hander went for a drive on the up only to offer a tame catch to Ponting at extra cover. Yuvraj dominated his 83-run stand with Tendulkar before falling for 39 that came off 55 balls and had five fours in it.

Dhoni joined Tendulkar but found boundaries were not easy to come by and hence ran hard to convert the ones into twos.

Tendulkar used improvisation to good effect and the duo hit Hopes for three boundaries in that productive 40th overs that yielded 15 runs and saw India reach the 200-mark, which was a perfect foundation for a late charge.

Johnson too was hit for three boundaries in the next over but India soon were greeted with a setback when Tendulkar was run out.

Tendulkar was run out by a direct hit from Lee at short fine leg after he was sent back by Dhoni.

Rahul Dravid (13) walked in and hit back-to-back boundaries off Bracken before losing his stumps in the same over.

Next man in Uthappa announced his arrival with a chip off Hogg for his first boundary and then hit Bracken over his head for the same effect. He did a repeat show with Lee in the penultimate over and both he and Dhoni went berserk in the 50th over.

The final over by Bracken went for 20 runs (1,4,4,1,4,6) and Dhoni completed his unbeaten belligerent 50 with a soaring six off the final delivery of the innings.

Australia innings:

Australia got off to a rollicking start and looked in a hurry as they raced to 37 in five overs.

India did manage to silence Adam Gilchrist  (18) early — he holed out to Zaheer Khan off R P Singh — but his exit had no slowing down effect on Hayden, who treated Zaheer with contempt while his captain Ricky Ponting hit R P Singh for three boundaries in the 10th over.

With scores of 34, 75 and 60, Hayden has been a thorn in the flesh of the Indians and he kept tormenting them even after Ponting fell to Pathan, stumped by Dhoni in the 19th over.

Ten runs later, Michael Clarke (6) gave a return catch to Harbhajan Singh.

Symonds and Hayden were content with the occasional boundaries and had added 58 runs when Hayden perished at mid-wicket off Murali Kartik. His dismissal injected some life in the match.

After a lull, Harbhajan claimed his second victim in Brad Hodge (17), with Dhoni doing a brilliant job behind the stumps, in the 44th over. Australia could have been in further trouble had R P Singh been able to hold on to James Hopes’s drive.

The left-arm seamer made amends in his next over.

Symonds wanted to play a feisty cut but missed the line and had his stumps disturbed. In the next ball, the pacer again broke the stumps, this time, however, with a throw that returned Brad Hogg run out for a duck.

Inzamam set to play last Test

When Pakistan and South Africa take the field at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Monday, it will bring down the curtains on a man who has without a doubt been Pakistan’s greatest batsman in the last decade.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, whose career was in limbo after his county’s first round exit at the World Cup, seems have been given his due by the Pakistan Cricket Board despite him signing for the breakaway Indian Cricket League.

The legendary Imran Khan rarely got it wrong when he bought a player into the Pakistan team and Inzamam was no doubt one of the jewels the legendary Khan unearthed in 1992.

The Sultan of Multan was so good that Imran himself rated Inzy as the best batsman in the World against pace.

“I have told the selectors that I am available for the Lahore Test match. God willing, the Lahore Test match will be my last, after that I will retire from Test cricket because the youngsters who are in the team are playing well,” said Inzamam-ul-Haq.

“I think I will leave my position to them as they have performed well since the World Cup. I am confident that in the future they will continue to perform well. This decision was difficult for me, but I think it’s what is best for Pakistan and for cricket,” he said.

Inzamam’s contribution to Pakistan cricket is at times second to none. His 25 Test centuries are the most by a Pakistan batsman. And from those 25, 17 resulted in a Pakistan victory, which speaks volumes of just how good a batsman he was.

Inzy was also just the fifth batsman to score a 100 in his 100th Test, which he scored in Bangalore against arch rivals India in 2005.

He was ICC’s top ranked batsman in Test Cricket 1995 and 1997 and with 8813 runs, he is just 20 short of breaking Javed Miandad’s record for the most runs in Test Cricket by a Pakistani batsman.

His running in between the wickets wasn’t the best and his run in with the law controversies was pretty notorious, like the time he jumped into the crowd during the Sahara Cup in 1997 and assaulted a fan.
Inzy may have been a villain in the cricketing world for his actions in the forfeited Oval Test against England in 2006, but in Pakistan he was hero number 1.

Public perception changed after Pakistan’s first round exit from the World Cup and his retirement from the limited overs version of the game in the wake of Bob Woolmer’s death.

But now he has one last opportunity to set the record straight and go out with flying colours against the Proteas in Lahore.

Andhra Bank googly stumps ICL cricketers

HYDERABAD: Four Hyderabadi cricketers appear to be paying the penalty for signing with the Indian Cricket League (ICL) run by the Essel Group as a parallel set up to the BCCI. They have been served with transfer orders as they were not eligible anymore to compete in the local leagues for their employers.

The cricketers – D.Vinay Kumar (Assistant Manager), Ibrahim Khaleel, Sashank Nag and Alfred Absolom (all in the clerical grade with Andhra Bank got the shocking news on Friday last when the Chairman and Managing Director of the Bank sent the relevant papers.

“It is a fallout of signing with the ICL. When they sought an explanation for our decision on ICL we told them that we did so because it was a lifetime opportunity to play with premier cricketers of the world,” said Vinay Kumar. He is the worst-affected of the four since he has been shunted to Kolkata!

Sashank Nag has been transferred to Kakinada while for Alfred Absolom and Khaleel, these transfer orders may not mean much since they are said to have already stopped attending office. The bank’s contention is that these players need not work in the city when they are not eligible to represent it in the local cricket league conducted by the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA).

‘Not surprised’

 

Vinay Kumar said they were not surprised by these moves but they did not expect them so soon. “We felt that it will take a couple of years before such drastic measures are initiated,” he said. But, he and the other cricketers have no regrets about joining ICL even after the latest developments.

“We were mentally prepared for these things,” they say. The issue is supposed to have reached a flashpoint when the HCA officials met the bank officials to seek advertisements for Friday’s India-Australia match. During the course of discussions it was made clear to the bank officials that there was no question of entertaining any player in the HCA league if he had signed up with ICL.

“Maybe they are hoping that we will be forced to quit by these transfers,” said an ICL player.

Interestingly, there were no such moves yet from the State Bank of Hyderabad which employs A. T. Rayudu and Anirudh Singh.

Age no criterion for selection: Ganguly

Even as Chief Selector Dilip Vengsarkar laid down the law that seniors in the Indian cricket team had to perform or perish, Sourav Ganguly on Saturday countered that age should not be a criterion for selection and the Big Three still had a lot of fire left in them.

“Performance and not seniority or juniority should count,” the former captain said amidst calls that he, along with Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid should make way for younger players in the one-day team.

Ganguly said that the experienced trio were among the top four run-getters against England, the last time India played an ODI series.

“People who question Sachin Tendulkar’s form are mad,” Ganguly said in an interview to IBN-7.

He also pointed out that too much was made of players’ age in India and public opinion was very fickle.

“It’s typical of India to be excited and get lost in hype.”

But the three veterans were tough enough to overcome the latest challenge as well, India’s most successful Test captain said.

“Had they not been mentally and physically tough, they would not have survived the rigours of international cricket over a decade successfully.”

Taking an indirect dig at former India coach Greg Chappell who claimed the credit for Ganguly’s return to the team during the series in South Africa, the Bengal left-hander said his ouster had nothing to do with cricketing reasons and no one else believed that he could make a comeback.

“It (his omission) was driven by some personal agenda,” he said.

Ganguly is impressed with the leadership skills of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and said the Jharkhand player had the right temperament for the job.

“Captain should be more like a friend to his team members and Dhoni does indeed epitomises that spirit,” he said.

But Ganguly said it was too early to make judgements based on the Twenty20 World Cup triumph as “50-over cricket and 20-20 cricket are as different as Test cricket is from ODI cricket.”

A madness called cricket

First, a confession! I started writing this column last Saturday and then, discretion being the better part of valour, chickened out. I didn’t want to be pelted with rotten eggs, if not beaten black and blue when I stepped out of my house.

But now that a week has gone by and sanity has (largely) returned, aided, no doubt, by the two consecutive defeats of the Indian cricket team to Australia in the one-dayers at Kochi and Hyderabad, I can say what I wanted to a week ago. And most right-thinking people would have agreed too; in their saner moments, that is (read, when they are not touched by cricket madness).

But let me start by setting the records straight. I am proud to be an Indian. So though I am not cricket-obsessed, like many of my countrymen and women, Monday before last I watched with unabated glee as Sreesanth held on to that ball lofted by Misbah in the final over of the inaugural Twenty20 championship. And joined wholeheartedly in the impromptu celebrations that broke out at the dinner where I happened to be that night.

But by Wednesday much of that pride vanished as I watched with dismay television scenes of mass hysteria and sheer bedlam in Mumbai when the winning team landed. Sure, we had every reason to celebrate. Victories, even in cricket, have become rare. The last time we won a world title was in 1983.

The winning Twenty20 team was young, was largely untried and reflected the new raw energy of an India on the move. For a country on a collective high, it exemplified the Chak de India spirit. No wonder cricket fans in thousands braved the rains and fought for every conceivable inch of space enroute to the Wankhede stadium to cheer the team.

Yet did that justify bringing ordinary life in the city, the country’s premier metropolis and main financial centre, to a standstill? On Wednesday, as crowds thronged the roads, the entire 30 km long route from the Chhatrapati International Airport to Wankhede stadium in south Mumbai was completely blocked.

Ordinary citizens who wished to use those roads, whether to get to their places of work (remember cities like Mumbai have a large number of daily wage-earners who get no wages if they don’t make it to their workplace on time) or take a sick person to hospital, or a child to school had no option but to grin and bear it.

‘We heard Mumbai is always on its feet and never stops. Today we brought it to a standstill.’ The victorious Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been quoted as saying in many papers. Ironically, no one seems to have questioned the right of cricket fans to hold the city to ransom.

Or the complete abdication of responsibility by the city’s civic authorities! Their first job is to ensure ordinary civic life is not hampered. On the contrary, the attempt, especially of politicians, was to grab the best ringside seats for themselves.

Pakistan speedster Akhtar to join Indian league

LAHORE, Pakistan (AFP) — Under-fire Pakistani paceman Shoaib Akhtar is set to play for a recognised Indian league next year, saying he has sought permission from Pakistan’s cricket authorities.

“I have been approached by the Indian Premier League (IPL) and I have applied for permission from the Pakistan Cricket Board to sign the contract,” Akhtar told AFP on Saturday.

“I always liked the Indian crowd and have always loved to play in India. Hopefully I will be in the Pakistan team for next month’s tour there and will also play in the league,” he added.

Akhtar faces disciplinary action for hitting teammate Mohammad Asif with a bat a few days before the Twenty20 world championships in South Africa last month.

The maverick bowler, who was sent home following the incident, has appeared before a three-man committee, which is likely to announce its decision later Saturday.

The IPL — a Twenty20 competition scheduled to be launched next April — was set up by Indian authorities to rival the breakaway Indian Cricket League (ICL), which is being bankrolled by India’s largest media group.

The IPL — sanctioned by the International Cricket Council — will offer three million dollars in prize money and feature eight franchises participating in a 56-game season.

The top four teams will then face off in the semi-finals, with the winners contesting the championship match.

Akhtar was offered a contract to play for the ICL, which he declined after Pakistan officials warned that any player signing with the rebel league would be ineligible to represent the national team.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has backed the IPL and announced that star batsmen Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq — who both signed for the ICL last month — will play for the IPL.

Yousuf last week cancelled his contract with the ICL, making himself available to play for Pakistan. He was included in the team for the first Test against South Africa in Karachi, but had to pull out at the last minute due to lack of match fitness.

The multi-million dollar rebel ICL, which plans to hold Twenty20 tournaments between city teams for the next three years, has been unable to fix a date for the first event, which was originally supposed to take place in October.

Has Twenty20 cricket slammed the 50-over game out of sight?

The vultures are circling, the hatchets are out, yes, the doom merchants are proclaiming the days of the 50-over one-day international are over. It is true, as evidenced by the number of people who have said it, that the recent ICC Twenty20 championship was everything the long and drawn out 50-over version wasn’t earlier in the year.

However, does that have to mean that the one-day international as we know it no longer has a place in today’s busy cricketing calendar? The arguments against the 50-over game include the past two rather drab World Cups, the endless nature of one-sided games, the constant tinkering with the laws all suggesting that it has become tired and jaded and there is no enthusiasm for the longer game.

But is this really the case? And why should cricket supporters the world over be denied the opportunity to see a game that develops, ebbs and flows, and takes its time to reach its natural conclusion over the wham bang Twenty20?

Just because a game is petering out to a seemingly foregone conclusion, is that enough of a case to do away with it altogether? Plus, at what stage is it assumed that the game has been won? There have been matches when a team, seemingly down and out, has come back to win against the odds. From West Indies’ defeat of Pakistan in the inaugural World Cup to the World Cup Final of 1983 to the recent Ravi Bopara and Stuart Broad partnership that saw England cross the line against India when all hope seemed lost. Is the cricket fan to be denied these glorious moments of uncertainty?

Then there is the case of a shock result, Zimbabwe in 1983, Kenya in 1996, Bangladesh in 1999, are all examples of truly great games of cricket that will live on in the memory of those who saw them. The two Australia-South Africa games alone (1999 World Cup semi and 2006 400-plus run chase) should be evidence enough in the case for the defence.

Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate 20-20 for what it is, and am not that much of an old grump that I cannot see the benefits of attracting young fans and the money that the game brings to cricket – it has proved a lifesaver to the English domestic scene.

But surely there is a place for the longer game, for the supporter to appreciate the more subtle skills, for a batsman to develop an innings (what exactly is wrong with building an innings and skilfully manoeuvring the bowlers around in the middle overs?) And it’s good to see class bowlers having the opportunity to actually make an impact, rather than be smashed around for a couple of overs before retreating to the outfield.

And another thing, I quite enjoy my leisurely day out in the sunshine, watching seven hours of cricket, admiring the skills of world-class batsmen, bowlers and fielders. It is not my fault that international boards insist upon meaningless one-day series in far flung venues. Nor that the money-mad cricket administrators have made a right royal mess of the last two World Cups.

So what if some games fizzle out? That is the nature of sport, there are winners, there are losers and some games are better than others. Surely that is not reason enough to deprive the sports fan of their cricket fix.

Team India: Uthappa admits let up in intensity

“The momentum we returned with (from South Africa), was for Twenty20 cricket and it was not easy to immediately change the mode. All of us were a bit knackered up after the (T20) World Cup. We had little time to shift gears and the intensity level dropped,” Uthappa said.

Admitting there was let up in intensity level of Indian team after the Twenty20 World Cup, middle order batsman Robin Uthappa today promised the hosts would “make amends” in remaining one-dayers against Australia.”The momentum we returned with (from South Africa), was for Twenty20 cricket and it was not easy to immediately change the mode.

 All of us were a bit knackered up after the (T20) World Cup. We had little time to shift gears and the intensity level dropped,” Uthappa told a press conference on the eve of the fourth ODI here.

We had hardly two days to prepare a plan for a tough series against Australia,” he said. The Karnataka player admitted the lack of partnerships in the middle order have often scuttled their chase in the series and promised that batsmen “would make amends”. India are trailing 0-2 with the first match of the seven-match series being washed out due to rains in Bangalore.

But with four more matches still remaining in the series, Uthappa said things were looking better for the side.

“Things are definitely better now. We are halfway through the series and hope things would improve soon. The body language in the dressing room is very positive and everyone is looking forward to the match. Chandigarh has been a happy hunting ground for us and we hope to do well tomorrow,” he said.

Although Australia have so far dominated the series with ruthless professionalism, Uthappa did not agree that the visitors won because they are a better side.

“They adapted well to the conditions of course but if you consider man-to-man, we believe we are still the better side. Skill wise, I won’t say they are ahead of us. In fact, we have more skilled players,” he said.

“Everyone gave 100 per cent in the field but it’s that sometimes the rub of the green does not go well for you,” he added.

Uthappa also rubbished the notion that the team stood divided with the senior players on one side and the juniors on the other.

“There is absolutely nothing like a senior vs junior thing in the team, it’s totally a media creation. Everyone is enjoying themselves in the dressing room and it’s amazing to be part of this team,” he said.

On his role, the hard-hitting batsman said it did not bother him whether he could avail the powerplays.

“Powerplays or otherwise, I go out to play my natural game. If I see a ball there to be hit, I’ll go after it and I want to stay there as long as possible.”

Uthappa admitted Matthew Hayden has been the thorn in India’s flesh and said bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad and the pacers have come up with a plan to muzzle the towering Aussie.

“Well, that has been their strategy. Venky is discussing the issue with the bowlers and I think they would come up with something to silence him.”

T-20 – Express Cricket…Unplugged

In a year that saw easily the worst world cup played thus far, it took a rather unlikely hero to redeem some lost pride for cricket. Cricket puritans (me included) might write off Twenty-20 as a marketing gimmick aimed at making the bucks that is nowhere near either the One-Day format of the game or the more elaborate five-day test matches, still, make no mistake, Twenty-20 Cricket is here to stay. The inaugural Twenty-20 World Cup at South Africa is testimony to that.

Starting off as cricket’s answer to the much-shorter and immensely-more popular football games, Twenty-20 cricket was aimed at drawing more masses to cricket, thanks to its no-holds-barred-smack-‘em’ out approach.

With twenty overs a side and rules loaded in favor of batsmen, Twenty-20 cricket was intended to be the perfect answer to sports-lovers who crave for action right from the word ‘Go’. And action it was aplenty at South Africa, with the inaugural Twenty-20 World Cup turning out to be a much bigger success than the more elaborate Cricket World Cup held earlier this year in the West Indies.

Call it better organization or astute publicity or slick marketing, the Twenty-20 World Cup was indeed a runaway success, judging by the size of the crowds it drew to the matches, and the immense television viewership, not to mention the online streaming coverage.

And what a cracker of a tournament it was! Expectedly and deservedly, Australia began as favorites, and much was also expected from teams like Sri Lanka, New Zealand and South Africa. England had just won a one-day series back home, and West Indies were looking good too.

And we also had minnows-turned-giant-killers like Zimbabwe and Bangladesh to add to the entertainment, apart from persistent minnows Kenya and Scotland. Did I miss out someone? Oh yeah, Pakistan and India, those oh-so-enigmatic folks who bombed earlier this year at the bigger World Cup, and few gave them even an outside chance.

Pakistan, ever the capable team, with the capacity to pull off something big at any part of the world, and India, with its big guns having opted out, was fielding young blood for the World Cup. With nothing to lose but everything to gain, the tournament started, and it could not have asked for a better start than the game between South Africa and West Indies, with Chris Gayle blasting his way to the first ever Twenty-20 century.

His efforts went in vain, as South Africa easily overwhelmed the Windies’ score. There were a couple of upsets early on, with Australia (who were accused of being arrogant and taking things too likely, thanks to Ricky Ponting shooting his mouth off) being humbled by Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, not too surprisingly, defeating West Indies. Sri Lanka and New Zealand played outstanding cricket for most of the first round, to easily qualify for the Super 8’s.

The India-Pakistan encounter was a classic, ending in a tie. It was rather unfortunate that such a thrilling game with two equally matched teams had to end with India being adjudged winner after the Bowl-Out, another pathetic rip-off from Football’s Penalty Shootout.

Nevertheless, the matches gained in intensity as the tournament proceeded, with Australia, India, New Zealand, and Pakistan reaching the semifinal stage, with India reaching the semifinals last, after defeating South Africa in a must-win game that knocked them out, rather sadly for the home team.

Everyone expected a trans-continental clash in both semifinals, but it was not to be, as Pakistan took on New Zealand and India took on Australia. While Pakistan steamrollered New Zealand in the first semifinal, India edged home in a humdinger in the other semifinal against Australia. Clearly, India were playing some of their best cricket in recent times, thanks to the young guns of the team and their fearless spirit, led by an ice-cool captain in M.S.Dhoni.

It was the dream final everyone hoped for, but nobody expected – India Versus Pakistan in a World Cup final. So what if it was just the Twenty-20, a World Cup, nevertheless! And Merlin’s Beard, it turned out to be one of the best ever finals played in a major tournament. In a classic contest of nerves, India just about managed to hold their nerve in the end.

It was a fitting conclusion to an awesome series, with India beating Pakistan by 5 runs to lift the first ever Twenty-20 World Cup. Pakistan were deserving runners-up, though not by far. Twenty-20 cricket could not have asked for a better opening.

New Zealand all-rounder Cairns to play in Indian Cricket League

WELLINGTON, New Zealand: Former New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns is coming out of retirement to play in the breakaway Indian Cricket League, he said Tuesday.

Cairns, 37, who retired from international cricket last year, told the Christchurch Press newspaper he had accepted a “lucrative” offer to play in the inaugural Twenty20 competition, due to start in November.

“It’s a lucrative deal,” Cairns said. “It’s something which has brought me out of retirement and to do that it has to be worth it.

“The competition is also a chance to have one last go playing in front of heaps of people.”

Cairns joins former New Zealand internationals Chris Harris, Nathan Astle and Hamish Marshall in the competition, which is due to run for about five weeks beginning Nov. 17.

“I’ve had mixed emotions over it. It’s such a good offer that I thought I will have to train again. I thought I’d finished with that garbage,” he said.

“I’d done it for so long and thought ‘I can now kick back’ but now I have to get serious because I want to acquit myself professionally.”