India have missing home advantage: SA Coach van Zyl

South Africa coach Corrie van Zyl felt India have lost World Cup home advantage due to the IPL, largely because of the experience of playing conditions that the world's top players have gained and their dealing with the strength of the most zealous crowds in the cricketing world.

"India has traditionally been a difficult place to tour but more recently teams have learnt to win in Indian and sub-continent conditions," he said.

"India in particular, where most of our preliminary matches will be played, is a wonderful place to play cricket as the people love the game and the support is phenomenal. Teams have learnt to embrace the atmosphere rather than be wary of it and we are looking forward to playing in these packed stadiums," he said.

"This is also the 1st major ICC event in the subcontinent since the IPL was launched. Players from around the world have now played lots of limited over cricket in India. This may reduce India's home ground advantage. Delhi, for example, is like a 2nd home to AB de Villiers."

South Africa will set up for the tournament with ODI series against Zimbabwe, Pakistan and India and van Zyl said he wants his wards to win those series and then carry that form into the World Cup 2011.

"We will prepare and uses the upcoming series that we have to play on the ICC calendar as preparation but at the same time not lose the focus on taking each series as a campaign on its own," he said.

The Protease first match will be against the West Indies, and van Zyl stressed the importance of getting off to a winning start.

"Playing the West Indies in Delhi means that we have to do our home work regarding the ground and its history and how this will affect our play against the West Indies. We obviously need to see how Delhi suits them and how we need to use our strengths to have the advantage in these conditions," he said.

Sri Lanka Tri-series, good training for World Cup: Taylor

New Zealand skipper Ross Taylor said the tri-series in Sri Lanka would make Black Caps some valuable practice of playing in sub-continent conditions before the 2011 World Cup, which India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will co-host.

"Definitely, ideal preparation. Obviously, coming from New Zealand, the pitches are going to play differently but the conditions that we have here and in India and in Bangladesh will be similar to what we are going to experience in the World Cup," said Taylor.

"So this experience is going to be valuable for the team and for the youngsters leading in to the selection for the World Cup," he added.

Taylor, asked to lead the side in absence of Daniel Vettori, feels the series will also be a good chance for the players to prove their worth in sub-continent conditions and impress the selectors.

"I think it's good, it gives some other players an opportunity and some youngsters the chance to play in the sub-continent as well. If we can have a squad of 20-odd to pick from and push each other, I think it will augur well for the upcoming months and for the World Cup," he said.

Having played a few practice games, Taylor said his team is in a good shape for the series.

"Every time you play cricket, you obviously play to win. We have come here to win, we won warm-up games and probably have got an edge over them in playing the competition.

Tri-series in Sri Lanka 2010

Wankhade Stadium will be ready by Dec 31: BCCI

The BCCI dismissed media reports that repair at Mumbai's Wankhede stadium was running at the back schedule and claimed the venue would be ready in time for next year's cricket World Cup final.

Board Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty said in a statement that Wankhede Stadium will be ready by Dec 31 and there was no truth in the report that DY Patil Stadium has been reserved as a standby venue.

"As the Tournament Director of ICC Cricket World Cup-2011, I would like to place on record that the ICC Committee, keeping track of the attentiveness of the World Cup venues, is satisfied with the progress of the work at the Wankhede Stadium," Shetty said.

"The stadium would be ready by end of December 2010 which is the time limit given to Mumbai Cricket Association. The central Organising Committee of ICC Cricket World Cup-2011 has not taken any decision regarding D Y Patil ground as an altenative venue," he said.

The report has said that the Wankhede Stadium would miss the November 30 deadline and that the Cricket Board has determined to keep much-in-shape DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai as standby to avoid any last minute glitches.

Flintoff hopes to return in coming weeks

England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff hopes to make his long-awaited return from knee surgery in coming weeks".

Flintoff has had two knee operations since helping England win the Ashes against Australia in the final Test at the Oval in last year.

The Lancashire batsman retired from Test cricket after that match, but he still hopes to play in ODI internationals for England, as well as representing his county in domestic action.

Flintoff, 32, believes he could play for Lancashire some time in the coming weeks as a batsman and then slowly step up his bowling work-load as well.

"It's going well, there's light at the end of the tunnel," he told Sky Sports News.

"It's been a long road with the rehab since then but I'm hoping to play again in the next few weeks.

"I'm back in the nets at Lancashire and from nowhere I've found the ability to bat again which is encouraging.

"I'm going to have to play in the second team first and force my way back into the first team but with the way I'm batting, I'm hoping to do that with the bat initially and then pick up the bowling from there.

"Rather than worrying about where my feet go, my hands and my head and getting too technical, I've basically gone back to how I used to play when I was younger, just see the ball and hit it as hard as I can.

"That's the way I tend to play, especially in the short form of the game, but I just can't wait to get cracking.

"It's been so long, and I'm now starting to get excited and chomping at the bit to start."

Kapil Dev's 'mad' captaincy won us WC 1983: Srikkanth

Members of 1983 World Cup winning team never thought of even reaching the semifinals but it was their "mad" Captain Kapil Dev's inspirational leadership that guided them to the coveted trophy, said chief India selector Krish Srikkanth.

Srikkanth, one of the key members of the team that beat the mighty West Indies twice in 1983 World Cup including in the final, said many players had even booked flight tickets for the United States for holidaying after the tournament as they believed they would not go beyond the group stage.

"None of the players thought we would reach the semifinals. So, they booked flight tickets for the US. The plan was to watch the semifinal and the final and then fly to the States for a holiday. The tour agent said that even my wife can come as I married in March 1983. So my booking was for Bombay-London-New York," he said at a book launch function in the city yesterday.

"At that time we were minnows in ODIs. Before 1983, we had won only one match in a World Cup, against East Africa which was a team not heard of. So to be honest there was no hope of going beyond the group stage of the competition," said the former dashing opener.

Srikkanth said Kapil was somehow very serious and said his side can beat the mighty West Indies and his self-confidence rubbed off on to his team-mates.

"Somehow Kapil was very serious. He said we had beaten the West Indies once so we can beat them in our first group match at Old Trafford. He said 'Dil se khelo' we can do it," he stated.

"All the players said Kapil had gone mad. West Indies have Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes as openers. After that they have Vivian Richards, Larry Gomes, Jeff Dujon and four fast bowlers whom I never wanted to face. But Kapil insisted at the pre-match meeting that we can beat them. That gave us the self-confidence that we wanted and we managed to defeat them in the group match and in the final," Srikkanth said.

"I can say that the group match victory against the West Indies was the turning point in India's ODI history. And I say there will never be another Kapil in this country and for that matter in the world," he declared.

Dhoni signs massive 200 crore deal with Rhiti Sports

Indian cricket skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has signed a massive Rs 200 crore endorsement deal with a talent management company, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar in the corporate contract sweepstakes.

MS Dhoni has entered into 2 year deal with Rhiti Sports Management and Mindscapes, which will manage the Indian captain's long list of endorsements and brand associations, corporate profile, patents and digital rights, images, visibility on social networking sites and merchandise through a joint venture.

Tendulkar's 3 year deal with sports management firm Iconix, signed in 2006, was worth Rs 180 crore.

Confirming the development, Rhiti Sports General Manager Sanjay Pandey said as per the agreement, the company will be looking after Dhoni's entire spectrum of endorsements.

Currently, Dhoni is the country's most classy sportsperson and is associated with 22 brands such as PepsiCo, Reebok, Aircel, Godrej and Hersheys.

Dhoni, often described as India's most eligible bachelor, married childhood sweetheart and hotel management student Sakshi Singh Rawat at a private ceremony outside the northern town of Dehra Dun last week.

A Forbes study last year on the world's richest cricketers put him at the top with an annual earning of 10 million dollars, followed by Tendulkar at eight million dollars.

Two other Indian cricketers, Yuvraj Singh (5.5 million dollars) and Rahul Dravid (five million dollars), were ranked 3rd and 4th, while England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff was in 5th place with four million dollars, Forbes said.

Australian skipper Ricky Ponting was in sixth place with 3.5 million dollars a year, the magazine said, adding the figures included club and national team salaries and commercial endorsements.

Will play in 2011 World Cup if team wants: Muralitharan

All set to bid adieu to his Test career, Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan said if the team wants will play the 2011 cricket World Cup in the sub-continent.

Muralitharan has announced that he will leave from the longer version of the game after playing the 1st Test against India starting July 18 at Galle.

"I will be happy to see the younger players shape up and win the World Cup 2011 for Sri Lanka. But if the authorities think I should also be a part of the team, then I will play," the world's highest wicket taker said at a press conference.

Hitting back at his attackers, who questioned his bowling action, Muralitharan said it was easy to criticize anybody with a naked eye but bio-mechanics proved that his action was legal.

He also thanked Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and World Cup winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga for their support when his action repeatedly came under the scanner.

The batsmen worldwide have often feared facing him but when asked which batsmen he would find difficult to bowl at, Muralitharan named Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar.

"It is difficult. Overall I think I played lot of cricket against the West Indies during Lara's days. And also played a lot against Sachin Tendulkar. Like that you can name so many. But these two players are very special players in the world. And I think they have played me the best," Muralitharan said.

Muralitharan said his Test record of 792 wickets was not unbreakable.