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Gautam Gambhir had to sit out the Nagpur Test against Australia for elbowing Shane Watson, but the India opener said he was provoked by the all-rounder and had no regrets for what he had done.

Gambhir found guilty for elbowing Watson while taking a run on the opening day of the ongoing Test match after a heated exchange with the Aussie all-rounder.

“No gentleman can hear things that Aussies were saying in Delhi. If what I did was wrong, then even sledging should be stopped, it has no place in the game,” said the left-hander.

“Aussies sledge from all corners, they sledged at me in Bangalore, Mohali and then in Delhi. I could have taken (their sledging) only to a point but they tend to get personal which is just not on.

“I agree that I shouldn’t have crossed a certain line but people should take the holistic view rather than blaming just me for the episode. Frankly, I don’t regret the Watson episode,” he said.

Gambhir, who scored a double century in the third Test in Delhi and a hundred before that in Mohali, said Australians never liked their opposition giving a tough fight to them.

“They don’t like when the opposition reacts the way we did. Australians were never expecting that we will come hard at them and that’s why they reacted the way they did.”

The Delhi batsman, who emerged the highest run-getter in the four-match Test series with 463 runs, said he was unhappy for being ignored for the Man of the Series Award, which was bagged by Ishant Sharma.

“I have never been that lucky, may be I need to get 400! I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt. I take comfort in the fact that the team won the series and I am really happy for Ishant who bowled his heart out in the series,” Gambhir said.

The opener though said he would never shed his aggressive image despite the recent tiff with the Australians.

“I like to be aggressive, I am a fighter who plays for his team, his country and will do everything to restore that pride and never you’d see me taking a backward step,” he said.

And reacting to Shahid Afridi’s comment that the ban on playing Nagpur Test would hlep the India opener learn lessons, Gambhir said, “It is a joke coming from Afridi, actually, he should concentrate on his own game rather than telling me what to do. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones at others, I can’t take Afridi seriously.”

On criticism against him for getting out in the 60s and 70s, Gambhir said, “Frankly, it doesn’t really bother me what critics say as long as I help my team and my country win series after series and tournaments after tournaments.”

“VVS Laxman told me in Sri Lanka that my biggest challenge will be playing against Australia and I need to pass that test. I met him in Nagpur and asked him if did clear that test, he told me, ‘you have not only passed the test but passed it with a distinction.’ I don’t think I need any more approvals from anyone,” he said

India and England cricket teams, a day before the first match of the seven-match one-day series expressed confidence of performing well. India will look to adapt quickly to one-day series after completing 2-0 test series victory over Australia four days ago.

England Skipper Kevin Pietersen told reporters that his team is ready to fire on the field tomorrow.

Top seed Roger Federer was left hoping for “a miracle” on Wednesday after being laid low by illness as he struggled to stay in the hunt for the Masters Cup title.

Despite beating first alternate Radek Stepanek 7-6, 6-4 in the Red Group on Wednesday, the world number two’s defeat by Gilles Simon on Monday means he must now beat in-form Andy Murray to avoid an end to his quest for a fifth Masters Cup.

World number four Murray, who has a 3-2 career advantage over Federer, has enjoyed his best year on the circuit and although he has already qualified for the last four the Briton said he would be going all out for a win on Friday.

“I guess I got really lucky my match was scheduled late today and then Radek was not playing with his own racket, so that made it a little bit more lucky,” the Swiss player told reporters.

“At the end of the day I still have a chance. I hope with a day of recovery I’ll make a miracle happen here and get through to the semis.”

Upset Stomach

Already short of practice, the last thing Federer needed was the illness that struck him after the defeat by Simon.

“I woke up in the morning and I was feeling terrible,” he said. “Really upset stomach and couldn’t even practice.” - “I didn’t go out of the room. I’m just sort of trying to get over things. It would have been impossible to play yesterday.”

Federer has had a disappointing season by his high standards and ill health has played its part.

He started the year suffering from mononucleosis and two weeks ago pulled out of the Paris Masters with a bad back.

The 27-year-old Federer has never gone out before the knockout stage at six previous Masters Cups.

Czech Stepanek only came into the event as an 11th-hour replacement for injured American Andy Roddick.

THE AUSTRALIANS believe that more than the Indian spinners, it was the reverse swing that Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan got at Mohali that cost them the second Test. Disturbed by the fact that their bowlers were unable to produce any kind of reverse swing, the Australian team management have reportedly sounded out former India pacer Manoj Prabhakar to help their bowlers prepare for the Delhi Test that starts from October 29.

Prabhakar was contacted by a member of the Australian camp on Thursday and asked if he was willing to help Brett Lee and Co. at the nets.

Prabhakar, who was Delhi’s bowling coach last season, played a big part in the development of Ishant Sharma and was undoubtedly one of the finest exponents of reverse swing in India. According to sources close to Prabhakar, he is yet to make up his mind on the offer and is a little apprehensive about helping the Australians.

“Yes, he has been contacted and asked to help the Australian bowlers, but Prabhakar hasn’t made up his mind as yet,” said the source. “He is a little apprehensive about how the administration will react if he said yes.

He has not said either yes or no,” the source added.

England have offered to stage some of Pakistan’s international matches if foreign teams continue to be anxious about the security situation there, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ejaz Butt said on Monday.

“I had some positive discussions with Giles Clarke during the International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting in Dubai last week. And he said when we can play our matches offshore why not in England?” Butt said.

Pakistan were due to host an Australia test tour and the Champions Trophy this year but both were cancelled over security fears.

Butt said the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) could find slots in the summer to host Pakistan’s matches against any team.

“They are offering us good terms and conditions. They are willing to share 50 percent of revenues from ticket sales and media sales.

“He feels the large Asian community in the United Kingdom will welcome Pakistan’s matches in places like Manchester, Leeds,” Butt added.

He said the PCB would give serious consideration to the ECB proposal as the national team needed to play more international cricket to generate revenues for the board.

Butt also said that the ECB had proposed Pakistan play a series of three tests, five one-day internationals and Twenty/20 games against them in 2010 and 2011 in England.

“These matches are outside the future tour programme and not on a reciprocal basis and we will negotiate them,” he said.

He said no formal agreement had been signed with the Dubai sports city. It was reported in September that Pakistan signed a three-year, $9 million agreement to play one-day internationals and Twenty/20 matches in Dubai from next year.

“I don’t know what my predecessors have been saying in the media but all this is a verbal agreement. I have held fresh talks with the Dubai sports city whose stadiums would be inaugurated soon,” Butt said.

“We are interested in this deal but we have to look at the amount. India is also interested in playing there. They feel if both of us play at the same time the amount paid to us should be doubled,” Butt said.

Sachin Tendulkar became the highest Test-run scorer by surpassing Brian Lara’s record on way to a sparkling 88. But by the time he had ensured that India reaches a ’safe’ total.At the close of play India was well placed at 311/5 with the nightwatchman Ishant Sharma giving Sourav Ganguly company in the middle.

Earlier in the post-tea session Sachin and Sourav (53) batted with remarkable ease to keep the Australian bowlers at bay. While Ganguly was sedate, Sachin threw caution to the winds and took on the bowling, hitting no less than 10 boundaries.

Tendulkar scored three runs after tea on day one to move on to 16, giving him a career record of 11,955 runs. West Indian Lara scored 11,953 runs before he retired from international Cricket in 2007.

The Golfing fraternity was holding its breath last night as Seve Ballesteros remained under observation in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Madrid after undergoing a second operation in 48 hours.

A procedure to remove part of his skull was required to ease pressure on the golfer’s brain following complications from surgery on Tuesday, which removed most of a brain tumour.

Doctors at the La Paz hospital took the decision to operate on Ballesteros once more after the condition of the five-time major winner deteriorated, The Telegraph reported.

He lost consciousness after suffering a cerebral oedema, or swelling of the brain. The 51-year-old golfer, who transformed Europe’s fortunes in the Ryder Cup, was said to be “stable” after the latest procedure.

In an update on Ballesteros’ condition, the Spanish hospital issued the following statement: “Forty-eight hours after his operation, the patient, Severiano Ballesteros, suffered a loss of consciousness because of a cerebral oedema and had to undergo a decompressive craniectomy. The patient is stable and remains under observation in the intensive care unit.”

A spokesman for Brain Tumour UK, the charity which provides support for both patients and families, observed that a post-operative craniectomy was usually an emergency procedure.

The need for such an operation happens on average only once in a hundred cases. “The good news is that he’s stable,” he said, “but there will be a lot of fingers crossed the patient makes a good recovery.”

News of the golfer’s second surgery of the week came after his brother, Manuel, had earlier expressed hope the operation to remove a brain tumour on Tuesday had been successful.

But the emergence of a subsequent complication, forcing doctors to operate again, clouded those early expressions of positivity.

Concerns about Seve’s condition have increased since he first collapsed at Madrid airport last week while waiting for a flight.

The golfer was taken to hospital after suffering a bout of dizziness and loss of consciousness. He announced on Sunday that tests showed he was suffering from a brain tumour.

THE ‘FAB Four’ may be under intense scrutiny from the media and the public, but the one man who matters the most, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, chairman of the national selection committee, is very much keeping the faith. “The batsmen did an excellent job.

In a trying situation like this, experience comes into play and everyone saw the value of that today,” he said soon after India had secured a draw on Monday. The straight-talking former India captain made his view on India’s senior batsmen plain.

“The batsmen were able to apply themselves well. On the one hand you can’t go for your shots, at the same time you have to defend.

It’s not easy to bat on a fifth day pitch and you need a lot of mental strength. The experience of Sachin, Laxman, Dravid and Ganguly proved very useful in this Test match.

Even though no batsman got a century, if you look at both innings together, all batsmen have scored. That’s a very good sign.

” On the day, you could not argue with Srikkanth’s logic. In the first innings Rahul Dravid (51) and Sourav Ganguly (47) contributed and on the final day it was Sachin Tendulkar (49) and VVS Laxman (42 not out) who came good, with Ganguly once again playing a strong hand.

“I was very impressed with Sachin’s knock. In trying conditions, it was not easy to bat.

I have seen the wicket and there are huge cracks in it. The ball was keeping low at times and at other times, coming through at a good height,” said Srikkanth.

“That’s why Sachin is Sachin. It was a brilliant knock and well supported by Laxman.

If you look at the overall picture it was a fantastic team effort. In the first innings Zaheer and Harbhajan fought brilliantly.

That’s a great quality, not giving up and fighting hard.” While he was at it, Srikkanth also laid to rest any doubts about Anil Kumble’s fitness.

Kumble, who went wicketless for only the third time in his 131-Test career, for the first time on Indian soil, was off the field for nearly two hours on Sunday. Kumble had a sore right shoulder and returned to the field later on and sent down seven overs.

This, however, was not enough to end speculation that he might take no further part in the series.”He is fit enough to play.

You saw him bowl, I don’t think there is any question about his fitness,” said Srikkanth. “He was a bit unlucky - he dropped catches off his own bowling.

What he needed was a bit of luck. He’s such an honest, committed cricketer, I’m very confident he will win the series for us.

Don’t forget he’s a cricketer who hasbowled his heart out all these years.”.