Updated Cricket News: Ishant Sharma show middle finger to fans: Reports

The present tour of the Indian team to Australia is not only a tragedy from cricketing point of view but it is also turning out to be a catastrophe as far as public manners goes.

Paceman Ishant Sharma showed his middle finger to the assembled cricket fans as he the length of with his teammates, went to do go-karting at a local club, Indian television channels reported on Monday.

Quite a few Indian cricketers, as well as skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and batting icon Sachin Tendulkar, went for go karting and were in fact messy to see a posse of TV cameras and media persons next them in hot trail.

Despite all attempt to keep the media out of bounds, they could have their pictures and videos much to the cricketers' annoyance. It apparently led to Sharma showing his middle finger to a heckling crowd which had also met there, the reports claimed.

It's the second time when an Indian cricketer has shown his middle finger at fans during the tour. Virat Kohli did so throughout the second Test at SCG and was fined 50 per cent of his match fees.

Indian team's media manager GS Walia said he was not conscious of any such incident.

"I am not aware of any such incident (Ishant showing the middle finger)", he said.

Walia also spring to the defence of Indian cricketers who are being roundly criticized for attending a go-karting session as a substitute of attending nets, saying it was a way of destressing.

"The team had also gone for a cycling session ahead of the Perth Test of 2007-08 and they finished up winning the Test", he said.

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Jacques Kallis targeting 2015 World Cup

In 16 years of international cricket, Jacques Kallis has scored centuries alongside all nine other Test playing nations, has been part of series wins in Australia and England and has seen many ODI series victories. One thing he does not have, although, is a World Cup medal and it is that missing piece that is driving him to try to continue playing international cricket awaiting at least 2015.

"The one thing I want to try and accomplish is to be part of a team that can win a World Cup. That's a goal of mine," Kallis said after South Africa's victory in the third Test against Sri Lanka, in Cape Town. Kallis has played 317 ODIs, as well as five World Cups. He will turn 37 this year and will be 39 by the time the next World Cup takes place, in Australia and New Zealand, in 2015.

At the start of the summer local media spoke concern about what they called Kallis' declining reflexes, after he was worked over by Australia's 18-year-old fast bowler Pat Cummins, who trouble Kallis with his bouncer. Kallis said he did not read the reports and was only told about it by friends. His reply on the field, though, was fierce. He scored 224, his highest Test score, against Sri Lanka at Newlands; an aggressive pull shot the stamp of his innings. He also extinguishes doubts about his reflex by taking six catches, five of which were at second slip. To cap it off, he took three wickets in Sri Lanka's second innings. It was a forceful way to have fun his 150th Test match and a screaming statement of what he still has to offer South African cricket. "I couldn't have asked for it to have worked out better," Kallis said. "You dream of performance like that."

While he appeared closer to a young person than someone entering his late 30s in Cape Town, Kallis has recognized that his workload needs to be managed. He did not bowl in the first innings at Newlands, after his marathon effort with the bat, because his captain Graeme Smith felt he "would not get much out of him."

Managing Kallis' bowling load could be key to prolong his career. That could prove tricky due to the make-up of South Africa's bowling attack. With three violent fast bowlers and a legspinner in the side, Kallis is necessary to play a containing role with the ball, and if needed, to, in his words, "carry," the attack. In the shorter form of the game, he is improbable to be used in the same ability and less work with the ball could be vital as he targets 2015.

"I will take it year by year, month by month and game by game," he said. "No-one has the right to play in this side [without earning his place]. You've got to put in the performances for that. As long as I am enjoying it and putting in the performance, and the body holds, there's no cause for me to stop yet."

Kallis has been named in South Africa's squad for the first two ODIs against Sri Lanka, after which the selectors will decide on the group for the residual three matches. Kallis said he hopes to play in all five fixtures even though he recognises that he may be forced to pick which matches to play in the future.

"It looks like I will play all five matches. I said to Gary [Kirsten, the South Africa coach], we will have a appear at it after the first two and we'll make a call from there. That will be the standard going forward. I have to be intelligent if I want to make it to the next World Cup."

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Kohli fined for obscene sign

Virat Kohli has been fined 50% of his match fee after making an obscene sign during Australia's enormous first innings in the second Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Kohli plead guilty to a level-two charge of "using language or gesture(s) that is seriously obscene, seriously offensive or of a gravely insulting nature to another player, player support personnel, umpire, match arbitrator or any third person during an international match".

A press photographer wedged the India number six raising his middle finger towards a section of the crowd - a gesture they say that prompted by criticism from the audience as Australia piled on over 300 runs on day two.

India was only able to pick up one wicket on a trying day. Team manager GS Walia said: "The matter has been determined. The player felt guilty and sorry and the matter has been closed.

"When he went to the match umpire, he (Kohli) said 'sorry and that out of emotions I must have done it'."

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'India require to bat out of their skins'

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly says it is not "not possible" to save the SCG Test but for that to happen, Indian batsmen need to bat out of their skins.

India have already approved a mammoth 291-run lead and three days' play is still left in the match, where a victory will hand Australia an unquestionable 2-0 lead.

Ganguly sought to remind India the excellent win against the same opponents at Kolkata in 2001, where India came up successful against all odds.

"I don't believe in the word 'impossible' in sport after what India did to Australia at Eden Gardens in 2001. We follow on 274 runs at the back but came back to win the match by 171 runs, thanks mainly to VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid's pains with the bat and Harbhajan Singh's bowling on the final day.

"But can such a extraordinary feat be recurring? To get even close to something like that - or indeed simply save this match, the Indian batsmen will have to bat out of their skins when they get their chance," Ganguly said.

The former India skipper said what harm India the most was an off-colour Zaheer Khan.

"The first session was so significant for India. It was not only a match-changing, but potentially a series-deciding, session. India were below par, mostly because because senior bowler Zaheer Khan look a little off his rhythm in his first spell. He is so significant to this Indian bowling unit, the team's fortune change with his form and he was off his game," Ganguly added.

Ganguly also question Mahendra Singh Dhoni's decision to bring in part-time spinner Virender Sehwag early into the attack.

"The introduction of Virender Sehwag in the 20th over with the second new ball was mysterious to everybody. This was India's best chance to pick up wickets and get back into the game, particularly as there was so much time left."

Ganguly was all praise for Michael Clarke for most important the Australian side in a terrific manner. Clarke hit his career's first double century to put his side in a commanding position.

"The skipper at the start of the series said that the time had come for each of his batters to stand up, and what an example he has set.

"Clarke has been a fine leader. From the start of the series he came across as a man capable of behavior the senior players. His handling of Ponting and Mike Hussey when the entire media and past players were gunning for their heads is an example to all. And they have delivered for him in this series," he wrote in his column for Sydney Morning Herald.

Ganguly also said that Ponting's outstanding form with a century is not what India need.

"Ponting is a class act and he will be reassured. It was written all over his face. There is nothing more pleasing for a batsman than when he performs under pressure - no matter who he is.

"His footwork has gone from side to side a massive change. I was amazed when watching him on TV in the Hobart Test from my drawing room in Kolkata. He batted well in Melbourne, but looked so certain at the SCG. He has grown in confidence and that is not good news for India," he stated.

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