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Kingston: The Indian team sports a distinctly depleted look in absence of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan but West Indies captain Chris Gayle said he would not make the folly of underestimating the visitors in the forthcoming four-match ODI series starting on Friday.

After arriving here from England along with Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor and Xavier Marshall, Gayle said India maybe without some of the star players but West Indies would do well not to take them lightly.

"It is never a walk over against India. There are a lot of guys still there to give us a lot of trouble, so we just have to stick to the game plan and make it a successful one," Gayle said.

The hosts themselves have seen quite a few changes in their squad with pace spearhead Fidel Edwards missing the tournament with a back injury.

M.S. Dhoni's salary will be delayed next month. Ditto V.V.S. Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, S.Sreesanth and R.P. Singh.

Reason: These India cricketers are among the 200-odd sportspersons employed by Air India. Also on the list are India hockey captain Sandeep Singh and Jhulan Goswami who captains the national women's cricket team.

"Frankly, we are still not clear on the status but yes, the salary has been deferred by a fortnight," said Shekhar Guha, head of Air India Sports Promotion Board. An Air India hockey coach, who didn't want to be named, also said: "By the 20th of every month we get PLI (Performance Linked Incentive), but we have not got it till now and there are rumours that we won't be paid at all.

"Some of the big names mentioned above may not be affected by this but for sportspersons, present and former, surviving only on salaries this is a big blow. Neither Raina nor Sandeep, a deputy manager, said they knew about this.

"I have been hearing about it in the news, but I wasn't sure if it was going to happen. I will have to speak to my coach," Raina, assistant manager, Commercial, said.

Sandeep, however, felt if they did not get the salary on time would be a big problem. Former India wicketkeeper and Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya said he would be hit by this but added that since "Air India takes care of its employees and this is a crisis, I urge all my colleagues to stand by it.

"In Mumbai, Bimal Ghosh, coach of the Air India football team which plays in the I-League, said training hasn't stopped despite the announcement. Company spokesman Jitender Bhargava said sportspersons, if hired as permanent staff, are usually recruited as assistant-managers.

Their educational qualification too matters, he said. "We don't employ sportspersons as brand ambassadors, but spot them young and groom them.

So, their salaries are not higher than that of the top level managers," he said.

I never liked the expression Boom Boom Afridi. I heard it many times, saw it in print far more often. I always felt the phenomenon should be called Untamed Afridi. Because of the bohemian and devil-may-care approach he brings to the game.

To telling effect sometimes. Taking nothing away from the heroic return of Abdul Razzaq, the T20 World Cup was in some way a celebration of this untamed spirit. Here is a force which can either be resisted or not. There is no third way.

You can't chalk out a method of controlling what the mighty call madness (maybe rightly, when it comes to sustainability) and when this madness unfurls, you can only watch with awe or helplessness depending on which side you are. Afridi and his game are of the same kind.

They don't conform to the books because they haven't read them and the books don't approve them. But by ignoring each other, both have been losers. But how has this untamed spirit enriched the game? Not in monumental ways. Afridi comes in only to throw his wicket away.

You can't hit every ball out of the ground. Most opposing captains know this. He is there only for a while and tries to make each moment a monumental statement. He brings to game the spirit of unabashed aggression, uninhibited by the natures of law.

Here is one who has a go at everything when batting and hurls it straight and fast when he has the ball. Whatever he does is a beat of that brave heart which challenges, everything, unendingly.

Afridi is a nonconformist, to the core. Pakistan's T20 success will be interpreted as an escape to reprieve of a troubled nation. But it must never ever ignore the triumph of an untamed spirit called Shahid Khan Afridi.

Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi dedicated his inspiring performances in the World Twenty20 triumph to victims of the conflict in his troubled nation.

"Throughout the world cup I only thought about winning this for those people who have been affected by terrorism in our country," Afridi told reporters on Wednesday.

Afridi, named the player of the semi-final and final, was hoisted by ecstatic fans on their shoulders and garlanded with hundreds of them turning up at the airport to welcome him.

Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the final at Lord's on Sunday.

It was a splendid achievement after the team went without test cricket in 2008 and The International Cricket Council (ICC) moved the 2011 World Cup matches out of Pakistan due to security concerns.

"The troubled conditions back home, the way Pakistan is being isolated as a cricket nation, all this spurred the team to win the Cup," he said.

Afridi was disappointed the next World Twenty20 in West Indies was just nine months away, leaving Pakistani fans very little time to savour the triumph.

"You don't win the World Cup everyday," he said. "I think cricket is now being treated more like a business. It is hard on the players as well."

Afridi attributed his success with both bat and ball to the motivation to deliver for his country.

"The captain reposed confidence in me by promoting me up the order, I could not let him down," he said, referring to batting at number three in the final stages of the tournament.

"I kept talking to myself while batting, restraining myself from playing big shots and it worked."

However, he was edged out for the player of the tournament accolade by Sri Lanka's in-form batsman Tillekaratne Dilshan.

"I had runs and wickets and I was a bit disappointed at missing out on the award," he said.

London, June 24 (ANI): England's fast bowler Stuart Broad wants to help his team regain Ashes, in order to stop his dad Chris from talking about his triumph against Australia 22 years ago.

Broad has grown up knowing all about the glory of winning the Ashes, because his father keeps telling him, The Sun reports.

"Do I talk to dad about what it is like winning the Ashes? Well, he certainly speaks to me about it! I'm not saying it is boring but, well, it was the highlight of his career and what he is best remembered for. He was Man of the Series," Broad said.

"What he enjoyed was that England were written off after poor performances in the early tour matches. They got stick but walked off with the Ashes. It was a very proud moment in his life.

"Dad says the Ashes is the biggest stage you will play on. The important thing is to look the opposition in the eye, enjoy the cricket and treat it like any other game," he added.

Chris Broad, now a match referee, hit three centuries in the 1986-87 series, which was followed by eight straight Ashes defeats for England until the epic 2005 success.

Now, Stuart has a genuine chance of being the second Ashes-winner in his family.

After recovering from a sore ankle injury picked up in the World Twenty20, he is fit for England's practice against Warwickshire next week. He is certain to take the new ball in the Npower First Test in Cardiff on July 8.

Kingston: The visitors may be short on star power but West Indies will do well not to underestimate the lesser known Indian cricketers, coach of the home side John Dyson said.

The visiting Indian team is without their star players Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan. Instead, the team under Mahendra Singh Dhoni has the likes of Abhishek Nayar, S Badrinath and Murali Vijay in the ranks - players who are virtually unknown to the West Indies.

Dyson said the hosts would make a mistake if they take the Indian rookies lightly in the four-match ODI series starting at Sabina Park on Friday.

"We don't know how they're going to perform and that's something we have to monitor as the series progresses," Dyson said.

London: Former Australian vice-captain Adam Gilchrist, who was acknowledged as the greatest wicketkeeper-batsman in the history of the game, has said that he struggled to regain confidence in his batting after the battering he took from Andrew Flintoff four years ago, and "the seeds of doubt" that were planted in his mind took 12 months to settle down.

Gilchrist believes that Flintoff has paid a steep price for his heroics in that series. Whether it was the after-effects of bowling 14 overs off the reel to halt Australia's charge at the Oval, or whether the never-ending spin cycle of the international game has caught up with him.

"To this day, Flintoff is still carrying the after-effects. Watching from a distance, it seems that he has never been able to get into a full stride again," The Telegraph quoted Gilchrist, as saying.

"On the occasions when I have faced him since, he still had that unique something that makes him so awkward, especially for a left-hander. But it's a physical thing now. He has been restricted by his injuries."

If there was one image that summed up the ferocity of England's attack in that series, it was that of Flintoff coming around the wicket at Gilchrist, The Telegraph reports.

"Every team relies on its big players. When Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath went missing for us, we came back to the field. And this summer, you would say that Australia will be relying on Ricky Ponting and Mitchell Johnson, while England have Kevin Pietersen and Flintoff. They are the big-ticket items," Gilchrist said.

"What I admire about Flintoff is that he is in your face but not recklessly so. And he just creates the aura that he's in control. Whether you nick one through the slips or you get a good shot away, he still has this look in his eyes and his demeanour suggests that it's all part of a big plan."

"I've been fortunate to see that sort of aura at close range with a Warne or a McGrath, who generally exude those qualities, and Freddie is similar," he added.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has reportedly warned his team-mates against hiding injuries, asking them to take a break and recuperate if they are not 100 per cent fit.

The statement comes close on the heels of India's disastrous World Twenty20 campaign, which began on a wrong note with Virender Sehwag failing to even take the field due to a shoulder injury. Later, a leaked fitness report by team physio Nitin Patel revealed that a few other key members were also carrying injuries from the IPL. "For me, it's the team first and then the individuals and I'd hope it's the same with everyone else in the group," Dhoni is said to have told his team-mates on Sunday.

The other issue he dealt with was fatigue. "If rest is the cure for an injury, a cricketer ought to opt for it rather than let fatigue or niggle become a major setback to him and to the team. "If anyone wants to take a break from the game, please let me know or the BCCI," he was quoted as saying.

Ahead of the team's four-ODI series in the West Indies, Dhoni asked the seniors to play a pro-active role in planning and execution of strategies.

"I would urge the seniors to give more and more inputs for the betterment of the team," stated Dhoni, referring to the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Harbhajan Singh. He also urged the juniors to take up more responsibility.

BCCI backs skipper

Meanwhile the BCCI, which is under fire for allegedly preferring the IPL over World Twenty20 and risking the players' fitness, has backed Dhoni on the injury issue. "Dhoni has every right to advise his boys. Dhoni's plainspeak will ensure that fitness level of the team improves," BCCI's media and finance committee chairman Rajiv Shukla was quoted by television channels.

Melbourne: The Ashes prospects of injury-plagued Australian all-rounder Shane Watson have become bleak after he was too sore to train with the team in England today.

Medical staff is monitoring Watson closely, after he complained of general stiffness and was confined to the team rooms during a training session at Brighton.

"I pulled up a little bit stiff from training yesterday so I sat out of today's training. We are just monitoring things - that's the way it has been with me for the last couple of years," Watson said.

While the latest injury concern may not prove to be serious, it is a major concern that Watson was sidelined today less than three weeks before the first Ashes Test in Cardiff starting on July 8, The Australian reports.

Watson had only recently returned from back stress fractures, before breaking down with a groin strain during Australia's one-day series against Pakistan in the Middle-East.

The 27-year-old only returned to the bowling crease during Australia's ill-fated Twenty20 World Cup campaign in England. The latest setback is the last thing he needed, as he tries to win his baggy green cap back from incumbent all-rounder Andrew McDonald.

Australia will fine-tune its Ashes preparations when it plays a four-day tour match against Sussex starting in Brighton tomorrow.

Lahore, June 23 (ANI): With Pakistan pocketing the ICC World Twenty20 Championship, speculations are rife that Pakistani players would once again feature in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Several IPL franchises, who had signed Pakistani players for their respective teams, are hoping that the players would return for the third season of the IPL in 2010, after heightened tension between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack, forced the players to sit out of the cricket extravaganza this year.

One of the players, Sohail Tanvir, who plays for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, could don the navy blue jersey once again, when his side takes on Middlesex at Lord's in a one-off game scheduled to be held on July 6.

The Rajasthan Royals co-owner, Manoj Badale said Tanvir's participation in the match is 'subject to his availability'. The match which is being organized by the British Asian Trust, would be held two days before the first Ashes Test starts.

Pakistan would also begin its tour of Sri Lanka on July 4, but that would not affect Tanvir's outing with the Royals, as he is not a part of the Test team.

However, another Rajasthan Royals Pakistani player, Kamran Akmal, would not be available for the Lord's encounter, as he will be on national duty. The IPL chairman Lalit Modi has also made it clear that the league has 'no problem' letting Pakistan players play in the next edition in March 2010.

Modi, however, noted that it is for the governments of the two countries to decide to let the players play. While the IPL franchises had signed 11 Pakistani players in the league's first season, contracts of only four players were retained in the second season.