At least 12 players from Pakistan have applied to the Indian Premier League (IPL) requesting to be placed in next season's auction. Though the identities of all the applicants is not yet clear, one player said most of the touring squad currently in Australia has been in touch with the IPL.
The IPL had earlier this month set a December 31 deadline for players from Pakistan to put themselves into the auction pool for IPL 3. Four players -- Kamran Akmal, Sohail Tanvir, Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Gul -- already have contracts with franchises from the first season, though they stand currently suspended. The only way they can now participate is if their franchises free up a spot in their squads by offloading a foreign player.
"All the players here have sent emails to Lalit Modi expressing their interest for Ricky Ponting knows the winning feeling better than any other player in the history of Test cricket. But on a day when he broke the records for the most wins by any Test player and the most victories for any Test captain, Ponting called the 170-run triumph over Pakistan one of the team's best in a long while, and praised his young attack for as good a bowling effort as the side had displayed in the last two years.
When he came in to the team as a young man in the mid 1990s, Australia were just embarking on a decade of dominance. The list of men to have played in the most Test victories is revealing, as the top eight are all Australians of that brilliant era.