Various rumors about major sponsors deserting IPL have been floating in the air. On Friday, IPL chairman and commissioner, Lalit Modi nullified all the rumors.

He said that all the partners including, Sony Television/ World Sport Group (WSG) are with the IPL. In fact they have already paid whatever money they were committed to. We receive hundreds of payments and not a single partner has defaulted.

Sydney, Feb. 21 : Neil D''Costa is a cricket coach with a difference. He has made a name for himself by pitching two youngsters into the Australian Test squad in the last five years - Michael Clarke and Phil Hughes, and now his own career is also undergoing a change.

He has been invited to coach at a cricket academy in Nagpur, India.

Flown out to meet the boss, the chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Shashank Manohar, he was astonished not only by the facilities, but also by Manohar's intelligence and vision.

Sydney, Feb 21 : South African broadcaster and sports writer Neil Manthorp has said that Australian players should behave more gracefully after end of their 15 years at the top.

Manthorp, who covered the Proteas' tour in Australia this summer, is clearly not impressed by the arrogant attitude of Australian players.

His basic complaint is that Australian cricketers remain as arrogant as ever, even though they have little now to be arrogant about, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

London, Feb. 21 : England's players became uncertain about their finances after hearing that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will not be associated with disgraced Texan tycoon Allan Stanford.

The ECB insists that the 18 first-class counties will not be out of pocket even though they were due for a handout from Stanford, The Sun reports.

The Board on Friday cut-off all contractual ties with Stanford after he was charged with serial fraud worth over six billion pounds.

Stanford's Twenty20 for 20, which was due to run for another four years, has been scrapped. The ECB were due to rake in around 2.4 million pounds each year from the event.

London, Feb 21 : Former Zimbabwe opener and assistant coach of the England cricket team, Andy Flower, wants to become the new team director and help solve the puzzle of why they cannot win Test matches.

Flower has decided to apply for the job made vacant by the sacking of his friend Peter Moores.

ECB chiefs on Friday launched their quest for the new man by advertising the 300,000 pound-a-year post and upgrading the title from head coach to team director.

Washington, Feb. 20: Texan cricket tycoon Sir Allen Stanford is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation over a suspicion that he ran a form of ponzi scheme through his Stanford International Bank.

Stanford, who is currently being investigated for a 6.4 billion pound fraud, could face criminal fraud charges, US law enforcement sources said.

Federal prosecutors are expected to probe whether his bank was involved in a Ponzi scheme, in which money from new investors who used to pay high returns to older investors, The Telegraph reports.