Kolkata Knight Riders who have been at the wrong end of the stick from the moment they arrived here have rubbished rumours on internal battles wracking the team, made worse by the sending home of senior members of the squad.

"Aakash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar had no problem in leaving. They took it in the right spirit." said a KKR official.

Meanwhile Chopra has vehemently denied that he was the fake IPL blogger. "All the information on the blog in regard to cricket was proved false and I am sure it cannot be anyone from the team," he said.

The latest jokes doing the rounds here are those of guessing games. It is to identify the number of support staff travelling with the KKR. Presently there are 20 players and 16 support staff that include the two sons of coach John Buchanan!

Varied theories are coming out of Chennai Super Kings alleged complaint to the IPL governing council on the Delhi Daredevils’ use of five foreign players in the field in the game at Durban. There is no rule in the IPL that states a restriction on foreign players for fielding.

M.S. Dhoni said that he was not aware of the complaint and the question had to be directed to the owners. An official representing the Delhi team confirmed the IPL committee has indeed received a letter in this regard from the Chennai Super Kings.

— V. Balaji

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McCullum ‘happy’ to step aside

Durban, April 28: With the Kolkata Knight Riders’ frustration mounting after every defeat, the struggling team’s captain Brendon McCullum says he would be "happy to step aside" if the side failed to make the semifinals of the ongoing Indian Premier League here.

"If we don’t make the semifinals then I am more than happy to step aside. To me it’s about accountability as a captain," McCullum said after KKR succumbed to their fourth defeat in the five matches they have played so far.

"I know I am going to be judged by results, my team is going to be judged by results and if I am not able to inspire my team to at least give ourselves a chance at least in the back-end of the tournament,

"I am more than happy to step aside come next season," he explained.

McCullum said the loss to Mumbai Indians has left the team frustrated. "It’s frustrating. That’s the word we have been using for the last week and a half. We were blown off the park at the top of the order by Sachin and Sanath Jayasuriya," he said.

— PTI