I am firm on what I said about Harbhajan incident - Sreesanth

India and Rajasthan Royals seamer Sreesanth has said he stands by what he said during an outburst on Twitter last month, where he accused the IPL of not releasing the "real video" of the incident in which Harbhajan Singh supposedly hit him during the 2008 IPL. During the course of an emotional line-up of tweets, Sreesanth had also said that there had actually been no slap at all, that he was elbowed, that the episode was "planned by a few", and that Harbhajan was a "back-stabbing person". Now, in an interview in Bangalore Times, Sreesanth said: "I felt like telling everyone what had happened that evening. So, I decided to give a blow-by-blow account. It's fine, as I did not hide or cook up any story. My tweets just revealed reality, and nothing else. Now, I feel light. I wasn't bothered about the reactions. Let them [the IPL officials] show the video. Come on, who can know better than me. I am firm on what I said." Relations between Harbhajan and him, Sreesanth said, were not strained: "He's a big brother, and trusts me. There's no bad blood. He understands that what I did wasn't to insult him or make him feel bad. It was my feeling and nothing else. I respect him a lot. You don't understand that sometimes, what's written [the back-stabbing comment] is not in the literal sense. Leave it, let's not get into details as the issue will again escalate. I always respect my seniors."

Running-between-wickets key in T20, says Michael Hussey
Chennai Super Kings' Michael Hussey, who is currently at No. 2 on IPL 2013's run chart and has customarily been one of his team's batting pillars across seasons, has said his focus in the shortest format is on running between the wickets. "Running between wickets is a very important part of batting in T20s. Whether you're going for the big shots or not, you have to keep running well between the wickets," Hussey told the IPL site. "For me, I try to have a couple of areas in my mind where I think I can hit the ball for four. If the ball is meant to be hit in that area, I don't hold back. If not, I just try and get some bat on it and run hard between the wickets." There are no major changes he makes to his approach in Twenty20 cricket, Hussey said: "I don't change too much in regards with my preparation and technique. I probably try and clear the front leg a little bit in T20. In Tests you try and stay behind the line and play the ball in front of your eyes whereas in T20s you're looking to free your arms and hit the ball a bit more. That's probably the only small technical change that I make. And no, I don't change my bat. I know most boys use heavier bats in T20s but I just keep the same bat."

'I would have done the same in Kirsten's position' - Kallis
Allrounder Jacques Kallis has said while he was surprised by Gary Kirsten's decision to step down as South Africa coach, he understands why he took the call. In a column in the Times of India, Kallis wrote: "It was a surprise to hear about Gary Kirsten's decision not to renew his contract as South Africa coach, but understandable. Cricket has taken away too much time from families for all the centuries it has been played, so I'm all in favour of anybody who refuses to keep doing it! I know there are millions of young fathers in the world who have no choice but to work away from home for long periods of time, and who cannot afford to give up their jobs, but Gary is in the fortunate position of being able to make a change in his career and place his family at the top of his priority list. I know I would have done the same in his position." Kirsten will relinquish his role in July, his last assignment with South Africa being the Champions Trophy.