IPL 3 : RCB beat Kings Eleven Punjab by 8 wickets

Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Kings XI Punjab by eight wickets in an Indian Premier League match at M Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bangalore on Tuesday.

Royal Challengers reached the victory target of 204 runs with seven balls to spare to log their first points in the tournament.

Robin Uthappa's 19-ball fifty and Kallis' unbeaten 84* help Royal Challengers to reach in target.

Brief score:

Kings XI Punjab: 203 for 3 in 20 overs (Ravi Bopara 77, Manvinder Bisla 75, Mahela Jayawardene 26 not out; Dale Steyn 1/36).

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 204 for 2 in 18.5 overs (Jacques Kallis not out 89, Robin Uthappa 51).

Read more...

India's squad for cricket one-dayers against Australia announced

Veteran batsman Rahul Dravid was dropped on Thursday while the dashing duo of Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh returned to India's 15-member squad for the first two cricket one-dayers of a seven-match series against Australia starting 25th October.

Dravid, who was surprisingly named in India's Champions Trophy squad, failed to find favour with the selectors, who have decided to persist with young right-hander Virat Kohli.

Wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik and young all-rounder Abhishek Nayar were also dropped.

Rookie Uttar Pradesh pacer Sudeep Tyagi was the lone new face in the squad, which marked the return of another fast bowler Munaf Patel and young all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

The squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c), Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Ashish Nehra, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Munaf Patel, Sudeep Tyagi.

Read more...

Sania enters last four of Japan Open

Sania Mirza on Friday advanced to the Japan Open semifinals after her second-seeded French opponent Marion Bartoli retired midway through the quarterfinal due to a shoulder injury with the Indian leading 6-4 2-0 at Osaka.

With Bartoli hampered by a right shoulder injury, Sania controlled the proceedings in the hour-long match, although Sania said she did not play all that well.

Sania will next play fourth seed Francesca Schiavone, who didn't even need to take the court as her seventh seeded rival Melinda Czink withdrew due to a right foot injury.

Read more...

Force India return empty-handed from Japanese GP

The 14th lap brush with Heikki Kovalainen's McLaren compromised Adrian Sutil's race and the double finish was hardly a solace as Force India completed its Japanese Grand Prix campaign without a single point.

Considering Sutil's familiarity with the layout and its low-to-medium downforce suiting the car, it was a blown opportunity for Sutil who finished 13th, just ahead of teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi, who managed to improve on his unflattering 19th position on the starting grid.

Sebastian Vettel drove a copybook race at Suzuka to win the Japanese Grand Prix and stay afloat in the 2009 championship chase.

Jarno Trulli was second for Toyota, with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton following him at third.

Starting eight on the grid after copping a five-place penalty for Saturday's chaotic qualifying, Sutil took on a speeding Kovalainen coming into the chicane on lap 14.

Team chairman Vijay Mallya did not hide his disappointment at missing points.

Read more...

Indian's survival hinging on the results of Pakistan vs Australia match

India approach to the game against the West Indies in a must-win match in Johannesburg on Wednesday in their final group A engagement of the Champions Trophy starts with a prayer on the lips that Pakistan would somehow prevail over Australia by a big margin in the day's first game in Centurion.

If it happens, India would need to up their net run-rate dramatically, besides winning the match, to stand a chance of making the last-four stage.

India presently has a net run-rate of -1.08 whereas Australia has a massive advantage of +1.00 in their favour.

Australia won their opening game against the West Indies by 50 runs and India lost theirs by 54 runs. So if India is to go past Australia's net run-rate, they ought to cover the difference of 104 runs between the two teams.

For instance, if Australia lose their game by 25 runs, India needs to win theirs against the West Indies by 80 runs to prevail and go through to the semi-finals.

However, if Australia bat first and score 250 runs, India need to get their runs inside 40 overs for them to go through.

Read more...

Boxer Vijender Singh becomes world number one

Olympic and World Championship bronze medallist Vijender Singh has achieved yet another first for Indian boxing by becoming the world's top-ranked pugilist in the middle weight (75kg) category.

The 23-year-old Bhiwani boxer, who won India's maiden World Championships medal in Milan earlier this month, has 2700 points and is ranked higher than the reigning champion Abbos Atoev of Uzbekistan.

Atoev, to whom Vijender lost in the World Championship semifinals, is third in the list with 2100 points and Olympic silver medallist Emilio Correa Bayeux (2500) of Cuba occupies the second spot in the International Boxing Association's (AIBA) list updated after the Milan event.

Read more...

Sourav Ganguly included in BCCI Technical Committee

Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly was on Thursday included as a member of the Cricket Board's Technical Committee headed by Sunil Gavaskar at the BCCI's 80th AGM in Mumbai.

The panel also includes former Test umpire V K Ramaswamy and ex-India opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth who was retained as the head of the senior selection committee for the 2009-10 season.

The following are the various committees for 2009-10 season.

Working Committee: Shashank Manohar (President), N Srinivasan (Secretary), Sanjay Jagdale (Jt. secretary), M P Pandove (Treasurer), Arun Jaitley (North), Shivlal Yadav (South), Arindam Ganguly (East), Chirayu Amin (West) and Lalit Modi (Central) (all vice presidents).

Delhi, Tamil Nadu Bengal, Mumbai, UP (all permanent Test centres), Karnataka, Punjab, Gujarat, Vidarbha (who have staged Tests), HP (North), Hyderabad (South), Jharkhand (East), Cricket Club of India (West) and Rajasthan (Central).

Read more...

Champions Trophy: SA beat New Zealand by five wickets

South Africa bounced back into contention for 2009 ICC Champions Trophy glory with a five-wicket triumph over New Zealand at SuperSport Park in in Centurian on Thursday.

Upset by Sri Lanka in the opening match of the ODI tournament two days ago, the Proteas had to win and did so with relative ease before a large, holiday crowd.

New Zealand were all out for 214 in 47.5 overs and South Africa cruised to 217-5 in 41.1 overs and another win on Sunday over England would virtually assure the hosts of a place in the knockout phase.

Read more...

ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Schedule

The sixth edition of ICC Champions Trophy will be played in Johannesburg and Centurion of South Africa from September 22nd to October 5th.

Eight teams are divided into two Groups A and B.

The following are the two groups:

Group A: Australia, India, Pakistan, West Indies
Group B: South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, England

Each team will play with one another in their corresponding groups and the top two teams from each group will advance into the semi finals. are in Group A while

ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Games Schedule:
(All timings are mentioned in GMT+05:30)

Tue 22 Sep (D/N)
18:00 PM
Group B – Sri Lanka v South Africa
SuperSport Park, Centurion

Wed 23 Sep (D/N)
18:00 PM
Group A – Pakistan v West Indies
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

Thu 24 Sep
13:00 PM
Group B – South Africa v New Zealand
SuperSport Park, Centurion

Fri 25 Sep (D/N)
18:00 PM
Group B – England v Sri Lanka
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

Sat 26 Sep
13:00 PM
Group A – Australia v West Indies
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

Sat 26 Sep (D/N)
18:00 PM
Group A – India v Pakistan
SuperSport Park, Centurion

Sun 27 Sep
13:00 PM
Group B – New Zealand v Sri Lanka
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

Sun 27 Sep (S/N)
18:00 PM
Group B – England v South Africa
SuperSport Park, Centurion

Mon 28 Sep (D/N)
18:00 PM
Group A – India v Australia
SuperSport Park, Centurion

Tue 29 Sep (D/N)
18:00 PM
Group B – England v New Zealand
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

Wed 30 Sep
13:00 PM
Group A – Pakistan v Australia
SuperSport Park, Centurion

Wed 30 Sep (D/N)
18:00 PM
Group A – India v West Indies
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

Fri 2 Oct (D/N)
18:00 PM
1st Semi Final – A1 v B2
SuperSport Park, Centurion

Sat Oct 3 (D/N)
18:00 PM
2nd Semi Final – A2 v B1
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

Mon 5 Oct (D/N)
18:00 PM
Final – 1st Semi Final winner v 2nd Semi Final inner
SuperSport Park, Centurion

Read more...

Yuvraj Singh out of Champions Trophy

India's Champions Trophy campaign dealt a massive blow as middle-order mainstay Yuvraj Singh was ruled out of the eight-nation event due to a fractured right-hand finger.

The stylish left-hander, who picked up the injury during a training session today, has been advised rest for six weeks and will return home.

Delhi middle order batsman Virat Kohli has been named as Yuvraj's replacement.

India will open their campaign against arch rivals Pakistan on 26th September.

Yuvraj was enthusiastically taking part in the fielding session at the University Ground in Johannesburg.

But in the process, he ended up hurting his right finger so badly that he couldn't participate in the batting and bowling sessions which were conducted later in the day.

Read more...

Teams for Irani Cup and Challenger series annonced

Recovering from a shoulder injury, opener Virender Sehwag will return to action in the Irani Cup and will lead the Rest of India team in the 1st to 5th October tournament in Nagpur, as teams were anonced for Irani cup and Challenger series in Chennai.

The Teams:
Rest of India: Virender Sehwag (Capt), Wriddiman Saha (wk), M Vijay, S Sreesanth, S Badrinath (Vice Capt), Munaf Patel, Virat Kohli, Pragyan Ojha, Manoj Tiwari, Kedar Jadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Abhinav Mukund, Irfan Pathan, Uday Kaul, Sudeep Tyagi

Challenger Series:
India Red: Yuvraj Singh (Capt), Wriddiman Saha (wk), M Vijay, R Ashwin, Sunny Sohail, Sudeep Tyagi, Shikar Dhawan, Munaf Patel, Ishant Jaggi, S S Tiwari, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvanesh Kumar, H Khadiwale

India Green: Suresh Raina (Capt), Irfan Pathan, A Rahane, Parthiv Patel (wk), Tanmay Srivastava, S K Jakati, Ravi Inder Singh, L Balaji, Manoj Tiwari, Dhawal Kulkarni, S Badrinath, Pankaj Singh, Chetanya Nanda, Uday Kaul

India Blue: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt), Yusuf Pathan, Sachin Tendulkar, Naman Ojha, Wasim Jaffer, Harbhajan Singh, Jalaj Saxena, S K Trivedi, Suresh Kumar, S Sreesanth, Kedar Jadav, Ashok Dinda, Abhishek Nayar, A S Goswami.

Read more...

Dhoni, Gambhir short-listed for ICC's Cricketer of the Year award

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and star opener Gautam Gambhir have been short-listed for ICC's Cricketer of the Year award 2009 to be given at a glittering ceremony in Johannesburg on 1st October.

Along with Dhoni and Gambhir, England skipper Andrew Strauss and Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson were also short-listed for the coveted award.

In addition, Gambhir, Johnson and Strauss are also short-listed for the Test Player of the Year alongside Sri Lanka's Thilan Samaraweera at the sixth annual ICC Awards, presented in association with the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA).

The awards ceremony is now in its sixth year and this year it will be held in Johannesburg to coincide with the Champions Trophy 2009. Previous ceremonies were held in London (2004), Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006), Johannesburg (2007) and Dubai (2008).

ICC Awards short-lists:
Cricketer of the Year: MS Dhoni (Ind), G Gambhir (Ind), M Johnson (Aus), A Strauss (Eng).

Test Player of the Year: G Gambhir (Ind), M Johnson (Aus), T Samaraweera (SL), A Strauss (Eng).

ODI Player of the Year: S Chanderpaul (WI), MS Dhoni (Ind), V Sehwag (Ind), Y Singh (Ind).

Emerging Player: B Hilfenhaus (Aus), G Onions (Eng), J Ryder (NZ), P Siddle (Aus).

Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year: R Cheema (Can), R ten

Doeschate (Ned), W Porterfield (Irl), E Schiferli (Ned).

Twenty20 International Performance of the Year: S Afridi (Pak), T Dilshan (SL), C Gayle (WI), U Gul (Pak).

Women's Cricketer of the Year: C Edwards (Eng), S Nitschke (Aus), C Taylor (Eng).

Umpire of the Year: A Dar (SL), T Hill (Nzl), A Rauf (Pak), S Taufel (Aus).

Spirit of Cricket: Australia, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka.

Read more...

india vs srilanka: Sri Lanka beat India by 139 runs

Sri Lanka beat India by 139 runs in a inconsequential match of the Compaq Cup tri-series in Colombo on Saturday night.

Brief score:
Sri Lanka: 307 for 8 in 50 overs (Sanath Jayasuriya 98, Thilana Kadamby 91 not out).

India: 168 all out in 37.2 overs.
(Rahul Dravid 47, Sachin Tendulkar 27; A Mathews 6/20).

Read more...

Sri Lanka set India 308 to win

Electing to bat, Sri Lanka scored 307 for six against India in the Compaq Cup tri-nation cricket tournament at R Premadasa stadium in Colombo on saturday.

Brief score:
Sri Lanka 307 for 6 in 50 overs (Sanath Jayasuriya 98, Thilna Kandamby 91 not out; Harbhajan Singh 1/37).

Last update: India 61/1 after 13 over.

Read more...

Former BCCI chief Raj Singh Dungarpur passes away

Former BCCI President Raj Singh Dungarpur passed away in Mumbai on Saturday following protracted illness.

Affectionately called as 'Rajbhai' in the cricket fraternity, the 73-year-old Dungarpur, who was president of the Cricket Board for three years in the late 1990s, was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

A bachelor from the Dungarpur royal family of Rajasthan, he was also a former first class cricketer, a former India team manager and ex-chairman of the senior selection panel.

A former President of the Cricket Club of India for 13 years before he took ill last year, Dungarpur died at his residence on Saturday morning.

Read more...

Compaq Cup: India beat New Zealand

Yuvraj Singh and Ashish Nehra scalped three wickets each as India exploited a spongy track to restrict New Zealand to a modest 155 in their opening tri-series match in Colombo on Friday.

Electing to bat, the Kiwis could never really recover from the early jolts and were skittled out for a 155 in 46.3 overs on a tricky Premadasa track.

New Zealand, who desperately need a win to remain in contention in the series, could not get a single decent partnership going as wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals in the floodlit contest.

Ashish Nehra (3/24) and Yuvraj singh (3/31) were the pick of the the Indian bowlers while R P Singh and Ishant Sharma chipped in with two wickets apiece.

Read more...

US Open: Paes & Dlouhy win to move into men's doubles final

Indian tennis ace Leander Paes kept himself in line of two Grand Slam titles after entering the final of the men's doubles event of the US Open following an upset win over top seeds and local favourites Mike and Bob Bryan on Wednesday.

Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy, seeded fourth, overwhelmed the Bryan brothers 6-4 3-6 7-6 (8-6) in one hour and 51 minutes in the semifinal at the Flushing Meadows in New York on Wednesday.

Paes and his partner Cara Black have already reached the final of the mixed doubles event.

The match had a sensational climax as Paes and Dlouhy had plenty of match points in the tie-breaker of the third and final set but Bryan brothers made a spirited comeback and saved five match points.

However, Paes and Dlouhy held their nerves and finally converted their sixth match point to clinch the issue.

Read more...

Virat Kohli to replace injured Gambhir in Sri Lanka

Delhi batsman Virat Kohli will replace injured Gautam Gambhir in the Indian team for the ongoing tri-series in Sri Lanka.

"The All India Selection Committee has decided to send Virat Kohli as the replacement batsman to Sri Lanka for the tri-series," BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement.

"Kohli will join the team at the earliest," he added. Kohli was hurriedly drafted in after Gambhir was ruled out of the event a day before India plays its first match against New Zealand.

Gambhir strained his groin muscle and was subsequently advised 10 days' rest which ruled him out of the tri-series, also featuring hosts Sri Lanka. He will return home.

Read more...

Indians round off good day at US Open

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi inched closer to a showdown in the men's doubles final after both made the semis with their respective partners, while Yuki Bhambri advanced to boys' singles third round on a good day for the Indians in the US Open in New York.

Fourth seeded Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy defeated seventh seeded South African-Belgian pair of Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman 6-3 5-7 6-4.

The Indo-Czech pair has set up a tough clash against top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan of United States in the semifinals.

Third seeds Bhupathi and Bahamian Mark Knowles got the better of the Croat-French team of Ian Ljubicic and Michael Llodra 6-4 4-6 7-6(4).



They will be up against the fifth seeded Belarussian-Israeli duo of Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram in the last-four stage.

Paes had more reason to celebrate as he also inched closer to the mixed doubles title with Zimbabwean Cara Black.

The second seeds made the finals of the event with a 6-2 3-6 10-5 triumph over fifth seeds Su-Wei Hseih of Chinese Taipei and Kevin Ullyet of Zimbabwe.

The Indo-Zimbabwean pair will now take on unseeded Americans Carly Gullickson and Travis Parrott.

It was a mixed day for teen sensation Yuki, who advanced in singles but crashed out of doubles.

The top seeded Delhi-boy had no trouble brushing aside Swiss Sandro Bhrat 6-0 6-1 to make the third round in the singles event. He will now square off against American Jack Sock. However, it was curtains for him in boys' doubles.

Yuki and his Taipei partner Liang-Chi Huang, seeded number one, squandered a set's advantage to go down 6-3 2-6 6-10 to Americans Evan King and Denis Kudla.

Read more...

US Open: Paes, Bhupathi reach semis of mixed & men's doubles

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi cruised into the semi-finals of the mixed and men's double event of the US Open with their respective partners.

India's crashed hopes with the ouster of Sania Mirza in the US Open has been rejuvenated by Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi heading towards a possible final showdown in both mixed as well as men's doubles event of the final grand slam of the year, after winning their respective matches.

Bhupathi and his American partner Liezel Huber, top seed, cruised to the semi-finals of the mixed doubles following their emphatic 6-4 6-3 win over eighth seeds Bethanie Mattek of the US and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic.

However, second seeds Paes and Cara Black of Zimbabwe had to face a stiff resistance from seventh seeded Australian-Swede combination of Rennae Stubbs and Robert Lindstedt before prevailing over them 7-5 3-6 10-6 in their mixed doubles quarterfinal at Flushing Meadows on Monday.

Incidentally, both the Indian players enjoyed success in the men's doubles events as well although they had to fight hard to earn their last eight berths along with their respective partners.

Read more...