Sports

Mumbai, June 09: Virender Sehwag isn’t fully fit yet, but it’ll be interesting to see how and where Mahendra Singh Dhoni accommodates the dashing batsman when he is available for selection. Dhoni will have a pleasant headache when Sehwag is declared match fit.

Rohit Sharma has blossomed in his new role as an opener making runs in all three games, including the two warm-up matches. Gautam Gambhir has found the sweet spot on his bat again. Sehwag should reclaim his opening spot and Sharma should bat down the order. But who will Dhoni leave out?

Nottingham, June 09: Three star cricketers, including vice captain Virender Sehwag, were conspicuous by their absence from the nets as Team India’s cold
war with the media continued for the fourth day.

No national cricketer came forward to speak to the huge press contingent at the Lady Bay Ground, after absence of Sehwag from the nets only added grist to the rumour mills.

Apart from Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Rohit Sharma could not be spotted at the nets.

Karachi, June 09: Pakistan captain Younis Khan finds himself in trouble for his comment that Twenty20 is played just for fun and it would not be a
Younis Khan disaster even if his team fails to make the Super Eights stage of the ongoing World Cup in England.

After the team’s loss to England on Sunday night, Younis went on to say that failing to reaching Super Eights would not be a disaster.

“It would be sad if we don’t make it but I have never attached too much importance to Twenty20 cricket, as it is fun cricket,” Younis said.

Nothingham, June 09: Sangakkara and Dilshan hit a fifty each as Sri Lanka thrashed Australia by 6 wickets to end their T20 World Cup campaign at Trent Bridge.

Having lost to West Indies on Saturday, Australia are eliminated, while Sri Lanka booked a place in the Super 8 phase of the competition.

Tillakaratne Dilshan struck a brilliant 53 before he was bowled by Michael Clarke and Kumar Sangakkara then took over, making an unbeaten 55.

Hyderabad, June 08: Tennis hottie Sania Mirza’s betrothal to childhood friend Sohrab Mirza is making headlines all over. Here’s some info about the lucky guy.

Sohrab is 23, a year older than Sania, and is a commerce graduate from St Mary’s college in Hyderabad, an institution that Sania also attended. Reportedly, he is set to pursue an MBA degree in Britain.

Islamabad, June 08: Pakistan captain Younus Khan was left struggling to explain his side’s lacklustre display after their comprehensive 48-run loss to England in the ICC World Twenty20.

Sloppy fielding by the 2007 finlaists helped England to a competitive 185 for five at the Oval on Sunday, featuring 58 from Kevin Pietersen, while the Pakistan reply never got going.

Three wickets in the powerplay left Pakistan well behind the run-rate and Younus, who finished unbeaten on 46, could only watch from the other end as a succession of batsmen came and went.

London, June 08: England booked their place in the second round Super Eights of the ICC World Twenty20 with a 48-run win over Pakistan at the Oval on Sunday.

The hosts, 48 hours after their shock four-wicket loss to the Netherlands, bounced back to record a win which, because their net run-rate was now superior to that of the Dutch, ensured their progress in the tournament.

Blogs: We don’t need you Aussies | Dhoni’s Men in Blue are not in pink of health

London, June 07: Yuvraj Singh dazzled with the bat before Pragyan Ojha spun a web around Bangladesh as India thumped the minnows by 25 runs to begin their title defence with a bang in the Twenty20 World Cup at Trent Bridge on Saturday.

Ojha’s four-wicket haul in his maiden Twenty20 International broke Bangladesh’s back as the minnows finished at 155 for eight, a total they owe to Junaid Siddique (41) and Naeem Islam (28).

London, June 07: Yuvraj Singh dazzled with the bat before Pragyan Ojha spun a web around Bangladesh as India thumped the minnows by 25 runs to begin their title defence with a bang in the Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday.

Ojha’s four-wicket haul in his maiden Twenty20 International broke Bangladesh’s back as the minnows finished at 155 for eight, a total they owe to Junaid Siddique (41) and Naeem Islam (28).

Earlier, Gautam Gambhir (50) and Rohit Sharma (36) gave India a rollicking start but it was Yuvraj’s violent 18-ball 41 that propelled them to 180 for five in the Group A opener.

London, June 06: The Netherlands enjoyed their greatest day in international cricket as they stunningly beat hosts England by four wickets in the opening match of the ICC World Twenty20 at Lord’s on Friday.

Two off the last ball, which saw bowler Stuart Broad miss with a shy off the stumps, saw the Dutch home to a total of 163 for six in reply to England’s 162 for five.

England who had been 102 for one were made to pay for their failure to build on a superb opening stand by some enterprising Dutch batting led by a fine 49 from Tom de Grooth.

London, June 05: The team management clams up and the players have fingers on their lips. But reports about simmering tensions between Indian captain MS Dhoni and vice-captain Virender Sehwag are fast threatening to undermine India’s defence of the ICC World Twenty20, which begins on Friday.

Blog: Why Dhoni’s Men in Blue are not in pink of health

Rumour mills are abuzz that the two had an ugly faceoff during a team meeting, though it could not be independently confirmed if it was over the status of Sehwag’s shoulder injury.

Melbourne, June 05: Cricket Australia (CA) revealed controversial all-rounder Andrew Symonds had gone missing from the team hotel, prompting the management to throw him out of the Twenty20 World Cup squad for breach of discipline.

Blog: Why Dhoni’s Men in Blue are not in pink of health

Soon after the all-rounder was ordered home two days before the team’s opener against the West Indies following “alcohol-related incidents”, CA general manger of public affairs Peter Young provided partial detail about what exactly happened.

London, June 04: Rohit Sharma tore apart Pakistan’s bowling attack with a 80-run blitzkrieg as India bulldozed their arch-rivals by nine wickets with three overs to spare in their final warm-up match of the ICC World Twenty20 on Wednesday night.

Chasing 159, Rohit and Gautam Gambhir (52 not out) raised 140 runs in just 16 overs for the opening stand to slam the door on Pakistan and India cruised to 159 for one in 17 overs to complete a facile win.

London,May 29: Tired limbs, jaded minds and a tricky draw have toughened India’s path as Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men defend their World Twenty20 title in England next month.

The June 5-21 tournament is the latest event for Team India in a non-stop roadshow that began with a full tour of New Zealand in February-April before a five-week sojourn in South Africa for the Indian Premier League.

Dhoni’s team returned home for just three days after the IPL before setting off again for England to defend the title they won in the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007.

Hyderabad, May 28: Deccan Chargers, the winners of the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa, arrived here Wednesday night to a rousing welcome from fans.

The fans were, however, disappointed a bit as only three players – Tirumalsetti Suman, Harmeet Singh and Shoaib Ahmed – arrived at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

The crowd was hoping to catch a glimpse of captain Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs, R.P. Singh and Rohit Sharma, who played key roles in the team’s victory.

Karachi, May 27: Former Test player Sanjay Manjrekar put his money on defending champions India but pace great Wasim Akram reckons Pakistan, mostly bereft of international cricket, would be hungry for success in next month`s ICC World Twenty20 in England.

Manjrekar had no doubt that Mahendra Singh Dhoni would lead the most formidable squad to try and defend the title they won in 2007 even though he was candid enough to admit it doesn’t necessarily mean they would win the title again.

Johannesburg, May 25: Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds led the Deccan Chargers to a six-run victory over the Bangalore Royal Challengers in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 final at the Wanderers.

Symonds, who has not been included in the Australia team to defend the Ashes in England this year, boosted the Chargers’ innings with 33 from 21 balls.

South Africa one-day opener Herschelle Gibbs batted through the innings to score 53 not out in the Chargers’ 143 for six.

Durban, May 24: After 36 days of scintillating action and 58 dazzling encounters, the penultimate stage of the Indian Premier League (IPL) could not have been more exciting as the two bottom-placed teams of the inaugural edition Deccan Chargers and Bangalore Royal Challengers made it to Sunday’s title clash.

Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers have risen like a phoenix from the ashes of the inaugural season, where they respectively finished seventh and eighth in the tournament, and have been a revelation in South Africa.

Paris: India’s Sania Mirza has been drawn to play Kazakhstan’s Galina Voskoboeva in her opening round of the French Open.

The two players have met only once, in hard courts of San Diego in 2005, where Sania currently, ranked 91, beat Voskoboeva, ranked 95.

However, the winner between the two, in the next round is likely to meet seventh-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova who has got an easy opponent in local girl Claire Feuerstein, according to the draw released here today.

Johanesburg, May 19: With his side having qualified for the knock-out stage without himself not contributing much with the bat, Delhi Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag now wants to get among the runs ahead of the semi-finals of the IPL.

“We did not get to a good start as I and Gautam (Gambhir) got out early. But AB de Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan batted really well to take us to 150,” Sehwag said after his side’s 14-run victory over Rajasthan Royals yesterday.

Virender Sehwag walks back after making just two against the Rajasthan Royals in Bloemfontein yesterday.

Cape Town, May 04: RP Singh, who has been recalled to the India side for the World Twenty20 after being out of the India team for nearly seven months, has said he would like to take the new ball on his comeback in June. Forced out by a loss of form in subcontinent conditions, and kept there by shoulder and hamstring injuries, RP has bounced back during the IPL with commanding spells in both the Powerplays and the death overs.

Durban, April 04: Captain Ricky Ponting hailed the return to form of Mike Hussey as Australia gained a crushing 141-run win over South Africa in the first One-Day International at Kingsmead on Friday.

Hussey hit 83 not out as Australia piled up 286 for seven. South Africa were bowled out for 145 in the opening encounter of a five-match series.

“It’s been a difficult few months for him,” Ponting said of Hussey, who scored only 132 runs at an average of 22 in a three-match Test series and was out for a duck in a Twenty20 international.

New Delhi, March 25: Kolkata Knight Riders coach John Buchanan has dropped Sourav Ganguly as captain of the IPL team for the Twenty20 tournament to be held in South Africa from April 18 next month.

The team will have four captains, team coach John Buchanan announced on Wednesday in Kolkata.

Times Now had reported on Tuesday of a rift between the coach and the captain and that Buchanan wanted Dada to be axed as captain.

Buchanan had expressed favour of a rotating captaincy in a match.

Johannesburg, March 25: Weather and proximity to India were the decisive factors in South Africa edging past England as hosts of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which has now been shortened to five weeks starting April 18. IPL commissioner Lalit Modi and Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief Gerald Majola in a joint press conference confirmed that the second edition of the Twenty20 league, which was moved out of India because of security reasons, will be held in six venues in South Africa.

The venues include Durban, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Pretoria, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.

Johanesburg, March 25: The decision to move the India Premier League 2009 to South Africa was “one of the hardest decisions that the BCCI ( Board of Control for Cricket in India) has ever had to take”, Lalit Modi, chairman and commissioner of the IPL, told a press conference in Johannesburg as he jointly announced the decision with Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola.

“But I am equally confident that staging it here will be a massive success for us,” Modi said on Tuesday evening.