WI Thrill win beat India by 1 Wickets

West Indies scrambled to a 1-wicket win with 14 balls to spare over India in the second match of the Celkon Mobile Cup Tri-Nation ODI Series.

Birthday boy Kemar Roach and last man Tino Best ensured the West Indies did not complete their own obliteration, turning in match saving performances. The home side had to reply to the World Cup and Champions Trophy holders' Indian team total of 229 for 7.

They tottered from the comfort of 142 for 3 in the 28th over via a rash of irresponsible shots, even with Johnson Charles battling to hold the innings together. However the opening batsman joined the apparent suicide pact: he was 8 out for 97 and when Sunil Narine also gifted his wicket at 220 for 9.

It was left to the Barbadian fast bowling pair of Roach on his 25th birthday and Best to see the West Indies home amid in a nail-biting finish. India was deprived of the calming influence of M S Dhoni in the field after the captain was hobble while batting by a suspected right hamstring strain.

But, under the supervision of Kohli, the visitors refused to give up, even when Charles and Darren Bravo (55) appeared to be tilting the balance decisively the home team's way. Their 4th-wicket partnership of 116 lifted the Caribbean side from the early discomfort of 26 for 3.

Umesh Yadav, who removed the dangerous Gayle and Devon Smith in his opening burst, added the main wicket of Charles to keep his team's hopes alive in the match. He finished with the best figures of 3 for 43.West Indies were themselves without their regular captain throughout the match.

Score Details
 
India- 229/7 (50)
 
Highest Score
R Sharma -60(89)
S Raina -44(55)

Best Bowling
K Roach, T Best, D Sammy Each 2 Wickets

West Indies- 230/9 (47.4)
 
Highest Score
J Charles -97(100)
D Bravo -55(78)

Best Bowling
U Yadav-3(43)

Player of the match

J Charles (WI)

Tri Series WI Won by 6 Wickets against SL

Gayle notched his 1st one-day hundred against Sri Lanka as he led West Indies to a crushing 6-wicket win with more than 12 overs to spare in the opening match of the tri-nation international series.

Replying to the visitors' modest total of 208 all out off 48.3 overs, the hard-hitting opening batsman delighted his fellow Jamaicans with another main effort on the way to his 21st ODI century. His 109 came off 100 deliveries and was embellished with 7 sixes and 9 fours. That pushed his team on to 209 for four off 37.5 overs and they earned a bonus point as well for reaching their target before the conclusion of the 40th over.

Earlier, Sunil Narine returned to his miserly, wicket-taking best, snaring 4 / 40 as Sri Lanka faltered after a dishonestly bright start to be dismissed for 208.

He had an instant impact on the match when he came on in the 18th over, removed the prolific and experienced pair of Mahela Jayawardene (52) and Kumar Sangakkara (17) in his 1st 3 overs to immediately put the brake on what had been a promising start by the Sri Lankans.

Jayawardene was at his fluent best, dominating an opening partnership of 62 with Upul Tharanga before they were separated by Bravo. In contrast, Sangakkara never really got going and the West Indies were reasonably delighted when he pushed a straightforward catch to Pollard at cover.

Ravi Rampaul backed up the spinner's effort with 3 wickets and it was left to Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews to hold the innings together following the demise of the 3 big hitters, his unbeaten 55 being the top score as he capitalized on an early bit of luck when put down by Gayle off the bowling of pacer Kemar Roach.

Speaking after the match, Mathews acknowledged that with Chris Gayle in such a mood, his team's total was never going to be enough. We needed early on wickets and that did not happen, he lamented. And when Chris Gayle is in that sort of mind-set, no bowling attack in the world can stop and no target is too much.

Score Details

Sri Lanka: 208/10 (48.3)
A Mathews (C)-55(77)
M Jayawardena –52(52)

Best Bowling
S Narine-4(40)
R Rampaul-3(38)

West Indies: 209/4 (37.5)
C Gayle -109(100)
J Charles -29(58)

Men of the match-C Gayle (WI)

Pietersen given some tips to help level T20 series

England stand-in captain Eoin Morgan is backing Kevin Pietersen to help turn around his side's fortunes in the 2nd Twenty20 international against New Zealand.

2 days after losing the Champions Trophy final to India England were back in action at the Oval on Tuesday in the first of 2 matches, falling 5 runs short of New Zealand imposing total of 201 for 4. Pietersen is expected to return to the England team for the 1st time since March, when he was forced out of the tour of New Zealand with a knee injury. 

He returned to the crease for Surrey on Sunday, beating an unbeaten 177 against Yorkshire in the Country Championship, and is expected to be available for the 2nd Twenty20 match on Thursday, also at the Oval. Kevin is a huge part of English cricket and has been for a long time, Morgan, skipper in place of the rested Stuart Broad, told the England and Wales Cricket Board website.

What he brings to the table, probably especially few people at the world can. He can take the game away from you at any stage and we saw during the week the way he performed. He takes a lot of pride in when he goes out there and bats. He looks in well form. It’s a very relaxed situation that we have going on at the moment and with any luck he will come in and do well.

Pietersen return will also give England a boost ahead of the Ashes series against Australia starting at Trent Bridge on July 10.

Australia, who sack their coach Mickey Arthur on Monday and failed to reach the Champions Trophy semi-finals, starts the 1st of 2 tour matches against Somerset on Wednesday.

BCCI use Pak player fixing video

Spot-fixing under the scanner in India, the cricket Board is showing video clips of the scandal involving young Pakistan Player Mohammad Aamer to educate its under-19 and under-25 players against declining prey to corrupt practice. The Board is educating the U-25 boys at their off-season National Cricket Academy camp in Mysore. 

The programmed designed by the Anti-Corruption and safety Unit includes video clips from the well-known Lord's Test of 2010. Pakistan pace bowler Aamer, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif were found responsible of spot-fixing in that match and were excluded by the ICC and subsequently sentenced to jail.

We were told how Aamer committed the crime and how he was lured into committing the deed, said a player who attend the lecture. The ASCU official spoke about how these cricketers were approach by certain persons and how one need to avoid such people.

According to a top BCCI official, with the players being groomed for senior cricket, the board wants to educate them at the junior level itself. Aamer was just 18 years old when he was caught in the fixing scandal.

This is not the 1st time the BCCI has used a Pakistan player as example. During the domestic T20 league in 2012 players were shown a knowledge video made by the ICC in which Aamer talks about the ills of fixing. However, it failed to make an impact as the arrest of the three Rajasthan Royals players on spot-fixing charges shows.

India another Big win Series3-0

Australia resisted like a girl with an attitude, but gave in finally to a relentless suitor as India won the 3rd Test by 6 wickets to go 3-0 up in the series. The 4th and last match will be played in New Delhi from March 22 when India will attempt to win 4 Tests in a series forth first time in their history.

A target of 133 in a minimum of 27 overs, India hit the Promised Land for the loss of Murali Vijay -26, Cheteshwar Pujara -28 and Virat Kohli -34 and Sachin Tendulkar -21. For a brief while it appears that Australia may confine India to a draw. Thirty were needed in 56 balls when Kohliflicked Peter Siddle to short mid-wicket.

Tendulkar and MS Dhoni played through a phase of quiet as the requirement escalated, and the master’s sharp run-out by David Warner gave Australia another look-in to enforce a draw. But Ravindra Jadeja walked in to cream boundaries against Siddle; setting an example for his skipper to follow Dhoni decided things with 3 fours off Mitchell Starc and then uproots a stump as a souvenir.

The win at Mohali was mainly set up by Shikhar Dhawan blazing 187 on debut that was scored across 2 sessions on Saturday and made up for the time lost on account of the 1st-day washout. Dhawan was named Man of the Match, but did not come out to bat on Monday as he has injured his hand while fielding. India was also served well by Jadeja left-arm spin, which claimed 6 wickets - 3 in each innings - in the match. Jadeja has dismissed Michael Clarke 5 times in this series.

Australia Big fight

Australia was effectively 79 for 8 at lunch, with 52 overs remaining, and was rescued by two stubborn alliances: 36 in 16.1 overs between Starc and Haddin, and 44 in 18 overs between Starc and Xavier Doherty for the last wicket. Ravichandran Ashwin deceived Haddin with a ‘carom’ ball without delay after lunch.

Starc and Doherty stretched the lead to 132 before the 1st innings scorer of 99 was done in by Jadeja for 35. This meant that India had 90 minutes plus a minimum of 15 mandatory overs to reach the target. The hosts got there, not in a tearing hurry, but well within the time fixed, and will head to Delhi soaring on a first-time 3-0 cushion over Australia.

Earlier, Australia resumed in the morning 3 down on 75, sixteen ahead, and was all out for 223 mid-ways into the second session. They suffered the first jolt when Nathan Lyon edged Pragyan Ojha to Dhoni. Australia spasm-wreaked captain, Clarke, lasted for 49 deliveries before Jadeja dismissed him for the 5th time this series – via an inside-edged bat-pad that was gobbled up by Pujara at short-leg.

The next dismissal was rather unfortunate. Phil Hughes -69 who had infinitely multiply his series gains in the course of one attacking knock, was given out ‘lbw’ to Ashwin when the delivery seemed likely to miss leg-stump. All-rounder Moises Henriques -2 lasted ten balls before Jadeja flung himself to his left to accept a blinding return-catch. Siddle had his off-stump knocked back by Ojha, clearing the way for Haddin and Starc to delay the inevitable.

Score Details

Australia First Innings-408/10

Highest Score

Mitchell Starc -99(144)

Steven Smith -92(185)

Ed Cowan -86(238)

Best Bowling India

Ishant Sharma (72/3), Ravindra Jadeja (77/3)

India 1st Innings-499/10

Highest Score

Shikhar Dhawan –187(174)

Murali Vijay -153(317)

Virat Kohli -67(129)

Best Bowling Australia

Peter Siddle-5/71

Australia 2nd Innings223/10

Best Bowling India

Bhuvneshwar Kumar-3/31

Ravindra Jadeja-3/35

India 2nd Innings 136/4

Men of the Match

Shikhar Dhawan

Sehwag dropped last 2 Tests against Australia

Virender Sehwag has been dropped from India Test squad side for the 1st time since he made an emphatic comeback to the long format with a century in Adelaide in 2008-09. That, by the by, remains his last century outside Asia. No substitute has been named for Sehwag for the remaining 2 Tests of the series against Australia, which makes Shikhar Dhawan a favorite to open in the Mohali Test starting on March 14.

The 2remaining Tests of the current series, which India lead 2-0, are the last ones they are scheduled to play before they go on four continuous overseas tours beginning with South Africa later this year (2013). 

In his first reaction, Sehwag - who had been dropped from the ODI side for the series against England in January - tweeted: Will continue to work hard for my place in the team. I trust my game and am sure that, 'I'll be back.' Best wishes to the team. 

Since his comeback, Sehwag performance outside Asia might have been doubtful, but he kept his place in the side with typically dazzling match-winning knocks on the lower and slower tracks. Since Adelaide, Sehwag has scored just 523 runs in 12 Tests, at an average of 22.73 with a highest of 67. In Asia, though, over the same period he has total 3622 runs at 57.49, at a game-changing strike rate of 94.1. 

However, over the last 2 years, the big innings began to dry up still in Asia. After his 173 against New Zealand in Ahmadabad in November 2010, he had to wait more than 2 years for another Test century. In November 2012, Sehwag earn another lease of life with a typical century against England again in Ahmadabad but, between then and being dropped, he has had scores of (25, 30, 9, 23, 49, 0, 2, 19 and 6). 

This is a big fall for India's most prolific chance combination in Tests: Gautam Gambhir was dropped before the start of the Australia after 3 years without a Test century. Now India is possibly looking at a raw opening grouping going into South Africa. 

Not even naming a replacement opener is a big statement made by selectors who don't seem to have other option available but have still gone ahead and omitted him. Dhawan, his Delhi team-mate, is now a front-runner for Mohali, but Ajinkya Rahane can't be ruled out either. Sandeep Patil, the chairman of selectors, did say before the start of the England series that Rahane was selected as a middle-order batsman, but the Indian team management has been flexible and doesn't always stick to statement made in the press.

India won Innings and a day Series 2-0

HYDERABAD: Even India wouldn’t have dreamed of an end so terse. A couple of hours into the opening session on the 4th day of the second Test, all hopes of a typical Australia fight back vaporized like acetone on warm skin. India ran away winners by an innings and 135 runs, having needed just 35 overs on Tuesday to take the 8 wickets that stood between them and a 2-0 lead in the 4-match series.

 

The victory took MS Dhoni past Sourav Ganguly as India most successful Test M.S.Dhoni presents captain: 22 wins in 45 matches, and Ganguly’s 21 in 49. For Australia, the statistics were less kind. They became the 1st team ever to lose by an innings after declaring their first innings closed.

Cheteshwar Pujara was named player of the Match for his 1st innings 204, his s2nd Test double hundred. India was also served well by Murali Vijay's 167 runs in the first essay.

Resuming on 74/2, the visitors collapsed like a badly baked cake to 131 all out. The central figures were again India spinners although Australia batsmen displayed very little intent in prolonging their stays in the middle. Ravichandran Ashwin (5-63) and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (3-33) did the most of the damage. 

Well Bowling
 

Jadeja opened the bowling with Ishant Sharma and turned in 18 overs on the trot, his haul with the prized scalp of Michael Clarke (16) done in with a delectable away turner that slip side past the Aussie captain’s defenced and took out off stump. Although Clarke dismissal portended the shape of things to come, the going was sorry for his team right from the get-go.

Overnight batsman Shane Watson (10) became Ishant first victim of the match - his first, indeed, in the last 3 matches – in the 3rd over of the morning. The all-rounder, playing purely as a batsman here, was out chasing easy runs, patting a delivery down the leg-side to Dhoni behind wicket.

A sequence of rued chances followed. Ed Cowan, who had also resumed overnight, was missed on 31 by substitute Shikhar Dhawan at short leg, off the bowling of Jadeja. Clarke too survive a vociferous appeal for a catch down the leg-side against Ishant, and responded by going inside-out for six against the left-arm spinner in the next over.

Spineless batting
 

the writing was now on the wall. Clarke was out to a Jadeja beauty, the kind that undid Moises Henrique’s in the 1st innings and Cowan, who was dropped again (44) by Dhawan at forward short-leg, finally ran out of luck. The left-handed opener went for the cut against Jadeja the resultant edge ricocheted off Dhoni’s pads and was pouched alertly by Virender Sehwag at slip. Jadeja next ran out Moises Henrique’s (0) with a direct hit from short cover.

IPL millionaire Glenn Maxwell (8) was trapped lbw off an Ashwin carom ball. Peter Siddle (4) departed to a mirror image of Cowan dismissal, the edge taken by Sehwag after it lobbed up from M.S.Dhoni pads. Mathew Wade and James Pattinson became Ashwin fourth and fifth victims in that order, the latter wicket ending things devastatingly in the home team’s favour.

India vs Australia 2nd test series score Details

Australia 1st Innings-237/9 Dec
 
Highest Score
M.Clarke-91(186) and Matthew Wade-62(144)

Highest Wicket(Ind)
Bhuvneshwar Kumar-3(53) and R.Jadeja-3(33)

India 1st Innings Score-503/10

Highest Score
C.Pujara-204(341) and M.Vijay-167(361)

Highest Wicket(Aus)
Glenn Maxwell-4(127) and Xavier Doherty-3(131)

2nd Innings
Australia-131/10

Highest Wickets
R.Ashwin-5 (63) and 3 (33)