India will be without the services of opening batsman Gautam Gambhir, who will be attending his sister's wedding, for the third Test against Sri Lanka in Mumbai. Gambhir has been in prime form in this series with centuries in each of the two Tests.
Gambhir's spot is likely to be taken by M Vijay, the Tamil Nadu opener. Vijay made his debut against Australia in Nagpur last year, when Gambhir was banned for a Test for an altercation with Shane Watson. The rest of the squad, which was initially picked for the first two Tests, has been retained with no additional replacements. The final Test of the series begins at the Brabourne Stadium on December 2.
India squad for third Test: MS Dhoni (capt),Virender Sehwag Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, , Amit Mishra, Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma, M Vijay, S Badrinath.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Cyclone alert could affect Mumbai's cricket schedule
A cyclone forming over the Arabian Sea near Mumbai and continuous heavy rains in the city over the past 24 hours have threatened the seventh and final ODI between India and Australia, scheduled to be held there on Wednesday. Cyclone Phyan is expected to hit the coast later on Wednesday and, though Mumbai is not expected to be in its direct path, weather conditions in the city have already deteriorated.
The city municipal corporation has sent out a public SMS advising citizens to stay indoors and extended to 5 p.m. the cyclone warning it issued yesterday.
A PTI report said the DY Patil Stadium, the venue of Wednesday's game, was a pool of water. However, the teams are expected to reach the ground by 2 p.m. and the match has a cut-off time of 5 p.m. - if there's no play by then, it will be called off.
Two other top-level matches in the city have already been affected; the first day's play of Sri Lanka's tour game against the Board President's XI has been washed out and the Ranji game between Mumbai and Orissa is yet to see a ball being bowled into the second day.
India's match-eve practice session was also called off on Tuesday, though the Australians managed theirs in the morning.
The Indian Metereological Department issued an alert for the coastal regions of south Gujarat and north Maharashtra. Weather scientists have been tracking a deep depression formed in the south east and adjoining central Arabian Sea, which was last moving in the northwest direction and to hit south Gujarat.
"The system is likely to intensify further into a cyclonic storm and move in a northerly direction for some more time and then north-northeastwards and cross south Gujarat and north Maharashtra coast between Mahuva and Dahanu by early hours of November 12," the alert issued by the IMD said.
The city municipal corporation has sent out a public SMS advising citizens to stay indoors and extended to 5 p.m. the cyclone warning it issued yesterday.
A PTI report said the DY Patil Stadium, the venue of Wednesday's game, was a pool of water. However, the teams are expected to reach the ground by 2 p.m. and the match has a cut-off time of 5 p.m. - if there's no play by then, it will be called off.
Two other top-level matches in the city have already been affected; the first day's play of Sri Lanka's tour game against the Board President's XI has been washed out and the Ranji game between Mumbai and Orissa is yet to see a ball being bowled into the second day.
India's match-eve practice session was also called off on Tuesday, though the Australians managed theirs in the morning.
The Indian Metereological Department issued an alert for the coastal regions of south Gujarat and north Maharashtra. Weather scientists have been tracking a deep depression formed in the south east and adjoining central Arabian Sea, which was last moving in the northwest direction and to hit south Gujarat.
"The system is likely to intensify further into a cyclonic storm and move in a northerly direction for some more time and then north-northeastwards and cross south Gujarat and north Maharashtra coast between Mahuva and Dahanu by early hours of November 12," the alert issued by the IMD said.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
One Of My Best-Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar has rated his dazzling 141-ball 175 in the fifth one-dayer against Australia as "one of his best" innings. While orchestrating a stiff chase of 351, Tendulkar looked on course to break the record for the highest individual score in an ODI innings but was undone by a slower ball from debutant Clint McKay in the 48th over, after which India ended four runs short.
"It was one of my best innings, I was striking the ball very well and we were chasing 351 so there was constant pressure," Tendulkar said. "We maintained the run rate and brought the game close, but in the end it was very disappointing."
After sliding to 162 for 4, India were put back on track for what would have been the second highest target achieved in one-dayers by a 137-run stand between Tendulkar and Suresh Raina. India were favourites after 42 overs, needing only 52 runs with a Powerplay still in hand and Raina and Tendulkar in top gear. However, a combination of clever bowling and tigerish fielding from Australia, and some inept running from India handed the visitors a 3-2 series lead.
One bright spot for Tendulkar was that on 7, he became the first to reach the 17,000-run mark in one-dayers. When asked how he stayed motivated over the course of an international career which is days short of being two decades long, he said: "The passion - I care about playing for India. It's always been a dream and I'm absolutely honoured that I've been able to do that for the past 20 years."
Sourav Ganguly, with whom Tendulkar formed the most prolific opening partnership in one-dayers, lauded Tendulkar for reaching the milestone and hoped there was more to come. "It's really a remarkable achievement", Ganguly said. "I wish he scores another 2000 runs by 2011 World Cup. Sachin knows best how to accumulate runs. Once he gets going he becomes unstoppable."
"It was one of my best innings, I was striking the ball very well and we were chasing 351 so there was constant pressure," Tendulkar said. "We maintained the run rate and brought the game close, but in the end it was very disappointing."
After sliding to 162 for 4, India were put back on track for what would have been the second highest target achieved in one-dayers by a 137-run stand between Tendulkar and Suresh Raina. India were favourites after 42 overs, needing only 52 runs with a Powerplay still in hand and Raina and Tendulkar in top gear. However, a combination of clever bowling and tigerish fielding from Australia, and some inept running from India handed the visitors a 3-2 series lead.
One bright spot for Tendulkar was that on 7, he became the first to reach the 17,000-run mark in one-dayers. When asked how he stayed motivated over the course of an international career which is days short of being two decades long, he said: "The passion - I care about playing for India. It's always been a dream and I'm absolutely honoured that I've been able to do that for the past 20 years."
Sourav Ganguly, with whom Tendulkar formed the most prolific opening partnership in one-dayers, lauded Tendulkar for reaching the milestone and hoped there was more to come. "It's really a remarkable achievement", Ganguly said. "I wish he scores another 2000 runs by 2011 World Cup. Sachin knows best how to accumulate runs. Once he gets going he becomes unstoppable."
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