Cricket

NEW DELHI: Sachin is Sachin, the real Bharat Ratna, says the great singer Lata Mangeshkar. Congratulating Sachin on his hitting his 50th Test century, his avid fan says her blessings are always with the 'little master'. "Sachin treats me like his mother and I always pray for her like a mother. I can never forget the day when he called me 'aai '(mother) for the first time. I had never imagined that. It was pleasant surprise for me and I feel blessed to have a son like him," Lata said. "Sachin celebrates his birthday on April 24 which is also my father's (Dinanath Mangeshkar) death anniversary. We never get a chance to meet on that day. On one occasion we had met on April 23rd," she says. She recalls an incident when journalists asked Sachin about his feeling for her to which his reply was "what could one think about his mother". For the 81-year-old Bharat Ratna winner, Sachin is really an ideal son. "I always pray f...

DURBAN: Mahendra Singh Dhoni conceded that even though they devised a few plans for the South African batsmen, it didn't work out well. The Indian bowlers were plundered for 620 runs at the Centurion and they managed to dismiss only four South African batsmen. "It was difficult because there was not much help from the wicket. We don't have bowlers with express pace. They don't bowl in 140s so they have to be even more precise with their line and length," Dhoni tried to defend the pace trio of S Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma and rookie Jaydev Unadkat. "We tried different fields. We tried to contain them but were unsuccessful for the better part of their innings," the Indian captain said. When asked whether Zaheer Khan's absence made a big difference in the first Test, he said, "It's not that whenever Zaheer plays, he gets wickets. But with the amount of experience in his repertoire, he always has a back-up plan ready in case the first ...

Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar, along with Virender Sehwag, on Wednesday found a place in the list of players nominated for an ICC online poll to pick the all-time greatest team as part of one-day cricket's 40th anniversary celebrations. The retired Sourav Ganguly is also part of the list of openers, from which only two would make the final dream team. In the nominees for the Greatest ODI team of all time, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the lone Indian in the list of wicketkeepers. However, no Indian has found a place in the list of middle-order batsmen and fast bowlers, while the legendary Kapil Dev has found a mention in the all-rounders' nomination. Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh have made the list of spinners shortlisted for the dream team.

Mumbai  has produced several record-breaking batsmen, found  another child prodigy when Armaan Jaffer, nephew of Ranji Trophy captain and former India opener Wasim, compiled the highest-ever score of 498 in school cricket history. Armaan, playing for Bandra school Rizvi Springfield against Raja Shivaji of Dadar, struck as many as 77 fours in 490 balls at the Karnatak Sports Association ground at Cross Maidan in South Mumbai before he was caught behind two short of a well-deserved 500. Incidentally Armaan's 498 also bettered the record set last year of 439 by Sarfraz Khan in the Harris (under 16) Shield inter-schools tournament. Armaan, who was 295 not out last evening, later said Sachin Tendulkar, who had created the world record school-level partnership of 664 with Vinod Kambli in the Harris Shield, was his idol. "Sachin Tendulkar is my idol. I was not looking to set records but wanted to bat as long as possible," he said after his marathon knock lasting more t...