Cricket

West Indies captain Darren Sammy has said his team has the self-belief to go all the way and lift the ICC World Twenty20 title in Sri Lanka, starting later this month. Sammy said he was touched by the support from the fans and urged them to continue showing faith in the team. "This is a huge tournament for the team and the fans as well, so we will go to Sri Lanka and give it all we've got," Sammy said before the team's departure for Sri Lanka. "We believe we can win, but it will be hard, tough work. Once we play together and continue to get the backing of the fans, we know we can lift the title." The squad had been training at the High Performance Centre in Barbados for nine days. The World T20 will be the team's first international assignment after the home series against New Zealand. "The camp went very well and we are all in the right frame of mind," Sammy said. "We will head off to Sri Lanka believing in ourselves and belie...

Mohammad Hafeez, Pakistan's new Twenty20 captain, has said there was no excuse for his team not chasing 132 in the first match against Sri Lanka, despite them returning to the international circuit after a two-month layoff. Hafeez made an encouraging start to his new role by restricting the hosts' strong batting line-up, but his first-ball duck was the start of Pakistan's slide. After the defeat in his maiden game as captain, Hafeez was philosophical, admitting that Pakistan were beaten by a better team. He said the pitch was difficult to bat on, but didn't offer that as an excuse for his side crumbling to 95. He didn't attribute the loss to Pakistan's lack of match practice over the last couple of months either. Pakistan had the upper hand at the start thanks to Sohail Tanvir's incisive new-ball spell and some poor shot selection. Sri Lanka were struggling 96 for 7 at one stage but Thisara Perera's late 32 converted a paltry score to a match-winning...

Port of Spain (West Indies), Apr 13: Australian captain Michael Clarke has stressed on the need of starting better in the second Test match against the West Indies at Port of Spain, and believes his players needs to pull up their socks. Clarke specifically pointed out Australia’s poor fielding performance, which saw them drop a total of seven catches in both Windies innings, and said no top team can afford to do that. Australia won the Barbados Test match after looking dead and buried for the first three days of play, but they eventually sealed a victory in fading light as they chased down 192 on the final day. Clarke also rued the fact that none of his batsman went on to score a century in the match, and has urged his boys to start strongly in the second Test match. “We need to continue to learn about the conditions here and make sure we start better, whether that be with bat or ball in Trinidad,” The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Clarke, as saying. “But on good wickets again...

West Indies 75 for 3 (Bravo 22*, Chanderpaul 17*, Ishant 2-23) v India Steady rain blighted a promising start under clear skies and bright sunshine in the first ever Test in Dominica - the 106th Test venue - to reduce the opening day to just 31.1 overs. In that time, India had made good use of their only opportunity to bowl first this series, removing three top-order batsmen on a good batting track. India's decision to bowl was prompted by the moisture in the pitch, but it didn't play a significant role; instead the seamers were persistent against the inexperienced batting that included two debutants. Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Darren Bravo then added 40 runs in a rebuilding effort before the rain swooped in. It was a day of landmarks for West Indies today: Chanderpaul became the most-capped West Indies Test cricketer, overtaking Courtney Walsh, and he fittingly handed out the maroon caps to the two debutants, Kieran Powell and Kirk Edwards. There was wobbly swing for Praveen...

Struggling West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan has been dropped for the third and final Test against India in Dominica. Kieran Powell, a 21-year-old batsman from Leeward Islands, has been named as his replacement. Sarwan, 31, back in the Test side for the ongoing home season after nearly one-and-a-half years out, has struggled for form right through, starting with the Pakistan Tests. He managed only 54 runs in four innings against Pakistan, and his form nosedived further in the series against India, where he managed only 29 runs over the first two Tests. Sarwan seemed to have been informed of his axing soon after the second Test in Barbados. An hour after bad light ensured a draw, Sarwan tweeted: "Wishing the guys all the best in Dominica! Miami here I come." Warner Park in Dominica is the venue for the third Test.

Kris Srikkanth, chairman of the Indian selection committee, has backed Yuvraj Singh to come good in Test cricket. Despite being a fixture in India's limited-overs plans for many years, Yuvraj has not managed to seal a permanent Test spot, but has forced his way back into the squad for England on the back of his starring role in the World Cup. "We all know that Yuvraj has quality," Srikkanth told the Indian Express . "Yes, I agree that he has so far failed to carry forward his ODI form into Test cricket. But he still has many years of cricket left in him. If he can cement his place in the Test squad, then that will surely augur well for Indian cricket."

Delhi finally feels like home for Delhi Daredevils. With players such as Virender Sehwag, David Warner and Morne Morkel in the side, they had been frustrated by lifeless home tracks that made stroke-play and pace bowling difficult. Before this game Sehwag demanded pace, and then in the company of Warner showed just why. They added 146 for the first wicket in 11.4 overs, an ideal platform for a comfortable win despite an equally remarkable innings by Shaun Marsh, and despite the continuing good luck of Kings XI Punjab's openers who were both dropped on nought. With the ball coming on well on this green pitch, Warner and Sehwag let the bowlers feel their wrath. They were like beasts who had been uncaged after years of confinement, gorging on anything remotely loose. It is a scary thought to imagine what Sehwag would have managed had he not got out for 77 off 35, trying a fourth successive six off the fourth delivery of a David Hussey over. Sehwag even dived into his cr...

Chris Gayle has arrived. He smashed his way to his first IPL century, the second-fastest in this edition of the competition, and was the architect of Bangalore's victory over his former team, Kolkata. Gayle formed powerful partnerships with Tillakaratne Dilshan and Virat Kohli as Bangalore were untroubled in their chase of 172, winning by nine wickets. The pitch was proving to be tricky for the quicks and Kolkata opted to start with a spinner after having posted 171. Yusuf Pathan, who was battling a knee niggle, opened the bowling. After three good deliveries, Yusuf strayed on the leg stump and Dilshan cashed in with four through square leg. With that, the flood gates were opened. In the fourth over, Gayle had scored just three singles - while Dilshan had notched up 19 - when he was offered a full toss. He drove it down past the non-striker for the first of his 17 boundaries. It didn't matter what Bangalore tried after that. Jaidev Unadkat was dispatched with ...

Don't shake Paul Valthaty 's hand any time soon. You might just turn to gold. He followed up his century in Kings XI Punjab's previous game by surprising everybody with his split-finger slower balls, in the Dilhara Fernando mould, taking 4 for 29, the best figures by any Punjab bowler, and then - with a 47-ball 75 - made a mockery of a target he had himself kept down to 165. The turnaround for Punjab began with a good piece of fielding, and then a fortuitous lob off what should have been a leg-side wide. Until then Kumar Sangakkara and Shikhar Dhawan had put up a fine display of driving in a 75-run second-wicket stand, Deccan's best for any wicket this season, but both fell within three runs to send the hosts into rebuild mode for the best part of the second half of their innings. Deccan Chargers had reached 88 for 1 in the 11th over, and the set batsmen were just looking to open up further when a diving Shaun Marsh at extra cover made sure Sangakkara st...

Kolkata Knight Riders won by nine wickets and with nine deliveries to spare. It shouldn't have been that easy but Gautam Gambhir and Jacques Kallis starred in a supremely well-paced chase as Kolkata successfully hunted down a potentially tough 160-run target on a sluggish track in Jaipur. The first game-seizing moment of the chase came in the sixth over, bowled by Amit Singh. Kolkata were 44 for 1 from five overs and it was obvious that they had to fully utilise the new ball and the Powerplay on this slow track. It was an over that could have tilted the game either way: Amit tried to keep it tight, Gambhir took risks, two shots eluded palms of fielders in the off side but not by much, and Gambhir looted 18 runs. He flat-batted the first ball past the diving Ross Taylor at extra cover, slashed the third past the diving Abhishek Raut at point, glanced the fourth to fine-leg, and crashed the final delivery over mid-off. The second turning point was Gambhir's cont...

Two weeks ago, the crowd at the Wankhede was delirious though a fervently anticipated Sachin Tendulkar century didn't materialise. On Friday, the same crowd went home dejected despite Tendulkar crafting his first Twenty20 century, as Kochi Tuskers Kerala busted their party with one of the most memorable chases in IPL history. Two of the world's finest Twenty20 batsmen, Brendon McCullum and Mahela Jayawardene, constructed chalk-and-cheese half-centuries to power Kochi's pursuit of 183. Both perished to Lasith Malinga's deadly deliveries but Kochi, who had stumbled in the final stretch of their first two games, didn't slip up this time as Ravindra Jadeja and Brad Hodge muscled boundaries to finish the game with an over to spare. Tendulkar's effort checked off another item on his ever-shrinking to-do list, and Mumbai ran up a tall total without needing contributions from Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds and Kieron Pollard. It was then assumed that the bowl...

The IPL's northernmost franchise found a hero with roots in the south, as Paul Valthaty stunned Chennai Super Kings to clinch a maiden win for Kings XI Punjab this season after a disappointing performance in their opening game. Valthaty was a surprise promotion to the opening slot, instead of the regular Shaun Marsh, and he answered the call with a blistering start, keeping his team on par with the required-rate in the middle overs and surging again at the death to complete victory after achieving a spectacular century. At 27, with just one List A game and 13 Twenty20 matches, Valthaty had been on the sidelines of the Mumbai team on India's domestic circuit. His previous highest in the IPL was 6, but whatever he must have done at the practice sessions ahead of this game sparked a potentially career-changing turn of events. Punjab had been deflated at the end of the Chennai innings, after they had squandered the perfect start of two wickets off the first two ball...

Sachin Tendulkar added one more to his already bulging cap of feathers when he was named Wisden's leading cricketer in the world for 2010. Tendulkar enjoyed what was even by his standards an outstanding year in 2010, hitting over 1500 Test runs with 7 hundreds. He also went past the previously unthinkable mark of 50 Test match hundreds in 2010. In ODIs, he became the first batsman to hit the 200-run mark, doing it against the might of the South African attack. The master batsman, who began this month with what he described as his proudest moment when he helped India win the World Cup on his home ground in Mumbai, is the seventh recipient of the Wisden award. Unlike the winners of Wisden's coveted five cricketers of the year, it is possible to be named the world's best in the almanack more than once - and Tendulkar made it an Indian hat-trick, after Test opener Virender Sehwag took the honour in each of the last two years. Tendulkar's citation concludes:...

  Shane Watson hits 15 sixes in an ODI Shane Watson knocked Bangladesh's bowlers senseless with a world record tally of sixes as the Australians galloped to a nine-wicket victory in the second limited overs match in Mirpur to seal the series. The target of 230 had appeared a possible banana skin on a slow pitch offering some turn, but Watson made such light work of it, that his unbeaten185 from 96 balls now stands as the highest ODI score by an Australian, overtaking Matthew Hayden's 181 against New Zealand in 2007. Xavier Marshall's 2008 mark for most sixes fell when Watson swung his 13th over the rope, the second six in as many balls off the bowling of Abdur Razzak. Watson added two more for good measure, laying claim to one of ODI cricket's more enduring records, for the highest individual percentage of runs in a completed innings. His 79.74% bested Viv Richards' 69.48% in his momentous 189 not out, out of 272 for 9, against England in 1984.

A significant rally by Bangladesh wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim, with the help of the lower order, allowed the hosts to set Australia a target of 230 in order for the visitors to seal the limited-overs series in the second match in Mirpur. Australia dropped Cameron White for Callum Ferguson as they sought a second victory in three days and were in total command when Bangladesh slid to 88 for 5. But Rahim, allrounder Mahmudullah and left-arm spinner Suhrawadi Shuvo pushed Bangladesh to 229 for 7, a total that will require a diligent pursuit on a slow pitch that offers turn. Shahriar Nafees had done his best to keep the first half of the innings from petering out entirely but he was not helped by the funereal approach of opener Imrul Kayes, who lingered 41 balls to gouge out five runs. Mitchell Johnson and Steve Smith shared five well-deserved wickets, while Brett Lee was short of luck during a spell that was damaged after he leaked 17 runs in his final over. Seeking pari...

Dashing Kevin O'Brien (113) smashed the fastest World Cup century to set up Ireland's scintillating three-wicket win over England at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday. The right-handed batsman completed his century off just 50 balls to beat Matthew Hayden's record of century in 66 balls in the 2007 tournament. Man of the match Kevin O'Brien lashed 13 boundaries and six sixes in his memorable One-day century to silence the spirited, in majority, English supporters at the Bengaluru stadium. The stadia were all on their feet after witnessing a stunning display of sportsmanship by the Irish team over their old enemy. Kevin, a lookalike of Andrew Flintoff from the stands, played his strokes fearlessly on a wicket where the ball came nicely on to the bat. The destructive middle-order batman played a typically attacking innings, racing to his century with a flick towards the mid-wicket. The crowd and Irish box went up in roar to celebrate Kevin's second One-day ...

Box broke TV, not bat, says Ponting Australia captain Ricky Ponting said it was his box, employed to protect a batsman's most sensitive area, and not his bat which damaged a World Cup dressing room television set. <a href="http://in.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=15q6imoiu/M=794523.14593216.14400487.13990286/D=insports/S=2023151593:SKY/Y=IN/EXP=1298708484/L=UCDP0XllmL56UWqcTVYKaBUcykGIjU1om.QABPg9/B=PhdBAnllkJE-/J=1298701284342407/K=mIb4wKIa2mIt.lRUxCfvbg/A=6337188/R=2/id=noscript/SIG=11j8gqt7c/*http://www.credila.com/vsf_index.html?media=Yahoo" target="_blank"><img src="http://l.yimg.com/t/i/in/adv/credila_cri/794523_harbhajan_cricket_120x600_021811.gif" width="120" height="600" border="0"></a> <iframe src="http://in.adserver.yahoo.com/a?f=2023151593&p=cricket&l=SKY&c=h&bg=white" width=...

Australia coach and to a 30-year-old former Shield player recently was to understand the challenges currently faced by those responsible for directing the game in this country. As in other arenas, a battle is on between the classical and the contemporary. Suffice to say the classical is in retreat. Wise nations and activities seek to strike a balance between the eternal and the present, seek to take the best from both. The coach spends his time instructing selected youngsters in the techniques of the game. Except that those skills seem to have changed. Coaches chide any batsman allowing a ball to pass, and teach them to use the bottom hand not as an assistant but as the driving force. Youngsters are taught to open their hips and lift the ball. Ignoring the traditions of local batsmanship, they are told to go forwards, anticipate and punish full deliveries. Is it any wonder that Australians keep hooking off the front foot or that the captain keeps losing his wicket to t...

When Gautam Gambhir was struggling to cement his place in Team India, the appointment of Gary Kirsten as India coach proved to be a godsend. The Delhi batsman gives the former South African opener a lot of credit for understanding him both as a cricketer as well as a person. Gambhir, 29, feels Kirsten's presence in the India dressing room has done a world of good to his game as he has given him a lot of confidence. Kirsten, who joined the India team in March 2008, carried it to the top of Test rankings, and Gambhir says he is one of the players to prosper in the process. "Kirsten worked on my game, he has helped me a lot. Unlike other coaches, he has never asked me to make changes in my game. Importantly, he understood me both as a player and person," Gambhir "Kirsten worked on my basics and tried to improve on them. It was quite encouraging coming from a person who has played 100-odd Tests." The left-hander, who made his debut in 2004, had only one Te...

The team India has to search for new coach after the World Cup.Kirsten had said that he will not continue as coach after World Cup.Still now lot of discussions are taking place on Kirsten.Every one wants Kirsten continued as coach but due to his family only he is leaving the Indian team.So Lets wait Who will be next Coach for India.