Cricket

Piyush Chawla spun India to victory against Australia with four wickets in the warm-up game, but his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said the leg-spinner will also have to perform with the bat if he wants to play a vital role in the World Cup. Dhoni said it was heartening to see Chawla (4/31) bowl but reminded the leggie that he was included in the 15-member World Cup team as a spinning all-rounder. "It was good to see Piyush (Chawla) among wickets but he needs to contribute with the bat as well. If he can contribute 15-20 runs with the bat it will be very helpful for the side," Dhoni said after India beat Australia by 38 runs in a warm-up game. "But as a specialist spinner he has done really well," he said of Chawla, whose inclusion in the 15-member Indian World Cup squad was hotly debated. Stating that there has been healthy competition in the team for places in the playing eleven, Dhoni said performance of the middle-order still remains a concern going into...

World Cup 2011 Piyush Chawla spun India to a remarkable 38-run win over defending champions Australia in a high-profile World Cup warm-up match on Sunday. The leg-spinner took 4-31 as Australia collapsed to 176 chasing a modest 215-run target, after being strongly placed at 118-1 in the day-night match before a sizeable crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Chawla, 22, also upstaged Australian paceman Brett Lee, who earlier gave a superb exhibition of fast bowling to rock India and finish with 3-35 off 10 impressive overs. Australia skipper Ricky Ponting, who missed a recent home one-day series against England due to a finger injury, top-scored with a solid 57 off 85 balls with four boundaries. The tourists' chances receded sharply after the dismissal of their captain, stumped while attempting to slog-sweep off-spinner Harbhajan Singh (3-15), who brilliantly supported Chawla. Ponting and Indian fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth exchanged words after an appeal...

Australia's cricket great Steve Waugh says Indian players should not be talking of winning the World Cup for Sachin Tendulkar because that's not the 'right attitude,' as the game is bigger than any individual. 'They should think of winning the World Cup for the team, most importantly for the country,' said Waugh on the sidelines of a event here Friday when asked what he thought of many Indian players parroting that they want to win the World Cup for Tendulkar. 'I don't think it is the right attitude. You cannot think of winning the World Cup for one player. The game is bigger than any individual. You have to win it for each other. I am sure that even Sachin Tendulkar will like to win it for the team and the country. Yes, if India win the World Cup it will cap off a brilliant career,' said the former Australia captain. Waugh said Tendulkar would play a crucial role in the tournament. 'Tendulkar may not be the star of the tournament, but he ...

Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid was on Thursday, all praise for star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, saying that he was an inspiration for every Indian. He said this at the launch of the book 'Sach', based on Tendulkar's life, written by sports journalist, Gautam Bhattacharya. Also present at the ceremony were, captain of the Indian Cricket team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, cricketers Yuvraj Singh, Anil Kumble and Gary Kirsten, coach of the Indian team.

The 32-year-old Delhi opener has been part of the Delhi Daredevils since the IPL began in 2008. Under his leadership, Delhi Daredevils reached the semi-finals in the first two editions of the IPL and also topped the league stage in 2009. Sehwag said he was looking forward to taking the Daredevils to new heights in IPL-4. "For me there cannot be any other team than Delhi Daredevils in the IPL. As someone who grew up playing cricket in Delhi I am very proud to be playing for the Delhi Daredevils. I am delighted to be part of the Delhi Daredevils and lead the team," said Sehwag. Srinivas Bommidala, chairman of GMR Sports, said Sehwag was the source of inspiration and strength for both young and experienced players. "He is a leader who paves the way by example," he said. P.B. Vanchi, director GMR Sports, said: "Viru has been an integral part of the Delhi Daredevils from the day it was formed. He has been the face of the team and an icon best suited to lead ...

World Cup 2011 Fixtures (All timings are mentioned in GMT+05:30) Timing Teams Venue Results Sat Feb 19 (D/N) 14:00 PM 1st match Group B - India v Bangladesh Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur Sun Feb 20 09:30 AM 2 nd match Group A- Kenya v New Zealand MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai Sun Feb 20 (D/N) 14:30 PM 3 rd match Group A- Sri Lanka v Canada Hambantota International Cricket Stadium Mon Feb 21 (D/N) 14:30 PM 4th match Group A - Australia v Zimbabwe Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad Tue Feb 22 (D/N) 14:30 PM 5th match Group B- England v Netherlands Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur Wed Feb 23 (D/N) 14:30 PM 6th match Group A - Kenya v Pakistan Hambantota International Cricket Stadium Thu Feb 24 (D/N) 14:30 PM 7th match Group B- South Africa v West Indies Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi ...

In a book titled 'SACH,' by Gautam Bhattacharya, Tendulkar revealed that he played under Imran but as a substitute fielder during a festival match at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) in Mumbai. Imran asked him to field in the deep and Tendulkar couldn't complete a catch and going back home, in the local train, constantly grumbled about the captain's field placements. "Absolutely true. I went in as a substitute. Imran was the Pakistan captain. No words were exchanged with him. But yes, I may've got the catch if I was kept slightly ahead (laughs)," Sachin said. The book also revealed that a year before in 1987, Sachin was selected as a promising fast bowler to train at legendary Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee's MRF Pace Academy in Chennai, but was rejected. "I was okay with it. In any case I was not aspiring to become a fast bowler. I thought of myself as a fast bowling all-rounder. That is precisely the reason I had carried my b...