Grand Slam winners return home

The winning pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza returned home amidst a rousing welcome at the mumbai Airport on Monday.

"It's a great way to come back, especially what happened in the last six-seven months," Sania, the first Indian woman to win a Grand Slam title, said after landing in Mumbai with Bhupathi.

While the mixed doubles champions arrived in Mumbai, Australian Open boys' singles winner Yuki Bhambri reached New Delhi.

Asked about her future plans, an elated Sania said: "I am happy to win my first Grand Slam and there are many more to go."

Sania will now fly down to her hometown Hyderabad.

Bhambri won the singles title in the boys' junior event. He is only the fifth Indian to win a junior Grand Slam title.

Bhupathi and Sania won their first Grand Slam together, crushing Andy Ram and Natalie Dechy in straight sets in the mixed doubles final of the Australian Open on Sunday.

The Indian wildcard pair thrashed the Israeli-French duo 6-3, 6-1.

The win gave Bhupathi his 11th Grand Slam title and the seventh in mixed doubles. This was also Bhupathi's second mixed doubles title at the Australian Open, following his 2006 triumph with Martina Hingis. For Sania, it was her maiden Grand Slam title.

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Sania Mirza to miss Fed Cup tie

In a big setback to the Indian Fed Cup team, Sania Mirza will miss the upcoming Group I Asia/Oceania zone tie, citing an abdominal injury.

The Fed Cup tie will begin in Perth, Australia from Wednesday and the Indian team has been reduced to three members now.

No replacement can be sent to the event as the last date for sending the substitute has lapsed.

Sania suffered the injury during her Australian Open campaign, an All India Tennis Association official said. "We were told yesterday that she will not play. Her father spoke to me and informed," said an AITA official.

Last year also, Sania did not play the Fed Cup matches though she was part of the team.

The Indian team comprises Ankita and Sanaa Bhambri and Rushmi Chakravarthi.

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India eye series win, SL look to hit back

Bolstered by two consecutive victories, a confident India will aim to wrap up the five-match series when they take on Sri Lanka in the third one-dayer on Tuesday.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men have been on target in the first two matches but the Indian captain would be taking no chance under floodlights after India just about managed a close 15-run win in a nail-biting day-night affair at the Premadasa Stadium on Saturday.

Dhoni, who has led the team to seven successive ODI wins, ha swarned his teammates against dropping their guards before the series was claimed.

A few chinks were seen in the Indian armour in the second match when bowlers looked confused in the powerplay overs and Dhoni wants a more disciplined show by his bowlers.

The batting has also not fired but to be fair, the Indians have been hit hard by a few dubious umpiring decisions. But the top order batsmen have to get into the act quickly if they hope to clinch the series on Tuesday itself.

Sachin Tendulkar has been a victim of poor umpiring decisions in both the matches and the maestro will be hoping that he gets the chance to make amends on Tuesday.

In bowling dapertment, pace spearhead Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma have a big role to play since India do not have any experienced spinners in their ranks.

Dhoni, who is known for his calm composure in anxious moments, lost his cool when he saw bowlers clueless in the powerplay overs.

"It was tough and we did not have such a game for a long time," Dhoni said.

Although Indian batsmen did not fall prey to Sri Lankan spin wizards Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis, they struggled to hit boundaries against the duo.

"We have to be careful as such wins often make us relaxed a bit. We should remember that the series is yet to be won. We want to win the series and for that each of us have to give 100 per cent," Dhoni said.

For a jaded looking Sri Lanka, it is a must win situation and they would be desparate to keep the series alive by clinching a win on Tuesday.

The hosts are struggling to find a steady opening pair even as an unimpressive middle order and blunted striking weapons leave them in a desparate position.

Muralitharan and Mendis are not as dangerous as their captain Mahela Jayawardene would want them to be. The home team's fielding is also looking dispirited.

"I would be lying if I say that we are not tired," Jayawardene said.

"During India innings we gave away too many runs when we were in control. We have to minimise mistakes and raise our game in the remaining matches," he added.

He got back among the runs with his first 50 in 14 games and that goes back a long way to the tour of Zimbabwe in November.

Murali has failed to capture in two games the two wickets required to become the greatest ODI bowler in the game's history.

It is pretty much back to basics for Sri Lanka. Consistency at the top order, restore the killer instinct to make use of the batting skills to optimum, tight fielding and bowlers doing the job.

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Gautam Gambhir, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, Virender Sehwag, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh.

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jaywardene (capt), Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Chamara Kapugedera, Jehan Mubarak, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilina Kandamby, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Farveez Maharoof, Dilhara Fernando, Nuwan Kulasekera, Thilina Thushara and Angelo Mathews.

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India start Lanka campaign with a win

Sanath Jayasuriya's hundred went in vain as India won the opening match of the five-ODI series by 6 wickets in Dambulla on Wednesday.

Riding on Jayasuriya's sparkling 107, Sri Lanka set a target of 247 runs that India achieved with 11 balls to spare. That, however, did not deprive the Lankan opener of the 'Man of the Match' award. Jayasuriya raised 28th hundred, his 7th against India with the help of ten fours and a six.

Chasing that total, India stumbled early as they lost Sachin Tendulkar for just 5 runs. Sachin on Wednesday opened the innings with Gautam Gambhir, as the regular opener Virender Sehwag was ruled out because of an injury. Sri Lanka bowler Thilan Thushara trapped him in front of his wicket for 5 runs. It was an unfortunate decision as the ball pitched outside the leg stump and straightened to hit Sachin high on his pads. Not the best of the decisions, it was umpire Kumar Dharmasena's first in international cricket.

Suresh Raina joined Gambhir after Tendulkar's dismissal. The duo added 113 runs before Gambhir perished. Carrying his good form into the new year, Gambhir (62) struck 14th ODI half-century, his third against the hosts. In his attempt to loft Murali over the mid-off region, Gambhir erred and was taken by Thilina Kandamby at long-off as spin wizard's 501st victim.

Raina, too, fell soon after he raised his fifty. Raina (54) slammed ninth ODI half-century, his fourth against the Lankans. He gave away his wicket while trying to steal a second run off Mendis. An alert Murali did him in.

Yuvraj Singh fell as the fourth Indian wicket after Sri Lanka pacer Farveez Maharoof dismissed him for 23 runs. The Punjab left-hander added 44 runs with skipper MS Dhoni before he failed to get the desired elevation and was caught by Muralitharan who came charging from the long-on.

This middle-order collapse did not deter Dhoni who led from the front and slammed an unbeaten 61 runs. It was his 26th half-century and eighth against Jayawardene's team. He was well supported by Rohit Sharma (25*) for the fifth wicket and guided India to victory.

Earlier, electing to field first, India got the first breakthrough in the form of Tillakratne Dilshan's wicket as the Lanka opener was caught short of his crease. It was an utter mess in the middle. Dilshan played a Zaheer's delivery towards square leg and rushed for a single but Jayasuriya was not very keen and sent him back from halfway. Meanwhile, Yusuf Pathan collected the ball and knocked the stumps to see Dilshan tread back without scoring.

Losing Dilshan early on, Jayasuriya accompanied by Sangakkara added 118 runs for the second wicket. In the process he also completed 13000 ODI runs. India spinner Pragyan Ojha broke the dangerous partnership between Sangakkara and Jayasuriya as he dismissed the former for 44 runs. The wicketkeeper-batsman, playing across the line, lofted an Ojha-delivery at mid-on where Raina took a simple catch.

Jayasuriya was dismissed by India's pace spearhead Zaheer Khan as he holed out a full toss delivery to Munaf Patel at mid-off.

Oldest player to score a hundred

Player	Age	Runs	Team	Against	Ground
ST Jayasuriya	39y 212d	107	Sri Lanka	India	Dambulla
G Boycott	39y 51d	105	England	Australia	Sydney
SM Gavaskar	38y 113d	103*	India	New Zealand	Nagpur
DL Haynes	38y 18d	115	West Indies	England	Port of Spain
CG Greenidge	37y 321d	117	West Indies	India	St John's

India's lanky pacer Ishant Sharma finished with three wickets. His victims were Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene, Farveez Maharoof and Thilina Kandamby.

Kandamby, who was sent ahead of Jayawardene, contributed just 17 runs in the 51-run partnership with the demolishing opener. He tried to launch Ishant over mid-off but could not back it with power. As a result he was caught by Zaheer.

Jayawardene, who's been struggling with his form of late, played him across the line and gifted Rohit Sharma a simple catch at mid-on. Maharoof added a quick 35 runs before a slow delivery from the Delhi bowler took an inside edge of his bat and crashed into his stumps.

The last Sri Lankan wicket to fall was of Chamara Kapugedera's. Raina knocked down Kapugedera's stumps from the extra cover as the Lanka batsman struggled to make it to his crease on time.

India: MS Dhoni (Captain), Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Munaf Patel, Yusuf Pathan.

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (Captain), Tillakratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Chamara Kapugedera, Sanath Jayasuriya, Farveez Maharoof, Thilana Kandamby, Thilan Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis.

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Any more questions for Dravid?

Well, ‘The Wall’ finally stood tall. And tall in a way that it thwarted any attempt of his critics to penetrate or demolish it.

A century at a time when the world would not be missing even ONE chance to criticize him. Believe me when I say that I had no doubts about it. It was just a matter of time before the ‘Club 10000’ member did what he does best- frustrate the opposition and score for the nation with grace and elegance. He has given us, at least me, and himself, a respite, a sense of liberation. He is one cricketer, who seamlessly blends an old-world class approach with new-age professionalism.

It was emotional, truly. A chill went down my spine and I stood up to clap and salute this unsung Master. Before that my heart was pounding. Will he, won’t he? It was out of fear and not out of my trust in his capabilities. I feared his fading into history when he still has years of cricket in him. I have been an ardent fan of Dravid and his approach to his game for long now. For me it was special. It is not easy arguing with many and explaining to them that 10 years and 10000 runs in both formats cannot simply be fluke. When I find it difficult tackling his critics, imagine what he might be going through over the past months. I sighed as he played one off his pads to bring up the much, much needed century.

It wasn’t as if it was his first or anything. He has done it before and he will continue to do so for long. But what was special about this innings was the spirit of this warrior - the never dying spirit, the I-can-do-it and I-will-do-it attitude. He is a man who has never shirked the enormous responsibility that he has always been loaded with. He has never moaned, he has not cried. Instead, he has carried the load of the expectations of over a billion people with a smile.

And even now, the man of few emotions said, “It’s during this time that you realise that so many people want you to do well. Some of the people didn’t need to do that but still they supported me. I felt as if so many people have gone through the journey with me”. Now that is a true gentleman.

To overcome the worst phase of one’s career with a fighting century and displaying no emotions except raising his bat to applaud the salutation by the crowd and the dressing room, it can only be Dravid. He is not a player who would jump up in the air throwing his fist and smile as if advertising for a toothpaste brand. He knows how much he has contributed to his country, our country. He knew he could do it. It was just a matter of time.

But impressive as his statistics are, they can never represent the extent of his importance to India, or the beauty of his batsmanship.

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India calls off Pakistan cricket tour

The Mumbai terror attacks finally took its toll on Indo- Pak cricketing ties as the Indian cricket board on Thursday cancelled 2009 tour of Pakistan on instructions from its government.

Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours have been badly strained since last month's terror attacks, which India blames on Islamic militants based in Pakistan.
India were scheduled to play three Tests, five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 match during the tour, from January 6 to February 19, although there had already been grave doubts about it going ahead over security concerns.

"We received a communication from the government stating that in the present circumstances, it is not feasible to tour Pakistan," Ratnakar Shetty, chief administrative officer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said, without elaborating.

He said no discussions had taken place over whether the series could instead have been played at neutral venues.

Shetty denied that the decision could wreck the next Cricket World Cup, which is meant to be jointly hosted by India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

"It will not affect the 2011 World Cup as that is a different tournament," he said, adding he believed that relations between the Indian and Pakistani cricket boards would not suffer due to India scrapping the tour.

But Pakistan cricket officials said they were unhappy with Thursday's announcement.

"We take this decision as disappointing -- something which will hurt Pakistan cricket badly -- but it was beyond our control," Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt told agency.

PCB chief operating officer Salim Altaf said the tour cancellation would cause serious financial harm to the sport in Pakistan.

"We can safely say that it will be a loss of 25-30 million dollars, but I fear it could be more because in our television rights deal, tours by Indian teams are priced very high, higher than Australia and England," Altaf said.

Former Indian captain Kapil Dev welcomed the move, which he said was expected, with Pakistan hoping to draft in Sri Lanka as a replacement.

"We have to respect the government's decision," he was quoted as saying by a news agency.

"Obviously, the government must have decided against the tour taking into account enough good reasons for it. The need of the hour is to accept the government's decision."

Anil Kumble, who retired from international cricket last month, agreed the turbulent relations between the two countries had left no other choice.

"It is a good decision under the circumstances. We had known that we won't be travelling to Pakistan in the present situation," he said.

Indian Sports Minister Manohar Singh Gill had said last week he was not in favour of the team playing in Pakistan when "people from their soil were indulging in mass murder in India."

It was to have been the fifth series between the two countries since 2004, when cricket ties resumed after a 15-year gap caused by cross-border tensions.

Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar had said it would be "impossible" for India to tour Pakistan in the current climate.

"Diplomatically, there has been a fall-out between the two nations and I don't see why cricket won't follow suit. So at the moment it is impossible to go ahead with the tour," he told a television channel recently.

The tour was first thrown into doubt in early November when the Indian government denied permission to the national junior hockey team to visit Pakistan because of safety fears.

Australia cancelled a Test tour of Pakistan in March and the International Cricket Council (ICC) put off the high-profile Champions Trophy there in September due to security concerns.

The attacks in Mumbai left 172 people dead, including nine gunmen, and wounded more than 300.

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Classy Tendulkar powers India to historic victory

Riding on knocks from Sachin Tendulkar (103*), Virender Sehwag (83) and Yuvraj Singh (84*), India galloped from behind to beat England by 6 wickets in the first Test at Chennai and take a 1-0 lead.

After England declared their innings on the fourth day for 386 runs, the match saw a dramatic turnaround when Sehwag went berserk to give India a fantastic start. He laid the perfect foundation for his mates to capitalize and was aptly adjudged the 'Man of the Match'. Though he lost his wicket on Sunday, he had the match split wide open.

Highest Fourth Innings winning Test totals
Runs	For	Against	Venue	Series
418-7	West Indies	Australia	St.John's	2002-03
406-4	India	West Indies	Port of Spain	1975-76
404-3	Australia	England	Leeds	1948
387-4	India	England	Chennai	2008-09
396-6	Australia	Pakistan	Hobart	1999-00
362-7	Australia	West Indies	Georgetown	1977-78
352-9	Sri Lanka	South Africa	Colombo (PSS)	2006
348-5	West Indies	New Zealand	Auckland	1968-69
344-1	West Indies	England	Lord's	1984
342-8	Australia	India	Perth	1977-78
340-5	South Africa	Australia	Durban	2001-02

Chasing the winning target, Gambhir resumed batting with Dravid with their overnight score of 131/1 on Monday. The duo added 24 runs for the second wicket when Andrew Flintoff dismissed Dravid for four runs. Dravid, who has been struggling with his form for quiet some time now, nicked a swinging delivery and wicketkeeper Matt Prior took a simple catch behind.

Soon after his dismissal, Gambhir slammed eighth Test fifty, his first against England and along with Tendulkar added 42 runs for the third wicket. He fell prey to Anderson for 66 runs after he slashed a delivery going outside the off-stump to Paul Collingwood at gully, who took a low catch to see the south-paw walk back.

Tendulkar came to the crease after Dravid's dismissal and repeated his 2001 Chepauk heroics to guide India to victory. He had played the protagnist in India's last win in Chennai against Australia in 2001. He repeated the feat on Monday when he scored the winning runs and also slammed his 41st Test hundred in the process.

Yuvraj, who was out of the Test side for months, made an impressive comeback in the second innings after failing to score in the first innings. He gave ample support to his senior pro and they added 163 runs for the fifth wicket. He completed his fourth Test fifty. The duo came together after VVS Laxman's fall.

Laxman had joined Tendulkar in the rescue act post-Gambhir's departure but his outing was cut short by England spinner Graeme Swann. Laxman deflected a delivery from him to Ian Bell at short leg. He scored 26 runs and added 41 runs with Tendulkar for the fourth wicket.

India and England now travel to Mohali for the second Test starting December 19.

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Tendulkar dedicates Test win to Mumbai martyrs

An inspired Indian team pulled off a sensational six-wicket victory over England in the first cricket Test after lagging behind in the first innings.

Sachin Tendulkar while talking to TV channel just after the win said the victory is dedicated to all those who laid down their lives in the Mumbai siege.

Chasing a target of 387 for victory, Tendulkar held the innings together with a crafty unbeaten 103 while Yuvraj Singh marked his return to Test cricket with a rollicking unbeaten 85 as the hosts rattled up the required runs to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

It was a remarkable victory for India who fought their way back into the game after conceding a 75-run first innings lead on a M A Chidambaram track which did not show signs of any rapid deterioration even on the last day.

After four days of ding-dong battle, the hosts titlted the balance decisively in their favour with a professional batting display in the second innings to make amends for a shocking collapse in the first essay.

Tendulkar and Yuvraj put on an undefeated 163 runs for the fifth wicket to seal the fate of England who had their nose ahead for most part of the game but lost the plot on the last day. They will now rue the decision to declare their second innings at 311 for nine.

It was Virender's explosive knock of 83 off just 68 balls on Sunday, which set up the Indian victory while Gautam Gambhir (66) was the other notable performer in the memorable run chase.

Tendulkar hit a boundary to not only notch up his 41st Test century but also bring about the winning runs, triggering off wild scenes of celebrations in the galleries.

The seizable crowd at the Chepauk had plenty to cheer about as the Indians went about chasing down the fourth highest target in the fourth innings in Test history.

While West Indies have the record of the highest run chase of 418/7 against Australia at St. Johns in 2003, India is second in the list for successfully chasing 406 against the West Indies at Port of Spain in 1976.

The only other team to have scored more than 400 runs in the fourth innings is Australia who scored 404/3 against England at Leeds in 1948.

It was the highest ever fourth innings target achieved at any venue in the country, 276 by the West Indies at Delhi in 1987-88 was the previous best.

India's best effort in winning a test match at home when batting last was 256-8 against Australia at Mumbai in the 1964-65 series, but it did make 347 to tie the 1986 Test against Australia in Chennai.

The two teams will now travel to Mohali for the second Test beginning on December 19.

Resuming at the overnight score of 131 for one, India suffered an early setback when Rahul Dravid (4) got out cheaply yet again. Dravid was out edging Andrew Flintoff to wicketkeeper Matt Prior in third over of the day.

But Gambhir and Tendulkar took upon the challenge and at one stage maintained a run rate of around five runs per over, attacking the England bowlers. The duo added 42 runs for the third wicket.

Gambhir and Tendulkar never looked under any pressure and took singles and twos without much problem, besides sending the odd bad balls to the ropes.

Tendulkar, in particular, was enjoying his batting as he punished the bowlers whenever they gave width to him for playing shots.

Tendulkar survived a half chance soon after India crossed the 150 mark. With Graeme Swann hitting the right areas, the little master stretched to defend but the ball took a sharp turn and hit the outer edge of the bat to fall inches in front of Ian Bell at silly point. Tendulkar was on ten then.

Gambhir was shaping well as he added 24 runs with Dravid and 42 with Tendulkar but one lapse of concentration saw him back in the pavillion.

After bowling two short-pitched deliveries in previous over, James Anderson kept up the pressure on Gambhir attacking on the off side corridor, and the Indian opener paid the price for a lapse in concentration.

Gambhir moved across and his half hearted steer end up to Paul Collingwood who moved to his left at slips and took a good catch at gully.

Though there was a slight drop in run flow at the fall of Gambhir, Laxman adapted to the conditions quickly and was in no mood to take any risk against Monty Panesar, who maintained a tight length.

England captain Kevin Pietersen withdrew his bowlers whenever they gave away runs denying the Indians to settle down. But Laxman, in particular, was focused and used his feet for well-timed drives.

With both Tendulkar and Yuvraj holding the aces against the English bowlers, India were in sight of a historic win.

Tendulkar who struck his 52nd fifty and crossed 1000-run mark this year, played the anchor role using his experience to gather runs mostly through singles and twos.

England heaved a sigh of relief when Graeme Swann scalped Laxman (42 balls, 4X4) who was out to a bat pad catch by Ian Bell.

Yuvraj, after reading the pitch for a while, continued with India's plan of counter-attack and Tendulkar played a good foil keeping one end intact.

For a while, Monty Panesar and Swann kept up the pressure and momentarily arrested the flow of runs. But once Tendulkar and Yuvraj brought about their 50 stand with Yuvraj sweeping Panesar to the fence, the duo started to cut loose.

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