Sachin, we'll miss you..

Legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar will retire from all forms of cricket after playing his 200th Test next month.

The 40-year-old former India captain, who retired from one-day internationals in December 2012, will end his career with two matches against West Indies.

He played his final Twenty20 match last weekend in the Champions League T20 final between his Mumbai Indians team and a Rajasthan Royals side led by another former India skipper, his long-standing team-mate Rahul Dravid.

We have covered some of the quotes for Sachin Tendulkar -

- I want my son to became Sachin Tendulkar - Brian Lara

- We did not lose to a team called India, we lost to a man called Sachin - Mark Taylor

- Nothing bad can happen to us if we were on a plane in India with Sachin on it - Hashim Amla

- He can play that leg glance with a walking stick also - Waqar Younis

- There are 2 kind of batsman in the world:1) Sachin Tendulkar 2) all the others. - Andy Flower

- I have seen god. He bats at no.4 for India in tests. - Matthew Hayden

- I see myself when i see Sachin batting. - Don Bradman

- Do your crime when Sachin is batting, bcoz even god is busy watching his batting. - Australian fan

- Best one from Barack Obama - I don't know about cricket but still I watch cricket to see Sachin play.. Not bcoz I love his play its bcoz I want to know the reason why my country production goes down by 5 percent when he's batting.

Yuvraj Singh - Back with a bang!

Yuvraj Singh has made a comeback to India's limited-overs squad for the Twenty20 and first three ODIs of the home series against Australia.

Other than this there were four changes made to India's last first-choice ODI squad, the one that won the Champions Trophy in England. Yuvraj replaced opener M Vijay, Dinesh Karthik lost out to his Mumbai Indians team-mate Ambati Rayudu, the injured Irfan Pathan made way for Mohammed Shami, and Jaydev Unadkat's left-arm seam was preferred to Umesh Yadav. Don't know why Umesh was dropped.

Yuvraj's last ODI was against England in Dharamsala in January 2013. He was dropped from the squad for the Champions Trophy and did not feature in the Zimbabwe series either, when India had rested several first-choice players. However, following a fitness programme in France, he has shown a return to top form in List A cricket. He was the leading run-getter for India A in the limited-overs series against the touring West Indies A, with 224 runs from three matches, including one hundred and a fifty at an average of 74.66. He also scored a half-century for India Blue in the Challenger Trophy, a domestic 50-overs tournament.


Batsmen Karthik, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, seamer Mohit and spinner Parvez Rasool missed out from the team that played Zimbabwe.

Fixtures and Squad: Australia tour of South Africa 2011

The much awaited competition is about to start. Both teams have included some young force to strengthen their strategies. Brett Lee, the Australia fast bowler, has been ruled out of the South Africa tour due to appendicitis. He will undergo surgery in Cape Town.

Tour will start on 13th October and will end in the last week of November. They will face 2 T-20s, 3 ODIs and 2 Test Matches. 

Hashim Amla has been confirmed as stand-in captain for the injured AB de Villiers, while Mark Boucher has been recalled as wicket-keeper for the one-day internationals. David Miller is also recalled to the ODI squad, while Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn have been rested from the Twenty20 matches.

Big-hitting Cape Cobras batsman Richard Levi is the only new face in either squad, having been named in T20 party. The 23 year-old has scored 593 runs in the shortest form of the game at an average of 28 and a strike rate of over 135.

South Africa's Twenty20 Squad:  

Hashim Amla (captain), Graeme Smith, JP Duminy, Colin Ingram, Richard Levi, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Robin Peterson, Johan Botha, Heino Kuhn, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Rusty Theron, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

South Africa's ODI Squad: 

 Hashim Amla (captain), Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, David Miller, Johan Botha, Imran Tahir, Robin Peterson, Mark Boucher, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

On the other hand, Experienced Australian left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson has been left out of the national T20 squad for the upcoming tour of South Africa, while Victorian batsman David Hussey loses his spot in the One-day lineup.

Young fast bowlers Patrick Cummins and James Pattinson have won selection in both squads, while rising all-rounder Mitchell Marsh claimed a berth in the T20 lineup.
  

Australian Twenty20 Squad: 

Cameron White (c), Shane Watson (vc), Doug Bollinger, Patrick Cummins, Aaron Finch, David Hussey, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Stephen O’Keefe, James Pattinson, Steven Smith, Matthew Wade, David Warner

Australia's ODI Squad:

Michael Clarke (c), Shane Watson (vc), Doug Bollinger, Patrick Cummins, Xavier Doherty, Brad Haddin, Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, James Pattinson, Ricky Ponting, Steven Smith, David Warner 

Tour Schedule

13th October: 1st T20I, Cape Town

16th October: 2nd T20I, Johannesburg

19th October: 1st ODI, Centurion Park

23rd October: 2nd ODI, Port Elizabeth

28th October: 3rd ODI, Durban

9th-13th November: 1st Test, Cape Town

17th-21st November: 2nd Test, Johannesburg

India Red enter final with 2nd win in a row

India Red enter NKP Salve Trophy final with 2nd win in a row. Putting up a dominating all-round show, India Red stormed into the final of the NKP Salve Challenger Series after thrashing India Green by eight wickets in the rain-hit second match of the tournament here today. 

It was second win for India Red in as many days as they had defeated India Blue in the series-opener yesterday.

The Gautam Gambhir-led India Red side dismissed India Green for a paltry 170 in only 37.5 overs after opting to field and then easily overhauled the revised target of 152 with 78 balls to spare.

India Red were given 42 overs to achieve the target. Part timer Yusuf Pathan was the pick of the bowlers for India Red, grabbing four for 25 in only 7.5 overs.

While chasing, Gambhir led from front with a 53-ball 57 as he laid the platform for easy win by putting on 100 runs for the first wicket along with Abhinav Mukund (61).

Gambhir was dropped by Mohammed Kaif off paceman Abhimanyu Mithun when he was on just 14 and India Green had to pay for the mistake.

Kaif, who is a reliable fielder, knew what blunder he had committed as Gambir smashed Harbhajan for a six and a four in the next over and continued to find boundaries during his stay at the wicket.

India Red were 45 for no loss in eight overs when skies opend up and stopped play. On resumption, Mithun finally got Gambhir when he lofted one straight to Ishwar Chaudhary at mid-off.

Gambhir's knock was studded with six fours and a six and Mukund also hit as many boundaries and took 70 balls for his innings before being caught and bowled by Chaudhary. Ambati Rayudu (16) and Yusuf Pathan (7) steered the side home without any hiccup. 

India Red will take on the winner of tomorrow's match between India-Green and India-Blue in Thursday's final.

Sachin, Sehwag, Gavaskar, Kumble and Bedi nominated for ICC's all-time greatest Test team

Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and opener Virender Sehwag are among the list of players nominated for an online poll to select the greatest team of all-time on the occasion of Test cricket's 2,000th match. 

The historic match will take place between India and England at Lord's from July 21 to 25, and the ICC has called on supporters from across the globe to select the greatest team of all-time. 

While Sehwag has found a place in the list of openers, which also has the likes of former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar, Tendulkar has been short-listed for the middle-order batsman's slot. 

However, no Indian player has found a place in the shortlist for the slot of wicketkeepers and fast bowlers, while the 1983 World Cup winning Indian team captain Kapil Dev is in the reckoning as an all-rounder. 

Legendary Bishan Singh Bedi and Anil Kumble have been shortlisted for the spinner's role in the dream team. 

Sir Donald Bradman and West Indian great Viv Richards are in the fray for the middle-order's slot, while attacking wicketkeeper batsman Adam Gilchrist is pitted against South Africa's Mark Boucher for the stumper's position. 

Legendary West Indian pacers Malcolm Marshall and Michael Holding and Pakistani great Wasim Akram have been shortlisted in the bowler's category along side champion spinner Shane Warne. 

The ICC's website is seeking votes from the fans and cricket lovers across the world to pick the dream Test team from a shortlist of 60 players split into five categories. 

The fans will be asked to pick two opening batsmen, three middle-order batsmen, a wicketkeeper, three fast bowlers and one spinner. 

The public vote on ICC's website closes in two days' time with results set to be announced the week before the 2,000th Test. 

The shortlist for Dream Team: 

Opening batsmen: Geoffrey Boycott, Sunil Gavaskar, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Hanif Mohammad, Virender Sehwag, Herbert Sutcliffe, Victor Trumper. 

Middle-order batsmen: Don Bradman, Greg Chappell, Wally Hammond, George Headley, Brian Lara, Javed Miandad, Graeme Pollock, Ricky Ponting, Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar. 

All-rounder: Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Aubrey Faulkner, Richard Hadlee, Jacques Kallis, Imran Khan, Keith Miller, Wilfred Rhodes, Gary Sobers, Frank Worrell. 

Wicketkeepers: Les Ames, Mark Boucher, Jeff Dujon, Godfrey Evans, Andy Flower, Adam Gilchrist, Alan Knott, Rod Marsh, Clyde Walcott, Wasim Bari. 

Fast bowlers: Curtley Ambrose, Sydney Barnes, Michael Holding, Dennis Lillee, Ray Lindwall, Malcolm Marshall, Glenn McGrath, Fred Trueman, Courtney Walsh, Wasim Akram. 

Spinners: Bishen Bedi, Richie Benaud, Lance Gibbs, Clarrie Grimmett, Jim Laker, Anil Kumble, Muttiah Muralitharan, Bill O'Reilly, Derek Underwood, Shane Warne.

Sachin meets Federer at Wimbledon

India’s Icon Sachin Tendulkar and world number 3 tennis player Roger Federer came face to face on Saturday.

                      Kindle, Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6" Display with New E Ink Pearl Technology - includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers                                                                                            


Sachin, along with wife Anjali, was present in the Wimbledon Royal Box to watch Federer’s third round match against David Nalbandian.

They both met each other after the match and shared a few light moments. The meeting lasted for an hour.

Sachin, a regular visitor at the Wimbledon Championships every year, tweeted after the meeting: 

Kindle, Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6" Display with New E Ink Pearl Technology

Fixtures for Domestic Tournaments 2011-12 season

The Tour, Programmes and Fixtures Committee of the BCCI finalized the dates of the various domestic tournaments for the 2011-12 season, in a meeting at the Cricket Centre on Saturday, 18 June 2011.

The BCCI Corporate Tournament for the Raj Singh Dungarpur Trophy will be played from 1 September to 8 September, in Vishakhapatnam, Chennai and Bengaluru.

Jaipur will host the Irani Cup game between Rajasthan, Ranji Trophy winners in the previous season, and the Rest Of India, from 1 October to 5 October. 

The NKP Salve Challenger Trophy will be played at Nagpur from 10 October to 13 October. 

The league stage of the Ranji Trophy (Elite) will be played from 3 November to 24 December. The groupings are as follows:

Elite A (eight teams) – Rajasthan, KSCA, Mumbai, Railways, UPCA, Punjab, Saurashtra, Orissa.

Elite B (seven teams) – Baroda, TNCA, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Bengal, MPCA.

The knockout matches will be played from 2 January 2012 to 23 January 2012. 

The Ranji Trophy Plate group matches will be played from 3 November to 9 December. The semi-finals will be played from 21 December to 24 December. The winners of the semi-finals will qualify for the knockout stage of the Ranji Trophy.  

Groups – Ranji Trophy Plate: 

Plate A – Andhra, Services, Kerala, Vidarbha, HPCA, Tripura.

Plate B – Maharashtra, Goa, Hyderabad, Jharkhand, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir.

The Duleep Trophy will be played from 27 January 2012 to 16 February 2012. 

The inter-state one-day league will be played from 20 February 2012 to 28 February 2012. 

The All-India inter-state knockout tournament for the Vijay Hazare Trophy will be played from 5 March 2012 to 12 March 2012. 

The Deodhar Trophy will be played from 16 March 2012 to 19 March 2012.

The inter-state T20 zonal league will be played in September-October 2011. The All-India inter-state T20 knockout tournament for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, will be played from 23 March 2012 to 27 March 2012.

The exact dates and venues of all the tournaments will be announced next month, after each association / zone confirms its venues. 


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