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India defeated Sri Lanka in 3rd ODI by 46 runs today and won the five day match series by 3-1 with one match still to go on. India won the first ever One Day Series against Sri Lanka on Sri Lanka ground creating an historical record.

India won the toss and set a respectable target of 259 but the hosting team was all out in 46.2 overs at a score of 212 only. Led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian youth brigade done a fabulous job. Dhoni (71), Raina (72) and Kohli (54) are those who made their half century and contributed most to the victory.

Opener Gautam Gambhir (17) was the first one who was sent back to pavilion by Kulasekara. yuvraj singh was struck off by Chaminda Vaas before opening his account. Yuvraj became his 400th victim when he flicked a simple catch at short mid-wicket to Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene for a duck.

Virat Kohli, the Delhi lad was seemed in form but was departed after making 54 runs giving a big blow to India. But soon the India skipper MS Dhoni walked in to take charge with Suresh Raina. Both have been cracked their half centuries scoring 71 and 72 respectivily before departing. The duo powered the Indian total past 202 runs in 38 overs.

Among other players Rohit Sharma scored 18, Harbhajan Singh soon departed after making only 2 runs, while Badrinath gave 6.

In Sri Lankan team, only Jayasuriya (60) cracked his half century and added some good runs to the scores. Thushara and Kapugedera devoted 40 and 30 runs respectively. Others are departed back to pavilion one by one. After 30 overs, Lankans were 132/5. After 33 overs, they were struggling at 142/6. And after 42 overs, Sri Lanka was tottering at 194/8.

Suresh Raina was awarded Man of the Match. For complete score card, please visit Cricket Updates.

Tags: Badrinath, Cricket, Dhoni, Gambhir, Harbhajan, India, Jayasuriya, Jayawardene, Kapugedera, Kohli, MS Dhoni, ODI, ODI Cricket, Raina, Rohit Sharma, Sri Lanka, Thushara, Vaas, Yuvraj

India ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Monday chosen for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2007-08 given for the most outstanding performance in a year. The awards would be presented on August 25, 2008.

The current Indian captain of the ODI (one day international) and T-20 teams became the only second cricketer after master blaster Sachin Tendulkar to be honored with the Khel Ratna Award, the country’s highest honor given for an achievement in sports. .

Dhoni on Monday offered prayers at the famous Deori temple after being conferred with the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.

The President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sharad Pawar said, “We are very happy. He has represented the country with distinction, and deserves the honor. His exemplary leadership and demeanor under pressure, especially in the ICC World Twenty20 and the tri-series in Australia, mark him out as the ideal role-model for millions of young Indians, who want to make a mark in life.”

Dhoni is the model icon among youth. He scored 148 against Pakistan in his fifth ODI in 2005 - then the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper. Later in the year, he broke his own record as well as set the current world record for the highest score in the second innings in ODI matches as he scored 183 not out against Sri Lanka.

Tags: Award, BCCI, Dhoni, ICC, Indian Captain, Mahender Singh Dhoni, MS Dhoni, ODI, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Sachin, Sachin Tendulkar, T20, Tendulkar

India lost the crucial Asia cup against Sri Lanka by 100 runs today in Karachi in National Stadium. Sri Lanka which set an easy looking target of 274, won the Asia cup Tropthy for the fourth time. The final match was all set for a Sunday delight to get a view of powerful Indian batting and Sri Lankan fielding but disappointedly the Indian batsmen really had no answer to Ajantha Mendis, who is selected as Man of the match and Man of the series as well.

Earlier India lost the Kitply Cup against Pakistan and lost the finals at Dhaka by 25 runs. India’s skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl first.

India was at good field at the start. Danger man Kumar Sangakkara was back to pavilion in just the second over of the match by Suresh Raina. He has made only 4 runs. Ishant Sharma removed Mahela Jayawardene for just 2 runs and send Chamara Kapugedera on a long walk back to the pavilion for a score of 5. With Kapugedera’s departure, the scoreboard read 66 for the loss of three in 11.4 over.

The lanky fast bowler Ishant Sharma seemed to be on fire as he took the wickets of skipper Mahela Jayawardene, Chamara Kapugedera and Chamara Silva in quick succession. Jayasuriya hit three sixes and two fours in the same over bowled by RP Singh. He scored 125 runs off 114 balls at total racing his 27th century in One-Day Internationals.

Virender Sehwag finally broke the 131 run partnership between Sanath Jayasuriya and Tilakratane Dilshan by forcing Jayasuriya to hole a catch into the hands of Ishant Sharma in the deep. Dilshan scored 56 important runs before sent back to pavilion by Dhoni.

Pathan bowled the last over of the innings and scalped Muttiah Muralitharan off the fifth ball of the last ball to finish the Lankan innings before 50 overs.

At that point India needed 274 runs in 50 over to lift the Asia Cup.  India lost their first wicket at the score of 36 in the 5th over.

Virender Sehwag departed after he struck a speedy half century to give India a good and quick start. Only Sehwag crossed his half century making a score of 60 runs out of 36 balls including 12 fours.

Yuvraj Singh came to the crease after Sehwag’s departure and followed him to the hut two balls later. Ajantha Mendis sent six players to the pavilion. Suresh Raina was another victim of him who made only 16 runs.

Although the final pair of Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha offered some resistance to the Lankans, it was not sufficient to take the Indians home. Kulasekara took the last wicket in the form of Ishant Sharma by castling him to bring an end to the Asia Cup championship.

Dhoni made a score of 49 out off 74 balss. Other players could not show their best on the ground. India can only reach 173 runs in 39.3 overs before getting all out.

Mendis was awarded the man-of-the-match for his six wicket haul for 13 runs in six overs. He was also the man-of -the-series for taking 17 wickets in the tournament.

Tags: Asia Cup, Asia Cup 2008, Asia Cup Finals, Cricket, Dhoni, India, MS Dhoni, Pakistan, Sehwag, Sri Lanka

Sachin Tendulkar moves to second rank in the latest ICC ODI batsmen ranking list by stepping one move ahead while M S Dhoni is no on 4th place. Yuvraj Singh at rank 14 is another Indian batsman in top 20 ranks while Gautam Gambhir snatches 20th spot.

Tendulkar, who was suffering from groin injury for a long time, has scored 758 points after 792 points by South African captain Graeme Smith. 135 runs made by Dhoni in Asia cup scored 750 points and shares his place with Australians Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey at number four.

In the ICC championship table, India remains at fourth, one point adrift of New Zealand (115). However, if India wins its next super four matches in the ongoing Asia Cup India can reach at position three.

Australia with 128 points at the top is giving neck to neck competition to South Africa with 127 points. Sri Lanka is at sixth spot followed by England at seven and West Indies at eighth position.

Tags: Cricket, Dhoni, Gambhir, Gautam Gambhir, Hussey, ICC, Mahender Singh Dhoni, MS Dhoni, Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Tendulkar

India won its second Asia Cup beating Pakistan today after a gap of 20 long years, a first since 1988. Sehwag contributed this grand success with his wonderful inning at a score of 119 runs off just 95 at the National Stadium in Karachi.

Pakistan set a target of 300 runs against India after elected to bat first in Karachi at a loss of four wickets. Pakistan opener Shoaib Malik, who gave a magnificent century, has to go back to pavilion while playing after getting troubled with his cramps and he left the ground disappointed. He made 125 runs out off 119 including 16 fours and 1 six.

Pakistan was very slow at start until Shoaib had given superb shots one by one with a strong partnership with Younis who made 59 runs to achieve a respectable score for the team.

The second opener butt only scored 35 runs out off 64. Mohammad Yousuf was run-out due to a misunderstanding on the pitch for a score of 30 runs in just 20 balls. The home team had managed to amass a good score of 261 as Shahid Afridi came in to bat in the final five overs with Misbah-ul-Haq to support him.

Both, India and Pakistan were tough competitors for the Asia Cup. Indian team had made two changes for today’s match. Manpreet Goni and Robin Uthappa are swapped by Yuvraj Singh and Ishant Sharma.

Virendra Sehwag was the hero of the match who scored 119 runs out off only 95 balls including 12 boundaries and 5 sixes. Suresh Raina also given a magnificant score of 84 runs out off 69 balls. The duo hit the ball one after another and acheived a 150 mark quickly.

After Sehwag, M S Dhoni came with his bat to crease with Yuvraj Singh. Dhoni who remain on ground till the target achieved, had scored 26 runs out off 30 balls while Yuvraj scored 48 runs in 47 hits.

India crossed the target within 42.1 overs and won the match by 6 wickets. Suresh Raina was declared the Man of the match.

Tags: Aisa Cup, Dhoni, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Raina, Sehwag, Yuvraj

Pakistan won the Kitply Tri-series Cup by beating India in the final match on Saturday at Dhaka by 25 runs.

After Pakistan’ Captain Shoaib Malik won the toss and elected to bat, the team put an untouchable target of 316 at a loss of three wickets only. Salman Butt made a brilliant score of 129 out off 136 including twelve 4s and three 6s. After giving such a magnificent inning, he was hurt and retired of the play.

Younis Khan’s century helped the team to reach the untouchable target by giving 108 runs at 99 balls with 8 boundaries and 3 sixes.

Team India can only score 290 before getting all out. Chasing the huge target of 316 runs, India had a slow start. Virendra Sehwag was sent back to pavilion after making just 2 runs. Rohit Sharma and Gambhir tried their hard to help the team but Rohit was out at 24 runs and Gambhir devoted 40 runs for the team.

Yusuf Pathan was the fourth wicket of team India which was sent after making only 25 runs. Yuvraj Singh, however, scored his half century but soon dismissed after scoring 56 runs. M S Dhoni, the captain also helped the team by his score of 64 runs out off 59 balls but it couldn’t help to achieve the success. The last wicket to fall was of Dhoni.

Irfan Pathan and Suresh Raina respectively made 28 and 24 runs. Pravin and Piyush Chawla were soon dismissed at 5 and 2 runs respectively.

Tags: Bangladesh, Dhoni, India, Kitply Cup, Kitply Cup 2008, Pakistan, Shoaib Malik, Yuvraj

After the first IPL was over with a lots of pim pom, it was reported that Mahendra Singh Dhoni who got the highest bid in the landmark IPL auction in February, worth nearly Rs 1.5 lakh for each of his run during the 44-day tournament.

Although Dhoni, the Chennai Super Kings captain has lost the IPL final against The Rajasthan Royals, the Chennai franchise owners has shelled out a whopping Rs six crore for the Indian ODI and Twenty20 captain. Dhoni tallied 414 runs at an average of 41.40 in 14 innings and thus each run was worth Rs 1, 44,927.

Shaun Marsh son of former Australia opener Geoff Marsh, who was tournament’s top scorer, was bought for a paltry Rs 12 lakh recorded an aggregate of 616 runs at a brilliant average of 68 runs which means Rs 1948 for each run.

In fact, none of the franchise owners showed any interest in the Aussies, who were simply overlooked in the first two rounds of bidding before Kings XI Punjab coach Tom Moody roped him in just nine days before the IPL got underway.

Marsh, however, can still draw some relief from the fact that his sterling show in the Twenty20 event at least won him an ODI recall in the Australian team.

Gautam Gambhir (534) trails Marsh in the run-getters chart with an average of 41.07 and the left-hander proved a good buy for the Delhi Daredevils, who had coughed up Rs 2.9 crore for him.

Tags: Chennai, Cricket, Dhoni, IPL, Marsh, MS Dhoni, Shaun Marsh

Chennai Super Kings have beaten Kings XI Punjabs by 33 runs while the second match of DLF Indian Premiere League (IPL) ends today in Mohali. Watch the full coverage of the match by clicking here.

Kings XI Punjab, co-owned by bubbly Bollywood actress Preity Zinta and her boy-freind Ness Wadia was leaded by Yuvraj Singh while Chennai Super Kings is owned by India Cements, captained by M S Dhoni.After winning the toss by Chennai Super Kings, Dhoni decided to bat first.

Hussey’s century lead Chennai stars to knock a big score of 240. He gave his fast century within 50 balls only. He knocked 8 fours and 9 sixes contributing a magnificent score of 116 runs in just 54 balls, not out.

Hussey got able support from Hayden, Raina and S Badrinath to build up partnership. Rana contributed 32 runs to the team. Oram (13) was dismissed by Pathan while Badrinath with 31 runs stay on the pitch along with Hussey till end of the 20th over. Of course he is the man of the match.

Openers Hayden (26) and Patel (15) were sent back to pavilion soon while captain Dhoni (2) was dull on the ground.

On the other side, Punjab batsmen start a steady start against a huge target of 241. The opener Goel gave 24 before he was dismissed by Gony. Hopes gave a little hope to win. He made 71 runs making his half century but was then departed soon.

Captain Yuvi tried his efforts but could make only 23 while chasing the big challenge and the team lost the momentum after his depart. Sangakkara making his half century contributed 54 runs but the team was unable to reach near the target.

Pathan (3) and Katich (21) were the last pair struggling to win but couldn’t catch the winning flags.

Dhoni and Yuvraj who are great friends off-field were playing like rivals on the field. Preity who was much excited for the match and for her team must get disappointed after the loss.

Australian cricket player Shane Warne has now retired to be the new face of 888.com. Visit here to see if his cricket skills match his poker skills!

Tags: Chennai Super, Dhoni, IPL, Kings, Kings XI, Mahender Singh Dhoni, Mahi, Super Kings, Yuvi, Yuvraj, Yuvraj Singh

M S Dhoni, the renowned Indian cricketer is signed as the Brand Ambassdor by Big Bazaar, the flagship hypermarket retail chain of the Kishore Biyani-run Future Group on Friday.

“Dhoni and Big Bazaar have a lot of synergies as the Indian one-day international team’s captain stands for the aspirations of youths, while Big Bazaar is looked up to by millions of Indians to fulfill their aspirations,” Big Bazaar’s CEO, Rajan Malhotra, said in the release.

Malhotra says the fashion merchandise would contribute to Rs 900 crore to Big Bazaar’s sales by June 2008. Manish Porwal, CEO of Percept Talent Management said, “This is a fantastic fit.

Malhotra said, “It is a three year contract. The commercial will see Dhoni leading a fashion revolution with the tagline, ‘Desh Badla - ab vesh badlo’.”

Dhoni stated that he is proud to be linked with an appealing brand like that of Big Bazaar. He said that his association with public is needed whether through cricket or Big Bazaar.

Dhoni would feature in a series of advertisements across all media to be released shortly for the new range of fashion apparels by Big Bazaar.

Dhoni is leading the Indian Cricket team in Future Cup series against South Africa for the third test in the absence of injured Anil Kumble.

Tags: Big Bazaar, Dhoni, Future Group, MS Dhoni

The Indian team for the third and final test has been announced today and it includes Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel and Ramesh Powar. Rudra Pratap Singh has been dropped from the team. Ramesh Powar has been included as the skipper and the leg sppiner Anil Kumble is not 100% fit.

Ishant Sharma was included in the third test though he was not fit for the first two test matches. India lost the second test match at Ahmadabad last night with an inning and 90 runs. The third and final test is scheduled to begin on 11th April at Green Park, Kanpur.

The team for the third test is consist of Jaffer, Sehwag, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Yuvraj, Kaif, Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, and Munaf Patel.

Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar is already announced unfit for the third test and after the defeat in Ahmadabad Team India really need to win the third and final test in Kanpur.

Tags: Dhoni, Dravid, Ganguly, Kumble, Sachin, Team India