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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 leveled the three match Test series 1-1 in Galle on Sunday after beating Sri Lanka by 170 runs in the second cricket test. Earlier, team India was defeated by Srilanka by a mammoth total of 239 runs in the first test match at SCG ground in Colombo. On Sunday in second test, Indian team performed very well in Galle setting a hard target of 307 runs but the Sri Lankans collapsed for 136.

Harbhajan, Sehwag and Gambhir deserves of being the responsible factor behind this victory. Harbhajan Singh returned a match haul of 10 wickets, four in the second innings, for 153 runs while Virender Sehwag once again shown his magical batting and hit an unbeaten double century in the first innings and a half-century in the second to pave the way to victory ground. Sehwag fell against the Srilankan strike bowler Chaminda Vass when India’s total was 90 in second inning. Sehwag and Gambhir partnership was the backbone of India’s victory. Out of India’s total of 598 (329, 269) the duo scored 381 runs, more than half scored by other batsmen.

Sri Lanka bundled India for 269 in the second innings. India was bowled out for 329 runs in their first innings and restricted the Sri Lankans for 292 in their first innings.

In the first inning, Kumble and Harbhajan dismissed nine batsmen of the opponent team. Only Warnapura (66), Sangakkara (68) and Jayawardene (86) stayed for long durations on the crease and played crucial innings for their team. But even they couldn’t cross India’s total of forst inning.

In the second inning, after dismissal of Sehwag and Gambhir, Dravid and Tendulkar were on the crease and they took the team’s total to 200 for two. However, both these batsmen returned to pavilion, only few minutes before the end of the Day-3 play.

On fourth day, Ganguly and Laxman began the morning session but after adding 21 runs to the score, Laxman was trapped before wicket by Mendis. The other players were soon dismissed and India managed 269 runs in the second innings and gave a target of 307 to Srilanka.

Sri Lanka was slow in second inning. Score was 37 at lose of four. Samaraweera and Dilshan provided some resistance to the innings and took team’s total past 100. At the Srilankan score of 113, Ishant Sharma dismissed Dilshan and provided the crucial breakthrough. The entire Srilankan team returned to pavilion by scoring 136 runs. Harbhajan finished with four wickets in the second innings as Sri Lanka was all out on 48 overs.

The third Test will start in Colombo on Aug. 8.

Tags: cricket match, Harbhajan, India, Sehwag, Sri Lanka, Test Match

The dashing opener of Indian Cricket team Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan are selected for the Indian squad for the forthcoming Sri Lanka Test series on Tuesday.

The BCCI selectors met in Mumbai ro choose the 15-man Indian team where the exhausted ODI skipper MS Dhoni was opt out and Zaheer Khan is welcomed back from injury.  Harbhajan Singh is again in the team after his rather inglorious IPL exit.

MS Dhoni who was complaining of his hectic schedule in the just concluded Asia Cup according to media reports was given a rest. Dhoni was playing non-stop cricket for the past two years.

According to television reports Dhoni had talked to BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah and then took the decision. “In India and the subcontinent we have a full year of cricket and there’s no off-season. It’s tough for cricketers. When we want rest we should get it,” India’s T20 team captain said on Monday.

In place of Dhoni, Parthiv Patel is selected for the test squad after a long gap. Parthiv comes back to the team on the back of his fine batting performance in the domestic circuit.

The young left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha was rewarded for his consistent performance with a berth for this upcoming three-match Test series against Sri Lanka starting July 23.  Dinesh Kaarthick is the other wicket-keeper in the team with a new vice captain, Virendra Sehwag.

Sachin is back after his groin injury and Anil Kumble is going to lead the team.

The squad is like this:

Anil Kumble (Capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag (vice-capt), Gautam Gambhir, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Rohit Sharma, Parthiv Patel (WK), RP Singh.

Tags: Anil Kumble, Cricket, Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Rahul Dravid, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Sri Lanka, Team India, Test Cricket, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Zaheer Khan

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

With the recent rise in the row over misjudged matches falling in the less deserving side, the ICC introduced a new rule wherein the players could seek for a second opinion by the third umpire if they are not satisfied of the on field umpire.

In the coming test series between India and Sri Lanka which is starting on the 23rd of July, the BCCI announced early this week that this ICC’s new experimental rule would be applied

The new rule allows the batsman or the fielding captain, to make an appeal to the TV umpire for a review of the on field umpire in the case of an unsatisfactory decision. Each team has been allowed three unsuccessful appeals per an inning. If a batsman has been given out by the on field umpire but the batsman is not satisfied with his decision, the batsman appeals to the TV umpire. In case if the reviewal is in favour of the decision of the umpire, it is calculated as unsuccessful, the team being allowed only 3 unsuccessful appeals.

The rule is applicable for all dismissal ways excepting the case when the batsman arrives late on the field. In such a case, the batsman is not applicable to make an appeal to the third umpire.

This system can be compared to a similar system used in tennis but only for simple line calls. Being accepted by the ICC in March, the rule was first to be tested in the comin England-South Africa series, but there was a problem regarding the non agreement of the respective boards.

The actions involved for the appeal are:

• The batsman has to make a T sign with his hands if he is not satisfied of the decision taken by the on field umpire. In such a case, the decision is transferred to the TV umpire.
• If TV umpire is upholding the appeal made, the umpire would cross his hands thrice, each team having three unsuccessful appeals per inning.

The new system has once been tried at the English domestic scene in friend’s provident trophy but a huge criticism had to be faced with it due to no verdict being given in the favor of the appeal made by the TV umpire

Another threat to the system is that the on field umpires could start feeling their decision making abilities being questioned.

Tags: Cricket, ICC, India, Sports, Sri Lanka, Test Matches, Test Series, Umpires

A powerful bomb ripped through a packed bus near the Sri Lankan capital Colombo today killed at least 21 people and 47 others injured. The incident took place after 2 days the suspected Tamil Tiger rebels blew up a rail track near the Sri Lankan capital which injures 27 people.

The explosion occurred at 7.35 am in Moratuwa, 12 km from Colombo, a military spokesman said and blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) for the attack.

“Twenty-one passengers were killed in the explosion. Seven of the dead were women,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

“According to the police, the bomb was exploded using a remote controlled device. The bus was traveling from Kottawa to Mount Lavinia,” he added.

The injured have been rushed to hospitals in Kalubowila and Lunawa. Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said police and military teams reached the site to carry out a search operation.

Tags: Lanka, Sri Lanka, Tamil, Tamil Tiger

A senior minister and 11 people died in a suicide bomb blast near Colombo. The bomb blast was so powerful that 90 other people injured in this incident.

The blast happened at a ceremony marking the start of a marathon race as the part of Sri Lanka’s traditional New Year celebrations. The incident was blamed by the government on the Tamil Tigers.

The minister who died in the blast was identified as the minister of Highways and Road Development, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle. Fernandopulle was regarded as the potential prime minister in waiting, and he died of injuries in hospital.

The officials said that 11 others, including former Olympic marathoner K A Karunaratne and national athletic coach Lakshman de Alwis, were also killed in the suicide blast.

Tags: Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers

There is one more stroke to World Champion’s pride today in Melbourne when Australian team couldn’t even touch an easy target of 222 runs put forth by Sri Lanka as all Aussies are out after making only 208 runs. Like this, Sri Lanka gave a magnificent defeat to Australia by 13 runs in the last match of CB series today on 29th February.

Australia was good at start and both the openers were playing carefully. Gillchrist made 83 runs from 50 balls. He was out by Kulkesra. Second opener, Hopes also played well and gave 28 runs but was out by Murlidharan. That time it seemed that Australia would defeat SriLanka easily. But there was turning point in the game. Sri Lankan bowlers snatched 5 wickets one by one.

Sri Lanka’s captain Jayewardene won the toss and decided to bat first. But his decision seemed wrong as Australian pacers didn’t allow them to play openly. First four wickets of Sri Lanka were soon down. Jayewardene’s 50 and Dilshan’s 62 run contribution led Sri Lanka to reach the goal of 222 runs. Other than these two players, C. Silva’s 35 run play was also said to be fine.

Although the match result is not going to effect on finals as Australia is already secured its position to fight with India in finals but this match was said as a trailor of Australian players to finals and they proved to be zero in it.

Tags: Australia, cricket match, ODI Match, Score, Sri Lanka, Team India

India has stolen a wonderful victory over Sri Lanka by 7 wickets in Tuesday’s must win match and secure its place in the tournament. Sri Lanka elected to bat first, put a very easy target of only 180 runs in this 11th one-dayer at Hobart in Commonwealth Bank tri-series.

Sachin Tendulakar who was down during whole series till now had done fantastic job with this time and made a sizzling record of 63 out of 54 balls. Tendulakars bat has shown its magic again in the match.

Gautam Gabhir and Rohit Sharma managed to play till end of the game. Gautam contributed 64 from 90 balls. Rohit came to bat when the victory is just 9 runs behind. He could only make 3 runs in 7 balls.

Robin Uthappa secured 11 runs out of 9 while Yuvraj Sing gave 35 runs from 34 including one super six and 4 fantastic fours.

Indian pace men Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma captured four wickets each to weaken the opposite team.

Sri Lanka collapsed to 94 for 7 in 26 overs before Chamara Kapugedera rescued the innings with 57.

Australia had already qualified for finals with 26 points from seven matches while India was at the second spot with 17 points from six outings. Sri Lanka was at the third slot with six points from as many matches.

Tags: CB Series, Dhoni, Master Blaster, Sachin, Sri Lanka, Team India, Tendulkar

Everyone seems to blame the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar for India’s failure against Australian the CB series .from Captain Dhoni to Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar are now upset with the repeatedly cheap performance of Sachin in the matches.

“Another problem that India have these days when they bat second on a good pitch, is that their most experienced batsman, who bats at such an influential position in the batting order, becomes almost redundant,” Manjrekar wrote in his column for the Times of India.

Tendulakar have just managed to get a low average of 18.28 in last seven matches with 128 runs only. Compared to his earlier achievements in the last 51 one-day internationals with around an average of 62.1 in 24 innings when he bats first is very weak. When he bats second, it was 26.00 in 27 innings.

Manjrekar believes that Tendulkar seems to let the team down the most when chasing big targets.

Manjerkar is surprised as well as shocked as no one is talking about Sachin’s poor performance.

Has he really exhausted his potential??

Tags: Australia, cricket match, India, latest updates, Live Cricket, Live score card, Live Updates, Sachin, Sri Lanka