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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

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

On one hand Team India is facing the threat of a defeat by an inning in the second test at Ahmadabad, while on other hand it suffered another bad news today when Sachin Tendulkar was ruled out for the third test match between India and South Africa scheduled to begin at Green Park Stadium, Kanpur on 11th April.

BCCI general secretary Niranjan Shah announced the unavailability of the master blaster for the third test. Sachin sustained the injury during the first test match at Chennai, while he was a bit injured from the Australian tour.

It is the biggest bad news to Team India while they are struggling to save the second test match at Ahmadabad.

Tags: India, Sachin, Sachin Tendulkar, Team India

The situation for Indian team at Ahmadabad is really tough, India is playing the second test match of the future cup against South Africa at Ahmadabad. Today is the third day of play and India is on the verge of the inning defeat.

At the tea India is batting at 191 for the loss of 4 wickets and Ganguly is batting at 59 along with Dhoni who is batting at 28. India is still trailing by 227 runs and only 6 wickets are left.

Today early morning South Africa decided to declare their inning at their overnight score and they give India a target of 419 runs to save the match by an inning. Then Sehwag started brilliantly by hitting two sixes in the very first over of Steyn.

Within a very short time Sehwag became the victim of Ntini and India moved to 31 for the loss of one wicket. After that Dravid felt at 64 while he scored only 17 runs. Then Jaffer got out at 19 and India reached to 3 down for 70 only. After that Laxman and Ganguly played some good cricket but Laxman too fell cheaply at 35 while at that time India were 125 for the loss of 4 wickets.

From then Ganguly and Dhoni are playing and they have scored a partnership of 66 runs. For complete coverage please visit Cricket Updates.

Tags: Ahmadabad, BCCI, Bhajji, Cricket News, Dhoni, Dravid, Ganguly, Harbhajan, India, Ishant, Kumble, Laxman, Live Score, live update, Motera, News Live, South Africa, Team India, Test Match

Triple Century of blasting batsman Virendra Sehwag led India to beat the huge score of South Africa. Today on the fourth day of the first test match of Future cup Series, India scored a brilliant record of 627 runs, 87 points more than the rival team. Sehwag was dismissed by Ntini at a mammoth record of 319. he crossed his own score but unable to beat Lara’s record of 400 runs.

Dravid has achieved the milestone of 10,000 runs in test. Dravid also gave his century with 111 runs and was knocked out again by Ntini after lunch. He became the sixth player to tally 10,000 Test runs reaching the milestone in the first Test against South Africa. He is the third Indian player after Sachin and Sunil Gavaskar to achieve this target.

South Africa scored 540 runs in its first inning and India replied the rivals with 468 runs on second day at only one loss. South Africans seemed very helpless in front of the star batsman Sehwag. He gave the opponent team a hard nut to crack. Sehwag is the second player who achieved the milestone of making two triple centuries in test matches after Brain Lara.

Other players including Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dhoni couldn’t use their bats much. They all got dismissed one by one very soon. Dhoni gave only sixteen and Ganguly contributed 24. Sachin, Harbhajan and R P Singh were sent to pavilion without opening their account. Laxman gave 39 while the captain (Kumble) couldn’t achieve more than 3. Sreesanth was the last player with only 4 runs in hand.

In the second inning of South African team, the players have recorded 131 runs in 33 overs at the end of the day at one loss. Smith had made 35 runs and was knocked out soon. McKenzie and Amla are now the overnight players with 59 and 35 runs respectively.

Tags: BCCI, Bhajji, Chennai, Chepauk, Cricket News, Dhoni, Dravid, Ganguly, Golden Ball, Harbhajan, India, Ishant, Kumble, Laxman, Live Score, live update, News Live, Rain, South Africa, Symonds, Team India, Test Match

The dashing opener Virender Sehwag had given a strong reply with his bat to 540 runs of South Africa. On the third day of match of Future cup series (see complete coverage of day three), Virendra Sehwag has shown super performance by recording a triple century on the board. The Nawab of Najafgadh, and Sultan of Multan, completed his brilliant triple century on 278 deliveries only. He is still stick to the ground with 309 runs in hand. India scored 468 for 106 overs at the end of the third day.

Sehwag already told his expectations for the team to bat till fourth day of the match to lead in the first test and he had proved his words with his bat.

Sehwag is now the third batsman who made two triple centuries. Other two players include Sir Don Bradman and Brian Lara.

Sehwag had given a stiff reply to all the questions on his fitness. With this, he had also turned down all the criticism by media and other people who are criticizing him for fitness. While in Australia, Dhoni said that Sehwag was unfit, now what will he say after today’s performance??

India continued his battle from its overnight score of 82 at no loss. Sehwag was at 52 and Jaffer scored 25 till yesterday. India scored 176 runs till lunch without any loss. South African players were dying to take off wickets. Wasim Jaffer is the first loss of India after lunch on Harris’ ball and caught by Kallis. He had given an appreciable contribution of 73 runs completing his half century.

After Jaffer, it was Dravid who joined today’s star, Sehwag. Dravid is still on the ground with 65 runs completing his half century.

Sehwag’s historic performance can lead to top stories of the success in the series. It is expected to get a good score for India on the board and of course a tough competition to South Africans.

Tags: Cricket, Sehwag, South Africa, Team India

After scoring 304 runs at a lose of four wickets in the first test against India on March 26, opening batsman Neil McKenzie told that South Africa will be looking to add another 100-150 runs on Thursday to push for a possible win in the series.

McKenzie who contributed sparkling 94 runs was happy with the start of the team scoring huge inning score but conceded that a lot of cricket was left in the match. But he is confident of getting big score by the remaining quality batsmen of the team.

“Still a long way to go. We have no illusions. Once the wicket gets to wear down, it will be difficult to bat on. I think another 100 to 150 runs tomorrow will be a good total and anything above that will be a bonus,” McKenzie, who added 132 for the opening wicket with Captain Graeme Smith, said after the match.

“We have dependable batsmen in Mark Boucher and AB De Villiers. If one of them comes up with a good individual score, it should be enough to fight our way for a possible win.” He added.

McKenzie said that it was a challenge to face high class spinners like Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh but his previous experience of conditions in the sub-continent helped him to fight but was a little disappointed

“I had toured the sub-continent (before). It is all down to experience,” the opener said.

“Paul Harris is a quality spinner, maybe not to the standards of Kumble or Harbhajan. If the same level of bounce that was there this morning continued in the Indian innings, Nitini and Morkel can be penetrative and trouble Indian batsmen,” he said.

“RP Singh bowled well in Australia but the Indian seamers did not get assistance from the wicket here today, though they played well as a unit,” he added.

The docile nature of the pitch rendered India’s pace bowlers largely ineffective, McKenzie said.

Tags: BCCI, Bhajji, Chennai, Chepauk, Cricket News, Dhoni, Dravid, Ganguly, Golden Ball, Harbhajan, India, Ishant, Kumble, Laxman, Live Score, live update, News Live, Rain, South Africa, Symonds, Team India, Test Match

The first day of the first test of Future Cup test Series against India in MA Chidamabram Stadium today in Chennai is named to the guest team South Africa. South Africa elected to bat first after winning the toss scored 304 runs in 90 overs losing 4 wickets.

Amla and Ab De Villiers are still on ground after giving 85 and 10 runs respectively.

The opener Graeme Smith (Captain) and McKenzie have shared a 132-run play and significantly contributed to the success stories. Indian Captain sent Sreesanth, Harbhajan and R P singh to break the partnership but all in vain.After all Kumble is able to snatch Smith’s wicket after lunch and send him to pavilion.

Four wickets taken away belonged to Kumble and Bhajji, two each.

After smith, H M Amla is there to support McKenzie very effectively. McKenzie was finally dismissed at Bhajji’s ball after giving 94 runs to the team. Harbhajan’s next prey was Kallis.

Indian team step in with four bowlers in the team at the ground. Yuvraj, Irfan Pathan and leg spinner Piyush Chawla were put off from the team.

Same way, Robin Petterson, Mondi jondeki and Jeen Palu couldn’t get space in the South African team.

For the live updates of the match see here or click here.

Tags: Cricket, India, Live Score, South Africa, Team India

Indian leg spinner Anil Kumble have beaten the top batsman of the world by snatching 600 test wickets in his 18 year long carrier. No other bowler of the country has won more test matches than him.

Board of Control of Indian Cricket (BCCI) has presented ‘Golden Ball’ to honour Anil Kumble, the Indian captain in upcoming series against South Africa. All the players from India and South Africa are present in the function. Sharad Pawar presented ‘The Golden Ball’ to the test captain.

Pawar said,” Kumble have taken away 604 test wickets till date and Board is going to present ‘The Golden Ball’ to him for this achievement. Kumble is the first Indian Player to snatch more than 600 wickets in test matches. I believe that every Indian should proud of him. Board is also happy for his achievement and hence ‘The Golden Ball’ will be presented to him. 37 year old Kumble have variety of records in his lap. In 1999, he had made a record of taking away all the ten wickets of Pakistan in test cricket in Delhi. He became the second bowler who took off all the wickets in a single turn.”

Kumble has crossed the target of 600 wickets this year while Australian tour. For the time being he is after Australian Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralidharan of Sri Lanka in top bowlers list.

Tags: Anil Kumble, BCCI, Cricket, Kumble, Muttiah Muralidharan, Shane Warne, Sharad Pawar, Spin, Team India

The 14 member team for the test matches going to start from March 26 against South Africa is announced today. Off spinner Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj are in while India’s new pace sensation Ishant Sharma and in-form batsman Gautam Gambhir are out.

Ishant Sharma Who has done wonderful job while the recent Australia tour have been overlooked for the matches because of his finger injury.

The team is announced by Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Niranjan Shah after the selection committee met in Bangalore on Monday afternoon.

Mumbai opener Wasim Jaffer was retained in the squad which has Virender Sehwag as the other specialist opener while in-form batsman Gambhir is not considered for the play.

Harbhajan Singh is among the specialist spinners in the team while R P Singh, S Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan make up the pace department.

Ishant will undergo a fitness test after the first Test, starting March 26, and if found fit will be considered for the last two matches, said Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India,

Murli Kartik who was picked up for the squad was ruled out later for 3 weeks as he got injured and dismissed for the first test match.

Wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh will undergo fitness tests March 21 in Bangalore.

“If they are found unfit, they will be replaced by wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla.”

The first Test will be played in Chennai from March 26 to 30 and the second Test in Ahmedabad from April 3 to 7.

The indian team is like this: Anil Kumble (captain), Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh, Vangipurappu Laxman, Murli Kartik, Yuvraj Singh, Wasim Jaffer and Virender Sehwag, Piyush Chawla (as cover for Harbhajan), Dinesh Kartik (stand-by for Dhoni)

Tags: Bhajji, Dhoni, Dravid, Gambhir, Ganguly, Harbhajan, India, Ishant, Kumble, Sachin, South Africa, Team India, Yuvraj