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Indian team have finally written success story on Kanpur’s Greenpark pitch on the third day of third test against South Africa winning the test by eight wickets to level the series 1-1.

First test in Chennai was a dull draw followed by second test won by South Africa while the last and final test today is won by India to level the series.

After dismissing the rivals at a small score of 121 in second innings, India reached the target of just 62 runs for the loss of two wickets.

In the second inning of India, opener Virendra Sehwag gave 22 runs including two brilliant sixers off 12 balls. Wasim Jaffer was dismissed after making 10 runs. Suarav Ganguly (13) and Rahul Dravid (18) remained not out and took the team to reach the required target.

However the day started when Indian batsman continued from previous score of 288 for nine wickets of the first inning. Last wicket pair of India, Sharma and Sreesanth joined to frustrate the South Africans for a 46-runs partnership leading India to a score of 325, 60 runs ahead. South Africa had made 265 runs in its first inning.

In the second inning of South Africans, team is soon wrapped up at 121 as the Indian spinners dismissed the players one by one.

The pitch proved to be very favorable for the Indian spinners especially Harbhajan Singh. In 21 over of his bowling he gave away 43 runs at an economy of 2.04 taking away the four wicket giving India a serious chance of leveling the series.

South Africa remained under pressure from the very start of their batting. Harbhajan took 4 wickets while Virander Sehwag knocked out 3. Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth also took away 2 and 1 wicket respectively.

McKenzie was the first one to be knocked out by Sreesanth after making 26 runs. A hard blow came to Proteas when Amla is sent back to pavilion without opening his account by Harbhajan Singh.

Getting rid of Kallis(15) first and then bowling Smith(35) round his legs Sehwag proved how lethal he is.

Ishant Sharma took 2 wickets of Boucher (5) and Morkel (0). Sreesanth also dismissed Harris at no score.

Harbhajan took away the ninth wickets in the form of Steyn(7) while it was Virendra Sehwag who dismissed the last wicket of Ntini(0). Prince remained not out on the pitch with 22 runs.

It was India’s fifth win over South Africa in 21 Tests, their fourth at home, as against 10 losses and seven draws. It was only the eighth Test in Kanpur (out of 20) to have produced a result with India winning five of them and preserved the home team’s record of having not lost a Test match here. For complete update of the match please visit Cricket Updates.

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Tags: Amla, Cricket, Dravid, Ganguly, India, Jaffer, Sehwag, Smith, South Africa, Test

First test match of Future cup series in M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai ended after a dull draw between South Africa and India on Sunday. South Africa played cautiously in its second batting. At the end of the match South Africa scored 331 runs at loss of five. McKenzie with 155 runs and Boucher with 11 runs were remain unbeaten on the pitch as the match was finalized.

During the second batting of South Africa, the openers Smith and McKenzie gave a speed start. Smith was dismissed yesterday after making 35 runs and Amla joined McKenzie then. Before the team agreed to draw, McKenzie hit 13 boundaries and a six during his 445-minute stay at the crease. He hit a double century in his previous Test.

South Africa got its first stroke from India by losing Amla at Kumble’s ball. Amla delivered 81 runs to the team. Kallis and Prince couldn’t contribute much after Amla. Both were dismissed by Harbhajan after making 19 and 5 runs respectively. De Villiers gave his 11 and was claimed by Sehwag.

The pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium did not have any significant help for the bowlers on the first four days and was not expected to behave any different on day five.

The match will always be remembered for Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid. Sehwag, who smashed 319 in India’s first innings, was deservedly named man of the match. He broke his own record of 309 runs in 2004 in Multan against Pakistan, although he couldn’t cross Lara’s record of 400 runs. Sehwag had taken India to a mammoth 627 in reply to South Africa’s first innings total of 540.

Dravid who completed his 10,000 runs in Test, is the third Indian and world’s sixth batsman to achieve the milestone. With this, the former Indian captain has also completed his 25th century.

The second Test will be played in Ahmedabad from April 3-7, with the third Test in Kanpur from April 11-15.

Tags: Amla, Boucher, Chennai, Dravid, First Test, Future Cup, Ganguly, India, Kallis, Sehwag, South Africa, Test

There is good news for Cricket lovers that if Australia cancels its tour to Pakistan then there will be a golden chance of India Pakistan series.

Pakistan Cricket Board told that if Australia cancels the tour for security reasons then 3 to 5 one day matches can be held with India against Pakistan team. Sources said that discussion is going with Indian Cricket Control Board regarding this issue but no final decision is taken yet.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has finalized the venues for the March-April home series against Australia, which also include the troubled port city of Karachi.

The PCB has told Cricket Australia (CA) that the three Tests, five One-Day Internationals and a Twenty20 International in the series would be held.

Earlier Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto’s assassination has increased incidents in Pakistan which make the Australian team to think about its tour. The Australians have expressed concerns about touring Pakistan at a time when there is political unrest in the country and also security hazards with a string of suicide bombings by Islamic militants against security forces and political leaders.

Tags: Cricket Series, India, ODI, Pakistan, Test

India’s remarkable victory against Pakistan in an ODI series has got cricket fans going gaga over the game once again. This was India’s first victory against Pakistan after a gap of 24 years. With this victory India has come to the 4th place in the latest ICC Rankings. India is all set to play the test matches with Pakistan.

India has a remarkable history of test matches. It was on June 25, 1932 when India played its very first international test match against England under the captaincy of great Col CK Nayudu. Test cricket in India has completed a journey of more than 75 years.

Cricket has overshadowed all other games like Hockey— the national game of India. Even football in India has drifted to the bottom level of popularity. We have not yet produced any gold medal in any individual event in Olympic Games. Money is flowing in the game of cricket and none of the other games is capable of attracting such a large audience.

The past 75 years have seen India produce some talented cricketers like Pali Umrigar, C K Nayudu, Lala Amarnath, Mohinder Amarnath, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Bishan Singh Bedi, Sandip Patil, G R Vishwanath, Dilip Vengsarkar, S Venkataraghavan, K Srikkanth, Ajit Wadekar, Nari Contractor, Syed Kirmani, Abbas Ali Baig, Vinoo Mankad, Vijay Hazare, Mohammed Azharuddin, Javagal Srinath, EAS Prasanna, Subash Gupte, Vijay Merchant, Farokh Engineer, Mohd Nissar, Ramakant Desai, Ravi Shastri, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, and the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar.

The popularity of test cricket is decreasing day by day, just because ODIs are getting more popularity. ODIs give certain results and that is also within one day, hence more people are going to watch ODI’s. More money is flowing towards ODI’s as compared to test matches. India has also become the world champion in the very first T20 World Championship that seems to have revived the love for the game among cricket fans in the country.

Test matches are still popular as people cheer the Australia’s defeat after 16 consecutive victories. Senior citizens still remember the tied match between India and Australia. Even we remember the 10 wicket haul of Pakistan by the hands of Anil Kumble. People enjoy the strokes taken by Sachin Tendulkar in any test match.

Tags: , Cricket, Dravid, Ganguly, Match, Sachin, Test