England on course for series win in Nagpur

By Abhishek Manroa

NAGPUR, India (TheSportsNEXT) December 16, 2012: England battled it hard to set their sights on Test series victory against India on fourth day of the final Test match in Indian city of Nagpur on Sunday.

At close on day four, England reached 161 for three in their second innings and are now leading the home side by 165 runs.

Earlier, India declared their first innings at 326 for nine. India must win the match to square the series.

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India beat England by 9 wickets in Ahmedabad Test

By Abhishek Manroa

MUMBAI, India (TheSportsNEXT) November 19, 2012: India defeated England in the first Test by nine wickets at Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera on Monday.

England’s resilience ended in the opening session when they were eventually all out for 406 runs as skipper Alastair Cook made 176 runs while wicketkeeper-batsman Matt Prior hit 91 runs for the visitors.

Indian batsmen then raced to victory for the loss of wicket as they chased down the target of 77 runs from 15.3 overs.

Cheteshwar Pujara was declared Man of the Match for a brilliant double century.

The two teams will now move to Mumbai which will host the second Test at the Wankhede Stadium from November 23. The third and fourth Test matches of the series will be played at Kolkata and Nagpur from December 5 and December 13, respectively.

At stumps on day four, England had reached 340 for five and it all looked like an intriguing day of Test cricket on final day of the Ahmedabad Test but England batsmen failed to keep prolonging misery on the Indian bowlers as they could add only 66 runs to their overnight tally before losing the last half of the side.

The collapse left India with a paltry target of 77 runs which was never enough to challenge the Indian top-order batsman who scored 80 for one from 15.3 overs as the home side wrapped up a comfortable victory with half a day in hand.

Chasing 77 runs for victory, Indian openers Virender Sehwag and Cheteshwar Pujara scored 57 runs in only 9.5 overs before Viru was dismissed for 25 runs. Cheteshwar Pujara remained the man to get out for England bowlers as he came unbeaten at 41 while Virat Kohli (14 not out) hit the winning runs.

This is the first victory for India at Ahmedabad in the last seven years and they had to work hard for their dominance especially in the second innings when Alastair Cook and Matt Prior refrained from bowing down to Indian spinners.

The last time India had won at Motera was in December 2005 when they had defeated Sri Lanka here. Collectively, it was India’s fourth victory in Ahmedabad in 12 Test matches and their fifth in the last six Test matches played on home soil.

Apart from Cheteshwar Pujara, left-arm off-spinner Pragyan Ojha also played a major part in the victory for India as he captured the two dangerous men Cook and Prior in the space of 12 balls to dent England chances on the final day.

Pragyan Ojha captured nine wickets in the match for 165 runs as he grabbed five wickets for 45 runs in the first innings before adding more sheen to his performance by taking four wickets for 120 runs in the second innings.

Losing captain Alastair Cook told the presentation party, “We can look at a number of reasons why we didn't win, but our first innings wasn't good enough. It was a great fightback, there was a glimmer of hope, but it always had to be something special. We'll work hard going into Mumbai. The pitch got slower as the game went on. We need runs in the first innings, they are crucial, and we need to keep working as hard as we can."

Winning captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni told the presenter, "There was something in the wicket to start with but as the game progressed there was low bounce but not much turn. It was hard work for the spinners and it was a fantastic effort from them. Even if you misjudged the flight you had time to adjust and not much carried to the slips. It was important not to give many runs."

Man of the Match Cheteshwar Pujara said, "The ball was coming nicely onto the bat. There was turn, but it was slow. As a team we knew we had to put up 500-plus and I had to hang around to play my role. In the second innings the ball was hard and I had a lot of confidence. I was out for almost a year and since I'm back I'm enjoying it."

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BCCI rescripts England ODIs schedule

By Abhishek Manroa

NEW DELHI, India (TheSportsNEXT) October 19, 2012: The Board for Cricket Control in India (BCCI) on Thursday revised venues and timings for two One Day Internationals against England to be played in January 2013.

As per details, fourth of the five-match ODI series will now be hosted at Mohali on January 23 and fifth match will be played at Dharmasala on January 27.

Match at Mohali will start at 12:00pm instead of 2:30pm and the one at Dharmasala is now a day game starting at 9:00am.

The BCCI cited expected cold weather to make revision in the itinerary for the matches to be played on January 23 and 27.

The BCCI said in a statement, "These revisions have been made taking into account the cold evening temperatures that will prevail in Mohali and Dharamshala in late January”.

England are slated to play three practice matches, four Test matches, and two Twenty20 Internationals during first leg of their tour to India starting from October 29 till December 22, 2012. The five One Day Internationals would be played from January 3, 2013 till January 27, 2013 after the English cricketers will return to Indian soil following Christmas celebrations.

The revised schedule for England vs India One Day International series:

Jan 3: Arrival in Indian Capital city of New Delhi

Jan 6: Tour match at New Delhi

Jan 8: Tour match at New Delhi

Jan 11: First ODI at Rajkot

Jan 15: Second ODI at Kochi

Jan 19: Third ODI at Ranchi

Jan 23: Fourth ODI at Mohali

Jan 27: Fifth ODI at Dharamshala

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Harbhajan Singh blows England away in ICCWT20

By Fathima Zanaida

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (TheSportsNEXT) September 23, 2012: Indian offspinner Harbhajan Singh heralded his return to international cricket with an astounding performance on Sunday when India mauled defending champions England by 90 runs in their Group A match of ICC World Twenty20 2012 at R Premadasa Stadium.

Harbhajan Singh took four wickets for 12 runs while left-arm medium-pacer Irfan Pathan and right-hand leg-spin bowler Piyush Chawla also took two wickets apiece as England were folded for mere 80 runs total from 14.1 overs chasing 171 runs target for victory.

It was a clinical performance by Indian spinners as well as their top-order batsmen as they stamped their authority over England who were looking all set to defend their title successfully before this very encounter.

England’s inability to play spin bowling was once again exposed as they failed to get in terms with Harbhajan Singh’s doosras as they kept offering him their wickets like gifts on the Christmas Day.

England skipper Stuart Broad won the toss and invited Indian batsmen to bat first in a bid to avoid a strong batting line-up of the South Asian cricketing powerhouse as Indians are well-renowned for chasing down huge targets.

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni made a surprise move by promoting all-rounder Irfan Pathan (8 from 8 – 1 four) on to the opening position who along with his fellow left-hand opening batsman Gautam Gambhir (45 from 38 – 5 fours) scored 24 runs in the opening wicket partnership.

India’s best batsman Virat Kohli (40 from 32 – 6 fours) joined Gambhir after Steven Finn bowled Pathan and the two batsmen added 57 runs for the second wicket before off-spinner Graeme Swann struck in the 11^th over to get England rid of the dangerous man Kohli.

Gambhir added another 38 runs for third wicket in company of promising Rohit Sharma (55 not out from 33 – 5 fours, 1 six) before Steven Finn captured his second scalp of the evening in shape of the left-hand Indian opener.

Despite of losing skipper MS Dhoni (9 from 8 – 1 four) Rohit Sharma kept India scoring at a handsome rate which helped them to a strong total of 170 for four from 20 overs.

On a pitch which was offering a world of assistance to the spinners, Graeme Swann was clearly the best bowler for England as he gave away only 17 runs from his four overs. Jake Dernbach proved the most expensive option as he leaked 45 runs from his spell while Steven Finn gave away 33 runs for two wickets. Skipper Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan also looked flat and ineffective as Broad was belted for 36 from his four overs while Bresnan blasted for 35 runs.

With Graeme Swann recording attractive figures, it was always going to be a daunting task for the English batsmen to face Indian spinners and they found them in trouble straight away after Irfan Pathan got in-formed opening batsman Alex Hales for a duck.

Luke Wright (6 from 4 – 1 six) soon followed the same fate against the same bowler before MS Dhoni unleashed Harbhajan Singh on England batsmen.

Harbhajan Singh got rid of Eoin Morgan (2 from 6), Jos Buttler (11 from 12 – 1 four), Tim Bresnan (1 from 8), and Graeme Swann (Duck) as the pitch offered him a great comeback opportunity.

Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla also bowled with great control and showed good variations as he captured scalps of Craig Kieswetter (35 from 25 – 4 fours, 2 sixes) and Jonny Bairstow (1 from 8) as England slumped to 80 all out from 14.4 overs.

This was England’s lowest total in Twenty20 International cricket and the 90-run was their worst margin of defeat in the shortest format of the game.

Harbhajan Singh was expectedly awarded Man of the Match accolade for his brilliant return to international cricket after sitting out of the side for over a year.

Harbhajan Singh dedicated his Man of the Match award to his beloved mother and close friends. Talking to reporters after the match, the Turbunator said, “It has been a hard year being out of the side. Other boys were doing exceedingly well so it was really difficult for me to make a comeback. This award is for my mom and those who have stuck with me in turbulent times”.

Talking about the match, Bhajji said, “For me it was an important game. I hadn’t played international cricket for a full year. Getting a wicket first or second ball gives you a lot of confidence. In T20 cricket, it is important to read the game. I have tried to cut down my run-up a little bit. I was running in too fast and struggling to find my areas before. So I was consciously coming in off a short run and slowly”.

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