Indian team once again able to achieve the victory at their favorite ground at Kotla, New Delhi. Anil Kumble started his captaincy with winning stint by beating Pakistan by six wickets to take the lead of 1-0 in three match test series. Indian batsman able to achieve the target in just 30 minutes of play on day 5 by loosing one wicket of Saurav Ganguly.
Needing 32 runs to register a memorable win on the final day with seven wickets remaining, India's road towards victory was interrupted when Sourav Ganguly fell on his overnight score of 48.
Sachin Tendulkar played sensibly with an unbeaten knock of 56 runs to guide India home to achieve memorable victory against Pakistan by six wickets.
Shoaib Akhtar was pick off the bowler for Pakistan who bowled beautifully in Indian second inning while picking up all four wickets which falls for the Indians while chasing modest target of 203 runs.
The Indian captain, who sizzled with match figures of 7-108 and an important innings of 24 that included a partnership of 54 for the seventh wicket with VVS Laxman, bagged the man of the match award.
Pakistan captain after winning the toss decided to bat first in first test match at Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi but due to early movement their openers fail to survive some good bowling by Indian Pacer specially Zaheer Khan and he picked up two crucial wickets in his first spell to get Pakistan team on the back foot.
Introduction to Indian new captain in the bowling attack gave Indian team the third victim in the face of good looking Yaseer Hameed when he bowled him with straighter one.
India went into the match with four frontline bowlers while Pakistan had to make a change in their team on the eve of the match when pacer Umar Gul complained of a stressed back and was replaced by Sohail Tanvir.
However Yuvraj Singh who is in enormous form this season not able to find his place in final playing XI, With the middle-order places taken up by Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman, the mercurial left-hander is forced on the bench yet again.
Yuvraj played his last Test match in June 2006 and between that and now, he has grown immensely as a cricketer but when it comes to Test cricket, his destiny is still not in his hands.
Indian team enjoy playing at this ground where they have won all of their previous matches and in same ground Indian team new captain Anil Kumble were able to pick 10 wicket hall in an inning against Pakistan way back in 1999.
Final Playing XI for both the teams (Match will start from 09:30 AM Indian time)
On a day when Sachin Tendulkardebut his test career against Pakistan 18 years ago, help Indian team to by sparkling 97 runs to beat Pakistan by six wickets and clinch the series after two decade.
Chasing a target of 256 for victory Indians manage to achieve the same by 46.3 overs with the lost of four wickets.
Tendulkar sealed the win for India with a masterful 97, but failed yet again to break a recent jinx that saw him being dismissed in the 90s for the sixth time this year and the second time in the series.
India lost two quick wickets in between three overs both of Virendra Sehwag (43 runs of 49 balls) and Sachin Tendulkar (97 runs of 102 balls). However Indian captain M.S. Dhoni and vice-captain Yuvraj Singh kept their cool with solid unbroken partnership of 101 runs to ensure Indians victory.
Yuvraj was at his authoritative best and continued his outstanding run with the bat. He scored a breezy 53 comprising four boundaries and a six while skipper Dhoni eased his way to a run-a-ball 45 which included three boundaries and one six.
Earlier after winning the toss Pakistan captain elected to bat first, but his decision was proved wrong when R.P Singh dismissed last match centurion Salman Butt for duck.
After wards, Skipper Shoaib Malik, who promoted himself up the order after both Shahid Afridi and Kamran Akmal had failed in the earlier games, added 78 with Younis Khan. Though both batsman able to keep the Indians way from picking up wickets but they failed to up the tempo and in the process Pakistan lost their skipper giving Zaheer khan his 200th victim in ODI.
Introduction to Yuvraj Singh in the 30th over gave India third wickets when Yuvraj caught Yunus (68 runs of 89 balls) on his own bowling. Two overs later Saurav Ganguly get his 100th ODI by picking boom-boom Shahid Afridi on 1 run of 4 balls to get India right back into the match.
From Pakistan the man stand out when matter most is (99* runs of 104 balls) and Misbah-Ul-Haq (40 runs of 39 balls) and help Pakistan to reach formidable total of 255/6 in 50 Over.
Sachin Tendulkar was declared Man of the Match for his brilliant 97 runs of 104 balls.
With the help of superb knock of 99 runs of 104 balls by Mohammad Yusuf Pakistan team able to set 256 runs target for the Indian team.
Earlier Pakistan Captain Shoiab Mallik won the toss and decided to bat first at Captain Roop Singh Stadium, Gwalior. Shoiab Mallik and Salman Butt came out to open the innings for Pakistan but R.P Singh strikes on his second delivery of first over to get rid of Salman Butt who scored brilliant century in the last match for duck.
India could have made it two down very soon but for skipper MS Dhoni's lapse behind the stumps, and later on in the 15th over when Dhoni's catch was deemed to have bounced before it reached him, both off Younis Khan.
However Captain Shoiab Mallik (31 runs of 55 balls) and Yunus Khan (68 runs of 99 balls) able to put on 78 runs for the second wicket before Zaheer Khan get Pakistani Captain to claim his 200th wickets in ODI.
Introduction to Yuvraj Singh in the 30th over gave India third wickets when Yuvraj caught Yunus on his own bowling. Two overs later Saurav Ganguly strikes by picking boom-boom Shahid Afridi on 1 run of 4 balls to get India right back into the match.
Saurav Ganguly is another player to achieve milestone by picking up his 100th ODI wickets.
Mohammad Yusuf (99* runs of 104 balls) and Misbah-Ul-Haq (40 runs of 39 balls) help Pakistan team to reach a comparative total of 255/6 in allotted 50 overs with the help of solid partnership of 93 runs for the fifth wicket between.
Both sides left out out their left-arm spinners; for Pakistan, Abdul Rehman made way for Rao Iftikhar Anjum, while India included Virender Sehwag leaving out Murali Karthik.
Final Playing XI for Both Teams:
India: Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C/WK), Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh.
Pakistan: Shoaib Malik (C), Salman Butt, Mohammad Yousuf, Youis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal (WK), Shoaib Akhtar, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Soahil Tanvir, Umar Gul.
After beating Pakistan convincingly at Kanpur by 46 runs and taking 2-1 lead in five match ODI series, Indian team looking to wrap up the series at Gwalior.
Lat time when Indians played against Pakistan at home soil they lost the series by 4-2 after taking 2-0 lead, so Indian team don’t want to repeat the same and leave it to lat encounter at Jaipur.
India will start the fourth ODI with their nose slightly ahead as little has been going right for Pakistan since the past season or two. Pakistan though will take heart from the rich form of Salman Butt and Younis Khan, who have struck sparkling centuries in the series.
Gwalior is very much favorable ground for the Indians; they have won six out of eight matches they played here. So far in the series we have seen batsman from both side dominated throughout the individual matches and no surprisingly at Gwalior we may see another 300 plus run score from both the side.
The Indian management will be extremely pleased with the way Sachin Tendulkar has played so far in the series. More than the runs, it has been his approach which has been a treat to the eyes.
Indian middle order is also in sparkling form with the likes of Yuvraj Singh, M.S Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir. If any of the two able to continue their good show at Gwalior then we may hope to wrap up the series here in Gwalior.
By seeing the condition here at Gwalior Indian think tank might go with four bowlers and seven batsman.
Indian bowling line up looks inconsistent through out the series till now. After a disciplined effort in Guwahati, they were belted around pretty severely in the next two games. With the Pakistan batsmen slowly but surely getting in to the groove, the Indian bowlers must get their act right.
Gwalior has a small ground, the pitch being a batting paradise and the fire power in the both the sides, there is a good chance that bowlers from both sides will be running for cover in Gwalior. As the series between the traditional rivals reaches a climax, the Gwalior tie would be a test of nerves for both the teams.
So all in all the scene is set for nail biting battle between two arch-rivals at Gwalior.
Match will start from (14:30 PMIndia time which will be Day/Night Encounter)
India’s new Test captain Anil Kumble wanted variety in the bowling and preferred left arm spinner Murali Kartik to all-rounder Irfan Pathan for the first two Test matches against Pakistan to be played in Delhi and Kolkata.
“Anil was particular about adding an extra spinner, apart from himself and Harbhajan Singh, in the squad of fourteen members instead of selecting four new ball bowlers as he wanted more variety in the bowling department”, a selector, who did not want to be named, told Cricketnext.com after the selection committee meeting at the BCCI office here on Wednesday.
Making it clear that he is not supposed to elaborate on the meeting, which was attended by Kumble among others, the selector said “I think there was not much the selectors could do in this meeting as the players’ selected themselves backed by some good performances in England and in the recent domestic matches.
“We discussed in-form batsman Gautam Gambhir for one of the opener’s slot but we felt it would have been unfair to drop Dinesh Karthik, who had shown guts and determination during the England tour while opening the innings, and decided to persist with him along with regular opener Wasim Jaffer”, the selector said.
When asked about all-rounder Irfan Pathan’s absence despite performing well in the on-going One-Day series against Pakistan and the seven-match series against Australia recently, the selector simply said “I suppose Irfan (Pathan) was a bit unlucky but then the team already has two left arm seamers in Rundra Pratap Singh and Zaheer Khan and we agreed with Anil (Kumble) that an additional spinner would add more variety to the bowing in a Test series”.
In fact Zaheer Khan should consider himself lucky to be in the team despite being wayward during the One-Day series. Probably his fine showing with the ball in England must have got him the nod for the first two Test matches.
The selectors also named wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is tipped as the future Test captain, as Kumble’s deputy despite the presence of his senior Yuvraj Singh in the team.
May be the selectors thought Dhoni being a certainty in the playing eleven deserved to be the vice-captain as Yuvraj is still to cement his place in the Test squad despite showing his consistency in the shorter version of the game.
The selectors have left out two young seamers – Ranadeb Bose and Ishaant Sharma - and a spinner – Ramesh Powar – from the Test team that toured England earlier this year while persisting with experienced and world class batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Laxman in the batting department.
Spinners Murali Kartik and off spinner Harbhajan Singh are the two specialist spinners to be making their comeback into the Test squad, after missing the England tour. Kartik last played for India in Tests some 19 months ago while Harbhajan was dropped from the England-bound Test squad due to inconsistent form.
Earlier, the chairman of selectors, Dilip Vengsarkar, refused to speak to the media and instead distributed a press release after making the newsmen wait in front of the BCCI office, in the Wankhede Stadium premises, for more than four hours before zooming off with the Central Zone selector Sanjay Jagdale.
India Squad: Anil Kumble (captain), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, V V S Laxman, M S Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Wasim Jaffer, R P Singh, S Sreesanth, Murali Kartik, Dinesh Karthik.
Indian Vice Captain Yuvraj Singh all round performance with bat, bowl and in the field help Indian team to crush the Pakistani’s in the third ODI at Kanpur by 46 runs to take 2-1 lead in five match ODI series.
After put in to bat by Pakistan Captain Shoiab Mallik, Indian started well and didn’t loose too many wickets at start. Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, got away with some streaky edges and largely struggled against the pace of Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul. Indian got away with the help of some sloppy fielding by Pakistan fielders. On very first bowl of the match Kamran Akmal dropped Saurav Ganguly on the bowling of Shoiab Akhtar.
Both the opener put on 68 runs for the first wicket in the 10th over. Before Sachin Tendulkar (29 runs of 27 balls) got out by edging one to Kamran Akmal on the bowling of Shohail Tanveer. Three overs later Shohail Tanveer strikes again when he bowled Saurav Ganguly (39 runs of 46 balls).
Gautam Gambhir (25 runs of 49 balls) and Yuvraj Singh (77 runs of 95 balls) kept Indian score moving and put on 47 runs for the third wicket. Gautam Gambhir was little bit unlucky when he bowled out on 25 runs on the bowling of Abdur Rehman.
However M.S Dhoni (49 runs of 52 balls) with four 4’s and 2 sixes and Yuvraj Singh with 3 sixes and four 4’s played some blistering shot to help India impose a huge total of 294/6 in 50 overs.
Chasing a daunting total of 295 for victory Pakistan get up to flying start and put 72/1 in just 8th over. However in the process Pakistan lost Boom-Boom Afridi when he is bowled by Irfan Pathan. Inform Salman Butt kept his cool and kept pakista Score board ticking but not a single batsman spend time with him in the middle to help Pakistani’s to chase down 295 runs in 50 overs.
For Pakistan, the highlight of the day was Salman Butt’s sparkling innings of 129 runs from 142 balls studded with 17 fours. But it couldn’t translate into a win as Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals. And in the end India bowled out Pakistan on 248/10 in 47.2 overs.
Yuvraj Singh was declared Man ofthe Match for his brilliant knock of 77 runs, 1 wicket and one run outs in the field.
Anil Kumble is named as India Test Captain for the series Against Pakistan
Third highest wicket taker in test cricket is named Indian team test captain for the series against Pakistan. He is only third spinner after Bishan Singh Bedi and Srinivas Venkataraghavan.
MP Pandove, Joint Secretary, Board of Cricket Control in India, made the announcement on Thursday after the second one-day match between India and Pakistan at Mohali.
It took Kumble 17 years to get his first Test hundred. And now in the twilight of his career, he has earned the most elusive feather in this cap.
Selectors have also retained same team for next two ODI’s.
India Vs Pakistan 3rd ODI
Indian team, who lost the day/night nail biting encounter at Mohali, will have to lift their game in 3rd ODI at Kanpur to take the lead in the five match ODI series against Pakistan.
After setting a huge total of 322 in the 2nd ODI at Mohali they lost the match due to way ward bowling by their bowlers. Sachin Tendulkar is looking in an excellent form and this is good news for the Indians. If he continues to play like he did at Mohali then we might see another 300 plus score on a flat wicket at Kanpur.
Match will start from (09:00 AMIndia time which will be Day Match)
Indian team which is flying high on confidence after beating Pakistan in first ODI will be looking to keep the momentum going on the other hand other team will look to rectify their mistakes and bounce back in the series.
Second One day international between Indian and Pakistan will be played under lights at P.C.A stadium, Mohali. Indian team will be looking forward to extend their lead to 2-0 in five match ODI series.
Indian team who has won five of seven outing at Mohali will be looking forward to continue their good show in front of their 30000 home crowds. Pakistan have won only one out of five but they can take heart from the fact that they won that lone match against India in 1999 in a triangular series.
Indian team has to keep Pakistan last tour of India, when they were bounce back to beat India in the ODI series. After loosing first two ODI’s Pakistan able to beat India by 4-2 in the last ODI series they have played here.
India came up with a tremendous performance - the bowlers did their job to perfection, especially the spinners in the middle overs, the batsmen were solid in the middle, while captain Dhoni made a great decision by promoting himself up the order to help chase down the target along with his deputy Yuvraj Singh.
Pitch here at Mohali will be favorable for the batsman and we may see 300 plus score from the batting first team, due factor will be likely to come in to play in the nights. The team winning the toss may opt for fielding first and restrict the team below 250 to gave them upper chance in the match.
Match will start from (14:30India time which will be Day/Night Encounter)
Likely Playing XI for Both Team:
India: Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh,Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C & WK), Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar and Rudra Pratap Singh.
Pakistan: Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal (WK), Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik (C), Misbah-ul-Haq, , Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikar and Sohail Tanveer.
Todays selector will pick team for rest of ODI’s and announce Test captaincy for team India. After Sachin Tendulkar declines to become test captain, Dhoni will be likely to name the Captain for test matches as well.
India display superb outing in all department of game to beat Pakistan by five wickets at Guwahati to take the lead of 1-0 in five match ODI series.
Chasing a comparative total of 240 runs for win Indians manage to achieve the total in just 46th over with the lost of five wickets. India got up to disastrous start loosing Sachin Tendulkar (4 runs of 7 balls) with only 14 runs on the board. However Saurav Ganguly (39 runs of 55 balls) and Gautam Gambhir (44 runs of 51 balls) manage to put 82 runs for the second wicket, before Saurav Ganguly ran himself out.
Gautam Gambhir also got out six short of his fifty when he was bowled around his legs by Shahid Afridi. New look Indian captain M.S Dhoni (63 runs of 77 balls) and Indian vice captain Yuvraj Singh (58 runs of 74 balls) put on solid 105 runs for the fourth wicket to put India on a verge of victory before both getting out in quick succession.
After loosing both Captain and vice captain Indians required another 15 runs more to wrap up the match and South paw Robin Uthappa and allrounder Irfan Pathan guided India home without further lost of wicket.
Earlier Pakistan captain Shoiab Malik won the toss and decided to bat first. However his decision was not supported by his batsman and Pakistan lost wickets at regular interval to give Indian bowlers chance to settle down.
From Pakistan side only Mohammad Yusuf (83 runs of 88 balls) and Salman Butt (50 of 57 balls) able to play handy knock and give some respect to Pakistanis total. In the end Pakistan only manage to score 239/7 in allotted 50 overs.
Sachin Tendulkar was pick of the bowler from India who mange to pick two important wickets of Shahid Afridi and Shoiab Malik.
M.S. Dhoni was declared Man ofthe Match for his brilliant knock of 63 runs
With the help of superb bowling from both the spinners Harbhajan Singh (10-0-29-1) and Murali Karthik (10-0-36-0) Indians able to restrict Pakistan to a modest total of 239/7 in the allotted 50 overs.
In reply Indians were 70/1 after 12.2 overs with Gautam Gambhir not out on 25 runs and Saurav Ganguly batting on 31. India have lost Sachin Tendulkar (4 runs of 7 balls) early when he trapped lbw by Shoiab Akhtar.
Earlier Pakistan captain Shoiab Mallik won the toss and decided to bat first on a wicket that was looking like batting paradise. But superb bowling for Indians derailed the visitors’ hopes of setting a huge target for the Indians.
However some Pakistanis batsman do get start but didn’t capitalize on same. Mohammad Yusuf the highest run getter in test matches in a year 2007-08 manage to face Indian bowling with ease and scored brilliant (83 not out off 88 balls with eight fours), Salman Butt (50 off 57 balls with eight boundaries), Shahid Afridi (31 off 32 balls with a four and a six) and Misabh-ul-Haq (27 off 26 balls with 2 fours) contributing to the total.
From India Sachin Tendulkar manage to pick two wickets in the late over of Pakistanis inning while Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh manage to take one wickets each.
Earlier Pakistan got up to solid start with both the openers able to put 44 runs for the first wicket. However Irfan Pathan able to get rid of Kamran Akmal when he was on 12 in the 11th over and gave India their first breakthrough.
Zaheer Khan struggled a little bit with his line and length in the initial stages of the match as the Pakistan batsmen, particularly Salman Butt, helped himself to a couple of boundaries while from the other end R P Singh bowled a good line and length.
Salman Butt after completing his quick fire fifty got run out after mix up with his other partner Younis Khan as Pakistan score fell to 69/2.
In the process of accelerating the run rate Younis Khan only manage to give simple catch on long on boundary to Irfan Pathan for 26 runs on the bowling of Harbhajan Singh. Introduction of Sachin Tendulkar gave India two successive breakthrough when he picked up wickets of Shahid Afridi and Shoiab Mallik to restrict Pakistan to modest total of 239/7.
For today’s match India rested Praveen Kumar, Virendra Sehwag, S.Sreesanth & Rohit Sharma from playing eleven.
India: Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C & WK), Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik and Rudra Pratap Singh.
Pakistan: Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal (WK), Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik (C), Misbah-ul-Haq, , Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikar and Abdul Rehman.
Sri Lanka will play two test match series against Australia in Australia then they will return back home to play three test match series against England in early part of December.
After completing the three match test series with England they will again fly back to Australia to play Commonwealth triangular Series against India & Australia.
Australia Vs Sri Lanka in Australia Schedule (All timing are mentioned in GMT+5:30)
Timing
Teams
Venue
Thu 8-12 Nov
04:00 AM
1st Test Match – Sri Lanka vs Australia
Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane
Fri 16-20 Nov
04:30 AM
2nd Test Match – Sri Lanka vs Australia
Bellerive Oval, Hobart
England Vs Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka Schedule (All timing are mentioned in GMT+5:30)
New Zealand will tour South Africa in early Novmber for two test matches, one twenty20 and three ODI. New Zealand have to face real battle since so far South Africa never lost the series against New Zealand at their back yards.
South Africa vs New Zealand Schedule (All timing are mentioned in GMT+5:30)
In late part of December Bangladesh will tour New Zealand to play three ODI and two test match series. Bangladesh will be facing the real challenge in the swing and seam condition in New Zealand.
New Zealand Vs Bangladesh in New Zealand Schedule (All timing are mentioned in GMT+5:30)
