The terror attacks in Mumbai on the night of November 26 that left more than 100 dead and 300 injured has also forced world cricket to tak e a backseat.

India, the financial hotbed for the sport across the world, were scheduled to host the inaugural Twenty20 Champions League in the first week of December with six teams from Australia, South Africa, Pakistan and England confirming participation.

However, the day following the attacks in Mumbai, the governing council of Champions League, headed by Lalit Modi, announced that the tournament has been indefinitely postponed.
"We held consultations among all the stakeholders including the founding members, the participating teams and members of the governing council after the unfortunate terrorist attacks in Mumbai on Wednesday night. It was agreed that in the best interests of all concerned, the inaugural edition of the Champions League 2020 should be postponed," Modi said.

Middlesex were expected to arrive in Mumbai on Thursday night but cancelled their visit to India at the last minute after the attacks. Victoria Bushrangers and Western Australia Warriors the two teams from Australia were scheduled to arrive on November 29.

Shane Warne, the captain of the Rajasthan Royals team, cut short his travel to India via Dubai and spoke to the media in the Gulf capital. "No amount of money is worth the risk with what's going on over there (in Mumbai) at the moment," Warne said. The acclaimed leg-spinner was booked at Hotel Taj Mahal during his Mumbai stay, the worst affected place in the aftermath of the terror-strikes.

"I'm shocked," Warne told the media in Singapore. "Darren (Barry) and I got off the plane and saw the news on TV. It's unbelievable. The place is chaos. In Mumbai, that's the hotel (Taj) we are staying at. I don't think we will be going now. Why would you?"

Australia captain Ricky Ponting, though not a member of any of the participating teams, spoke in his capacity as an international cricketer, suggesting the tournament should be shifted to another country.
Cricket South Africa (CSA), meanwhile, have delayed any decision on the Champions League and are awaiting further advice from their department of foreign affairs. CSA's chief executive Gerald Majola said that as of now, CSA has advised their two teams Titans and Dolphins not to travel to India until further notice.

Modi later said that the tournament is now likely to be postponed until next year but will be definitely held in India and not anywhere else. To this, CA, CSA and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have not responded as yet.

"We are confident we can hold the tournament early next year and India will remain the venue, as there was never a problem with hosting it here. All the teams agreed that they wanted to come for the tournament. But we had a problem with finding a third venue after Mumbai. There was no way we could have shifted the venue to Bangalore or Chennai, considering the state of the wickets and the grounds would not have accommodated all the matches," he said.
N Srinivasan, whose team Chennai Super Kings were a part of the tournament, spoke in his capacity as board secretary.

"This unfortunate incident has forced cancellation of all plans. As of now, the tournament has been postponed and that's all I can tell you," he said.

Source:indiatimes.com

India-Eng Test series on; ODIs cancelled

As Mumbai kept burning and the army tried rescuing hostages from the two five-star hotels in the southern suburb, the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) office, not very far from those areas inflicted by terror attacks, managed to pull a stunt of its own.

The BCCI, after day-long talks with the England Cricket Board (ECB), managed to convince the latter to allow the Test series beginning next month to continue as per schedule. The remaining two One-dayers of the seven-match series have been called off but the Test series will go on, the ECB said in a statement.

However, the BCCI officials were still not ready to come on record about the issue and kept saying it was still for the governments to take a decision in the backdrop of the attacks. "A decision will be taken in the next 24 hours," said board secretary N Srinivasan.

However, Lalit Modi, in his capacity as the chairman of BCCI's tournaments and fixtures committee, confirmed just before the ECB sent its release, that the Test series was on.
Mumbai is one of the venues for the two-Test series where the second game will be played from December 16. The first Test is scheduled to be played in Ahmedabad from December 11.

It isn't, though, certain as yet whether Mumbai will host the match. Both the Taj Mahal Hotel and the Trident, which bore the brunt of the terror attacks, are regular haunts for visiting teams, officials and fans. Incidentally, the Brabourne Stadium, venue to the Cricket Club of India (CCI), where the Test was to be played, is just 200m from the Trident Hotel.

According to reports, the BCCI is also trying to find an alternate venue in the southern part of the country to host the second Test.
ECB managing director Hugh Morris refuted reports that the ECB had asked the BCCI to consider cancelling the upcoming two-Test series in India. "I can refute the report that we asked Mr Srinivasan to cancel the Test series," he said.

"We did not request the cancellation of the Test series. Whenever England play cricket, we act on security advice. If our security advice says that it is safe to play a two-Test series, then that is what we will do," he told the media back in London.
England's security apparatus, apparently, has given the go-ahead. On Thursday, the England team was stranded in Bhubaneshwar, where the fifth One-dayer was played. They cancelled their flight to Guwahati, the venue for the next ODI, and will now fly to Delhi on their way back to London.

The Indian team members, meanwhile, have been allowed to fly back home for the time being.

Source:indiatimes.com

India beat England by D/L method

India claimed a 16-run win over England under the Duckworth-Lewis method in a weather-hit third One-dayer on Thursday, taking a 3-0 lead in the seven-match series.

India, chasing England's 240 all out, were 198 for five after 40 overs when poor light forced the players off the field to abruptly end what was developing into a keen finish.

The hosts were 16 runs ahead under the Duckworth-Lewis method for weather-interrupted games and were declared winners in hazy conditions.
Poor light had forced a 45-minute delay in the morning, reducing the game to 49 overs per side.
Opener Virender Sehwag top-scored with 68 to lead the chase against England, who put up a vastly improved display after losing the first two games by 158 runs and 54 runs respectively.
All rounder Andrew Flintoff, who scored 26, grabbed the key wickets of openers Gautam Gambhir (14), Sehwag and the in-form Yuvraj Singh (38), who hit back-to-back match-winning hundreds in the first two games.

However, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (29 not out) and Yusuf Pathan (12) hung on to make sure India held wickets in hand which kept them ahead when bad light intervened.
All rounder Ravi Bopara top-scored with 60 as makeshift opener and added 79 runs with Ian Bell (46) to lift a shaky England before they were all out with two balls left.
Bopara struck eight fours until he was fourth out, stumped against Yuvraj's occasional left-arm spin.

England's batting reshuffle largely failed to work, however, and off spinner Harbhajan Singh grabbed three wickets as slow bowlers once again kept a tight leash on the scoring.
The spinner removed skipper Kevin Pietersen (13) and out of form Paul Collingwood (1) off successive overs, returning three for 31.
He reached a career tally of 200 one-day wickets when he had Owais Shah (40) caught on the boundary.

Flintoff and fellow paceman Stuart Broad bowled superbly in tandem to reduce India to 34 for two in their reply.
The all rounder had Gautam Gambhir (14) caught at long on by Broad, who forced Suresh Raina (1) to play onto the stumps.
Sehwag reached his 31st one-day fifty before Flintoff had him caught by a leaping Collingwood at point, finishing with 3-31.

Dhoni and Yuvraj added 52 runs but struggled to break free as off spinner Graeme Swann impressed in his first game of the series, returning one for 47.
However, England new ball bowler James Anderson conceded 11 runs in one crucial over before India scored freely in the final five-over period of field restrictions.
The fourth One-dayer will be played in Bangalore on Sunday.

Source:indiatimes.com

Sourav Ganguly to join BCCI technical committee

Just days after retiring from international cricket, Sourav Ganguly is set to make yet another comeback. This time the former Indian skipper has joined hands with BCCI as part of the technical committee. Sourav Ganguly will join the panel headed by Sunil Gavaskar and look into the technical aspects of the game in the country.

The Committee members will frame rules and regulations for all the domestic and international tournaments in India. The BCCI's technical committee is headed by former captain Sunil Gavaskar and also has former Test batsman Chetan Chauhan, national selector Kris Srikkanth among other members.

Chief Administrative Officer, BCCI, Ratnakar Shetty said, "There was a slot in the committee for a former Test cricketer and the board asked Dada whether he would like to fill in the space, for which Ganguly consented. I think Sourav's addition is a good one and I am sure that he will add more value to the game. He has played 15-16 years of international cricket and his inclusion in the technical committee is a good thing for Indian cricket."
With Sourav Ganguly retiring, BCCI will surely be looking at making the most of Ganguly's cricketing acumen.

Source:indiatimes

Yuvraj reigns over England again

Yuvraj Singh clobbered his second successive century and then scalped four key wickets as India maintained their stranglehold over England , thrashing the visitors by 54 runs, in the second One-Day International in Indore on Monday.
The home side rode on Yuvraj's scintillating 118 to post a competitive 292 for 9 and then bundled out England for 238 in 47 overs to take a 2-0 lead in the seven-match series.
The 26-year-old Yuvraj, who recovered from a back injury just in time to be drafted into the team, came up with a stunning all-round display to play the pivotal role in India's victory on a rather slow track at the Maharani Usharaje Trust ground.
Yuvraj, who had blasted an unbeaten 138 off just 78 balls in the first one-dayer in Rajkot to mark his return to form, not only notched his tenth century but also helped the hosts recover from an early slump, which saw them tottering at 29 for three at one stage.
He then proved his ability as a left-arm spinner by returning dream figures of 10-0-28-4, which included the prized scalps of Andrew Flintoff , Kevin Pietersen and Owais Shah.
The Punjab swashbuckler stitched 134 runs for the fourth wicket with the in-form Gautam Gambhir (70), while the lanky Yusuf Pathan provided late sparks to the innings with a savage unbeaten 50 off just 29 balls.
The England innings never really got the momentum to overhaul India's target as none of the batsmen really got big knocks needed to keep them in the hunt.
Owais Shah (58), Andrew Flintoff (43), Matt Prior (38) and Kevin Pietersen (33) got the starts but could not hang around long enough.
The two teams now travel to Kanpur for the third game, at the Green Park stadium, on Thursday.
England's innings began on a disastrous note as opener Ian Bell was run-out in the first over, thanks to a brilliant piece of fielding by Suresh Raina, whose direct hit at the non-striker's end gave India the first wicket.
Matt Prior and Owais Shah then steadied the innings to some extent with a 96-run partnership for the second wicket. The two batsmen were quite content in keeping the scoreboard ticking with pushes and nudges while hitting the occasional boundary.
The introduction of the spinners from the 16th over checked the runs for the visitors, resulting in the asking rate climbing beyond eight runs per over.
The tourists lost the wickets of Shah (58) and Prior (38) in the span of three overs to tilt the scale in India's favour at the stage.
Yuvraj accounted for both the wickets, first trapping Shah leg before wicket and then bowled Prior with a ball that turned a bit.
England opted to take the batting powerplay from the 32nd over and suddenly the runs started coming briskly with captain Kevin Pietersen and the dangerous Andrew Flintoff belting 59 runs in those five overs.
Just when England showed signs of coming back into the match with some lusty hits, Yuvraj came to the hosts' rescue by getting rid of Flintoff and Pietersen in the same over to change the complexion of the game.
With the visitors reduced to 185 for five after 38 overs following Yuvraj's dramatic over, the Indians had the game under control and it was only a matter of bowling tightly in the slog overs with the asking rate having climbed steeply.
Earlier, it was Yuvraj who stole the thunder for the second time on the trot. He struck two sixes and 15 fours and also cobbled a crucial century stand with Gambhir, who slammed his second successive half century in the series when making 70 off 76 balls.
Towards the end, birthday boy Yusuf Pathan, who failed at Rajkot, hammered an unbeaten 50 in only 29 balls by clobbering four sixes, including two in the last over bowled by Steve Harmison, and two fours to finish the innings on a high note.
The hosts lost the wickets of opener Virender Sehwag (1), Suresh Raina (4) and Rohit Sharma (3) in quick succession with Stuart Broad doing all the damage early in the morning.
While Gambhir continued to show his good form since the series against Australia , Yuvraj had to play differently, mostly with nudges and tickles, from what he had done at Rajkot where he carted the bowlers with impunity.
The Punjab batsman adapted well to the slower pace of the wicket here and still scored at a fast pace, completing his century in only 107 balls with the help of two sixes and 12 fours.
He finally fell to Broad, in the 44th over when trying to drive the England pacer during the batting side's Power Play taken between the 43rd to 47th over with the score reading 239.

Source:rediff.com

Tendulkar's ton puts India on top in Nagpur

Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar smashed his 40th century to put India in a healthy position in the fourth and final Test against Australia on Thursday.

The hosts reached 311-5 at stumps on the opening day with Tendulkar (109) putting on 146 run partnership for the fourth wicket with VVS Laxman, who made a solid 64 in his 100th Test appearance.

Sourav Ganguly, playing his final Test, was unbeaten on 27 with new captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (4) not out.

India looked in trouble when they slipped from 98 without loss to 116-3 in the morning session, with debutant off-spinner Jason Krejza (3-138) grabbing two wickets and seamer Shane Watson one.

But Tendulkar, 35, and Laxman ensured their team did not lose the advantage of winning the toss on a good batting pitch. Both scored freely against pace and spin.

India lead the series 1-0 following their 320-run victory in the second Test in Mohali. The matches in Bangalore and New Delhi were drawn.

Australia, needing a win to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, failed to maintain pressure on the batsmen.

Pacemen Brett Lee (0-46) and Mitchell Johnson (1-54) bowled well only in patches, while leg-spinner Cameron White failed to test the batsmen on a first-day wicket. Krejza's three wickets proved expensive.

Australia also failed to make the most of the opportunities that came their way, with Johnson dropping Tendulkar on 85 off Krejza at deep mid-off when the batsman stepped down the track to attempt a big shot.

The Indian batsman offered another chance on 96. Lee ran back from mid-off to hold a skier but failed to judge it properly with Krejza again the unlucky bowler.

Barring these lapses, Tendulkar looked in command and executed handsome shots on both sides of the wicket. He hit 12 fours in his 188-ball knock before being trapped leg-before by Johnson, bowling with the second new ball.

India were off to a brisk start, with Virender Sehwag (66) dominating a 98-run stand for the opening wicket with Murali Vijay who made an impressive 33 on his debut.

Australia's first success came when Watson had Vijay caught behind off a lifting delivery. Krejza then took two wickets in three overs, dismissing Sehwag and Rahul Dravid for a duck.

The spinner, hit for a four and a six by Sehwag in his opening over, extended Dravid's poor run with the bat when he had the Indian caught by Simon Katich at short-leg with a delivery that turned and bounced.

Dravid has scored just one half-century in the series. Krejza, 25, celebrated again when he removed Sehwag, bowled off an inside-edge while attempting to cut. Sehwag hit one six and nine fours in a 69-ball knock - his 16th Test half-century. His third wicket came in the last session when he had the well-set Laxman caught behind.

Source:Indiatimes.com