Sehwag hundred ensures easy win over Pakistan

Virender Sehwag porduced a superb innings of 119 on Thursday to power India to a crushing six-wicket win over Pakistan in their Asia Cup one-day match at the National stadium in Karachi.
Sehwag scored his ninth one-day hundred in a 198-run second wicket partnership with Suresh Raina (84) to guide India to 301 for four after 42.1 overs in reply to Pakistan's total of 299 for four.
The Pakistan score appeared imposing after Shoaib Malik had scored a captain's innings of 125 and Younis Khan added 59 but Sehwag had other ideas.
He hit 12 fours and five sixes after stand in Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq had brought off a spectacular one handed catch at wide slip to get rid of Gautam Ghambir for nine early on.
Misbah led the side after Malik had retired hurt with cramp. Pakistan also lost their pacer Umar Gul to a side strain after he had bowled just 1.2 overs.
Rao Iftikhar got Gambhir on his first ball but after that it was all Sehwag as he played some breathtaking strokes to reach his first one-day hundred for India since the 2007 World Cup match against Bermuda.
The second wicket stand, made in just 149 balls, was also an Asia Cup record, breaking the previous best of 154 between Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly against Bangladesh in 2004.
Raina fell in the 28th over after he played a loose shot to Iftkhar and was caught at cover by Fawad Alam.
Sehwag was caught at long on by Younis off Shahid Afridi after a 95-ball innings. His dismissal didn't stop the flow of runs as Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh put on further 63.
Pakistan, despite posting a big total, didn't have the same tempo in their innings and could only score 80 runs in the final 10 overs losing three wickets.
India finished top of Group B of the six-nation tournament and will play Bangladesh in the first match of the super four stage on June 28.
Earlier, Malik, who opened Pakistan's innings, recorded his first hundred as skipper and shared valuable stands of 90 with fellow-opener Salman Butt (35) and 133 with Younis Khan (59) to ensure Pakistan took full advantage of batting first in extremely hot and humid conditions.
After a series of handsome drives, Malik reached his sixth hundred and third against India in the 36th over from 104 balls with 13 fours and one six.
He survived two chances in the 39th over when he was dropped on 116 and 121 by Piyush Chawla and Gautam Gambhir from off-spinner Yousuf Pathan.
Butt was the first to go during a mixed day in the field for India when he pulled leg-spinner, Chawla straight to Suresh Raina at mid-wicket after batting for 64 balls and hitting four boundaries.
Younis, who scored his 34th one-day half-century was the second man out, also caught by Raina who took a smart running catch at mid-wicket off Pathan.
After Malik retired hurt, Mohammad Yousuf picked up the pace by hitting five fours from 20 balls while Misbah-ul-Haq contributed an unbeaten 31 from 26 balls.
Yousuf was run out in the 46th over while big hitting Afridi fell in the penultimate over.
A crowd of around 25,000 turned out to watch India play a match in Pakistan for the first time since February, 2006.

source:rediff

Pietersen to lead England Cricket Team in next 4 Matches

Kevin Pietersen was named England's Stand-in Captain for teh next 4 matches as the regular Captain of the team Paul Collingwood is facing 4 Match ban for slow over rate in the wednesday's game against NewZealand.
By this Pietersen dream come true to captain the national side first time,Pietersen, who was born and raised in Pietermaritzburg near Durban but has an English mother, has had a fractious relationship with South Africa captain Graeme Smith.

Virender Sehwag Century against Pakistan : Asia cup

Suresh Raina's superb knock of 84 on just 69 baals: ASIA CUP

Asia Cup: India demolished Honkong in opening match

India launched their Asia Cup campaign in an emphatic manner, routing minnows Hong Kong by 256 runs in their opening Group B match in Karachi on Wednesday.
Electing to bat, India rattled up massive 374 for four, riding on centuries by Suresh Raina (101) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (unbeaten 109), practicing well ahead of clash against arch-rivals and hosts Pakistan on Thursday.
They then bundled out the opponents for a paltry 118 in 36.5 overs to register their second best victory margin, the highest being 257-run win against Bermuda in 2007.
Young leg-spinner Piyush Chawla (4/23) weaved the spin magic, bowling with guile as he forced three stumpings by foxing batsmen with his intriguing line and length apart fro effecting a catch out.
Hong Kong skipper Tabarak Dar (21), James Atkinson (23) and Irfan Ahmed (25) were the main contributors in their side's dismal run-chase.
Left-arm paceman R P Singh drew the first blood in his very first over, trapping Skhawat Ali for a nought, to begin the rot.
Dar and Atkinson then put up a 45-run stand for the second-wicket but once the skipper was dismissed, Hong Kong batsmen lacked confidence in negotiating the Indian attack.
The runs, whatever scored, came at an agonisingly slow pace as the 100 came up only in the 32nd over.
Poor running added to the woes of Hong Kong as lack of understanding resulted in run-outs of Irfan and Roy Lamsam.
Sehwag then closed the Hong Kong innings with two wickets on successive deliveries as he first clean bowled Afzaal Haider and then had Nadeem Ahmed caught behind the wickets, giving Dhoni his fourth victim of the innings.
Earlier, Suresh Raina notched up his maiden one-day century and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni his fourth as India sent minnows Hong Kong on a leather hunt scoring a massive 374 for four.
Raina spearheaded the batting blitz with his scintillating 101-run knock and teamed up with Dhoni (unbeaten 109) to put on 166 from 123 balls, which saw India set the highest total in Asia Cup history.
The 21-year old left hander was in spectacular form, reaching his first fifty from exactly 50 balls and then stepped up the tempo to race to his century from only 16 balls hitting five sixes and three fours in this period.
Raina was extremely harsh on pacer Skhawat Ali who went for three sixes in one over.
Raina fell two balls after smashing pacer Afzaal Haider for a six to reach his hundred and was caught at mid-wicket.
Dhoni touched the three-figure mark after consuming balls and helped himself with with six sixes and five fours to anchor the innings.
India with their strong performance also warmed up in spectacular fashion for their important clash against traditional rivals, Pakistan.
The Hong Kong spinners who had done an admirable job against Pakistan in their first match never recovered from an early blitz from openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir .
The duo put on 127 for the first wicket and plundered runs at will, scoring 95 in first 10 overs.
The two openers brought up the fifty in under six overs and put on a smashing 100 from 65 balls before Sehwag went for a blistering 78 from 44 balls with 13 fours and two big sixes.
He fell to left arm spinner Najeeb Amar, who also dismissed Gambhir after the Delhi player had made a quick 51 from 54 balls.
Rohit Sharma was needlessly run out for 11 runs missing out on a great batting practice opportunity. But Dhoni and the Raina were unstoppable.
Nadeem Ahmed, who took four wickets against Pakistan went wicket less.

ICL players banned from Champions League

English county teams will be barred from this year's multi-million dollar Twenty20 Champions League if they contain players from the unofficial Indian Cricket League (ICL), the Board of Control for Cricket in India said on Sunday.
The competition, which follows the launch of the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year, was to originally feature two teams each from India, England, Australia and South Africa.
"The working committee approved the proposal to jointly organise the Champions Twenty20 tournament in September-October involving Australia, South Africa, India and Pakistan," BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said in a statement.
"Clubs from England who qualify can play provided the teams do not include players who are in the ICL," the statement added.
Organised by the BCCI, the event will be staged in India from September 29 to October 8.
IPL chief Lalit Modi told reporters: "The BCCI has made its position clear that it will not host or play in tournaments which have ICL players in it."

1983 Cup Silver Jubilee celebrations to kick-off

The Silver Jubilee celebrations of the historic 1983 World Cup win will kick-off on Sunday with the re-union of the champion team members for a series of programmes, including a grand felicitation by the Cricket Board.

The celebrations will unfold in the afternoon with Vijay Mallya-owned United Breweries and Gitanjali Jellers organising an event where the team members will unveil a bejewelled bat to mark Indian cricket's most memorable achievement.

The former cricketers will also play a round of golf in the afternoon at the Jaypee Golf course in Greater Noida.

The Cricket Board will felicitate the heroes of the nation, who had grounded the mighty West Indies to clinch the coveted Cup at Lord's on June 25 in 1983, later in the evening at a star-studded ceremony in a swanky city hotel.

The players will be felicitated with Rs 25 lakh each in the presence of a host of dignitaries, including Sports Minister MS Gill.

Melody queen Lata Mangeshkar had also been invited to grace the felicitation function but the legendary playback singer would not be able to make it owing to health reasons.

Lata had helped the BCCI raise funds to honour 'Kapil's Devils' through a special concert following the Indian team's triumph in the quadrennial extravaganza for the first and only time. Her concert in the national capital had mobilised Rs 20 lakh for the then cash-strapped BCCI and the team members were paid Rs one lakh each from the proceeds.

Other invitees include all former Test captains, all Test cricketers based in Delhi, women international cricketers in Delhi, women's former and current India captains and past office bearers of the BCCI.

Besides, the President and Secretary of all state associations and ambassadors of cricketing nations would also be present on the occasion.

On the same morning, the BCCI's all-powerful working committee, headed by its President Sharad Pawar, will meet for what has been described as a "routine" meeting.

The agenda includes tabling of reports of various sub-committees like the Tours Programmes and Fixtures Committee, the Umpires committee, the pitch and grounds committee and the National Cricket Academy for ratification.

On the subsequent morning, the team will leave for London to attend the private celebrations arranged by Sunil Gavaskar at the prestigious Long Room of the Lord's where they created history 25 years ago.

BCCI President Sharad Pawar is expected to attend the gala dinner on Wednesday.

Source: http://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com