Legends of Sports

After their bowlers had done a great job in restrict the opposition, India were cruising at 157 for 3, needing another 77 runs with both Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina looking good. However, suddenly, the batsmen lost their way slipping to 181 for 6 before Ashwin (30 not out) and Jadeja (24 not out) put up a fighting 53-run stand for the seventh wicket to steer the side home. Ashwin, who also took 3 for 32, was named the Man-of-the-Match. Sachin Tendulkar played some pleasing shots in scoring 48 (63 balls, 5x4) before he drag a ball from Angelo Matthews onto his stumps.

Virat Kohli (77; 94b, 8x4,1x6) batted with a lot of confidence and looked in complete command of the situation. However, towards the final stages of his innings, he was hobbling on one leg due to cramps. He still had sufficient strength to smash pacer Dhammika Prasad for a straight six, but he went for a tight single off the last ball to retain strike and that proved to be his undoing as Lasith Malinga threw down the stumps from mid-on.

Earlier, the Indian bowlers redeemed themselves on a WACA pitch that offered them decent bounce. Zaheer Khan made the batsmen dance to his tunes bowling a tight line and moving the ball both ways. The left-arm pacer made early inroads into Sri Lanka's batting before R Ashwin sliced through the middle-order. Together, both Zaheer (2-44) and Ashwin (3-32) cleaned up the top half of the Sri Lankan batting with their combined figures reading 20-2-76-5.

Yuvraj Singh has been rewarded for his stellar World Cup with a Grade A contract from the BCCI for 2011-12, a year after being demoted to Grade B. Virat Kohli and Ishant Sharma have both been given Grade A contracts for the first time. Rohit Sharma moved up from Grade C to B, as did R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, but Ashish Nehra, who had a Grade B contract, did not make the list of contacted players at all. Harbhajan Singh, who was not picked for the one-day series against England or for the upcoming first Test against West Indies, remained in Grade A.

Yuvraj had a unmemorable 2010, with indifferent form and fitness dogging him through one of the toughest phases of his career. He bounced back excellently to be Man of the Tournament in the World Cup, before injury cut short his tour of England. The total number of contracted players swollen from 24 to 37, with Umesh Yadav, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Sharma and Varun Aaron receiving contracts for the first time. Aaron and Yadav impressed with their pace in the recent home one-day series against England.

The pair, along with leg spinner Rahul Sharma, was included in the squad for the first Test against West Indies starting on November 6. All three players were given Grade C contracts. Munaf Patel, who missed out last year, was also in Grade C as was Ajinkya Rahane, who made his ODI debut in England this year. Cheteshwar Pujara, who just recovered from injury and has not played since the IPL, retained his Grade C contract. Meanwhile M Vijay was moved from B to C after struggling on the tour of West Indies earlier this year.

Grade A: Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, Ishant Sharma.

Grade B: Praveen Kumar, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja.

Grade C: Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Cheteshwar Pujara, Abhimanyu Mithun, Vinay Kumar , Ajinkya Rahane, Munaf Patel, M Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, Parthiv Patel, S Badrinath, Manoj Tiwary, Piyush Chawla, Dinesh Karthik, Jaydev Unadkat, Umesh Yadav, Rahul Sharma, Varun Aaron.

Athletic Equipments

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Virat Kohli (86 not out) and Suresh Raina (80) powered India to a comfortable victory despite some early jolts in the fourth match of the ODI series here on Sunday. With India down at 46 for three, England's hopes for a comfort win here were dashed by the 131-run stand for the fourth wicket. India making 223 for four in 40.1 overs. England's defence of its modest score of 220 started off well enough as Steven Finn surprised Parthiv Patel and in-form Gautam Gambhir in a five-over spell the opener paying for missing the line and the latter playing on.

Raina then joined Kohli out in the middle, and the duo went about getting the chase back on track. Kohli pierced a packed off-side field with fluent drives and Raina opened out after initial nicks and nudges, picking his spot for fierce aerial shots on the front foot. He slogged or scooped anything within range of his blinking blade, punishing Scott Borthwick, Ravi Bopara and later Finn, before gifting his wicket away.

Earlier, after opting to take first strike, England was restricted to 220 in 46.1 overs, beaten back by some tight bowling, particularly by the spinners and brilliant catching. Spinners R. Ashwin (three for 38) and Ravindra Jadeja (two for 41). Dhoni let Varun Aaron have a go at the Englishmen went for 14 off his first three overs. But, coming back in the 41st over, he upset the tail-enders, bowling top-scorer Tim Bresnan (45) and also scalping Borthwick and Meaker, to return three for 24 on his debut.

Athletic Goods

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Young Arun Karthik turned out to be an improbable hero hitting a dazzling six off the last delivery of the match to power Royal Challengers Bangalore to the semi-final of the Champions League Twenty20 beating South Australia Redbacks by two wickets.RCB joins Mumbai Indians, New South Wales Blues and Somerset in the last four. The Redbacks had scored an imposing 214 for two in 20 overs, which the RCB chased down with two wickets in hand.

RCB celebrates after a thrilling last-ball finish against South Australia Redbacks to squeak through to the semis. With six needed of the last delivery, Daniel Christian bowled a slower one just outside the off-stump and Karthik, who plays Ranji Trophy for Tamil Nadu, waited for the delivery and swung it over mid-wicket as Redbacks players looked stunned.

A swashbuckling century by Daniel Harris and a smashing 70 from Callum Ferguson powered South Australia Redbacks to 214 for two in 20 overs. It looked like an imposing total, but RCB gave a appropriate reply good manners Tillakaratne Dilshan (74 off 47 balls) and Virat Kohli (70 off 36 balls) who added 100 runs in 8.5 overs before Tait came back to bowl an inspiring second spell.

Semifinal Matches:

SF1: Royal Challengers Bangalore v NSW Blues

SF2: Mumbai Indians v Somerset

Training Accessories

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Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma cracked half-centuries as India recorded its maiden win of the England tour with a six-wicket thrashing of Sussex in a rain-affected practice game. The two talented youngsters put on 104 for the third wicket in inspiring style as the Indians chased down the revised target of 235 with 4.1 overs to spare after the game was reduced to 45 overs.

Indians 238 for 4 (Kohli 71, Rohit 61*, Parthiv 55) beat Sussex 236 (Machan 56, Brown 48, RP Singh 4 for 45) by 6 wickets (D/L method)

Plyometric Cones

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Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh have been ruled out of the remaining matches of the Test series because of injuries. A statement from the Board of Control for Cricket in India on Wednesday said Yuvraj has broken his left index finger, while Harbhajan has a Grade One abdominal muscle strain.

Yuvraj's injury will take around four weeks to heal, while the off-spinner's revival will take three weeks, it added. With both players ruled out of the last two Tests in the four-match series, Virat Kohli and Pragyan Ojha have been named replacements. Zaheer Khan missed a major part of the first Test at Lord's, which India lost by 196 runs, and could not play the second Test because of a hamstring strain.

Then, Gautam Gambhir was forced to sit out of the Nottingham Test, which India lost by 319 runs, after fault to recover from the elbow hurt he sustained in the first Test. Virender Sehwag, who missed the first two Tests in a bid to recover from a shoulder injury, will join the squad on Wednesday, but questions marks appear over his availability for the upcoming Tests at Birmingham and Oval.

Hurdles

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The Delhi batsman was always known to possess special talent and a keen mind. He has added focus and grit to that to achieve admirable success at the international level. The ongoing ODI series in South Africa has cast him in good light. Virat has not played a big innings yet in the series, but his stints in the middle have shown him to be one of the better batsmen from the Indian side when pitted against hostile bowling and tough conditions. It is in situations like these that the true mettle of a batsman is known. It is much easier to amass big runs on flat sub continental pitches or against pedestrian attacks. But when Dale Styen and Morne Morkel are making it swing and fly past you, it's a different ball game altogether.



Virat has shown a refreshing attitude and a good technique while dealing with the challenge despite his inexperience of South African conditions. More importantly, he has not got bogged down and has kept the scoreboard ticking. Scores of 54, 22 and 28 in the first three matches have not exactly set stadiums on fire but he has looked maybe the most comfortable among Indian batsmen. He was unlucky to be run out in the second game and got a beast of a ball from Morkel in the third one-dayer in Cape Town. Otherwise, he has not flinched. What adds considerable value to Virat's role in the team is his fielding. He is one of the most accomplished fielders in the Indian team, probably the best, along with Suresh Raina.

The three catches he took in India's narrow win in the third ODI against South Africa highlighted his utility. The first catch was a reflex one at first slip where he pouched Colin Ingram inches off the ground off Harbhajan Singh. The reaction time he had was only half a second. The second one was a comparatively easier effort but a crucial one as Graeme Smith was proving to be a stumbling block. The third catch was again particular even though it looked easy. Faf du Plessis tried to hit Munaf Patel hard past point but could only top edge it. Virat made a perfect jump to pluck the ball as it was about to whizz past him. The degree of difficulty of this catch was higher because the batsman had fallen while playing the shot. Virat could easily have been distracted by the image of the stumbling batsman because du Plessis was right in the line of his vision.