Legends of Sports

New Zealand on Wednesday named a nearly unchanged squad for the upcoming ODI series against India with the selector’s maintenance faith in players who drew the recent five-match home task against the West Indies.

The 13-player squad, which drew the series 2-2 against the Caribbean’s, was more or less retained with keep back batsman Colin Munro, who will return to play for his local side, being the only omission.

General Manager National Selection Bruce Edgar said the players had been content for a number of strong performances against the West Indies. New Zealand head coach Mike Hesson said the team is fully aware of the challenges that lie ahead.

Matching yourself against the best in the world is what you play international cricket for and I know the guys are lively about this occasion. It`s also an important part of our build-up for next year`s World Cup where India are the defensive champions, he said.

After Sunday's match here, the five match series will persist to Hamilton (January 22 and 28), Auckland (January 25), and Wellington (January 31), before two tests in Auckland and Wellington.

Brendon McCullum(c), Martin Guptill, Jesse Ryder, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Corey Anderson, Luke Ronchi, Jimmy Neesham, Nathan McCullum, Tim Southee, Kyle Mills, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne

Having lost the first three matches in the sixth season of the Pepsi Indian Premier League, Delhi Daredevils couldn't have asked for better news going into their fourth match of the season than to have a fit-again Virender Sehwag train continuous at the Ferozeshah Kotla in the center.

With the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad set to be played at eight in the evening on Friday, Sehwag will have additional time to warm-up ahead of the must-win clash.

Virat Kohli on fire his way to a 47-ball 93 as Royal Challengers Bangalore made a easy of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s total of 161 in the 9th match of the IPL. Chasing a frightening 162 for victory, Royal Challengers got there with 14 balls to spare thanks to Kohli's blitz. The Bangalore captain and young cricketer gave the home crowd bounty to cheer about as he smashed 11 fours and four maximums in his knock unbeaten 93, which is his highest score in the IPL.

Previous, Hanuma Vihari opened the bowling for Sunrisers again; the 19-year-old had got Chris Gayle for a duck in the first leg last match. However, Mayank Agarwal took strike first and smacks the youngster for a six and four.

Virender Sehwag likely return to action

Mumbai Indians face Delhi Daredevils; they would have been definite favourites. The Delhi Daredevils looked harshly depleted in the first two games, with their best batsman and bowler missing in action. Star dasher Virender Sehwag was out with back spasms, while pace ace Morne Morkel was demanding playing the domestic T20 competition back home in South Africa.

As a result, the Devils lost their first two games against Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals. Going into today’s clash between the two sides at the Wankhede Stadium, however, things could be entirely different. Morkel is back for a fresh spell with DD, and launches himself into the competition with this game.

Royal Challengers Bangalore, motivated by Chris Gayle and grateful to Vinay Kumar, made a winning start to their IPL 6 battle in nail-biting manner by beating Mumbai Indians by two runs over at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Defending 10 runs off the last over of Mumbai's innings, Vinay removed half-centurion Dinesh Karthik and Ambati Rayudu in consecutive deliveries.

The match was beginning to the equal battle following Karthik's attack on Daniel Christian in a 24-run 17th over, but when Jaydev Unadkat conceded just seven from the second to last the responsibility was on Vinay. He managed to keep his cool, and how. But Bangalore's win would not have been possible without the batting heroics of the Chris Gayle made 92 off 58 balls; the rest of the Bangalore batsmen managed 48 off 62.
Athletic Goods are available at tracknfieldgear.com

As the continuous underachievers Mumbai Indians take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the latter's backyard, the atmosphere is absolutely going to be electrifying. Both teams will be eager to kick-start the new season with a win in Bangalore.

In previous two editions, Chris Gayle's blistering knocks have been vital in RCB going on to triumph matches. However, RCB has a lot of other brilliant players as well. It will be interesting to see how Mumbai Indians get used to to the change of guard.

For Delhi Daredevils star player Kevin Pietersen will miss the entire competition due to a knee injury, while Jesse Ryder was situate to fly to India before being assaulted in Christchurch. The franchise has now replaced him with the Australian batsman Ben Rohrer, but their difficulty does not end there. Virender Sehwag, who captained Daredevils last year, is also uncertain for the opening game with a back spasm.

Knight Riders also doesn’t have a completely fit squad at their removal either. Brendon McCullum is yet to join the squad in India. James Pattinson, the Australia fast bowler, is resting at home following the Test tour of India. Jacques Kallis is only just returning from injury and Gautam Gambhir, the skipper has just improved from jaundice and insists he is fit to play from game one.

The ODI career of Younis Khan, the senior Pakistan batsman, falls in the balance after he was left out of a 30-man squad for the Champions Trophy to be held in June. The Pakistan board declares the pool of players early and there had been assumption over Younis' future after a poor one-day series in South Africa earlier this month. He was among several Pakistan batsmen who floundered in the series which South Africa won 3-2. Younis composed 116 ODIs runs at 23.20 as Pakistan's weak batting struggled during much of the tour.

Squad: Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Ahmed Shehzad, Misbah-ul-Haq, Haris Sohail, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Umer Amin, Sohail Tanvir, Hammad Azam, Azhar Ali, Shahid Afridi, Asad Ali, Anwar Ali, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul, Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil, Imran Khan, Aizaz Cheema, Yasir Arafat, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Zulfiqar Babar, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan

Opening Batsman Kusal Perera hit a destructive 64 to push Sri Lanka to a 17-run win over Bangladesh in a Twenty20 match on Sunday. Batting first, Sri Lanka made a strong 198 for five wickets in 20 overs after being helped by Perera's 44-ball knock that integrated four sixes and five boundaries. Jeevan Mendis needed only 17 balls for his 37, and Thisara Perera just seven deliveries for 22 down the order.

Bangladesh handles 181-7 with Mohammad Ashraful top-scoring with 43. "As captain, I am happy about my first win," Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal said. "Kusal Perera gave us the start and we sustained after that. We put up a good total that is why we won." Batsman Shamsur Rahman failed to give Bangladesh the essential start in its chase on his international debut when he was attentive lbw by Angelo Mathews for a first-ball duck with the team total on nine.

Bangladesh dashing to a series-leveling wins against Sri Lanka in the third and final ODI, in Pallekele, attractive by three wickets in a rain-hit encounter. They were helped along by Nasir Hossain's collected 33 off 27 balls behind in the chase, the visitors showing nerves as they neared the victory - their first in 15 finished games against Sri Lanka.

Overall it was a fine time for the visitors, who had left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak flattering the first Bangladesh bowler to amassed 200 ODI wickets, as he picked up a five-wicket haul that helped drag them support into the game after Sri Lanka's openers had built a fine stage. The hosts didn't build correctly on that excellent start, ending up at 302 for 9 in their 50 overs when they looked on course for much more.

Five new players have been named in Sri Lanka's squad for the one-off Twenty20 that will finish the Bangladesh tour in Pallekele. Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Nuwan Kulasekara have been rested for the match. Mahela Jayawardene has improved sufficiently from a finger fracture to be available for selection, but was not selected either.

Twenty20 squad: Kusal Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dilshan Munaweera, Dinesh Chandimal (capt & wk), Angelo Mathews, Jeevan Mendis, Kithruwan Withanage, Angelo Perera, Lasith Malinga (vc), Sachithra Senanayaka, Shaminda Eranga, Chathuranga de Silva, Shehan Jayasuriya, Ramith Rambukwella, Ishan Jayaratne, Thisara Perera

The IPL 2013 matches in Chennai will not aspect any Sri Lankan cricketers or match officials, the league's governing council said after a meeting. It said the conclusion was taken keeping in mind security concerns in Chennai.

The Governing Council met to discuss the issue of SL Players participation in IPL.  The security of all concerned in the IPL, whether players, audience or those working in the stadiums, is of supreme importance to the BCCI. The Governing Council decided that Sri Lankan players will not participate in the Pepsi IPL 2013 League matches in Chennai and will advise the nine franchises consequently.

Team India continues their top position in the latest ICC ODI ranking list with 119 points followed by England and Australia. According to the fresh list issued, India is intimately followed by England on 117 points and Australia is third on 116 points.

Since India first position as per cut-off date, they will get the shield and will collect a cheque of USD 175,000, while England will receive USD 75,000 for finishing second. Rising star Virat Kohli preserve their third rank in the list with 812 points. The other two Indian players in the top-20 list are Suresh Raina on 12th spot and Gautam Gambhir who has increase three places to 15th.