Twenty20 cricket in Olympics

Olympic Games are the world's largest sports festival and it has been conducted for every 4 years. Last year (2012) Olympic festival was held in London. The next contest will happen in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016.

Cricket is one of the most popular games and it has worldwide fans. It was played in 1900 Paris Olympics for the first time. In that match England defeated France and won gold medal. After that the Olympic committee removed the game from Olympics games list. Now the International Cricket Council (ICC) has been trying to add cricket in Olympics.

Every year Olympic committee attempts to add new games, in order to this expert’s demand cricket.  International Olympic Committee was accepted the suggestion but still they don’t take any action about this. So ICC once again suggest Twenty20 match for Olympics. 

Former international players and referees also recommended the same to Olympic Committee. If everything goes well, 20-over cricket will add in 2024 Olympics.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni makes a new record

In the ongoing test match between India and Australia Mahendra Singh Dhoni took 224 runs with 24 fours and 6 sixes. He achieved this run in 265 balls. He gave a power pack performance and led the team to success against Australia. Indian Captain Dhoni makes a new record in this match.

• Highest score by a wicketkeeper-captain.
• Highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper.
• Highest score by an Indian captain.
• Third highest score ever by a wicketkeeper.

His last 10 scores in Tests: 73, 62, 48, 5, 29, 6, 52, 0, 99, 224.

MS Dhoni hits double century against Australia

The ongoing Test match against Australia, Indian captain MS Dhoni hits double century. Similarly Kohli makes century and India has a strong presence against Australia. At the end of yesterdays match Indian team scored 515 for the loss of 8 wickets.

In the first innings, Australia took 380 runs for 10 wicket loss. Captain Michael Clarke gave their best and scored 130 runs. Ashwin took 7 wickets for India. Then Indian team started their first innings on 23/2/2013(Saturday). At the end of the day India took 182 runs for 3 wickets loss.

3^rd day match between the two teams was started yesterday. Sachin Tendulkar(71) and Virat Kohli(50) continued with the game. Tendulkar was dismissed in 81 runs by Nathan Lyon. After Sachin, Captain MS Dhoni landed to the field. Kohli-Dhoni pair played responsibly. Virat Kohli played well and provides support to the captain. Dhoni gave a stunning performance and India crossed 250 runs in 75 over.

During lunch break India took 263 runs for 4 wicket loss. After the break both of them continued with the match and Dhoni finished his half century. Then Kohli scored a century and India crossed 300 runs. Kohli got out by Nathan Lyon in 107 runs. Then Jadeja joins with the captain and lost his wicket in 16 runs. Next Ashwin entered to the field and got out by 3 runs. After Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh joins hands with Dhoni.

Dhoni gives an action play and touch 150 runs. Harbajan lost their wicket in 11 runs and Bhuvneshwar Kumar joins with captain. Dhoni gave a stunning performance and crosses double century. At the end of the day Dhoni took 206 runs and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took 16 runs and both of them not out. Indian team leading with 135 runs against Australia. The Indian team has a strong presence and it can give a severe crisis to Australian team.

100th test for Harbhajan Singh

First test match between India & Australia starts at 9.30 in the morning in MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk. This is the 100th match for Harbajan Singh and he is very excited. Till now he has played 99 Tests and he scores 2191 runs (lot 115, average 18.56, 2 percent, half century 9) and 408 wickets. He is the 10^th Indian player to play 100^th test. Harbajan Singh gave a media interaction about his 100^th test yesterday in Chennai.

He said, “I’m very happy to play my 100^th test. From the first match itself I well practiced and played for India. Till now I have the same mentality. Each and every match I did my best. I have made some mistakes in previous games because of my emotional feelings. I’m genuinely sorry for that. Ganguly and Anil Kumble are such a great players, I feel very proud to play with them. If we play well, it is easy to win Australia at the rate of 4-0. I’m going to expose my best in this series”.

Australia announces team for First Test against India

Michael Clark-led Australian cricket team is touring India to play 4-match Test series. The first Test match between the two teams is going to take place in Chepauk Stadium (Chennai) on 22th Feb to 26^th Feb. So the two teams have been engaged in intensive training.

Dhoni-led Indian team has been involved in a rigorous training in Chepauk stadium. India's opening batsman Gambhir was dropped from the team for test match due to his poor performance. Australian players also involved in training at the same place.

Australia announces 11 players for the First Test against India yesterday.

Australia: David Warner, Ed Cowan, Phillip Hughes, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke (c), Matthew Wade (wk), Moises Henriques, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson, Nathan Lyon. 

Viswanathan Anand wins Grenke Chess Classic Trophy

India’s Viswanathan Anand won the champion ship in Grenke Chess Classic trophy. Grenke Chess Classic trophy was held at Baden- Baden (GERMANY). This series has 10 rounds and the last round was held yesterday in Germany. In this final round Viswanathan Anand met Arkadij Naidistch. Anand was playing with black pieces and won the match during 49^th move.

At the end of 10 rounds Anand scored 6.5 points and won the championship. Fabiano Caruana(6 points) from United States took second place. Georg Meier (5 points) from Germany took third place. Viswanathan Anand won this classic series after 5 years, last time he won the Linares series in 2008.

Azarenka beats Serena Williams in Qatar Open

Victoria Azarenka beat Serena Williams in Qatar Open on Sunday. Qatar Open tennis tournament was took place in Doha. In women’s single final number one player Serena Williams (U.S.) and secondary player Victoria Azarenka were collided.

In the first set Azarenka seized up Serena by 7-6. In second set, Azarenka lost it by 2-6. In the final set again she seized Serena by 6-3 and captured the trophy. Azarenka won the champion title for the second time in this series of 2012-2013.

Australia beat West Indies in Women's World Cup finals

ICC Women's World Cup cricket match was held in Mumbai. In the final match West Indies and Australian teams clashed. Australia has won the toss and chose batting. Rachael Haynes (52) and Jess Cameron (75) had made their half-centuries. Other players also played well. Finally Australia scored 259 runs with 7 wickets loss.

Then West Indies team started batting against Australia. From the starting itself West Indies players got struggled to face Australian bowlers. Finally they got 145 runs and loss all the wickets. So Australia won the match by 114 runs and won the World Cup for the 6th time.

Geoffrey Boycott criticizes Indian Cricket Team

In a recent interview Geoffrey boycott the former England opening batsman criticizes Indian bowling. He said that, “In a recent Test series England defeated India by 2-1. Australia also has a possibility to overtake India in the upcoming test. Indian bowling is very poor, even my mother too faces Indian bowling easily and my grandma also waiting in queue. If Australia would just play a bit well then they can easily win over the match against India.

He also added that, “In the last test match against England team, sometimes it was very pity to see Indian bating. Now Gautam Gambhir gets out of the team and sehwag return back to the team. We are eager to see Sachin’s century. It was interesting to hear that Sachin score century in Ranji trophy. But test match is totally different from Ranji so we have to wait and see how Sachin is going to face this match. Indian bowling is in a very weak condition. Harbajan Singh got a chance to play against Australia. His bowling is good but none of them doesn’t assure about it. Indian spinners are like cats, there is no threat from them. India must win the match otherwise crisis will take hold on India”.

Younis Khan and Asad Shafiq gives bad turn to South Africa

2^nd Test match between South Africa - Pakistan began in Cape Town on 14/2/2013. South Africa won the toss and chose fielding. Pakistan opening players Nasir Jamshed (3), Mohammed Hafeez (17), Azhar Ali (4) takes few runs subsequently and lost the game. Then Younis Khan and Asad Shafiq pair recovered the team from right side. South Africa players were very difficult to bring down the wicket of both players. Both of them played well and score century.

Just before the end of the first day, Younis Khan got out in 111 runs. Then Sarfraz Ahmed enters to the field. At the end of the first day, Pakistan scored 253 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. Sarfraz Ahmed (0) and Asad Shafiq (111) were in the field.

Second day match began yesterday. Asad Shafiq (111) and Sarfraz Ahmed (13) lost the game one by one. Then Tanveer Ahmed landed to the field and added 44 runs. Finally Pakistan lost the match by 338 runs. South African bowler Vernon Philander performed well and took 5 wickets.

Squads:

Pakistan Squad: Mohammed Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan/ Mohammad Irfan/Rahat Ali.

South Africa Squad: Graeme Smith (capt), Alviro Petersen, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers (wk), Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Vernon Philander, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel.

Sri Lanka appoints Angelo Mathews as Captain

Angelo Mathews has been appointed as a new captain and Wicket-keeper Dinesh Chandimal has been appointed as vise-captain for Sri Lankan cricket team. In a recent series with Australia Mahila Jayawardene the previous captain for Sri Lanka announced his resignation from captainship. He said that, “I am going to concentrate on batting so that I am withdrawing from captain”.

So the chance is going to all-rounder Angelo Mathews. With this new change Sri Lankan cricket team going to play a home series against Bangladesh which includes 2 Tests, 3-day, and a T-20 match. Angelo Mathews has been appointed as a captain for Test and ODI matches. Vice-captain Dinesh Chandimal is going to act as a captain for T20 match.

First Test match will start on March 8 in Galle International Stadium. The squad features four uncapped players.

Test squad: Angelo Mathews (capt), Dinesh Chandimal (vice-capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dimuth Karunaratne, Ashen Silva, Kumar Sangakkara, Lahiru Thirimanne, Mahela Jayawardene, Kushal Janith Perera, Jeevan Mendis, Kithuruwan Vithanage, Ajantha Mendis, Suraj Randiv, Nuwan Kulasekara, Shaminda Eranga, Chanaka Welegedera, Nuwan Pradeep, Dushmantha Chameera, Rangana Herath, Tharindu Kaushal.

India Test series will be a challenge - Michael Clarke

Australian cricket team came to India to play four-match Test series. First match will be conducted in Chennai. Australian captain Michael Clarke said that test series against India is the biggest challenge for his career. Last time Michael Clarke was able to score only 35 runs from 4 innings against India. It was his poor performance.

“Playing cricket in India is always a heavy challenge in my life. Each and every time we feel difficult to play in test series against India. Because of this our team has not been able to dominate India. It is a big challenge for us and other players also know that. To manage this situation we had sent some players in advance to India to observe the environment. Indian Cricket Team is one of the best team, still we are ready to face the challenge” Clarke said.

He also added that, “I know my performance was very poor in the last series. This time I had more practice and I have a confidence to manage the series. I had got some suggestions from experts so that I’m going to implement it in the upcoming series”.

Wrestling drop from 2020 Olympics?

International Olympic Committee decided to drop wrestling from 2020 core games list. The International Olympic Committee executive meeting was held in Switzerland yesterday. In this meeting, they have been review 26 core games from the current Olympic Games table.

Then they decided to remove wrestling from Olympic Games from 2020. Instead of wrestling, they are planning to add modern pentathlon in the list. But this decision has not been announced officially. If any one of the game could be deleted from Olympics then only they can add a new game. If Wrestling will be remove from main games, it will be combined with other games like baseball - softball, karate, squash, skating games, trekking.

The decision of the International Olympic Committee will be finalized in the Executive Committee meeting to be held in May 2013 in Russia. After that the General Assembly of International Olympic Committee will be conducting a final voting in Argentina in September.

In May 2005, the Olympic Committee removed baseball - Soft ball from core games. In 2016 Olympic, golf and rugby games are included. India has won four Olympic wrestling medals, including two at London 2012. Experts said if wrestling will remove from Olympics, it is the loss for India. 

Rafael Nadal Loses Both Finals in VTR Open

Tennis King Rafael Nadal lost both the singles and doubles finals on Sunday at the VTR Open in Chile. By the end of last year he was struggling with left knee injury. So that he didn’t participate in any matches. After 7 months gap, he returned to the ground for VTR Open.

His fans expect that Nadal will surely win this match. So they came to the ground and voiced for Nadal. But unfortunately Nadal lost the championship in both singles and doubles finals. It was the fifth loss for Nadal in a singles final on clay. Nadal face Argentina's Horacio Zeballos and finally Zeballos won the match by 6-7 (2), 7-6 (6), 6-4. In doubles finals Rafael Nadal and his partner Juan Monaco lost in 6-2, 6-4 against the Italian pair of Paolo Lorenzi and Potito Starace.

After losing the match Rafael Nadal said that, “Everything was fine. I wanted to win the match. But I didn’t exactly give my best. This is the beginning for many tournaments. I hope that I can able to get lot of success in upcoming matches”. Zeballos said that, “It's a great game in my life. I will never forget this moment in my life”.

Australia enters World Cup finals

Australia defeated Sri Lanka and entered into the final round for Women's World Cup. Women's World Cup cricket match is taking place in Mumbai. Sri Lanka faced Australian team in super-6 round yesterday.

Australia won the toss and chose fielding. According to that, Sri Lankan team starts bating. At the beginning itself, Sri Lankan players had trouble in facing Australian bowlers. Ranasinghe from Sri Lanka scores 43 runs and it is highest score. Finally, Sri Lanka lost all wickets in 45.2 over and scored 131 runs. Osborne took 3 wickets in Australia.

With the easiest target of 132 runs Australia landing to the field. They lose only one wicket and hit the target in 22.2 over. So Australia was qualified for the final competition. Meg Lanning took 37 runs and got out. Rachael Haynes scores 71 runs and Jessica Cameron scores 22 runs without getting out.

In another match, South Africa faced England. South Africa starts bating and lost all the wickets and scores 77 runs. England player Anya Shrubsole took 5 wickets. After that England team starts bating and score 81 runs in 9.3 overs with 3 wickets loss.

Sachin Tendulkar equals Sunil Gavaskars record

Indian Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar completed 25,000 runs in First-Class cricket. He make this record while playing for Mumbai against Rest of India in the Irani Trophy match on Friday. He has taken 303 matches to achieve this record. 

Earlier, he equaled with Sunil Gavaskars record on the number of first class centuries by complete his century against Rest of India. This is Sachins 81st first-class century and he struck 12 fours and 2 sixes to reach this milestone.

After retiring from One-Day International (ODI) cricket, Sachin Tendulkar has done well for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy and has carried his form into the Irani Cup.

Chennai Super Kings strengthen bowling attack

Chennai Super Kings selects 5 unfamiliar bowlers for sixth edition of IPL. They are planning to strengthen their bowling attack. It is the only team which won the IPL championship for 2 times. UP fast bowlers Imtiaz Ahmed and Ankit Rajpoot, Haryana quick Mohit Sharma, Karnataka pacer Ronit More and Tamil Nadu left-arm spinner R Karthikeyan are the five to have been picked up by CSK. Even though the above players are not popular still they are very talented.

At the end of the Ranji trophy Imtiaz Ahmed was the top wicket-taker from UP. He collected 37 wickets from 9 matches. During 2011 IPL, he was playing for Pune Warriors. But he was not even got a single chance to play. His UP team mate Ankit Rajpoot made his first-class debut against Karnataka collected 31 wickets from seven matches.

Mohit Sharma played 8 Ranji matches and taking 37 wickets. He has also played six List A matches, the last one was a warm-up match against England in January before the five-match ODI series. Ronit More made his debut in this season and playing two matches. He also played seven List A matches and one domestic Twenty20. Karthikeyan from Tamil Nadu plays for TI Cycles in the first division league of Tamil Nadu Cricket Association.

I don't see myself playing in 2015 World Cup- Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar who has amassed over 34,000 runs including 100 international centuries during his international career spanning 23 years, announced his ODI retirement before the start of the Indo-Pak series.

During an interaction with NDTV Sachin explained the reason behind calling it a day in the ODI format. "I felt in 2015 when we go to Australia and New Zealand we should be fully prepared to lift the trophy again. I don't see myself playing in the 2015 World Cup and that's why I felt I should back off and the team should move ahead and form a balance, formidable combination for the 2015 World Cup” said by Tendulkar. He wanted youngsters to take over as the team should be able to defend the World Cup title when they play in Australia and New Zealand in 2015.

South Africa defeats Pakistan

Pakistan cricket team went to South Africa to participate in three test matches. The first test match between Pakistan and South Africa took place in Johannesburg. In the first innings, South Africa gets 253 runs and Pakistan gets 49 runs. In second innings, South African team gets 275 runs and declares the match.

With the hard target of 480 runs, Pakistan team starts bating. In the third day, match Pakistan team gets 183 runs in 4 wickets.Final match (Fourth day) held on yesterday. In this match Pakistan Captain Misbah-ul-Haq crossed century. His partner Asad Shafiq (56 runs) get bowled by Steyn(fast bowler). Then Misbah also lost their wicket in 64 runs. The other players score very few runs only. Finally they lost all the wickets and score 268 runs. So Pakistan team loses the match.

Man of the match goes to Dale Steyn(South African Player). Second test will start on February 14 in Cape Town.

Tendulkar's tryst with Golf

Indian cricket team Master Batsman Sachin Tendulkar is known to be keen on racquet sports, but if one watches him swing a golf club, one will be convinced that he could be good at any sport.

Sachin Tendulkar takes Kensville by storm; enjoys putting and driving. Tendulkar was at the Kensville Golf and Country Club in Ahmadabad on Friday and tried his hand at golf as he hit nearly 25 balls.

 "I like to hit the ball, whether it's cricket or golf" joked Sachin at a media interaction. "I have played golf only a few times, once with teammates when we were on a tour to South Africa. But I want to play golf more in times to come" said the maestro.

Tendulkar tried his hand at driving and then putting, too, alongside many of the internationals, like Shiv Kapur, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Rich Beem, Rahil Gangjee and Rhys Davies, who are participating here this week.

"I have been to many golf courses and even had an occasional attempt at driving range, but visiting a golf course while a tournament is in progress was a new experience. I really enjoyed, the golf course is a lovely one. I have seen other courses but I really liked this one" says Sachin. 

Davis Cup: India lose the match with South Korea

In Davis cup tennis match, South Korea defeat Indian team in the series of 1-3. A charged up V M Ranjeet put up a spirited fight with Vijayant Malik and Malik win's the match. Asia/Oceania Group 1 Davis cup match against South Korea was held today. In single round match India fails to win. But in Double pair, India won the match but still it behinds by the series 1-2.

V M Ranjeet faced against the top player of South Korea, Suk-Young Jeong in alternative singles. Ranjeet fails to win the straight set of 4-6, 4-6, 2-6. Because of this in the round of 1-3 series, Indian team lost the match.

Australia beats West Indies by 9 wickets

West Indies cricket team went to Australia to play 5 ODIs and one 20 over matches. The first match of the ODI series was held in Perttula on February 1 (Yesterday).

West Indies won the toss and chose bating. Starting itself West Indies batmen are to confront to face Australian bowlers. The team lost all the wickets with in 23.5 over’s and score 70 runs. From West Indies, Kieran Powell and Darren Bravo get 11 runs and Darren Sammy get 16 runs (37 balls). Other batmen run out in single digit runs. In Australian, Mitchell Starc get 5 wickets, Clint Mckay get 3 wickets and James Faulkner get 2 wickets.

Since it is an easy target to get 71 runs, Australian batmen landed into the field confidently. Australian openers Aron Flinch and Glenn Maxwell gave their team a blazing start by scoring 39 runs in3.1 over. Aron Flinch gets out by 10 runs (1 four). After Flinch, Usman Khawaja landed into the field and he score 8 runs (1 four). G Maxwell get 51 runs (9 fours and 2 sixes).

Australia won the match by 9 wickets and leading the ODI series by 1-0. Second match takes place on the same ground on February 3 (tomorrow).

ICC Rankings for ODIs and Twenty20: 2013

Based on the players performance, International Cricket Council (ICC) published the ranking list every year. ICC ranking for ODIs and Twenty20 matches was released recently.

ICC ODI Championship

Rank	Country	Matches	Points	Rating
1	India	38	4514	119
2	England	30	3555	118
3	South Africa	33	3741	116
4	Sri Lanka	21	2357	111
5	Australia	39	4291	111
6	Pakistan	31	3311	107
7	West Indies	26	2269	88
8	Bangladesh	23	1823	78
9	New Zealand	21	1636	76
10	Zimbabwe	14	700	50
11	Ireland	6	207	35

ICC Twenty20 Championship

Rank	Country	Matches	Points	Rating
1	Sri Lanka	17	1838	131
2	West Indies	17	1585	122
3	India	18	1789	119
4	England	22	1891	118
5	South Africa	21	1868	117
6	Pakistan	28	2324	116
7	Australia	22	1771	104
8	New Zealand	21	1563	98
9	Bangladesh	11	668	84
10	Ireland	12	659	82
11	Zimbabwe	10	306	44