Throwing his weight behind Brad Hogg, spin legend Shane Warne said the chinaman bowler has done well against India in the one dayers and there is no reason why he can't do it against them in the forthcoming Test series as well. Warne admitted supple wrists and nimble footwork of the In

Indian vice-captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has admitted that the side goes into the Boxing Day Test against Australia short of match practice as just one warm-up game before the four-Test series was not enough to get acclimatised with the conditions here. "It's always better to have

Unperturbed at being identified by Indian skipper Anil Kumble as a weak link in the Australian team, spinner Brad Hogg is confident of his success in the Test series. Hogg hopes Melbourne's drop-in pitch will help earn him a Test recall after a four-year absence. The condition of the

Australia have warned India of a hostile series Down Under but vice-captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said they will not shy away from maintaining that aggressive tempo which unnerved the World Champions during their visit here for the ODI series. "It will be interesting. They are famo

Left-arm spinner Brad Hogg was today included in the 12-man Australian squad, announced by Cricket Australia for the first three Tests of the four-match series against India. Hogg, who last played a Test for Australia in October 2003, replaced injured spinner Stuart Macgill. Express bowl

Skipper Anil Kumble and his teammates today left for Australia bidding to create history by becoming the first Indian team to conquer the Aussies in their own backyard. Kumble and his men left by a morning flight to Singapore en-route to Melbourne, firm in their belief that they had

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh today claimed Australia is short on spin bowling options and Indian batsmen would feast on Brad Hogg's bowling should the left-arm chinaman bowler be selected for the first Test in Melbourne. The Punjab bowler declared Hogg was not close to the illustr

Gung-ho after the triumph over Pakistan, India captain Anil Kumble today put the onus on the star-studded batting line-up to deliver the goods and notch up a rare series win against formidable Australia. Addressing a press conference on the eve of the team's departure for a four-match

Captain Shoaib Malik will be grilled by the officials of Pakistan Cricket Board at a meeting in Lahore less than 24 hours after returning from India following humiliating series defeats in one-dayers as well as Tests. Malik and team manager Talat Ali Malik will attend the meeting to be

Cricket Australia is well on course of introducing a revolutionary and untouched idea of day and night Tests. White lights and coloured clothings have illuminated one-day cricket and the most recent Twenty20 format, but the traditional five-day game with a history of 130-years have been spa

Virender Sehwag was today handed out a fresh lifeline with the national selectors springing a surprise by recalling him while also naming rookie paceman Pankaj Singh in India's 16-member Test squad for the gruelling cricket tour of Australia. Sehwag, who did not figure in the lis

Former South African all-rounder Mike Procter was today appointed match referee for the four-match Test series between India and Australia starting December 26 in Melbourne. Mark Benson of England and New Zealand's Billy Bowden will be in charge of the first Test in Melbourne, while

Citing Indian batsmen's susceptibility to fast bowling, Australian great Glenn McGrath has urged the selectors to pick an all-pace attack for the first time in 16 years for the Boxing Day Test here. McGrath felt Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait were good enoug

Former England great Tony Greig has criticised the BCCI's decision to rope in Gary Kirsten as India's cricket coach, saying the new appointee would be nothing more than a puppet in the hands of senior players. "It (Kirsten's appointment) came as a bit of a surprise to me. It pro

Sourav Ganguly does not really freeze at the prospect of facing on-field taunts when he travels Australia later this year and the former captain asserts the Indian squad is mature enough to handle such hostile reception Down Under. Australia's recent tour of India earlier this year was b

India's vice-captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni today returned to his hometown Ranchi to take a break before the team embarks on the tour of Australia. According to the Indian team management, Dhoni, who suffered an injury on the webbing of his left hand during the Kolkata Test,

Chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar would be able to watch the third and deciding Test match between India and Pakistan at Bangalore on all five days following the rescheduling of his meeting with Cricket Board chief Sharad Pawar to next week. "Vengsarkar is expected to meet Pawar next we

Shaun Tait staged a comeback after an injury hiatus but Stuart Clark failed to make the cut as Australia today announced a 13-member squad for the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy one day series starting in Adelaide on December 14. "After making a huge impact at the World Cup earlier

The magic figure of 1000-Test wickets might be within his reach, but Muttiah Muralitharan says reaching the milestone is still a distant thought for him. Muralitharan, who eclipsed Shane Warne's mark of 708 wickets to top the charts, says he will decide on how long he can continue playing Test

Refusing to bow to Dilip Vengsarkar's demand to either allow him to write columns or compensate, the Cricket Board today made it clear that the chief selector was free to make his decisions. "BCCI's stand on Vengsarkar remains the same," Board vice president Rajiv Shukla said.

Pakistan's depleted bowling attack notwithstanding, India's opening batsman Wasim Jaffer feels his unbeaten 192 on the first day of the second cricket Test here was a good preparation for the team's tour of Australia later this year. "I'm happy with the knock. I hadn't scored 192 in a

Speedster Shaun Tait is preparing himself for the possibility that Australian selectors will opt for a four-pronged pace attack for the first cricket Test against India starting here on December 26. Pain-free in his right elbow for the first time in 12 months, Tait is aware he mu

Indian pacer S Sreesanth's continued inability to "rein himself in" when under pressure could end up costing his side dearly during the upcoming cricket tour Down Under, feels Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds. The burly right-hander, who had a series of confrontations with the

South African umpire Rudi Koertzen, who wrongly gave Kumar Sangakkara out when he was on the verge of completing a double century against Australia, has been replaced by Pakistan's Aleem Dar for Sri Lanka's upcoming Test series against England. Koertzen, a veteran of 86 Test matches and 18

The Cricket Board today made it clear that it would not look beyond the list of applications when the new Team India coach is picked to accompany the side before it leaves for Australia. BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said today that the Board had received 20-22 applications and the coach sel

Sri Lankan spin wizard Muthiah Muralitharan has advised Australian selectors to sack Stuart MacGill and select a young slow bowler in his place. Muralitharan, who is on the verge of usurping Shane Warne's world record tally of 708 wickets in the upcoming three-Test home series against Englan

A convincing series triumph over Pakistan in the three-Test cricket series starting tomorrow would take India to third spot in the ICC Test championship table. A 3-0 or 2-0 series win over their arch rivals will lift Anil Kumble's team above South Africa to third place behind Austral

The 3-2 ODI series win over Pakistan has propelled India to fourth in the ICC one-day Championship table, overtaking Shoaib Malik's men, who have dropped a couple of rungs to sixth in the latest list. Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side is now just four rating points behind third-placed New Zealan

Terming the fourth cricket one-dayer as a "crucial" match, middle order batsman Robin Uthappa said a confident India would like to clinch the series against Pakistan here tomorrow. Uthappa said the match could go either way but the Indians were deriving confidence from the fact t

Former Pakistani captain Rameez Raja feels the ongoing one-day cricket series between India and Pakistan is lacking in intensity and playing fast bowler S Sreesanth could pep it up. Rameez rated the India-Pakistan matches above the Ashes but said the current one was not as exciting as it g