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

Adam Gilchrist pipped legendary Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting to receive the honour of Australia's greatest ever one-day international cricketer after securing highest number of votes in a players' poll. Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) in collaboration with Cricket Australia had i

BCCI office bearers, headed by President Sharad Pawar, will meet tomorrow in Delhi with the long-pending matter of appointment of a coach for the Indian team topping their agenda. The naming of a coach has been kept pending since the decision of previous incumbent Greg Chappell not to s

The national selectors will meet here this evening to name India's new Test cricket captain amid indication that Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be given the job in the longer version as well. With Sachin Tendulkar turning down the offer and suggesting that "a youngster" be given th

Having gained the psychological advatage by easily winning the first match, a confident India go into the second cricket one-dayer against arch-rivals Pakistan here tomorrow, seeking to keep the momentum going with another convincing performance. The five-wicket triumph in the first one-da

He gave up vice-captaincy to focus on his batting and now Pakistani opener Salman Butt is hoping to emerge as a star player during his team's cricket series against India starting next week. "I stepped down as vice-captain because I think I still need a lot of time with me before I tak

Battered by formidable Australia in the recent one-day series, Indian cricketers used the opening day of the camp today to rejuvenate themselves ahead of the tough engagements against Pakistan. The two-hour session at the floodlit Eden Gardens saw ageing warhorses Sourav Ganguly and

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Test cricket rivalry between Australia and Sri Lanka, the two cricket Boards today announced a new trophy -- Warne Muralitharan Trophy -- in honour of their legendary spinners. The two countries will fight it out for the first trophy in the upcoming two-Te

Dropped from the Indian squad for the first two one-dayers against Pakistan, former captain Rahul Dravid has been included in the Karnataka team that takes on Mumbai in a Ranji Trophy Elite Group `A' encounter in Mumbai from November 3 to 6. Anil Kumble was named captain of the team a

The national selectors today sprung a major surprise by dropping former captain Rahul Dravid and recalling Virender Sehwag in the 15-member Indian one-day squad for the first two matches of the upcoming cricket series against arch-rivals Pakistan. The 34-year-old Dravid, who struggled

The Australian first-class competition is the toughest cricket outside the Test arena," according to West Indian great Sir Garfield Sobers. Indian fans will have a great opportunity to see action from one of the domestic cricket season in Australia, on ESPN STAR Sports, which will showca