Mission T20 World Cup (September 2012):

2007 year change indian cricket, by wining first T20 world cup and become first t20 champion under captainacy of Mr. Cool of cricket M S Dhoni. After that year Indian cricket changes rapidly. Now its time to lead the World cup title race......

Indian team selector announced 30 men probable team for world cup. It include lot of fresh talent who has been fantastic IPL recently. Here is probable 30 men squad.....

Probables: MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Umesh Yadav, Ashok Dinda, Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Mandeep Singh, Piyush Chawla, Ravindra Jadeja, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Naman Ojha, Dinesh Karthik, Praveen Kumar, L Balaji.

Sehwag-Dhoni spat storm in a teacup, says Sanjay Manjrekar

NAGPUR: He has this no-airs persona about himself - no celeb tantrums and no pretensions. From 'playing the shots' as one of India's most stylist batsmen to now 'calling the shots' as a commentator, Sanjay Manjrekar has slalomed a lot over last two decades.

Nothing much, though, has changed the way he thinks about the game. He has an eagle eye on the Indian cricket but rarely does he make heavy weather of the game.

While the gossip mills are working overtime regarding the tumultuous relationship betweenMS Dhoni and Virender Sehwag, Manjrekar maintained that the 'spat' was merely a storm in the teacup.

"I feel these things are custom-made by the media. When the actual on-field cricket is not active, these reports always crop up. Gossips always fill in the slot allotted for cricket. I honestly think the media is blowing the issue out of proportion," said Manjrekar while talking to the reporters on the sidelines of a function organized by IMA on Sunday.

Manjrekar also asserted that once the game will resume, the controversy will die its natural death. "Even the people reading stuffs like these will forget the issue once the cricketing season starts next month," he added.

When asked about India's chances in the forthcoming Twenty20 World Cup, given that it's happening in the sub-continent, Manjrekar again kept it simple. "I feel Twenty20 World Cup is kind of a lottery. It's such a small tournament lasting just two weeks, that you just cannot predict who's going to win.

"I also feel that T20 World Cup has arrived quite early. We should have given a bit more time for T20s to establish as a concept before dishing out the World Cup," he added.

Manjrekar has always been of the opinion that the BCCI should use Rahul Dravid's cricketing brain for the betterment of the game.

"He (Dravid) is a role model for every youngster. Though we hardly read him opining about certain things, I believe he has a great cricketing brain. Once he'll be given charge of certain things, I am sure, he'll do tremendously well," said Manjrekar.

The BCCI is not a big fan of DRS and so is Sanjay Manjrekar. "I think DRS shifts the focus to the accuracy of umpiring decisions than the actual game. It would have been a wise idea to introduce the DRS had the success percentage of umpiring decisions been 50% or 60%. Right now, it's above 94%. Then, what is the need of DRS," he signed off.

Misbah sees bright future despite defeat in Sri Lanka

LAHORE: Captain Misbah-ul-Haq on Saturday said Pakistan's future was secure with the emergence of promising young players despite losing the Test and one-day series on their tour of Sri Lanka.

Pakistan lost the five-match one-day series 3-1 and three-Tests 1-0 on the tour which ended on Thursday. They levelled a two-match Twenty20 series 1-1.

The Test defeat ended Pakistan's unbeaten run of seven series since losing to England on the 2010 tour which was marred by spot-fixing allegations in the Lord's Test.

That unbeaten streak also included a 3-0 whitewash of world number one Test team England earlier this year.

Misbah, who captained Pakistan since their defeat against England in 2010, deplored the defeats on the Sri Lanka tour.

"Defeats in the one-days and Tests are disappointing," Misbah told reporters on the team's return home on Saturday.

"We could have won the one-day series but our fielding let us down in the last two matches."

Pakistan hired former Australian batsman Dav Whatmore as head coach and EnglishmanJulien Fountain as fielding coach earlier this year, but their fielding has still been a grey area.

"The Test defeat was also unfortunate. But the performance of young players like Azhar Ali,Asad Shafiq and Junaid Khan assured Pakistan has a good future," said Misbah.

"Our junior players did very well in the Tests. Ali, Shafiq and Junaid have done well in the series and with their performance we can say that our future is secure," said Misbah.

"In difficult situations these players performed well for us. The way Adnan Akmal played (in Pallekele Test) with a fractured finger is a good sign. Junaid is a big plus."

Ali scored two hundreds in the Tests, while Shafiq hit a match-saving century in the final Test at Pallekele which ended in a draw.

Sri Lanka won the first Test in Galle by 209 runs while the rain-hit second Test in Colombo also ended without a result.

Left-arm pacer Junaid took 14 wickets in the three Tests, including five-wickets hauls in the second and third Tests.

Twenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez said team's loss in the first T20 match was due to inexperience.

"We had a number of new players in the Twenty20 so the first match was lost because of inexperience but we came back well to win the second game," said Hafeez.

Brett Lee was a fierce competitor: Shoaib Akhtar

KARACHI: Pakistan express fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar on Saturday paid tribute to pace rivalBrett Lee who has announced his retirement from international cricket, saying the Australian was a fierce competitor.

The 35-year-old Lee said on Friday he was quitting, ending a glorious career that was marred by injury problems.

Lee sent down the second-fastest delivery on record at 99.9 miles per hour (160.8 kph) at Napier in New Zealand, only surpassed by Akhtar who hit the 100-mile barrier on two occasions, first in 2002 and then in 2003.

"Lee was a fierce competitor and became an identity for express bowling with his passion and love for the game and for fast bowling," Akhtar, who retired last year after a career plagued by injury and controversy, said.

Akhtar said Lee's retirement was a sad day for the game.

"Friday was a sad day for international cricket because a bowler with express pace has retired, someone who was loved by the fans around the world, and he will be missed," said Akhtar.

"Lee gave everything to cricket and was a true Australian: fierce and battle-hardened. He was always willing to bowl and willing to bowl fast and like all the fast bowlers had injuries, which is part and parcel of fast bowling."

Akhtar said cricket would be less attractive with the absence of express pace.

"Cricket had very few express pace bowlers and now after the retirement of Lee we don't have any bowler who can bowl 99 mph and the terror on the batsmen will be less," said Akhtar.

Akhtar, 36, remembered his good times with Lee.

"I had very good friendship with Lee and spent some good days with him in Sydney and he was always warm and cordial whenever we met, so I wish him all the best in his future," said Akhtar.

Lee retired from Tests in February 2010 as Australia's fourth-highest Test wicket-taker but played on in one-day and Twenty20 cricket up until Friday's announcement.

He took 310 Test wickets at 30.81 from 76 matches and 380 one-day international wickets at 23.36 from 221 matches.

India slip to fifth spot in ICC Test rankings

DUBAI: India, who were the No. 1 Test side this time a year ago, have lost a position to slip to the fifth spot in the latest ICC Test Championship rankings table after the annual update took place on Saturday.

The Indian team that last played a Test match in January against Australia, has swapped places with Pakistan.

Pakistan, despite a 0-1 defeat in the three-Test series, which finished in Sri Lanka on Thursday, have moved up to fourth position, pushing M S Dhoni's men down to number five.

Meanwhile, England extended their lead as top Test team after gaining 122 ratings points, while Australia moved to the second place.

Although South Africa has fallen to third spot, they can still leapfrog into top position if they manage to win the three-match Test series against England, which begins at The Oval on July 19.

If South Africa win the series 1-0 or 2-1 it will be level on ratings points with England but when the rankings are calculated to a fraction of a decimal point then Graeme Smith's team will have the edge.

A drawn series or a 1-0 win will mean England retain the number one position and if Andrew Strauss's side were to win 2-0 or 3-0 then South Africa would tumble to fourth spot.

Lower down the table, West Indies have fallen below New Zealand, who are now placed at seventh position.

Ross Taylor ton in vain as Windies wrap up series

New Zealand skipper Ross Taylor smashed a fine century but it was not enough to prevent West Indies wrapping up the one-day series with a 24-run win in Saturday's fourth match.

Scorecard
 Taylor, playing in his first match of the series after injuring his shoulder in an earlier Twenty20 international between the two sides in Florida last month, made 110 off 115 balls. It was an innings which included six boundaries and five sixes for his sixth one-day century.
But as his team chased a 267 target, he was outshone by West Indies seamer Tino Best who marked his recall to the team with 4-46, a performance which included the wickets of Taylor and the dangerous Jacob Oram.

Earlier, Kieron Pollard hit a patient half-century as West Indies recovered from 105-5 to make 264 all out. Pollard top-scored with 56, Marlon Samuels made 46 while the recalled Devon Thomas hit a useful 37. Victory gave West Indies an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series which concludes with the fifth and final match at Warner Park on Monday.

"It's a good feeling indeed," said West Indies skipper Darren Sammy.

"The good thing for us today was that the lower order came through. New Zealand improved as the series went on, but it was good to see we kept our cool."

West Indies off-spinner Sunil Narine, who took 2-20, was named man of the match and he won rich praise from Taylor.

"You have got to give credit to West Indies," said Taylor. "They were under pressure. We would have liked to put the foot down on the throat, but we didn't execute well.

"You have got to back yourself to get 79 off the last 10, but you have to give credit to Narine."

West Indies were helped by an untidy performance in the field by New Zealand whose bowlers sent down 20 wides.

The home side lost Johnson Charles (1), Chris Gayle (16) and Dwayne Smith (0) by the seventh over with their team on 20.

After Dwayne Bravo had gone for just 18, Samuels and Pollard added 46 for the fifth wicket before Pollard and Samuels put the West Indies back on the road to recovery with a partnership of 85.

Thomas hit three fours and a six in his 43-ball stay while Pollard smashed five boundaries and a six off 70 deliveries.

Sammy (26) and Andre Russell (29 with two big sixes) added valuable late runs.

Dravid's retirement has created an irreplaceable void: Sachin Tendulkar

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar feels the retirement of his long-time teammateRahul Dravid has created an irreplaceable void at number three position in the Indian Test team.

Sachin says Dravid will be sorely missed in the dressing room.

"Rahul has been an incredible player for India and for world cricket. Nobody is going to be able to replace Rahul in that position," said Sachin.

"You need someone to be dedicated, be committed and disciplined. The entire country will miss him because we were all used to Rahul padding up batting at number 3. However, these things will continue to happen because that's how the game goes around for years. All great players retire one day."

Dravid retired from all forms of the game in March, ending a glorious 16-year-old career. His decision followed the team's disastrous show in England and Australia where it lost eight Test matches in a row.

Sachin was part of the two tours and he says it would be incorrect to blame India's domestic structure for the team's poor show.

"I don't think we can point our fingers at our structure because with that same structure we hit the number one spot. So if there was something wrong with the structure, we would have never reached that spot."