The forecast bad weather arrived to leave large puddles on sections of the outfield and both teams have been forced to wait with the toss delayed and the next inspection will take place at 1500 GMT.

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Source: CricketWorld

Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, and a dead Ahmedabad pitch (21 wickets and seven centuries in five days) put paid to Sri Lanka’s dream of a first Test win in India. Gambhir played out 110 deliveries for 40 runs, and Tendulkar 211 for 100 runs; both of them looked entirely at home in the role of saving a Test, not letting dot balls affect their minds.

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Source: Cricinfo

Kings XI Punjab made Chennai Super Kings really sweat in a spirited chase towards a Duckworth-Lewis revised target of 187, but when it mattered most tactical nuance won it for Chennai. Simon Katich had set the tone for Punjab’s bravado and Yuvraj Singh and Mahela Jayawardene batted superbly in the face of adversity, adding 90 in just 8.5 overs under lights. Then, with 30 left to defend off 12 balls, MS Dhoni took pace off the ball by calling on Suresh Raina’s part-time offspin, and that six-run over provide definitive.

Chennai’s big total was set up by Matthew Hayden’s belligerent 89, either side of an hour-and-half’s rain delay, and Dhoni’s sparky 56 from 27 balls. Up against the strongest batting line-up in the tournament, they were pummeled into submission for the second match running.

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Source: Cricinfo

A series of terrorist attacks in Mumbai led to the cancellation of the final two One Day Internationals, the Champions League 2020 and the ICL 20s World Series while England’s Performance Programme squad is also to return home.

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 Source: Cricketworld

Whether it’s a contest over 50 overs, 20 overs, or - as it turned out today - 22, India’s one-day cricketers are simply streets ahead of England’s. They duly claimed an unassailable 4-0 lead in the seven-game series thanks to a 19-run victory in a match that was rescued from a soggy grave by some valiant work from the Bangalore groundstaff.

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Source: Cricinfo

South Africa took the early wicket of Ian Bell on the second morning at The Oval and that of Alastair Cook 10 minutes before lunch, but England’s new captain, Kevin Pietersen, was unbeaten on a confident 42 as the fourth Test was left intriguingly poised.

Bell has yet to make a hundred at No.3, and he’ll have to wait until the second innings at the earliest in order to rectify that. After a thirty-minute delay for rain, Makhaya Ntini found one to hold its line on Bell, who was defending to extra cover, and it took a thick outside edge to Graeme Smith at first slip who held it smartly, low to his right.

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Source: Cricinfo

Dammika Prasad’s raw pace pulled India back after an explosive start, whereupon the spinners took charge of the game, as has been their wont over the course of the series. India’s middle order failed again, as they fell from 51 for 0 in seven overs to 198 for 9, after which Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma frustrated Sri Lanka for one ball less than 20 overs - the longest partnership of the innings, and at 51 runs also the joint highest. Ishant followed up the good work with the bat to get Malinda Warnapura’s wicket two overs before stumps.

Mahela Jayawardene made exceptional use of the review system, getting the wickets of Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid after challenging decisions.

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Source: Cricinfo

Harbhajan Singh finally got into groove as he removed in-form Warnapura who got an outside edge and was caught by Gambhir. India finally broke a threatening partnership, which was shaping for a long partnership. He also removed Sangakkara to bring India right back in the match. With two quick wickets, and two new batsmen, India can put pressure on the Lankans.

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Source: Hindustan Times

Sehwag was unbeaten on 91 at the lunch-break before hammering a robust 128 not out for his 15th Test hundred on a rain-hit opening day. He dominated a 167-run stand for the opening wicket with Gautam Gambhir (56).

But unorthodox spinner Mendis and veteran left-arm seamer Vaas did not allow India to capitalise on a strong start, sharing four quick wickets to reduce the tourists to 214-4 in the first innings at stumps.

Only four batsmen — Australians Victor Trumper, Charles Macartney and Don Bradman, and Pakistan’s Majid Khan — have scored a hundred before lunch on the opening day of a Test.

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Source: AFP 

Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir put behind them not only the debacle at the SSC, but also thoughts of how they played and missed early here, and how the ball misbehaved when it hit the cracks populating one end of the pitch.

As a result India got off to a flying start, taking the first steps towards exorcising the ghosts of the first Test. Sehwag came close - for the second time in his career - to getting a hundred in the first session of a Test.

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Source: Cricnfo