India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has taken back the top spot in the ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsman as his see-saw battle with Australia’s Michael Hussey continues.
Hussey, who had been top of the log briefly following the recent series against Pakistan, scored 23 in the fourth ODI and didn’t play in the fifth and final match of the series and so drops below Dhoni, who now embarks on a three-ODI series against South Africa.
The news is better for Hussey’s captain Ricky Ponting, who has gained four places in the latest rankings and regains a position in the top five, sitting as he does now in fourth spot, just behind South Africa’s AB de Villiers.
India has retained the number-one place in the ICC Test Championship after winning the Kolkata Test by an innings and 58 runs that has helped it to draw its two-Test series with South Africa.
India was in serious danger of losing its top spot after South Africa won the Nagpur Test last week and then bad weather yesterday[Wednesday] allowed only 31 overs of play on the penultimate day of the second Test. However, Harbhajan Singh took 5-59 and Amit Mishra bagged 3-78 as South Africa was bowled out for 289 despite a fighting 127 not out by Hashim Amla, his second century of the Test.
The series result means that the pre-series status-quo in terms of positions on the table is maintained though India has slipped to 124 ratings points after conceding one ratings point while South Africa has stayed second on 120 ratings points.
This also means that Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side will not only retain the mace, which it received after defeating Sri Lanka last year in December, but will also pocket a cheque for US$175,000 which is presented to the side that reaches the 1 April cut-off date in top spot.
Jacques Kallis believes that the Proteas’ two battling left-handers, Ashwell Prince and JP Duminy, will come good when it really counts on the final day of the Test series against India at Eden Gardens.
Rain frustrated India’s proceeding on the fourth day of the second and final Test against South Africa at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The Proteas finished the day on which a little more than a third of the overs could be bowled on 115/3 for an overall trail of 232 runs with 98 overs left to play on the final day.
The hosts have to take out seven South African wickets and avoid their first home series loss since the defeat by Australia in 2004 and more important they try to seize on to their number-one ranking.
“Hashim has been in great form so obviously he needs to keep that going and I know that he is hungry to do that,” commented Kallis. “It is also a great time for JP and Ashwell to turn it around. What better time to do it than on an important day like this? They have done it on occasions like this before and they can turn it around. Tomorrow is a
day for heroes.”
Kallis said it was important for the rest of the team to learn the lessons that Amla had taught on this tour. “The biggest lesson of all is when you are in good form not to give it away. He is mentally a very strong player and he has excellent powers of concentration. He knows his game plan very well and he has executed it brilliantly.
There are some valuable lessons there for all players around the world.”
Kallis remained upbeat that the Proteas could bat out the day, particularly if they continued to play positively and put India under pressure by wiping out their overall lead. Such a scenario would mean that every run would become effectively two as they would be runs that India would have to go out and score in whatever time remained available. “We feel we can bat out tomorrow, just take it a ball at a time and be positive.”
“The wicket is still very good for batting. There is a little bit of turn but not as much as you normally come across on day five on the sub-continent. There is not much there for the seamers either so certainly as far as batting conditions are concerned it is a good wicket to play on,” Kallis maintained.
“There is a little bit more bounce for Harbhajan than there was at Nagpur. It is probably slightly quicker but there is not a lot of turn. We have played spinners well in the past and there is no reason why we can’t do it again tomorrow,” he added.
Rain frustrated India’s proceeding on the fourth day of the second and final Test against South Africa at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The Proteas finished the day on which a little more than a third of the overs could be bowled on 115/3 for an overall trail of 232 runs with 98 overs left to play on the final day.
The hosts have to take out seven South African wickets and avoid their first home series loss since the defeat by Australia in 2004 and more important they try to seize on to their number-one ranking.
South Africa’s best batsman Jacques Kallis back in hut for 20 as earlier resuming on six without loss, lost both openers Graeme Smith (20) and Alviro Petersen (21) either side of lunch before Amla, who scored centuries in his two previous outings, frustrated India in forging a partnership of 57 with Kallis.
Crucially the Proteas have lost three key wickets including Kallis but the batting hero of the tour, Hashim Amla (49 not out) is still at the crease in partnership with Ashwell Prince.
For India Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Mahendra Singh Dhoni had all pile up centuries to put India in control, with the hosts having declared on 643-6 after South Africa made 296 in their first innings.
KOLKATA : India Vs South Africa Test, South Africa were struggling to save the second and final cricket Test against India after losing three key wickets in a rain-curtailed fourth day’s play on Wednesday.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra sent back skipper Graeme Smith (20) and Jacques Kallis (20), and Harbhajan Singh dismissed Alviro Petersen as South Africa stuttered to 111-3 by tea at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Hashim Amla was unbeaten on 45 and Ashwell Prince was yet to open his account at the break, which was taken early due to rain.
South Africa, who made 296 in their first innings, still trail India by 236 runs with seven wickets in hand.
India declared their first innings on a mammoth 643-6, built on centuries by Virender Sehwag (165), Venkatsai Laxman (143 not out), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (132 not out) and Sachin Tendulkar (106).
The tourists need a draw to win their first Test series in India for a decade and reclaim the top spot in the official rankings from Dhoni’s men, after winning the opening match in Nagpur by an innings and six runs.
Off-spinner Harbhajan gave India the breakthrough in the post-lunch session when he got rid of first-innings centurion Petersen (21) in his second over after the break.
The debutant opener was foxed by a delivery that found the inside edge of his bat and popped up to short leg where Subramaniam Badrinath latched on to the head-high catch on second attempt.
Kallis shaped up to defend against Mishra but offered an outside edge to Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind the stumps. He shared 57 runs for the third wicket with Amla.
Earlier, only 14 overs were bowled in the morning session after a wet outfield delayed start of play by 90 minutes.
Smith and Petersen played with caution after resuming at the overnight total of 6-0, until Mishra was brought into attack in the 13th over.
Mishra struck off his first delivery, trapping Smith in front of the wicket to cap a miserable outing for the South African skipper in the Test series. Smith scored just 30 runs in the series.
The Test series will be followed by three one-day internationals at Jaipur (Feb 21), Gwalior (Feb 24) and Ahmedabad (Feb 27).
India Vs South Africa :- India has announced the squad for the first two games of the upcoming one-day international series against South Africa starting in Jaipur on Sunday.
Yuvraj Singh was ruled out because of a wrist injury and Gautam Gambhir was left out because of a groin injury while Baroda all-rounder Yusuf Pathan, Mumbai all-rounder Abhishek Nayar and Tamil Nadu off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin called up for the first two one dayers.
Praveen Kumar, who did not feature in India’s tri-series squad in Bangladesh, has also been included in the team to be captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The first ODI will be played in Jaipur on February 21 while Gwalior will host the second match on February 24. The three-match series will end in Ahmedabad on February 27.
Squad: M S Dhoni (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Sudeep Tyagi, Praveen Kumar, Abhishek Nayar, Yusuf Pathan and Amit Mishra.
KOLKATA: India vs South Africa, India Reaches 548-6 At Tea, Laxman and Mahendra Singh Dhoni bought up unbeaten half centuries in a record 164-run partnership for the seventh wicket as India reached 548-6 at tea Tuesday on the third day of the second test against South Africa.
After resuming on the overnight score of 342-5, India lost just one wicket in the first two sessions as it built a 252-run lead over South Africa, which was dismissed for 296 on Monday.
Laxman was on 97 at the break at Eden Gardens with captain Dhoni on 85, as the pair eclipsed India’s previous highest seventh-wicket partnership against South Africa of 76 runs by Rahul Dravid and Javagal Srinath at Johannesburg in 1997.
Laxman and Dhoni defied both the pace and spin attacks introduced by South Africa captain Graeme Smith. Laxman hit 12 boundaries, while Dhoni timed ten fours and a six off Paul Harris.
Laxman is playing for the first time this series after recovering from a finger injury he sustained during the recent tour of Bangladesh.
The Indian middle order was ably supported by spin bowler Amit Mishra, who came in as night watchman after the departure of Subramaniam Badrinath on Monday.
Mishra was dropped twice — by Jacques Kallis while on 5 and Harris while on 25 — before edging a catch to Kallis at second slip off a rising Morne Morkel (2-90) delivery to be out for 28. Mishra’s innings came from 38 balls and included five boundaries.
Mishra was involved in a 48-run, sixth-wicket partnership with Laxman.
Laxman also survived a chance while on 23 when he edged a Morkel ball that wicketkeeper A.B. de Villiers failed catch.
India Vs Southafrica, Ind vs Sa Score in Day 4, NAGPUR: Sachin Tendulkar smashed a defiant, unbeaten half century as India reached 162-4 at lunch on the fourth day Tuesday in its bid to avoid an innings defeat to South Africa in the first test Tuesday.
India, which was forced to follow on the third day, still trails South Africa by 163 runs after the visitors declared for 558-6 on Sunday.
After resuming on the overnight score 15, with India on 66-2, Tendulkar played judiciously to anchor the innings and reach 77 not out at the end of the first session. He faced 125 deliveries and hit eleven boundaries.
Tendulkar was dropped by Jacques Kallis at first slip off a Wayne Parnell ball in the 15th over of the day when on 45. He went to the break with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on 9.
South African skipper Graeme Smith introduced left arm spinner Paul Harris for Morne Morkel (1-36) after the first five overs in an effort to force a break through, .
Paceman Dale Steyn (1-36), who claimed seven wickets for 51 runs in India’s first innings, continued from the other end.
The ploy paid immediate dividends as Harris claimed Murali Vijay for 32.
The departure of Murali saw Subramaniam Badrinath join Tendulkar, but he was dismissed for 6 shortly after to a full length delivery from Wayne Parnell that he edged to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher.
NAGPUR: India Vs South Africa, Jacques Kallis posted an unbeaten half-century as South Africa recovered from two early shocks to reach 90-2 at lunch Saturday on the first day of the opening test against India.
At lunch, Kallis was on 55 and Hasim Amla was on 24, having added 84 runs for the third wicket after South Africa was reduced to 6-2 by pace bowler Zaheer Khan (2-15).
Batting first after skipper Graeme Smith won the toss, South Africa conceded the initial advantage to the hosts as paceman Khan struck early to claim openers Ashwell Prince (0) and Smith (6).
Prince was the first to go, trying to evade a bouncer from Khan that lobbed off his gloves to Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the fifth over.
Khan claimed the prize wicket of Smith two overs later with a fine delivery that swung in sharply and dislodged the stumps.
Amla and Kallis denied further success to the home team, batting resolutely to remain unbeaten at lunch.
Kallis was the more aggressive of the pair, hitting six boundaries and a six from 81 balls.
An injury-stricken India picked rookie middle-order batsman Subramaniam Badrinath and wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha.
They got the chance to make test debuts as V.V.S. Laxman was ruled out by a finger injury while Rohit Sharma twisted an ankle in the morning warmup. India had already ruled out Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and S.Sreesanth through injury.
NAGPUR: Jacques Kallis posted his 34th test century and shared in an unbroken 187-run stand to guide South Africa to a powerful 193-2 at tea on the first day of the opening test against India.
Kallis struck 11 fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 120, sharing a dominant third-wicket stand with Hashim Amla, who was batting on 60 at the tea break.
The Kallis-Amla partnership revived South Africa after openers Ashwell Prince (0) and Smith (6) fell cheaply with just six runs on the board.
Kallis’ hundred brought him at par with former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar and West Indian Brian Lara in the third spot among test cricket’s top century-makers. Topping the list is Sachin Tendulkar of India with 45 centuries and Australian captain Ricky Ponting is in No. 2 spot with 39 hundreds.
Amla’s 60 came off 147 balls and included five boundaries.
Batting first after skipper Graeme Smith won the toss, South Africa conceded the initial advantage to the hosts as paceman Khan struck early to snare Ashwell Prince and Smith.
Prince was the first to go, trying to evade a bouncer from Khan that lobbed off his gloves to Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the fifth over.
Khan claimed the prize wicket of Smith two overs later with a fine delivery that swung in sharply and dislodged the stumps.
Amla and Kallis then turned the course of the match around in a series that will decide the No. 1 spot in the International Cricket Council’s test rankings.
An injury-stricken India picked rookie middle-order batsman Subramaniam Badrinath and wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha.
They got the chance to make test debuts as V.V.S. Laxman was ruled out by a finger injury while Rohit Sharma twisted an ankle in the morning warmup. India was already without Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and S.Sreesanth through injury.
Rain frustrated India’s proceeding on the fourth day of the second and final Test against South Africa at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The Proteas finished the day on which a little more than a third of the overs could be bowled on 115/3 for an overall trail of 232 runs with 98 overs left to play on the final day.
