Serbian star Novak Djokovic advanced to the next round of the Dubai Open Tennis Championship. Andy Murray, Nikolay Davydenko, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga all fell in the second round.
Djokovic won against his Serbian compatriot, Viktor Troicki, by 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. Andy Murray was beaten by Janko Tipsarevic by 6-7, 6-4 and 6-4. Nikolay Davydenko retired early due to injury. German star Michael Berrer also fell in the second round.

Former T20 captain Shahid Afridi has been deprived of the captaincy of Karachi Dolphins Team for domestic T20 tournament.
The tournament would begin from Saturday, while both the teams from Karachi have been announced in this regard. Muhammad Sami took over Karachi Dolphins while Spinner Danesh Kaneria would captain the Karachi Zebras. Last year, Afridi was given captaincy, however this time he is not considered for the slot. Khalid Latif, Shah Zeb Hassan, Fawad Alam, Sarfraz Ahmed and Sohail Khan also made to the teams.

Pak Snubs Coach, Kamran Akmal For England T20, Pakistan has announced its squad for T20 against England today.
Shoaib Malik would lead the team during the tournament, while Abdul Razzaq also given place in the team. Kamran Akmal has been dropped. The other team members include: Imran Nazir, Fawad Alam, Shahid Afridi, Sarfraz Ahmed, Umar Gul, Syed Ajmal Yasir Arafat, Wahab Riaz and Muhammad Talha. The T20 matches would be held in Dubai on February 19 and 20;the Green Shirts would be coached by Ijaz Ahmed.

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PERTH: Pakistan openers Salman Butt and Khalid Latif lost wickets without adding a runs in the overs of Ryan Harris and Mitchell Johnson as Shahid Afridi won the toss and opted to bat first in the final one dayer of the five matches series against Australia here at Western Australia Cricket Association (WACA) ground on Sunday.

Mohammad Yousuf, the designated captain, pulled out with a troublesome knee, and Afridi leading Pakistan in an ODI for the first time.

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Pakistan has also made two other changes in the team dropping wicketkeeper batsman Kamran Akmal and leg spinner Saeed Ajmal.

Teams:

Pakistan: Salman Butt, Khalid Latif, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam, Shahid Afridi(Capt), Shoaib Malik, Naved-ul-Hasan, Iftikhar Anjum, Mohammad Asif, Sarfraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper)

Australia: SE Marsh, BJ Haddin†, Ricky Ponting (Capt), CL White, AC Voges, MEK Hussey, JR Hopes, NM Hauritz, CJ McKay, RJ Harris, MG Johnson

HOBART: Australia set Pakistan a tough target of 438 runs for victory from just under five sessions after captain Ricky Ponting declared their second innings at 219-5 after lunch on fourth day in the third and final Test here at Bellerive Oval on Sunday.

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Pakistan began their second innings with an uphill task but lost both openers for only 29 runs.

First, first innings centurion Salman Butt was bowled by Doug Bollinger for eight and later his partner Imran Farhat went for 14, caught behind by Brad Haddin off Peter Siddle for 14.

However, Khurram Manzoor and captain Mohammad Yousuf took the score to 61 before Yousuf was adjudged lbw off Shane Watson for 23.

Pakistan were reeling at 67 for three at tea with Khurram (17) and Umar Akmal (2) at the crease.

They still require 371 runs to achieve a record target for winning the match.

Earlier, Simon Katich succeeded in completing his ninth test century but in the next over, he was caught by Shoaib Malik at deep mid-wicket off legspinner Danish Kaneria.

However, Ponting missed his second century for the match as Australia lost three wickets for only 19 runs in a 15-minute period after lunch as they sent out pinch-hitters Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson in an unsuccessful attempt to quickly increase their total.

Ponting failed failed to become the seventh batsman in Test history to score a double-century and a century in the same match when he departed for 89 on the fourth ball after lunch. He tried to sweep Shoaib Malik and was taken down the legside by wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed and the umpire’s not-out decision was overturned on review when replay showed the ball brushed Ponting’s glove.

Then Haddin was run out for eight and Mitchell Johnson was caught at cover by Imran Farhat off Malik for a duck as declaration came with Michael Hussey unbeaten on 13.

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HOBART: Pakistan Vs Australia 3rd Test Live Stream, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the final eleven for Hobart test series against Australia.

Pakistan has dropped wicket-keeper and vice captain Kamran Akmal and made three other changes ahead of the third Test against Australia in Hobart.

Akmal has been replaced by rookie ‘keeper Safraz Ahmed after a bizarre standoff between the vice captain and selectors, with Akmal repeatedly insisting his place in the team was safe.

The gloveman – who dropped four catches as Australia pulled off a miraculous victory at the SCG last week – was forced to ‘drop himself’ as he is part of Paksitan’s four-man selection panel.

Pakistan manager Adbul Raquib said the panel unanimously decided to play Safraz ahead of Akmal.

In other changes, Shoaib Malik and Khurran Manzoor have come in for struggling batsmen Faisal Iqbal and Misbah-ul-Haq, while teenage paceman Mohammad Aamer returns in place of Mohammad Sami.

Meanwhile Australia has recalled opening batsman Simon Katich, who will replace Phillip Hughes at the top of the order.

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Pakistan: Mohammad Yousuf (captain), Imran Farhat, Salman Butt, Khurram Manzoor, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Aamer, Umar Gul, Mohammed Asif, Danish Kaneria, Faisal Iqbal (12th man).

Hosts India are under tremendous pressure to force a draw on the final day of the Ahmedabad Test. They have already lost the key wickets of Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid in the 45 overs of batting they had on the fourth day.

However, things do look bright for India with a second innings total of 190 for 2 at stumps today. Gautam Gambhir is unbeaten at stumps with a superb 70 and along with him is night watchman Amit Mishra who has shown good technique to kill some time on his own.

Sri Lanka resuming the fourth day’s play at 591 for 5 went to lunch without losing a single wicket again. Mahela Jayawardene went past 250 and Prasanna Jayawardene notched up his second test hundred. After lunch, Sri Lanka batted for less than hour to take the score to 760 for 7 before declaring their innings.

The lead the Sri Lankans settled for was a monstrous one of 334 runs. Mahela Jayawardene’s marathon knock came to an end when he danced down to hoick Amit Mishra but only to be bowled for a score of 275 (from 435 balls with 27 fours and a six). Mahela put on a new world record partnership of 351 with Prasanna Jayawardene who finished unbeaten on 154 (from 314 balls with 11 fours) at the time of the declaration.

India seemed to have got a bright start as they went to Tea at 77 for no loss but immediately at the start of the final session, Virender Sehwag went for an over confident slog sweep off Rangana Herath but only to get caught at mid on. Sehwag by then had stroked his way to 51 (from 67 balls with 7 fours).

The homeside recovered after losing Sehwag with Gambhir and Dravid batting with plenty of assurance and at the same time keeping the scoreboard busy. During the dying moments of the fourth day, Umpire Daryl Harper gave a well set Rahul Dravid lbw to put India back in trouble. Dravid (38 from 66 balls with 6 fours) shuffled across and missed an inswinger from left armer Chanaka Welegedara but the ball was angling down the legside from round the sticks.

Gambhir and Mishra batted through the remaining few overs to ensure that India went to stumps losing only those two wickets. The pitch still remains good for batting but Sri Lanka have two quality spinners in Muralitharan and Herath to sustain high amount of pressures on the batsmen during the final day. India first needs to wipe out the deficit which has come down to 144 runs.

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Pakistanis were bowled out for a moderate 286 in their warm-up match against the New Zealand Invitation XI at Queenstown. The homeside in their second innings are 24 for 1 with Abdul Rauf taking his fifth wicket of the match.

For the visitors, left handers Fawad Alam (77 from 145 balls with 10 fours) and Imran Farhat (52 from 103 balls with 7 fours) came good. Crucial middle order batsmen Skipper Mohammad Yousuf and Umar Akmal had a very brief stay in the middle scoring 21 each. Reserve wicket keeper Sarfraz Ahmed gave some respectability to the Pakistani score in the end with a cameo of 37.

Brief Scores : New Zealand Invitation XI 234 and 24/1 Vs Pakistanis 286 (Imran Farhat 52 Fawad Alam 77 Sarfraz Ahmed 37 Abdur Rauf 26, Tuffey 2/47 O’Brien 2/55 Nethula 2/61 )

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