Moving to the No. 1 place in Test Cricket, the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni described the status as a dream come true. He also conceded that it would be a tough job to maintain the top slot.

After the team swamped Sri Lanka by an innings in the third Test to win the series 2-0 and become the world’s best Test team, Dhoni said, “It was a dream come true. But what we actually do is to try and play every game well and ratings take care of themselves. It was a constant process for the last 18 months. Whatever Test cricket we have played we have played really well. I think it’s a team effort.”

“It’s a bit of a concern we are playing only two Test matches in the next six months. It will be tough for us to maintain this top position. At the same time we have done something remarkable. We would celebrate the feat rather than thinking about anything else. At the moment we would like to just be with the achievement, which is because of the whole team,” he said.

Dhoni felt the side was blessed in its journey to the top by the fact that more or less the same cricketers played for the last some months without injuries.

Dhoni felt the dressing room atmosphere also contributed a lot to the achievements on the field.

Indian opener Virender Sehwag who broke a number of records on his way to the huge 293 runs in the third test topped the batting charts with 491 runs from three matches with an average of 122.75.

Sehwag was declared man of the match and player of the series.

Rahul Dravid took the overall second place in the batting chart with 433 runs from same three matches with an average of 108.25.

Harbhajan Singh who claimed 13 wickets from three matches but conceded 533 runs. Zaheer Khan took 10 wickets while Sreesanth and Pragyan Ojha made 8 and 9 wickets rom two matches each.

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As the day one ended for Sri Lanka with 366/8, the day 2 began with a weak performance and were all out for 393 and left India to take over the ground.

The Indian opening duo Virender Sehwag and Murali Vijay stood steadily making the Lankan team suffer under the sun. Vijay made 87 runs before he was bowled by Herath. Sehwag was quick with runs and made 100 runs from 101 balls like in ODI’s.

Dravid gave a strong hand to Sehwag after Vijay. Dravid remained unbeaten with 62 runs.

Statistics:

• Rahul Dravid, with an unbroken double century stand with Virender Sehwag, became the first batsman to be involved in 80 century stands of 100 or more.
• Dravid and Sehwag shared an unbroken second-wicket stand of 222 for the second wicket, India’s second best against Sri Lanka, next only to the 232 between S Ramesh and Dravid at Colombo SSC in 1998-99.
• With two double century partnerships for the first and second wickets, Sehwag now shares 10 such stands in Tests. His tally includes an Indian record of six stands for the first wicket.
• Sehwag’s third hundred against Sri Lanka is his 17th Test century in Tests – his ninth at home.
• Sehwag has registered his double century in 168 balls and his feat is the second fastest in Test records. Nathan Astle holds a world record, reaching the double century off just 153 balls against England at Christchurch in 2001-02.
• Virender Sehwag has reached his 250 off 207 balls, bettering his own record off reaching the feat off 225 balls against South Africa during his triple century (319) in the 2007-08 Chennai Test.
• Sehwag became the first batsman to make 200 runs in a day three times for India.
• During the course of his unbeaten double hundred, Sehwag has become the ninth Indian batsman to aggregate 6,000 runs or more in Tests.
• With 284 runs in a day’s play, Sehwag has established an Indian record for most runs in a day’s play – the third best in Test records – Australia’s Don Bradman (309) is the only one to make 300 runs in a day’s play against England at Leeds in 1930, followed by 295 by England’s Wally Hammond against New Zealand at Auckland in 1932-33.
• Sehwag’s distinction of completing 6,000 runs in 123 innings is the third fastest by an Indian player, next only to the 117 innings taken by Sunil Gavaskar and 120 by Sachin Tendulkar.
• Sehwag, for the first time, has registered seven sixes in an innings and became the first Indian to reach a tally of 75 sixes.
• Virender Sehwag’s unbeaten 284 off 239 balls is the highest individual innings by an Indian batsman against Sri Lanka, outstripping his own record of 201 not out at Galle in 2008.
• Sehwag is the only Indian batsman to register two double hundreds against Sri Lanka.
• Sehwag’s outstanding knock of 284 not out is the third best against Sri Lanka, next only to the 313 by Younis Khan for Pakistan at Karachi in February this year and 299 by Martin Crowe (New Zealand) at Wellington in January/ February 1991.
• Sehwag’s aforesaid innings is the highest by any batsman at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. The first two batsmen to make double hundreds at this venue are – Vinoo Mankad – 223 against New Zealand in 1955-56 and Dilip Sardesai – 200 not out against New Zealand in 1964-65.
• Sehwag’s knock included 40 fours and seven sixes which means 202 runs through boundaries. He is the first Indian batsman to make 200 runs through boundaries. Sehwag surpassed his own record of 198 (42 fours and five sixes) during his innings of 319 against South Africa at Chennai in 2007-08.
• Sehwag has now recorded four innings of 250-plus – a tally exceeded only by Sir Donald Bradman (5).
• India (443) have posted their highest total in a day’s play, eclipsing the 417 for the loss of two wickets on the first day of the Kanpur Test against Sri Lanka last week.
• Angelo Matthews became the 14th batsman and the second Sri Lankan after Mahela Jayawardene (vs. West Indies at Galle in 2001-02) to be dismissed on 99 (run out).
• Matthews became the first batsman to be dismissed on 99 in a Test match for Sri Lanka against India. Overall, Matthews is the third Sri Lankan after Russell Arnold (vs. Pakistan) and Mahela Jayawardene (vs. West Indies) to miss a Test hundred by one run.
• Vijay (87) has posted his highest innings – his first fifty in Tests.
• Pragyan Ojha (3/101) has registered his best bowling performance in Tests.

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After his poor on-field behaviour, Sreesanth is now selected in India’s 15 member squad for the first two test matches against Sri Lanka. Sreesanth will be sharing with Zaheer Khan, who has recovered from his shoulder injury.

The selectors have recalled Pragyan Ojha and S Badrinath. M Vijay will also be reatined as reserve batsman.

Indian Team: MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, M Vijay, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra.

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Former Indian Cricket Captain Rahul Dravid makes a return to India’s ODI team for the tri-series in Sri Lanka and for the Champions Trophy next month. Rahul Dravid replaced Rohit Sharma, who managed 15 runs in three ODI innings in the West Indies and 43 runs in three innings against major opposition in the World Twenty20.

Also the selectors did not want to take risk including Virender Sehwag, who is yet to recover fully from his shoulder injury. He was not expected to make it to the Sri Lanka tri-series and now has been left out for the Champions Trophy as well.

Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid who have made a come back to the ODI squad

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, who opted out of the West Indies series, makes a comeback. Suresh Raina, who was out because of a hairline fracture of the thumb, also returns. Amit Mishra makes it into the ODI squad, replacing Pragyan Ojha as the back-up spinner to Harbhajan Singh. Dinesh Karthik and Abhishek Nayar have retained their places.

India’s ODI squad: Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, RP Singh, Amit Mishra, Dinesh Karthik, and Abhishek Nayar

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Delhi daredevils all rounder Rajat Bhatia is on a high after his match-winning spell against Deccan Chargers, which worked wonders for him last night, was his ability to bowl good yorkers and slower ones.

Terming Wednesday night’s spell of 4/15 as the second best day of his cricketing career, the 29-year-old said he enjoyed the confidence of skipper Virender Sehwag and knew he could turn the match with just one good over.

“I had full confidence in the captain, that he thought that I was capable of bowling in this situation was a bonus. I know that in a Twenty20 game one over can change the match. I was confident that I can do it for my team,” Bhatia said.

“I could not get runs but I bowled well. It was just another day for me where I wanted to bowl good yorkers and slower ones and it worked. At this level we have to learn to turn things around at such stages,” he was quoted as saying in the IPL’s official website.

With Deccan needing 25 runs off the last three overs with six wickets in hand, Bhatia picked up Andrew Symonds and then Dwayne Smith in one over to turn the match in Delhi’s favour.

He later took two more wickets of Pragyan Ojha and Shoaib Maqsusi to end up with superb figures of 4 for 15 in 2.4 overs

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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the Twenty20 World Cup team on Monday.

The selection committee, headed by Chairman Krishnamachari Srikkanth, named Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the captain of the 15-man squad.

The other players included in the squad are Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Pragyan Ojha and Irfan Pathan.

A preliminary meeting was held in Cape Town on April 24.

The selection committee said they had considered the players’ performance in the ongoing Indian Premier League as well before naming the squad.

However, despite his astounding performance in the IPL so far, Mumbai Indians’ Abhishek Nayar could not make it to the final list.

Other players who were expected to be included were L. Balaji, Dhawal Kulkarni, Ajit Agarkar, Robin Uthappa, Joginder Sharma, S. Sreesanth and Piyush Chawla.

The T20 World Cup will start in London on June 5.

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Having suffered their first defeat in the tournament, table toppers Deccan Chargers will seek to return to winning ways when they clash with an unpredictable Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League here on Saturday.

Although the Deccan Chargers’ fairytale campaign was stopped on Thursday night by the Delhi Daredevils, the Hyderabad team is a formidable opponent for the Royals and are sitting pretty at the top with four wins out of five matches.

Tagged as laggards last year, the Chargers have been a revelation in this edition of the IPL Twenty20 tournament and looked unstopabble till Thursday when Daredevils defeated them by six wickets.

The Chargers’ will be relying heavily on captain Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs, who flopped for the first time in the event against the Daredevils, to fire up front as the duo played a significant role in their success so far.

Gilchrist and Gibbs have been in rampaging form and have blown away their opponents with their powerful hitting. The Chargers middle order looks impressive with Rohit Sharma and Dwayne Smith scoring against the Daredevils on Thursday.

Except for one bad outing against the Daredevils, the Hyderabad team’s bowling department has also looked in good shape with RP Singh leading from the front and young Pragyan Ojha emerging as a new talent in India’s spin department.

West Indian Fidel Edwards, who looked little out of sorts against the Daredevils, will look to come out charged up against the Royals to make amends for his poor show. On the other hand, with two victories out of six matches, Shane Warne-led Rajasthan Royals, are at the bottom half of the points table.

The defending champions had a mixed outing in the tournament so far and lacked consistency in their performance. Their unpredictability can be ascertained from the fact that just after their five-wicket triumph over formidable Dardevils on Tuesday, they slumped to a 38-run loss at the hands of a struggling Chennai Super Kings on Thursday.

Batting continues to remain a concern area for the Royals with the top three Graeme Smith, Rob Quiney and Swapnil Asnodkar emerging as a big disappointment. The defending champions are depending heavily on Yusuf Pathan to come good which is putting extra pressure on the right-hander.

The Royals’ bowlers too have their task cut out as Super Kings’ Suresh Raina smashed them all over the park to expose their weakness.

To add to their woes, the Royals might have to do away with young Kamran Khan who injured his foot against Chennai and didn’t come out to bat later.

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Delhi Daredevils will be looking to stop Deccan Chargers’ four-match winning streak and snatch the top spot when they face each other in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Centurion Park here on Thursday.

After suffering their first IPL defeat against Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Daredevils will be looking to bounce back against leading Deccan Chargers.

Delhi Daredevils, after Tuesday’s loss, are second in the league behind Deccan Chargers.

When both teams face each other at the Centurion Park, Deccan Chargers will be looking to retain their top spot while Daredevils will be trying to snatch the leader’s crown.

Daredevils are one of the most balanced team in the IPL and it was only against the Rajasthan Royals that they faltered suffering their only loss in the league so far.

The loss is likely to act as a catalyst for Daredevils to bounce back. Their batting has been the major strength and it will depend on skipper Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir to get a good start.

In the middle-order, AB de Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan have been in fine form and will be looking to continue their stroke-play against the Deccan Chargers bowling attack.

Delhi Daredevils also have a good bowling attack and fast bowler Ashish Nehra and left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori have been in good from.

But against the formidable Deccan Chargers, Daredevils bowlers can’t relax.

Deccan Chargers’ opening batsmen skipper Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs have torn apart all the bowling attacks in the IPL. Rohit Sharma, VVS Laxman and Dwayne Smith have given a depth to their batting while the bowlers have been in terrific form.

Fidel Edwards and R P Singh have made Deccan Chargers bowling the most potent attack in the IPL. Adding to their strength is left-arm spinners Pragyan Ojha who has been daring enough to toss the ball and the batmen have fallen to his trap.

With two top teams facing each other, Centurion Park is set for an exciting clash.

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Depleted by star all-rounder Andrew Flintoff’s pull-out due to injury and struggling with poor form, last year’s runners-up Chennai Super Kings start unlikely underdogs against rampaging table-toppers Deccan Chargers in an Indian Premier League match on Monday.

The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai side have won just one of their four matches so far, losing two while splitting points in their fourth game against Kolkata Knight Riders following a wash-out.

Deccan, on the other hand, have been simply unstoppable winning all three of their matches, riding mostly on their good batting led by in-form skipper Adam Gilchrist.

In contrast, Chennai have been surprisingly off-colour and the only win they have managed so far came against bottom-placed Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Opener Matthew Hayden’s good form and the fact that he is available for the entire tournament seems to be the lone highlight of Chennai’s campaign so far.

The burly Australian, who retired from international cricket last year, is the leading scorer of the tournament having accumulated 166 runs in three matches, including two fifties, at a strike rate of over 171.

But the rest of the Chennai batting has not been able to back Hayden’s form much as yet, quite evident in their loss to Delhi Daredevils. Set 189 to win, Hayden’s 57 and Suresh Raina’s 41 were the only notable contributions for Chennai in their nine-run loss.

Dhoni, considered one of the best international skippers right now, has somehow failed to inspire the team and his lacklustre form with the bat has also become a concern.

On the other hand, last season’s laggards Deccan have have completely turned it around under Gilchrist this year and much of it has been possible because of their in-form batting line-up.

Gilchrist himself have been in excellent touch and is fourth on the leading scorers list with 119 runs at a strike rate of 150.

South African Herschelle Gibbs and West Indian Dwayne Smith have ensured that Gilchrist’s blazing run is complimented well at the top.

Add to this, pacer R P Singh and spinner Pragyan Ojha’s good form with the ball and Deccan have become unexpected favourites against Chennai.

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A half-century by Herschelle Gibbs and Pragyan Ojha’s three wickets helped Indian Premier League (IPL) leaders Deccan Chargers record a 12-run win over the Mumbai Indians on Saturday.

Gibbs struck 58 off 44 balls as the Chargers posted 168 for nine before left-arm spinner Ojha claimed three for 21 to restrict Mumbai to 156 for seven in Durban.

It was the third victory in three matches for Deccan, who are now two points clear at the top of the table.

The Chargers were pegged back by Dwayne Bravo and Lasith Malinga who took three wickets apiece.

Despite losing a wicket in the second over of the reply, Mumbai’s run-chase began well with Sachin Tendulkar and JP Duminy putting on 82 for the second wicket off 60 balls.

Ojha then accounted for both batsmen, Tendulkar for 39 and Duminy for 47 as Mumbai fell behind the run-rate.

The Indians began the 18th over needing 26 to win off 12 balls but wickets from left-arm seamer RP Singh and fast bowler Fidel Edwards ended their hopes.

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