Sachin Tendulkar led from the front with a sparkling unbeaten 59 and young Abhishek Nayar clobbered a quickfire 35 as Mumbai Indians scored a stunning 19-run victory over last year's runners-up Chennai Super Kings in the opening match of the Indian Premier League in Cape Town on Saturday.
Two days before the actual action gets underway, the second Indian Premier League got off to a rousing start in Cape Town on Thursday, with some of the best cricketers and Bollywood stars lending sheen to the gala event. A colourful tableaux of eight IPL franchisees passed the city centre, with fans lining up either side of the roads to get a glimpse of the cricket and entertainment glitterati converged in South Africa for the 59-match carnival, starting on Saturday.
Mohammad Kaif will not feature in the second edition of the Indian Premier League after his team Rajasthan Royals dumped the Team India discard in Cape Town on Wednesday. Manoj Badale, chairman and co-owner of the Jaipur-based franchisee, said Kaif got the boot as the team management shortlisted 17-18 players for the Twenty20 league starting on Saturday. The only way Kaif can be back is if any other player sustains injury, he added.
South African opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs as arrested in the early hours of Thursday morning for drink-driving in Cape Town, reports said on Friday. Gibbs recently signed up to play for Hyderabad in the inaugural Indian Premier League, the multi-million dollar Twenty20 event which begins on April 18, in a deal worth $575,000 dollars.
Rookie batsman Imraan Khan joined Hashim Amla as the second Indian-Origin player in the South African team which will be without regular skipper Graeme Smith in the third and final Test against Australia starting March 19 in Cape Town.
Ashwell Prince has been recalled to replace the injured Graeme Smith as South Africa captain for the third Test against Australia where he will open the batting alongside debutant Imraan Khan.
Tickets for the World Cup semi-finals and final, as well as two of England's first round matches in South Africa, have sold out, FIFA said on Friday. FIFA said there were no more tickets for England's matches against the United States in Rustenburg on June 12 and Slovenia in Port Elizabeth on June 23.
"Chappell doesn't understand the nuances of democracy," CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta said.
West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor, who has officiated in a record 126 Tests, will retire from international matches in March.
The Indian bowlers were guilty of taking their foot off the pedal in the back end of the innings
England off-spinner Graeme Swann's sparkling form in South Africa contrasts with his tour there 10 years ago when he spent a lot of time drinking and was a million miles from the Test side, he was quoted as saying on Sunday.
Fast bowler Duanne Olivier has been recalled for South Africa's home Test series against India, a reward for excellent domestic form from a player who shot to prominence four years ago before taking up a Kolpak contract.
Virender Sehwag raced to a double hundred off just 168 balls on Day 2 of the third Test against Sri Lanka. It is the second fastest double century in Test cricket.
FIFA will hold an extraordinary meeting before next month's World Cup draw to discuss Thierry Henry's handball in the qualifiers and the discovery of a match-fixing ring by German police.
India are fretting over the fitness of their skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (shoulder) and Smriti Mandhana (finger) ahead of the opening game.
South Africa spinner Paul Harris is to see a specialist after fracturing his thumb and will take no further part in the first test against Bangladesh in Bloemfontein, a team spokesman announced on Friday.
Here's a first look of Tasveer.
Debutant Junaid Siddique's sparkling 71 went in vain as Pakistan beat Bangladesh by four wickets in an inconsequential match of the Twenty20 World Cup.
They were welcomed by Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana-Dlamini Zuma, Home Affairs Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad.
Rohit Shetty has started shooting for the 12th season of his adventure reality show, Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi, in South Africa and the celeb contestants seem to be having loads fun already!
Free-scoring batsman AB de Villiers has been ruled out of the first three One-Day Internationals against India through injury.
There are a whole lot of cop-themed movies on OTT this week.
Taking a look at the 13 contestants of Khatron Ke Khiladi Level 2.
Soon after the BCCI banned the duo from the upcoming Indian Premier League, Smith and Warner were each hit with 12-month bans by the national body for their roles in ball-tampering scandal during the Cape Town Test against South Africa last month.
Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland said Darren Lehmann was as surprised as the thousands of spectators in Cape Town's Newlands stadium and millions more watching at home when images on big screens showed Cameron Bancroft brazenly cheating.
The former UCBSA chief was struggling for life in an intensive care unit in a Cape Town hospital following a colon operation.
International Cricket Council president Percy Sonn is gravely ill in hospital after surgery, his personal assistant said on Tuesday.
Only close relatives attended the funeral in Observatory, near the family's Pinelands home outside Cape Town.
He was accompanied to the Gandhi Settlement by the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Sbu Ndebele, and a host of local political and business leaders.
Differences, however, remain and more meetings will be required.
Reader Harendra Chahar sends us photographs.
India's INS Mumbai and INS Karmukh will take part in the event, which includes the very basic to the most advanced, and involving submarines and aircraft. South Africa, India and Brazil, who form part of the new forum IBSA, will sport their biggest frigates and test the latest electronic systems against each other in a simulated war situation.
The suspension has been enacted on the basis of USACA's failure to meet the agreed and extended deadlines for the adoption of the new USACA constitution and the holding of elections.
ICC president Percy Sonn accepted an invitation from the ICC Board to extend his term in office until June 2009.
Statistical highlights of the IPL match between Deccan Chargers and Rajasthan Royals. Yusuf is the fourth batsman to amass 600 runs in the IPL, joining Gilchrist (646), Suresh Raina (621) and Shanu Marsh (616).
South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher on Wednesday said that his side have handled the pressure very well to come out on top and they have enough overs to bowl India out to win the series-deciding third Test in Cape Town.
Rudra Pratap Singh took four for 22 as Deccan Chargers crushed Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets in the fourth match of the Indian Premier League in Cape Town, on Sunday. Singh took full advantage of the bowler-friendly conditions at Newlands to help bowl out Kolkata for a lowly 101 in 19.4 overs. In reply, Gibbs top-scored with 43 from 26 deliveries and Rohit Sharma smashed 36 not out as Deccan cruised to the victory target in just 13.2 overs.
India would look to bat well on day three and put South Africa under pressure in the third and final Test in Cape Town, medium pacer S Sreesanth said.
