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Mumbai will host the 2011 World Cup final and Mohali one of the semi-finals, according to the allocation of India's share of matches announced on Wednesday.India, which co-hosts the showpiece event with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in February-March 2011, will organise 29 matches at eight venues, the Indian cricket board said in a statement.The full schedule of the 14-nation tournament is due to be announced in Mumbai on November 9.The Wankhede...

Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni shared a serene 148-run stand to help India win a battle of attrition on a sluggish track at the Feroz Shah Kotla and take a 2-1 lead in the seven-ODI series. Australia would perhaps rue the fact that they settled for 229 when they batted after winning an important toss."A total of 220 should be a good score on this pitch," Ponting had said and Australia's approach while batting reflected his mindset. Their bowlers...

Injured New Zealand batsman Jesse Ryder has come out in support of his limited-overs opening partner Brendon McCullum. McCullum recently lost the vice-captaincy against calls for him to move down the order - he averages 26.10 with just two half-centuries in 20 innings - but Ryder believes he should be persisted with at the top."I think he should stay up there and I don't see why people are saying put him back to seven because the records...

England batsman Kevin Pietersen insists he is desperate to get back into action after falling out of love with cricket before being sidelined by an Achilles injury during the Ashes series.He has said that his forced break from international cricket due to an Achilles injury had refreshed him at a time when he was beginning to fall "out of love with the game"."The big thing is the mental rest," Pietersen told the Times. "This year has been...

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Australia will be without fast bowler Brett Lee and allrounder James Hopes for the third ODI against India in Delhi on Saturday. Lee had not recovered from his elbow problem while Hopes still had a hamstring injury."Both the guys [Lee and Hopes] are not playing tomorrow. Lee had a light training today and he looks 85% fine but there is still some pain in his elbow," Ponting said. "Hopes got through his bowling today but we have our fingers...

veteran opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya will drop down the batting order in the one-day internationals to allow left-handed batsman Upul Tharanga to open with Tillakaratne Dilshan.The 40-year-old Jayasuriya has opened batting in 387 of his 441 ODIs, scoring 12,738 runs as an opener with an average of ...

It was announced that Kumble would be a member of the India team, who have won the Sixes just once, back in 2005, when this year’s tournament was launched last month. However, the squad has now added plenty of power to Kumble’s experience and heading the way is the 28-year-old Balaji. The eight-Test, 30 ODI veteran is one of the great stories of Indian cricket in recent years. Having being a regular member...

In keeping with last year when David Warner thrilled local crowds, Cricket Australia has announced a team of dynamic stars of the future will compete at the 2009 Hong Kong Cricket Sixes, to be played at the Kowloon Cricket Club on October 31-November 1. First played in 1992, the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes is the longest-running international tournament of its kind and will this year celebrate its 15th edition. As such, the Sixes has been included...

Sri Lanka called up Thilina Kandamby to its Test cricket squad and the uncapped Chinthaka Jayasinghe and Muthumudalige Pushpakumara to its twenty20 squad on Tuesday for the tour of India next month.Kandamby, a left-handed batsman, has recently performed well in limited-overs matches, while Pushpakumara and Jayasinghe are experienced domestic cricketers.Pushpakumara has scored 241 runs in 18 domestic twenty20 matches at a strike rate of 106. Pushpakumara's offspin bowling has captured 26 wickets. He returns to the national squad...

India 354 for 7 (Dhoni 124, Gambhir 76, Raina 62*) beat Australia 255 (Hussey 53, Jadeja 3-35) by 99 r...

Two uncapped players, left-hand middle-order batsman Thilina Kandamby and wicketkeeper-batsman Kaushal Silva, have been named in Sri Lanka's Test squad for the tour of India starting next month. Another major change in the 16-man line-up for the three-Test series was a recall for left-arm fast bowler Chanaka Welegedera after a two-year absence from the senior side. The notable absentees are opener Malinda Warnapura and middle-order batsman...

Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium will host a Test for the first time since 1973 when Sri Lanka take on India for the third and final Test of their winter tour. The Tests will be followed by two Twenty20 internationals and five ODIs, four of them day-night games. The series, from November 8 to December 27, begins with a three-day warm-up game against the Board President's XI at Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla Complex before the first Test in Ahmedabad, starting November 16. The second Test will be in Kanpur before the teams head back to Mumbai...

Does the audience have the stomach for a seven-match ODI series? The answer will play out during the next couple of weeks. However, if you do get beyond the initial apprehension, this series is extremely vital for both teams. For Australia, as Shane Watson has said, this is a warm-up for the World Cup, while for India, knocked out of the Champions Trophy early, this is a great chance to find the ideal XI and test their fast-bowling resources...

MS Dhoni said that most of the Indians had small niggles, but no serious injuries. He was also non-committal on Yuvraj's chances of being fit for the first O...