Pakistan restrict Mohammed Irfan to ODIs and T20s

Karachi: Pakistan team management have decided to restrict tall paceman Mohammed Irfan to only ODIs and T20s, keeping in mind team's interest in the next year's World Cup.

Injury-prone Irfan was stopped from participating in any Ramazan tournament as coach Waqar Younis called him back to the national cricket academy to concentrate on fitness.

"Waqar, who himself has been a fast bowler, has made it clear to Irfan that he should just work on his fitness and training at the NCA till the next domestic season starts in September," a source close to Irfan told PTI.Irfan said that he had been told that the Pakistan management had prepared a proper schedule for him and he would only be playing in the one-dayers and T20 matches in future.

Shooter Ronjan Sodhi picked for Khel Ratna

Trap shooter Ronjan Sodhi was on Tuesday recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, while cricketer Virat Kohli was among the 14 sportspersons picked for the Arjuna award by the selection committee headed by billiards legend Michael Ferreira.

Badminton player P.V. Sindhu, triple-jumper Renjith Maheshwary and golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar were also in the list of 14 sportspersons picked for the Arjuna award, sources told PTI.

Narine and Bravo brothers level series

West Indies were unusually generous in the field but their batting showed signs of returning to form and Sunil Narine roared back to his best as they overcame Pakistan in Providence to level the series at one-each. West Indies themselves had been helped by a sloppy effort from Pakistan's bowlers, who conceded a whopping 38 extras in a low-scoring game.

Darren Bravo provided the stability at the top of the order and, though Pakistan's naggingly accurate trio of spinners choked the scoring in the middle overs, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard played some big shots towards the end of the innings to lift West Indies to a competitive 232 on a slow surface.

Tharanga, Jayawardene cane India

"Can't seem to win a toss," Angelo Mathews said suggesting he can't catch a break nowadays when Sri Lanka were inserted on a track that has responded to West Indies quicks better than best of butlers. Four hours later, we had the first instance of an innings in a 50-over international ending with just one wicket down. Upul Tharanga and Mahela Jayawardene made a mockery of the teams' suspicion of the damp surface with their 213-run opening, Sri Lanka's second-best stand against India. Under the pressure of the mountain of runs, India huffed and puffed past… Upul Tharanga's score of 174.

BCCI awards Rs.1 crore to each member of victorious Indian team

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Monday announced that each member of the Indian team will be awarded a cash prize of Rs.1 crore for winning the Champions Trophy Sunday night.

Led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India beat England by five runs in a thrilling final at Edgbaston, Birmingham to be crowned Champions Trophy winners for the second time.

Srinivasan steps aside temporarily; Dalmiya to run BCCI affairs

N Srinivasan will not carry out his duties as BCCI president until the commission appointed to conduct an inquiry into the betting and spot-fixing charges in IPL 2013 completes its task. During this period Jagmohan Dalmiya, a former BCCI president and current head of the Cricket Association of Bengal, will run the daily affairs of the board.

Aggressive Mumbai end title drought

Mumbai Indians 148 for 9 (Pollard 60*, Bravo 4-42, Morkel 2-12) beat Chennai Super Kings 125 for 9 (Dhoni 63*, Johnson 2-19, Harbhajan 2-14) by 23 runs

Kept alive by Kieron Pollard's fighting 60 off 32, the Mumbai Indians bowlers attacked their way to a first IPL title. Mumbai were struggling at 52 for 4 in the 10th over, but Pollard batted through the innings to take them 148 even as wickets kept falling as the other end. Lasith Malinga and Mitchell Johnson then were too good for the Chennai Super Kings batsmen, yorking and bouncing them out.

David Miller special fashions Punjab's thrilling win over Bangalore

David Miller scored the third-fastest century in Indian Premier League history and single-handedly powered Kings XI Punjab's remarkable chase and keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the playoffs. His unbeaten 101, off just 38 balls, helped Punjab to a six-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore at the PCA Stadium in Mohali on Monday.After being asked to bat, half-centuries from Chris Gayle and Cheteshwar Pujara ensured that Bangalore put up 190 for 3. But, in response, Punjab couldn't string together a big enough partnership.

Mumbai Indians snaps Chennai Super Kings’ 7-match winning streak

Mumbai Indians on Sunday snapped Chennai Super Kings’ seven-match winning streak with a crushing 60-run victory in a lop-sided Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) match in Mumbai.

Electing to bat, Mumbai scored 139 for five with captain Rohit Sharma top-scoring with a 30-ball 39 not out and then shot out Chennai for just 79 in 15.2 overs at Wankhede Stadium to halt the visiting team’s dream run in the tournament.

Pragyan Ojha (3/11) and Mitchell Johnson (3/27) shared six wickets among them while Lasith Malinga grabbed two wickets for just six runs. Harbhajan Singh and IPL debutant Pawan Suyal chipped in with a wicket each to help Mumbai put brakes on Chennai juggernaut in IPL 6.

Knight Riders stumble against Warner, Chand

A spirited performance on the field, followed by a resilient 95-run stand between David Warner and Unmukt Chand helped Delhi Daredevils add a third win to come level with Kolkata Knight Riders. Knight Riders are now level with Daredevils, squandering a two-point advantage. The task of making it to the playoffs, for both, remains a distant dream.

Virat Kohli nominated for Arjuna Award

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has nominated the dashing Delhi batsman Virat Kohli for the prestigious Arjuna Award for 2012.

Former legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar's name has also been proposed for Dhyanchand Award for his lifetime achievement.

Dehli beat Pune by 15 runs

RAIPUR: A change in 'home' venue brought about a change in Delhi Daredevils' luck. The team that had lost seven of their eight games before this game, edged out Pune Warriors in a close finish at the swanky Veer Narayana Singh stadium on Sunday as Raipur made its debut on the T20 league map.

After Pune Warriors had made a strong start in chase of a target of 165, Daredevils bowlers hit back in the final overs to help their team clinch the issue by 15 runs, their just the second win of the season. With this win, Daredevils have finally managed to rise in the points table. The bottom place is occupied by Pune now.

Chennai Super Kings trump Watson's century

CHENNAI: Rajasthan Royals' Shane Watson came up with the first century of the T20 league this season. However, his effort was not good enough for preventing Chennai Super Kings from notching up a thrilling five-wicket win on Monday night. CSK are now on top of the points tally. Watson's ton guided Royals to a very formidable total of 185 for four in their 20 overs. But Watson's Aussie mate, Michael Hussey made sure that the hosts were always in the game with a magnificent 88 (51 balls, 13x4, 1x6).

Miller, Mandeep pull off thrilling win for Kings XI

Luke Wright went from hero to villain in the space of 100 minutes. His cameo of 34 off 10 balls helped Pune Warriors post 185, but in the face of an assault from David Miller and sensible support from Mandeep Singh, Wright blinked and failed to defend 15 in the last over. Miller finished it off with two lethal sixes, but don't forget how Mandeep kept running back to the danger end to keep Miller on strike.

Both stayed unbeaten, Miller on 80 off 41 and Mandeep on 77 off 58. Mandeep's was the first fifty for any Kings XI Punjab batsman this IPL.

RCB choke, then win in Super Over

It was a match neither team seemed to want to win. Low on quality, it headed towards what looked like a natural result, a Royal Challengers Bangalore victory, for about 33 overs. Out of the other seven, two produced 30 runs for Delhi Daredevils at the end, two were a contest between Morne Morkel and Chris Gayle that the bowler won, and the other three featured an almighty choke from Royal Challengers that resulted in a tie despite a Ravi Rampaul six in the last over when they needed 12.

Inspired Warriors pull off huge CSK upset

They keep saying you have got to do the basics right, more so in Twenty20. They lie. On Monday night in Chennai, Pune Warriors did most of the basics wrong against the much-fancied Chennai Super Kings, but still won by a huge margin.

While batting only two of the seven Warriors batsmen went at a strike-rate of more than 112.5, and one of them faced 18 dots out of 45. They wasted a flying start - their best in all IPLs - with a muddle in the middle, Mitchell Marsh holed out into the deep and didn't even cross over, Manish Pandey slogged when he should have handed over the strike to Steven Smith, T Suman dropped a sitter that would have reduced Chennai Super Kings to 2 for 2, and they were consistently on the worse side of minor fielding errors.

Super Kings demolish listless Kings XI

The abbreviated nature of Twenty20 is supposed to bridge the gulf in quality between sides, but there was no hiding the vast difference between the weakest batting line-up in the tournament, and perhaps the strongest one. After being sent in, Kings XI Punjab lost all ten wickets; Chennai Super Kings chased down 139 without losing any in an embarrassingly one-sided contest in Mohali.

Karthik and Rohit crush Daredevils

Dinesh Karthik's explosive innings blindsided Delhi Daredevils and turned Mumbai Indians' horrific start into the first 200-plus total of the season, one large enough to secure a 44-run win in their first home game. Rohit Sharma gave Karthik support at the start of their 132-run partnership, before turning it on himself at the end to help his team secure their second victory in three games.

Rajasthan Royals roll over Kolkata Knight Riders

JAIPUR: The unpredictability of the T20 format was once again in focus as cricket's lesser-known mortals slayed fancied faces at Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Monday.
Rahul Shukla is hardly known, Siddharth Trivedi is over the hill and Kevin Cooper is yet to make a name for himself.

Yet, when they checkmate players like Jacques Kallis, Gautam Gambhir and Eoin Morgan, the format surely must take some of the credit.

Sunrisers clinch Super Over victory

Sunrisers Hyderabad rode on the power of Dale Steyn's experience to pick up their second consecutive win, this one over Royal Challengers Bangalore, after the game had gone into Twenty20 cricket's sudden death - the Super Over. Steyn had to defend 20 runs, thanks to Cameron White's two blazing hits off Vinay Kumar, and came out on top as Royal Challengers fell five runs short.

The teams had fought tooth and nail throughout the forty overs in front of a noisy crowd in Hyderabad. Defending seven, Vinay bowled an impressive 20th over for the second game in a row - conceding only six - but could not repeat the performance in the tiebreaker. He was Virat Kohli's go-to man after he had defended 10 runs off the last over against Mumbai Indians.