Everything About Indian Sports

Vijay Mallaya had created a storm in Indian ranks by acquiring the Spyker formula1 team and rechristened it to Force India Formula1 team. This was to confirm the rise of motor sport in India.

Close to the announcement of this news another news follows that Spice Energy, the company that is nursing the A1 GP Team India is also set to join the ranks of Formula1 team owners. The company has been delighted by its success in A1 GP and wants to go a step ahead and acquire a Formula1 team.

Spice Energy has been having talks with many cash stripped Formula1 teams about the possible takeover. Super Aguri is one of such teams with which the company has confirmed that they are having talks with.

This news will definitely be a boost to Indian driver Narian Karthikeyan who has been driving for Spice Energy sponsored A1 GP Team India and has recently won the GP of China.

Harbhajan Singh has been cleared of the racial charge by Justice John Hansen today. Harbhajan was instead charged with a Level 2.8 offence - abuse and insult not amounting to racism - to which he pleaded guilty and was fined 50 per cent of his match fees.

Australaian captain Ricky Ponting had made the complaint to match refree Mike Proctor on the third day of the Sydnet teat match that Harbhajan Singh had racially abused Andrew Symonds by saying words "Big Monkey". After the match finished the match refree Mike Proctor found Harbhajan Singh guilty of racicm under ICC rule no. 3.3 and was banned for 3 test matches. This charge was denied by the Indian team and they refused to play any cricket on tour after that untill Harbhajan Singh was cleared of this charge. later Indian board BCCI also got involved and said that they will pull out of tour unless the racicm charge was lifted from Harbhajan Singh.

To resolve the issue ICC first sacked umpire Steve Bucknor from the remaining series and also asked the Indian to file appeal into the charge which was held after the end of Adelaide test match today.

During the hearing, oral evidence was called for from all the witnesses to the exchange between Harbhajan and Andrew Symonds - Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden and Sachin Tendulkar. The witnesses were then cross-examined by Brian Ward, counsel representing the Australians, and VR Manohar, representing Harbhajan via video link from Mumbai.

"Justice Hansen said he was convinced that, on all the evidence submitted before him, the charge of a Level 3.3 offence was not proven but that Harbhajan should be charged with a Level 2.8 offence." Harbhajan pleaded guilty to this charge, after which the fine was imposed on him. Hansen is scheduled to provide the full reasons for delivering his judgement on Wednesday evening.

Manohar said that while the maximum punishment for a Level 2.8 offence was a fine of the full match fees and a ban of one Test or two ODIs, the fact that Harbhajan hadn't been booked under the ICC Code of Conduct since 1998 ensured that he got the milder penalty of a 50% fine of his match fees.

With the issue now resolved both the Australian and Indian Cricket Boards gave joint statement that they were happy from the outcome and are looking froward to good cricket in Commonwealth Bank Series also involving Sri Lanka.

Australia had already retained the Border-Gavaskar troply after the Sydney victory but the series was still alive because of the win by India in Perth. Going into day 5 of the Adelaide test match there was still a chance that had India not batted properly they would have lost the test match.

India began the day cautiously with Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag. Dravid was his usual self untill he was hit by a rising Lee delivery on his fingers. It was later learnt that he had fractured his fingers and retired hurt at that moment. Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag then took India past the 100 runs lead before Sachin got out trying to go for an impossible single. Sehwag on the other end was playing blazing innings and completed his first century in second innings of Test match cricket.

After lunch India lost Ganguly and Laxman but Sehwag remained solid and soon after tea he completed his 150 runs before edging a ball into hands of Gilchrist. The Indian tailenders ensured that there was no sudden collapse and the match ended in a draw. Sachin Tendulkar was declared the man of the match for his 153 runs in first innings.

Adelaide test will be most remembered for the retirement of Adam Gilchrist from the test cricket. He will still be playing the ODI cricket for 2 months before retiring from all forms of cricket.

India began the day with probably the target of around 400 in their mind. Dhoni who was looking a shadow of himself yesterday played some free strokes before being caught at point boundary trying to uppercut a bowl from Mitchell Jhonson. His dismissal was soon follwed by a spell of short pitch bowling to Indian batsmen and it eventually paid off when Tendulkar top edged a hook shot to Brad Hogg at fine leg to give Lee his third wicket of the innings.

Tendulkars dismissal brought Harbhajan to the crease and the sight of 400 was looking distant for the Indian team with Australia going all out for the wickets. The first ball that Harbhajan faced he tried to play a slog shot. He was immediately spoken to by Indian captain Anil Kunble and was asked to apply himself. From then on both of them put on annoying 107 runs parternship with both of them going on to complete half centuries.

Even though Harbhajan was out after scoring his 50 the Australians did not helped themselves by dropping 3 chances to dismiss Ishant Sharma and allowing the last wicket stand to grow to 58 and India eventually finished the first innings at 526 runs with Anil Kumble being last man dismissed for well made 87 runs.

Australia were bolsted by the comeback of Matthew Hayden and it showed in their reply. The openors made a confident 62 runs for the opening stand and see the day through. India will try to get the 10 Australian wickets as quickly because batting on the Adelaide wicket gets difficult on days 4 and 5.

It has often being said that Cricket and Bollywood rule the hearts of India. Yesterday top Industrialists and Bollywood stars rode the cricket bandwagon and made bids for the teams for the T20 championship to be played in a league based on Englands soccer league EPL and Americas NBA, called the Indian Premier League.

The big bucks flowing into the game was an indicator of how the centre of gravity of the game has shifted from Lord's, traditional home of cricket, to the cricket maidans of Mumbai and Kolkata.

Among the bidders were Bollywood star icon Shah Rukh Khan and Indias most wealthiest industralist Mukesh Ambani. Shah Rukh Khan in partnership with Juhi Chawla won the bid for the Kolkata team while Preity Zinta in association with friend Nes Wadia of the Bombay Dyeing group picked up the franchisee right for the team from Mohali in Punjab. Flamboyant Vijay Mallya of the UB Group admitted that he wanted the Mumbai team, but he was outbid by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance. Mukesh Ambani won with the highest bid of $111.9 million for Mumbai team while Mallya's UB Group put in the bid of $111.6 million for Bangalore.

The eight teams for the Indian Premier League are:
1. Mukesh Ambani's Reliance for Mumbai - $111.9 million

2. Vijay Mallya's UB Group for Bangalore - $111.6 million

3. Deccan Chronicle for Hyderabad - $107.01 million

4. India Cements for Chennai - $91 million

5. GMR Holdings for Delhi - $84 million

6. Consortium led by Preity Zinta for Mohali - $76 million

7. Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies (with Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta) for Kolkata - $75.09 million

8. Emerging Media, a consortium including Manoj Badale of England, Lachlan Murdoch and some other investors for Jaipur - $67 million

In pursuit of win at the Adelaide test match the Indian management decided to drop out of form openor Wasim Jaffer and bring Harbhajan Singh in his place. This means that India would be going into the test match with 5 specialist bowlers and the batsmen will be under pressure to post big scores because they will be one batsmen short and Mahender Singh Dhoni has not looked in good form.

India won the toss and elected to bat first in the test match hoping to post big total in first innings and use the two spinners in last innings to force a result. Irfan Pathan opening for the first time on the trip got a good bowl from Mitchell Jhonson and he edged the bowl to Gilchrist. On the other end Sehwag looked solid and was scoring quickly to take pressure of scoring of Rahul Dravid. But Dravid failed to capitalaize on the good luck he had when he was given not out LBW by umpire Asad Rauf and was caught by Ponting off Jhonson again in the series.

After lunch India lost Sehwag quickly to a sharp delivery which he edged to first slip to be lapped up in safe hands of Mathew Hayden. After playing some crisp shots Saurav Ganguly was out LBW to Brad Hogg and India were in trouble at that stage. But Tendulkar and Laxman took India to tea without any damage and both players looked comfortable and not troubled at all.

After tea Tendulkar played some attacking cricket shots against the spinner Brad Hogg and took the attack to Australian bowling. Laxman was giving him good company from other end. Sachin reached his century in just 2 shots by hitting a six and off drive to go from 92 to 100 and complete his 39th century. India lost Laxman once again not playing shot against short ball of Bret Lee in similar way he got out in Melbourbne test match. Dhoni was giving Tendulkar company and they ended the day at 309/5 with Tendulkar batting on 124 and Dhoni not out on 6 from 54 deliveries.

India should be aiming to reach a score near 450 to be competitive in the match and with 5 bowlers look to exploit the conditions which they are familiar with.

Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Mark Knowles of Bahamas moved into the semi-finals of the Australian Open men's doubles with a thrilling three-set win over top seeds Bryan brothers, Mike and Bob, of the US in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. Sixth-seeded Bhupathi and Knowles won 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5) against the Americans in an encounter that lasted two hours 24 minutes. Bhupathi and Knowles will face eighth seeded Israeli pair of Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich in semi finals.

Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza are already in the mixed doubles semi-finals. An upset second round win followed by a walkover in the quarter-finals ensured Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza a berth in the last four of the mixed doubles event at the Australian Open on Tuesday.

Ishant Sharma produced the spell of his life at Perth here today against the best batsmen in the world at the moment. There have hardly been times in last 5 years that Ponting has been troubled by any bowler. Occasional spells by Harbhajan Singh and some burst by Andrew Flintoff in Ashes series in England have troubled him from time to time but the Australian captian has been having field day against most attacks around the world.

Today at Perth in the morning session Ishant kept coming hard at the Australian and had him in all sort of problems. The youngster troubled Ponting in his 8 overs spell and never faded away. Just when Ricky Ponting thaught that he had weathered the storm of Ishant spell after 7 overs by the ypungster, he was given one more over at the behest of his Dlehi captain Virender Sehwag and the move eventually resulted in wicket of Ponting.

It was a just reward for thr the youngster who is only 19 years of age and has been getting better and better with each outing. Not only did he showed great fitness to bowl a long spell, he was bowling it at a fair speed and even touched 142ks in the spell. No matter what happens to the youngtsre in future he will definately be remembered for this spell in ages.

India created history today by beating Australia at Perth. Not only did India stop Australia who were on the verge of 17th consecutive test match victory but also became the first team from sub continent to beat Australia at Perth.

India started day in search of 8 Australian wickets and young Ishant Sharma bowled a brilliant spell to Australian captain Ricky Ponting. He had Ponting in all sort of troubles and had some close LBW shouts against him. After bowling 8 overs on trot he was given 1 more over on insistance of Sehwag by Kumble and he removed Ponting with a ball that left him slightly and batsmen giving simple slip catch to Rahul Dravid.

Having just lost 1 wicket before lunch Australia might have expected to start the chase as they scored some brisk boundaries after lunch. But soon Micheal Hussey who was solid as a rock at other end since morning and Andrew Symonds the hero of Sydney test match were dismissed in quick succession due to umpiring errors. It was now the turn of Australia to be on receiving end of umpiring decisions.

Sehwag then chipped in twin wickets of Gichrist and Bret Lee to leave Australia 7 down at tea. After tea Clarke was dismissed quickly for well made 81 and it only left 2 wickets to get for a famous win. But Mitchell Jhonson andStuart Clark had other ideas. The pair took liking to Indian bowling and dismissed them as if they were playing against the school kids.

The new ball was taken soon as it was due and it immediately provided results as the bowlers picked up remaining two wickets to wrap up a memorable win in the Indian test cricket.

Anil Kumble has become the third bowler in history of the game to claim 600 or more test match wickets. Kumble achieved the feat when Andrew Symonds was caught at slips after deflection of Dhoni gloves balloned the ball for a simple catch. Umpire Asad Rauf looked like giving the batsmen the opportunity to walk and when he did not moved raised his finger and Indian camp jumped in joy. The wicket was also special from the fact that it came at crucial stage when Australia were seen getting back into the game after being 5 wickets down for 62 runs.

Adam Gilchrist who was at the non striker end congratulated Kumble and Kumble in reply said that he wanted Gilchrist to be his 600th victim rather than Symonds. Gilchrist has been supporter of Kumble and also called up to congratulate Kumble when he had taken 500 test match wickets.

This is a great achievement for a bowler who was never given the same recognition as his other counterparts when he had the same pedigree as the other two spinners who are above 700 test wickets mark. It is also remarkable that Kumble has matured into a very good test match bowler when everyone thaught his career was over after the shoulder injury and string of poor performances in 2003 the same time when Harbhajan SIngh was bowling at his peak.

"Jumbo" as he is called by his teammates is enjoying his best days in cricket as he recently became the captain of Indian Test side and also was the only batsmen to score a century on the tour of England in which India won the Test series after 26 years.

Sania Mirza survived a scare to beat Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland and advance to the third round of the women's singles event in the Australian Open here today.
In a battle lasting for one hour and 44 minutes, Sania got the better of Timea 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.
Sania did not had much trouble in the opening set as she rapped up the set quickly as her opponent struggled with unforced errors. But Timea fought back strongly in the second set. Both the players committing lot of unforced errors and Timea won the set to square the match.
In the keenly-contested final set, Sania approached the net more often and reduced her unforced errors to emerge victorious.

In the next round, Sania has the uphill task of taking on eighth-seeded Venus Williams of the USA. The American defeated Camille Pin of France 7-5, 6-4 to book a berth in the third round.

In one of the biggest telecast deals in World cricket, the Sony Television network and the Singapore-based World Sports Group (WSG) has secured the rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the officially-sanctioned Twenty20 league, for ten years at a cost of more than US$1 billion. As part of the deal, Sony will pay the BCCI US$908 million for the telecast rights and US$108 million for the promotion of the tournament. WSG will explore the international market while Sony will cater to the subcontinent market.

"We have what we believe to be the best deal for the Indian Premier League and Indian cricket fans" Lalit Modi the BCCI vice President and IPL Chairman and Commisioner announced.

The IPL has a pool of at least 78 cricketers with international experience from which the franchises can sign on players. Shane Warne will be the most expensive player, costing US$400,000 for a franchise to employ him. The next highest fee is for Glenn McGrath and Stephen Fleming, of US$350,000. Apart from the international stars the main attraction will be the Indian superstars Sachin Tendulkar and 20-20 champion cricketer Yuvraj Singh.

The bids for the franchises, the base price of which is US$50 million, will be opened on January 24 while player auctions would follow around February 7.

Film actor Shah Rukh Khan and Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar were also linked with having shown intrest in buying franchises but the same has been ruled out by IPL. Other notable names intrested in franchise include Reliance and Beer King Vijay Mallya.

Chris Rogers is all set to make his Test debut for Australia in the upcoming Pert Test match starting on Wednesday. Australian side confirmed yesterday that in form opening batsmen Mathew Hayden has not fully recovered from the hamstring inhury he suffered during the second innings of Sydnet test match.

Chris Roger who was also the part of ACT XI and made 60 and 17 in that match could not have asked more than the perfect setting for his debut match as it will be played in his hometown of Perth. Hayden's leg injury, which ended his 86-Test streak, meant Rogers, who is 30, had to wait only another two months for an opportunity and he will walk out with Jaques, his former Australia A partner, in the third Test.

Australia are also set to bring in fast bowler Shaun Tait in place of Brad Hogg who has failed to impress in the first two test matches and failed to pick even single wicket on the final day of the Sydney test match.

On the Indian side out of form Yuvraj Singh is likely to make way for Virender Sehwag. The soon to be Indian coach Gary Kirsten insisted on specialist positions and is likely to play key role in the selection of Pert test match where Sehwag will open with Jaffer and Dravid will take his number 3 position back. Another big question ahead of this match for the Indians is wheather to play Harbhajan Singh or Irfan Pathan. So far the Indian team management has went for Harbhajan but with Perth wicket more likely to assist pace bowlers it is highly unlikely that they will go for Harbhajan in this test match.

Sania Mirza sailed past Uzbekistan's Iroda Tulyaganova in straight sets to advance to the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Tuesday.
The 31st-seeded Indian beat Tulyaganova 6-4, 6-2 and will now take on the winner of the match between Australian Sophie Ferguson and Swiss Timea Bacsinszky.
The 21-year-old, who has been battling injuries and off-court controversies, was rusty to start with as she wasted a couple of break points and committed 11 unforced errors in the opener.
But Tulyaganova's patchy form worked to Sania's advantage and the Indian wrested the first set after a 40-minute see-saw battle.
Sania then showed some fine form in the second set, cutting down on her unforced errors besides breaking Tulyaganova twice.
Sania also did well to hold her serve and did not give away a single break point, outplaying Tulyaganova in just 29 minutes to advance to the second round of the season's first Grand Slam.
If she gets past the second-round hurdle, Sania, who is placed in the third quarter of the draw, will have to brace up for a possible showdown with eighth seed American Venus Williams.

Sending out a message of goodwill, India on Monday dropped the charge of abusive language by Australian spinner Brad Hogg, saying it is time to move on with cricket.
The Indian team management decided to withdraw all charges against Hogg at the hearing with Match Referee Mike Procter, a development that could have a bearing on the racial abuse case involving Indian off- spinner.
Skipper Anil Kumble, who had a reconciliation meeting with rival captain Ricky Ponting during the day, told reporters that the Indians decided to drop the charge.
"It was just something that happened in the heat of the moment. Cricket is larger than individual and its time to move on," Kumble said.
Match Referee Procter described India's move as a "magnificent gesture" while Hogg was also prompt to thank the Indians for letting him off the hook and said that Indias stand was "highly appreciated" by the Australian team.
It is learnt that the decision to drop the charges against Hogg was taken at the behest of Kumble in consultation with BCCI officials.
Hogg was charged under Level 3 of the International Cricket Council's Code of Conduct following allegations that he verbally abused Anil Kumble and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Hogg is accused of making the remarks during the final day of the controversial second Test in Sydney.

The Indian team which has a hectic schedule for the Monday arrived at Perth with a bit of bad news. Former Indian captain and one of the batsmen in form Saurav Ganguly is suffering from fever and rushed straight to a doctor soon after checking into the hotel. He will be under going a blood test soon and has maintained that he will be playing the Perth test match starting on Wednesday.

Ganguly had earlier broken down on field in the second innings of Melbourne test match after suffering from heat exaution. He had fever going into second test match at Sydney but showed no signs of it on field during the test match.

After arriving at Perth most of the team members have been relaxing and some of the memebers went out for dinner. Indias coach in waiting Garry Kirsten is also in Perth and is expected to hold meetig with the players on Monday.

India will not pull out of its tour of Australia, even if an appeal against spinner Harbhajan Singh's ban for alleged racist comments is rejected, media reports quoted India's cricket chief as saying Saturday.
The future of the tour had been in doubt after Singh was suspended for three tests for racially abusing Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds during the second test — he allegedly called Symonds a monkey.
"There's no question of a pullout," Sharad Pawar, who heads the Board of Control for Cricket in India, told the Hindustan Times newspaper.
The BCCI allowed the team to continue with the tour following the granting of an appeal of Harbhajan's suspension, and the removal of umpire Steve Bucknor for the upcoming third test in Perth.
But speculation remained that India might halt the tour if Singh's hearing upholds the ban.
"The series will not be affected," Pawar told the paper. "We are focussed on fighting Harbhajan's case, but it all should be within the game."
Singh is free to play in Perth pending an appeal. A date for the appeal hearing has not been announced by the ICC.

Explosive opener Virender Sehwag made a strong case for a Test recall with a typically swashbuckling century on the final day of India's three-day tour match against an Australian Capital Territory XI in Canberra on Saturday.
And the man Sehwag is likely to replace in the third Test at the WACA Ground, Yuvraj Singh, again failed to reach double figures as his form woes mounted.
The match ended in a draw, India declaring its second innings at tea at 281 for four, an overall lead of 314, with the ACT 60 for 3 in reply when both teams agreed to an early stumps.
After making a scratchy 24 in the first innings, Sehwag capitalised on a flat pitch and modest attack to reach his hundred in well under a session, facing just 73 balls in the process.
Sehwag, who was considered close to a recall for the controversial second Test in Sydney but hasn't played at the top level for over a year, made his intentions clear when he opened the day by belting three boundaries from the first over.
He continued in that vein before being caught behind just minutes before lunch for 113, ending a frenetic 158-run opening partnership with Dinesh Karthik, who narrowly missed a century.
Sehwag hit 18 fours and two sixes and faced only 78 balls to finally give the Indians something to smile about at the end of a testing week on and off the field.
"It was good I spent quite some time in the middle," Sehwag said. "I just focused on being positive and wanted to perform well. I feel I am in good touch and timing the ball very well.
"I have got my rhythm back. I have got everything back," he added. "I think the Perth wicket is good for me and good for batsmen because the ball comes on (with) pace and bounce so you can play your shots."
The 29-year-old brought up his century by flicking a ball to the fine leg boundary, and then celebrated by smashing a four and six from the final two deliveries of the over.
Sehwag has played 52 Tests, with 12 centuries and an average of 49.46.
The entertaining knock dramatically increased the pressure on Yuvraj, who later in the day failed again.
He made just three after scoring only two in the first innings, and his spot in the side for the third Test, starting Wednesday, must be in grave doubt.
Yuvraj has not only struggled with the bat, making just 17 runs at 4.25 in the first two Tests and offering some soft dismissals, he has been disappointing in the field and his attitude has been criticised.
Opener Wasim Jaffer, also under pressure, fell cheaply for 21, but made 92 in the first innings.
Karthik, dropped on 19, also put a case for Test selection by making a polished 97 from 152 balls, including 12 boundaries.
The ACT declared its first innings at the overnight score of 292 for eight, young paceman Ishant Sharma the pick of the Indian bowlers on the second day with 26 for three.
In the ACT's second innings, West Australian Test hopeful Chris Rogers missed another chance to impress when he made just 17, caught behind from the bowling of Irfan Pathan.