Sports

Pune, December 21: India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said he was worried when England were cruising at one stage and lauded his bowlers, especially Yuvraj Singh for turning the tide for them in the first Twenty20 match. England were off to a flying start, reaching 76 in just eight overs. "The pressure was on the bowlers and it was important from the eighth over onwards that we were on top. Yuvraj

New Delhi, December 20: Former skipper Kapil Dev came to the defence of underfire Indian captain MS Dhoni, saying that there was no one in the current Test team who could replace him at the helm, mostly because most of the claimants are out of form. Kapil also dismissed the talk of pitch-forking Virat Kohli into the job. "Virat is undoubtedly a very good cricketer and doing exceedingly well for

Pune, December 20: As the Indian team went through its rigours on the eve of the first T20 against England, one couldn't stop thinking if India are gradually going the English way. Parvinder Awana and Ambati Rayudu, if they get to play on Thursday, at 26 and 27 respectively, won't be the youngest of debutants for India. Ashok Dinda, 28, has played only five T20s so far. And we thought the

Pune, December 20: India have a chance to go top of the ICC T20 International rankings if they win all four matches against England and Pakistan scheduled later in the month. India play England in a two-match series starting here Thursday and then square off against traditional rivals Pakistan -- also in a two-match series starting Dec 25 in Bangalore. India are currently ranked third on the table

Lucknow, December 20: It came as no surprise that Saina Nehwal chose to make only a token appearance at the Syed Modi International Grand Prix at the BBD Academy on Wednesday. After 29 minutes of uninspired play, she clutched her right knee and conceded her opening match against Ksenia Polikarpova of Russia on matchpoint, leading 21-17, 20-18, much to the surprise and disappointment of all present

Islamabad, December 19: Dropped all-rounder Shahid Afridi might be reconsidered for Pakistan's one-day international series against India, limited-overs captain Misbah-ul-Haq said on Wednesday. Afridi was picked only for the two Twenty20s against India this month, but left out of the three one-dayers because he's scored only 182 runs in his last 16 ODIs with only one half century. But Afridi has

New Delhi, December 19: MS Dhoni may or may not retain his captaincy, but his popularity seems to be on the wane at least in the corporate world, with five companies ending endorsement deals with the Indian cricket captain. Only 22 advertisers used Dhoni in commercials during January-November, down from 27 a year earlier, shows data put together by research and media-tracking agency TAM for ET

Pune, December 19: India need to put behind the humiliation of losing the Test rubber against England and regroup quickly to take on the confident visitors in the first of the two T20 Internationals here tomorrow. Under-fire for the first Test series loss to England in 28 years and and with his captaincy under the scanner, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni will have to put these issues on the back

Dubai, December 19: Sachin Tendulkar today slipped out of the list of top-20 Test batsmen after his awful run in the just-concluded four-match series against England while Australia skipper Michael Clarke regained the numero uno position. Tendulkar, who dropped three places to 22nd, managed to aggregate a mere 112 runs with a lone half-century in the Kolkata Test. The other notable Indian batsmen

Nagpur, December 19: At present, no one would like to be Sachin Tendulkar. Runs once came in torrents, now the flow has been reduced to a trickle. He hasn’t scored a Test hundred since that magnificent 146 at Cape Town against South Africa on January 4, 2011. And at 39, pressure is on him to bring curtains on a career that is now in its 23rd year. It’s a difficult situation. For well over two