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Comeback man Yuvraj Singh provided three crucial breakthroughs but India were far from convincing as they launched their ICC World Twenty20 campaign with a scrappy 23-run victory over minnows Afghanistan in here today. Put into bat, it was man of the match Virat Kohli's half-century and an useful contribution of 38 from Suresh Raina which helped India reach a decent target of 159 for five in 20

New Delhi: The All India Tennis Association (AITA) Tuesday hit back strongly against the charges levelled at it by tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi saying the player was free to take a legal recourse against the association. Hiranmoy Chatterjee, senior executive committee member of the AITA, said that the association was justified in sidelining Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna from playing in the national

Colombo, September 19: Even taking into account the fact that Twenty20 is a great leveller in the game of cricket, minnows Afghanistan will not be expected to trouble India much as the two Asian neighbours lock horns in a Group ‘A’ opener of the World T20 here at the R Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday. In their few brushes with major teams since their arrival on the international stage, Afghanistan

New Delhi, September 18: Lashing out at the All India Tennis Association, Mahesh Bhupathi blamed the tennis body for playing 'dirty politics' adding that he being termed as a traitor is unacceptable to him. In a press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday, Bhupathi blamed AITA president Anil Khanna for taking full advantage of the rift between him and Leander Paes. Earlier, Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna

Colombo, September 18: India captain Mahendra Singh was happy with the way his boys warmed-up for the World Twenty20 despite losing the practice game to arch-rivals Pakistan by five wickets at the Premedasa Stadium on Monday. "It was a good test for the main tournament and it was a good game. We could test which combination would be the best for the tournament," Dhoni said. "We bowled well in the

Twenty20 is often lost between its two banal perceptions. It is either an after-thought attached to a bilateral series featuring Tests and ODIs or it is the ‘commercial trickster’ that lures cricketers away from their national obligations, a rant often heard during the Indian Premier League. However, once in two years the willow game’s shortest format side-steps these arguments and towers above

New Delhi, September 18: Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta and International Master Tania Sachdev are at cloud nine after winning the silver and bronze medal respectively at the Chess Olympiad recently but they rued the lack of government recognition for their performance at the prestigious event. Abhijeet won the silver after pocketing seven points out of nine games while Tania turned out to be the best

Colombo, September 17: Kamran Akmal smashed a blistering unbeaten 92 as Pakistan dented arch-rival India's confidence ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 with a thrilling five-wicket win in their last warm-up game on Monday. India posted a competitive 185 for three riding on Virat Kohli's unbeaten 75, but their listless death bowling allowed Pakistan to overhaul the target with five balls to spare at

The unpredictable nature of Twenty20 cricket is what makes makes Group A of the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 an interesting proportion. It consists of India, England and Afghanistan and on the face of it the first two teams look set to qualify for the next round, but any laxity on their part and Afghanistan might queer their pitch. Over the last one year, Afghanistan have emerged as a team with a fine

It's only a warm-up tie, but there always is plenty of spice whenever India and Pakistan clash, and Monday's game will be no different. Even though the teams will be allowed to juggle between 12 players, like always the contest will generate a lot of interest in both countries. Despite the advertising blitz of the ICC, the lead-up to the tournament so far has been low key. In fact, the lack of