Government mull Bharat Ratna for Sachin Tendulkar

Follow @Harendrasingh

After 21 years of cricket, 99 international centuries and now The World Cup, the country's highest civilian honour might be the next feather in Sachin Tendulkar's Cap.
 
The Home Ministry is seriously considering the rising chorus for the batting maestro to be bestowed with the Bharat Ratna, sources said.
 
The demand to honour the batting maestro with the Bharat Ratna had gained momentum after he scored a double ton in the ODI series against South Africa last year. 
 
Headlines Today was the first channel to initiate a campaign for a Bharat Ratna for Sachin.
 
Now Tendulkar's name for the honour has been recommended by a number of politicians as well.
 
In fact, the Maharashtra assembly has passed a resolution requesting the central government to confer the Bharat Ratna on Tendulkar. The BJP too has demanded highest honour for the players.
 
If Sachin is conferred with the honour, it would be another first. No other sportsperson has ever been given the Bharat Ratna.
 
Meanwhile, former Indian Skipper Rahul Dravid has said that Sachin is already a Bharat Ratna for the country. 
 
Indian captain M.S. Dhoni too has backed the batting genius for the nation's highest civilian honour.

"Sachin deserves the Bharat Ratna. He has done great things for the country," Dhoni said.

World Cup presented to Team India original, Says ICC World Cup 2011

Follow @Harendrasingh

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday denied handing out a replica of the World Cup to Team India.

The cricket governing body was reacting to reports that it gave away a fake world cup to the winners instead of the original one.

"The trophy presented to India was the original ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 trophy. The trophy was always intended to be presented to the winner of the event. There is no question that this was a replica," the ICC said in a statement.

"The trophy seized by Mumbai customs is the promotional, perpetual trophy which remains with ICC. That trophy will be reclaimed today and will travel back to Dubai as was always intended," the statement added.

The real trophy, valued at about $130,000 in monetary terms but priceless for the cricketers and their fans across the country, was not even brought to Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium during the finals as it was seized by the customs department on its arrival from Colombo after the Sri Lanka-New Zealand semi-final match on March 29. The trophy, according to customs rules, was not eligible for exemption from import duty.

Eng vs WI Live: Trott, Bell at crease vs West Indies

Follow @Harendrasingh

England are 94/2 in 15 overs with Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell at the crease against West Indies in their World Cup Group B match at the MA Chiadmbaram Stadium in Chepauk, Chennai on Thursday. Live Score

On the first ball of the ninth over West Indies pacer Andre Russell struck a lethal blow to send opener Matt Prior home. The good lenght ball that curved in slightly crashed into his stumps to dismiss him on 21. England lost their first wicket on 48/1.

There was more in store as Russell struck again to despatch skipper Andrew Strauss in the 12th over. The short ball lured him for a pull but the top edge sent him as Chris Gayle took a fine catch at mid-wicket. He fell for 39 and England fell to 79/2. 

England won the toss and elected to bat. England have five points from five matches with wins over South Africa and the Netherlands and a high- scoring tie against India, but will be eliminated in the first round if it loses to the West Indies.

West Indies have brought back Chris Gayle, who out of action in the last match due to an injury. He replaces Shivnarine Chanderpaul. The other replacement in their team is leg spinner Devendra Bishoo in place of left-arm spinner Nikita Miller.

England have made three changes in their team. Chirs Tremlett has been called in place of Ajmal Shahzad, off-spinner James Tredwell replaces paceman James Anderson and Luke Wright has been called in place of Paul Collingwood.

Teams:  

West Indies (Playing XI): Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Darren Bravo, R Sarwan, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy(c), Devon Thomas(w), Sulieman Benn, Kemar Roach, Devendra Bishoo, Andre Russell 

England (Playing XI): Matt Prior(w), Andrew Strauss(c), Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Luke Wright, Eoin Morgan, Graeme Swann, Tim Bresnan, Chris Tremlett, James Tredwell  

Ind vs SA Live: Sachin, Sehwag off to cautious start

Follow @Harendrasingh

India are 23/0 in 3 overs with openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar at crease against South Africa during their World Cup Group B match at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground in Nagpur. Live Score

Earlier, India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat. 

India are already in the quarterfinals, but a win here will boost their confidence ahead of the KO stage. India have included Munaf Patel in place of Piyush Chawla and South Africa have called in Johan Botha in place of Imran Tahir.

These changes have been done keeping in mind that the VCA pitch does assist the seamers.

Teams:
  
India (From): Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni(w/c), Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel,

South Africa (From): Graeme Smith(c), Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers(w), Faf du Plessis, Jean-Paul Duminy, Johan Botha, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Morne van Wyk 

Match moments in India vs Ireland World Cup match- ICC World Cup 2011

Follow @Harendrasingh

An impressive display of batting and bowling by Yuvraj Singh helped India beat Ireland by 5 wickets. 

He finished with figures of 5-31 and then scored an unbeaten 50 to help India beat Ireland by five wickets in their World Cup Group B match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Sunday.

Ireland suffered an early jolt when they lost Stirling and Joyce at the score of just 9 runs. But a brilliant batting display by their captain William Porterfield, who scored 75 runs off 104 balls helped Ireland put 207 runs on board 

But, Yuvraj Singh had other plans. First he dismissed Kevin O'Brien cheaply and then accounted for Porterfield's wicket to push the 'giant-killers' to the wall.

Not just with the bowl he came good with bat too scoring an impressive 50 runs off 75 balls. 
He won the Man-of-match for his impressive on field display.

India vs Ireland, 22nd Match, Group B ICC World Cup 2011: March 6, 2011

Follow @Harendrasingh

Unchanged India opt to bowl

On a dry pitch, MS Dhoni chose to bowl against Ireland at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. "It will help the spinners more in the afternoon than in the evening," Dhoni said.

India played to their batting strength, and went in with an unchanged side. Ireland made one change, bringing in Andrew White for Gary Wilson.

India: 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 MS Dhoni (wk/capt), 7 Yusuf Pathan, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Piyush Chawla, 11 Munaf Patel

Ireland: 1 William Porterfield (capt), 2 Paul Stirling, 3 Ed Joyce, 4 Niall O'Brien (wk), 5 Kevin O'Brien, 6 Alex Cusack, 7 Andrew White, 8 John Mooney, 9 Trent Johnston, 10 George Dockrell, 11 Boyd Rankin