JAKARTA: Defending champion Saina Nehwal inched closer to a third successive Indonesian Open Super Series title after advancing to the finals with a hard-fought victory over Chinese Taipei’s Shao Chieh Cheng on Saturday.

The fourth-seeded Indian won 21-14, 14-21, 21-17 in a 45-minute battle against giant-killer Cheng, who had created quite a flutter by upstaging top seed Shixian Wang and seventh seed Xin Liu earlier in the tournament.

Saina had to dig deep in her armoury and rely on her power-packed smashes to outpace Cheng, who is known for her fast movement on court.

PORT OF SPAIN: Rohit Sharma scored an unbeaten 68 as India overcame a shaky start to notch up an easy four-wicket win over the West Indies in the first one-day international of the five-match series at the Queen’s Park Oval on Monday.

Chasing a modest 215-run target, Rohit anchored the Indian innings and together with captain Suresh Raina (43) raised 80 runs for the fifth wicket to guide India home in 44.5 overs after the visitors lost their first three wickets for just 61 runs.

PORT OF SPAIN: Batting legend Viv Richards has not seen Sir Donald Bradman but of all those he has seen, including compatriot Brian Lara, none has been better than iconic Indian Sachin Tendulkar.

“I didn’t see Don but to me, in all my years associated with the game, I haven’t seen a better batsman than Sachin Tendulkar,” said Richards in a eulogy to the “little man”, who openly professes to have idolised him while growing up.

“If there is a better batsman than Sachin then he hasn’t arrived yet.”

CHENNAI: Chennai partied like never before on Saturday night, with celebrations around Chepauk and the Marina beach going on well past midnight, and now it seems there might be more revelry in store. Not only did cricket buffs here get to see Indian Premier League (IPL) team Chennai Super Kings retain their crown, the city may get to see the IPL 5 final too following decisions made by the IPL governing council.

NEW DELHI: Australian spin legend Shane Warne on Thursday lavished praise on his long-time tormentor Sachin Tendulkar, declaring the iconic Indian batsman as the greatest cricketer he has ever played against.

Rajasthan Royals skipper Warne, who will play his last Indian Premier League match against the Mumbai Indians on Friday, said it was only appropriate to end his IPL stint as a player against Tendulkar.

“Sachin is the greatest player I have played against. It’s appropriate that my last game is versus Sachin,” Warne said.

Mumbai: Cricketers do have a weakness for Bollywood women. At a recent bash thrown by Shah Rukh Khan on Monday, Australian speedster Brett Lee tried all possible things to woo Deepika Padukone, leaving the desi kudi blushing.

Dips, who was in a jumpsuit, set the temperature soaring severely. And Lee could do the least to stop himself from getting turned on!

Narrating what Lee did to flirt with the dimpled hottie, an eyewitness revealed, “Dippy was in a summery jumpsuit and made a lot of heads turn.”

BHOPAL: Model Poonam Pandey, who has vowed to strip naked if India wins the World Cup cricket title, has been dragged to court here, with a lawyer accusing her of depicting Brahmins in poor light.

RK Pandey also named Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who included a scantily-clad Poonam in his company Kingfisher calendar, in his petition filed in the court of Bhopal’s chief judicial magistrate.

Mallya has been accused of prompting Poonam to go for nudity.

“Even if Poonam does not run naked, she should be punished as she not only gave a wrong impression of the (Brahmin) community but insulted Indian culture,” the lawyer told reporters. The case will be heard April 5.(IANS)

Twenty-eight long years after that magical Indian summer in England, the Men in Blue are one victory away from proving that India is truly cricket’s superpower, not just commercially but also on the field.

Mumbai: If all goes well, Pakistan`s hottest export to India Veena Malik will be seen at Mohali Wednesday with soulmate Ashmit Patel by her side cheering for her country at the cricket World Cup semifinal featuring the two countries.Veena who loves cricket and cricketers is at the moment divided in her love for actor Ashmit and the game.

She is in India to be part of two cricket shows on Indian television.

“Some people compare me to Mandira Bedi. But I am happy being who I am. I love cricket, though commenting on it is not something I thought I would do. But life is such. You never knew where it takes you,” Veena said.

Mumbai: How far can you go to celebrate India’s win at the World Cup this year? Well, nothing can match the scintillating claim of hot Indian model Poonam Pandey who says that she’ll bare all in front of the whole stadium if India lifts the World Cup!
 
Poonam, a self-confessed cricket fan and die hard supporter of Indian cricket team has decided to go nude if India becomes the world champion this year. The beauty who is one of the most downloaded model on the net said that she is just doing this to cheer the team and to keep up their spirits.

SYDNEY: Ricky Ponting, the most successful captain in 134 years of Test cricket, resigned as the Australian Test and one-day skipper on Tuesday but will continue as a batsman with the team.

The 36-year-old, who has led Australia in one-day internationals since 2002 and Tests since 2004, has been under increasing pressure after an Ashes defeat to England and a quarterfinal exit as defending champions at the World Cup.

“Today I’ve decided to stand down as captain of the Test team and the one-day team as of now,” he told a news conference at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).

SYDNEY: Under-fire Australia captain Ricky Ponting was given just three days to decide his future on Monday as selectors said the next one-day squad would be announced on Wednesday.

Ponting, who let slip Australia’s 12-year grasp on the World Cup last week – just three months after their heavy Ashes defeat – has already hinted that he may step down.

Cricket Australia said a squad for next month’s three-match one-day tour of Bangladesh was expected to be announced on Wednesday, effectively setting a deadline for the veteran skipper.

AHMEDABAD: Yuvraj Singh was India’s hero yet again as the hosts ended Australia’s 12-year-reign as World Cup champions with a five wicket quarterfinal victory on Thursday.

he left-hander’s unbeaten 57 — his fourth fifty of a tournament where he is averaging over a hundred — saw his team home after they’d been wobbling at 187 for five.

But India reached their target of 261 with 14 balls to spare.

Victory set up a dream semifinal against arch-rivals Pakistan in Mohali on March 30.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting scored his first international century in over a year in a total of 260 for six.

CHENNAI: All is not well in the Indian camp.

Right from the time the World Cup squad was selected, the selectors and skipper MS Dhoni were not sharing the same thought process. With the group stage almost done and dusted, the rift has only increased.

PALLEKELE: It took Tillakaratne Dilshan just 24 hours to hit the headlines again, this time for the right reasons. Almost all of Wednesday, rumour did rounds that explosive Sri Lankan opener has failed a dope test. The ‘Dilshan scoop’ died only after the Sri Lankan team management vehemently denied it.

On Thursday, the 34-year-old first cracked 144 (131b, 16×4, 1×6), adding a record 282 for the opening wicket with fellow opener Upul Tharanga, who was equally good en route to his career-best 133 (141b, 17×4), and then took an amazing four for four with his part-time off-spin to dazzle in his team’s crushing 139-run win over a hapless Zimbabwe in their World Cup Group A game. He would have bagged a hat-trick too, but missed out by a whisker as Mahela Jayawardene, after snapping up a blinder, grassed a much simpler chance.

DHAKA: West Indies produced a thumping performance to beat Bangaldesh by 9 wickets in their World Cup Group B match at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Friday.

Earlier, Left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn claimed four wickets while Kemar Roach and Darren Sammy bagged three wickets each as West Indies destroyed World Cup co-hosts Bangladesh for 58 runs.

Bangladesh looked out of sorts from the very first over when paceman Roach had Tamim Iqbal caught by Sammy at second slip for a duck in the third ball of the innings.

Kevin O’Brien struck the fastest-ever World Cup hundred as Ireland pulled off a sensational three-wicket win over England on Wednesday.

Ireland won with five balls to spare as they finished on 329 for seven after England, who had made 327 for eight, had been cruising when they reduced non-Test playing Ireland to 111 for five.

But a brilliant burst of power-hitting got O’Brien to three figures in just 50 balls at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

That meant he’d obliterated former Australia opener Matthew Hayden’s previous fastest World Cup century record off 66 balls against South Africa at St Kitts in 2007.

BANGALORE: This was a game both India and England deserved to lose but in the end it was a tie. If the Indians seemed listless while defending a more than healthy 338, the English after being in a position to spoil the Indian party on a pitch on which the expected demons did not surface, suddenly seemed to have invoked the devil himself. In the end what transpired was the fourth ever tie in the history of the World Cup.

CHENNAI: The only people that S Sreesanth should “irritate” on the cricket field are the opposition players, said Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni as he once again advised the temperamental pacer to remain within “boundaries”.

“I am very specific to him and told him that he should not cross a few boundaries. It is better that you do not cross those boundaries. If you want to irritate someone that should be the opposition and not your side,” Dhoni said of the Kerala bowler, who has a reputation of losing his cool and coming up with animated gestures in the heat of the moment.

The couple registered their marriage today in Mumbai, ahead of the grand celebration in Goa on the 19th.

Lara Dutta is Mrs Mahesh Bhupathi! The actress registered marriage with the tennis star in Mumbai today. News is, a marriage registrar was called to Mahesh’s Bandra house to solemnize the wedding.

Mahesh blogged, “Meet Mr and Mrs Bhupati folks!”

The civil Ceremony happened around an hour back in Mumbai.”

Media wasn’t allowed to capture the pictures today as the ceremony was private. It was attended only by Mahesh and Lara’s family at the groom’s Bandra residence.