Sehwag v Shoaib
Action v reaction doesn’t get fierier. It’s the longest run-up against the most exhilarating bat-swing, the fastest ball against the speediest bat. Sehwag doesn’t do defence, Shoaib doesn’t do half-measures. Earlier collisions have produced fireworks. There’s also been plenty of lip. Sehwag has a strike-rate of 103.66 against Pakistan, Shoaib reserves his fastest for India. Both are on a comeback. Both like to make an instant impact. There are few more exhilarating ways to start a one-dayer. Blink and you’ll surely miss it.Younis v Sreesanth
This may turn into a battle for the stump mics. Sreesanth will talk, mostly with a scowl, and Younis will chat back, mostly with a smile. Expect mid-pitch skirmishes and plenty of banter. Younis likes to cheer his partner after every quick single and Sreesanth is rarely short of a word while walking back to the start of his run-up. Both are capable of swinging matches – Sreesanth will rely on moving the ball at a good pace, Younis on finding the gaps in the middle overs. Both love to improvise – Sreesanth with his slower ones and Younis with his cheeky paddles and glides. Don’t miss this street-fight. It’s as spicy as it gets.Uthappa v Afridi
Seasoned cheek meets youthful brashness in a high-energy battle. Whether it’s with his electric hitting or waspish legspin, Shahid Afridi likes to impose himself. A charged Afridi is usually a sign of a successful Pakistan set-up. He provides momentum quicker than the rest and turns games in a matter of minutes. In Robin Uthappa he could meet his match. Not one to shy away, Uthappa’s gung-ho approach has worked so far. Whether it’s his nonchalant walk down the crease or cool shuffle across it, he’s shown his value as a finisher. Incidentally, neither is likely to back away from a chat.

Pathan v Tanvir
Left-arm seamers rarely come with so much of a contrast. Irfan Pathan has transformed from a genuine swing bowler to a containing middle-over specialist. Sohail Tanvir, with his unusual wrong-footed action, is a new-ball threat. Pathan’s stump-to-stump line is ideal for the middle and late overs while Tanvir’s discomforting bounce off a good length can be used to exploit any early fizz on the pitch. Both are handy batsmen lower down the order – Pathan more conventional with a wide array of strokes, Tanvir more unorthodox, relying on a crisp flick off the hips.Malik v Dhoni
India v Pakistan provides a captaincy challenge like few others. Both Shoaib Malik and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are relatively new to the job, both are trying to build sides for the future, and both saw their sides reach the final of the World Twenty20 before subsequently stumbling in home series. Both are versatile batsmen capable of floating up and down the order and equipped to attack as well as defend. Both have faced the heat of an India-Pakistan series before but how they tackle the burdens of captaincy could decide the fate of the series.

Irfan Pathan in 2003, L Balaji in early 2004, Sreesanth in 2005, Munaf Patel in 2006, and RP Singh in 2007. Over the last five years Indian fast bowlers have emerged, won Tests, sustained injuries, got dropped, made comebacks, and got injured again. Somewhere along the line, Zaheer Khan was reaffirmed as the spearhead of the attack while Ashish Nehra has been forgotten. India’s fast-bowling machinery resembles a political sham: promising much before fizzling out.A series is beginning tomorrow and India have one dependable quick (Zaheer), another erratic one who is coming back from injury (Munaf), and a tyro who has also only recently recovered (Ishant Sharma). Sreesanth, a proven match-winner, is injured, along with RP Singh, who was a revelation on the England tour. Pathan has been sent back to the grind of domestic cricket, and VRV Singh, a young fast bowler, also has injury problems. Ranadeb Bose, the highest wicket-taker in the 2006-07 Ranji Trophy, has shown signs of being a limited medium-pacer while Ishant will need to add control and movement if he expects to cut it at the highest level.With seven challenging Tests ahead – the final four in Australia will require them to play three fast bowlers – India have to address several serious questions. When their first-choice fast bowlers are fit, both physically and mentally, India have a handy and even threatening pace attack. But bowling fast is an injury-prone business and the Indian bowlers have proven to be more brittle than most. And when a couple of them get injured, the thinness of India’s bench-strength has been exposed.The irony is that India’s success away from home this decade has been dependent on their fast bowlers. Pathan and Balaji played significant roles in the historic victory in Pakistan in 2003-04, while Rahul Dravid felt Munaf and Sreesanth had performed better than any other pair over the previous ten years during the 2006 tour to West Indies. Sreesanth single-handedly swung the Wanderers Test in India’s favour last year, and England’s batsmen struggled to pick the prodigious swing from RP Singh and Zaheer this summer.So have India handled their bowlers judiciously? RP’s case gives us a few answers. Over the last five months he’s bowled 268 overs in 18 one-dayers, three Tests and the World Twenty20. Sreesanth, dropped for the ODIs in England, and Zaheer, who missed the World Twenty20, at least had enforced breaks. Nobody, it seems, thought of giving RP a decent rest.Munaf’s case is even more damning. He was a problem during the ODI series in England for which he was chosen even though he wasn’t fully fit. Venkatesh Prasad, India’s bowling coach, openly questioned Munaf’s inclusion and suggested he wasn’t impressed with the selection. That was the latest in a long line of injuries that have blighted Munaf and nobody, it seemed, could determine when he was fit. Now, on the back of only three first-class games, one of which was a poor performance in the Irani Trophy, he’s almost certain to share the new ball in the first Test which begins tomorrow.The most worrying aspect, with less than a month to go for the tour of Australia, is the lack of fast-bowling options. The recent Challenger Trophy showed the paucity of talent – Pankaj Singh and V Yomahesh impressed but have a long way to go before being selected- and it’s tough to imagine Praveen Kumar and Joginder Sharma surviving Test cricket.Apart from winning against Pakistan, India also need to ensure against injuries over a possible 15 days Test cricket and hope that their crocked personnel return stronger. He’s yet to turn on the ignition but Kumble must already feel like a racer driving on empty. After 17 years, though, he may be used to it.

Scorecard
Medium-pacer Junaid Nadir took four wickets as Pakistan Under-19 completed a 144-run victory over Bangladesh U-19 in the first ODI at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad.Sent in, Pakistan scored 257, thanks to half-centuries from opener Ahmed Shehzad and wicketkeeper Ali Asad, and a late cameo from captain Imad Wasim. Shehzad, who impressed during Australia Under-19’s tour of Pakistan recently, led a solid start for the hosts with a 94-run opening stand with Shan Masood.Rony Talukder then took three wickets as Pakistan stumbled to 121 for 4 before Usman Salahuddin and Asad put on 77 runs to repair the damage. Wasim’s 22-ball 34 ensured Pakistan reached a competitive total.Tamim Iqbal, a regular in the senior team, got the Bangladesh chase a rolling with a 24-ball 23 before falling to Mohammad Rameez. His opening partner Talukder, who scored a hundred and a fifty in the the Test preceding the ODI series, couldn’t continue in the same vein and became Nadir’s first victim for 17.Pakistan gained the upper hand when Bangladesh lost four quick wickets to collapse to 83 for 6. With none of their batsmen going past the 25-run mark, the visitors could not mount a serious challenge and were shot out for 113.The two teams will face each other once again in Hyderabad on Wednesday for the second of the five-match series.

Nicky Boje, the former South Africa left-arm spinner who is in India playing for the Hyderabad Heroes in the Indian Cricket League, has been served a notice by the Delhi police to make himself available for questioning with regard to the 2000 match-fixing scandal.”A notice has been issued to Boje but no date has been fixed on which he should appear,” Madhu Tiwary, the deputy commissioner of police with the Crime Branch, told . Rajan Bhagat, a police spokesperson, said Boje had been served the notice under Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which requires the attendance of a person if they are found to be “acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case.”Boje, along with his former-captain, the late Hansie Cronje, and Herschelle Gibbs were charged with match-fixing by the Delhi police after South Africa’s tour to India. The King Commission held Cronje guilty and heavily fined Gibbs, but Boje was not implicated. Boje had avoided visiting India since then in the absence of assurances from the police that he would not be questioned.After a seven-year boycott of South African tours to India, Boje changed his mind to join the ICL. “Nicky made it clear that the case was shut two and a half years back,” Ashish Kaul, the executive vice-president of the Essel Group, told Cricinfo. “We have had no problems so far. He was in Delhi for a few days also. He has not expressed any fears.”Gibbs, his former team-mate, had been questioned for more than two hours by the Delhi police when he was in India for the 2006 Champions Trophy.Boje is presently in Panchkula, Haryana, where he playing in the ICL’s inaugural Twenty20 tournament.

Former Zimbabwe fast bowler Henry Olonga has added his voice to those calling for the British government to ban Zimbabwe from touring in 2009.Speculation has been growing in the last week that the British government would tell Zimbabwe that their side would not be given visa to tour in May and June next year when they are scheduled to play one-day internationals and possibly two Tests. In the past, the government has stopped short of taking any direct action, preferring to leave the decision to the ECB, but since Gordon Brown became prime minister, the official line has hardened.Olonga was reacting to comments made by Peter Chingoka, the Zimbabwe Cricket chairman, to the effect that it was for the ICC to step in to force countries to meet their obligations under the Future Tours Programme.”Banning tours brought South Africa’s dreadful apartheid regime into the public consciousness around the world,” he told the Mail on Sunday. “It was the right thing to do then, and it is as valid now in Zimbabwe. I would rather inconvenience a small group of Zimbabwe cricketers for the greater good of millions who could ultimately benefit.”Olonga’s comments were backed by Kate Hoey, the former sports minister and the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Zimbabwe. “Cricket is the way that Mugabe has shown that Zimbabwe is a normal country, and his relationship with the ZC chairman, who the British government quite rightly refused to give a visa to come to this country to, is close.”The money that has gone into cricket has not gone to grassroots in Zimbabwe, it’s gone into the pockets of those running the game and indirectly into the pockets of Zanu PF [Mugabe’s party].”It would send out a message, and the opposition would love to see a ban of the kind which worked in South Africa,” she told the BBC. “We should not allow them to come here and swan around the boardrooms of our clubs.”

Traditions enrich the game of cricket. And these traditions have more often than not extended beyond the ropes. One such case exists at the famed WACA in Perth, and this one has to do with the members. Not those snooty ones that occupy the best seats to get the best views. These members are the ordinary Tims, Toms, Janes and Jennys who go that extra yard to live their passion for the game of cricket.It’s eight in the morning at the WACA and play is still three and a half hours away, but the gates at the Truman Entrance outside the Members Pavilion are already buzzing with life. Men, women, families of all ages have been camping outside the gates for hours, some even from as early as 3am. These are not the fairweather fans looking for last-minute tickets. These are members of the WACA who pay a A$220 season fee but burn the midnight oil for five days just so that they can occupy seat in the members’ stand at the Lillee-Marsh end.There was a crowd of around 500 queued up outside the gates with some of them still getting out of their sleeping bags while a few were lying on the mats weary from the long night vigil. Die-hards recall about 2000-plus people bunking it out outside during last year’s visit by England, so that they could reach their vantage point in the stands.”People want the very seat they sat on the last time around,” says Rohan, an Indian based in California but who times his vacation to coincide with the Test match at the WACA. Rohan’s wife is from Perth and he has been using her membership and this is the second year in a row he has come to the ground. His cricket mania isn’t new: Rohan was one of the many volunteers who would score, do ball-by-ball commentary and report for back in the days when the website was just taking seed.David, who goes by the name of Blob on the IRC’s chatroom, has been a WACA member now for 12 years. As a four-year-old he saw Dennis Lillee at the WACA in 1970. As a kid his love for the Western Australian team would see him doing his homework watching cricket at his home ground. As a grown-up he does live scoring on his yellow notepad every Test. Blob feels these die-hard members are “tragics”, and goes on to explain why. “I use that term,” he says, “because of the length we guys go for the love of cricket. It’s like a story of the tragic.”Paul Urquhart, a project manager in Sydney, left his job to see the first ball of the on-going contest between Australia and India this time around. “This is the second year in a row I’ve had to leave my job so that I could make it here,” says Urquhart, who looks touching 40s and has the spirit of a larrikin. Urquhart left his job during the Ashes last year as his employers wanted to tie him down with work commitments but he wanted to break free and arrived in time to join the huge throngs outside the Members Stand.

So why do these guys want to sit in the same seat? What’s so special? “Each one of us has worked out for ourselves which one point it is from where we can get what we want,” Rohan says. And most of the time, yes, you guessed it, it’s behind the bowler’s arm. Blob likes to sit just about a metre to the left of the bowler’s arm. Rohan, Blob’s immediate neighbour, likes to see it from a “height”. Then there are the older members who have been coming in groups for decades and know no-one will occupy their seats. The Lyalls, John and Cynthia, both 84 years of age, have been “residents” of their seats in the centre of the Lillee-Marsh Stand now for 38 years. “Except for the Test against South Africa few years back we haven’t missed any,” says John, who worked at the WACA for ten years as a crowd facilitator when the members used to sit at the old Prindiville Stand. “We have our own group,” says Cynthia, pointing at their entire row to her right and left before adding “and we all are traditionalists”.Yes, it’s easy to see these members are purists at heart. Even if there are shouts and murmurs round the ground, the Members Stand practices a strict sense of decorum. “It’s about discipline,” says Cynthia. Not that it’s always quiet. There are numerous anecdotes exchanged, a number of cricketing stories told, a whole lot of discussions, debates and vox populis held that binds this tight group together.”I like to listen to stories from the times when I was not even born,” Rohan says. For Blob it’s sharing the cricket with “like-minded people”. A tradition these guys believe makes cricket that much more interesting.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

A spirited chase led by Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa fell 18 short as Australia celebrated the end of Ricky Ponting’s rocky batting patch with a tight victory. While the home side toasted a return to form ahead of Sunday’s first final, India’s plight to reach the CB Series deciders now comes down to the match against Sri Lanka on Tuesday after they reached 299, a haul relying on Gambhir’s second century of the tournament.A horrible series was forgotten by Ponting during his fine 124 while half-centuries to Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds also lifted their clouds of poor form in a brutal team display of 7 for 317. In the face of such a challenge – it was easily the highest total of the series – India were always behind and it was only the performances of Gambhir and Robin Uthappa that kept them in the game after the first four wickets went by the 11th over.Gambhir and Mahendra Singh Dhoni met at the difficulty of 4 for 51 and made sure the team could provide some outstanding fight during the 98-run liaison, but the assignment eventually proved too difficult. Gambhir varied his pace throughout his display and his 113 from 119 balls was important, although his side was left wanting more. Uthappa tried his best with Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh providing excellent help as the overs ran out.Gambhir lifted his rate after Dhoni departed, having taken his time in the first half of his innings, but he was unable to drag his side ahead. His best shot was a pull in front of square leg off Brett Lee – a slog-sweep for his only six from Brad Hogg was also impressive – and he was strong on the offside. The main shame was the lack of support provided from his top-order team-mates.Dhoni failed to ignite regularly, usually working the ball around like he was chasing a total in the 200s, but while he was there the Australians sensed danger. He was removed for 36 when Lee picked up his second major wicket on a mixed night that included five wickets and some no-ball problems, including three in a row in a nine-ball over. At 5 for 149 India’s were in big danger, but they didn’t stop battling and Gambhir found a willing partner in Uthappa.They needed about nine an over and the slow bowlers Michael Clarke and Hogg were targeted in the 67-run partnership in 8.4 overs. A sharp piece of work from Gilchrist, who stumped Gambhir when his back foot slid out of the crease when trying to slog Hogg, earned his fifth dismissal. Uthappa and Pathan scurried another 41 and Harbhajan arrived to slash 20 off 11 before he miscued and Gilchrist benefited again. Next ball Uthappa holed out to midwicket, leaving with 51 from 46, and Lee had four wickets. He came back to finish the match by bowling Ishant Sharma to collect an unlikely 5 for 58.The batting problems began when Stuart Clark captured two early victims with the edges of Virender Sehwag (18) and Yuvraj Singh (5), who both pushed unconvincingly and provided work for Gilchrist. Rohit Sharma went in a similar manner to Bracken after the chase started badly when Sachin Tendulkar stepped across his stumps and was lbw to Lee fifth ball. What they needed was the start their opponents managed.After a subdued campaign the Australia top order decided blasting out of a slump was the best option and in a game of no consequence to them they raced like a bushfire. Pegged back by the slower bowlers after reaching 92 from the first ten overs, they rebuilt through the reborn Ponting before Symonds added some late-innings impetus with 59 off 49 balls.

Along with Hayden, Ponting and Symonds have been the main under-achievers in the series, but the results of Ponting – his highest score in six previous matches was 25 – were the biggest worry for Australia. The century, his 26th in ODIs, came when he found a single to mid-off from his 111th delivery and he accelerated until he skewed to Pathan at deep mid-off.Before today Ponting and Hayden had been responsible for sleepy starts that were from the 1980s, but the modern approach returned and the early exchanges were like a Twenty20. Ishant and Sreesanth, who came in after Munaf Patel suffered food poisoning, were unable to stop the initial pummeling. Sreesanth went for 37 off four overs and Ishant was only slightly better in giving up 37 from five.Some reshuffling from Dhoni was effective – Harbhajan was employed for the 11th over – and only 32 came in the next ten overs, but Ponting was able to break away. Once Hayden departed for 54 and Clarke (31) left to a poor pull shot off Sehwag, Symonds joined the flexing. His six fours and two sixes were typically forceful and his fifty came up with a heave over the fence from Pathan.India chased the same quick opening as Australia got from Gilchrist, whose 16 came from seven balls, before he left to a miracle take from Dhoni. Sreesanth clipped Gilchrist’s inside edge, forcing Dhoni to change direction and he leaped to his right for a one-handed take. It was the highlight of India’s time in the field and from there things went downhill.The bowlers were almost helpless and gained figures to forget. Sreesanth went for 58 from eight overs – he did take two wickets – Ishant gave up 65 in ten and Pathan allowed 73 in nine. Harbhajan and the part-timers Sehwag and Yuvraj fared better, but it was Australia’s turn to fire. India will hope the same applies to their big-name batsmen when they face Sri Lanka in Hobart on Tuesday in a must-win encounter.

The Indian Cricket League (ICL) is the only tournament of its kind that can keep alive the “great India-Pakistan rivalry”. That’s the view of the ICL’s business head, Himanshu Mody, who was explaining its positioning vis-à-vis the ICC-backed Indian Premier League (IPL), which has a much higher profile and is operating on a larger scale.The launch of the Lahore Badshahs team, which will participate in the tournament that begins on Sunday, will “add a whole new dimension to the league,” Mody told Cricinfo. The side features 15 Pakistanis, including Inzamam-ul Haq, Mohammad Sami and Saqlain Mushtaq, and is coached by the former wicketkeeper, Moin Khan.The one who got away is the middle-order batsman, Mohammad Yousuf, who signed up with the ICL before moving over to the IPL. Mody said there was “no question of a compromise” on the issue. “It is the case of a signed contract that has not been honoured. There is no question of a compromise and we will fight the case to its logical conclusion,” he said.Incidentally, Yousuf was not picked by any of the eight IPL franchises during the players’ auction on February 20.That auction saw a turnover of US$42 million, and several players crossing the million-dollar salary bracket, and established the IPL as a force to reckon with. Mody, though, sought to play down the significance of those figures. “Cricket is a team-based sport where team dynamics and cohesiveness as a unit are critical, important ingredients for producing a high-quality cricket product. A mere assortment of star players does not guarantee a successful sporting product, as has been seen with past initiatives like World XI sides and the Afro-Asian games.”The ICL’s second international tournament, beginning on March 9, will span 30 days across three venues in India, with 13 additional international players and a second broadcaster in Dubai-based Ten Sports. This time, the ICL is riding a surge of international support with its star New Zealand recruit Shane Bond and the FICA appealing to the ICC to lift the ban on those associated with the venture.The ICL’s latest tournament will be called the Edelweiss 20s Challenge, after it struck a title sponsorship deal for its second season reportedly worth US$5 million with the financial services firm. That’s half of what the IPL gets every year from its title sponsors, the Indian construction major DLF.

ScorecardMalinda Warnapura enhanced his chances of opening in the first Test by adding a second-innings half-century to his first-innings 132 in Sri Lanka’s tour match in Guyana. Sri Lanka reached 177 for 6, with an overall lead of 421 over the Guyana President’s XI (GPS), when the captains agreed to end the match at tea on the third day.Warnapura retired out for the second time in the game and his success means he has a strong chance of partnering Michael Vandort at the top of the Test order. His 93-ball innings featured seven fours but none of the other specialist batsmen made full use of the second innings.Prasanna Jayawardene chipped in with 36 and Chaminda Vaas finished unbeaten on 40 as the legspinner Davendra Bishoo picked up three middle-order wickets. Bishoo, 22, has only one first-class match to his name, but he proved his worth with 3 for 25, including Mahela Jayawardene caught without scoring.Bishoo was the only bowler to have success in the second session after the fast bowler Jason Dawes grabbed two victims before lunch. Vandort did not have the ideal lead-up to the Test, bowled by Dawes for 1 to add to his first-innings 29.Dawes, who was a member of West Indies’ Under-19 World Cup side last month, had struggled with a leg strain in the first innings and bowled only 13 balls. However, he powered through 15 overs on the third day to finish with 2 for 36 after having Kumar Sangakkara (17) caught at sip.GPS were without their captain Patrick Browne, who was resting a sore knee, and Kemar Roach, who had an upset stomach. Rajindra Chandrika and Sharmarh Brooks shared the duties behind the stumps in Browne’s absence and Brooks even registered a stumping when Prasanna Jayawardene was caught short off Bishoo.The first Test between Sri Lanka and West Indies starts at Guyana’s Providence Stadium on Saturday. A further tour match against West Indies A follows, ahead of the second Test in Trinidad.

Ryan Harris, South Australia’s leading Pura Cup wicket-taker in 2007-08, will play for Queensland from next season after signing a three-year deal with the Bulls. Harris’ departure from Adelaide is a blow for the Redbacks as they embark on their own recruiting drive following a disappointing summer.Harris, 28, will be a useful addition at Queensland, who already boast the Cricket Australia-contracted allrounders Ashley Noffke, James Hopes and Shane Watson. He said he was looking forward to a new phase in his career.”It was a good offer and while I’ve enjoyed my time with the Redbacks, I thought the opportunity to bowl at the Gabba over the next few years should see my career develop further,” Harris said. “I thank the SACA [South Australian Cricket Association] for their support over the past few years and wish them all the best but I’m genuinely excited about the prospects ahead with the Bulls.”Harris is currently playing county cricket in Sussex after their interest was stirred by his best Australian domestic season. He collected 37 Pura Cup wickets at 29.86 last summer and made a handy 363 runs at 24.20, and the contributions earned him a place in the Australian Cricketers’ Association Pura Cup Team of the Year.An Academy graduate in 2002, Harris was in the same group as the man who could be Queensland’s next captain, Chris Simpson. In 2006-07 the Bulls were on the wrong end of his talent when Harris struck a six from the last ball of a one-day match when the Redbacks needed five to win.Graham Dixon, the chief executive of Queensland Cricket, said Harris was the only man the Bulls would sign from interstate for 2008-09. “We had a number of good reports from our players about Ryan’s competitiveness on the field,” Dixon said. “He’s the sort of player that has more than one string to his bow and plays all three forms of the game which is important in the current environment.”The Redbacks coach Mark Sorell said the Queensland agreement would be worth more money and security for Harris, who had been on short-term contracts in the past. South Australia had tried to keep him by offering a two-year deal that could be extended to three based on performance in the first year.”I support what’s happened in the past with his performance and injury history,” Sorell said. “He performed well this last season which was outstanding and we were keen to let him know he was a part of our future. His decision was a bit of a shock. Obviously we’re extremely disappointed but we respect that decision.”