Chanderpaul clinches thriller for the Carribeans!!!

West Indies pulled off a last ball thriller at Trinidad, thanks to a breathtaking innings by Shivnarine Chanderpaul. West Indies beat Sri Lanka by 1 wicket. The match went down to the wires, with West indies needing 13 from the last over. It then reduced to 10 from 2 balls. With the experienced Vaas bowling the last 2 balls, no mistakes were expected. But Chanderpaul had other ideas. He smashed the penultimate ball straight down the ground for four leaving 6 runs to be get from 1 ball. Would you believe it Vaas bowled a full toss on leg stump and Chanderpaul cleared the ball out of the ground to bring about an emphatic win.

Earlier Lankans were struggling at 49 for 5 unable to handle the brilliant bowling by Bravo and other West Indian bowlers. Sri Lankans went on to score a respectable total of 235, thanks to a good innings from Kapugedera(95) who put on a 159 run stand with Chamara Silva(67). Bravo picked up 4 wickets. Now it was the turn of West Indies turn to bat. Sri Lankan bowling looked flat as Vaas was the only recognised bowler in their line up. The openers went on to pile up the runs and reached 50. Then Smith fell to the bowling of Kulasekara. Gayle and Sarwan then added 50 runs. Gayle reached his fifty. Gayle ,Sarwan and Samuels were out in the space of 6 balls and the West Indies were left stranded at 110 for 4. Then Chanderpaul and Bravo steadied the ship. Bravo played a cameo before he fell for 36 to a run out. From 169 for 5 the west indians went down to 219 for 9. Their only hope was Chanderpaul and did he deliver in style. His last over heroics sealed the match for West Indians. However the man of the match was Dwayne Bravo for his all round performance. The next match will be played on the 12th of March at Trinidad.

The team line up for the next match will be as follows...

West Indies (probable) Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Patrick Browne (wk), Darren Sammy, Jerome Taylor, Daren Powell, Fidel Edwards

Sri Lanka (probable) Upul Tharanga, Mahela Udawatte, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Chaminda Vaas, Ajantha Mendis, Kaushalya Weeraratne

India fights back at Kanpur!!!

Day 1 belonged to the hosts as India reduced South Africa to a score of 265 at stumps with all South Africans back in the pavillion. Earlier Graeme Smith won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first. The openers started in a solid fashion as they did in the previous 2 matches. Smith and McKenzie added 50 runs in no time. With Kumble missing the game, this gave young Piyush Chawla an opportunity and he grabbed it with both the hands. He sent opener McKenzie(36) back who tried to step down the crease and hit him for six and was completely deceived in the flight. The visitors were well placed at 80 for 1 during lunch.

The post lunch session saw Smith completing his half century and was playing well along with Amla. A lapse in concentration saw his downfall as Smith departed for a well made 69 runs, caught at short leg to the part time spinner Yuvraj. Amla went on to complete his half century before he got a beauty from Ishant which clipped the top of off stump. Kallis got a viscous turning delivery from Harbhajan and was clean bowled for just 1.The visitors then slumped to 175 for 4 at tea. The post tea session was even worse for the visitors. They were losing wickets at regular intervals of time. Both Ishant Sharma and Harbhajan claimed three wickets each.

With resistances from Boucher and Prince the visitors managed to get to a score of 265. However experts feel that 265 might be a good first innings score.

Spinning track awaits the Proteas....

The Kanpur Test is all set to begin tomorrow, the 11th of April. South Africans will enter the field thinking they wont lose the series from here. On the other hand Indians will have to win this to level the series. Kanpur's Green Park is famous for its tame draws. Recently 12 out of the 19 tests played here have ended in a draw. After the meek submission by the Indians to the South African pace attack in Ahmedabad, the curators have gone on to prepare a spin track which will definitely suit the Indian spin trio. Yes this time India will be playing three spinners. Kumble's fitness is still under scrutiny. He will undergo fitness tests tomorrow morning to seal his place in the side. If Kumble doesn't make it to the team, it will give Romesh Powar an opportunity. India will be playing other two spinners Harbhajan and Piyush Chawla. Ishant Sharma's return to the side will be a big boost and he is likely to share the new ball with Shree Shanth. Pathan might miss this game despite his valiant knocks in Ahmedabad.

On the other hand South Africans are likely to play the winning combination. Though the pitch is a turning one they prefer to go just with the one spinner Paul Harris.

The pitch looks extremely dry and has no grass cover. Anil Kumble and the curator felt it would break as early as the third day and assist spin from there on. Gary Kirsten, India's coach, is reported to have been taken aback by the track on first inspection. If all predictions hold true, neither side will want to bat last. The toss will be extremely crucial.

The bounce is expected to be on the lower side which, given Dale Steyn's raw pace, could also work in South Africa's favour. If they win then Graeme Smith will become his country's most successful captain after equalling Hansie Cronje's record of 27 victories in Ahmedabad. South Africa will also be the first side to win in India since Australia in 2004.

Teams: Likely

India (probable): 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 VVS Laxman, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 7 Anil Kumble (capt), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Sreesanth, 11 Ishant Sharma.

South Africa (probable): 1 Neil McKenzie, 2 Graeme Smith (capt), 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 Ashwell Prince, 6 AB de Villiers, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Morne Morkel, 9 Paul Harris, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Makhaya Ntini.

Umpires: Billy Doctrove and Asad Rauf.

Chelsea through to the Semifinals.

Chelsea 2-0 Fenerbache

Chelsea fought back to clinch a semi-final tie against their Barclays Premier League rivals Liverpool. It will be the third time in four years the English pair have met in the last four of the competition but there is growing belief at Stamford Bridge that this could finally turn out to be Chelsea's year.

Goals from Michael Ballack and Frank Lampard helped Chelsea to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League for the fourth time in five years. A free-kick from Lampard found the Fenerbahce defence dreaming and the Germany captain glanced a fine header into the far corner of the net.

But with nine minutes left Chelsea had stand-in goalkeeper Hilario to thank for earning them a place in the semi-finals.

He made two stunning saves within seconds to deny Gokhan and then Colin Kazim-Richards.

But Chelsea wrapped-up the tie with three minutes of normal time remaining when Michael Essien's cross was turned home by Lampard from close range.

Liverpool through to champions league Semifinal.

Liverpool 4-2 Arsenal.

Liverpool are through to the semifinal of the champions league with an overall aggregate of 5-3.It was a one of those great champions league nights at Anfield and the atmosphere was electric.The match was an absolute thriller.The match swaued from one side to the other constantly and finally liverpool came on top proving that benitez is a master tactician as far champions league is concerned.

Abou Diaby handed The Gunners a dream start on 13 minutes when he fired past Jose Reina; but on 30 minutes Sami Hyypia's thumping header drew the sides level.

Inevitably Fernando torres scored the second for Liverpool as the tie once again swung in favour of the Reds.

Theo Walcott's sensational solo run saw him assist Emmanuel Adebayor, who tapped home to swing the tie back in Arsenal's favour on away goals.

Then in the 86th minute it was the crunch moment in the game when babel was foulled by Toure and the referee handed Liverpool a penalty and the penalty was taken by the Anfield hero Steven Gerrard,he slotted home the penalty and the scoreline was 3-2.

Then in injury time babel slotted home the winner to see liverpool safely home.

Sachin to participate in the Olympic Torch Relay!!!

The Olympic torch is under the process of being carried around the world. Now its the turn of the torch to travel through India. Many athletes have agreed to participate in the relay. Among the various athletes Sachin Tendulkar will also be participating in the relay. The torch will travel through India on the 17th of April. Sachin has called up Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President Suresh Kalmadi and expressed his willingness to participate in the relay.

Sachin has added that it is a great privilege for him to take part in such an event. Earlier Indian football player Bhaichung Bhutia pulled out from the relay expressing his solidarity towards pro-Tibet activists. Among others who will take part in the relay are Milkha Singh, Pullela Gopichand and Anju Bobby George. Kalmadi, meanwhile, assured that with adequate security in place, the relay would go without any hiccup.

Todays market Standings...................

Sensex today closed at 15757 up by 414 points.The Nifty closed at 4761 up by 114 points. Markets witnessed tremendous downfall on Friday. Monday seemed to be a better day for the markets.


Asian markets were on a high yet again.HSI closing the day at 24578 almost 314 points up .NIKKEI closed at 13450 up by 157 points.CHINA closed at 3599 up by 153 points .

The European markets were slightly up FTSE closing at 5998 up by 51 points.DAX closed at 6833 up by 69 points. CAC 40 closed at 4953 up by 52 points.

Overall the markets had a good start to the week and let us wait and see whether the markets continue this trend or are volatile as they always are.