IPL auction - As it happened

Shaun Tait was the first player to go under the hammer and went to the Rajasthan Royals for USD 375,000.

Mumbai Indians bought South African sensation JP Duminy for USD 950,000. His base price was initially set at USD 300,000.

But it was the two Englishmen attracted the most attention as well as the highest bids.

Franchises bid fervently for Andrew Flintoff before Chennai Super Kings finally acquired him USD 1.55 million.

As expected, Bangalore Royal Challengers left no stone unturned as they acquired former England captain Kevin Pietersen for USD 1.55 million.

"I think its a very worthwhile investment," said Vijay Mallya, owner of the Bangalore franchise, about his latest acquisition. Mallya said he was ready to dish out a bigger sum to sign on Pietersen.

Fidel Edwards was sold to Deccan Chargers for his base price of USD 150,000.

Chamara Kapugedera found no bidders and remains unsold. He will be up for consideration at the end of the auction. Australian wicket keeper Brad Haddin and Stuart Clark remained unsold as well.

Owais Shah, who was part of Middlesex's victorious campaign last year, found himself being fought over by Kolkata and Delhi before Bangalore joined the fight. But Delhi were certain they wanted the English batsman and outbid Bangalore to acquire him for USD 275,000.

Paul Collingwood, the English all-rounder, was also acquired by Delhi for USD 275,000.
Tyron Henderson, the big-hitting South African all-rounder who also played for Middlesex last year, was the surprise package. His base price was set at USD 100,000 but was sold at USD 650,000 as Rajasthan and Deccan Chargers fought fiercely to outbid one another before Deccan Chargers finally bowed out.

Phil Jacques, the Australian opener with a base price of USD 100, 000, remained unsold.

Ashwell Prince (USD 150,000), Andre Nel (USD 120,000) found no takers either.

Both Bangalore and Chennai fought for English all-rounder Ravi Bopara (base price: USD 150,000) until Punjab joined the race at USD 400, 000 and eventually acquired him for USD 450,000.
Luke Wright (USD 100,000), another England all-rounder, didn't attract any bids. Neither did Sri Lanka paceman Nuwan Kulasekara (USD 100,000).

Another Sri Lankan Thilan Thushara was about to be sold for his base price of USD 120,000 before Kolkata expressed their interest and joined Chennai in the race but Chennai eventually got him for USD 140, 000.

The auctioneer mistakenly declared NZ opener Jesse Ryder (USD 100,000) unsold before realizing that Bangalore had bid for him. As it turned out, there were more than a few parties interested before he went to Bangalore for USD 160,000.

Kyle Mills, the Kiwi all-rounder, was bought for his base price of USD 150,000 by the Mumbai Indians.

Samit Patel (USD 100,000), the England all-rounder, Bangladeshi Sakib-Al-Hasan (USD 75,000), South African wicket keeper Morne van Wyk (USD 100,000),Steven Smith of NSW (USD 75,000), Ashley Noffke (USD 100,000) found no takers.

West Indian Dwayne Smith was brought for his base price of USD 100,000 by the Deccan Chargers.

South African Ghulam Bodi (USD 100,000), West Indian Darren Powell (USD 150,000) remained unsold as well.

There were no bids for Tamim Iqbal (USD 50,000), Victorian all-rounder Jonathan Moss (USD 50,000), leg-spinner Bryce McGain (USD 50,000), Kiwi all-rounder James Franklin (USD 50,000), Victorian Aiden Blizzard (USD 75,000), Ramnaresh Sarwan (USD 100,000), Michael Klinger (USD 75,000), Kaushalya Weeraratne (USD 50,000), Prasanna Jayawardene (USD 50,000) and Dominic Thornley (USD 50,000).

Mashrafe Mortaza (USD 50,000) became the first Bangladeshi to evoke any interest from the franchises as Punjab and Kolkata fought vigorously for him. Kolkata had bought no one at the auction yet and were desperate for a fast bowler after losing Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul. There were discussions among the franchises before they decided to raise the bid every time. The process sped up towards the end as the auctioneer virtually ran out of breath. As the bids went up to USD 500,000 the crowd broke into an applause but neither franchise had given up. After close to twenty minutes of intense bidding, he was finally sold to Kolkata for twelve times his base price, USD 600,000.

South African Yusuf Abdullah (USD 25,000), South African Daniel Harris (USD 50,000), Kemar Roach (USD 50,000), Aaron Bird (USD 45,000), Michael Dighton (USD 50,000), Michael Hill (USD 50,000) and Brett Geeves (USD 45,000) didn't attract any bids.

Tasmanian batsman George Bailey was sold to Chennai for his base price of USD 50,000.

Punjab have asked for Jerome Taylor, who remained unsold earlier, and the West Indian has been sold to Punjab for his reserve price of USD 150,000 while Mumbai got Mohammad Ashraful for his base price USD 75,000. That brings us to the end of the auction.

All the 17 slots that were available at the auction were filled from a list of 50. All contracts have been awarded on a 2-year basis.

Ganguly to play Vijay Hazare trophy

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly will turn out for his state side Bengal in the domestic ODI tournament which starts on February 15. Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, confirmed that Ganguly had agreed to play for Bengal.

Ganguly last played for Bengal when he helped them earn a promotion to the Super League of the Ranji trophy. It is not known whether Ganguly will feature in all matches of the tournament.

The selectors are expected to name the squad later today. Bengal's first game is against Jharkhand on February 15.

Ganguly had retired from international cricket in November, after the home series against Australia.

Pakistan brace for record-breaking Muralitharan, Mendis

Sri Lankan spin magicians Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis loom as major threats for Pakistan in their three-match one-day series which opens here Tuesday.

The 36-year-old Muralitharan, already the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with 769, will have the extra motivation of overhauling the tally of one-day wickets, currently held by Pakistan's Wasim Akram with 502.

The wily off-spinner needs just nine wickets to become the highest wicket-taker in both forms of the game.

But the unorthodox Mendis holds more challenges for the home team.

The 23-year-old army officer is not a big turner of the ball like his more illustrious partner Muralitharan, but the key to his success is the way he grips the ball with his fingers and flicks it to bowl a variety of deliveries.

Last week he became the quickest bowler to get 50 wickets in one-day cricket, having made his debut only last year.

In his only match against Pakistan, Mendis took four wickets. He then took six wickets in the very next match against India to help Sri Lanka win the Asia Cup here in July last year.

But Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam said his team were geared up to counter the twin-spin threat.

"We have devised our plans how to tackle Mendis. I can't tell you the details as it's not for public consumption," said Intikhab, himself a former leg-spinner of repute.

"He is not conventional at all. He has the offie, a leggie, a flipper. Some say play him from the hand, some say off the pitch. But the thing is he's quick, so whatever we do, we have to decide properly," he said.

"We will definitely be positive and attack him."

Pakistan's first plan is to outwit Sri Lanka with pace as they named six fast bowlers in their squad of 15 with fit-again Shoaib Akhtar leading the pack.

Akhtar, 33, missed all matches in Pakistan's 3-0 win against the West Indies at Abu Dhabi in November last year.

The home team can also take heart from Sri Lanka's unimpressive batting despite winning the tri-series in Bangladesh last week.

Pakistan hastily arranged the one-day series with Sri Lanka after India pulled out of a planned tour amid hightened political tension in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.

The second match will be played here on Wednesday, while the final match is in Lahore on Saturday.

Teams (from):

Pakistan: Shoaib Malik (capt), Misbah-ul-Haq, Salman Butt, Younus Khan, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Sohail Tanvir, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar, Saeed Ajmal, Khurram Manzoor, Sohail Khan, Yasir Arafat, Umar Amin

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Chamara Kapugedera, Jehan Mubarak, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilina Kandamby, Muthiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Farveez Maharoof, Dilhara Fernando, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thilan Thushara, Angelo Mathews

Umpires: Nigel Llong (ENG), Nadeem Ghouri (PAK)

TV umpire: Ahsan Raza (PAK)

Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)

Debutant Warner destroys South Africa

David Warner made one of the most memorable international debuts imaginable as he lit up the MCG with 89 from 43 balls to set up Australia's 52-run win over South Africa. Not even a superb 78 from JP Duminy could rescue South Africa's chase and he watched his partners fall around him as they fizzled out for 130 in the 18th over.

The crowd appreciated Duminy's brilliance, particularly when he scooped a Shaun Tait half-volley over the wicketkeeper's head for six, but it was Warner who was undeniably the star of the show. It was an incredible situation for a man previously so unknown that the scoreboard operators didn't have a photo of him when the teams were displayed.

Warner, 22, had already created history by simply playing the match; he was the first man to debut for Australia in any format without first-class experience since 1877. It's a fair bet he might get a game for New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield after this performance.

His innings featured six sixes, including a paddle over fine-leg off Dale Steyn and Warner's personal favourite, a baseball-style slog over midwicket off the same bowler. What made the strikes even more impressive was that they were the first two deliveries Warner faced from Steyn, the man who caused Australia so much trouble in the Test series.

Warner raced to his half-century from 19 deliveries and it was the second-fastest in Twenty20 internationals, behind the brutal 12-ball effort of Yuvraj Singh when he put Stuart Broad away for six sixes in an over. The previous quickest for Australia was a comparatively unhurried 25-ball display from Andrew Symonds two years ago.

South Africa's bowlers simply didn't know where to bowl to Warner. A tiny man at 170 centimetres, he was so strong on the leg-side that one six off Jacques Kallis more resembled a home run as it threatened to reach the second tier of the Ponsford Stand before falling just short. It was a sight that must have pleased the IPL Delhi Daredevils, who signed Warner last month on the strength of a couple of blitzes at state level.

When the fast men tried to force him to play through the off side he demonstrated equal proficiency there. One cut for four off Kallis was so finely placed that Warner, who could hardly see daylight between the men at point and backward point, managed to split them. He also demonstrated his cricket brain by driving twos regularly when the field was back.

His breathtaking effort finally came to a close when he holed out to long-on off Makhaya Ntini, who had been on the wrong end of two consecutive sixes from Warner in the third over of the match. In the end South Africa did well to keep Australia relatively quiet following Warner's departure.

David Hussey (19) and Luke Ronchi, who made 11, were caught before they could reach full flight, and Ntini and Albie Morkel chipped in for two wickets each before Steyn finished things off with 3 for 38. Fortunately for Australia, South Africa's effort was just as uneven.

Apart from Duminy's effort, their chase never quite got back on track following the second over of the innings, a particularly nasty one from Tait in his first international match in nearly a year. No delivery in his first over was slower than 150kph. His first ball was a vicious 152kph bouncer that whacked Kallis on the shoulder but worse was to come for AB de Villiers.

Tait dug in a 155.4kph delivery short of a length, de Villiers looked to pull and bottom-edged the ball onto his hip. As he folded in pain, he lowered his bat in the follow-through and crashed it into his stumps. Hit wicket is an unfortunate dismissal at any time but it was a particularly embarrassing exit for de Villiers as he hobbled off clearly in pain with a bruised hip, although South Africa were hopeful of him making a quick recovery.

Nathan Bracken, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes and David Hussey all chipped in for wickets and the scorecard was so lopsided that besides Duminy, no batsman passed 12. Duminy was outstanding and, apart from his six off Tait, he played much more typical cricket strokes than Warner.

A cover-driven four off Tait proved to Duminy's team-mates that the fastest man in the match was playable, and a straight-drive to the boundary off Hilfenhaus would on most days have been the shot of the match. His half-century took 35 deliveries but as the required run-rate ballooned, so did his risk-taking increase, until he was lbw to Hussey trying a lavish reverse-sweep.

The finish came when Tait rattled the stumps of Lonwabo Tsotsobe with 12 balls remaining. Tait's fiery 2 for 36 was just as impressive a sign for Australia as Warner's display. Australia retained their unbeaten record in Twenty20 internationals at home, and will look to continue their dominance when the teams meet again at the Gabba on Tuesday.

Smith out of ODI series with an elbow injury

Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, has been ruled out of this month's one-day series against Australia because of an ongoing elbow injury, coach Mickey Arthur said. Smith's participation in the final Test in Sydney which starts on Saturday is also not confirmed, though Arthur rated him a "90%" chance to play.

"It's unfortunate to lose your captain but we need to give him the best opportunity of being ready for the Test series in South Africa (against Australia starting on February 26 in Johannesburg)," Arthur said. He said Smith had batted through enormous pain in the two Tests last month, getting by on cortisone injections.

He said the operation hadn't been performed in South Africa before and may need to be done in Australia first, with a second injection back home in South Africa.

"We want him to get right for the home series and we think by sending him home straight away (after the Tests) and getting these injections, it will give him the best opportunity of being ready for the Test series in South Africa."

The spinner Johan Botha, who led the side during ODIs against Kenya and Bangladesh in November, will captain the one-day team and opener Neil McKenzie will stay on after the Tests as a standby batsman.

Australia's five-match one-day series against South Africa starts in Melbourne on January 16, preceded by two Twenty20 games on January 11 and 13 at the MCG and the Gabba.

Upbeat Bangladesh look to scare Sri Lanka again

Bangladesh hope to continue the promise they showed in the first Test against Sri Lanka when the second match starts here on Saturday.

The hosts gave the formidable Sri Lankans a fright in the Dhaka Test when chasing an improbable target of 521, scoring a creditable 413 before falling 107 runs short.

Skipper Mohammad Ashraful's 101 and Shakib Al Hasan's 96 on a wearing wicket helped Bangladesh record the 11th-best fourth-innings total by any team in the history of the game.

Sri Lanka won the Test for a 1-0 lead in the two-match series due to spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan's 10-190 -- his 22nd haul of 10 or more wickets in a match.

Ashraful was confident of another good showing by his under-rated nation, which has lost 51 of its 58 Tests so far, with six draws and a lone victory against lowly Zimbabwe.

"This is the first match of the new year and we want to play good cricket and start afresh on a positive note," he said.

Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene, who hit a match-winning 166 at Dhaka, goes into his 100th Test match needing just 74 runs to cross the 8,000-run milestone.

"There is no pressure on me because of these records," said the 31-year-old, who is already Sri Lanka's highest run scorer in Tests.

"I am just proud to have played for my country for so long.

"We are focused on beating Bangladesh here and win the series 2-0. They played very well in Dhaka and I expect they will fight hard here as well."

The Test series will be followed by a triangular one-day tournament in Dhaka from January 10 with Zimbabwe as the third team.

Sri Lanka (from): Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Malinda Warnapura, Michael Vandort, Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Prasanna Jayawardene, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Rangana Herath, Dammika Prasad, Chamara Kapugedera, Farveez Maharoof, Dilhara Fernando, Thilan Thushara, Ajantha Mendis.

Bangladesh (from): Mohammad Ashraful (capt), Mashrafe Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique, Imrul Kayes, Raqibul Hasan, Mehrab Hossain, Shakib Al Hasan, Rajin Saleh, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shahadat Hossain, Enamul Haque, Mahbubul Alam, Sajidul Islam.

Australian media slams loss

Australia's first series defeat in 16 years on home soil hasn't gone down too well with the local media.

Aaron Timms of Sydney Morning Herald says: "Our cricketers are turning into Pinters. Already there are signs of irreversible Pinterisation among many members of this Australian team: recall any of the Ford backyard cricket ads from this season and it is abundantly clear that most of our cricketers are hopelessly in thrall to their own acting talent. But it has not all been in vain. Yes, Hussey's batting may be atrocious. But his acting is even worse."

In the Courier Mail Robert Craddock writes that "Australia's capitulation against South Africa is embodied by the story of Andrew Symonds and the shameful way he was mismanaged this summer. By picking Symonds in the first place at the start of the summer, the selectors ignored whispers on every street corner in Brisbane that the all-rounder was simply not mentally ready to return after being dumped for the "gone fishing" scandal."

"South Africa knew early in the first Test Australia were not the team of old because of how timid they were. Australia are now the oldest Test team in the world. But when you are in a recession that normally means it is time to change."

The Daily Telegraph came out with a mock obituary of Australian cricket and Ray Chesterton believes that "Australian cricket is dead and buried, the echo of the ball flying off the confident bat of South Africa's Hashim Amla yesterday was the death rattle of Australia's record 16 years without a series loss at home. It simply followed a short illness complicated by player arrogance, chronic selection short-sightedness, poor captaincy decisions, unreliable batting, indecisive bowling and fielding clumsiness."

Mike Coward of The Australian thinks "the South Africans were smart enough and good enough to exploit Australia's yawning weakness - the impotence of its bowling. South Africa took 40 wickets while the Australians scratched and scraped for 25 - 13 of them to Mitchell Johnson who will enter the fray on Saturday feeling considerably older than 27 having bowled 108 overs in Perth and Melbourne.

While the criticism levelled at Andrew Hilditch and his co-selectors is appropriate after the bizarre selection of Andrew Symonds here, there is an urgent need for cool heads and calculated thinking at this time in evolution of the Australian team."

Indian Cricket in 2008: A review (Part 2)

In the second part of the series, we review India's performances in the second half of the year.

Asia Cup

India were pitted against Hong Kong and Pakistan in their group. India won both their games easily and defeated Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the Super Fours to set up a final clash against Sri Lanka. In the finals, Sri Lanka unleashed on India their newest mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis - he had been rested in the previous game - and the Indians were clueless against him as Mendis ran through the Indians to pick up 6/13 and complete a crushing victory. India hadn't seen the last of him though.

India in Sri Lanka

This was one of the few Test series which was dominated largely by one man - Ajantha Mendis. With his unpickable varities of googlies, flippers, leg breaks and 'carrom balls', the famed Indian batsmen were clueless against Mendis, who went on to take a record-breaking 26 wickets in his debut series. Virender Sehwag was more succesful against him due to his aggressive approach but he could only win his side one Test match as India went down 2-1. The series will also go down in history as the first one to implement the umpire-referral system where in a player could challenge the on-field umpire's decision if he felt hard done by it. The jury is still not out on that system yet.

India put the Test loss behind them and won the 5 match ODI series 3-2 after having lost the first game.

Australia in India

India were hurting after their loss in Australia earlier in the year and the series provided the perfect platform to avenge the defeat. Sick and tired of the controversy surrounding his selection, Sourav 'Dada' Ganguly declared he would be retiring after the Australia series.

The tourists arrived in India with two inexperienced spinners. 36-year old Bryce McGain had to return home due to a shoulder injury while off-spinner Jason Krejza was thrashed in a warm-up game, which prevented Ponting from using him until the final Test.

In the first Test, Australia had India on the mat but a wonderful rearguard effort from Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan proved to be the difference. MS Dhoni, the stand-in captain in the second Test, didn't lose his Midas touch as India won quite convincingly at Mohali. It was the same Test in which Sachin Tendulkar broke Brian Lara's record and went past 12000 Test runs.

Anil Kumble aggravated his injury in the drawn third Test and announced his retirement after the game. Dhoni maintained his 100 percent record as captain in Nagpur where Krejza picked up 12 wickets on debut but still ended up on the losing side. Nagpur was also host to one of the most bizarre periods of play. India were in a spot of bother in their second innings but instead of going for the kill, captain Ricky Ponting opted to go in with part timers to make up for the slow over rate. The partnership proved to be telling as Australia fell 172 runs short and lost the series 0-2. India went from strength to strength but the misery for Australia wasn't over just yet as they lost their first home series in 16 years, going down to the Proteas.

England in India

England would have never imagined that they would be so comprehensively outplayed when they arrived in India. After being dismissed for a measly 98 against Mumbai in a warm-up game, England failed to recover. Yuvraj Singh single handedly destroyed their attack in the first two ODIs and even though the victory margins became less embarrassing as the series progressed, England never really looked like they would win a game.

But the unfortunate terror attacks in Mumbai meant that the last two ODIs were put off with India leading 5-0.

England would have not tarnished their reputation had they not returned for the Test series. But they did, and with a full-strength squad despite reports that some of the leading players might be opting out.

Twin centuries from Andrew Strauss could not save England in the first Test as India scripted the most memorable of victories. Virender Sehwag's blitzkrieg of an innings, Gautam Gambhir's 64, a brilliantly compiled century from Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh's mature 85 helped India chase a mammoth 387 at the Chepauk.

The second Test couldn't match the first in terms of excitement but it will be remembered for a gutsy and dogged innings from Rahul Dravid. Dravid had struggled to even make it to double figures in the recent past but silenced his critics with a typically patient innings.

India in 2008

Tests Played: 15 Won: 6 Lost: 4 Drawn: 5

ODIs Played: 29 Won: 19 Lost: 8 No Result: 2

Indian cricket in 2008: A review

With India's international commitments over for the 2008 calendar year, we look back at Indian cricket in the first of two parts.

India in Australia

India went to Australia with a real chance of toppling the world champions from their perch. After being routed in the Boxing day Test match at the MCG, they came to Sydney with their morale down and what followed was hard to believe.The Sydneygate/Monkeygate, as it is now famously referred to, threatened to split the cricket world. India issued an ultimatum to the ICC to tone down the charges of racism levelled on Harbhajan or it would scrap the remainder of the tour. Finally better sense prevailed and the tour continued, but that did not mask some of the unforgettable action of the Test which the Aussies snatched from right under the Indians' noses.

The match also witnessed some dubious umpiring from Bucknor and Benson, and India suffered ultimately. So two down and with so much chaos, with their morale at an alltime low, India arrived for the Perth Test. No one even in their wildest dreams would have imagined an Indian victory at Perth. But what followed was one of India's greatest Test wins. It was a total team effort with everybody chipping in handsomely. It also brought an end to the sixteen match unbeaten streak of the Aussies, more importantly the lion had been tamed in it's own backyard.

India gamely held on to a draw at the Adelaide oval thanks to some wonderful rearguard batting from Sehwag in the final innings. The series had been lost 2-1 but India returned home with their heads held high. This series also saw the emergence of the tearaway fast-bowler Ishant Sharma, the 19 year old from Delhi, who bowled one of the finest spells of the year to Ponting at Perth and has dismissed him 5 times since.

The Test series will certainly be most remembered for a long time to come, whether it was the controversies or the action on the field, it kept the audience spellbound and speechless.

After the euphoria of the Test series, the young Indian side led by Dhoni comfortably reached the finals of the CB series and then in the best of three final series, Sachin Tendulkar took over and crafted two masterpieces in both the finals to help India sink the Aussies. The win was the perfect way to finish the tour on a high and also marked the beginning of Australia's slow decline.

South Africa in India
South Africa came to India on the back of some great form. Having crushed New Zealand and West Indies at home, they even boasted of defeating the Pakistanis in Pakistan before mauling Bangladesh in Bangladesh.

India were on a high after their spirited performance in Australia, both in Tests and in the one-day series that followed. It was going to be an intriguing series.

The first Test at Chennai will always be remembered for Virender Sehwag's magnificent triple century. He plundered the South African attack to all parts of the ground and became only the third cricketer in Test history to register two triple hundreds as the game turned out to be a high-scoring draw.

India capitulated to an embarrassing 76 in exactly 20 overs in the first innings of the second Test and unsurprisingly South Africa completed an innings victory.

With India needing to win the last Test of the series, a dustbowl greeted the Proteas at Kanpur. MS Dhoni triumphed in his first Test as captain after Sourav Ganguly scored a gritty 87 to give India a priceless lead.

Dale Steyn proved he could take wickets in all conditions, Neil McKenzie's dream run continued and Hashim Amla continued to prosper.

India and South Africa have since been involved in a tussle for the second place on the Test rankings but it appears that India might have to wait a little longer after South Africa's stellar performances down under.

Indian Premier League

The IPL lived up to all the hype it generated, and then some more. The launch of the IPL marked cricketers being sold like stocks and eyebrows must have been raised when some of the lesser known players earned fatter pay cheques than their more illustrious counterparts.

Apart from some wonderful cricket on the field which included Brendon McCullum's pyrotechnics on the opening night and a final which went down to the last ball, the tournament was rife with off the field controversies as well. Topping the list was the infamous incident of Slapgate which involved Harbhajan Singh slapping India teammate Shantakumaran Sreesanth right across the face. The former was banned from the rest of the tournament and both players involved literally kissed and made up before the incident was brushed aside.

The IPL proved to be a platform for Shane Warne's captaincy, which was earlier witnessed by only a handful who had seen him leading county side Hampshire. It also threw up a number of young talents including Shaun Marsh, Manpreet Gony and Shikhar Dhawan.

Kitply Cup - Bangladesh tri-series
India had earned the reputation of making it through to the finals of one-day tournaments but faltering at the final step but when they toppled the Aussies in their own backyard in the CB series, it looked like India had turned the corner. But it wasn't to be. Having defeated Pakistan comfortably in their league encounter, they fell short in the finals by 25 runs giving cricket-starved Pakistan something to rejoice about.

India end 2008 with another series win

India won the two-Test series against England 1-0 after the second Test ended in a tame draw in Mohali on Tuesday, the hosts preferring to play it safe rather than push for an improbable victory.

Set a near-impossible target of 403 from 43 overs, England scored 64 for 1 in their second innings before the curtain came down on an emotional series that got underway barely two weeks after the Mumbai terror attacks.

With fog robbing play for much of the opening session on most of the days, a draw was the likely result as both teams took the field on the last day.

As the Indians were in no mood to take any risks, the final day's play turned out to be quite dreary, with Gautam Gambhir (97) and Yuvraj Singh (86) briefly providing the sparks before the belated Indian declaration came shortly after the lunch break.

Resuming at the overnight score of 134 for 4, India declared at 251 for seven wickets in the post-lunch session, a total they owed to the 153-run stand between Gambhir and Yuvraj.
It was the second successive Test series triumph for India after beating Australia 2-0 in the four-match series in October-November.

But, more than the result, the series will be remembered for reasons beyond cricket, as it was played under the shadow of terrorism in the aftermath of the Mumbai carnage.
With the possibility of an outright result bleak, both the teams decided to stop the pointless exercise an hour before its schedule close.

To inject some life into the dull match, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhonitook his pads off and bowled the last over as VVS Laxman donned the wicketkeeper's gloves.

This was the first time that India drew under Dhoni's captaincy. The match was in sharp contrast to the epic first Test in Chennai, where India successfully chased down 387 runs for a memorable win.

The 153-run stand between a sedate Gambhir and a sizzling Yuvraj was the lone highlight of India's second innings.

A thick fog that became a ritual during the match again threw the schedule in complete disarray and play finally got underway at 1130 IST, with a one-hour morning session.

That India would not go out of the way to press for a win was completely evident as the hosts batted on. By the time India declared following Gambhir's dismissal some 10 overs after lunch, the prospect of a result had long gone up in smoke.

The only point of interest seemed whether Gambhir would notch his second century of the match. The pint-sized left-hander from Delhi could not, falling three runs shy of the milestone.
It still turned out to be a memorable match for the diminutive Delhi player, who scored 179 in the first innings.

It was rather surprising to see both Yuvraj and Gambhir return to continue from where they had left. By then it was clear that Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men were playing for a draw.
Playing without purpose, India suddenly lost three wickets in six overs before Dhoni felt it was safe to set England on a chase.

An almighty mix-up with Gambhir saw Yuvraj falling short of the crease as Ian Bell's direct throw broke the stumps. It was a sad end to Yuvraj' entertaining 93-ball 86, which was studded with four sixes and six fours.

Dhoni's innings was a two-ball duck. He offered a tame catch to Monty Panesar and Gambhir then fell to Swann in the 73rd over when Bell took a brilliant catch at backward point.
It was an uncharacteristically patient knock by Gambhir, who spent five-and-half hours in the middle, facing 229 balls, five of which were hit to the fence.

For England, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann got a wicket apiece.

With India not interested in a win and an England victory just not a possibility, the only task at hand for the visiting batsmen was to bat out the rest of the day and return with honours even.
Opener Andrew Strauss avoided the pair and remained not out on 21, while Ian Bell was unbeaten on 24.