Sachin is a Bharat Ratna: Sourav Ganguly

Former Indian cricket skipper Sourav Ganguly joined the choral group in demanding the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award, for batting Little Master Sachin Tendulkar.

"Sachin is a Bharat Ratna. There is no doubt that he should be conferred the Bharat Ratna award," Ganguly told reporters after the practice session of the KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders) in the Eden Gardens.

The KKR captain denied the observation from some quarters that his side was pathetic in the bowling department.

"On the contrary, we have a strong bowling side. We have Shane Bond, Brad Hodge, Ishant Sharma, Ajantha Mendis, Ashok Dinda, Ajit Agarkar and Lakshmi Ratan Shukla."

On the 3rd wicket keeper of the IPL franchise, the KKR skipper said it would be decided very soon.

Besides Brendon Mccullum, the New Zealand wicket keeper and batsman who is expected to join late in the tournament, KKR have Bengal's Wriddhiman Saha as their second keeper.

The decision would be taken in couple of days and third wicket keeper could be one among Deep Dasgupta, Tilak Naidu and Rohit Sabharwal.

After a catastrophic campaign in the earlier edition last year in South Africa, KKR will feature in the inaugural match against Deccan Chargers in Mumbai on March 12.

Australia in New Zealand Tour 2010

Date	Match Details	Time	Venue
Feb 26 - Fri	New Zealand v Australia, 1st T20I	-	Wellington
Feb 28 - Sun	New Zealand v Australia, 2nd T20I	-	Christchurch
Mar 03 - Wed	New Zealand v Australia, 1st ODI	-	Napier
Mar 06 - Sat	New Zealand v Australia, 2nd ODI	-	Auckland
Mar 09 - Tue	New Zealand v Australia, 3rd ODI	-	Hamilton
Mar 11 - Thu	New Zealand v Australia, 4th ODI	-	Auckland
Mar 13 - Sat	New Zealand v Australia, 5th ODI	-	Wellington
Mar 19 - 23	New Zealand v Australia, 1st Test	-	Wellington
Mar 27 - 31	New Zealand v Australia, 2nd Test	-	Hamilton

South Africa in India 2010 Schedule

Date	Match Details	Time	Venue
Feb 06 - 10	India v South Africa, 1st Test	-	Nagpur
Feb 14 - 18	India v South Africa, 2nd Test	-	Kolkata
Feb 21 - Sun	India v South Africa, 1st ODI	-	Jaipur
Feb 24 - Wed	India v South Africa, 2nd ODI	-	Kanpur
Feb 27 - Sat	India v South Africa, 3rd ODI	-	Ahmedabad

Mashrafe Mortaza to miss out on ODI tri-series

Bangladesh on Thursday left out Skipper Mashrafe Mortaza for a one-day cricket tri-series that begins next week after he failed to recover quickly enough from a knee injury.

Mashrafe Mortaza, 26, injured his knee during the 1st Test of a tour of West Indies in July. The injury ruled him out of the rest of the tour and the following one-day series against Zimbabwe both home and away.

However, he was selected in a preliminary team for the tri-series and was named skipper for the tournament as well as the following two-Test series at home against India.

Chief selector Rafiqul Alam said Mashrafe Mortaza had yet to regain 100 percent match fitness.

"Mortaza is 80% fit for cricket. We are not taking any risk with him," he said.

All-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who as a stand-in captain led Bangladesh to victories against the West Indies and Zimbabwe, has been named as the skipper. Wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim will be his vice-caption.

Opener Shahriar Nafees Ahmed and middle-order batsman Aftab Ahmed make come back to the side after being banned for joining the rebel Indian Cricket League last year.

"They both performed well in the domestic cricket. Aftab is also a useful medium pacer," Alam said.

The tri-series, which has India and Sri Lanka as the other two teams, begins in Dhaka on January 4. It will be followed by two Tests against India at Chittagong (January 17-21) and Dhaka (January 24-28).

Bangladesh squad: Shakib Al Hasan (Skipper) Mushfiqur Rahim (vice-captain), Mohammad Ashraful, Tamim Iqbal, Roqibul Hassan, Mahmud Ullah Riyad, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Syed Rasel, Nazmul Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Imrul Kayes, Shahriar Nafees, Aftab Ahmed, Shafiul Islam.

Archive 2009

England in South Africa 2009

Pakistan in Australia 2009-10

West Indies in Australia 2009-10

Pakistan v New Zealand in UAE 2009

Australia in India 2009

Zimbabwe in Bangladesh 2009

Champions League Twenty20

ICC Champions Trophy 2009 in SA.

Tri-angle Series in Sri Lanka 2009

England v Australia, Natwest Series 2009

Archive 2009

England in South Africa 2009

Pakistan in Australia 2009-10

West Indies in Australia 2009-10

Mortaza and Tamim included in Bangladesh team

Bangladesh opening batsman Zunaed Siddique and left-arm spinner Enamul Haque Jr. from an 18-man team announced on Tuesday for next month's home Tri-series against India and Sri Lanka.

Skipper Mashrafe Mortaza and opening batsman Tamim Iqbal were included despite fitness concerns. Mashrafe Mortaza undergoes knee surgery in September and Tamim Iqbal is carrying a hand injury.

Fast bowler Shafiul Islam was the only uncapped player named in the squad.

Team: Mashrafe Mortaza (Skipper), Shakib Al Hasan (vice-captain), Mohammad Ashraful, Abdur Razzak, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Tamim Iqbal, Syed Rasel, Roqibul Hassan, Mahmud Ullah, Nazmul Hossain, Naeem Islam, Imrul Kayes, Rubel Hossain, Shahadat Hossain, Shahriar Nafees, Aftab Ahmed, Alok Kopali, Shafiul Islam.

Muralitharan ruled out ODI series due to injury

Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has more or less been ruled out of the ongoing ODI series against India due to a finger injury that he had continued during the 3rd Test match in Mumbai, according to Lanka team sources.

Muralitharan is expected to leave the team on Wednesday and head back home.

Sri Lankan Team Manager Brendon Kuruppu, however, declined to confirm or deny the development and said declaration will be made on the next day.

Muralitharan had injured his finger while playing football during team's training session at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, where Sri Lanka was playing 3rd Test match against India.

Due to his injury, Muralitharan had also been ruled out of the both Twenty20 international against India at Nagpur and Mohali and 1st ODI in Rajkot.

India win high-scoring humdinger

India beated Sri Lanka by 3 runs in the 1st one-day international here on Tuesday to take the lead in the five-match series

India are thrilled, Sri Lanka are gutted. Forget that there was no contest between the bat and the ball but for the last 10 overs, these two teams fought hard. One hundred and four boundaries hit, 825 runs scored, and only three runs separate them.

Spare a thought for T. Dilshan, Kumara Sangakkara and Tharanga, who - under the pressure of a huge chase - played such magnificent knocks. Celebrate the innings from Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni, the spin bowling from Harbhajan Singh, and the death bowling from Zaheer Khan and Nehra. But also remember that this was a substandard international pitch and a small ground.

Brief Scores

India: 414/7 (50 over)

V. Sehwag 146 (102)
MS Dhoni 72 (53)
S. Tendulkar 69 (63)

Sri Lanka: 411/8 (50 over)

T. Dilshan 160 (124)
KC Sangakkara 90 (43)
WU Tharanga 67 (60)

Man of the Match: Virender Sehwag

Yuvraj Singh doubtful for first ODI

Yuvraj Singh is a doubtful for the 1st ODI against Sri Lanka due to a finger injury and a final decision on his availability would be taken tomorrow.

"The Indian Team management will take a final decision tomorrow whether Yuvraj would play or not, after looking at the report submitted by the orthopedic surgeon," said Shah told PTI.

The former BCCI secretary refused to comment further on the doctor's report.

However, BCCI sources said they are hopeful that the volatile batsman would be fit to play the 1st ODI on Tuesday.

"Yuvraj seems to have suffered a hairline fracture on his little finger and the team management is hopeful he will be able to play the 1st ODI at Rajkot on Tuesday," BCCI sources said.

Yuvraj was taken to Dr Dinkar Virparia's clinic late in the evening for check-up after the left-hander complained of pain in his little finger on his left hand due to an injury suffered during the 2nd T20i match in Mohali.

Later he was taken to the Rajkot Imaging Centre where an X-ray of his finger was taken.

Earlier in the day, India and Sri Lanka teams arrived at Rajkot for the 1st ODI of the five-match series, beginning Tuesday. The teams arrived on a chartered plane amid tight security.