South African fast bowler Del Steyn has taken seven wickets as Indian team has returned to pavilion for just 233 runs on the board in their first inning in the first test match against South Africa at Nagpur on Monday.

India today resumed their inning from overnight score of 25 runs without loss of any wicket. Indian batting order collapsed against the swing of Steyn as they were forced to follow on in the second inning.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the 14-member Pakistan squad for two T20 international matches against England to be played on 19th and 20th February in Dubai.

Shoaib Malik has been named as skipper of the team as Shahid Afridi will not play in the first T20 international match due to two matches ban on him by International Cricket Council. Afridi was banned for two T20 matches due to ball-tampering charges in fifth ODI against Australia.

Nagpur, Feb 7 : Team India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has stood by his bowlers despite South African batsman Jacques Kallis scoring his third hundred in five Tests on the first day of the first Test at Nagpur.

Addressing the media, Dhoni said, "I think we bowled quite a disciplined line you can say and they batted very patiently and frankly speaking, there was not much for the fast bowlers. Ishant and Zaheer Khan, they did their best. I think overall it was a good flat track, a very good first day to bat also and that is why they did."

London, Feb 7: Former England cricketer Graham Gooch has said that left-handed batsman Alastair Cook must put scoring runs before captaincy as he leads the team to Bangladesh.

Cook has endured a difficult time with the bat in recent months and has been given the added pressure of captaining the side in the absence of Andrew Strauss.

Gooch, who watched Cook develop into one of the country’s most accomplished opening batsmen during their time together at Essex,” said: “Cook’s priority is to score runs, then the captaincy comes after that.”

Melbourne, Feb : Retired Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie will captain a group of Australian cricketing legends to play against some of the country’s best indigenous players in Alice Springs this week.

Gillespie, with the help of fellow all-stars Matthew Elliot, Greg Matthews and Len Pascoe, will open the 17th Lord’s Taverners Imparja Cup on Sunday night, before conducting a clinic for local schools at Traeger Park on Monday.

A spotlight will be shone on Australia’s annual indigenous cricket carnival, when Gillespie and his fellow all-stars take on members of the indigenous development squad, with retired opening batsman Matthew Hayden making a special appearance.

Melbourne, Feb 7: Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has backed his fast bowlers to contain West Indies captain Chris Gayle and his team in the one-day series starting at the MCG from Sunday.

Ponting also claimed to have assembled the best fast-bowling group in the world after the West Indies captain coolly tipped his team to thump Australia in the series.

Gayle has predicted said that the West Indies would win the series 4-1 despite Australia taking a stranglehold on the 50-over format in recent months and the Calypso outfit being weakened by injuries to experienced players.

Lahore, Feb. 7 : The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt dropped another bombshell on board’s director general Javed Miandad saying that the former captain was paid 8.4 million rupees for a week’s work in an year.

“Miandad has cost the board 8.4 million rupees for just seven days of work,” Butt said during a function at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

Butt also accused Miandad of violating the board’s code of conduct.

It may be noted that days ago Butt had said that Miandad was being paid 7.5 lacs, and if his other expenditures were to be included, he was costing the board almost 10,00,000 rupees.

London, Feb. 7 : Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan has warned incumbent Andrew Strauss that his decision not to accompany the team to Dubai and Bangladesh is a mistake.

Vaughan is the latest to criticise Strauss for handing over the reins to Essex opener Alastair Cook, the others being ex-skippers Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton.

Former Ashes winner Vaughan, who quit the captaincy in tears in 2008, reckons Strauss will struggle to sit on the sidelines.

West Indies skipper Chris Gayle has won the toss and opted to field first in the first one day international match against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on Sunday.

Australian team has made two changes in the team that played against Pakistan in the last ODI at the Perth. Adam Voges and Clint McKay have been dropped while Shane Watson and D Bollinger have been included in the Australian squad.

Yousuf Pathan has smashed a brilliant unbeaten double hundred to lead West Zone to victory in the final of the Duleep Trophy against the South Zone at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday.

West Zone chased the mammoth target of 541 runs with three wickets to spare on the fifth and the final day of the test match. West Zone resumed their inning from overnight score of 379 runs for loss of six wickets.

Yousuf smashed the South Zone bowlers all over the park as he scored unbeaten 210 runs including 10 towering sixes and 19 fours. West Zone lost the wicket of P Shah with 483 runs on the board. Shah scored 16 runs.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has shifted the second one day international match against South Africa from Kanpur to Gwalior due to rent disputes with the Kanpur administration.

Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) officials admitted that the match has been shifted after the Kanpur divisional commissioner L Venkateshwarlu refused to give permission for holding the match at Kanpur.

Batsman Rohit Sharma has been included as a cover for VVS Laxman for the first Test against South Africa scheduled to begin on February 6 in Nagpur.

It is uncertain whether V. V. S. Laxman will be able to play the match, as he suffered an injury on his left hand during the first Test against Bangladesh at Chittagong in January.

Laxman appeared for the training secession and practiced batting however his name did not appear for the catching practice secession indicating that the injury has not healed completely. Rohit also took part in the training secession.

South Zone skipper Dinesh Karthik has smashed a brilliant century as South Zone set a mammoth target of 536 runs for West Zone on the third day of the final match of the Duleep Trophy at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday.

South Zone today resumed their inning from overnight score of 42 runs without any loss of wicket. South Zone was once looking in trouble with their four batsmen back in pavilion with just 71 runs on the board.

The Indian selectors have summoned Rohit Sharma as a cover for the middle order batsman VVS Laxman for the first test match against South Africa starting from 6th February as Laxman has not yet fully recovered from the injury.

Laxman had received finger injury during the second test match against Bangladesh in Chittagong while fielding in the slips. Laxman had missed the fielding practice session and the batting session yesterday.

South Zone skipper Dinesh Karthik has scored unbeaten century against West Zone in the final of the Duleep Trophy as South Zone scored 356 runs for loss of nine wickets at the end of the first day of the test match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Karthik won the toss in the morning and opted to bat first. South Zone was looking in great trouble with both their opener back in the pavilion with just 34 runs on the board. But Karthik held one end and smashed unbeaten 161 runs to lead his team to a good total.

Abhishek Nayar has smashed a brilliant century to get his team out of trouble as India Board President XI (BP XI) returned to pavilion with 318 runs on the board against South Africa on the first day of the warm-up match at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground in Nagpur.

BP XI skipper won the toss and elected to bat first in two day practice match. BP XI's batsmen struggled against the South African pace attack as they lost six wicket for just
114 runs. But after that Nayar (100) and S Dhawan put up brilliant partnership of 181 runs for the seventh wicket.

The 15 times champions West Zone will take on South Zone in the final match of the Duleep Trophy to be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Both teams have been affected badly by non-availability of their key players for the final match as nearly 11 players of both teams have left their team to play in the Board President's XI team which will play in the warm-up match against South Africa in Nagpur.

Australian middle order batman Michael Hussey has dethroned Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni from the top spot in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings for batsmen in one day international released on Monday.

Hussey had scored 220 runs at the average of 73.33 in the recently concluded ODI series against Pakistan. Hussey gained 24 points and jumped to number one position with a lead of three points over second placed Dhoni, while South Africa’s AB de Villiers is placed at the third spot.

South African squad led by skipper Gram Smith has arrived at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai in India on Saturday night to play two test matches and three one day international matches series against the host.

Former South African fast bowler Corrie van Zyl is the interim team coach of South African team as former coach Mickey Arthur had resigned after some differences with the South African cricket board.

Australian team has clean sweep Pakistan 5-0 after defeating Pakistan by 2 wickets in the last one day international match of the five ODI matches series at the Western Australia Cricket Association Ground in Perth on Sunday.

Chasing the target of 213 runs, Australian team got a bad start as they lost their three wickets for just 73 runs on the board but Mike Hussey played a brilliant unbeaten inning of 40 runs to sail his team to victory in 49.2 overs.