The Pakistan Cricket Board anxiously awaits the resolution of the TV rights issue in India’s courts. Recent news reports which suggested that the series might be postponed if the BCCI was not allowed to decide on rights left the PCB perturbed and considering their options.A news release stated that cricket fans on both sides of the border were eagerly awaiting the series and that another postponement would be highly disappointing for the public. It would also lead to severe loss of revenue for both boards and dislocation in logistics for a postponed tour.A further postponement would also be difficult, given that Pakistan would be touring the West Indies in early May.

Australia made a clean sweep of their Rose Bowl series with New Zealand, as they romped to a 3-0 whitewash on Sunday to confirm their place as World Cup favourites ahead of the tournament which starts next week. The drubbing will be a wake-up call to New Zealand, the World Cup holders, as both sides left for South Africa ahead of their first match on Tuesday (March 22).The favourites for the World Cup, Australia, won the final match on Sunday comfortably, easing home by three wickets with more than four overs remaining in a low-scoring encounter. The match was changed to a day-night fixture at the last minute, after sprinkler problems. New Zealand batted first and recovered from 6 for 31 to post 9 for 114, with Emma Twining taking 4 for 17 from 10. Australia overhauled the total with few difficulties.The second match of the series, on Saturday, was a closer contest – Australia won by just seven runs – with Haidee Tiffen’s career-best of 91 from 127 not enough to save New Zealand.

India’s offspinner, Harbhajan Singh, has been cleared by the International Cricket Council of a suspect bowling action. Harbhajan was reported during the second Test against Bangladesh at Chittagong in December, when his doosra came under scrutiny from the match umpires, Aleem Dar and Mark Benson, and the ICC match referee, Chris Broad.According to Reuters, the ICC said they had received confirmation from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that the bowling action for both his offspinner and "doosra" fell within the tolerance threshold of 15 degrees, as prescribed in their new regulations. Unofficial sources at the time of the incident had suggested that the elbow-flexion was nearer 22 degrees.It was the second time that Harbhajan’s action had come under scrutiny. In 1998, he flew to Lord’s to work with the former England offspinner, Fred Titmus, but was cleared in just two days of remedial work. Accordingly, he had been less nervous about the investigation this time around, and back in December, he had even joked with reporters in Chittagong, saying that it would be "fun".This time, he worked with a biomechanics expert from the University of Western Australia, and has since been named in India’s squad for the Test series against Pakistan, which starts on March 8.

Sourav GangulyOn the team
We shall decide after we take a look at the wicket tomorrow.On Lakshmipathy Balaji
He says that he is better. He’ll have a bowl at the nets, and then we’ll find out.On changes in the batting order
Not at this stage of the series.On the pressure on him from the media
When you don’t make runs, criticism will happen. But I have also got some support in the press. It’s my responsibility to score runs, and I have done just that for a number of years, and I believe I can do it again.On what this ground means to him
I have made hundreds on this ground, and not just one-day hundreds butalso two Test hundreds. If I’m lucky, I’ll do it again.On the heat
It is definately a factor. But it was hottest at Kochi, where we played the first one-dayer. The rest of the venues have been hot, but not hot.On his problems with the over-rate
I’ve had a word with the bowlers and fielders. It’s not just about the captain, it’s a team game. We all have to hurry up.On the pitch
One can’t say anything until the game begins. In Visakhapatnam we thought 250 would be a good score, we ended up making 357.On Rana Naved-ul-Hasan
He bowled well in the last game. But we got big scores in the first two.Inzamam-ul-HaqOn Shoaib Malik bowling again
It will take a game or two for him to get back into his rhythm. It is good that our best allrounder has started bowling again.On Ahmedabad
Well, we’ve gone from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the ground. It seems nice so far.On the security
It looks good. We have no anxiety about playing here. None of our boys have seen anything that gives us reason to worry.On his wearing his heart on his sleeve in this series
You know how hot it is in the gallery. It’s hotter on the field. I’m a human being, I get affected.No, no, on the joy and exuberance that he shows
Earlier you would complain that I don’t show enough emotion.On the pitch
It looks like a spinning track.On the toss
Don’t go by the toss. But what does happen is that the heat is so much that the team fielding first gets affected by it, and that affects their batting. Also, the pitch does get 10 to 20% harder to bat on.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
Photo Gallery
Bulletin – Pakistan ride on Afridi blitz
Verdict – Blown away
Roving Reporter – A day with TWI
Quotes – ‘I was lucky’ – Afridi
Commentary – Master of chaos
On the Ball – Front-foot blasterPreview package
Preview – All to play for at Green Park
Stats – Where’s the run-fest?

Greg Blewett, the former Test batsman, will finish his state career at South Australia after signing a multi-year deal with the Redbacks. Despite considering a move for next season, Blewett will remain in Adelaide and be part of an envious top order including Darren Lehmann and Matthew Elliott, the new recruit from Victoria.”[This contract] will probably see me through, I’m 33 now, so it guarantees me I’m going to finish my career in SA, which is always what I wanted,” Blewett, who has played 225 matches since his first-class debut in 1991, told AAP. Blewett contacted players from other states to “sound out” his options and there was a feeling he wanted to leave once Elliott was signed.”It’s always a nervous time, contract time, you never know what the other party is thinking,” he said. “I was never really approached formally by anyone. I’d made all the approaches myself.”An opening batsman for most of the past few seasons, Blewett, who played 46 Tests, will probably drop to No. 3 next summer. “We’ve got one very good recruit but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to go on and win everything,” Blewett said. “At this stage I’d like to think we’re fairly confident of being up near the top somewhere.”

Stuart MacGill is poised to gain some small consolation at being overlooked for the Test tour of India tomorrow by becoming Australia’s leading domestic one-day bowler.MacGill, the New South Wales legspinner, needs only two Queensland scalps in the season-opening ING Cup match at the Gabba to surpass the Western Australian quick Jo Angel’s 94 victims.The new Blues skipper Brad Haddin foreshadowed an intriguing battle and backed MacGill to grab the record on a good Gabba batting wicket. “He’s our leading one-day bowler and he’s tough work in the one-day game,” Haddin said. “He always enjoys bowling up here. The Gabba is one of his favourite places to bowl.”Leading the side in Simon Katich’s absence, Haddin has been listed to bat at No. 4 behind Phil Jaques, Greg Mail and Matthew Phelps. “They may not be big names but we’ve been in the situation for the last few years, with the Waughs, Slaters and Bevans around, where they haven’t had a game consistently,” Haddin said. “But now their chance has come and they are good players.”The Blues have shown strong pre-season form in scoring convincing practice wins over Victoria and Tasmania this week on the Sunshine Coast.Queensland have flagged using the powerful Andy Bichel as a pinch-hitting No. 3 and Aaron Nye, the middle-order batsman, will make his one-day debut.Queensland Jimmy Maher (c), Martin Love, Clinton Perren, Andrew Symonds, Aaron Nye, James Hopes, Chris Simpson, Wade Seccombe, Andy Bichel, Ashley Noffke, Shane Jurgensen, Craig Philipson (likely 12th man).New South Wales Brad Haddin (c), Phil Jaques, Greg Mail, Matthew Phelps, Dominic Thornely, Aaron O’Brien, Shawn Bradstreet, Matthew Nicholson, Stuart Clark, Nathan Bracken, Stuart MacGill, Don Nash (likely 12th man).

ADELAIDE, Oct 15 AAP – Victorian leg-spinner Craig White claimed the prize wicket of South Australian captain Greg Blewett to leave the Redbacks in trouble on 4-96 at lunch on day one of their Pura Cup match at Adelaide Oval.Blewett, who provided the main resistance to the Victorian bowlers after he won the toss and chose to bat, was out lbw for 36 in the second-last over before lunch on the first ball of White’s second over, after the leg-spinner was hit for nine runs in his first over.Blewett was hit on the front pad coming forward and could have considered himself slightly unlucky to be given out.The wicket broke a partnership of 42 between Blewett and SA’s NSW recruit Mark Higgs (15 not out), which had helped SA partly recover from early trouble.Mathew Inness, Will Carr and Ian Harvey each claimed a wicket to have SA 3-54 earlier in the session.

Shane Warne has said that he will be targeting Rahul Dravid, recently named as the ICC’s player of the year, when Australia’s Indian series kicks off with the first Test at Bangalore on October 6.”Dravid is the key batsman. I will be targeting Dravid”, said Warne. “We are good friends off the field, but on the field, he’s the best player and in form. He’s the guy I will be targeting. He’s on a roll. He’s the rock. In the two tours I have been here, I have had Dravid seven times. I don’t know why my success is against him, and not some of the other players. I know how to bowl to him. I think all the Indian players know how to play spin, Rahul is as good as anyone in the world.”Warne also underlined Sachin Tendulkar’s batting class, and backed him to be fit to play in the first Test. “Tendulkar is the best batsman in the world in my 15 years of playing,” he added. “There’s a lot of talk about his tennis elbow, but I have got no doubt that he will be there for the first Test.”The Indian players jumped at everything and did not allow my plans to work in the previous tours,” Warne continued. “It’s when I attack that I am at my best, but as a spinner, you have to adapt, and at times you have to bowl to a defensive line. We are a bit smarter now. Two Test tours in 15 years is not a lot to learn how to play in these conditions, whether you bowl fast or slow. Six Tests in 15 years is not a lot.”With Australia seeking their first series victory in India for 35 years, Warne said he believed the current Australian side to be the one most likely to achieve the goal, although the loss of Ricky Ponting because of injury was a big blow.”This is our best chance to beat India. It’s not an easy task though. The team that’s here now is better equipped than the previous two teams that visited here in 1998 and 2001. Our batsmen are playing spin better than they used to. Ponting is a huge loss, though. He is up there with any of the best batsmen in the world. As a captain, he’s excellent.”We have some inexperienced Test players, but I have seen Michael Clarke first hand and he’s a super player. When he gets his chances, he will be sensational. Our team has variety in batsmen and bowlers. Darren Lehmann, Clarke, [Brad] Hodge, [Simon] Katich: they are all good spinners as well. That’s the beauty of the selection of this squad. There’s tremendous variety. It’s a credit to the selectors that they have given us options.”This time I am fitter than I have ever been – injury-free, touch wood – so I think I am in better shape,” Warne added. “The real test of a spinner is how you go over here. It’s the hardest place to ply your trade. I am quietly confident the way we are going to play as a team. We will be aggressive in our batting, and we have all got plans. I have a plan for the guys and hopefully it will work this time. I have some plans for most of the Indian batsmen, mixing it up, and different types of things.”Warne admitted that the small issue of the world Test bowling record was also on his mind – he is just five wickets behind Muttiah Muralitharan. “I would like to get that record away in the first Test. A series win is definitely the first priority, but from a personal point of view, I need only six wickets for the world record,” said Warne. “That’s high on my agenda, but as I have found out over the years, sometimes you are close to a world record and you try too hard. If it doesn’t happen, you get frustrated. So I have got to be very patient. The key is knowing your own game and being patient. When I am patient I do well, when I am not, I don’t do well.”Warne also hinted, rather obviously, that this would probably be his last tour of India. “I don’t know if I would come back here when I am 39,” he said. “The only thing I have not experienced is to win a series in India and play a major part. If I do well here, we have a big chance of winning. I won’t say this would be a major swansong, but I would like to play a major part. I have to make a big statement with the bat too here, not only with the ball.”

The newly formed selection panel met today at Bangalore, home town of Chairman of Selectors Brijesh Patel and the venue of the ongoing three-day game between the Indian Board President’s XI and the West Indians, to select the Indian squad for the forthcoming Test series.Young Haryana leg-spinner Amit Mishra was the surprise inclusion in the squad, while stumper Ajay Ratra is a notable exclusion. Teenaged Parthiv Patel gets a chance to cement his place in the team in the absence of a second specialist wicket-keeper in the squad.The selection committee, joined by Indian coach John Wright, selected a squad of 14 for the first and second Tests against the West Indies, due to be played at Mumbai and Chennai.Senior cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble are fit to play, and they are joined by veteran medium-pacer Javagal Srinath who, after initially retiring from Test cricket, has reconsidered his decision.The other selections to be automatically pencilled in were Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan. The Baroda left-arm seamer had an impressive Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka recently and will be a major part of India’s plans for the series against West Indies.Opening batsman Shiv Sunder Das, who has struggled with form in the recent past, gets another chance to establish his credentials and re-affirm his opener’s slot in the Indian side in this home series.All-rounder Sanjay Bangar, who bowls useful medium-pace and can bat at the top of the order, will also be a key member of the side in the event that Ashish Nehra does not regain fitness in time for the first Test, which starts on October 9.Nehra sustained an injury in the Champions Trophy, splitting the webbing between two fingers of his bowling hand. He is said to be recovering quickly and will take a fitness test in the near future.Squad: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Parthiv Patel (wicket-keeper), Virender Sehwag, Sanjay Bangar, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Javagal Srinath, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, Shiv Sunder Das, Amit Mishra