Harbhajan place to captain India Green

Harbhajan Singh has been named captain of the India Green team for the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy to be detained in Nagpur from October 10 to 13.

The new BCCI secretary, Sanjay Jagdale, announce the 14-member squads of India Blue, India Green and India Red teams for the 50-over-a-side tournament after a meeting of the national selection board in Chennai on Thursday.

Opener Gautam Gambhir, who miss the ODI series in England because of a head injury, not only return to the national fold but has also been handed the blame of leading the India Red side, while Tamil Nadu middle-order batsman, S Badrinath, has been name captain of the India Blue team.

Apart from Harbhajan, Yusuf Pathan (India Red), left-arm pacer R P Singh (India Red), Amit Mishra (India Blue), Pragyan Ojha (India Blue) and Piyush Chawla (India Red), who all have been ignored for the first two ODIs against England; will also have a chance to stake their claims for a comeback to the national team.

India Blue: S Badrinath (capt, TNCA), Murali Vijay (TNCA), Paul Valthaty (HPCA), Manish Pandey (KSCA), Dinesh Karthik (TNCA), Mandeep Singh (Punjab CA), Saurabh Tiwary (JSCA), Irfan Pathan (Baroda CA), Amit Mishra (Haryana CA), Pragyan Ojha (Hyderabad CA), Y V Krishanarty (JSCA), Prashant Parameshwaran (Kerala CA), Pradeep Sangwan (DDCA), Tanmay Srivastava (UPCA).

India Green: Harbhajan Singh (capt, Punjab CA), Robin Uthappa (KSCA), S Anirudha (TNCA), T Suman (Hyderabad CA), Mohnish Mishra (MPCA), Ishank Jaggi (JSCA), Mohd Kaif (UPCA), C M Gautham (KSCA), S Ladda (Punjab CA), Iqbal Abdullah (Mumbai CA), Abhimanyu Mithun (KSCA), Samad Fallah (Maharashtra CA), Ishwar Choudhary (Gujarat CA), S Narwal (DDCA).

India Red: Gautam Gambhir (capt, DDCA), Shikhar Dhawan (DDCA), Abhinav Mukund (TNCA), Ambati Rayudu (Baroda CA), Ashok Menaria (Rajasthan CA), Wriddhiman Saha (CAB), Jalaj Saxena (MPCA), Piyush Chawla (UPCA), Bhargava Bhatt (Baroda CA), Pankaj Singh (Rajasthan CA), Jaydev Unadkat (Saurashtra CA), T Sudhendra (MPCA), Yusuf Pathan (Baroda CA), R P Singh (UPCA).

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Harbhajan drop for England ODI's

Harbhajan Singh has been missing out of the first two ODI's next to England as the selectors chose an under strength India team.

Gautam Gambhir, who miss the ODI series in the tour of England because of concussion, return to the squad which will be without the services of a host of seniors, as well as Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh because of injuries.

Vidharba pace man Umesh Yadav and Jharkhand speedster Varun Aaron also figured in the team announce by new BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale after a marathon assembly of the selection committee in Chennai.
Young leg-spinner Rahul Sharma and paceman Sreenath Aravind were the two new faces in India's exhausted 15-member squad for the first two cricket one-dayers in next month's ODI series next to England.

The team, to be captain by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, has a mainly young bowling attack with Praveen Kumar being the spearhead.

The national selectors have chosen as many as five fast bowlers and three spinners in Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and Sharma.

Parthiv Patel, who did practically well in the recent ODI series against England, has been retain along with upcoming batsman Ajinkya Rahane of Mumbai.

The first ODI of the five-match series will be played in Hyderabad on October 14,, while Delhi will host the second game on October 17. Mohali (Oct 20), Mumbai (Oct 23) and Kolkata (Oct 25) will stage the other three matches.

Kolkata will also behavior the lone Twenty20 match against England on October 29.

Squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Gautam Gambhir, Parthiv Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Varun Aaron, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, S Aravind, Rahul Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Praveen Kumar.

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Dhoni cheerful after CSK victory

MS Dhoni was all praise for his bowlers after CSK's three-pronged pace attack controlled Cape Cobras to a modest score of 145 on Wednesday.

"Had we lost, it would have become very hard. The score of 145 was a very good effort by our bowlers, who capitalized really well when they lost a couple of wickets at the wrong time. Our bowlers did a good job," said Dhoni after his team's exciting four-wicket victory over the Cobras.

"It was a big game for us and (Dwayne) Bravo played a special innings in the end. My heart was pounding. We are look forward to the next game," the skipper added.

The pace trio of Albie Morkel (2 for 26), Doug Bollinger (2 for 25) and Dwayne Bravo (2 for 23) shackle the Cobras' batting line-up and prohibited their order consisting of Herschelle Gibbs, J P Duminy and Owais Shah from changing the gears up.

Dhoni also approved that while batting, Chennai abandoned the importance of singles at the start.

The Chennai Super Kings, with this win, have two points, the same as the Cape Cobras and New South Wales while Mumbai Indians head the table with four points from two victories.

Cape Cobras' captain Justin Kemp said that Chennai pacers bowled fine with the old ball.

"We would have liked to score more at the back end, but I consider the Chennai boys bowled well with the old ball. They were excellent in the end over’s," said Kemp.

Kemp selected all-rounder Bravo's timely cameo for special praise and said, "It took something special from Bravo. We bowled well, but it was always going to come down to the last couple of over’s, and they have a big batting line-up. Bravo played some outstanding shots and took the game away from us."

"Overall it was a good game. We were right up there until the 18th over. A couple of mistake here and there," he added.

Man-of-the-match Dwayne Bravo, whose sparkler (46 not out off 25 balls) took the Chennai Super Kings past the target of 145 with just two balls to spare, said, "Today was a great day for us. I was just backing my ability. I am enjoying my cricket now. Hope this continues later in the event."

"Dale Steyn bowled just one bad ball and I got on top of it."

Asked about his bowling, he said, "I have work hard on my bowling in the nets and distorted my action a bit. I am happy now."

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Katich: Batting wants to improve

NSW Blues captain Simon Katich was relived after his move to bowl Steve O'Keefe in the Super Over paid off in their NCL T20 match, but felt the batting wanted to improve further.

"We're dissatisfied to have left it too late today," he said after his team's win over Trinidad and Tobago via the Super Over, before adding that NSW also approved too many runs in the middle overs.

"But that's the nature of Twenty 20 cricket. The stress is on the bowlers, it's not easy for them as well. But we've got to come up with a better batting effort throughout that middle phase. If no one bats through (the innings) it's very difficult."

About going in with spinner Steve O'Keefe in the Super Over, he said, "I deduction we felt pace off the ball with an older ball is possibly the hardest thing to hit.

I guess (T&T) went the other way and Moises played wonderfully and got us back into the match when it looked like it was over. It was a unbelievable knock and to cap it off in the Super Over was magnificent.

"O'Keefe had bowled wonderfully for us and we just felt that the pace off the ball was the right option than one of the quicks. Yes, it can be look at as a gamble but appreciatively, it paid off," Katich said.

The left-hander also said that the fact that T&T picked his pacers for runs in the final five overs (they went from 89/3 to 139/6) also contribute in giving the ball to a spinner.

Moises Henriques, who starred with the bat for NSW, said, "To be honest, it was just trying to like the cricket.Nothing much was going throughout my mind.

In my last game, we were in a similar circumstance. We work hard to bat in such circumstances and give your best every time you go out, sooner or later it's gonna pay off."

Henriques took a single and gave the strike to pace bowler Pat Cummins in the final over with just three balls residual and eight runs wanted for a win.

Asked if he had the self-confidence in the 18-year-old's capability, Henriques said, "I had just taken nine runs off Ravi (Rampaul) in the first three balls and the maths in my head said we needed eight off three balls and at that stage every run was crucial.

If I could perhaps get on strike on the last ball, then we were in with a possibility, whether a six or four."

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