Will Mumbai magic work again?

Mumbai Magicians have managed to secure only a single win so far, against Uttar Pradesh Wizards, in the inaugural edition of the Hockey India league. The Mumbai outfit will look to make it two in a row against UP when they lock horns in Lucknow on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the VR Raghunath-led Wizards will look to get their campaign back on track. After starting their campaign in an impressive style, the hosts were pushed to fourth place (17 points) with four defeats in four games. The Magicians, who are last with 13 points, can leapfrog the hosts if they manage to secure their second win of the tournament with more than a two-goal margin.

Saturday’s encounter is all the more important for the Wizards because the two teams are slated to meet once again in the tournament in Mumbai and the Wizards would not want to go to the Mahindra stadium facing a must-win situation for a berth in the semifinals.

Mumbai skipper Sandeep Singh said Saturday’s match will be very crucial for the team. “It’s a do-or-die match for us. Uttar Pradesh Wizards is a very strong team and it will be a tough game for us,” Sandeep said.

Stopwatch: Ranchi Rhinos 2 (N Wilson 23; M Singh 68) lost to Delhi Wave Riders 5 (G Chandi 3, 20; S Child 7; Rupinder Pal 40; G Singh 50)

Australia to bat first against West Indies

The West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl first in the second one-day international against Australia at the WACA Ground on Sunday. The match is part of a five-match series, with Australia winning the opening clash on Friday by nine wickets after routing the West Indies for 70.

On that occasion, West Indian skipper Darren Sammy batted first after winning the toss.

Both teams named unchanged line-ups for the match:

Australia - Michael Clarke (C), George Bailey, Aaron Finch, Phil Hughes, Mitchell Johnson, James Faulkner, Glenn Maxwell, Clint McKay, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, Usman Khawaja, Xavier Doherty (12th man)

West Indies - Darren Sammy (c), Chris Gayle, Kieran Powell, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Devon Thomas, Kemar Roach, Johnson Charles (12th man)

IPL 6: Sachin Tendulkar set to return as Mumbai Indians’ skipper

New Delhi: Batting stalwart Sachin Tendulkar is likely to be re-instated as the skipper of Mumbai Indians for IPL 6.

As per reports, the Little Master will replace Harbhajan Singh as the skipper, as the latter is likely to quit the captaincy to concentrate and improve his bowling.

The 39-year-old led the Mumbai franchise for the first three seasons and later handed over the captaincy to Bhajji in 2011. It was in the same year that Harbhajan led his team to victory in the Champions League T20 and was retained as the skipper for the fifth edition as well.

In order to strengthen their team management, Mumbai Indians earlier roped in Anil Kumble as the chief mentor and John Wright as head coach.

Mumbai Indians’ best performance in IPL was when they reached the final of IPL in 2010 under Tendulkar’s captaincy.

IPL 6 is scheduled to kick off on April 3, 2013. 

ICC women's WC: India to bowl first against England

Team India opted to bowl first against England in the Group A clash of the Women's World Cup at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai today. Openers Thirushkamini and Raut, who put on a record 175-run partnership against the Caribbeans, will look to come good again on the same batting-friendly wicket to ensure the middle-order steps up the run rate.

IPL 6 auction to decide fate of 108 players today

The auctions for the sixth edition of the India Premier League will take place today in Chennai today. Australia’s Test captain, Michael Clarke, and retired former captain, Ricky Ponting, top the list of 108 players who will feature in 2013 IPL Player Auction.

Along with the two Australians, South African all-rounder, Johan Botha, and Indian medium pacer, RP Singh, form the list of four marquee players.

AFP

The two Australians will go under the hammer with highest reserve price of $400,000. Clarke played for Pune WarriorsIndia in IPL 2012 after they bought him on a one year contract outside of the auction. Ponting was part of the inaugural IPL season, in 2008, playing for Kolkata Knight Riders but was released by the franchise in 2010.

We’ll be tracking the auction live, so do follow us for all the updates.

Paes and Raja keep India alive

The spectators packed the arena to watch multiple Grand Slam champion and Olympic medallist Leander Paes in action. And, Purav Raja rose to the occasion too matching his iconic partner volley for volley as rookie and stalwart won the doubles rubber 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-2 against Lim Young-Kyu and Nam Ji Sung to keep host India alive in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania group ‘I’ match against Korea at the R.K. Khanna Stadium here on Saturday.

The Koreans may have been perplexed at the way the celebrations unfolded — confetti littered the court and the crowd gave a standing ovation — but in a tie in which India has been considerably restricted in terms of access to quality singles players owing to the boycott of 11 players, winning the doubles was more than mere consolation.

“We didn’t order it,” said captain S.P. Misra, when queried about the zealous celebrations.

“One of the rockets went close to my ear. I am quick, but not that quick,” said Paes, as he corroborated his skipper’s comment that the celebration had “happened automatically”.

However, the grim fact remains that Korea leads 2-1, and had given enough evidence to suggest that it would be the favourite to wrap up the match on the final day.

“We have a big job on hand. Tomorrow, we have a tough test,” said Paes, as he conceded that both the Korean singles players were quite solid.

Paes was all praise for the 27-year-old Raja, who has reached a career-best doubles rank of 120, winning three Challenger doubles titles along the way.

“Purav played really well,” said Paes. He said that the training stints that he had had with Raja whenever he was home in Mumbai in the last two years, had proven handy.

Paes said that Raja, coached for many years by Sandeep Kirtane, had grabbed the opportunity to showcase his game.

“It was the biggest match of my life. It was an honour, and I was delighted to partner Leander, who has the quickest hands. It felt great,” said Raja who added that butterflies in the stomach would be an understatement to explain his anxiety before the match.

The Koreans had the game to tease the Indian pair, as they stretched the first game to ten minutes, but Paes served well to save four breakpoints, and ensured that India got off to a good start.

The Koreans were broken in the second game, but got the break back on Raja’s serve in the seventh game.

The Koreans possibly got under Paes’s skin in the eighth game, when Lim Young-Kyu tagged him twice.

The Indian pair, however, stepped up and broke Young-Kyu at love in the tenth game, as the Korean delivered a double-fault on set-point that had been set up with a delectable drop by Paes.

The second set was a lot trickier, as the Koreans broke Raja in the fifth game and Paes in the eleventh game, to be in the lead twice.

But the Indian pair broke them in the eighth and twelfth games. Paes almost fell as he flew to his left for a fabulous backhand volley to set up the breakpoints in the 12th game.

In the tie-break, the Indian pair bounced back from 0-3 — and Paes acknowledged that playing a number of tie-breaks in training in the last four days had helped, and praised his erstwhile teammate and coach Zeeshan Ali for handling the preparation very well.

In the third set, the Indian pair was just too good, and the Koreans folded up.

Paes also had the satisfaction of vengeance — he hit Young-Kyu as he hit him with a shot to break Sung’s serve in the fifth game. In the seventh game, he placed a volley between Sung’s legs to assert his mastery at the net.

When the Indian pair broke Young-Kyu’s serve, Paes called Raja in for a chest-bump to express his appreciation.

And when Raja served the match out in the eighth game — at love — Paes lifted him in celebration, and later hoisted captain Misra as well.

V.M. Ranjeet and Vijayant Malik will now have to lift their game if they are to entertain any hopes of pulling off a miracle on Sunday in the reverse singles.

The results:

India trails Korea 1-2 [Leander Paes and Purav Raja Lim Yong-Kyu and Nam Ji Sung 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-2].