Nehra has done well for us, will win crunch games: Dhoni

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni today defended the decision to give Ashish Nehra the last over of the South Arican innings, saying the paceman has been doing a nice job and hoped that the left-armer will win crunch games for the country later in the World Cup.


In pic: Ashish Nehra

South Africa needed 13 runs in the last over to beat India in a group B league match but Nehra could not stop them from doing so, leaking 16 runs in the first four balls. "Bowlers need to bowl at the right spots and if you are not doing that, more often than not, you are going to get hit. Bhajji (Harbhajan) was the only other choice but I thought a seamer would be better. Maybe I was wrong, but I thought that was the better option.

"Nehra has been the mean bowler for us right from the start till the old ball. We have belief in him. Not this one, but may be he will come good in crunch games for us," Dhoni said after India's three-wicket defeat. Dhoni also said not batting the full quota of overs, cost India. "Had we batted for full 50 overs, we could have got 20 more runs. What is important is you don't play for the crowd you play for your country. We should have batted the full fifty overs. If we could have fielded better we could've made the score look bigger, but we're not a side known for our fielding," he said.

Winning captain Graeme Smith was all smile and patted his teammates for the "great" effort. "For 25 overs up front we took a beating, but for the other 75 we came back really hard and showed some real fight. The guys showed a lot of composure, it was helluva noisy out here. Dale bowled well, and to chase down the runs under pressure is great. The confidence you get out of a win like this is huge," he said.

He had special words for tail-ender Robin Peterson, who smacked Nehra for 16 runs in the last over to seal the win for India. "I haven't seen Robbie [Peterson] hit the ball that clean in a long time, we've backed him in this world cup and he's performed. We can get on a run now, we've had long breaks between our games but we're playing every three or four days now," he said.

Paceman Dale Steyn was adjudged Man-of-the-Match for his five-wicket haul. "After my first five overs I was staring down the barrel, but we pulled it backed beautifully. A great team performance. Once we picked up one wicket, we picked up another and we started build up pressure and a wave of energy on the field that we could capitalise on," he said. —PTI

India's World Cup squad announced; Rohit, Sreesanth omitted

Young batsman Rohit Sharma and pacer S Sreesanth were today omitted from India's 15-member squad for the upcoming cricket World Cup to be held in the sub-continent from February 19.

Tamil Nadu spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who is also a useful batsman, and Piyush Chawla were named in the squad to be captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and which includes most of the star players like Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.

The national selectors, who met for one and half hours to finalise the team here, picked three specialist spinners considering that the high profile-event will be held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Praveen Kumar, who are nursing injuries and have been ruled out of the ongoing one-day series against South Africa, have been included in the squad announced by BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan.

Left arm spinner Pragyan Ojha and wicket-keeper batsman Parthiv Patel, who were among the front-runners to make the cut, failed to find a berth.

India is one of the favourites for the 14-team tournament, which commences with a match between India and Bangladesh at Dhaka on Feb 19.

The final will be played in Mumbai on April 2.

India's World Cup squad:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Virender Sehwag (Vice Captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, R Ashwin, Piyush Chawla. -Agencies

Surprises unlikely in final World Cup squad

Injuries to top Indian players have made matters interesting ahead of the selection committee meeting for the World Cup, to be held in Chennai on Monday.

A day before the selection of the squad, India on Sunday received a jolt with Sachin Tendulkar returning home from South Africa after pulling a hamstring during the second One-day International on Saturday.

Before this major scare, Virender Sehwag (shoulder injury), Gautam Gambhir (hand injury) and pacer Praveen Kumar (hand injury) have returned home and the selectors would have a lot to ponder over as they pick the 15- member team for the tournament.

Sachin's injury obviously could be a major concern - the BCCI did not provide details while announcing that Parthiv Patel was being flown out to South Africa as his replacement - though a month is still left for India's opening game on February 19 against Bangladesh in Dhaka.

Tendulkar has been in ominous form for the last couple of years, and especially in the just- concluded Test series in South Africa. He and Sehwag are the automatic choices for the opening slots with Gambhir next. Even if Sehwag and Gambhir have not fully recovered as yet, they still have more than a month to get fit and thus can be included in the squad.

Murali Vijay, now playing in South Africa, could be a standby as he figures in the 30 probables announced last month. Like the openers, the middle order batsmen, an important area for any team, also pick themselves. There is little doubt about the selection of Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, and skipper MS Dhoni.

But will Rohit Sharma also find a place? Well, that remains to be seen, depending on how many bowlers the selectors pick.
The selection of Rohit could also depend on whether the selectors opt for a second wicketkeeper or take the bold decision to pick only Dhoni. But Parthiv, who has unjustifiably been ignored for the last few years, has suddenly come into the fray with so many injury scares.

Among the pacers, Zaheer Khan remains their spearhead, though it remains to be seen if the injury- prone left- armer doesn't add to the list of injured.

Munaf Patel, Praveen and Ashish Nehra, who is again a bit risky proposition in the longdrawn tournament considering his fitness history, Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma are expected to be the other members of the pace department. But one or two of these may have to make way to accommodate a second spinner.

Among the spinners, offie Harbhajan has no competition. Although R Ashwin, also an offspinner, is in South Africa, there is no guarantee that he would be picked for the World Cup too.

The selectors might want to have some variety and the selection of leg-spinner Piyush Chawla for the South Africa series is interesting. Who knows, left- arm spinner Pragyan Ojha might make the grade.

Ruthless SA win by 135 runs

South Africa 289 for 9 (de Villiers 76, Duminy 73, Amla 50) beat India 154 (Kohli 54, Tsotsobe 4-31) by 135 runs

In pic: AB de Villiers' 76 off 69 balls set up what turned out to be a winning total of 289 for South Africa © Getty Images

India had to survive the new ball if they were going to make a fist of chasing 290 but they were gasping for breath within 11 overs, after slipping to 43 for 4, and never quite recovered. South Africa had threatened twice to run away to a mammoth total in their innings. India pulled them back on both occasions to keep the target below 300, but the chase went nowhere. South Africa were 82 for 2 in the 14th over before Munaf Patel removed Hashim Amla to slow the innings down, but the hosts bounced back to reach 213 for 3 in the 36th over, when AB de Villiers fell and India clawed their way back once again.

The ball was expected to do a bit under lights and the top order, barring Virat Kohli, collapsed without much fight. The dismissal of Yuvraj Singh perfectly captured South Africa's dominance on a bouncy track. Morne Morkel got one to kick up and jag away from Yuvraj, who got his feet into an awful tangle, and ended up stabbing the ball to second slip.

It was that kind of a night: the India batsmen struggled to adapt to the conditions and they went down in a heap. M Vijay was trapped in front in the first over of the innings by a full delivery from Dale Steyn and Sachin Tendulkar perished to a pre-determined move to shuffle across his stumps. There was a short fine-leg in place for Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Tendulkar moved across to drag a short-of-length delivery past that fielder but only succeeded in top-edging a dolly to Steyn.

India recovered from 13 for 2 to reach 41 without further damage but a double strike by Morne Morkel pushed them further back. Morne had hustled and hurried Rohit Sharma into having a few injudicious wafts outside off but Rohit was eventually unlucky to be given out, caught behind by AB de Villiers. It was a gem of a delivery that kicked up and straightened just outside off and Rohit hit his pad with the bat as he pushed inside the line but the umpire mistook the sound for an edge.

Yuvraj Singh proved a walking wicket in these seaming conditions and India were left staring down the barrel after MS Dhoni's run out just before the half-way mark. Kohli hit a straight drive but the bowler Wayne Parnell got a hand on it to accidentally run out Dhoni and leave India with a mountain to climb. Kohli hung around for a while but once he fell to Steyn, the lower order just crumbled.

South Africa's bowlers blew away India but it was their batsmen who set up the win. It was a fascinating late afternoon at Durban after Amla's exit. There was an imminent threat of a collapse in the air: South Africa had a long tail, JP Duminy can be an iffy starter against spin and the ball was starting to stop on the batsman a touch. de Villiers and Duminy initially batted like men who were aware of these threats. They added 47 runs in a little over 12 overs and the hosts had reached 132 for 3 in 25.4 overs when a single shot turned things around for them. de Villiers charged down the track to Harbhajan Singh and didn't quite seem to connect well, but his sliced golf-shot sent the ball into the screaming fans beyond long-off. When Duminy slog-swept Yuvraj Singh for a six in the next over, it was official: they had broken free of the shackles.

They followed it up with a smart move: they took the Batting Powerplay in the 28th over and looted 45 runs of the five overs. de Villiers made 28 of them, with a hat-trick of fours - a pull, a skillful inside-out hit over cover, and a slice over point - against Ashish Nehra in the final Powerplay over to leave South Africa sitting pretty at 192 for 3.

Things were looking dire for India and Dhoni decided to bring in part-time spinners Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina. de Villiers pulled Rohit straight to deep midwicket in the 36th over, David Miller played inside the line to lose his off stump against Raina in the 39th, and then in the 42nd Duminy missed a reverse sweep and was trapped in front by Rohit. The tail didn't have the skill to add too many and South Africa meandered towards the end of their innings.

It was quite a contrast to the frenetic start to the innings, with Amla going after Nehra in some style. The bat-speed was rapid, and time and again he played on the up and through the line. There were some trademark cover drives on a stretched front foot and the highlight was the hat-trick of fours he unleashed against Nehra in the seventh over. Amla whacked a short ball to the midwicket boundary, then walked down the pitch to lace a length delivery to the left of mid-off before he pinged that region with an off drive. There was a caressed straight drive for three runs in the same over and he put away couple of slower ones from Munaf for boundaries. His dismissal put pressure on the middle order but de Villiers and Duminy ensured that their bowlers had a score to defend. -ESPNcricinfo

Yusuf's blazing ton flattens New Zealand

India 321 for 5 (Pathan 123*, Patel 53) beat New Zealand 315 for 7 (Franklin 98*, Pathan 3-49) by five wickets

Yusuf Pathan was at his destructive best on a wet evening in Bangalore © AFP

They said he couldn't perform in international cricket. They said he was good only for IPL and domestic cricket. He proved them wrong tonight. Yusuf Pathan engineered an improbable win for India with a violent hundred, his first in ODIs, and perhaps sealed a World Cup berth for himself. It looked grim for India when they were tottering at 188 for 5 in the 34th over, after the fall of Rohit Sharma, but Pathan pulled off a heist. One game doesn't guarantee a successful future of course, especially considering that this New Zealand attack wasn't potent enough to test his weakness against short balls, but Pathan left his past behind with a potentially career-changing innings on a drizzly Bangalore night. His century overshadowed a superbly-crafted 98 from James Franklin that had allowed New Zealand to reach a daunting total.

Pathan declared his intent with two brutal shots. The first came in the 37th over, when play resumed after a one-hour rain break that didn't reduce any overs and left India needing 113 runs from 14. Yusuf launched a Daniel Vettori delivery into screaming fans beyond long-on and clubbed a length delivery from Kyle Mills over the roof at cow corner. A couple of quiet overs followed but Pathan roused himself in a violent 43rd over: he smashed Mills for three fours - a lofted hit overs cover and two flicks past short fine-leg - before crashing a length delivery for six over midwicket. And when he brought up his maiden hundred with a pulled six, off Andy McKay in the next over, the game was all but over. He found support in Saurabh Tiwary, who intelligently rotated the strike, and the pair gave India a 4-0 lead in the series.

It was an incredible effort considering India had lagged behind for a major part of the chase. McKay's twin strikes to remove Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli in the 10th over and Nathan McCullum's double-strike to dismiss Yuvraj Singh and Parthiv Patel, who hit his maiden fifty, had pushed India on the back foot. And when Tim Southee had Rohit Sharma hitting straight to mid-off, New Zealand would have been thinking about the win, but Yusuf crushed their hopes with a blinder.

As good as their batting was in the end overs, their death bowling nearly lost India the game. Franklin's knock provided the perfect climax to New Zealand's spirited approach; the openers attacked to take them to 91 for 2 in the 14th over and the middle-order adapted to the fall of wickets - rebuilding at a slower pace before Franklin's final flourish.

Franklin looted 22 runs in the final over, bowled by Nehra, with some wickedly entertaining big hits: he smashed the second delivery to the straight boundary, the third over long-off, the fourth to midwicket, and the fifth to the wide long-off boundary. It was not, however, a knock of such fury and adrenalin from the start. He had built his innings with conventional shots, such as the one in 47th over, when he was batting with the tail and was under some pressure. He sashayed down the track to Yusuf Pathan, who had just picked up two wickets, and nonchalantly flicked him wide of the deep midwicket fielder. No manic rush or desperation, he simply carried on with his style, sweeping the spinners and flicking and square-driving the seamers to get to his fifty. Only in the final two overs did he explode. It seemed he had done enough to win the game for his team, especially after India's top-order had collapsed, but Yusuf seized the day.- Cricinfo

Sreesanth's four strikes help India restrict Kiwis to 258/8

Jaipur: (PTI) S Sreesanth's inspired spell at the death helped India restrict New Zealand to 258 for eight after Scott Styris and Martin Guptill notched up contrasting half centuries in the second One-Day International here today. Opting to field after the coin landed in his favour, the Gautam Gambhir-led India rode on S Sreesanth's four wickets to restrict the Kiwis to a manageable target after Styris and Daniel Vettori threatened to take the match away from India with a swashbuckling half-century stand at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here. Sreesanth's wickets included opener Jamie How, Styris, Daniel Vettori and Kyle Mills.

In pic: Sreesanth and Yuvraj Singh celebrate the wicket of Daniel Vettori

Munaf Patel, Yusuf Pathan and Ravichandran Ashwin took a wicket each even as opener Martin Guptill played the sheet-anchor's role to perfection. The Kiwi was given out in controversial circumstances when he fell caught behind to Ashwin after making a painstaking fifty. His innings was laced with three boundaries and a lofted six off Pathan over midwicket. Styris and Vettori took over after Guptill's dismissal. Styris powered his way to a breezy 59 off 56 balls with the help of five fours and a huge six, while Vettori contributed 31 off 32, an innings that included four hits to the fence. Sreesanth, however, had other ideas and struck when India needed him the most, removing dangerman Styris and Kiwi skipper Vettori off successive balls. Nathan McCullum survived the hat-trick ball. Often perceived to be profligate with the new as well as the old ball in the shorter format of the game thanks to his high economy rate, Sreesanth today bowled much better, hardly straying in line and length.

It was no surprise to see the Kerala bowler give India the first breakthrough, in the form of Jamie How's wicket. It was a fullish delivery just outside off that moved away late on landing. How went for a drive but only managed to get an edge and wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha did the rest. The temperamental pacer not only used his stock ball - the out-swinger that moves away late from a good length - to good effect but also brought the batsmen forward without bowling half volleys and the occasional incoming deliveries kept the Kiwis on their toes. First change Munaf, coming in for the mediocre Ashish Nehra, impressed immediately, posing some serious questions to Guptill and Williamson. Maintaining a good line and length instead of bowling flat out, Munaf was rewarded for his discretion when he went through the gate of Williamson in his fourth over.

The young Kiwi was just shaping up to play a good innings when Munaf got one to swing in slightly from a good length that clipped the bail on the off-stump. Munaf could have had another in his bag, when Ross Taylor attempted an extravagant shot off the bowler, but Ravichandran Ashwin, positioned in the region between deep square-leg and deep mid-wicket, dropped a sitter to deny the bowler what should have been a well-deserved wicket. That miss, however, didn't turn out to be a costly one as Yusuf Pathan flummoxed Taylor with the first ball of his spell. Taylor, who top-scored for the visitors in their 40-run defeat in the first match in Guwahati, went for a slog-sweep to a delivery that pitched over midwicket, but could not clear the waiting hands of Virat Kohli.

Ashish Nehra, on the other hand, was nowhere close to his best in his first spell, though, he managed to hit the pads a few times. When he pitched the ball short, Kane Williamson was equal to the task pulling him over square for a boundary, his first scoring shot during his brief but impressive innings. The over-pitched ones were either driven through the cover or straight down the ground while the length balls were punched through the cover-point region by the Guptill and Williamson. Nehra was brought back in the 38th over of the Kiwi innings, immediately after Guptill's dismissal, but he hardly looked threatening.

Scoreboard in the second one-day international between India and New Zealand in Jaipur today: New Zealand: Martin Guptill c Saha b Ashwin 70 Jamie How c Saha b Sreesanth 5 Kane Williamson b Patel 29 Ross Taylor c Kohli b Pathan 15 Scott Styris c Saha b Sreesanth 59 Daniel Vettori b Sreesanth 31 Gareth Hopkins not out 11 Nathan McCullum run out 12 Kyle Mills b Sreesanth 13 Tim Southee not out 2 Extras: (LB-5, W-6) 11 Total (for eight wickets, 50 overs) 258 Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-64, 3-96, 4-161, 5-219, 6-219, 7-242, 8-256. Bowling: Ashish Nehra 9-1-45-0, S Sreesanth 9-1-47-4, Munaf Patel 8-0-34-1, R Ashwin 10-0-52-1, Yuvraj Singh 9-1-48-0, Yusuf Pathan 4-0-23-1, Suresh Raina 1-0-4-0.