ScorecardNishit Shetty almost masterminded an incredible run-chase, but the latter half of the Tripura innings came apart in the last 10 overs as they lost to Vidarbha by 13 runs with 10 balls to spare. Shetty scored a century at almost a run a ball to bring Tripura to within 60 runs of the required 301, with five wickets and more than 10 overs to spare.At that point, a 75-run sixth-wicket stand between Shetty and Subal Chowdhury was ended with Chowdhury’s run-out. After that, the batting collapsed, with Shetty being the last batsman to fall for a 137-ball 130. Sandeep Singh took five wickets for Vidarbha, including two at the death.Earlier, Tripura had done well to take the last four wickets in 6.3 overs. Shetty ended with fine figures of 3 for 31.
Scorecard
Bichitra Baruah, the Assam left-arm spinner, came up with a match-winning spell as Kerala, needing 66 more on the final day with four wickets in hand, added only 33 to their overnight total. P Prasanth, whose overnight 80 had helped Kerala get close to the 267-run target, added only three to his score on the fourth morning and was the first man out. Baruah then stifled the scoring as Kerala managed only 9 runs in the ensuing 22.3 overs and lost three wickets. Baruah ended with figures of 18-8-13-4.
ScorecardRequiring another 291 runs at the start of the day, Jammu & Kashmir lost six wickets for 40 runs to lose to Jharkhand by 250 runs. It took Jharkhand 20.1 overs to finish the game, as Shankar Rao and Santosh Lal shared four wickets apiece. None of the last five in the J&K batting line-up could make it to a double-digit score.
Scorecard
Set 400 to get in 84 overs, Goa held on to a creditable draw against Madhya Pradesh, with their opener Swapnil Asnodkar scoring his second half-century of the match. Goa never really looked like going for the target, as they lost two quick wickets for 51. Asnodkar dug in and found good support from captain J Arunkumar and former India wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra. Asnodkar missed his century by 10 runs, while Arunkumar and Ratra put up thirties. Earlier, MP had added 31 to their overnight 186 for 4 before declaring.

News – Murali breaks Warne’s record
Interview – ‘No spinner has Warne’s thinking power’
Andrew Miller – Murali sparks delirium in Kandy
Rob Steen – An undiluted champion
Timeline – Spinning his way to success
Stats – The Murali story in numbers
Records – World-record holders over the years
Archive – The challenges of facing Murali
Surfer – In praise of Murali
Gallery – Magical Murali

Australian players will be allowed to opt out of the tour to Pakistan if it goes ahead following CA’s security team visit to the region in February. The tour, doubtful due to the political unrest after the imposition of emergency by President Musharraf, was dealt a severe blow after Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, was assassinated on Thursday.Paul Marsh, Australian Cricketers’ Association chief executive, said that a briefing will take place on the crisis in Pakistan while the players are in Sydney for the second Test against India. According to Marsh, each player was legally entitled to make an individual decision abouttouring Pakistan without breaching his contract.”We want to reach a collective decision but the players obviously have thatultimate right,” he said. “We would rather it’s a one-in, all-in either way, but if a player comes to us and says that if the tour was to proceed they don’t want to go, then we would supportthat and we believe the players are entitled to do that.”The players have the right to make a decision. If Cricket Australia decided the tour should proceed, the players will obviously then be faced with the decision, do we go or do we individually or collectively decide not to go?”However, Marsh said Cricket Australia and the ACA had a track record of making theright calls about security and it was premature to make a decision on Pakistan. Although Cricket Australia are prepared to wait for a decision, Andrew Symonds seem to be reluctant to be part of the team if the tour was to go ahead.”I’m not interested in going into a situation that’s dangerous, where people are getting killed and hurt,” he told the . “At the end of the day it’s a game of cricket. I take my cricket very seriously and I love playing for Australia, but I’m not going to put myself in a situation where I can be harmed.”You personally choose whether you want to play for Australia,” he said. “If you’re selected, you can choose to decline the offer of going on a tour or playing a game.”Pakistan’s deputy high commissioner to Australia, Tanveer Akhtar, said Cricket Australia should do everything it could to ensure the tour happened. “We hope and we wish that they come and visit because people in Pakistan love cricket and they’ll be more than happy to welcome the Cricket Australia,” he told the . “We wish and hope things settle down quickly and as soon as the elections happen and new government is formed things will be business as usual.”The tour is scheduled to include three Tests, five ODIs and a Twenty20 match. If the tour goes ahead three Tests are expected to be played between March 17 and April 6.

Mark Vermeulen, the former Zimbabwe Test cricketer, admitted torching Zimbabwe Cricket headquarters but pleaded not guilty to arson on the grounds he was suffering from psychiatric problems at the time.At the start of his trial, Vermeulen entered a not guilty plea to charges of arson at the ZC offices at the Harare Sports Club in October 2006 and a similar attack which gutted the national training academy the next day.Vladimir Rajkovic, a private psychiatrist in Harare, said Vermeulen, 29, was not disputing he had carried out the attacks but said his client had suffered from partial complex epilepsy and impulsive behaviour disorder after he was hit and injured by a cricket ball during a match in Australia.”The illness causes loss of impulse control and compromises anger management,” the doctor said. “Mark needs lifelong medication to prevent any stressor causing an epileptic discharge because of that injury.”Rajkovic said the cricketer had shown “significant improvement” since he started treating him six months ago. “When I first met him he was this young, spoilt, cocky and somewhat arrogant young man so full of himself,” he said. “What struck me first was his nonchalant approach to the whole case. From the little golden boy, he has suddenly realised, after he started taking his medication, that life can be tough.”We now have here a humble young man, not a sports star. As his body matures, his body will mend the injury.”Munyaradzi Madombiro, a government psychiatrist, said: “The damage that has been caused causes this behaviour.” He added that the condition could only be controlled by medication and could not be cured.The 29-year-old batsman, who played the last of his eight Test matches in 2004, faces two counts of arson and if convicted he faces 25 years in prison with hard labour. Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe adjourned the trial to January 30.

He’s been around for close to 18 years, in a career spanning 124 Tests, but Anil Kumble had no hesitation in calling the victory at Perth as his “best win ever”. He felt his side had adapted better to the conditions but said it was more satisfying because of what had gone on before.Kumble, it must be mentioned, wasn’t part of the historic triumph in Kolkata in 2001 but put this win ahead of other memorable contests from the past. He also added that his team now had the claim to being the second best side in the world. “It’s right at the top,” he said when asked to place this win in context. “It’s not just overseas but when I look back at wherever I was involved, both home and away, it’s right up there. Definitely, I think we have competed well with Australia. It’s important we take this momentum forward and square the series.”The most important thing – after what had happened in Sydney – was to play good cricket. We wanted to show that the Indian cricket team is a good Test unit. Even in Sydney, we put in a good effort but didn’t get the result that we wanted. What’s heartening is that we’ve shown that in what’s regarded as the home turf for Australia.”It’s been close to 11 years since Australia last lost a Test in Perth and few gave India a chance when they got here. Kumble, though, felt his side had read the conditions perfectly. “We came fully prepared what to expect,” he said. “Maybe people had other things in their mind but we knew that this was not that kind of a quick, bouncy track. It was important to pitch the ball up and swing it. We did that. And the batsmen stood up to all the challenges that came their way.”Did he have any hesitation about batting first on this surface? “Not really. We have the quality and experience in the team,” he said. “There are four [players] with more than 100 Tests and others who have been around for a while. It’s important we all got together and played good cricket. It was important we batted first on this pitch and knew if we put runs on the board, we could apply pressure on the Aussies.”What made this win even more astonishing is that it came on the back of a serious crisis. The mercury levels had risen after the Sydney Test and there was speculation that the tour was in doubt. Within a few days though, especially after India dropped the charge against Brad Hogg, it was clear they wanted to move on. “We were determined to win much before even Melbourne,” he said, “but it was important we stuck together in the week in Sydney and Canberra.”Going to Canberra was probably a good thing for us,” he said. “We were away from everybody. We did discuss how we’re going to go forward, how to play as a team. That’s when we had decided we’ll concentrate on cricket. We focussed all our efforts into concentrating on this game. I did discuss it individually and also collectively. I’m delighted they all came together. We needed to think positively and the kind of bonding we had is special.”Would he put the Indo-Australian rivalry ahead of India-Pakistan, especially given the recent contests? “It’s very difficult to take away the kind of equation we have in India-Pakistan [matches]. But India-Australia is about the kind of cricket that is played. At Sydney the game went right down to the wire, probably [till the] last five minutes, and here too. The thing when you play a side like Australia is you need to keep the intensity right throughout the game.”

The push for an international window to stage the Indian Premier League is growing with Cricket Australia signalling its willingness to join talks about rearranging the ICC’s Future Tours Programme. The board has yet to release its players, including the soon-to-be-retired Adam Gilchrist, for the inaugural tournament in April amid concerns over protection of its sponsors.There are high-level negotiations between Cricket Australia and the IPL, who are demanding the Australians sign by Sunday or miss out, over this year’s event, but future series of the Twenty20 competition may experience fewer set-up problems. Paul Marsh, the Australian Cricketers’ Association chief executive, has suggested the six-week international break and the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations also supports the move.James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, is now ready to debate the merits of the idea, which if implemented would keep the players happy. The issue is likely to come up when the chief executives of the game’s major countries meet next week in Kuala Lumpur.”James Sutherland is willing to participate in discussion and debate about creating a window in the Future Tours Programme so players can play in the IPL, as long as it is a window that recognises the genuine interests of the FTP and all ten ICC nations,” the Cricket Australia public affairs manager Peter Young told the Sydney Morning Herald. “We are still of the view that [the contract disagreement] is capable of resolution. It’s going to be tough, but we believe we can get through.”Jason Gillespie, who will be for sale to a franchise in the player auction on February 20, supports the idea of a Test and ODI break. “It’s certainly worth considering as this thing will really take off,” Gillespie said in the Herald Sun. “It’s a positive for the game and I think administrators are embracing Twenty20.”The amounts on offer from the IPL for a six-week competition dwarf players’ national payments and have already led to complaints from some Australians about the board’s slow pace at solving the current problem. However, if Australia’s tour of Pakistan goes ahead the negotiations will have been redundant as the trip clashes with the tournament.

ScorecardThe Lions eased to a 68-run victory over Zimbabwe in their Standard Bank Pro20 match at the Wanderers on Thursday. It was the hard-hitting of Vaughn van Jaarsveld and the wonderful new-ball bowling of Cliff Deacon that set up such a comfortable win, the Lions scoring 158 for 5 and then bowling Zimbabwe out for just 90.Deacon’s swing back into the batsmen was a potent tool and Zimbabwe lost their way early on as they crashed from 25 for 1 to 29 for 5 in the space of three overs. Deacon, a left-arm swing bowler, finished with fine figures of 4 for 15 and after his top-order demolition job there was no more hope of Zimbabwe registering their second victory in this year’s competition. Stuart Matsikenyeri delayed the rout with 32 off 27 balls, but there was no other resistance from the Zimbabwe batsmen.It was Van Jaarsveld who provided the Lions innings with a late surge, biffing five sixes in his 65 not out off just 37 balls in a top-class display of power hitting. Justin Ontong had motored to 35 off 27 balls to see the Lions to a solid start. Keith Dabengwa, the left-arm spinner, was the most successful Zimbabwe bowler with 2 for 34 as he bowled both Alviro Petersen (19) and Stephen Cook (22). But he was not the most impressive of their attack: Prosper Utseya conceded just 23 runs in his four overs.Zimbabwe were sluggish in the field, whereas the Lions had a pair of fielding stars in Deacon and Blake Snijman, who shared five outstanding boundary catches between them. The Zimbabweans will be cursing their poor batting displays in their last two matches after starting the campaign with a victory over the Eastern Cape Warriors in Port Elizabeth.
ScorecardAn all-round performance by Roelof van der Merwe helped the Titans to a convincing 31-run victory against the Warriors at Willowmoore Park in Benoni. van de Merwe hammered 66 off 30 balls, took 3 for 41 with his left-arm spin to lead his side’s domination in the tournament.Walking in at the end of the first over after the Titans opted to bat first, van de Merwe dominated a stand of 82 with Gulam Bodi, slamming ten fours and two sixes in just over half-an-hour at the crease. After Bodi’s dismissal with the score at 98 for 3, Francois du Plessis and Albie Morkel took control and added 43 in 4.3 overs before Wayne Parnell accounted for du Plessis. Morkel and Farhaan Behardien then combined to push the score past 170.The Warriors top order failed to convert their starts as Morkel and Ethy Mbhalati took early wickets to reduce them to 49 for 4. du Plessis, the legspinner, claimed two wickets in as many balls in his first over to sinks the opposition further. Davey Jacobs top scored with 33 off 24 balls before falling to van de Merwe in the 16th over. By then, the score read 118 for 8 and the target proved way out of reach for the lower order. du Plessis finished with 3 24, the best figures of the match.

Netherlands’s last-gasp fight to stay alive in the Intercontinental Cup begins tomorrow with their latest match against the UAE in Sharjah.Currently positioned fourth in the table on 34 points, Netherlands face a tall ask to stay in the race: they need to collect maximum points in their last remaining three matches if they’re to reach the final. Not even a draw will suffice.”There is no doubt that we need 60 points in the next three matches to reach the final and the countdown begins in Sharjah,” Jeroen Smits, the Netherlands captain, said. “To win this match, we need 20 UAE wickets which will not be easy because of different conditions and the UAE will not be an easy opponent in its own backyard. But we have all that is required to win matches.”The situation is equally clear for UAE, though they don’t share the same hopes of qualifying for the final. Languishing at second-to-bottom, tomorrow’s game is their seventh and last of the tournament and they have only pride to play for.”Prior to the start of the tournament, I never thought we would go into this match playing for nothing more than pride. But if we are in this situation, it is because we have not played to our full talent and potential,” Saqib Ali, the UAE captain, said. “The team is disappointed to be in this situation but it will not stop us from playing hard cricket against the Netherlands. We will try to finish the tournament on a winning note and try to restore our battered pride and confidence.”There have been some exceptionally good individual performances but we have not been able to put together a performance which could win us matches,” Ali said. “Frankly speaking, our batters didn’t put enough runs on the board to allow the bowlers attack the opposition. But we are keen to finish the tournament with a good collective effort.”Netherlands’ prospects were dealt a blow, however, with the news that their legspinner, Mangesh Panchal, will miss out. Additionally, there is a doubt surrounding Pieter Seelaar’s availability. He was hit in the face by a bouncer in the last match against Namibia. “He will confirm his availability before the toss on Thursday,” Smits said, “but he took active part in the training sessions and I am confident that he will declare himself fit.”SquadsNetherlands (from): Jeroen Smits (capt), Peter Borren, Mudassar Bukhari, Daan van Bunge, Ryan ten Doeschate, Tom de Grooth, Maurits Jonkman, Muhammad Kashif, Alexei Kervezee, Geert Maarten Mol, Edgar Schiferli, Pieter Seelaar, Eric Szwarczynski, Bas Zuiderent.UAE (from): Saqib Ali (capt), Arshad Ali, Khurram Khan, Mohammad Tauqir, Nizel Fernandes, Shadeep Silva, Fahad Alhashmi, Shoaib Sarwar, Alawi Shukri, Indika Batuwitaarachchi, Naeemuddin Aslam, Ahmed Raza, Muhammed Aman Ali, Amjad Ali, Rashid Khan, Salman Farooq, Abdul Rehman and Vikranath Shetty.

The loss of some of the best Australian players in history has not convinced Michael Clarke that the side is about to slide. Clarke, who has been promoted to vice-captain for the West Indies tour following Adam Gilchrist’s retirement, believes the team will not suffer any falls.Australia leave for the West Indies at the weekend for a three-Test tour and the squad carries a new look after the departures of Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist, Langer, Martyn and Hogg over the past two years. “Australia is playing as well as ever,” Clarke, who was part of the 2-1 Test win and CB Series loss to India, told the Sydney Morning Herald. “Our squad is as good as it has ever been. We have definitely lost a few great players in the last two years, but people come and go and the game stays the same.”The wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has come into the outfit and is in line for his Test debut while Stuart MacGill is back following wrist surgery. The bowlers Ashley Noffke, Beau Casson and Doug Bollinger have also been recruited for the Caribbean trip.”The new guys that have come in have put their hands up and a lot of the guys are looking forward to fulfilling their potential to do well,” Clarke said. “Both Ricky Ponting and I are excited for what is ahead for the Australian team.”After leading the side in the Twenty20 internationals last season, Clarke has now assumed more Test responsibility and will work as an intermediary between the newer members and Ponting. “I am 27 years of age,” he said. “I know all the young guys and they can come to me.”Clarke did not join some of his older team-mates in India for the IPL and his main travel during the international break involved a visit to the United States with his fiance Lara Bingle. His father Les has Hodgkin’s disease and being with family was more important than extra Twenty20 games after a busy summer.”I made the decision for my body and to spend time with my dad,” he said. “It was really nice to be able to spend some time with my family and Lara – it was fantastic for both of us to spend some time together before I headed off on this tour.”Clarke said he felt it was important to get away from the game and the limelight. “I really needed it,” he said. “I love cricket, but at times it can feel like being stuck in a garage and I wanted to get back to that place where you are so keen to get back into it.”He said he now feels fresh and he was full of enthusiasm at the start of Australia’s pre-tour camp in Brisbane on Monday. “It’s great to be back with all the boys,” he said, “and I’m really enjoying some outdoor cricket training.”

2013

October 8
News – Supreme Court appoints Mudgal Committee to investigate the case
November 2
News – IPL probe panel to meet Mumbai policeNovember 8
News – IPL probe panel meets SreesanthDecember 19
News – IPL probe panel meets Srinivasan, Gurunath

2014

January 19
News – Mudgal committee meets Ganguly, DalmiyaFebruary 10
News – Charges against Gurunath proved – IPL probe report
News – The rules Gurunath violated
Mudgal committee report – Full text
News – Many allegations of sporting fraud, says committee
News – Vet player agents properly – Mudgal report
Video – Do CSK have an escape route?
Features – Six astonishing lines from the Mudgal report
February 11
News – Mudgal Report not likely to hurt Srinivasan yet
March 27
News – ‘All players should not suffer’ – Justice Mudgal
April 9
News – BCCI seeks Dhoni’s deposition before Mudgal committee
April 22
News – Supreme Court asks Mudgal to continue probe
Video – Ugra: Mudgal makes BCCI uncomfortable
April 29
Video – ‘BCCI unwilling to play ball with Mudgal commission’
May 16
News – Mudgal to head investigation of IPL ‘sealed envelope’
June 8
News – Sourav Ganguly to join Mudgal probe panel
August 29
News – Mugdal panel submits interim reportSeptember 1
News – Mudgal Committee gets two-month extension for final report
November 3
News – Mudgal panel submits final report in IPL corruption case
November 14
News – Srinivasan named in Mudgal report
November 15
News – Mudgal committee clears three players named in Court
November 17
News – Srinivasan ignored player’s code of conduct violation, says Mudgal report
News – Investigations into Kundra ‘stopped abruptly’
News – BCCI could seek explanation from Sundar Raman
Profile – Who is Sundar Raman?
Video – Ugra: Srinivasan not in the clear yet

2015

January 22
News – New panel to take call on Kundra, MeiyappanApril 13
News – Board panel has 82 questions for BCCI bossesJuly 11
News – Lodha panel to announce punishment for Kundra, Meiyappan