India win Kanpur test - 100rd Test wins

Sri Lanka were dismissed for 269 by India in their second innings to lose the second test match at Kanpur by an innings and 144 runs. India played brillantly first by posting such a huge score and then their bowlers forced the Lankan batsmen to commit mistakes and bowled them twice. Following are the important landmark of this match

• India registered their 100th Test match victory.
• India's third biggest win in terms of handing over the opponent an innings defeat.
• Man of the Match: S.Sreesanth

Scores

• India 1st innings : 642 all out
• Sri Lanka 1st innings : 229 all out
• Sri Lanka 2nd innings : 269 all out

History of India Test wins:

• 1st Test win - v/s England at Madras 1951-52
• 50th Test win - v/s Srilanka at Lucknow 1993-94
• 100rd Test win- v/s Srilanka at Kanpur 2009-10

BCCI awards contract for 2009-10 season

BCCI has released the names of 41 Indian players who will be contracted for the 2009-10 season.

• Fast bowler Ashish Nehra has been awarded a grade B contract.
• Irfan Pathan has been demoted to grade C because of his poor performance.

Grade A: Retainership of Rs 60 lakh


Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh.



Grade B: Retainership of Rs 40 lakh

Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Munaf Patel, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra.



Grade C: Retainership of Rs 25 lakh

Irfan Pathan, S Badrinath, Wasim Jaffer, Yusuf Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, S Sreesanth, Dinesh Karthik, Amit Mishra.



Grade D: Retainership of Rs 15 lakh

Piyush Chawla, Ravindra Jadeja, Robin Uthappa, Parthiv Patel, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mohammed Kaif, Virat Kohli, Ashok Dinda, Wriddhiman Saha, M Vijay, R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Sudeep Tyagi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Abhishek Nayar, Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary.

Is Michael Schumacher returning to F1 2010?

BBC Sport pundit Eddie Jordan has created a sensation by predicting that Michael Schumacher is poised for a sensational return to formula1 with the Mercedes team."The possibility is being actively pursued and I believe it is going to happen," said Jordan.

Schumacher's spokeswoman Sabine Kehm told BBC Sport a return was "highly unlikely - but never say never".

Schumacher is currently contracted to Ferrari as a consultant so why is he linked to Mercedes a team which took over last year champions Brawn GP. Before his debut with Jordan, Schumacher drove sports car for Mercedes who actually paid Jordan to give Schumacher a race seat. So you see why Schumacher is linked to Mercedes. Also when the dominance of Schumacher was at its prime some felt that specators were losing interest because of  his dominance so he was somewhat forced to announce his retirement and the sly Bernie Ecclestone may have had a hand in it. But with Schumacher exit Formula1 was never  the same and more people lost interest in  it, add to it the various scandals that were associated with F1. So now if Schumacher was to return it will give a big boost to F1 as it was seen when Ferrari wanted him for the injured Massa.

If Michael returns he will reunite with team boss Ross Brawn with whom he has won all seven titles at Benetton and Ferrari. But will he really return or is this just speculation lets just wait and watch.

Button walks away to Mclaren for 2010 season

Current world champion and Brawn GP driver Jensen Button has confirmed that he will drive for Mclaren next season and will be partnering former world champion Lewis Hamilton for the 2010 season. Since 1968 it will be the first time that two British drivers are placed together in a team. Button described leaving the Brawn team for whom he won the title as a "difficult decision".
But the 29-year-old added: "Life is about challenges. Most important of all, it's about challenging yourself." "I've followed the McLaren team ever since I was a small boy, and it feels unbelievable to finally be a part of it.
"When I visited the McLaren Technology Centre earlier this month, it wasn't simply the technical resources and the incredible standards of excellence that impressed me.
"No, I was equally struck by the ambition, the motivation and the winning spirit that flow through everybody there. And then there's the team's epic history: put it this way, the trophy cabinets seem to stretch for miles.
"From a personal point of view, it's also a great pleasure to be joining a fellow British world champion.

"It has always been our policy to employ the two very best possible drivers," said McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh.
"In Jenson and Lewis, we feel we not only have the fastest pairing on the 2010 grid but also the two most complete, professional and dedicated drivers in Formula One.
"I want to make clear that Jenson's decision to join us was in no way motivated by money. We'll be paying him no more than he could be getting elsewhere."

This means that Lewis Hamilton partner this year Heikki Kovalainen has to find a place with some other team if he wants to drive for the new season.

Meanwhile Mercedes which took over Brawn GP have signed German Nico Rosberg as one of their drivers and fellow German Nick Heidfeld is a hot favorite for the other seat.

So after an all British driver line up with Mclaren are we looking at an all German driver line up at Mercedes for the 2010 season.

Brawn GP say bye to 2010 Formula1

Another new surprise in Formula1 and this time its the constructor champions Brawn GP who are responsible. Mercedes have taken over Brawn GP and will be known as Silver Arrows. Ross Brawn would still remain the principal for the team while Mercedes will continue to supply engine to their partner Mclaren at least untill 2015.

Mercedes have a 40 percent stake in Mclaren who have now announced that they would buy back from Mercedes this 40 percent stake by 2011. The new arrangement removes potential conflicts arising from McLaren’s plans to begin manufacturing its own range of high-performance production sports cars from 2011, part of the group’s long-term strategy to widen its commercial activities. Mercedes have still to confirm their drivers line up for the 2010 season with Barichello already moving out and Button searching for a place with Mclaren.

Brawn GP’s UK factory in Brackley is less than 30 miles from Mercedes’ Formula One engine plant at Brixworth, which should make for a highly-efficient operation to be coordinated by the familiar figure of Norbert Haug, Vice-President of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport.

“It is our target to develop a model for our Formula One activities which will initially be run with significantly reduced budgets by Mercedes-Benz and which, in the foreseeable future, will be self-financing,” commented Haug.“Furthermore, we naturally want to inspire our faithful spectators and TV viewers worldwide and maximize media coverage for our brand. With Formula One, Mercedes-Benz can continue to clearly demonstrate its willingness to compete and win on the most important motor sports competition stage in the world.”

Sachin Tendulkar completes 20years in cricket

20 years ago a little gem called Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar made his debut for India and today he holds numerous records in both forms of the game. Lets salute the Master Blaster and take a look at history.

Not many remember that during his debut tour to Pakistan there was a 20 over exibition match played where Sachin scored 53 runs of just 18 balls. It has to be best remembered for him hitting the Pakistani leggie Abdul Qadir for 28 runs in one over. Later the then captain Kris Srikant said"Its one of the best innings that I have seen."

Sachin quotes:

"When I started learning cricket from my coach Ramakant Achrekar,I was told clearly by him that not only should I respect the game, I should worship cricket also and then only cricket will take care of me. I still believe in that."

"I wanted to be as solid as Sunil Gavaskar and as destructive as Vivian Richards because that combination was always going to be lethal. I felt truly inspired by these two individuals on the field."

Pakistan tour of New Zealand 2009

Tue Nov 24 - Sat Nov 28 11:00 local | 22:00 GMT 01:00 AST +1d | 02:00 GST +1d	1st Test - New Zealand v Pakistan University Oval, Dunedin
Thu Dec 3 - Mon Dec 7 11:00 local | 22:00 GMT 01:00 AST +1d | 02:00 GST +1d	2nd Test - New Zealand v Pakistan Basin Reserve, Wellington
Fri Dec 11 - Tue Dec 15 11:00 local | 22:00 GMT 01:00 AST +1d | 02:00 GST +1d	3rd Test - New Zealand v Pakistan McLean Park, Napier

England tour of South Africa 2009

Match Date	Team	Time	Type	Venue
11/13/2009	South Africa vs England	21:30 (IST)	1st Twenty20 International	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
11/15/2009	South Africa vs England	18:00 (IST)	2nd Twenty20 International	Centurion, Tshwane
Match Date	Team	Time	Type	Venue
12/16/2009	South Africa vs England	14:00 (IST)	1st Test	Centurion, Tshwane
12/26/2009	South Africa vs England	14:00 (IST)	2nd Test	Kingsmead, Durban
Match Date	Team	Time	Type	Venue
11/20/2009	South Africa vs England	18:00 (IST)	1st ODI	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
11/22/2009	South Africa vs England	13:30 (IST)	2nd ODI	Centurion, Tshwane
11/27/2009	South Africa vs England	18:00 (IST)	3rd ODI	Newlands, Cape Town
11/29/2009	South Africa vs England	13:30 (IST)	4th ODI	St George's Park, Port Elizabeth
12/4/2009	South Africa vs England	18:00 (IST)	5th ODI	Kingsmead, Durban

Formula1- Offseason news

Catch below all the offseason news in formula1

Renault to decide F1 future by end of year
Crashgate has taken a toll on the french carmaker and they have announced that they will make an announcement about their future participation by the end ofthe year. For complete news goto
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/racing/top-stories/Renault-to-decide-F1-future-by-end-of-year/articleshow/5200644.cms

Toyota pulls out of formula1 - After Honda now its the turn of another Japanese carmaker to pull out of Formula1. For complete coverage goto http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/racing/top-stories/Toyota-pulls-out-of-Formula-One-racing-/articleshow/5195904.cms
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2009/11/where_does_toyota_pullout_leav.html

Comeback decison was not rational : Michael Schumacher
Schumacher has said that his decison to return behind the wheels was more of a emotional decison than a rational one. Read on for the complete news
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/racing/top-stories/Comeback-decision-was-not-rational-Schumacher/articleshow/5192955.cms