Yuvraj posts bald picture on Twitter

Undergoing Chemotherapy for a malignant lung tumour, Yuvraj has gone bald and the Indian cricketer has posted his latest picture showing the after-effects of the treatment on Twitter.

“Finally the hair has gone! But #livstrong #yuvistrong,” Yuvraj Singh posted alongside a link to a picture of him without hair on the site.

The 30-year-old left-hander has been in the U.S. since last month and is currently undergoing chemotherapy in the Cancer Research Institute in Boston.

“I will fight and come back as a stronger man cause I have the prayers of my nation! Thank you to the media for their support and respecting my privacy,” Yuvraj singh had written earlier.

“and of course everyday I look forward to come back and wear my india jersey my india cap and represent my country again jai hind,” he had stated.

Giving a glimpse into his routine there, Yuvraj today tweeted “20 minutes cycle in the gym felt good after a while!” “Amuls new ad is very cute I must say!” he added referring to a new print ad by the dairy product company, which goes with the tagline ‘Yu and Vi will fight it out together’.

Keywords: lung tumour, Yuvraj Singh

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Ausis manages to come on top in a thriller

As the ball soared high into the night sky, you could have heard a pin drop in the arena. The miscued blow seemed to be in the air forever – such was the tension - before being picked up by Daniel Christian at long-on. The home crowd roared.

Mathews and his partner D.Prasad were in agony. Bowler Mitchell Starc's visage reflected relief. And the Australians converged after surviving a scare. What a match!

The host, defending 231, clinched a nerve-jangling encounter of fortune swings by five runs at the WACA in the Commonwealth Bank triangular ODI series here on Friday. Yet, the win exposed chinks in the Australian side; the batting could be vulnerable and the bowling lacked experience at the death.

A heroic innings by Mathews (64, 76b, 4x4, 1x6) and his against-all-odds last wicket partnership of 46 with last man D.Prasad (15 not out) provided the drama as the Aussies seemed to lose plot.

The last over had drama and passion. Mathews was up against left-arm seamer Starc and Sri Lanka needed 18 runs. The all-rounder thwacked the first ball, lacking in length, past the mid-wicket ropes. And the second delivery, a fuller delivery, was clobbered over the long-off fence for a six.

Then,Angelo Mathews flicked for a single to deep square-leg. Prasad played one to deep point off the fourth ball and the batsmen scampered a cheeky single. Six more were needed from two and the big and strongAngelo Mathews took strike. Starc sent down a short-pitched delivery but the Sri Lankan, for once, could not quite connect properly. This was the match's final twist.

Before that mishit,Angelo Mathews had batted with remarkable composure, collecting the ones and the twos with deft placements, delivering the odd big blow, inspiring his partners and believing in himself.

Australia now has nine points from two games, India, four from two and Sri Lanka none from two. Australian skipper Michael Clarke who made a valuable 57 – he anchored the innings – and then marshalled his resources under pressure was named Man of the Match.

The surface for this game was different from the other games at the WACA. This was a slower track and medium-paced cut and spin were more effective weapons here. Left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty impressed with his turn and control. Wicket-keeper Mathew Wade failed with the willow but was involved in five dismissals including a superb, diving catch to dismiss Nuwan Kulasekara.

The run-out of Kumar Sangakkara proved the turning point. A confident K.Sangakkara (22) set off for a run after failing in his bid to flick but was turned back by Tillakaratne Dilshan. Bowler Clint McKay, however, raced in to pick up the loose ball from close to the pitch and scored a direct hit.

Putting the opposition under stress, the Aussies continued to pick big wickets. Paceman Ryan Harris got one to cut back into Tilakaratna Dilshan (40) from short-of-a-good-length and Wade pouched the edge. The opener had batted with a mix of luck and flair.

Support seamer Daniel Christian secured the prize scalp of Mahela Jayawardene when the Sri Lankan captain tried to steer a short-pitched delivery cutting into him. The talented Chandimal (37) was a tad unlucky to be adjudged leg-before to Clarke's left-arm spin when he missed a whip.

In the afternoon, the Aussies struggled for momentum after being inserted. Nicking an away seamer from Kulasekara, Wade departed early. The duel between the explosive David Warner and the mercurial Lasith Malinga was engrossing. Warner, with his quick bat-speed, blasted Malinga down the ground. The paceman responded with a scorching Yorker, which the left-hander just managed to dig out.

Even as much focus was on the face-off between these two flamboyant cricketers, Malinga removed Ricky Ponting, who played across to one that nipped back. The Sri Lankans meant business. The disciplined bowling was backed by slick fielding.

It wasAngelo Mathews who ended Warner's innings. The canny seamer bowled wicket-to-wicket and cramped Warner for room. The southpaw (34) played on. Skipper Clarke held firm at one end but a sensational return catch by Kulasekara, diving to his right, ended Michael Hussey's promising innings.

Clarke, at the other end, displayed glimpses of his footwork. When Senanayake gave the ball air, Clarke danced down the track and smacked the ball over the bowler's head. The off-spinner, who had come in for pace bowling all-rounder Thisara Perera, was tidy for most part.

Malinga returned to send David Hussey (27) back – the batsman attempted to flick the paceman but the leading edge was well pouched by a diving Thirimanne at short cover. Daniel Christian waded into the bowling, dismissing Prasad for three fours, all between mid-wicket and square-leg; this also indicated the paceman was bowling the wrong line.

Christian (33) struck Senanayake was a rousing straight six but the off-spinner had the last laugh, deceiving the advancing batsman with flight. Soon, Clarke's fighting vigil (57 off 88) ended when he could not keep a flick offAngelo Mathews down; his opposite number Jayawardene held a sharp catch at mid-wicket. A few useful blows from McKay and Starc kept Australia in the hunt.

Scoreboard: Australia: D. Warner bAngelo Mathews 34 (29b, 4x4, 1x6), M. Wade c K.Sangakkara b Kulasekara 1 (5b), R. Ponting lbw b Malinga 1 (4b), M. Clarke c Jayawardene bAngelo Mathews 57 (88b, 4x4); M. Hussey c & b Kulasekara 23 (32b, 3x4), David  Hussey c Thirimanne b Malinga 27 (38b, 2x4, 1x6), D. Christian st. K.Sangakkara b Senanayake 33 (44b, 4x4, 1x6), R. Harris c Kulasekara b Senanayake 3 (9b), C. McKay c Thirimanne b Prasad 25 (25b, 3x4), M. Starc c Tharanga b Prasad 14 (19b, 1x4), X. Doherty (not out) 2 (2b), Extras (lb-6, w-5) 11; Total (all out in 49.1 overs) 231.

Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Wade), 2-26 (Ponting), 3-50 (Warner), 4-81 (M. Hussey), 5-130 (David  Hussey), 6-186 (Christian), 7-190 (Clarke), 8-192 (Harris), 9-224 (Starc).

Sri Lanka bowling: Malinga 10-0-48-2, Kulasekara 10-0-39-2,Angelo Mathews 9-0-37-2, D. Prasad 9.1-0-55-2, Senanayake 10-0-45-2, Tilakaratna Dilshan 1-0-1-0.

Sri Lanka: U. Tharanga c Clarke b Starc 5 (13b, 1x4), T. Tilakaratna Dilshan c Wade b Harris 40 (57b, 4x4), K. K.Sangakkara (run out) 22 (32b, 3x4), D. Chandimal lbw b Clarke 37 (50b, 4x4), M. Jayawardene c Wade b Christian 13 (13b, 1x4), L. Thirimanne b Doherty 3 (6b), A.Angelo Mathews c Christian b Starc 64 (76b, 4x4, 1x6), N. Kulasekara c Wade b Christian 8 (11b), Senanayake st. Wade b Doherty 9 (24b), L. Malinga c Wade b McKay 1 (6b), D. Prasad (not out) 15 (11b, 1x4), Extras (lb-3, w-6) 9; Total (all out in 49.5 overs) 226.

Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Tharanga), 2-61 (K.Sangakkara), 3-88 (Tilakaratna Dilshan), 4-110 (Jayawardene), 5-119 (Thirimanne), 6-129 (Chandimal), 7-143 (Kulasekara), 8-175 (Senanayake), 9-180 (Malinga).

Australia bowling: Harris 10-0-43-1, Starc 9.5-0-50-2, McKay 10-0-50-1, Christian 8-1-47-2, Doherty 10-0-24-2, Clarke 2-0-9-1.

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Pull through india against Sri Lanka

India lived at the death at the WACA here on Wednesday. The side found unlikely batting heroes in R.Jadeja and  Ashwin who held their nerve in the cauldron.

At the end of it all, M.S.Dhoni's team clinched a match of twist and turns by four wickets. The side now has four points from two matches in the Commonwealth Bank triangular ODI series. Ausis has five from one and Sri Lanka is yet to open its account.

India required 53 runs from 14 overs – the side was 181 for four – when R.Ashwin joined R.Jadeja. Sri Lanka, which has made 233 for eight after electing to bat, was closing in for the kill.

R.Ashwin (30 not out) and R.Jadeja (24 not out), both spin bowling all-rounders, handled the situation with a calm mind. They collected ones and two by relying on deft placements. Only when the ball was lacking in direction or length did they venture into the bigger strokes.

R.Jadeja cut  Dilshan bowling off-spin – Sri Lanka erred by going into the match without a specialist spinner – while R.Ashwin timed paceman L. Malinga through wide mid-off and pulled seamer D. Prasad past the ropes. Soon, India was home.

Ashwin, who had contained and struck with his off-spin to finish with figures of three for 32 in the Sri Lankan innings, was adjudged Man of the Match.

Virat Kohli's 94-ball 77 held the Indian innings together. The fiesty Kohli's commitment to the team's cause was exemplary. He put a price on his wicket, got solidly behind the line and handled the lifting deliveries capably.

The right-hander flicked with aplomb and pulled with  apart from running hard between the wickets. V.Kohli also blasted D.Prasad over the straight-field for a six.

Moments later, he pushed one to mid-on and set off for a single.

Malinga took him out with a direct hit. Cramping and in pain, the brave V.Kolhi left the arena in dejection.


p1 by skycrickethighlights Jadeja and Ashwin left him smiling at the end of the match though. India required a start but V.Sehwag, failing in his ploy to harness the bounce in the surface, was caught at third man off slinger Malinga.

Sachin Sachin rolled back the years when he – his feet movement in harmony – eased Malinga through mid-off . Sachin (48) looked good for more when he tried to dab an off-cutter from paceman Angelo Mathews and played on.

India failed to build sizable partnerships. Never appearing organised with his footwork on a lively pitch, R.Sharma succumbed to seamer Thisara Perera; Tillakaratne Dilshan came up with a blinder at point.

Suresh Raina promised much with a couple of rapier-like cover and off drives before being gobbled up by the short ball by Mathews – the left-hander simply does not get into a proper position to essay the pull.

Dhoni too perished to a pull off Prasad; Malinga ran back at wide mid-on to hold a fine catch.

Earlier, Zaheer Khan, back in the eleven, bowled with rhythm and precision. And off-spinner Ashwin rediscovered his control to bowl with heart and craft.

Bowling is a lot about partnerships – pressure has to created from both the ends – and Zaheer khan combined wonderfully with Ashwin in a probing pace-spin association.

Between them, the two sent down 14 Power Play overs in which their returns were four wickets for 42.

Ashwin impressed in the batting Power Play – taken between overs 36 and 40 – sending down three overs for just 10 runs while scalping two.

It was an influential piece of bowling at a critical juncture.

Mahela Jayawardene top-edged a sweep and was splendidly held by R.Sharma. Then the big-hitting Perera was done in by a sharp off-spinner from round-the-wicket; Dhoni pulled off a smart stumping.

R.Aswin got his off-spinners to turn, switched his line to the right and the left-handers capably and employed the carrom ball judiciously.

Crucially, the variations were not of a predictable nature as he altered his trajectory and surprised the batsmen by releasing from behind the crease.


p3 by skycrickethighlights The off-spinner then consumed the talented Dinesh Chandimal with a delivery, angled across the right-hander, from round the wicket. The carrom ball got big on Chandimal and Dhoni did well to effect another stumping.

Dhoni had earlier defied gravity in the manner of a soccer goal-keeper to come up with the ball after Zaheer khan straightened one to find the edge of the left-handed Kumar Sangakkara's bat.

India picked one more paceman – Zaheer khan replaced injured leg-spinner Rahul Sharma. A 3-2 combination meant there was greater balance in the Indian attack.

For Sri Lanka, opener Dilshan (48) drove fluently off either foot and pulled well before being unable to keep a cut off left-arm spinner Jadeja down.

Chandimal (64) used his feet nicely to bind the innings and the strong Mathews gave the Lankans some fillip towards the end.

These runs were not enough for the islanders.

Keywords: India's tour of Australia

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Peter Forrest's strength comes from battling adversity

At his first cricket training session when he was seven-years-old, Forrest felt so humiliated after he tripped and landed flat on his face as he ran into bowl that he pleaded for his grandfather Ern to take him home because he was ''hopeless''.
But those close to Peter Forrest say that the 26-year-old possesses an old-school toughness that's allowed him to cope with events that could have left him broken and bitter. Now, he is on the verge of making his Ausis debut during the one-day series that starts against India at the MCG today.
His mother, Vanda, died of cancer when he was 18. His father, Ian, a former Parramatta rugby league front-rower who was known as ''Brutus'', because he resembled the Popeye character, died of a heart attack in 2008 as his pride and joy prepared to play a Sheffield Shield match.

''You couldn't understand it unless you go through it,'' Forrest said. ''I have been fortunate to have good people around me like my nan and aunty. Fiancee Rachel [Barker] has been great too, but that's a given, and I am lucky to have a big group of friends.
''I suppose it comes back to the person I am. I'm not a negative person; I'm not going to sit around and feel sorry for myself. There are the times when I feel really sad. I was 18 when Mum died and 23 when Dad passed away, and I remember I thought to myself, 'I'm young and have a long time to live so I'm not going to sit around and be sad'. It'd be a miserable life if you felt sorry for yourself all the time.''
His aunt Janine, who videotaped perhaps every  rugby league game he played from age four then became the scorer for his cricket teams, fills in the story Peter Forrest leaves half-finished by saying ''it's hard to answer''.
''Vanda was diagnosed with breast cancer as he was about to start high school,'' Janine said. ''He was the kind of kid you needed to tell the whole truth to. I remember him at the time walking around with a medical textbook and getting his mother to point out what was going on. She went to his graduation Mass at high school, went into a coma a day or so later and then died a couple of days later.
''Peter did his HSC a month after she died, which took huge guts. The truth is, well, he didn't like school that much, but Vanda wanted him to have an education so I think he did it for her.''
On the field, the batter's mind, says Forrest, can play tricks after hours at the crease.
But Forrest, who plays for Queen sland, appreciated early in his first-class career that the true warriors were those who planted their feet and gritted their teeth when the mind and the body started to negotiate terms of the wicket's surrender.
''When you're young you think the mental stuff comes naturally and easily,'' he said. ''But as you get older and you're batting for three, maybe four hours your mind starts to play tricks; starts to think 60 or 70 is pretty good, and that's the point when you need to dig in and go on and get those big scores.
''That's the challenge, and I don't know if you can train for that mindset, but you definitely build it over time. I'm a committed batsman, like most batsmen are. In the past I fought hard for my wicket, but I think that was also done at the detriment of my game. I had pack away a few shots rather than play my natural game. This year  Darren Lehmann encouraged me to relax, play my natural game and that seems to work. I will always fight hard, but I'll back myself and if it doesn't come off I'll be happy I tried.''
Forrest had visualised himself playing for Australia against India today from the moment he was named in the squad.
''You can't help but do that once you get the call. You just want to play, and if it does happen today  I will make the most of my opportunity,'' he said.

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Top-order batting let us down: MS.Dhoni

India's string of defeats away from home continues . The side has now lost 8 Tests, 3 ODIs and two twenty20 games beginning with the tour of England last year.

After yet another set back here on Wednesday, India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said the top-order batting let the side down.

“If a couple of the top order batsmen had stayed longer, it would have been much easier for the new batsman coming in to play his shots with someone else stable at the other end. But that did not happen for us today,” he said.

He added the drizzle too did not help the team's cause after he had clinched the spin of the coin. “In England, we didn't win any of the tosses, it rained in the second innings and our bowling suffered because of that.

“This is the first toss I won over here and going by the forecast I thought we would be better off chasing. Around 170 runs would have been a good score to chase if the wicket had remained the same.>>>

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Bharat looks to avoid T20 whitewash

India has to find that exclusive spark of inspiration to end a nightmarish sequence of overseas setbacks. It needs a victory  in any format  like oxygen.

The side's 31-run defeat in the first KFC Twenty20 international at Sydney's Olympic Stadium on Wednesday meant India had now lost eight Tests, three ODIs, and two Twenty20 games in its last 15 matches on foreign soil.

During this period, an ODI ended in a no-result while another was a tie (both in England) but India failed to get the better of its opponent even once. Losing has become a dangerous habit. Belief – confidence is its off-shoot – has been a missing attribute in the Indian team.

Indeed, confident sides win more and Australia, presently, oozes belief. Pushed to the wall, India has to fight back. Under the circumstances, the second Twenty20 here at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Friday assumes significance.>>>

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Dilshan quits, jayawardene takes Over

sri lanka’s successful captain in the post-Muralitharan era, Tillakaratne Dilshan has submitted his resignation as captain of the national team to Chairman of the National Selection Committee with immediate effect.

“dilshan has resigned as captain in all three formats of the game. Members of the Executive committee take this opportunity to thank Dilshan for his commitment and dedication during his tenure as the National Captain. We also wish him well as he continues to represent Sri Lanka as a National Player,” a note from Sri Lanka Cricket, the governing body, said.>>>

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