Virat Kohli likely to keep the No. 6 spot in the team

After an unscheduled day off and another spent travelling and enjoying the New Year festivities, the Indians began their preparation for the second Test.

The team had a two-and-a-half hour practice session at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday morning. Watched by national selectors Mohinder Amarnath and Narendra Hirwani, the batsmen had the nets on wickets that were similar in appearance to the grassy pitch in the middle of the SCG.

Sachin Tendulkar, as he often does, had a net to himself, batting against throw-downs and bowlers from 16 yards. The great man was in good spirits, directing the bowlers to test various parts of his games. He kept up a conversation, talking about why he played a certain shot a certain way and what he would have done had the length been different. continuereading

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Australia will win 4-0, predicts McGrath

Pace legend Glenn McGrath foresees Australia whitewashing India 4-0 in the ongoing Test series as he feels the home team’s pace bowling attack, especially the young James Pattinson, gives it a decisive edge over the visitors.

“Yesterday, I said 3-0 but I stuffed up because I thought there were only three Tests. But definitely 4-0 now,” said McGrath at the SCG where he was promoting McGrath Foundation for breast cancer.

“The way the guys have played at the moment I’ve been very impressed. I think a team builds itself around a bowling attack and you look at the bowling attack the team has at the moment.

“It will give the rest of the guys a lot of confidence so I’m very confident, as confident as I’ve been in years that this team is something special and expecting big things from them too,” he added. continuereading

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Australian cricketers lost respect for Tendulkar after Monkeygate: report

In an attack on Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, an Australian newspaper slammed the batting maestro for backing his teammate Harbhajan Singh during the 2008 ‘Monkeygate’ scandal here, saying some Australian players lost respect for him after the incident.

“While the cricket world is abuzz with anticipation that the Little Master will score his 100th international century during the second Test in Sydney, beginning tomorrow, some recent Australian players have not forgiven his role in the Andrew Symonds ‘Monkeygate’ scandal,” The ‘Herald Sun’s Malcom Conn wrote in a column titled ‘Sachin’s Sin City’

The writer goes on to state that the ‘Monkeygate’ scandal will forever haunt Tendulkar. continuereading

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