India Vs Australia T20: India Win T20 Match by 6 wickets With Australia

India Win T20 With Australia, Rajkot

India Win By 6 Wickets

MAN OF THE MATCH: YUVRAJ SINGH

IND 200/4 (19.4 Ovs)               AUS 201/7 (20.0 Ovs)

Yuvraj Singh*    77 (35)

MS Dhoni*         24 (21) 

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India Vs Australia T20: India Win T20 Match by 6 wickets With Australia

India Win T20 With Australia, Rajkot

India Win By 6 Wickets

MAN OF THE MATCH: YUVRAJ SINGH

IND 200/4 (19.4 Ovs)               AUS 201/7 (20.0 Ovs)

Yuvraj Singh*	77 (35)
MS Dhoni*	24 (21)

ICC Team Ranking – September

Top ICC teams in all three formats of the game have been summarised in this piece with all the points that can be gathered in the upcoming days. Have a look into the Top Teams of all three formats.

ODI RANKING:

1.  India

The world champions’ side has continued to dominate the Reliance ICC ODI rankings with an impressive 123 points from 48 matches they played this year. They are 8 points ahead of the Australians whom they will be meeting soon. With a gruelling session ahead, the young Indian side led by the Captain Cool ‘MS Dhoni’ will look to extend their lead over the Aussies with another series win.

2. Australia
The Aussies who lost the Ashes recently to England has held on to their second spot with 115 points from 37 matches. They lead the English team by 4 rating points and may slip to third spot if they lose the series against India. Michael Clarke led team will face an uphill task against the formidable Indian squad in the 7 match series which starts the 10^th of October.

3. England
England who lost their ODI series against Australia earlier this year is on 111 points 4 points behind the Aussies. They can avenge for the loss with a late tour to Australia this year. They may become the second ranked team if India beats Australia 5-2. Cook and his co will be preparing themselves with their own upcoming fixtures.

4. Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has surpassed South Africa in August and has continued to hold on to their position at the spot to till now. They have the same points of 11 but from 49 matches and now lead the South Africa by 6 points.

5. South Africa
The top ranked Test team lurks in the fifth spot with 105 points in the kitty. With a recent loss to Pakistan hurting their cause badly, South Africa will have few valuable points and places to earn with forth coming series against India.


TEST RANKING:

1. South Africa

The Proteus clearly leads the ICC Test Ranking with a 135 points rating which is far higher than the second ranked England and India. They have won almost all the Test series this year and rarely tasted defeats. With the Indian contigents set to arrive at their soil later this year. They will look to extend their run on top.

2. England
With the legendary Ashes in their trophy cabinet, England has earned some very valuable points and is in joint second place with the Indians. They had a very dominating 3-0 win against the Aussies that helped them to leap frog from 4^th to 2^nd. They will have to continue their performance in the return leg Ashes at Australia, if they wish to hold on to their spot.

3. India
With two 4-0 foreign drubbing in the hands of England and Australia earlier this year, India has come back very strongly with a series win over England at home. They are tied second spot with England at 111 points and now have the chance to repay against a not so formidable Australia in the home series starting 10^th October. They will try to earn their lost respect and some lost points along with it.

4. Australia
With a 3-0 loss in the Ashes against England early this month, once formidable Australia looks a pale shadow of themselves these days. With retirements of Ponting, M.Hussey hurting their cause badly, Aussies will be varying of the Indian threat in their back yard. They have many points to grab and seriously some lost respect. They remain in 4^th spot with 102 points.

5. West Indies
The Caribbean side is at the fifth spot with 99 points as Pakistan moved down the ladder after their levelled series with Zimbabwe. West Indies is yet to show promise against top ranked test teams and has now a good chance to displace the Aussies from the chart.


T-20 RANKING

1. Sri Lanka

The Sub continent team leads the shortest format of the game with 128 points from 21 matches. The team which boast of the many high profile T-20 specialist have a formidable lead over the others and might continue to hold the post till next month.

2. Pakistan
The Pakistan is ranked second in the T-20 format with 125 points, 3 points behind the top ranked Sri Lankan team. A consistent performance in this format of the game might have taken a toll on their other formats. But definitely Pakistan is a team to beat in the shortest format.

3. India
India is the team that has played the lowest number of matches among the test playing nations. They have 121 points from the 18 matches they played this year and are currently ranked third. They can move to 2^nd spot if they win 3-0 in the upcoming series against Australia at home.

4. West Indies
A team which have the likes of Gayle and Pollard in the team is expected to be on the top. But as a team they are yet to produce top class stuff. They are ranked fourth with 120 points.

5. South Africa
The South African, who are yet to win an ICC event, is ranked fifth in Reliance ICC T-20 Rankings with 118 points. They have played 28 matches this year and have a win percentage of 54%.

I don't try to be a paragon of virtue: Rahul Dravid

While praising the T20 format for the exposure it gives to Indian youngsters, Rahul Dravid also stressed on the fact that Test cricket and fans of the longer format deserve equal respect.

Rahul Dravid's storied career is in its final stages, and the Champions League Twenty20 2013 is likely to be his last outing as a cricketer. It's been a series of triumphant peaks in Test matches and One-Day Internationals with a few troughs in between, but Dravid will wind down with Twenty20 cricket, the game's newest format. It's already guaranteed to end on a successful note, Dravid having led Rajasthan Royals to the top of the table in the league stages.

After qualifying for the semifinal, Dravid took time out to speak to Wisden India in a freewheeling chat that covered the gamut from India's tour of South Africa and the importance of salary caps in the IPL, to Rajasthan's strategy at the auction table. Excerpts:

Your last few days of competitive cricket. Has anything changed in your thought process before a match or in the celebrations after a match? Clearly, the approach to training hasn't changed, you're still at every optional practice session.

It's not really changed too much at all. I have the kind of personality that I always look ahead than look at what's happened. It does help a lot, especially when you've done badly or you've failed. It's instinctive of me that I look at what's next, I look ahead a lot, and start preparing for that, in victory and in defeat. That hasn't changed on a personal level.

Maybe I cherish it more. I've never been one to have big parties and wild nights after we win. That hasn't changed, I don't do that now. But I think I've relaxed a lot more and I cherish the conversations and the time that we spend after games a lot more, whether it's in someone's room having a few drinks or down at the bar or the restaurant. I'm cherishing some of the friendships and the environment that we've created here, which is a pretty good one.

Looking back at the IPL from its start in 2008, how do you see the evolution of franchise cricket in India?

There's no doubt it's growing all the time. You must remember that when you compare the IPL with say some of the English Premier League sides, they've been around for close to 100 years. But it's remarkable how much people have started identifying with some of the teams they support in six years, especially in the cities you play in. You can sense that there is a fan following and it's growing. There are people who are not in the cities that have teams, and they too pick a particular team to support. It is still a little bit based on individuals also. So a lot of MS Dhoni fans will support his team, irrespective of where they are. People in Chennai will of course support Chennai Super Kings, but I'm talking of people outside the city. It is a little bit player based, but it's slowly moving from that to being a lot more about the franchise, and I think that will keep growing. It's still early days yet, and six years is not a very long period. But in time, I truly believe that if the IPL stays relevant and keeps providing good cricket, you will soon find that irrespective of where players play, people will start supporting particular franchises. Once they start understanding the culture of a franchise and what it stands for, you will start seeing a shift. It may take a bit of time, but I can already see it's moving in that direction.

Do you think every franchise has started developing its own unique identity?

There is uniqueness, definitely. Whether they're trying to develop it or whether it happens spontaneously, sometimes without thinking about it... Each one develops a certain kind of image or culture, or a brand so to speak, and it's slowly happening. You're finding that people are supporting that, outside of the cities that are playing. Obviously, a person from Mumbai will support Mumbai Indians, but this is more for those outside India and in the other cities. The IPL is only eight or nine teams and there are so many other cities and towns in the country.

At the start of the IPL in 2008, you had said 'If this was ten years ago, I'd have cracked it'. Six years on, you seem to have cracked it. How do you view your own evolution as a Twenty20 batsman?

The point I was trying to make about 'cracking' the format was that I was trying to tell people it's an important thing to have these multi-dimensional skills. There are three formats in the game now and a youngster coming up has to learn how to play in all three formats, to almost stay relevant. If Twenty20 was as important when I was a kid as it's becoming now, I would have spent time focusing on trying to be good at all three formats. I've played it for six years now, with some good years, some bad years, some good games. Overall, I've enjoyed playing it. The IPL is quite a tournament. It captures the imagination of India for two months. It's tough and intense. I mean, nothing can ever take away the satisfaction and joy I got from playing Test cricket. That will always be No. 1 for me. But I've really enjoyed being part of the first six years of the IPL and seeing it evolve.

What do you think is the role of an anchor in a Twenty20 match?

It's not so much an anchor, it's about a quality player being able to play quality bowling. If you look at the bowling attacks in most IPL teams, they have the likes of Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Mitchell Johnson playing for them. We have Jimmy Faulkner. You need to have a certain level of skill to be able to play that kind of bowling upfront. Just because you are a kind of big hitter in domestic cricket against domestic bowling doesn't guarantee you'll be able to do it at this level against that quality of bowling. It is a step up, without a doubt, from domestic cricket. It's a step below international cricket, but it's above domestic cricket. So you need players who have a bit of quality. I won't call it an anchor, but a player who has an ability to play some good fast bowling, good spinners and also play his shots. I also think there are different roles for each person. The skills that you need in people who need to play the first six overs against the new ball might be a little different from the type of guys you need at the back end of an innings. Even though it's a shortened format of the game, Twenty20 allows people with different skills to play in a team and play their specific roles. Obviously there's not too much time to waste balls, but if you look at guys who play well in the top six, they have a fairly decent amount of good cricketing ability.

One of the things that made IPL such a level playing field was the salary cap. Do you think player retention would hurt that? There's also the fact that franchises have spent years investing in players and fans have identified with them...

There has got to be a balance between the two. I think the salary cap is really important. It's vital to this league to have the cap and be strict about it. The beauty of the IPL, vis-a-vis the English Premier League, is that any one of the eight or nine teams can actually win the competition if you give them a level playing field. In the EPL, we're seeing the richer clubs and teams that can buy the biggest players are constantly remaining in the top three or four. Also in football, the pool is much larger. There are no restrictions on domestic talent, and you don't have to play seven English players. You can pick players from Brazil, Argentina, anywhere. I think it's a good thing that we have the seven Indian players rule. The world of cricket is a small one and when you have those restrictions, it's really important to have that salary cap in place. That gives everyone a chance, and makes every game competitive. Every evening people want to turn up, switch on the TV, and know that both teams have a decent chance of winning. That for me is exciting. If you knew which four teams are going to be in the semifinals, why would you wait for the league phase? It will lose its importance, because you'll say 'Let me just focus on the qualifiers, the semifinals and the final.'

I do understand that there should be a certain amount of retention. We have to strike that balance between having that retention, but also ensuring that then you have a strict salary cap and a level playing field. That means that for teams to succeed, they will not only have to rely on going out and buying just the best players, but also have to work on things like improving the skills of the players that they have, ensuring that they give domestic talent a chance. If a team can go out and buy 11 international players, how is a domestic player ever going to get a chance to play? And that was the beauty of it in the first year. Because of the strict salary cap, most teams had to play domestic talent. And that's where you will really see the growth of Indian cricket - when domestic talent plays with international players. If some teams have only domestic players and some teams have only international players, I personally feel it will not be as exciting for fans. And you won't find the great stories that you find in a Pravin Tambe, a Rahul Shukla, a Mandeep Singh, or a Sanju Samson. There are so many stories, but they're all based on domestic talent which has been given an opportunity to play with international players.

Rajasthan have been known to make a lot of unconventional picks. When you're sitting at that auction table, what are you looking for in a player?

That he's cheap (laughs loudly). I said that in jest of course, I don't think any player is cheap. I think there's a culture in Rajasthan Royals that has been there before I got here, so I've come into it. I've enjoyed being part of it and embraced it. They are quite clear about the fact that bottom lines are important, and there is a certain limit on what you can spend. You have to go out and then look for players who are slightly under the radar, not well noticed and bring them into this environment. The challenge is then to make them perform, to create an environment around these guys so that they can do well. Even if you take a lot of our domestic players, they are not new players - other than Pravin who has come out of nowhere and was someone we picked based on his skills. But the others have been at other franchises. We've picked them up, seen some potential and that's what we focus on. So when we're sitting there, we're looking at people who can come into this culture and bring something into it. We're looking at their personalities also, not just skills. Are they good for a team environment? Will they struggle staying in India for eight weeks? I mean, let's face it, it's not an easy time and a lot of international players are away from home. We have to balance all these things out. And I guess in some ways we do recognise that we probably will not be able to go for the high profile players, because we'll always be outbid. So then, the thinking and focus really shifts to looking for hidden value in players, who we know have potential, but probably need the right platform to do well. It doesn't matter what a player is valued at, in the end it's his performance that matters. The focus is on how we get players to perform. Whatever we've got, we've got, but are we smart in other things around the group in terms of strategy, tactics? Are we going to be clever, be the kind of players who can surprise people? Because we have to be. And there's a challenge and excitement in that, and that's brilliant. That's possibly why we see some of the biggest stories emerging from Rajasthan Royals. We are forced to put some of these young domestic talents in, and now it's really up to us to help them perform. It's not just about pushing someone in there.

You've said the team has gotten over the spot-fixing scandal and has no hangover of it. But personally, do you still feel a sense of betrayal?

I think that it was a great learning experience. It was a disappointing period. You feel a sense of sadness, not a personal sadness but for the franchise and at some level for the people who got themselves involved. They made some wrong choices, and it is sad. You feel bad for people who you know had great talent and great ability and could have had great careers, but because of some of the choices they made, they are finding themselves in difficult situations. I guess there are lessons to be learned. You've got to learn from things and really hope that other people are learning from it and things are being done so that these mistakes don't occur again.

Several people on the street have said the scandal shook them, but because Rahul Dravid is there at the helm, they have not lost faith in the franchise. While that must be nice to hear, does it sometimes become a burden to live up to the expectations?

While it's nice to hear, I don't actually walk around trying to be a paragon of virtue. I'm not saying to myself 'I have to do this and that'. Honestly, it's added no pressure on me. I haven't changed what I am and I just try and be what I am. There are certain things you do and certain values you have. But I don't feel any pressure of trying to live up to anyone else's expectations. I have to live up to my own standards and my own expectations. And I'll make mistakes, but I hope over the course of my career and life, I won't make that many mistakes. We're all going to look at things we've done in our career and think 'I wish I had done that differently or behaved differently'. I just hope that over the length of a career, there are few of those moments and lots more of things that I can look back and say, 'I was actually quite okay there. What I did there was quite good.' It's also not only about me. I think people have bounced back and supported Rajasthan Royals also because there are other people on this team who they will not doubt. There is a good culture in the team, and there are some good people around the group. While there have been certain people who have let themselves and everyone down, there are others who you know will stand up for what's right.

In your Bradman Oration, you mentioned the need to put the fans first. How do you think that should be done?

We need to ensure that the fans get to see good quality cricket in good quality conditions. If you prepare good wickets, and play in good conditions, the quality of cricket improves. And fans deserve to see a high standard of cricket being maintained. We need to look at facilities around the fans at stadiums and viewing facilities through television, media, internet. You need to ensure that people who love this game feel a part of the game, and enjoy the experience. That is really important. All three forms have different fans, and they need to know that we cater to each one of them. I mean, the fans of Test cricket should never feel that we are neglecting them to support another form of the game. There are fans of Twenty20 cricket and we need to ensure that we give them the cricket they want to see. We need to keep Test cricket alive, because there is a section of fans who love and worship Test cricket and have basically helped this game grow, and they are as important as anybody else.

Touching on the current Indian team, it is a fairly young side coming together. How important is it at this stage for them to go on a tour of South Africa?

South Africa is the No.1 team in the world and it's a privilege to play the No.1 team in the world. And it should be a great challenge for the Indian team. We all want the Indian team to do well, but even if you don't do well, the things that you learn from a tour like that, playing against opponents like that in a tough three-Test series, will be phenomenal. You cannot count those lessons or the value of what you learn. I know how it is. We went to Australia in 1999-2000 and lost 3-0. I failed badly, but what I learned from the trip made me a much better cricketer, because I knew what I had to improve on, what I had to work on. I think it's those kind of losses that sometimes help build teams and unite teams. I'm not saying India will lose, I think they probably have a good chance. They're a pretty good side, and the youngsters are quite experienced at least in international cricket, even if they're playing one-day cricket. But there's a lot to be gained from tours like that, and it is a great privilege to play the No.1 team in their own backyard.

What next, after cricket?

I haven't really decided. There's obviously a few options, and I'd love to stay involved in cricket in some capacity. Where it is and in what form it is, I haven't really had a chance to discuss with people. There's media. I don't think I'm going to get into administration at this stage, but media is an option. It's also got to balance out with time at home and how much I can do. There are a few options and things in the pipeline that I have dipped my toes in a little bit and had some experiences. And I've enjoyed it, being on the other side of the fence. In some ways, my role at Rajasthan here has been not only about captaincy, but it's been about also just strategy, planning, behind the scenes work - some kind of coaching as well. That's a side I've also enjoyed being part of, so let's see when that happens.

Two decades in the game as a player. If you close your eyes, and someone says 'cricket', what comes to mind first?

Oh, just the joy it gave me. The sheer thrill that this game gave me, and gratitude. The game gave me so much, and I've so much to be grateful for. It made me the person I am, it's given me security as a person, security financially. And I couldn't have asked for anything more.

CLT20: Trinidad & Tobago beat Titans by six runs via D/L method in Ahmedabad

Sent into bat, Trinidad and Tobago posted a challenging 188 for six against Titans in the Group B match, riding on a 109-run partnership between opener Lewis and Bravo for the second wicket at the Sardar Patel Stadium.

Ahmedabad:  Evin Lewis (70) and Darren Bravo (63) hit blistering half centuries as Trinidad and Tobago registered a six-run win over Titans via D/L method in a rain-hit match to place themselves in strong contention for a semifinal berth in Champions League Twenty20 here on Monday. (Scorecard | Highlights)

Schedule | Photos | Points Table | Teams

Sent into bat, Trinidad and Tobago posted a challenging 188 for six against Titans in the Group B match, riding on a 109-run partnership between opener Lewis and Bravo for the second wicket at the Sardar Patel Stadium here. (Pics)

The Caribbean side then returned to restrict Titans to 153 for six in 17 overs, when heavy rains stopped play and the match was called off.

Calculated under the Duckworth/Lewis method, the par score was 159 and since Titans were behind at that point, T&T were adjudged the winners by six runs.

With this victory, T&T kept their hopes alive of a semifinal berth as they now have eight points from three matches, behind Chennai Super Kings (12) -- their opponents in the their last group match on October 2 in Delhi.

Lewis blasted seven fours and five sixes in his 35-ball 70-run innings, while Bravo hit five boundaries and four sixes in his 44-ball stay to lay the foundation of a big score for T&T. (Stats)

Chasing 189 to win, openers Henry Davids (42) and Jacques Rudolph (31) gave Titans a flying start, amassing 65 in 6.5 overs before the former was dismissed by Rayad Emrit.

First down batsman Heino Kuhn could not stay longer as he was sent packing by Samuel Badree in the 10th over. Lendl Simmon then struck twice in the next over, dismissing opener Rudolph and Roelof van der Merwe (4) as Titans slipped to 88 for four in 10.4 overs.

AB de Villiers (23) and Farhaan Behardien (29) then added 49 for the fifth wicket in 29 balls to resurrect the innings to an extent.

But T&T spinner Sunil Narine's twin strike -- Behardien and David Wiese (0) -- in the 16th over left the Titans at 137 for six in 15.5 overs. De Villiers and Mangaliso Mosehle (11) then added 16 runs when heavens opened up and the match was called off.