Rain gain for team india

India sealed their fifth one-day series win on the trot after persistent rain ruined the fourth and final match against the West Indies at Beausejour Stadium on Sunday. The visitors bagged the series 2-1 following victories in the series opener in Jamaica and the third match on Friday. This is also India’s second series victory in the Caribbean after the Sourav Ganguly-led side won the five-match series 2-1 in 2002.

The West Indies, put in to bat by India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni after he won the toss for the fourth straight time in the series, reached 27 for one in 7.3 overs in what was reduced to a 49-overs-a-side affair. However, rain intervened again to ruin the contest.

India began well with West Indies skipper Chris Gayle falling to Ishant Sharma off the second ball of the match, edging a good length delivery to Dhoni behind the stumps.

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Team India failed unit test

Their first match on this trip, the warm-up against New Zealand, India lost by nine runs, their last game of the campaign, against South Africa, they lost by 12. As a team though, they have taken more steps back in the last two weeks than those numbers suggest.

Of all the hits that MS Dhoni and his team have taken over the fortnight, this one probably hurt the most. Losing to South Africa on a turner (the track was more Kanpur than Trent Bridge), chasing an extremely chaseable 130 at that, definitely ticks the box marked embarrassing.

For the last three days, the Indian camp has been answering questions on what went wrong.

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Injured Sehwag on way home, Dhoni a little hurt

The Board of Control for Cricket in India confirmed on Tuesday that Virender Sehwag would play no further part in the tournament, but the announcement came after the matter had snowballed into a full-blown controversy.

The BCCI press release said that the opener, who missed the two warm-up games as well as India’s 25-run victory over Bangladesh on Sunday, would return to India after consulting with specialists in England. Dinesh Karthik was named as his replacement.

Sehwag batted in the nets for the first time on this trip today, but his outing lasted just 12 deliveries, before he walked back into the changing rooms at the Lady’s Bay ground.

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India spin a win in Kanpur, clear Test before IPL carnival

Like a commuter on a rush hour Virar Fast, Virender Sehwag is hanging on to the SUV as Team India gets ready to start yet another victory lap. Coach Gary Kirsten smiles as he watches his team test the capacity of the vehicle, the prize for the man of the series, that has the stand-in skipper and the unofficial team driver for all such occasions at the wheel.

Sehwag shouts in an exaggerated accent, "Gary, come along." The coach doesn't oblige as he has a television interview to give. But watching the new coach in a sea of happy faces around him, it was clear that the Kanpur trip has helped the coach hop onto Indian cricket's bandwagon that has been on a roll for some time now. Dhoni spoke about Kirsten's rapport with the team. "Of course, it is too early, but I think he is hitting the right areas," he says.

It isn't just the coach who's hitting the right areas, but the entire team did that here after being totally off-target during the three-day loss at Motera. They travelled to Kanpur with a lot on their minds. Sunil Gavaskar had spoken about IPL distractions during the Test series and asked Kirsten to crack the whip. Injury had hit the bowling department hard. There was a question mark over Ishant Sharma, who was retuming after an injury.

Intrigue was speculated as shorter-version skipper Dhoni replaced injured Test captain Anil Kumble. The moming that had started with television visuals showing Kumble leaving the team hotel with interpretations of a senior-junior divide in team ended with a number of happy family frames around.

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Dhoni puts seniors on notice: chip in, may change openers

In a tough message to Team India seniors including Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni today said they need to pull up their socks. In the wake of his side's 18-run loss to Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Dhoni made it clear that the option of changing openers was being kept open.

India slumped to 51/4 before recovering to a competitive total - chasing Australia's 317/7, India were bowled out for 299 - and Dhoni felt the stalwarts need to do more if India has to do well and qualify for the finals of the triangular series.

The direct message to Tendulkar and Sehwag came at the post-match press conference. "The seniors can contribute more," Dhoni said."Gautam (Gambhir) is one of the consistent batsmen. Rohit has done well in patches and I've scored a few runs. If you look at the first five batsmen, if they can contribute and put up significant partnerships, then the lower order - me coming at five or six and Robin Uthappa after me can really go after the bowlers. If Viru, Sachin and Yuvraj do well, it gets easier for the batsmen who follow.But that hasn't been the story till now.

'' So what's wrong? "It's not like they are getting out to rash shots, or that they are not taking up the responsibility.They are getting out to good balls," he said. "You can't really do

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