New Delhi: India hockey coach Michael Nobbs on Tuesday defended the decision to drop a few senior players from the squad for next month's Olympic qualifiers, insisting that form and fitness were the only criteria for selection.

Karachi: Pakistan's former captain and flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi feels the team is capable of handing out a 3-0 whitewash to world number one England given the way it dominated the first two Tests.

New Delhi: Indian shuttlers competing in the qualifying round of the Malaysian Super Series suffered contrasting defeats to crash out of the prestigious tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

New Delhi: Former India captains Rajpal Singh and Arjun Halappa have questioned Hockey India's (HI) decision to rule them out for the Olympic qualifiers, which are scheduled for February 18-26 here at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.

Abu dhabi: Leftarm spinner Abdur Rehman led Pakistan to a crushing 72-run over England and a convincing victory in the series on Saturday, taking a career-best six wickets for 25 as the world's top-ranked test side was embarrassingly skittled out for just 72 runs.

Napier: Zimbabwe never recovered from losing their top order batsmen cheaply in both innings, Martin said, adding he was surprised at the lack of fight from their batsmen.

India takes on Australia in the 1st T20 on Wednesday (Feb 1) at Stadium Australia in Sydney. The likes of Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and Irfan Pathan are likely to take the field for India. Australia though starts favourites again after their 4-0 win in the Test series. India and Australia have played 4 times in T20 matches with both sides winning two each. This match is the best opportunity for Dhoni's team to win a match down under though the weather may play spoilt sport.

The chorus has been growing loud to lay down the axe on skipper MS Dhoni after eight consecutive away losses. Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin has proposed different captains for different formats. Azhar has also suggested the seniors of the Indian line up to give way to the youngsters.

Facing severe criticism for his unimpressive captaincy and performances in Test cricket, under-fire Mahendra Singh Dhoni has offered to quit the leadership role in the longer format of the game if the BCCI feels there is a better replacement waiting in the wings.

India slumped to their second successive overseas series whitewash after losing the fourth and final cricket Test against Australia by a humiliating 298 runs in Adelaide on Saturday ( January 28). Resuming at 166 fo , the tail put on just 35 runs and lasted just 45 minutes.

There will be no retirements in the team as of now, that is what the Indian team managment has said. After media reports had suggested that Rahul Dravid will call it a day after the Adelaide Test, Virender Sehwag made it very clear that no one from the Team is retiring.

Rahul Dravid has put speculation to rest over his alleged retirement from Test cricket for now. Reports had suggested that Dravid had decided to quit the game after the fourth and final test between India and Australia in Adelaide but the cricketer himself has said that he has not yet taken any decision on his future.