The following is the list of leading test double hundred scorers from India:

1. Virender Sehwag - 6

2. Rahul Dravid - 5

3. Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar - 4

Sehwag has also moved to the joint fourth spot in the world for maximum number of test double centuries. The list is led by legendary Don Bradman

1. Don Bradman, Australia - 12

2. Brian Lara, West Indies - 9

3. Wally Hammond, England - 7

4. Sehwag (India), Sangakkara (SL), Jayawardene (SL), Atapattu (SL) & Javed Miandad (Pak) - 6

The teams were affected by injuries. Australia had almost playing a second string team with their main strike bowlers disappearing one after another. Brett Lee, Peter Siddle, James Hopes, Brad Haddin, Michael Clarke, … The list may continue. Add to them the half-fit Mitchell Johnson. With such a long list, Australia is really doing well against the Indians at their home. India have lost Gambhir to injury, but he should be back for the next game.

India’s batting was their strength and their weakness. It came together nicely in game #2 and #3 and the batting settled easily around the elegance of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. But, the failure of Dhoni in game #1 & #4 meant the batting could not be stitched together by a stable innings. The other person who could have done is Gambhir. He has played some excellent games in the last couple of years.

Virat Kohli and Jadeja are not using their opportunities well. Kohli, promoted to bat at No. 3 in the absence of Gambhir, played a poor shot to be caught behind. Jadeja, who has bowled reasonably well throughout the series, has failed in the batting department. Jadeja needs to understand that he is in the team as an allrounder. If he is not going to show his batting skills, he will be out of the team soon. The pressure on him is clearly evident when he ran out for a non-existent single. The Australian batting has been revolving around Ponting and Mike Hussey, who are having a wonderful series so far.

The bowling of Ishant Sharma should be a concern to Dhoni. While every other bowler bowled exceptionally well in the fourth match, there were two glaring failures, Ishant Sharma for India and Mitchell Johnson for Australia. It would not be a bad idea for Dhoni to rest Ishant and try may be Sudeep Tyagi or Munaf Patel.

Time for Dhoni to produce another batting performance! The next match will be very critical to lifting the series. Good luck Indian team!

They were troubled only by Pakistan, who had almost eliminated the Australians in the group stages. Brett Lee held his nerve to win that match off the last delivery and in the process sent India packing. In the semi-finals, they had no trouble in despatching the England team. Now in the finals, their bowlers particularly Nathan Hauritz held the Kiwis down to a meagre total.

Shane Bond and Kyle Mills bowled an extraordinary first spell, in which they accounted for Paine and Ponting respectively. At 6 for 2, New Zealand had hopes of a fightback. At one stage, in the first ten overs, Australia could score just one run off 29 deliveries. Such was the control with which Mills and Bond bowled. The first spell from Mills read 7-2-9-1 and Bond’s spell was as attractive at 5-2-9-1.

But, the support bowlers were inadequate and could not contain the Ws, Watson and White. New Zealand missed their captain Daniel Vettori very much. His replacement Jeetan Patel had no impact on the batsmen. It looked like a walk in the park. Watson posted his second consecutive century of the tournament and won the player of the match award. Ricky Ponting won the player of the series award.

• Watson scored his 4th century in ODIs
• Watson crossed 2000 runs in ODIs during the innings.  He finished the innings at a tally of 2020 runs.
• Kyle Mills became the 4th highest wicket taker in ODIs for New Zealand. He went past Sir Richard Hadlee’s taly of 158 ODI wickets. Mills, with 159 wickets, now stands behind captain Daniel Vettori (243), Chris Harris (203) and Chris Cairns (200)
• Neil Broom of New Zealand scored 37 runs, which is his highest score in ODIs so far in a short career spanning only 14 ODI matches

The schedule of the matches is as follows:

1st Match: Sep 08, 2009 - Sri Lanka vs New Zealand

2nd Match: Sep 11, 2009 - India vs New Zealand

3rd Match: Sep 12, 2009 - India vs Sri Lanka

Finals: Sep 14, 2009

All the matches will be played at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

1. Cricketer of the Year Award
2. Test Player of the Year Award
3. ODI Player of the Year Award

Dhoni won the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2008. Dhoni is also currently ranked as No. 1 ODI player in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship Batting Rankings. Dhoni is at No. 1 position with 828 rating points and Yuvraj Singh is at No. 2 position with 784 points. But, Dhoni is listed comparatively lower in the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship Batting Rankings. He currently stands at No. 33. The list is led by Sri Lankan skipper Sangakkara and is followed by Gautam Gambhir.

The LG ICC Awards ceremony is now in its sixth year. The award ceremony for 2009 will take place in Johannesburg on October 1, around the ICC Champions Trophy. THE LG ICC awards will be based on the 12 months period between August 2008 and August 2009.

Dhoni has played 8 test matches in the qualifying period, accumulating 544 runs at an average of 54.40. He scored seven half-centuries, with 92 being the highest score.

In the ODI arena, Dhoni has played 24 matches in 2008, accumulating 967 runs at an average of 60.43. He scored nine half-centuries, with 95 being the highest score.

The opening pair of Andrew Strauss and Cook were together only for less than 6 overs and put together just 12 runs. But, the second wicket partnership had much to cheer for the English fans. Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell stitched together a valuable century partnership. Another 50 runs partnership between Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood kept England in the front. But, two quick wickets for the addition of just 5 runs put the pressure back on the English batsmen. Paul Collingwood was dismissed for a sedate 24. Ian Bell, started shakily, but went on to compile a good 72. But, his wicket could have opened the gates for Australia.

The debutant Jonathan Trott, with 4 runs, and Matt Prior, yet to score, were at the crease at the end of 55 overs. It will be a real test of character for Trott on debut. He needs to work together with the wicket-keeper and the bowlers to take England to a respectable score. But, at this moment, it seems Australia had truly seized the opportunity and are well ahead of England.

Siddle accounted for three wickets, while Hilfenhaus accounted for the England skipper Andrew Strauss.

Final score at this update: England 181/4 in 56.3 overs (Andrew Strauss 55, Alastair Cook 10, Ian Bell 72, Paul Collingwood 24, Jonathan Trott 4*, Matt Prior 0*, Hilfenhaus 1 for 59, Peter Siddle 3 for 48)

Rahul Dravid comes in at the expense of Rohit Sharma, a batsman who fails consistently in spite of being highly rated by cricket professionals. With Sachin Tendulkar returning after his rest, the Indians have two most experienced batsmen in their squad. Virender Sehwag could not make it due to health concerns while Suresh Raina has recovered in time for the tri-series in Sri Lanka.

The Indian squad for the tri-series in Sri Lanka (with New Zealand as the third team) and the Champions Trophy in South Africa is as follows:

1. Sachin Tendulkar
2. Gautam Gambhir
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Suresh Raina
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain and Wicket-keeper)
7. Yusuf Pathan
8. Harbhajan Singh
9. Ishant Sharma
10. Aashish Nehra
11. RP Singh
12. Praveen Kumar
13. Abhishek Nayar
14. Dinesh Karthik
15. Amit Mishra

The tri-series in Sri Lanka commences on Septemeber 8, 2009 with the match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand. India takes on New Zealand on September 11.

The list of players with more than 11000 runs is as follows:

1. Sachin Tendulkar - 12773 runs from 159 matches
2. Brian Lara - 11953 runs from 131 matches
3. Allan Border - 11174 runs from 156 matches
4. Ricky Ponting - 11110 runs from 132 matches.

The race is really on between Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting. The gap is just 1663 runs between the two batsmen. With Ricky Ponting currently playing The Ashes series and Sachin Tendulkar not playing any test series immediately, the pressure will be on Sachin to keep the record intact.

Let us watch the great contest continue. Until one of them retires and bid good bye to international cricket, the debate on “Who is best?” will go on.

So, when you hear another name in a grand slam doubles, you are in for a surprise. Yes, Wimbledon 2009 men’s doubles event had four Indian players. Leander Paes playing with Lukas Dlouhy; Mahesh Bhupathi playing with Mark Knowles; Prakash Amritraj playing with Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Somdev Devvarman playing with Kevin Anderson.

First Round
In the first round, Somdev Devvarman/ Kevin Anderson pair met Mahesh Bhupathi/ Mark Knowles pair. Mahesh/ Mark pair won the match 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5. Not only Somdev’s march halted in the first round; another Indian also lost in the first round. The third seeds Leander Paes/ Lukas Dlouhy lost to unseeded USA pair James Blake/ Mardy Fish in straight sets 4-6,4-6,3-6. But, the Indian/ Pakistan pair of Prakash/ Qureshi had a tough first round match against 16th seeds Stephen Huss/ Ross Hutchins. Prakash/ Qureshi lifted their level of play to win the match in five sets 6-4, 6-7, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Second Round
In the second round, Mahesh Bhupathi/ Mark Knowles beat Philipp/ Alexander Peya 6-3, 7-5, 6-7, 6-3. Prakash/ Qureshi also moved ahead by defeating Rameez Junaid/ Philipp Marx in another five set thriller 7-5, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 8-6.

Third Round
This leads to an interesting duel between an Indian legend and an upcoming Indian youngster in the round of 16. Mahesh has been here many times and knows what to do. Mahesh/ Mark are seeded 4th and they are the favourites. For Prakash Amritraj, this is his best ever showing in a Grand slam tournament and he will be happy to go and play his natural game.

Whatever happens, one Indian will be there in the quarterfinals stage.

India, the top seeded team from Group A, moves along with Ireland, the team that upset the second seeded Bangladesh. Pakistan and England qualified from group B, the only group that had been competitive. Netherlands could not go on further in spite of the huge upset they caused on the opening day of the ICC World Twenty20 2009 tournament. Australia has been eliminated from group C as West Indies and Sri Lanka qualified from the group. Group D had South Africa and New Zealand qualifying from the group.

For super eights stage, India have been grouped alongwith England, South Africa and West Indies. The other group contains Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Ireland and Pakistan. The top two finishers from each group will clash in the semi-finals.

The super eights stage matches commence from June 11 and will be played until June 16.